A month and a half down...

Funny. I looked at the calender and realized that I have been here a month and a half. I don't think that I had figured out when a month had passed by.
This week has been pretty hectic. In the last month and a half, seven of the foreign teachers have left (foreign meaning American or Canadian), of a staff of about fifteen. Another two will leave in the next month.
Including Ryan and I, who arrived within two days of each other, four new teachers have started in the past month and a half. I am doubled up on one class that should only be six students--it is now thirteen.
Really, it isn't that bad for us foreign teachers. We don't really work more than forty hours--sure I put in a few more of unpaid prep, but that is the way it goes. The Korean teachers really get the brunt of all of this--many of them pick up extra classes in addition to twelve or fourteen hour days, and I believe they earn half to a quarter of what we earn. This is so sad.
So yesterday I was showing around the new teacher and her boyfriend. Anthony is hoping to get a job here, too. They just arrived on Thursday night, and it is so strange to be the one to know more than someone else. I actually taught them a few Korean words and showed them around Dongnae a little. It was really great.
Today, I went to church again. I think I made it in about a hour and a half. Fantastic. Funny, I don't mind the trip so much because the city and the area always seem like such an adventure.
So after church (the speaker was Andy who I got to eat with last week, and he spoke very intriguingly about the Christian theology on pain) we went out for Japanese. So good, but I was struggling with the metal chopsticks, slippery, soupy noodles, and too much food. I'm sure it was entertaining to watch. Benny and Nicole, two Koreans I sat with offered me a couple of strategies to eat more gracefully. It only helped to some extent.
Then, we had coffee and hung out at Andrea's apartment playing cards until nearly 7:00pm. What a blast. They are so great.