First day at work

Today was my first day at work. Coincidentally my day started at the same time the Packers game was starting back in the 'ol USA. I teach an intermediate and 2 beginner classes in the morning from 7-10am. I then have off a few hours and teach a beginner, an intermediate, and an advanced class in the evening. I am expected to come up with my own topics for the intermediate and advanced classes...including today, my first day. The beginner classes are easier because they go off a book, which was comforting to have a bit more direction. I wasn't a big fan of the trial by fire method of the morning intermediate class. Last night when I was trying to prepare, I started to get pretty tired, and was having difficulty finding a decent article...so I just settled for the first article that looked interesting to me. It was called "Can Men and Women Ever Just be Friends?". I figured that would start some lively discussion and would be fun to talk about so I brought it with me to class. Big mistake. I should have read it, if only to edit it. The first step was for them to read the article out loud, and I soon realized that I had made a mistake when the girls were saying things like "former fuck buddy". I don't think they knew what they were saying, which was good...but I realized from then on out I had best read my articles before bringing them. I quickly stopped them from reading the article...asked them to discuss what they had thought about it, and then we moved on to general questions on life, as they quizzed me about where I was from and why I came to Korea. The 50 minutes couldn't go by fast enough, but eventually they did. After my first shift, a cute 18 year old girl offered to take me to the bank to exchange some dollars to won. We went, but unfortunately the bank wouldn't do it...so sadly I was unable to convert my cash. I asked her to show me a decent restauraunt and she took me to a place that serves hamburgers. They were edible...but didn't hold a candle anything from the US. It really made me want a double double animal style with chiles from In-N-Out Burger. I'm unsure if this is everywhere in Korea...but in order to cross the street, they don't have crosswalks. Instead there is what I thought was a subway entrance that simply goes under the street and up. It's a lot of stairs! I've been doing that a lot lately. I both live and work on the 3rd floor of a building, so I am doing a lot of stairs in the day...so that should be good for me. I'm pretty damn tired already, but hopefully that won't last forever. Couple that with the fact that I haven't exactly been eating a lot...and I have the potential to drop some serious lbs. I am still hating Korea quite a bit, and can't wait to come home...but at least I'm feeling a bit better. Sadly, I will be spending both Christmas and New Years here in 2010...but unless I decide to stay another year, at least I can finish my year with bunch of holidays....and then when I come back to the USA...it will be celebration!

On another note, I was also accepted to ASU's online campus, and am trying to decide if I should attempt college while over here as well. I think it is going to depend on how my phone meeting with an academic advisor goes. Right now, it doesn't look like all my courses have finished transferring to ASU from UW...so I only know that I am 8 credit hours (and supposedly 45 upper level credit hours) shy of a degree....but have no idea where I stand on the rest of the requirements. In theory, since I already have a BA you would think I just need to get my major work done...but I have a feeling they are going to want me to take some upper level math and sciences courses...in which that will be a deal breaker. I can barely remember algebra...let alone some of the other higher level math.