My first days of work were filled with trial lessons, where we went to the homes of students and tried to get their parents to let them enrol. I basically played with the kids: I've been shot with an arrow, kicked by a taekwondo master, and tackled by some other kid. It's all in good fun.
For the first three days we were joined by two marketing representatives of the head office. I brought my camera on the final day.
This is Suwon in the morning.
Here's me with Mikey. Even though his English isn't that good, he's a fun guy. I think he's a bit of a cracker though: he has trouble finding directions, even though he has a voice-narrated global positioning system. It's kind of comical once you get used to it.
We were looking for Joelle, the other marketing representative. She took the bus in from Seoul. Should have ridden with Mikey. When he wants to, he goes GTA all over the road.
You can see some of the mountains that seem to surround Suwon in this photo. Remember, they're all shorter than 60 storeys.
Here's the view from our office window.
This is Joelle. She went to a school in Britain and had a French roommate, which is why her English name is French. The jacket she is wearing is popular with the youths over here, and everyone seems to have one, although her red one is a little more chic.
This is Esther, the vice-director of the Suwon office, and wife of the director. She speaks very little English, but she's the one I'll be working closest with.
I've generally taken a liking to Korean foods, but Kim Pop is one of the last foods I've started to like. There's also something called Blood Custard, which has large brown chunks of coagulated pig blood, but I'm no miracle worker.
Joelle wouldn't let me take her picture, which, as you should know, only encourages me to take more pictures.
Mikey took this one while Joelle was I believe reading me a story about lunch.
Mikey!
Even though she resisted and turned away every time I had my camera in my hand, once I took that picture she asked me "Who's that pretty gir?"
Here's a macro shot of a pen with a lovely poem. Red pens are kind of dangerous to use in Korea, because if you write someone's name in red ink it means they're dead.
It looks like Joelle's pulling a Cherie, but she was intently studying and I liked the way the three colours clashed here.
It's cold in Korea right now, so when I went for a walk I couldn't go more than a couple blocks. We got tea in a can.
Here's another poem for you, this one even more incoherent than the last.
This is James Lee, the director of our company in Suwon. He's a very smart businessman, and is the co-founder of a company that makes semiconductors for Samsung. He speaks four languages: Korean, English, Japanese, and Mandarin. I think there might be one other language, too.
We had a very successful day, making five new contracts, so he took me out for a pork barbecue and some beer. Don't worry, we didn't go to KFC. This is right up the block from Lotte Mart.
I am currently suffering from some pretty weird computer problems. On Saturday I'll take it in to the Toshiba office in Seoul, but for right now I can't upload any more photos.
After my second day, I taught four lessons. The first day was hell: the kids weren't interested in me, and I spoke too quickly. On the second day my first lesson was with a seven-year-old who was smart and attentive, and I did a good job with him. In the evening I taught two girls aged about five and six and one young boy. They were loud and grabbed everything, but I impressed them. While going through flashcards, they hollered "piano!" I asked them if they knew how to play piano, so they dragged me into the next room where there was a piano. It turns out the two girls are amazing piano players. When I said goodbye at the end of the lesson I hugged them and lifted them all off the floor together.
The third day went smoothly, and we had two of the three clients we visited sign up on the spot. One of them is a kindergarten teacher, so we'll get a lot more contracts with her recommendation.
