Dear Family and Friends,

I have a confession to make: I’m finding this new identity of “Laura Drumm, High School Teacher” rather surreal. Honestly, I picture teachers as smart, well-educated, nurturing, hard-working, and well, older. LOL! The rational adult in me realizes that I’m both old and qualified but the last vestiges of my Peter Pan mentality keep popping up to marvel at this new me. I show up to work in a school that vaguely resembles my old high school, I hang out in a teacher faculty room, I plan lessons, and I get to cut in line in the cafeteria (far and away the best part of being a teacher). Amusingly, I’ve already had an instance when a student called out “teacher” and I turned the other direction to figure out where the teacher was. There was no one behind me so I recovered and went to answer the student’s question. (Wrinkle nose). Oh.

Now before you get over-sympathetic that I walked into a classroom just after my time in Korea surpassed the 24 hour mark, please let me assure you that that was where I fully expected to be. My contract commenced on September 1, 2006, and I had read of instances where teachers arrived in Korea, were taken directly from the airport to the school, were handed a textbook and shoved into their classroom. I actually brain-stormed a few first day activities and was profoundly grateful that they were not necessary. My native co-teacher, who has been at our Daegu Foreign Language High School for 3 years, actually arrived at school more jet-lagged than I and he was the unlucky teacher both responsible for the classes and having me “observe” him that first day. He and I are the only native teachers at the school, we work with 12 classes over the period of a week and the plan was for me to observe/work with him during that first week and then divide the students into 2 classes of 15 for the course of the semester. Talk about an easy first week for me!

The signs regarding the conditions of this job were all very positive: I took to my Korean teaching guide immediately (frankly, I’m afraid that his English and understanding of US culture is better than mine). I agreed with what he told me about the philosophy of the school and they were giving me the time to observe an experienced teacher before taking over classes. I was warmly welcomed by every member of the teaching staff and administration. My apartment was everything promised and the school had taken a touching amount of extra trouble to supply me with blankets (amusingly, I later found the brand name of one blanket to be Laura), pillows, and thoughtful kitchen and bathroom basics – which all exceeded the call of duty. And my co-teacher is all that I could wish for: he is a good teacher, genuinely wants what is best for the students, and has been ever-so gracious in guiding me. He is British, excessively witty and excellent company – which makes working and accompanying him at school a true pleasure. Although his drawing skills when it comes to curly hair leave a lot to be desired (believe you me), his ability to create a comfortable conversational English class is enviable. I have a lot to learn from him.

Our first Friday class is second period and just as class time approached, we walked to what is labeled the “English Only Zone” classroom. We slid back the classroom door, walked in and as the students noticed me an “ooooh” went across the room. The bell rang and my co-teacher prompted “captain?” and a student stood up and called “Attention, bow.” All the students bowed their heads and said “good morning, sir” and my co-teacher smiled broadly in response and said “and ma’am? I’ve brought you my sister and she’ll introduce herself.” I duly did just that, that time and the next 11 in addition, generally telling the students that my name was Laura, eliciting where they thought I came from (there were a surprising number of guesses for Canada), and asking if they had heard of Seattle. I was impressed by their grasp on Seattle’s location and that they generally associated Seattle with “Sleepless in Seattle” or baseball (Ichiro?), and rain. I always added Boeing and/or Microsoft (but left it open to my co-teacher to throw in Bill Gates – who appears to be more famous than Microsoft) and my face always lit up when the students guessed coffee. Especially that first morning as there had been one plane ride, two mornings, and only a few good hours of sleep between me and my last cup of coffee. I hadn’t even glimpsed an opportunity for coffee, let alone a Starbucks, since arriving in Daegu and I was suffering cruelly. Oh, coffee… Anyway, I tried to be an unobtrusive classroom observer but instead I found myself an occasional participant (more and more as the “observation” week went on) and an excellent “realia” example for the adjective “curly.” (CELTA definition of realia: real life item in classroom to illustrate concept).

When not in a classroom, I spend time at my desk in the faculty room which houses me and about 30 other teachers. I’m not sure why my desk is at the opposite end of the room from my co-teacher and Korean guide teacher (practicalities, some sort of protocol?) but my next-desk neighbor is a genial gentlemen who teachers grammar. He told me that he’d have lots of questions for me and I groaned and laughed (seriously, I still cannot really define or explain it) and have been teasing him with “no grammar questions before 10 am.” I intend to move this time back until it becomes “no grammar questions before midnight.” Wish me luck. I do actually intend to acquire a tutor-recommended grammar book and work my way through it as this is a major personal deficiency. Although during the CELTA, I learned that our 4 non-native English speakers put us native speakers to shame in the grammar arena. At least I’m not alone.

As my introductory week went on, I was disconcerted to find that I had become a hot topic of conversation at school. The students began asking other teachers about me (which I learned when the teachers would pose the same questions to me). And in class, the students began “guessing” that I was from Seattle (forget the US) and sometimes called me instead of my co-teacher in the classroom. I’ve now had many complements such as pretty and young and perky (this always makes me worried as this is a usual first, not last impression, of me). But my favorite complement by far was being likened to Brittany Spears. Ok, in the States, this is an insult. But coming from a Korean teenager, this is a complement and I thanked her and then laughed and said that I couldn’t wait to be married to Kevin Federline (all the while thinking “that piece of scum”). I’ve been interviewed for two class “news” projects and promised to help review an English application to a Japanese college. I’ve been told that the students are excited to be in my first class and one student was sad when my first class ended. Talk about a warm reception. I’d be less than human to be anything but flattered by the attention but I’m also hoping that it’ll soon die away.

Anyway, I’ve now been in Korea for 10 days. I’m keeping myself fairly occupied with work and attempting to set-up a life in the most foreign country I’ve yet been to. I’ve now purchased sheets and towels, arranged my apartment, obtained an alien card (I hate that term when used in the US and am no more fond of it here in Korea), can plug my computer in (a major accomplishment that you can sure I’ll brag about another day), and found myself a Starbucks where I didn’t blink at the expense of a French press and ground coffee. I’ve taught my first class, obtained the assignment of co-teaching reading comprehension with a Korean teacher (excellent opportunity to read those classics I never got around to: The Little Prince, My Antonia…), and I am already desperate for some basic lessons in Korean. In other words, me being me, I have a lot more to tell you. Some other day. I also owe a few good friends some quality e-mails. Bear with me.

From the bottom of my heart I can assure you that I miss you all - but that it is good to be almost-settled here, in Daegu, in South Korea.

Laura Drumm, High School English Teacher

(Wait! WHO????)