settling in

Cheongdo Bull Fighting Festival
Hannah and I at the Bull Fighting Festival in Cheongdo
Haeundae Beach in Busan
Jung Ang Elementary School!
Looking from Old Downtown to my side of town across the Taewa River
Apartment: Kitchen and bathroom
Apartment: living room/bedroom and another room

I can't believe how quickly it already seems time is flying by here! I'm about to start my fifth week of classes tomorrow! I didn't do much the first couple weeks, just planned, talked with my co-teachers, and got everything I needed to get settled in. The last two weeks on the other hand have been CRAZY! I started seodong classes which are two hour long classes Monday thru Friday from 4:30 - 6:30. It is a lot of work, but I love it! I have a book that is 8 units long so I use the book the first and second day of the week and then expand from that teaching basically whatever I can think of. I'm having a lot of fun creating lessons, activities, powerpoints, and worksheets....but it is A LOT OF WORK! I'm at school from about 8:20 am - 6:45 pm. At least I'll be making quite a bit more than if I were just doing the regular school classes and nothing else. My co-teachers are still fantastic and the kids are pretty good...they are kids. haha I think the novelty of having a foreign teacher is starting to wear off. I've had to get a little more strict with some of them. One student brought in a penny one day for show and tell. It was pretty cute. I'm also not able to go home between my regular school hours and my after school classes, so I had been getting pretty hungry, but the last week my students have been bringing me tons of food! The teachers are very strict with the students, but they also seem to get away with quite a bit too. One of my friends had a student bring in a hamster in their pocket one day! When her co-teacher went to talk to the student, all the student said was that they forgot it was in there....riiiiiggghhht! There is a lot of pushing, wrestling, headlocks, flicking, and hitting that just seems to go ultimately unnoticed. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger? Maybe that's the Korean motto!

Besides school, I've gone out with my co-teacher Kimmie a couple times to get dinner and books for classes. I meet up with Hannah (a really good friend of mine) quite a bit, and Maggie who I met at orientation. Maggie and I went to Busan for a day two weekends ago and went to Haeundae beach. Luckily it was a sunny day and i definitely had to take my shoes off and put my feet in the water/find a couple shells despite the cold water! The weather has been very back and forth! It even snowed here one day which I guess it hasn't done in quite some time! Recently it's been around 7 degrees celsius, rainy, and bit overcast. It should start getting really nice soon though. I can't wait for the good weather and the adventures to come. I'm definitely going to be visiting Busan quite a bit. The train ride is only 45 minutes and 3500 won (under $3.50). I have some friends there, plus the beach, PLUS the aquarium (where you can dive in the shark tank)! Apparently there is a really good Thai restaurant there too. As much as I love the food it will be nice to mix it up every now and again.

Last weekend I went to Cheongdo to go to the bull fighting festival with Hannah, her boyfriend, and friend. It was definitely interesting to see. It was two bulls fighting one another and really they just pressed their heads against one another until one of them turned away. Some had more action than others.

I finally spent this weekend at home, got some planning done, and just walked around new downtown, not to mention i'm sick for the second time. Apparently it is yellow dust season, which is when all of the polluted air and dust from China is carried over to Korea...how lovely. haha I guess it means a lot of people get sick...maybe there is a need for those surgical masks i see so many people wearing? i bet i could rock it! : P I tried to buy a couch from a second hand store on Saturday, but it's been sitting outside in the rain for the past two weeks so unfortunately i was not able to get one yet. There is another shop I'm going to check out this week...fingers crossed! It would be nice to have a bedroom separate from my living room (right now my bedroom is my living room) but i'm going to try to move my bed into the other room, which isn't really a bedroom, and find a couch! Five of us met up saturday night and ended up walking around for a long time just trying to find somewhere that had wine that wasn't outrageously priced. After three or four restaurants where we were sat and left...whoopsi...we ended up going to The Outback, which I have never even been to in the states! I ended up splitting a pitcher of Hite with the guys while the other two girls got a bottle of wine.

I might go to Busan again this coming weekend, or just work on another part of town here. In two weekends though, I am going to Busan with Maggie who volunteers at an orphanage the second Saturday of the month and then going to a cherry blossom festival on Sunday. I got my first paycheck this past week and a lovely package from my madre with some MUCH needed tea and love!

Well, I should be getting off to bed now...i'm hoping to wake up miraculously completely healthy in the morning and start a new week of classes without feeling crappy!

I will try my best to keep up with the blog and I have an address now if you want it, let me know!

cheers!