JejuSi is the place to be: Times a flyin!

I cannot believe how fast this semester has already taken off! We are four weeks into the new semester, which is already one month of four finished. In August, we will be leaving EPIK and beginning training at the new international school, KIS. It has been exciting to start learning more about the school and to begin meeting more of the staff. KIS created a website that includes all the staff members (teachers, dean of students, board specialists, curriculum planner, directors, etc). The website is intended for everyone to meet one another before arriving to Jeju in August for the training. The website is also a great place for us to start learning about the curriculum they are creating, the philosophy and goals of the school, details about our specific department, a place to share ideas and documents, etc.

During the first week of April, the director (who interviewed and hired us), curriculum planner and dean of students will visit my middle school in order to observe how a Korean school is run. I will show them around, have them see the cafeteria, PE, Korean classes and my class in action, meet the principal and teachers, etc. Wish me luck when they observe my class!

Other things going on... Well, what's not going on??! Let me show you an example of how busy our weekends are-

This weekend:
Friday- Language exchange (I'm helping a student with English and they help me with Korean), then housewarming party for our friend
Saturday- AM workout, zorbing (can't wait! this is where you are in a big ball and you roll down a hill) and dinner for Angela's b-day, salsa dance performance for our friend Abby, then meeting up with a few friends to say bye since they're leaving the island
Sunday-early 8am skype with friends from home, 12 mile run (about 1 hr. 45 mins!), then clean apt, then yoga class and weightlifting at gym, then dinner and finally grocery shopping at E-mart

Yes, that's how busy we are right now. It's always a mix of fun things and errands but having a completely packed schedule can be exhausting!

Something else new is my schedule. After finally receiving a set class schedule after 2 weeks of school, a new teacher (our friend Simon from England actually) just got moved to my school on Fridays. I have always had one other foreign teacher come once a week however this semester they were not going to do this. Well, like things always do here, this was changed and now I have no classes on Friday! This is great because now I have time to work on lessons, catch up with e-mails, and also with my blog each Friday! Plus, the week seems a lot shorter. Only 4 days of teaching...thank you:) On the other hand, my Mondays through Thursdays are very busy. In April, on top of my 18 hours of classes, I will have an after-school reading class and an after-school basketball class. These times occur during my office hours (3:30-4:30, so it's nice that I can still leave at the same time. However, this means that I will have 5 or 6 classes each day M>R. I'll see how I like this schedule. So far though, I like being busy throughout the week. It makes the day go by faster and I am more productive when I do have free time.

I will try my best to begin writing a little bit about Jeju life, Korean culture, and updates on Keith and I each Friday, so that I'm not only writing about our trips.