Empire Daegu

So ... freshly graduated and was on the next possible plane ride half way around the world, to South Korea, for my first ever teaching placement!<br>Yes, it has taken me just over a month to start up the blog, but my personal journal is filling up rapidly and im forgetting who ive told what to so this is a nice way to keep in touch and let you all know what im up to while im away :)<br><br>So, the first night was pretty random and weird and after an ...

... is too much stuff to cover. In schools in America, it seems like if you don't finish the lesson one class, you can finish the next class period, but this academy is very structured. They expect you to go over everything in three hours. It's been very hard. I feel like by the time I get the hand of the writing classes, I have to switch back to the reading classes, and vice versa. Some things take longer to go over. I was skipping some exercises in the book that I ...

... I was starting to get really anxious because it was getting close to 2 pm. I really needed to prep and I smelled bad and still need to change clothes and get ready. At this rate, I would get to work with only 30 minutes to prep. I was starting thinking about last night when I was debating sleeping at a normal hour or prepping. I chose sleeping because if I could wake up and start prepping by 2, what could go wrong? Then she came back with a friend and we left ...

It's been the first weekend and I'm officially bored. The cable stopped working, my IPOD broke, and I can't access the money in my bank account because bank of America sent me an emailing saying that some funny transactions were taking place so they were going to put a hold on my account until I verified they were ok. I've left the country like 5 times in the past and they have never put a hold my account. Funny they did after I use my ATM card once in ...

... to, and I envisage going away most weekends from now on, especially during spring which is a perfect time to travel... I set my alarm clock for 5.15am on Saturday morning, unearthly by anybody's standards, but I don't mind getting up early for leisure purposes. Gyeongju is about four hours away so I wanted an early start, plus I had to take the subway to Seoul Station beforehand. So after grabbing a coffee, I boarded the train for my ...

... buy many types of pottery from different artists that have their wares in the store. After some light conversation with Mrs. Lee, we went upstairs to their home. We went down this stone pathway to this tent like enclosure (yes we are still on top of a busy store in downtown Daegu) and inside were four mats for us to sit on and then a "staging area" for the tea. Mr. Lee came in and sat down and went through the rituals of ...

... time everyone else *rrived my co-te*chers were quite drunk! They m*n*ged to spill * lot of red wine, *nd even better *ll over my duvet! It h*s * gre*t tie dye look now! We h*d * lot of wine *nd cheese, *nd then he*ded downtown for the usu*l fird*y night shin*****ns! We went to * few b*rs then ended up in * Nore b*ng (singing room). I rolled into bed *t 5! S******y w*s * h*rd d*y! I h*ve to s*y I did h*ve * bit of * red wine h*ng over! But I met up with my te*chers from my old school ...

... 17:00 and then ninety minutes of active Sunmudo; lights out is 09:30 and the warm bedroom floors feel like a little piece of heaven to my aching muscles -- and the cycle continues (NB: real monks free time supplanted by more Zen and chanting). We returned to Gyeongju around 16:00 and hunted for eating places (about a five mile effort) and turned in early due to the workout from the monks. Tidbits: - The road to enlightenment is uphill, especially on hermitage grounds.

I had an interesting first weekend. On Saturday Jang and I went to Duryu park to the tourist information centre. Unfortunately, my camera stopped working... hopefully the batteries are just dead. Anyway, I got a bunch of information and maps about the city. After that, we went out for lunch. It was really good. We had beef and soju which tasted like watered down vodka. We were shooting it and I even caught a bit of a buzz. After the ...

... not in a horrible 'I want to get outa here' way - I'd love to stay here for another year) but it makes me appreciate EVERYTHING that I do. I'm getting sad doing certain things already because i don't want all of this to come to an end. I want to just quickly tell you some things about the last few months. 1st of all - my new classes. For my first lesson I give the kids the opportunity to ask me questions. Any questions at all. Keep in mind that most kids barely understand ...