New Schedule

Winter break is upon us, and I have a new schedule. I work in a special English language education center within an elementary school. As I understand it this is a program paid for by city and provincial money. Intended to assist students in hardship areas. A large percentage of students take private lessons, one on one, or at a private school. This program brings resources to the students. Kids do not need to worry about transport, because this is an after school program with first classes starting at 2pm, and last classes ending at 7pm.

With school no longer in session, I am working a more normal schedule of 8:40am - 4:40pm. I go from school to the gym across the street. The gym is part of a larger facility that includes swimming pool, outdoor basketball courts, outdoor racket courts of some type, indoor squash courts, a convention center, and an outdoor stage. Multi use facility.

The free weights section is not very big, but enough. I am probably the 2-3 largest man in the gym. Koreans like the machines that you stand on and it vibrates, I'm not sure what it works out. There are also belts that shimmy and shake that are connected to a motorboat engine... or something. I think I've seen these in movies from the 50's and 60's.

East Coast

This weekend marked the start of Winter Break. Parents from Hwasan Elementary sponsored a dinner (not pictured) for the teachers Friday night. The gesture was very kind and showed the appreciation and regard that families hold for their school teachers. Saturday was a day trip to the coast. A time for the administration to show appreciation for what I'm told was a challenging semester. The teachers, I included, enjoyed the trip. Here are a few pictures from our sushi meal, and the beach we visited. A snowball fight ensued immediately after stepping foot onto the beach. Also, we stopped at a school to visit their English center.... I'll upload those pictures soon.

Merry Christmas

A short entry today because I have run out of time before class. Christmas was nice. Dinner with 5 Koreans and one other American. I got a haircut, that was my big christmas gift. The streets were lively as most people had christmas off. Here are some pictures.

Dinner and Alone in a Collectivist Country

Korean style restaurants typically offer one meat and an array of sides. For example, the duck place serves duck and 8-10 sides. The pig place offers multiple cuts of pork and 8-10 sides. And the cow place offers different cuts of beef and 8-10 sides.

Side dishes may include a salad like dish, kimchi, garlic and hot peppers, marinated onions, leaves to wrap your meat, a root vegetable, and a broth soup (sometimes it is the broth of the remainder of your meal (duck stew)).

When in a traditional Korean restaurant you typically eat on the floor, and cook in the center of the table over small wood, or charcoal grills. Western style is sitting on chairs at a high table, and having a menu to select food. Korean style there is only once choice, How many servings?

All this is to say that twice I have eaten alone in a Korean style restaurant. Both times I was invited to join another table. Once with a group of researchers and professors in the school of oriental medicine. Having more education they spoke enough English that communication was possible. Then I was invited by two men aged 29, and 35. They hardly spoke a word of English. What I did understand is in Korean culture people should eat together. Much of anything was lost in translation, but dinner got along well enough. All Koreans seem to have a Korean-English translator service linked to their cell phones. Often times when trying to speak or search for understanding a cell phone is brought out and they will display Korean characters with an English definition.

Hiking and Hello Phi Gams

Hello Phi Gams. I am glad to hear from you guys. Glad to see Andrew Chin following the blog, and Gabe Couriel already asked to handle the immigration papers if I bring a girl back.

I found the elusive lakes that are registered as Korean National Historic Sites. They are very scenic, beautiful in fact, except for the fact that two carnival operators are competing for business on that land. This means the rides, and loud music are a bit of a stain on the scene.

I then climbed a mountain. There is something about climbing mountains that is satisfying, even small mountains. First, there is the challenge. Then more important to me there tends to be a surprise at the top. Chimney Rock, its the rock formation. In Interlockin, Switzerland, one of the mountain tops had a mini park with a human size hamster wheel, and miniature bumper cars that worked if you inserted 5 Swiss franks. The top of this Korean mountain had a dip bar, pull-up bar, and sit-up bar. 6-10km hike and you get to a work out station. The view was nice. It gave a better perspective of the size of Jecheon, and the size of the agricultural land surrounding.

Out and About Saturday

Saturday is a nice day to walk around town. Today students are in uniforms walking around town. I was able to get laundry done, you can reference the picture. While out I took some pictures to give some size and scope of Jecheon. I also tried to take a couple pictures downtown. You can casually get a feel for fashion by looking in the windows, or at what people are wearing. Any other photos are miscellaneous.