Korea Round 2

oookkk, here goes...

I'm in Korea again, have been for a little while. I've only been here 3 weeks and have already had two 3-day weekends. Korea's so random about that. We can't choose our own days off (cuz that would make sense) but instead get usually 1 day off a month and then 5 days in the summer and 5 in winter. It's cool, but I'd rather be able to choose my own days off. However this way, most teachers have the same days off so it works for road trips.

I arrived in Korea on a Wednesday and went to my first day off work on Thursday (not unusual). It wasn't a full day, I was just observing so it wasn't so bad. I took a sleeping pill on the plane so my jet-lag was relatively short-lived. My school is SO much more organized than Prime. I had a cab waiting at the airport to pick me up and drive me to the school. I live about an hours drive from the airport which'll make it a lot easier when it's time to leave next year (no more sleeping in airports!). I got to school, was there for about 15 minutes, and then was brought to my new apartment. My apartment kicks serious ass. It's a bachelor style, but it's bigger than I imagined it would be. I have a double bed (bonus) and AIR CON. Air con alone made me beyond giddy. Last years summer was no fun without it. I also have a patio area which is almost as big as my living space. Right now my fridge is out there (across the room from my kitchen area, stupid Korean logic), my washer and my clothes rack and that's it. There's still so much room. That will be Jessie's room when she comes up here in July when Christa finishes her contract down in Gumi. My bathroom doesn't have a tub but it has a glass wall separating the shower from the rest of the room. Korean's don't really do shower curtains and this is the closest thing I've seen. It'll be nice to not get my butt all wet if I want to go to the bathroom after having a shower.
The place is still feeling pretty hotel-like. I have picture frames but need to get some pictures printed off to personalize it a bit. There is absolutely no character here at all. I'll have it all tiddily in no time tho. If there's one thing I really like doing it's decorating. I just need to wait for the cash to start flowing...again stupid Korean logic dictates that that should not happen until June 10th.
I should not bitch this much, I havn't been here long enough, but obviously Korea's not that bad if I came back, so take my complaints with a grain of salt.

The neighbourhood it's in is kinda ghetto by Koraen standards (so I've been told). I, however, like it. It's not on a main street and it surrounded by curving streets with actual Korean-style houses on them. There's a mountain park a 10 minute walk up the road, it's not all domino-style apartment blocks and it's quiet.
I live in the teacher's residence. At my school there are 28 foreign teachers which is an insane amount. About 10 of them live in my building. The rest are all within about 15 minutes walking. My school's also about a 15 minute walk away. Anyang's way bigger than Gumi, but somehow doesn't feel like it. It has everything though. Wal-Mart, LotteMart and Carrefour are all short cab rides away. Costco's a short ride on the subway and into Seoul takes about 45 minutes. It'll be weird to not really have to do without anything Western. It all seems pretty available here. I'm glad that I went to a smaller place for my first year. This seems like the promised land whereas if I was here first and then went to Gumi I'd have gone crazy having to "do without."
Ok, so that's the location run-down.

Now, what have I been up to? I got here on a Wednesday and by that Saturday I was back in Gumi. The Friday night I went out with some people from my school for Quiz Night at a pub near our school. It involved breaking into teams of two, answering questions and drinking a lot. There was a decent amount of people there, 'round 10 teams. My team won a prize for the best name (Jesus Ate My Hotdog) and we came in second place for correct answers (fluke). Afterwards a group of us went out to some clubs in Anyang. They were pretty dead so we headed home around 3. I woke up the next morning not feeling exactly stellar, but got my butt in gear and headed down to Daegu. It was Joe's birthday and he was having a party-like thing at the Ariana Hotel (non-stop beer until 9:30) then clubbing afterwards. It was awesome to see everyone again and instantly it was like I'd never left. We stayed up for far too long and took the train back to Gumi at 4ish. I headed to Traci and Bryant's and crashed until around 11. I then made my way to Christa's. We went and picked up the dog (she was at a doggy hotel) with Traci and Joe and walked back to Bonggok-dong. The day was spent lazing around (none of us were feeling too hot), eating chicken and talking. I packed up as much of my stuff as I could from Christa's (she was holding some of my stuff from last year) and took the train back at 7:30. Taking that train seemed like a good idea, however I didn't even think about it and booked the slowest train possible. Crack-head. It took me 5 hours to get to my front door after leaving Gumi. I was slightly grumpy. Welcome back to Korea. Hung over and too much travelling...the lifestyle continues apparently.

Anyways

Back at school I observed for a few days and started teaching on the Tuesday. Teaching's fine. I got right back into it. One difference is this year there's no Korean switch teacher. I have to do everything myself which'll get tricky when I'm stumped on the grammar. Last year if I couldn't get something across to them no matter what I tried, or myself didn't really understand the grammar I'd just turn it over to the Korean teacher who'd explain it to the kids in Korean. It made my life a lot easier. This year I'll have to actually teach I guess. Another difference is the kids are way more advanced than mine were last year. They write essays and GOOD poems. The younger kids speak in actual sentences. It's awesome.
Their parents also have more money. These kids actually leave Korea!! That's unheard of. I was in Cambodia at the same time as one of my younger kids (she's 11). My school's the most expensive on the street (there are alot of schools in my area). It costs W300,000 a month, which is roughly $300.

The teachers at my school are all pretty cool. There are still some that I havn't met yet. There's a big lunch room that people hang out in before class and on breaks, however it'd be easy to walk into school, stay in my room and leave when school's over if for some reason I don't feel like being social. Most people seem to hang out together which is awesome. It makes it pretty easy to make plans and such. We have a two-hour prep time before classes start, but we can leave for 45 minutes and get lunch.
I have internet in my place only because my neighbour (another teacher) has wireless and me, him, and another guy are splitting it. I just got my passport back with my alien card on Thursday. Until I had that fancy little card I couldn't get any utilities beyond gas and hot water which automatically are in the apartment. I don't have a cell yet, cable or a land line. I probably won't get a landline, well, I know I won't, but it'll still be a little while before I get a cell phone (ANNOYING). I'm on the fence about if I want cable or not. I didn't have it for the majority of last year and it didn't kill me. I probably won't. I'm so thankful for internet in my place cuz I wouldn't even have been able to get it YET. It'd probably be hooked up sometime next week.

Last weekend I had a 3day for Buddah's Birthday (or something like that). Christa and Traci came up to Seoul for the Lotus Lantern Festival. It was good times. Did some dancing in the street, saw a few parades and enjoyed being back in Korea. I really do like it here. I've fallen right back into my place and my comfort zone. It's....interesting how that's happened. Where do I really belong in the World when South Korea feels like home?
We had a 3day teaching week. Today is Friday and I'm not in school. It sucks cuz it's a 3day and usually I'd be gone somewhere, but I don't really have all that much money right now so I'm sitting tight. My school has decided that it DOESN'T make sense to give me a little paycheck on May 10th (payday) and instead give me a bigger paycheck on June 10th. I tried to argue that in fact that actually made perfect sense, but they didn't see it. I got a $500 advance on my paycheck so I'm not starving, but still...I'll never get used to Korean logic and actually hope that I never do.
So this weekends plans include doing some marking, exploring my city, possibly going into Seoul for some festival (Hi Seoul), and enjoying new friends companies. Next weekend is a camping trip to an Island off Incheon. I'd like to go and really don't see why I won't be able to if I'm careful with my money during the week which isn't hard to do. We'll see.
That be all for now. I'll put a few pics up on here and next week I'll take some pics of my kids. I have a few really fun classes that I already love. Don't kid yourself, teachers have favourites.