PGCE Obtained!

Exam results came out this week, and I've got my PGCE! Hooray! 5 years of 'gruelling' study (and arduous procrastination) have finally come to an end, and from now on the only exams I will write will be the ones I create in order to torment students. I still disagree with the examination process, for most subjects. It makes sense for law as you need to memorise stuff for that as a matter of course, but for more understanding-based subjects like art, language and Maths, I don't see the point in doing it under pressure in silence, without resources. It's hardly the real world.

This exam period was the easiest I've ever had, though. Questions given to us before the exam, open-book exams, being able to do them on a computer, and take-home questions that were so personal that it's almost impossible to get them wrong? Piece of cake.

Anyway, in terms of this blog, my PGCE experience has ended. I've tried to keep this blog up to date about that from start to finish, but now I'm moving into a different phase - going from theory and studying to the working world. I've got a job lined up - teaching through Epik in South Korea - and right now I'm enjoying the last long holiday I think I'll have for a while. Two months on a tropical island, then a couple of weeks skiing in France, and then I'm off on a brand new (and terrifying) adventure. I think I'm pretty lucky. :)

Looking back on the PGCE, it's been a hell of a year. It started with us climbing a mountain (and sliding back down, mostly on our bums, in the mud) only to be told that we should try to hike to 4 different waterfalls that afternoon. We walked on tight-rope across yawning chasms (I may be exaggerating slightly) for some disadvantaged kids, tried to learn to speak isiXhosa, planned lessons, planned lessons, planned lessons. There were some great assignments and some awful ones in which the entire class failed, and I'm pretty sure that my mark for one of the sections was sucked from thin air. We had a short-lived English Teachers' drinking club, and got tipsy on champagne at the end of the year with our wonderful lecturers. Not to mention 3 months of teaching in schools. And that was... interesting.

Anyway, it's been great. From this point on, though, the subject matter of this blog is going to change a bit, focusing more on Korea, and becoming a combination of a travel blog, personal updates for my friends, family and stalkers, and anything I think may be interesting to people who are currently teaching English in Korea or who may be planning to.

Here's to 2012. The world didn't end yesterday, but it's definitely changed a bit, for me.

Cycles of Anxiety

Daegu has started sending out placement emails. Not to me, yet, though.

*hyperventilating*

*obsessive email checking*

*list-making*

If I get the placement I asked for, in Daegu:
-I will know people there already
-I will know things about the city such as where to drink
-all my research has been focused on it
-travel around Korea will be really easy
-I will know pretty soon where I'm going
plus all the good things that made me choose it in the first place, such as the 'small city' feel despite it being a big city, the hiking, nearby templestays, the general vibe...

If I don't get Daegu and all the research I've done means nothing:

"Where the hell is Naju?"

Start again...

Things to prepare for

My recruiter posted this amusing list on Facebook today:

Now that you're going to Korea, there are some things you need to prepare for.

- Pedestrians share the sidewalk with automobiles and motorcycles...

- Restrooms don't have toilet paper or paper towels...but restaurants often have loo paper at each table

- Every child you pass on the street will say 'hello' to you...

- Children love arm hair...

- Every city bus will have at least 2 teenage boys sitting in each others laps and playing with each others hair & they're straight

- People think you should board the train first before allowing people to get off...

- You leave the house almost every day with the hem of your pants/skirt soaking wet...

- Cell phones are meant to always be turned on...

- People love to know your blood type...

- Growing a beard ages you by 20 years...

- Kids and non-smokers are invincible to second-hand smoke...

- Trash can fires are not just for the homeless anymore...

- You are at risk of being hit by a car the second you walk out of your apartment...

- There are more oscillating-fan-related deaths than shootings...

- Other foreigners fascinate you...

- People think that it is really nice to meet you once again for the 300th time...

- Most laws are merely suggestions...

- All food is "delicious" with no exceptions...

- You never shut your bathroom door for fear of drowning...

- You only hear Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga's names twice a week now...

- The school bell makes you crave ice cream...

- The apocalypse has not arrived... it's just some guy selling fish...

- Naked man is doing unnecessary lunges in front of the mirror in the gym changing rooms...

- You carry your empty coffee cup for a long time after you finished it...

- The smell of kimchi, garlic and soju is an aphrodisiac...

- Every woman under 30 is incredibly good looking...

- Everyone is fascinated by their own face and like to take lots of pictures of themselves...

- You need to start making a schedule of your laundry waiting period...

- Fish and rice belong at any breakfast table...

- Walking backwards in a circle is a great way to exercise...

- It makes sense to remove your face mask if you need to sneeze...

- There are only 2 languages ever spoken - Korean and English...

- Little kids traveling alone on public transit is nothing to be concerned about...

- Loud construction workers are Korea's answer to the alarm clock...

- Any decent man's tie should sparkle...

- Animals love to advertise their own consumption....

- Everyone, including 7 year old's, has a nicer cell phone than you...

- Even if you are fast asleep on the subway or city bus, you won't miss your stop...

- At least once a week you crawl across your apartment floor to get something you forgot after putting your shoes on...A lot of these won't make sense to the first timers but bookmark this list and check back in a few months :-)

Too much information

I've been so excited about going to Korea, for so long, that I am worried that I may have done a bit too much research. Last night over dinner, (sushi, which is similar to Gimbap, a very popular and cheap Korean food... See? There I go again!) a friend asked me if there was anything I didn't know about Korea.

I remember a few years ago, my parents were planning to take me with them for the first time to their favourite ski resort. They had taken my sister with them the year before, and so the three of them spent the whole of December reminiscing and telling me about Champoussin. And I got upset, because I felt like they were ruining all the surprises that I wanted to discover for myself. I wanted that feeling you get when you discover that little restaurant with the best sandwiches in the world. That feeling you get when you've gone off piste, gotten lost, and discovered something incredible.

But now I'm going off to Korea on my own, for the first time, and finding out things about it has become almost an obsession for me. It's also made me a boring person, to anyone who isn't interested in Korea, as my brain is full and I don't seem to have anything else to talk about.

So, is there such a thing as too much research? How do you know when to stop?

That said, my brain is now a fountain of useful information about Korea, so please feel free to ask me a question on the Q & A tab.

I do think I need to start rationing myself, though. I think from now until February 16th, I should limit my Korean 'research' to blogs about everyday life in Korea, and my Korean language learning efforts.