Cheonan Campus: Do I like it more than Jukjeon Campus? Other disappointments. First Day of Teaching.

After spending a day here at Cheonan campus I have to say the biggest difference between Cheonan and Jukjeon is the environment. Cheonan is more flat, and more “countryside” ish. Jukjeon is built up while Cheonan campus is spread out – similar to how the country/suburbs vs. urban places are in America. Cheonan campus has a huge lake, which my students told me that if I bring a friend-boy there, we would end up being a couple … of course there would be a legend like this here, it is K O R E A.

I can’t say if I like Jukjeon or Cheonan campus more. I think I have to stay longer and learn more about Cheonan campus to really judge. I think my only problem with Cheonan campus is not knowing how to get to the town/city, and how to get to Seoul from here. Though people say that getting to Seoul from Cheonan campus will only take one hour – it takes two hours to get to Seoul from Jukjeon campus.

Another small difference is the laundry room. They require that you buy a card. You would purchase the card for 1,000 ₩ ~ $1.00. After purchasing the card, then you can fill it up with credit. Luckily for me, there was a card left on one of the washers so I just used that card and did my laundry. I have also heard mixed reviews about the dryers. Some say that the dryers are not good and will not do its job. So, me being a cheap person, I did not pay the extra 1,000₩. So I now have wet clothes, hoping that I will not run out of dry clothes before the next time I will need to be doing laundry.

From my friends that came to Cheonan campus last year, they said that we would be living with 3 other people, the air conditioner will work at all times, and that overall the dorms would be better. However, the format of the dorm is the same as in Jukjeon campus for Woongbi Hall. I believe I live in Danwoo Hall in Cheonan – I’ll correct this if I find out that I am wrong.
In Danwoo hall, the girls live on one side and the guys live on another side. This is the same in Woongbi Hall, however, in Woongbi Hall the Global Village females live in the same side as the males despite having a female side of the dormitory. This makes it easier for us not to visit each other in each other dormitory at Danwoo Hall.

Okay, now to the fun part. The first day of teaching. WOW, despite doing this last year, the anxiety and the nervousness was real. I mean, meeting any one for the first time is pretty nerve wrecking for me. But the first day was awesome. I have an intermediate class in the morning and a beginner class in the afternoon. At first I thought that the two levels would be similar, but there is a difference. Intermediate definitely makes more of an effort to talk in English – not saying that my beginners were not willing, it is just that the intermediate, despite having a difficult time trying to phrase things, were able to come up with something to say eventually.
I think for my beginner class I should speak slower. I know when I was teaching last year, they told me that for beginner class, you would be speaking most of the time, which is true. I feel that the English seems to overwhelm them though – having mix feelings on whether I should speak less or more.
I’m not sure if my students liked me but I guess I will see when they decide to come to class or not tomorrow. -_-

Next mission: Get to Seoul this weekend!
Till Then.
안녕~