Seoul Shift: Hiking, Baseball, and Money

Since I last posted, quite a bit has happened and I've definitely gotten settled down a lot more here in Gwangyang. Let's start from the previous weekend. Two weekends ago, we heard about a get-together down on an island just off the coast of our province, Wando island. On friday I met with some of my friends and we headed down to Wando. It was a three hour bus ride, but what was great was that because the event was so big, every time the bus stopped, more foreign english teachers boarded. We stayed the first night at our friends place in Wando. His co-teacher offered us his restaurant to sleep in and he had a sleeping mat for everyone. It was quite nice, although kind of strange. The next day we went to the beach for the event. Overall, there were about 200 foreigners there for the event, so basically the entire beach. Volleyball, beach soccer, grilling hotdogs, guitars, you name it. It was my first time at a beach in Korea, and it was beautiful. Check out some of the pictures below. I brought my handy hammock and slept right there on the beach for the night. Overall, a great weekend!

That week I got to really get serious with teaching. I knew that the whole "new teacher" phase would be wearing off, so I had to come up with new material to keep things interesting. I continue to use youtube videos that I find to start off classes, and the kids really seem to enjoy that. It gets them to quiet down and look up front, which is the goal for the first minute or so of class. After that, i've been using material that i've come up with on my own, along with games from a site called www.waygook.org and another site called www.barryfunenglish.com. If you mix you up right, in 40 minutes you can have 3 minutes of youtube, 10 minutes of lesson, 25 minutes of a game based on that lesson, and then, depending on how the class went, you can just watch that video from the beginning of class again (usually it's something funny that they like) or you can play a quick game. 1st graders get 10 minutes to color and draw letters and such, and then older kids, like 6th graders, spend more time doing worksheets and covering material much faster. So I can take one lesson plan, adapt it to three different levels (1&2, 3&4, and 5&6), and be set for the day. It simplifies things, and so far the kids stay interested. A few days ago I decided to have a "cultural" day and taught the three oldest grades how to play paper football. It was an instant hit, and every once in a while I'll see kids playing between classes here and there.

This past weekend, I met up with some friends from our group and we headed for the city of Gwangju, where we had our provinicial orientation. There, about 15 of us went to the Kia Tigers baseball game. Baseball in Korea is a big deal, so getting to go to a game was quite an event. Although the stadium is this city is smaller than most in Korea, the crowd was quite lively. I am told that if you go to a game in a larger city, it's the same thing but on a much larger scale. The next day, I headed back to Gwangyang to play soccer with the city team here. I wasn't quite sure where the stadium was in Gwangyang, so I looked it up online, only to find out it is legitimately right next to my apartment. I walk across the river, and there it is. In total, it is about a four minute walk. How I didn't find this before, I don't know. It was nice to meet the team, and I found a lot of cool guys that live just around me. Also, in the evenings now, I can go and run at the stadium, which has a nice track all the way around it. I look forward to playing with these guys on a regular basis, especially because they travel and play teams around Korea, so it would be a good opportunity to see other places as well.

In other news: I just received my first paycheck a few days ago, and man, was that needed. I finally got some stuff for my apartment and have more than just a matress now. Once everything is here, i'll post some pictures for you guys. I use a website called Gmartket, which is basically like a Korean version of amazon. The prices are insanely cheap, and they deliver whatever it is to your door. Not shipping, deliver. I'm expecting a futon here shortly, which will come in real handy.

Also, my school took me hiking a few days back. The hike was amazing, and the area around this city reminds me so much of North Carolina. The mountains aren't quite as tall, but with the small streams and the moutain lake near my school, it's very similar. We walked up to a temple built sometime around 1000AD i believe. Although the original was burnt by the Japanese sometime in the 20th century, it was immediately rebuilt in the exact same style. Check out some of the pictures below.

This weekend i'll be in Seoul for a friend's birthday, and then in a few weeks the Busan Fireworks Festival is going on, and we are all heading to the east coast for that. Be looking out for pictures from the fireworks, it is supposed to be incredible. Thanks for reading!