Science Class

As I mentioned in my last blog, we're currently in the middle of intensives.

What are intensives?

I'm glad you asked. Let me tell you...

In Korea, the school system is year-round. There is a one month break in January and a one month break in August (actually late-July to late-August). So during the school break, kids take extra classes. That's right - for vacation, they spend more time at academies.

I'm not sure if I've really explained this before, but I teach English at an academy. There are academies for all kinds of subjects - my students have mentioned Math, Science, and TaeKwonDo as some of the academies they attend. I think most of my students attend at least 2 academies. They do this in the evening, after spending a full day at school. Where I work, the kids are there for almost 3 hours, 2-3 times per week. Kids here study hardcore. They have school on Saturday, too!

Anyway, back to intensives. They're a lot different from our regular classes and a lot more laid-back. I'm teaching two science classes and two literature classes. Anyone who knows me very well knows that I hate science and love lit. So my reaction was a bit like this, "Ugh....Yay!"

But actually, I don't mind the science class. I guess when I really think about it, it's mostly chemistry that I hate.

So anyway, we did an experiment in one of my classes last week. I thought it was worthy of a video. What do you think?

Science Class from Marianna Willey on Vimeo.

In case you're wondering, I do usually keep a bit more order in my classes, but there are only 4 students and like I said, it's intensives. These poor kids are on vacation, for heaven's sake.

One other little note, did you notice the cute kid playing the part of class clown? He's one of my favorites, even though he acts up. Anyway, I made him cry yesterday. Yep. Way to go, me.

Get Down

Work lately has been NUTS. We haven't gotten a replacement for a teacher who left three weeks ago, so a few of us (ahem... me) have had to pick up an extra class. Then last week, we had two teachers sick on Monday, one on Tuesday and Wednesday, and one teacher left for vacation on Wednesday. I taught an extra class every day except Friday. Yuck. We have another teacher leaving in a couple of weeks and two more teachers have vacation next month. All I can say is that they better get us a couple of new teachers soon!

On top of this, I have essays coming out of my ears. They're all between 300-600 words and Definitely Not Fun Times to grade. Then yesterday, intensives started. This means that I teach an extra 2-1/2 hours per day. So right now, I'm teaching about 6-1/2 to 8 hours per day - which wouldn't actually be that bad if it weren't for all of the prep work.

But anyway, with all of the craziness last week, there just weren't enough teachers to cover all of the extra classes, so we ended up having to combine some of them. One of my friends had to teach one of these combined classes and was determined to make it fun.

Behold the results:


D.O.W.N. from Marianna Willey on Vimeo.

Neighborhood Tour

Today's video clip is a tour of my neighborhood. Please be forewarned that I am not a professional cinematographer and anyone susceptible to motion sickness might be better off skipping this week's video clip.

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Coffee in Korea - Episode 1

Coffee.

It is a wondrous thing.

Naturally, in moving to Korea, one concern at the forefront of my mind was, "How will I get my hands on some decent brew?"

Fortunately, I have found some great coffee here.

I have also found some crap coffee.

Join me, on my quest for the bean in Korea.

It may be a bumpy ride, but we are sure to be rewarded in the end. If we are lucky, we might even find a nice cup of medium-bodied South American coffee with mild acidity and cocoa undertones. Or perhaps a rich African coffee with citrus notes?

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Still Getting Back into Blogging

K, let's try this again.

I'm not sure what else I was going to talk about in that last "to be continued" post. Besides teaching and running, the rest of my life is pretty standard. I buy groceries, clean my house, take out the garbage, pay my bills, watch movies, hang out with friends - pretty normal stuff, right?

But then again, because I'm living in Korea, this "normal stuff" can be slightly different from what you're used to. So here's my latest idea. I'm going to blog a video every Tuesday. These videos will contain bits of my normal, everyday life as a foreigner in Korea. Any thoughts? Ideas? Questions? Feel free to leave a comment with your two cents worth!

And without further ado, today's theme is...

Eating Out.. Korean Style - Part 1

Video Credits:
Starring: Marianna Willey
Filming and Narration: Veronica Navarro
Random Side Comments: Walter Demesa and Brittany Maxey