My new job has me a bit distressed.
The students and owners of the center are Korean. Koreans have incredible demands with regard to education. I am SUPPOSED to give 10-15 vocabulary words that the students must write sentences for and have a spelling test for each day. I am also supposed to give out massive amounts of homework.
To give an example:
Today I was trying to figure out how many pages total I have to cover for one class. This class has 4 books and I see the students 3 times per week. The duration for the class should be 3 months. This is about 39 classes, an hour and a half each, total. The books have approximately 410 pages to be covered total. That means that I should be covering 10.5 pages per class!
I was so shocked at this that I talked to the owner about it. She said that I should cover 4-5 pages in class and assign the rest as homework.
This is a tuition center, most of these kids are already in school. This means they have schoolwork AND a shit-load of homework from the center as well. This is normal for Asians, it is scandalous to people with my particular mindset. When do the kids have time to be kids?
I have more adjusting to do at the center, obviously. I am there to do things their way, I am the employee, not the owner. I know the other Western teachers feel the same as I do.
Oh well, when in Rome...
July 27, 2009
July 26, 2009
Land of the Lost
Siew and I took the time to go and see the Land of the Lost movie.
I have to say that it was better than I expecting, and I thought it would be pretty good.
It was hilarious.
I recommend that you go and watch it. . . NOW.
I have to say that it was better than I expecting, and I thought it would be pretty good.
It was hilarious.
I recommend that you go and watch it. . . NOW.
Life in Kuala Lumpur
Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding cities have a total population of 7.2 million.
I have come a long way from my small home town that has less than 30,000 people.
KL is very crowded, obviously, and very busy. Life here is different from Penang, but I am adapting.
One thing that I cannot adapt to, it seems, is a cold shower. When we first moved into the apartment, there was no water heater. Not even a shower-head. Instead, there was a basin to fill-up with water and a small dipping bucket to wash.
I'm not used to washing with buckets, and definitely not used to washing with cold water.
We had to wait for more than a week to have a hot water heater installed. I am grateful for that device. I do not think cold showers are healthy.
I have yet to start my acts of war against the pigeons, I will do so at some point though. Pigeons are nasty and annoying.
Our apartment is open the air, there is actually a balcony on both ends of it. This means that when we open things up the breeze can flow through the entire place.
We have 2 air conditioning units, but they are pretty much never needed. It's a comfortable place to live in that regard.
We had bought a thin sleeping mattress to use until we could find a better bed. Sleeping on that was only marginally better than sleeping on the floor. I do not see how Siew can sleep on a hard floor without any problems!
We found a bed that we liked, mainly for the price, cheap. I am not a fan of soft mattresses. I do not like the sinking, engulfing feeling of a super-soft mattress or chair cushioning. The mattress that we found is quite firm, of course it is not as firm as the floor, so it is more comfortable for me and for Siew.
We had internet setup, and it is going to cost a ridiculous amount of money on the first bill. Really terribly expensive actually. I miss cheap, FAST, broadband in the usa. I do not miss much else there though.
I'm getting used to the flow of things at the tuition center. I have found that I enjoy teaching children quite a lot. Kids are interesting, and there really are no bad kids. They just need guidance.
I have become bad at sleeping again since coming to KL. I tend to wake up many times throughout the night, and sometimes wake up and cannot go back to sleep. I need to figure out what I can do to balance myself out so that I can sleep better.
I have also started losing weight again. All of my pants are getting lose around the waist. I am not doing anything special to lose weight, but I seldom sit-down while I am teaching. I like to walk around the classroom and give attention to all of my students. So, I am sure that has a small part in the loss.
I have yet to start driving here in Malaysia. I am going to have to start doing that sometime soon though. It would not be good to leave things so that Siew is the only driver.
Hmmm enough for this post.
I have come a long way from my small home town that has less than 30,000 people.
KL is very crowded, obviously, and very busy. Life here is different from Penang, but I am adapting.
One thing that I cannot adapt to, it seems, is a cold shower. When we first moved into the apartment, there was no water heater. Not even a shower-head. Instead, there was a basin to fill-up with water and a small dipping bucket to wash.
I'm not used to washing with buckets, and definitely not used to washing with cold water.
We had to wait for more than a week to have a hot water heater installed. I am grateful for that device. I do not think cold showers are healthy.
I have yet to start my acts of war against the pigeons, I will do so at some point though. Pigeons are nasty and annoying.
Our apartment is open the air, there is actually a balcony on both ends of it. This means that when we open things up the breeze can flow through the entire place.
We have 2 air conditioning units, but they are pretty much never needed. It's a comfortable place to live in that regard.
We had bought a thin sleeping mattress to use until we could find a better bed. Sleeping on that was only marginally better than sleeping on the floor. I do not see how Siew can sleep on a hard floor without any problems!
We found a bed that we liked, mainly for the price, cheap. I am not a fan of soft mattresses. I do not like the sinking, engulfing feeling of a super-soft mattress or chair cushioning. The mattress that we found is quite firm, of course it is not as firm as the floor, so it is more comfortable for me and for Siew.
We had internet setup, and it is going to cost a ridiculous amount of money on the first bill. Really terribly expensive actually. I miss cheap, FAST, broadband in the usa. I do not miss much else there though.
I'm getting used to the flow of things at the tuition center. I have found that I enjoy teaching children quite a lot. Kids are interesting, and there really are no bad kids. They just need guidance.
