"Oh, you're interested in kindergarden?

Most others find it very hard."

"Oh really? That's...thanks. Yes, I'm interested in working with younger children...uhh..." What...was that supposed to mean exactly?


This is a few days late, but I feel I have some catching up to do here. That lady I had the interview with? The one curious about my eating habits? (Haha she was very nice!) Well during our first conversation she seemed [pleasantly] surprised that I was interested in teaching younger kids. Apparently, a lot of people found them very challenging (I guess in a negative way). She said she would consider me for the kindergarten program at her school. The next night she called again for a follow-up to our interview and I got the chance to ask her my questions. A few minutes after I got off the phone with her I got a message from Ken, my recruiter, saying I was being offered the job.

Long story short, a couple days later I decided to take the job. I'm still apprehensive about some things (I'm moving out of the country after all) but I really feel that this is the one that God chose for me. I feel good about it. Confident. About this part at least.

Anyway, in mid-February I will leave to begin two weeks of training and in March I will start teaching at Eunpyeong SLP near Gusan station in Seoul. I guess I'm another step closer.

*****

In other news, I just realized I've been spelling "kindergarten" incorrectly for...I don't know how long. It has a "t", not a "d". Just in case you were wondering. Now you're probably also wondering if it's a good idea to make me responsible for teaching our language to young children... Well, let's all just hope my supervisor doesn't start reading my blog.

"Do you eat meat?"

Now that I've officially started the process of interviewing with schools I'm beginning to realize just how much of a culture shock I'm in for when I finally make it to Korea. I mean, it's going to be fine. I'm just amused.

I've only had two interviews so far, so I am in no way an expert on Korean job interviews. However, in both instances the person asked me what I consider to be some pretty random questions. Now originally the goal of this post was to document a few of said amusing questions. As I sat down to write them out though, I realized that I don't remember most of the ones I found funny and those I do remember are not funny out of context.

The one question that I do remember and still find humorous is this one:

"Do you eat meat?"

Obviously this lady* knows far more about the intricacies of hiring an individual to teach a second language to children than I do. Why, yes. Yes I do eat meat. Do carnivorous teachers have an easier time controlling the students?

...

There is probably a method. But maybe just madness.

*The woman who asked me this question was really very sweet and I came away from that interview very pleased.