Well, it has been roughly three weeks since I arrived here in Korea, and I finally feel like I’m settling in and ready to talk about the process. I’m not going to do a whole “This is Korea” article right now, and I”ll touch on things like teaching here, the food, and the couple of small trips I’ve already made at a later date (I’m going to do my best to update this blog weekly).
So, I got into the provincial capital of Busan on August 31st and stayed a night in one of the nicer “not a hotel” hotels I’ve ever been in, mostly spending my time getting lost looking for the subway, verifying there were Coke products in Korea, and sleeping off a wicked jetlag. The next morning I was whisked to the regional capital of Changwon for paperwork and a couple hours later was heading off with my newly met co-teacher, Miss Tak, to my home for the next year, Tongyeong.
The are is gorgeous, but rather than try and do it justice with words, I’ll show you some pictures:
I was lucky enough to meet the man who I was replacing, a Canadian who had been here for six years. Consequently I hit the jackpot with the apartment I was left. It is small, but fully furnished, right down to a couple month’s supply of toilet paper rolls. I even have a leather couch, although it’s mostly just in the way at the moment. I”ll do the photo tour at a later date, but the upshot is I’m quite comfortable and got to avoid the frenzied buying a lot of other teachers must do when they first arrive.
I’m on the third floor
As for my job, I’m teaching at an all-boys middle school, which here translates to boys ranging from 13-16 years old, which can be… a challenge. Some of them are nearly functionally fluent already, while others don’t appear to know a word. I’m building a curriculum right now, but it’s going to be a process, and I have a whole lot to learn about teaching here. I also teach at a smaller rural school on Wednesdays, which is a nice relief from the city.
Which is also in a pretty gorgeous area
Well, that’s about what I have for now, but next week I’ll touch on a couple of ferry trips I’ve taken to the surrounding islands as well as a potential trip out of town that’s due up this weekend.
