Blogs from Cheongju, South Korea, Asia - page 4

Dear Blog Readers, Another week has passed and it’s been quite a surreal week to be honest. We spent the weekend recovering from our sickness and we both felt fine come Monday morning. It is currently winter vacation at our schools but the strive for excellence in the Korean educational system means that the word ‘vacation’ means ‘a time period where your son or daughter could learn more and improve immeasurably amongst his or her peers in a subject of your choosing.’ Luckily, my English winter camp has been much less time consuming than Laura’s and many of our friends here in Boeun. I have two hours a day for two weeks with some first grade students. Laura has four hours a day for three weeks and this seems to be quite common for the students ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Merry Christmas! Our first Christmas in Korea has been spectacular. This is not duly reflected in the size of our Christmas tree whose height can only kindly be described as stunted. Fortunately, I didn’t laugh at it too much because my laughter was exhausted when my Dad showed me the Christmas tree that they have for this year. I can only describe it in the form of a grainy photo from Skype. It’s about a foot high. Mum insists that it’s a ‘Jacob’ Christmas Tree because it will grow in sync with Jacob. Anyway, we were surprised with how many gifts and cards we had underneath our tree this year, worryingly; I think I had more presents under this tree than I did last year back in England! Coincidently, we sent our presents ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, I realised last week’s lacklustre attempt at a blog went relatively unnoticed so I’ll make this one a bit better. I also completely forgot to add any photos so I’ve put some on there now so maybe it will become more ‘readable’ in a round-a-bout sort of way. I’ve been in a horrific mood this weekend for no apparent reason but I hope that by writing down everything that has happened during the week that it may cause it to transpire as a culmination of events. Mum sent me a few photos of a snow-covered home, including a picture of the chickens, who are now fast becoming celebrities in the lessons. The students think ‘Marjorie, Rita and Babs’ are the funniest names ever; but then again, I find some of their names hilarious ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Don’t worry! We’re still alive and we haven’t been bombed…yet! On Sunday we decided to take a trip to Songnisan which is about a 15 minute bus ride away. The car park was rammed with coaches and hoards of people descending on the surrounding mountains. It reminds me of our camping trips in England where Butler will pack for every eventuality since the Koreans dress like they’re going to climb Everest and the women still hike in high heels. I may have just insinuated that Butler wears stiletto’s whilst climbing Scarfell Pike. We didn’t do any hiking but we had a good wander around the town and got some nice food in a cosy little restaurant. We nearly got involved with the outdoor norrebang by some drunk Korean men but luckily we had ... read more

Dear Blog Readers, Thus far, it has normally took a couple of days to get going with potential events to put into the blog but 8am on Monday morning I had already had a couple of classics. Monday morning’s aren’t too bad actually here. Laura gets her most difficult lessons out of the way with early doors and I teach at Wonnam where the kids are great fun and my co-teacher, Jinny, is really good fun (she is now the proud owner of a new iPhone!). Unfortunately for Laura, the bus ride to school is a point of awkward contention since a little girl who she teaches gets the same bus and wants to sit next to her. Does she let the girl sit next to her and have a bus ride of awkward silence or ... read more