Finally getting settled

I am finally getting settled into school and my new apartment. I'm really enjoying the school so far. I was conflicted when I first learned of the job, because I knew it was at a hagwon. A hagwon is a sort of school where Korean students go for extra study in just about any subject. There are all-around academic hagwons, foreign language hagwons, computer hagwons, music hagwons, and even driving hagwons. Essentially, it's school after school. While getting to know my students, I asked them about their schedules. One of my 8 year old students wakes up at 6:30 am for baseball academy, goes to school at 8:00, is home from school by 3:00, takes a nap until 3:45, math academy from 400- 5:00, then English with me from 5:15- 6:25. When I asked what time he went to bed, he told me 12:00 or 12:30- whenever homework and studying is complete! UNBELIEVABLE! I'm actually finding that to be the hardest part of my job- sometimes by the time the students make it to me, they are (understandably) exhausted.

my classroom

view from my classroom

view from my classroom

the outside of the art classroom- a little Seurat, Klimt, Van Gogh, and Degas that you cannot see

the inside of the art classroom

Now to my apartment: it's a little (well, maybe a lot) smaller than I had expected. It's one large room. At first, I was a bit surprised, but spent this past Sunday making it feel more like a home.

My bed...so, in Korea, there is no such thing as a mattress and a box spring (or at least not in the 2 places that I've stayed so far. So, my "mattress" is actually a box spring. Nice. I splurged and got a mattress pad, which has helped, but it's not a mattress.

To give you an idea of how close everything is- to the right is my kitchen area, and to the left you can see my green comforter and desk from the first picture.

Here is the kitchen area...at least I have a proper refrigerator.

My bathroom...and laun dry room. I didn't take a picture, but the shower head is just next to the sink. So, really you could shower and do your laundry all at once.