Make haste

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Trip Start Aug 07, 2007 Trip End Ongoing Next
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  Uijeongbu, Korea Rep.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007

As things did not work out in China I had (with a little prompting from friends "dude you're probably not even unpacked") decided to keep the dream alive and search anew. Christina a friend from grad school gave me a number of a recruiter in Korea and a couple of phone calls later I had a job in Korea. They wanted me sooner than later so it was off on the 7th of September.

Long flight over with  stops in Chicago and Tokyo, 'bout 24hrs travel time. I arrived at the Seoul airport tired and ready for some rest. There was a driver holding a paper with my name on it and after I dodged a lady asking me if I was US military we were on the road to Uijeongbu.

At my new place I meet my supervisor, Christina, Cloten, and Gretchen. I dropped my bags in my new living quarters (a small bachelor apt) and we went for drinks (minus one supervisor). This was a crash course in teacher lifestyle in Korea (ie. lots of partying). We drank for a few hours and the I jetted back to my apt to crash.

In the morning  we went to a market where my bank card did not work. Saved by Christina lending me some cash to get by. It's good to have friends. We went out for dinner that night a restaurant that does BBQ. There is a grill in the middle of the table you sit at it and the waiter cooks the food in front of you. We had spicy pork. It was delicious. Tierd but not out for the count I later joined the Canadian running club of Canada International Teachers, for a jaunt along a river very close to my apt. No worries like in Shanghai about finding safe places to run here. I hit the sack early as I was expected to report for work Monday morning. We have been running regularly ever since.

Chrissy and I walked to school Monday morning. It takes about 15 minutes. I have been assigned to run a kindergarten class for two weeks while the regular teacher is away. I run kinders from 10am to 230pm and then have 7 grade 1s for ESL/BC curriculum from 3pm-540pm and to round out the day I have 3 grade 4s for ESL/BC curriculum from 540pm-720pm. The school is a narrow 3 story building off of a main road. The kids are great. I have to pace my self because of so much teacher/student contact time (I figure I would be putting in the same hours in Ont.) If I don't I find I'm frazzled by 3pm. Mind you it's great fun to be goofy with the kindergarteners. The grade school kids are bright and eager to learn...even the three that come in after a full day of school to work on their English. One of my students (grade 4) does a full day of Korean class, English class with me and then Chinese after that. They have a great work ethic. I stressed to them the importance of learning languages and the doors it opens for them. Wish I had that kind of thirst when I had French lessons after school in Dayton Ohio .

Back to food...Found an all you can eat tuna/swordfish bar last night for 15 CAD and today had a med pizza for 5 CAD. We go for lunch each day and I spend 4 CAD for a delicious meal. I am now sitting in one of the millions of Cybercafes (PC as the are known by here) sippin on a cold one and about to start my Korean training in the art of Warcraft 3 and the soon to be Starcraft 2...Will write soon....after a tour of the DMZ....

The home sick (on occasion) and well fed:

Kevin Teacher

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