I have become bad at sleeping again since coming to KL. I tend to wake up many times throughout the night, and sometimes wake up and cannot go back to sleep. I need to figure out what I can do to balance myself out so that I can sleep better.
I have also started losing weight again. All of my pants are getting lose around the waist. I am not doing anything special to lose weight, but I seldom sit-down while I am teaching. I like to walk around the classroom and give attention to all of my students. So, I am sure that has a small part in the loss.
I have yet to start driving here in Malaysia. I am going to have to start doing that sometime soon though. It would not be good to leave things so that Siew is the only driver.
Hmmm enough for this post.
July 24, 2009
Junkies
I know that some of you are rabid junkies for my captivating blog.
I apologize to you less than sane individuals for not updating things recently.
I have been busy. I am still adjusting to life here in Kuala Lumpur.
Rest assured that I shall obtain your fix for you on a regular basis again soon.
For now, please go to a rehab clinic and rest.
*****I am off work, mostly, tomorrow. This means that I shall dedicate 30 minutes or so to updates and useless information being placed here*****
I apologize to you less than sane individuals for not updating things recently.
I have been busy. I am still adjusting to life here in Kuala Lumpur.
Rest assured that I shall obtain your fix for you on a regular basis again soon.
For now, please go to a rehab clinic and rest.
*****I am off work, mostly, tomorrow. This means that I shall dedicate 30 minutes or so to updates and useless information being placed here*****
July 16, 2009
Settling In
Wow, I have a lot to tell, and I'm not feeling hard working. I won't write a lot right now, but I will write updates slowly.
We found a nice 3 bedroom apartment in KL. It is on the 5th floor, there is no elevator. Fortunately, we had only what would fit into the Myvi, so it wasn't too bad to carry upstairs.
The place we have is partly furnished. Couch, tables, chairs, wardrobes, etc are all here already. Maybe not the best quality, but it saves us a lot of expense now, and a lot of hassle getting things moved later.
The landlady here is quite nice. This place didn't have a hot water heater. She was reluctant to have one installed because the wiring here isn't the best. But, she had one installed for us anyway. Initially we thought we would have to pay for it, but she had her husband a friend do the work, so we have hot water without extra cost.
We had to buy a bed. That took about 2 weeks to be delivered. It was not expensive, it's fairly firm. I do not care for a firm bed and Siew is not fond of a soft bed either.
We had to buy a computer monitor and pc speakers, water filter, cookware, etc. Siew's mother gave us quite a few dishes and utensils, so we didn't have much that way to buy.
I've started working at the tuition center. It's a bit strange teaching kids. The eldest student I have currently is 12. The youngest is 6.
Previously the youngest student I had was 12, the eldest was well over 40.
I'm getting used to the flow of things at the center. It's a lot less stress than a center like ELS. I am being paid adequately for my efforts and my boss is NOTHING like the bitch at ELS.
Currently Siew is serving as my beautiful driver and housekeeper. Until we get things settled, it is easier for us to do this. I make enough to keep a roof over our head, food in our stomachs, and some money stashed away at the end of the month as well. Later, if she wants to work, Siew will see about working.
At first Kuala Lumpur made me a bit uncomfortable. I have never lived in such a populous area before.
I am getting used to the flow of life here slowly. I don't think I'll ever really fit in, but I'll manage to survive.
Bah, enough for now, I will blather on more later.
We found a nice 3 bedroom apartment in KL. It is on the 5th floor, there is no elevator. Fortunately, we had only what would fit into the Myvi, so it wasn't too bad to carry upstairs.
The place we have is partly furnished. Couch, tables, chairs, wardrobes, etc are all here already. Maybe not the best quality, but it saves us a lot of expense now, and a lot of hassle getting things moved later.
The landlady here is quite nice. This place didn't have a hot water heater. She was reluctant to have one installed because the wiring here isn't the best. But, she had one installed for us anyway. Initially we thought we would have to pay for it, but she had her husband a friend do the work, so we have hot water without extra cost.
We had to buy a bed. That took about 2 weeks to be delivered. It was not expensive, it's fairly firm. I do not care for a firm bed and Siew is not fond of a soft bed either.
We had to buy a computer monitor and pc speakers, water filter, cookware, etc. Siew's mother gave us quite a few dishes and utensils, so we didn't have much that way to buy.
I've started working at the tuition center. It's a bit strange teaching kids. The eldest student I have currently is 12. The youngest is 6.
Previously the youngest student I had was 12, the eldest was well over 40.
I'm getting used to the flow of things at the center. It's a lot less stress than a center like ELS. I am being paid adequately for my efforts and my boss is NOTHING like the bitch at ELS.
Currently Siew is serving as my beautiful driver and housekeeper. Until we get things settled, it is easier for us to do this. I make enough to keep a roof over our head, food in our stomachs, and some money stashed away at the end of the month as well. Later, if she wants to work, Siew will see about working.
At first Kuala Lumpur made me a bit uncomfortable. I have never lived in such a populous area before.
I am getting used to the flow of life here slowly. I don't think I'll ever really fit in, but I'll manage to survive.
Bah, enough for now, I will blather on more later.
July 13, 2009
Fast update
Ok, we are settled in KL.
I have started my new job and I like it so far. It is a lot different teaching kids.
I have a lot to tell, but I'm tired right now, so you, if anyone still reads this, will have to suffer until I am not so lazy to write.
I have started my new job and I like it so far. It is a lot different teaching kids.
I have a lot to tell, but I'm tired right now, so you, if anyone still reads this, will have to suffer until I am not so lazy to write.
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