cereal and chopsticks: "You call him, Dr. Jones!"

I had a TA in my university that I became good friends with, and when she earned her doctorate we littered her office door with that quote from Indiana Jones. It just so happens that her last name was, in fact, Jones. It fit. We congratulated ourselves on being cinematically witty.
Now that I teach at a place of higher education I want nothing more than for my last name to be Jones, so that it could apply to me. That, and I had my doctorate.

The first two weeks of uni teaching are under the belt, so I can confidently describe what this new world looks like. I teach English Conversation 1. Classes are broken into majors. Unlike, American universities where you sign up for whatever classes you need regardless what the rest of your classmates are doing (hello minor in Environmental Politics), in Korean universities you sign up for classes alongside what your incoming class and major are taking. Declare your major in your freshmen year and it's all decided on what you made on your Entrance exam (our SAT). So I have classes full of baby Engineers, Computer Communications, Sports Training, Psychology, Chinese Language majors, and then a couple of classes made up of a hodge podge of students with varying years and majors. Every student at my uni is required to take one year of English. Enter job security. This also means that we don't get the brightest crayons in the box. Let me assure you all now; just because they are uni students does not mean their English abilities are better. Oh. Oh no. Oh good Lord no. I had a girl yesterday who couldn't count to ten. Remember, these kids have had English since kindergarten. Either all the English teachers were god-awful, or they retained little to nothing. I'm going with a little of both. That and majority of their English education was done in Korean. Because that is helpful.

For the most part, my students are baby freshmen who are pretty scared. They bow to me in the hallway and around campus, say "hello teacher" when they see me. I. Love. It. I've got a few cheeky ones. But their attempts to be "hardcore" are so pathetic. They wouldn't last long in an American high school. And I did. Bring it.

Classes are two hours long. I give the kids a small break half-way through, which awarded me applause this past week. The material isn't too difficult. Unit 1 was introductions. My name is, where are you from, I like, etc.

My schedule is a dream. Nineteen hours a week including the university's Language Education Center (LEC) for the community. I teach three adults for three hours a week. And I get paid overtime for that. I'm done most days by 1pm. I have my LEC classes at 7pm, but I really enjoy those and that late hour doesn't bother me.

I have a department full of sarcastic people. I'm in heaven. We pretty much all get along, have a similar sense of humor and general enjoy going to lunch together. You might not see us inviting each other to be a part of the other's wedding party, but we enjoy our department. Which makes our jobs, and thus our lives, much easier. The people you work with make a big difference in your attitude towards your job.

The biggest difference I've noticed about this job, is how I feel as a teacher. When I taught high school, there was an infinite amount of pressure placed upon me and I don't just mean because of testing or the government, but about the students themselves. Were they eating? Did their parents hit them? Why is this kid screaming at me? Will this kid explode today? Nope. None of that. This responsibility to be teacher, nurse, social worker, mother-ish, is reduced to just teacher. These are uni students. The responsibility to learn is purely theirs. I have my responsibility to be an engaging and informative teacher. I love teaching. It's what I do. It's what I'm called to do. And finally, I can just teach. Interact with my students and ENJOY teaching. Now, to get that doctorate so I can do this for a long long long time...

Some photos of campus and a hike I took this week on the mountain behind campus. More to come when spring is here, when Korea comes to life.