New Beginnings

Hello, dear readers!  Apologies for the relative radio silence over the past few days -- it's been busy busy, so here's a recap.

Friday was our first day with kids, finally!!!  I was so beyond excited to meet my kiddos and kick off my first year employed in education.  It wound up being a rather exciting day in a lot of ways.  For starters, we got an e-mail about shuttle times, so I headed down to catch the 6:45 shuttle.  I arrived at the stop to find a few other miffed people, all of whom had missed the shuttle...which apparently left at 6:40.  D'oh!  The six of us piled into a couple of cabs and made it to school in decent time.  I was still covering the theatre with Mr. G out, so I dropped my stuff in my classroom, grabbed some coffee, and headed over to the theatre.  But I couldn't figure out how to open either of the main doors!  So naturally, I climbed over the counter of the ticket window and went around that way.  Fortunately, setup was a breeze.  I touched base with Ms. W to make sure everything was covered, and so it was!

I headed up to the classroom and met Woodzy, made some copies, sharpened some pencils, and before long, the kids started to arrive.  It was such a rush to finally see and meet the reason I came here in the first place!  Nineteen of our twenty kids were there, and we started off the day with a word search and decorating colorful name cards for their desks.  I ducked out about 15 minutes before the assembly to make sure everything was in place and ran the (very easy) set -- mostly just muting and unmuting a wireless mic.  Not bad!

After we wrapped up, I waited around to turn off the lights and mics until everyone was out, and Mr. R, the grades 2 and 3 ESOL teacher, came over to let me know that Woodzy had to leave right away, so I was up.  The previous day this had looked like a possibility, but Woodzy was back in the afternoon and had an appointment set up for after school the following day, so I didn't do any prep.  Well.  Oh well!  I headed back with them and Woodzy said goodbye and left them with me and Mr. R.  We did a few more first-day things (labeling cubbies, making a class sign, an ice breaker) before heading out for recess and games with the whole third grade.  We wrapped up the day with some writing about what they did with their summer (a good way for us to see where they're all at!) and ice cream with the parents on the lawn :)

All in all, not quite the start to the school year I had anticipated, but a good one!  I'm at my best when I'm busy and getting thrown into things, so that works.  After school the third grade team went out for lunch (cold noodles and an assortment of dumplings, YUM) before the school-sponsored happy hour at a local hotel.  After that wrapped, I came home, showered and changed, went to EB's for a while, then we went out and continued the celebration with some other faculty.  It was a great way to kick off the year!

This post got long, so I'll write more soon about my first trip to Seoul yesterday with YC and EB -- such fun, and lots of pictures!  For now, signing off with words I never thought I'd say:  I just went for a run!  (And upon my arrival back at my apartment complex, ran into one of my students, son of Ms. W.  D'oh, awkward).  EB, YC, HY, SL, and I registered for Incheon's Color Me Rad 5K in September -- less than a month to train, so it's time to hit the road :) Wish us luck!

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Currently reading:  flipping through various books on children's theatre, team-building, and South Korea...I'll resume my reading routine tonight with either some Junot Diaz
Current high:  endorphins!
Current low:  motivating oneself to do something one does not like is a challenge, and I do NOT like to run...but I like my friends and I like Color Me Rad!