Category: Korea – First Days Teaching English

Korea 029 – The Foreigner Party

Doug Nienhuis, February 8, 1995

THE FOREIGNER PARTY One of the highlights of English teaching life in Seoul is the foreigner party. There are many types and all are worth attending. Some are hosted by long-term ex-pats with real jobs with real companies, real houses, real incomes and real lives. For the English teacher, it…

All

Korea 023 – The Guys and Itaewon

Doug Nienhuis, February 6, 1995

THE GUYS AND ITAEWON Each night when I returned to the Inn Sung Do, my pace quickened as I approached the door. There was sure to be another teacher there, fresh off a stressful day and we’d head off to a place with lots of people and loud music to…

All

Korea 022 – Student Nicknames

Doug Nienhuis, February 5, 1995

In spite of their bizarre ways, my inability to adapt and the resulting trauma, I became very fond of my students and Korea. It was like being faced with a child so obstinate and so aggravating that you just had to laugh. And through laughter liking grows. Sometimes my students…

All

Korea 021 – My Battle Cry

Doug Nienhuis, February 4, 1995

On the rare occasion when he had something to say to all the foreign teachers, Director Lee communicated with us through Barry, a New Zealander in his early forties. Barry had spent many years teaching English in Japan and spoke good Japanese. He had been employed at FLS long enough…

All

Korea 020 – Mr. Lee the Director

Doug Nienhuis, February 2, 1995

The front door was usually locked with heavy iron bars that early in the morning. I went in through the back doors and walked up the stairs. There was an elevator, but I could never be sure the power was turned on. It was a very old building with a…

All

Korea 019 – Insane Bus Drivers

Doug Nienhuis, January 30, 1995

In the end, things worked out very well. Some other classes were formed and my hours increased and FLS became the cornerstone of my life for the next six months. My routine didn’t change much from the Munwha days except that my commute was now on a bus, an entirely…

All

Korea 018 – A Job at FLS

Doug Nienhuis, January 28, 1995

FLS I learned through another teacher that FLS, the imaginatively named Foreign Language School, was looking for an English teacher on very short notice. One of their teachers who they were counting on for the month had worked one day and then had disappeared without a trace. FLS was on…

All

Korea 017 – Weasel and Dust

Doug Nienhuis, January 26, 1995

WEASEL AND DUST I began work at KAL (Korean American Language) on Wednesday and quit on Saturday after three nightmarish nights. The manager was a Mr. Kim. During the interview, he did all the talking and made it clear that my most important duties were, one, to wear a tie,…

All

Korea 016 – The Subway War

Doug Nienhuis, January 25, 1995

I enjoyed going to Kyongbokkung. It was one of the larger stops and had been designed to double as an art gallery. There were often interesting displays of painting, photography or sculpture gracing the walls. In the mornings, however, I had little time to linger and joined the legions of…

All

Korea 015 – My Morning Routine

Doug Nienhuis, January 24, 1995

The days at the Munwha drifted surreally by, the change from one to the next barely noticed in my exhausted state. Getting ready at 5:30 in the morning in cold darkness was always a struggle. The night before, I could have made everything ready, but the call of a cold…