Jeju Photos

The swimming hole I went to




PEACE :-)

Camping...kinda

So I planned a weekend get-away for me and my fellow couchsurfers. For those of you who don't know I am part of a website called couchsurfing. I'll do another "what's couchsurfing?" post later.

But we went to a hostel in the country...soooo pretty, and we ended up with like 34 people showing up. We went on a hike, a nature walk, a boat ride, had a campfire, overall lots of fun :-)

That's the hostel


That's the backyard


I have more pictures posted to my facebook album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2131026&l=a33f3&id=24606699

:-)

PICTURES

Earlier when I posted about the

food...well

here it is


if its in a metal tray like thing its cafeteria food..it doesnt photo very well but i promise its yummy,










SamGipsal with my coteachers











The cherry plate is the meal my Dutch friends made me.

Pictures from today at school

My classroom :-)

My lunch

it was yummy

Every day you get a soup, rice, some kind of meat, some kind of kimchi and some kind of green thing...seaweed???

Pictures from my walk yesterday

Enjoy the random format :-) (In case you didn't know click the photo to make it bigger)


Me :-) So you remember the most important part of this blog is ME.

I liked the little waterfall and the ... flap gate (?) ... that the water flows from has pictures of Suwon

Some random church I found walking.

Don't swim you'll wake the fish! (OK...so I don't really know what it says!) Something like suwaentmshe? Maybe...eh)









River












Pretty painted wall thing









Cherry Blossoms









Oooo fishing guys...they were awesome...right after I took this they saw me and turned and smiled holding the fish up so I could get a better picture :-) awwww













Pretty night tower picture

Crazy insect sculpture

Towers/gigantic insect sculpture thing

My Apartment!

My couch observe the Singapore Airlines blanket matches perfectly

Then we have my kitchen. I cleaned it. It was kinda of dirty. I wonder if there is a Korean tradition of leaving an egg in the sink when you leave the apartment?

My pink bed (obviously I did not buy the comforter) it came with matching pink slippers to wear around the house.

My closet (socks are behind pjs/bras are on door handle/underwear in a purse on the door handle...hey space is limited) shoes are in a closet by the door so I can take them off/put them on directly before leaving.

My washer and dryer (clothes rach from the ceiling)

My first real "day" in Korea

I tried to make some semblance of my apartment putting things away, making a list of what I needed etc. but after about two hours of that I decided I was tired as hell through a bunch of stuff in a bag and fell asleep.

The next day I woke up at around 7:30 I was supposed to be ready for school at 8:20 when my co-teacher would pick me up at my apartment. I sent off a few e-mails got dressed (minus my shoes) throw my hair in a decent looking thing (I even ran a brush through it) and then the doorbell rings(a whole ten minute early mind you)...dun dun dun of course as I am brushing my teeth. I spit rinse and deal with the doorbell.

My doorbell is actually pretty cool, it is attached to a camera...so I see whoever is outside and can pick up the phone and talk to them before opening the door.
It is my co-teacher. So I go to open the door.

Mind you I live in a very secure apartment I have three and a half locks on my door it takes me, on average, two minutes to open my door...I always forget to unlock one of the locks. After fighting with my door, I let in the teacher. Quickly throw on my shoes and leave.

Remember how I quickly threw on my shoes? Yeah...I threw on one brown shoe and one black shoe...I have major skills. Luckily one takes their shoes off when entering buildings so not many knew of my foolishness.

So at school I met a lot of the staff. They were all very very nice. The Vice-Principal brought me fruit on my first day to make sure I was eating. Most of the teachers want to improve their English, but they are very shy. Starting in May I think I begin teaching the staff too, that makes me a little nervous I like kids more than staff, but they all seem sweet so I'll try!

My co-teacher served as translator throughout the day. I felt bad translating is exhausting. There were days in Spain where after speaking, studying and reading in Spanish I just needed to call someone and speak English for an hour or two, or my brain would explode.

Things that I now know about my job:

I teach 3rd-6th grade. Fifth and Sixth grade twice a week, 3rd and 4th grade once a week.
I have a curriculum complete with books, worksheets and really lame games I probably won't use.
My classroom is awesome I'll take pictures on Monday.
Our principal likes the environment. Our classroom is filled with green plants and topiaries and fun stuff. His office has like three fountains!
I will teach with my co-teacher for a month starting in May we split the class and I have my own part.
The school provides me with lunch :-)
I have work M-F 9-5 (well 4:40 ish) and the first and second Saturday of the month from 9-1 (but I only teach 22 hours/week)
I have my first holiday on Wednesday.

So after school (which consisted of me walking around and having little kids come up to me giggle and say, "Hi!" my co-teacher walked me to a store I could get some stuff at...HomePlus. I bought some food, and hangers. I don't get my moving in allowance until Monday so I held off on most stuff.

Then she bought me a burger (she's so sweet!)

I cam home re-orgnized my apartment (MUCH better) and tried to find my way back to school. I found it! Walked around school a little and headed back.

On the menu for today: finish organizing apartment, clean bathroom and kitchen, walk around a little, and sleep :-) Tomorrow the principal introduces me to the school.

:-)

Carissa