Katie's Wandering Seoul

I realized today that I haven't really written about life in Sangju or my job...so I will do that now! Sangju...after hiking up a small mountain I came to Sangju on Feb 28, and before I got here I was a little nervous because I did know that it was a small town.  Some of the people are orientation were saying that there was NOTHING to do in Sangju.  I do have to admit though that I am pleased with life in Sangju so far.  Yes, it is a very small town, but it's a nice cute little town.  There is a pretty good group of foreigners here and they have all been pretty nice and welcoming.  There are a few mountains that Beth and I try to go hiking every week (we haven't been doing so well this past week or so because we have been sick and super busy with work). It's also nice because it is really easy, cheap, and quick to travel anywhere in the country.  We can pretty much get anywhere we want to go in like 2-2.5 hours and the price to take a bus round trip ...

I have about 15 minutes left in my day until I can leave and go home.  I really should be lesson planning for my classes, maybe try to get ahead, however these computers are just way too slow to do much on them.  I go to try to make my presentation or look something up on the internet and it takes 50 years to switch things, so I'll write a blog instead! Gyeongsangbuk Palace in Seoul Beth, Heather, and me in Seoul We went to Seoul this weekend for St. Patrick's day.  We went up on Friday night, and came back to Sangju yesterday afternoon.  We had a lot of fun, and Seoul is absolutely huge!!!  We went shopping during the day on Saturday...there are so many different stores.  Western stores and Korean stores, it was so great!  I know that I don't have to worry about finding clothes that fit me!  We decided that we will just make a girls weekend back up there so that we can go shopping.  The guys weren't really into the whole shopping...

I managed to survive my first week with lessons!  My first day started pretty rough like I mentioned, but the week got so much better as it went on.  It probably helped that I did not have school on Friday.  It was the schools birthday, yes they don't have school because it's a holiday.  The schools in the states should really celebrate the schools birthday as well! To celebrate the survival of our first week of school a bunch of us Waygooks (foreigners) went to Daegu.  We had been planning it all week, for all of us from the Gyeongbuk orientation to get together.  I got to see so many people, I think our orientation took over Daegu! I went over with Darren, Mark, and Beth; we were planning to get to hang out with other people since we see each other almost everyday.  However, we pretty much stuck with each other the entire night.  We got to Daegu pretty early and did a lot of wandering around (mostly because we didn't have our Korean speaking...

We talked many times in orientation about Korea and how you kind of just how to go with the flow.  They do a lot of things very last minute, so be ready for anything.  I finally realized how true that was today...I was supposed to teach middle school today, which starts at 9:10 and I am told to get there at 8:30.  I figured I would start off on a good note and get there early, so I got there around 8:10 to find out that my class will be starting in 5 minutes!  Class starts, no co-teacher but we get started anyways on classroom rules and introducing myself to the kids.  About 5-10 minutes into the class two Korean teachers come in and start saying something in Korean (so I have no idea what is going on), they finish talking and all my students get up and walk out of the room with them! So...I am told I will have a class around 9:50, 9:50 rolls around and no one shows up.  It's now about 10:10 and still no class or co-teachers are coming to let me know what...

I have learned a few things in my week here in Korea, here they are... 1.  Korea is very cute (they wrapped a bow around my pizza box)! 2.  I will most likely offend someone here very soon...they have very different ways and traditions! 3.  I apparently am not from America, because I do not look, act, or talk like an American. 4.  No one knows where I am really from, and it's really starting to confuse me. 5.  I know a few words in Korean (hello, thank you, and idiot are down pat!  They are all useful words!) 6.  Wilson is a very fun name for my co-teachers to say, they are absolutely loving it and I don't think I have a first name anymore! 7.  I am in love with South African accents....I should probably live there so I can hear it all the time! 8.  There is a soccer team in my city, which I am very excited for! 9.  Korean people are some of the nicest/sweetest people I have ever met. 10.  I am terrible at atte...

Yesterday, we finally got to leave orientation and take the two hour bus trip to meet our co-teachers.  I was the last one from my bus to meet my co-teacher, which I have to admit was making me a little nervous.  He did finally show up, with the teacher that I'm replacing.  Having her around really is helping out a lot!  She is really nice, is showing me around the city, and helping me out at the school for the next week or so.  It really relieves me from a lot of stress! I got to my apartment yesterday, got to see the school, meet some of my co-workers, then we went to the grocery to get a few things to get me by for a little while.  The other teacher took me out with her really good friend (who is going to be here still) and then some of their other friends.  Some of the EPIKers that I met in orientation will be here with me.  I think that I will enjoy being here in Sanju! My apartment is a cute little studio, it's small but cozy.  Plus, ...

Korea is still going pretty great! We haven't done much other than lectures all day everyday and working on our lesson plans that are due tomorrow, I just wish I could see the city more! We went on a field trip on Friday to Chansaem Farm Village. It really so nice to leave Daejeon and the campus and see a few things. We got to make scarves, the dye we used was all natural material. My Scarf Apparently cell phone charms are a huge deal here so we also got to make our own cell phone charm...not that I even have a phone right now, it was still a lot of fun! Back of my charm Front of my charm They take their cell phone charm making very serious!  We got to watch the process of making tofu, I've got to say I never knew it was such a long process! We have had a lot of cafeteria food since we have been here, I think they are trying to ease us into the change of food. It's been pretty good so far. The day of the field trip was by far the best...