Many good times to be had this week and weekend with it all coming to a head in Seoul. Cass’ week, school, and situation is getting better with a little old fashioned ‘seating chart,’ making everything else seemingly better as well. Maybe our good fortune just came with the rice cooker… but I don’t want to give away any of the story. Monday, the male teachers at school put up nets in the gym and invite anyone who wants to, for a round of the national sport, outside of Tae-kwon-Do, badminton. This isn’t the brand of badminton that you set up in the backyard during summer BBQ’s to keep the kids occupied, this is competition. There are usually ten or so teachers from different schools that come and play for a few hours and then meet ... read more

I start this entry, for all intents and purposes, behind in the count due to the lashing I received from Mt. Birobong last weekend. Korea 1… Jon 0. Here is where we begin this weekend’s little shenanigan, beginning Friday after school and ending Sunday in Seoul at a magnificent palace dating back over seven hundred years. I received another teacher’s dinner invitation after school Friday, and of course, I accepted. Soju sounded rather good at the time, even despite it’s rankness. So I went home to drop off my school stuff and picked up Cass. We went downtown, just off the main street, to one of those ‘grill at your table’ Korean BBQ’s, which I have really warmed up to. The rest of the teachers showed up, English Mr. Kim- Science Mr. Kim- Superman Mr. Kim- ... read more

I need to preface anything I mention in this blog with the fact that I am a fairly seasoned outdoorsman, I think. Okay? Just keep that in mind as I take you though our little endeavor in our first Korean National Park… We went on Saturday, but the Friday before that, following suit, was another practice in Yeoju magic. Just as last week, stumbling on a crowd of English teachers in the Gu’s pizza joint, a similar fate awaited us as we strolled the aisles of E-Mart (the Korean version of Wal-Mart,but only half the size and the parking lot is on the roof). I was an aisle ahead of Cass, I think I was in search of the plentiful free samples throughout the store, when I found her talking to someone. I went over and ... read more

So I was invited to an observation with Mr. Kim on tuesday afternoon. He is a 'head teacher' in the school, kind of like a liason between administration and staff, almost like a mentor for the younger teachers. Already, I recognize that beeing a teacher in Korea is a tough job. Classes have upwards of thirty students, every other week you have school on saturday (I know... right?), there aret these things called 'official tours they atttend all the time (like an observation in another school, i think) and then there is this thing teachers of five years or less must do called an 'open classroom.' I immediately thought is what just an observation and evaluation of your teaching by head teachers and principals. Now, I've had observations done teaching in PBurg, but nothing like this. ... read more

We were visited by an angel from Tennessee this weekend. Cass’ friend, Renata, whom she worked with in Americorps in Florida, has been living and teaching english in South Korea for over a year. She pretty much dedicated an entire weekend of her life to showing us how to survive in this hectic world. She got in to the Yeoju bus station around dinner time, we dropped off her things and went to eat. There are a lot of restaurants close by the apartment, but are still a little too intimidating for us to wander in and communicate, yet, but with Renates help we went to one of those Korean bbq joints you sit on the ground and chopstick pieces of pork to death. One thing I’m learning is that meals in Korea, outside of street ... read more