Fridays

I have started to look forward to Fridays, not because it's the last day before the weekend but because it is when I teach the Kindergarteners at Uirang Elementary! I honestly think they are the cutest kids I have ever seen. They are all so attentive and interested in learning English.

It is a refreshing end to the day after having classes of kids that act up and want to just hit each other. I try to keep the troublemakers occupied but it is hard when you are trying to personally take care of them and then also make sure the rest of the class is paying attention. I know teaching will get easier but as of right now, even just teaching at one school, is a tough act. In my first school, I have 143 students- no more than 20 in a class and I have 55 students in my second school- 11 students being the biggest class. It's nice to have no more than 200 students all together.

This week seemed to be the week that I settled down more. I settled into my apartment, which might I add is on the small side. When I say small, I mean smaller than your average dorm room. There is not much space to store things so I'm glad I didn't pack anymore than I did. I have the smallest apartment that I've seen but on the good side everything is brand new- my entire apartment building was just recently built. I swear they were still building when I moved in!

(There is a video at the bottom of this post of my entire apartment)

I am 1 stop away from Jeremy on the bus and about an hour from our friend Steve and 3 hours by bus from our friend RJ by bus. Seoul seems like it's about 1 1/2 to 2 hours by train! We are planning on taking a trip up north but want to explore our own area first.

The city we are living in, Gongju, is a city that has about 150,000 people with a river dividing it. There are mountains that surround the city and a famous castle on a mountain overlooking the river. I have been told by some people that in the mountains there are hidden temples that many people hike to. Korea, as a whole, is very interested in hiking. That seems to be the most popular extracurricular activity. This is when I wish I had hiking shoes- but I must admit, it is a great work out.

This week, my first school, Janggi Elementary School, went hiking with two other schools. They all met at a mountain and hiked part of it which houses an army base - and permission to hike in the area is mandatory. A couple of the other teachers and I skipped out on the hiking part but met up with the hikers at a nearby restaurant for a delicious dinner. We had tofu and fish stew with vegetables, side dishes, rice, and rice soup for after dinner. The rice soup here tastes like toast. They cook it in a big, hot pot where the rice sticks to the sides and bottom and come out toasted. It's good but I wish it was a little sweeter, I have a feeling it would make it better.

At the dinner, I met another English teacher from a different elementary. She happens to live across the street from Jeremy so her and I hung out after the dinner and she showed me where she lived. I didn't really know this but there are about 80 foreigners (mostly English teachers) in the Gongju area. The city I live in is not very foreigner friendly with everything being in Korean and no real foreign places (which I'm not asking for at all, I really like the experience of not having a ton of foreigners- it would ruin the Korean atmosphere and I wouldn't learn Korean very fast). Speaking of learning Korean, my co-teacher knew I was interested in learning Korean so she set up a morning class for my Vice Principal and I on Monday-Wednesday mornings. I am guessing I will be taking Korean lessons...for free! I am very excited about this, especially since it is from someone who does not speak much English so I will really have to try hard- it is more on my load of daily work but I think it is worth it.