costa rica in korea

I got back today from a three day teacher orientation. It was informative, but a bit redundant since i've been here for a month now. Anyhow i got back early so i walked up to this coffee shop in Pyongnae. They have house roasted, hand ground coffees, with bean selections from America, Africa and Asia. I had the Costa Rican Tarrazu, and it could have been the best cup of coffee ive ever had. I actually walked by this place before and never noticed it, so im glad a teacher friend suggested i check it out.

Next weekend is Cheousok, its like Korean thanksgiving, so we have a 4 day weekend. So ill be going on a 3 day hike at Jirisan with some of my Wisconsin friends. It has the second highest peak in Korea, somewhere over 1900m (or 6000ish feet). Now that ive gotten paid and im a won millionaire i can afford to buy some new supplies for the trip.

Visits to Seoul

Hopyong is about a half hour outside of Seoul. It is very easy to get into Seoul. I can walk a few blocks and catch one of many express buses that will go to various parts of Seoul, and it costs around $1.50. Once in Seoul the subway will take you anywhere for under a dollar. I've only explored a small part of the city, but ive been going there every weekend. This last weekend i met my coworker June to see some new parts of the city. It was nice to see that even someone who's lived there gets a little confused by the subway (the signs are not consistent from station to station). We went up to the top of Namsan, a peak capped by the Seoul tower (and strangely the location of the teddy bear museum). It was a great place to see the city from above, though the atmosphere was a little thick that day. Later he took me to fat grandma's pork trotter restaurant (my loose translation of the name) where we ate pork's foot and tiny shrimps. It was surprisingly edible.

3rd grade teachers

At the school im considered part of the 3rd grade teachers (though i dont even teach 3rd grade). Every day we meet for 10 min after first period, they talk business and i eat grapes, melon apples or whatever fruit they have that day. Friday night they brought me out for a welcome party to a nice duck restaurant in Cheonma, and of coarse we had grilled duck. It was typical of my experience dining here in Korea, though this time it was a party for me. Anyway Koreans go all out when they dine out, and any place that serves grilled meat will have the grills at the table, this place had charcoal grills. So they bring out the food, a big pile of meat, and a ton of side dishes, various kimchis and lettuce. You grill the meat, then everyone just goes at the food, till its gone, then they bring out more, then when that's gone we get noodles (sometimes rice) then we're stuffed and we drink coffee. Its always delicious, its always satisfying. And they never split the bill, but im not sure who's supposed to pay.

And the 3rd grade teachers are also great. I think there are 10 "3rd grade" teachers. Four of them are older women (who are like adoptive mothers who i cant understand), three younger ladies, Sujin who is the other Korean English teacher, and two guys and me. Everyone is very nice and helpful, and they will all attempt to talk to me in English, or test my rudimentary Korean skills (like making me read aloud wrappers and things with Korean writing). They have taken me in and seem to like having me there.

school

Week 3
This is now my second week of classes. And its nice to be in class. The word spread fast and alot of the kids knew who I was before I had them in class. The kids are great, they really like saying hi to me in the hall way because they arent allowed to be so friendly with the normal teachers. This month Im teaching the 4th and 5th graders, next month ill teach 3rd and 6th graders.
Last week I finally got my foreigner registration card, so i opened a bank account and Ive been reimbursed for my flight over. This weekend I got my phone, and I will soon get internet.

This weekend I went to Seoul to meet Matt and some of his friends for some American food in Itaewon, and id have to say my burger was pretty tasty. After that we hit a couple skate parks, the first one was very unique, they basically converted a plaza into a skatepark, and there were quite a few pedestrians/spectators. The second was a basic skatpark kit, similar to any suburb in the States. While there Matt's friend Tyler struck up a conversation with some local kids. Since he had taught gradeschool, and is teaching middleschool, he knows the extent of the kids vocabularies so he was able to ask the familiar questions and give familiar responses, he even struck up a few songs they knew. Its very interesting that we know what words every child in Korea knows (in english) if we know their age. And it was funny to see the group of children it attracted. We skated pretty hard, and two different moms came up to offer us water/tea which was greatly apreciated. I guess theres quite a few skateparks in Seoul, so im looking forward to seeing what else there is.