long days and short nights!

What a long day! We just got back from Kid’s College and ate a bunch of Gimbop. It’s hard to find time in the day to do things for myself. David and I are at Kid’s College nearly ten hours a day. We’ve only been teaching for a few days now. Here’s what a typical day for me is beginning to look like:

6:30 I wake up (it’s a miracle!) and climb down the super steep stairs of our loft to get some breakfast. I check my email and work on my novel until 7:50 (which means I write 1-2 pages).

8:20 We all meet downstairs to walk to the bus stop. We usually catch the bus as soon as we arrive.

9:00 We get to Kid’s College and begin planning our lessons for the day. This usually involves lots of copying and paperclips.

9:30 Kindergarten classes start. I have six kindergarteners now: four girls and two boys. They are incredibly smart and speak comprehensible English. They express emotions and all sorts of things. I will try to take some pictures of them soon to post up here. They’re really too cute. We have five 40 minute class periods with them, including an hour break for lunch. They are very affectionate, but they often get into little tiffs.

2:20 Elementary classes begin. There are only two 45 minute periods with these kids. There are three of them, and surprisingly they aren’t as fluent as my kindergarteners. They don’t speak in complete sentences… it seems they understand pretty well.

4:05 International class! These were the ridiculously energetic boys I’ve been very anxious about. I learned today however that the most energetic and disruptive of the two are not returning to Kid’s College! Hooray! What fun! The other two boys aren’t nearly as bad with two brothers gone.

Depending on the day we leave at 5:35 or 6:15 and catch the bus home. By that time we’re so zoned and exhausted that we have no interest in cooking. We get some cheap Korean food (our favorite right now is the sushi-like Gimbop) and crash in our rather bare apartment (we’re waiting for our first paycheck to furnish it well.
On another note… if you feel a pang of kindness and want to send us something (it’s expensive!) our address is:

David and Ryan Strauss
Kid’s College Phone: (032) 858-0506
6F Millenium B/D 3-1 Songdo-Dong
Yeonsu-Gu, Incheon
South Korea 406-840

We love you all and miss you!