http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , South Korea , Gyeonggi-do en-us Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:42:04 +0000 Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:42:04 +0000 Hello allAfter nearly 3 months of waiting next week English Village will have students I'm so excited Next week is going to be a big one for me because not only am I working Christmas Eve and Christmas Day but I have students which is why I can't take vacation on Christmas AND I'm going to have an international visitor. Spencer will be here to celebrate Christmas with me It's going to be http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Paju/Gyeonggi-English-Village-Paju-Camp/blog-461134.html Hi Folks There are a few more pictures on this blog so make sure you scroll down past the comment box as well as go to the second page of pictures to see the beautiful laterns. I want to share a few customs that I found interesting. I've heard that Korea has a high rate of traffic accidents but I haven't seen as many as I see in the states. It may have something to do with the fact that red lig http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Paju/Gyeonggi-English-Village-Paju-Camp/blog-453313.html Hello everybody I know that itrsquos been a while but here I am. So these last few weeks have been pretty busy. Two weeks ago was mom week meaning that moms had the option to sit in on our classes. This made me more than a little nervous but I think it went pretty well. The same week as mom week was when Matt and Mark came to visit. It was really nice seeing some familiar faces out he http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-450120.html The wine train is something Jess' mom told her about right after she arrived. Unfortunately in the madness that is jetlag she completely forgot about it until a friend reminded her mentioning it would be a fun trip. That was in August. It took a while to get everything together and it took some doing to make it work but on Halloween a group of 9 of us got together and finally made the journ http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Namyangju/blog-449829.html Hi everyone I know it's been awhile since I've last written but I've had a very busy week all of which I will be updating to you in painstaking detail. I however won't be reciting this past weeks events on this update because I'm currently on my brand new iPod touch brought here straight from America. I just wanted everyone to know that I'm doing great and updated blogs will be coming soon. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-448030.html Hi family friends and neighbors Life continues to be a blast. I've been very busy at work teaching and helping other teachers pilot a new program here at English village. It is a new experience using different skills and I am enjoying that part of it. It has added up to doing work related activities over 50 hours a week which I am not enjoying. On the bright side there are some Korean teachers http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Paju/Gyeonggi-English-Village-Paju-Camp/blog-447793.html Hello everyone I thought I only had a few takers on this blog but I have a few more than I thought and I thank you for reading it. I have gradually become quite busy. As part of my work I am taking a course out of Harvard call Teaching for Understanding. That meets on 2 Saturdays a month plus two nights a week. We also go to church on Sat. the English service is on Sat. or go with the boys http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Paju/Gyeonggi-English-Village-Paju-Camp/blog-444017.html Good bye We love you KoreaIrsquom going to interrupt just before the last of the Blogabrations to let you know what wersquove been up to lately. Lots have been going on plus a week in Japan so for the last installments of Blogabration I know yoursquore all on the edge of your seats please stay tunedhellipOne last going away party if you can call it that was two days spent in http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/blog-443355.html Before coming to Korea we couldnrsquot find any information on the designated town we were to call home for the next year. Literally the only two solid bits of information if you can call them that in which we knew for sure was that Yeoju is the home for some kind of world ceramic festival and there is a premium outlet shopping mall in town. You could say we were going in pretty blind but i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/blog-441867.html Hello hello hello. After an uneventful weekend I had a pretty good day at work. First off I finally got my alien registration card which means that Korea opens up to me a great deal. I'm getting a cell phone tomorrow. I also got a bank account today which means that I get paid tomorrow nice Those are two awesome things that I've been restlessly waiting for. This weekend is Choesok I http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-440683.html Itrsquos no secret Korean food is a lovehate relationship. It never really allows any room for indifference definitely one or the otherhellip or bothhellip or neither. For Cass and I itrsquos both but more along the lines of love and Irsquom not too proud to say so. Wersquove actually evolved to be somewhat of connoisseurs of the cuisine this last year and it has been a wild rid http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/blog-440578.html A few weeks ago some friends and I stayed in a pension in Gapyeong South Korea. The place was really beautiful. While I was there I really wanted to try waterskiing so we went to the river and I rented a pair of ski's. I was a little nervous because I hadn't waterskied in a long time and I wasn't sure that I could do it. Fortunately I got up and skied for about 20 minutes. It was a lot o http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/blog-439813.html Hello I am officially missing my two boysbut I'm so glad I'm not far away. Last Friday I went on a field trip with them to an big island at the mouth of the Han river. We climbed the large mountain there which only took a couple hours to go up a pleasant 90 degree hike at timesalmost 90 I'm sure. Most of the kids had no problem. I did have to rest alot. Then we got to see the 6th annual Asi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Paju/Gyeonggi-English-Village-Paju-Camp/blog-439631.html Hello AllI have some wonderful news some slightly old wonderful news and general updates for you all.First and foremost I have turned down an offer to renew my contract in return for a Harvard course training and certificate. I will in all likelihood be coming home in June of 2010 as scheduled. I can't wait to see you allSecondly I found out today that my application for promotion has been http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Paju/Gyeonggi-English-Village-Paju-Camp/blog-439024.html Hey everyone So on Saturday we all went to a teamwork development picnic about an hour bus ride away from Bundang. It was actually kind of fun. The Koreans Canadians Americans were randomly put into three teams and we competed in a bunch of different activities. I was on team C. The first half was indoor talent type stuff. The first activity was a team cheer which I was barely able to http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-438173.html Hey everyone I decided to put up a random update just stuff off the top of my head. To start things off I think my milk went bad. On Saturday morning I had a bowl of cereal and I didn't feel right the rest of the weekend. Normally you can tell if milk is bad because it stinks. The milk along with everything else here is a little sweet so I think that the sweet smell may have covered u http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-436449.html So wersquore back another awesome vacation abroad finished and we had a pleasant surprise waiting on our phone when we arrived at the airporthellip more vacation Yes while we were gone the Korean ministry of education issued a mandatory one week quarantine for any teachers that traveled out of the country a precaution for the H1N1 flu virus. Since we arrived the night before we were to g http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/blog-435616.html I keep forgetting to tack this bit of information onto other blogs so I guess I will make it a blog of its own.There are so many types of shoes in Korea. Seriously...here it goes1. outdoor shoes any shoes you wear in the streets2. indoor shoes if you like you can be barefoot inside the home if not you can get indoor slippers.3. in the classroom shoes you can't wear your indoor shoes into th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-435386.html Look at what's written on the coffee I got today. I'm inspired. How about you http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-435382.html It has been a while...Reading other people's travel blogs has made me realize 3 things1. There are soooo many places I want to visit2. I need a better camera I cant invest a ton of money but please make suggestions I would like to upgrade from my little touristtype camera to something a little more professional3. I want to learn more about photographyI have been teaching for just over a week http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/South-Korea/Gyeonggi-do/Seongnam/Bundang/blog-435091.html