Thursday, June 30

first few days

I've been here almost a week now, and things are going so well. As soon as my friend and I got off the plane and got our luggage hefted into the van at the airport, a huge rainstorm came. As we drove through the city, rain was washing down the streets like a river. Some girls were wading up to their knees at one point. Amazingly, with the help of our talented driver, we got up to the top of the hill that the university is on and we got our luggage all the way up five flights of stairs with the help of some strong guys. That first night, we ate together in the cafeteria and we went to a performance done by the Korean exchange students on campus. Our weekend was full of orientation meetings and getting to know each other.
Saturday, after a full day of meetings, we ate the most incredible meal. I think it was at a Chinese Korean place downtown. They had a huge glass "lazy susan" on each table and they just kept bringing out plate after plate of scrumptious Chinese food for us to feast on. We ended the meal with a dessert like dish that had mashed bananas wrapped in a bread like something with caramel drizzled on top. You could grab one of them and then dip it in cold water to harden the caramel before you ate it. Oh, so good.
My class is in the afternoons everyday from 1-3. I am team teaching with another girl because it's a repeat class and because it's so big. At first, we had 40 students, but now we're down to around 30 for conversational English. They're all very respectful and well behaved, but it's hard to get around to meeting all their needs with that many, so we encourage them to come to office hours or to set up appointments with us if they need help. They're really good students and have turned in some interesting essays on culture. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.