Of English Class and Omurice

It is a glorious day here in Gwangmyeong City. The sky is clear and sunny and it is 70 degrees outside. I learned yesterday that I actually live in Cheolsan which is a neighborhood within Gwangmyeong. I also learned that my city can be spelled either Gwangmyeong or Kwangmyong. G's and K's are interchangable in Korean so the pronunciation is the same. I have seen it both ways here.

Speaking of pronunciation, here are some difficulties my students have when it comes to English:

-they put a shwa (the "uh" sound) at the end of words ending in "s" - so they say "yes-uh, close-uh, class-uh, etc."

-they cannot make the "th" sound - it comes out as "d" so "this" becomes "dis"

-they pronounce "f" as "p" or something like that. Yesterday we were playing hangman at the end of class and they were shouting "eppuh! eppuh!" and I had no clue what they were talking about until one of the students came up and drew and "F" for me on the board.

-they pronounce v's as b's, since there is no v sound in Korean (i.e. "biolin")

-Zs are pronounced j, since there is no z sound in Korean. (you should have heard my one class when we learned the occupation "zoo keeper" it came out "jew keeper." So I asked them to listen and I said "zzzzzuh....zzzzuh.... zoo keeper." But they just though this was hilarious and starting laughing at me. So I started laughing too :)

Its funny...if I say things in English in a Korean accent, students understand me better. For example, yesterday I asked a question about the internet and I got blank stares (wow. there is nothing like saying something and having it followed by complete silence as an entire class full of middle schoolers stares at you like you are a complete idiot). So I tried saying it with a Korean accent (eentuhnet) and they got it! At least something works :)

About the English teachers are my school: First of all, there are 5 foreign teachers. Me, Amy, James, Glen, and Dan. There is also a girl named Hannah but even though she came from America she is Korean, speaks Korean, and is married to a Korean. So she doesnt quite fit in with the other foreigners. You already know about Amy and James. Glen seems nice, he looks like he is in his late 20's, early 30's and he is from Canada. I got to sit in on some of his classes and he is a very good teacher. Dan is very nice as well, and he is British. We crossed paths walking around Cheolsan yesterday and he asked if I would "fancy some lunch". I did, in fact, fancy some lunch, so we tried this place that served omurice which is a Korean attempt at an omelette (Omu + Rice). It is basically a tightly packed blob of rice that is coated and cooked in egg and served with different sauces, meats, etc. The one I tried was delicious! It was served in some kind of a tangy brown sauce. Dan seems nice; he is my age, in his second year of teaching here and he has a Korean girlfriend.

On a seperate note...as much as I am enjoying it here, apparently my tummy is not. I have become violently ill several times throughout the morning. There is definitely nothing like throwing up 8,000 miles from home with no one to hold your hair back. Sometimes you just need your mom... :(