The main entrance.
The back entrance.
The two story sky bridge.
My desk!
The vice principals desk. The principals office is currently closed to visitors.
The teacher's office. 
The teacher's exercise room.
2nd and 3rd year uniforms.
1st year uniforms.
The school field.
The cafeteria.
Every morning, the girls are given a carton of milk and these crates are where it's kept outside. 
The homeroom teachers for each grade are given their own office on the grade floor. (EX: The fist grade floor has the first grade homeroom teacher's office.)
Students keep lockers in their classrooms. (Students don't move between classes like schools in America... Instead, the teacher's move.) Typical locker contents include books, electronic dictionary, personal blanket, a pillow, a toothbrush, and toothpaste--essentials as most students will spend several nights studying at school throughout the year.
Pencil cases define who is who in Korean schools. Here are two supreme examples of "cool" pencil cases. The one above has celebrity and musician photos. The one below is a little more typical with encouraging post-its inside, phone numbers, reminders, and one's favorite cartoon sticker--Gero (a Japanese cartoon character). 
Students eager to show you their pencil cases. The girl with the pink one insisted that her's was the best. I thought it was lame.
A typical Korean classroom: minimalist.
Third year girls working hard. 
But hard work is a little inconsistent. It's completely necessary to stop every 5 minutes and check your mirror to make sure every hair is in it's proper place and every zit sufficiently covered. I think most girls are vain beyond compare. They just really like looking at themselves. (The boys do this too and often carry similar mirrors in their pencil cases as well.)
An empty hallway.
The stairwell outside of the teacher's office leading to the first floor and the third floor. 
All students are required to check their shoes at the classroom door. In the hallway, they put their shoes in these little cubbies and put on indoor slippers (a.k.a. slides or sandals).
Students getting coffee during class. Caffeine is essential to good studying, ergo, good test scores.
Your options (most cost between 20-30 cents). 
Most Koreans prefer instant coffee from these non-descript machines over the fresh brewed kind. Weirdos.
A squatty potty in one of the hall bathrooms. These things really stink because Koreans don't flush toilet paper and instead choose to put it in trash bins. I rarely use the student toilets. Instead I go in the female teacher's bathroom which has a proper throne.
The bathroom at large.
The library.
The school store's stock of cookies, marshmallow pies, ramen, and chips.
The lady who manages the school store. She's always surprised when I understand the total of my purchases in Korean. She's cute. Always friendly. :)
The school park.
The gymnasium. Students are practicing for a singing competition where they can win $200 for their class fund. 
While wandering the halls on tour, we stopped to take a peak in one 3rd year class and found a pizza party! These girls were really generous and sat me down with two slices of pizza and my own cup of coke. They were my students last year but are now too busy studying for their University Entrance Exams to study with me... Booo.... I miss them. 
Ha! We caught one sleeping in class! 
More sleepers!! It's quite common for Korean kids to either sleep during breaks or sleep during class. The teacher's tolerate it because the kids stay up studying until 1 or 2 am and are required to be at school everyday until 10:30 pm. 
One of my 1st year students working very hard. She's a smart one.
1 comment:
Wow Kortney, this is really intersting. I love this tour you gave us. So if the students stay until 10:30 every night what time do they come to class? And do teachers stay that late too or do you guys take shifts?
~Mindy
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