Recent News

Hello everyone!

Jess and I have been back in Korea for 3 weeks now. I’ve taught plenty of lessons, and they have generally gone well.

We now have less than two weeks to go until the end of our first contracts. I feel as if we are edging towards a mile stone. Now is definitely a time for reflection, but I won’t bore you - suffice to say that I have had some rotten moments, some brilliant moments and everything in between.

I’ve spent quite a bit time working on my blog of late, and have finally figured out how to upload pictures quickly and easily. So I’ll upload more pics in the future and hang back on the long winded diatribe side of things.

Recent additions include a slide show of 101 photos of Sangju, pics from a recent outing with some teachers and two videos. One of the videos is a promotional video for Sangju, it’s slightly dated but definitely worth a watch. Please note though that Sangju is the center of (South) Korea and not the center of the universe. The video is unclear on this point.

My students wrote exams last week, which meant the teachers got to go home early on Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday the teachers of my school, including myself, visited a temple an hour or so South of us. One of the halls had a 1000 miniature Buddha statues. While viewing the statues one of my co-teachers sidled up to me and told me that only one was different, and that if I managed to spot it I would be blessed with good luck. I found it in less than a minute which impressed my cot-eacher. I felt smug, but the truth is it was easy.

Since the students had exams last week I took the opportunity to tidy up my class room and stick up some new pictures. Oh and I have started a blog for my English club - please check it out: www.namsanmiddleschoolenglishclub.blogspot.com. It’s really basic at the moment but I have high hopes for it.

Last weekend Jess and I went hiking with a friend in a nearby national park. We arrived at the park late on Saturday afternoon after visiting some local sites and then overnighted in a tiny “hikers’ inn”. On Sunday we climbed to a famous rocky outcrop called Munjangdae. At just over 1000m it is one of the highest points in the area. The view was fantastic. The only drawback were the many hikers that we had to share the stunning forests with. Hiking is very popular in Korea and many hiking clubs had clearly decided to take advantage of the cooler weather.

The route to the top was difficult. Our path went straight up the mountain ignoring all possible contour paths. I’m unfit and at times I struggled. The incredible thing is that on the way up we passed several restaurants. These restaurants can only be resupplied by means of the path that we hiked up. I was taken aback when at the first restaurant I saw large gas canisters neatly stacked against the wall.

Last night we had a braai on the banks of the Nakdong river in celebration of Heritage day. It was well attended and included a mixture of some of the ‘older’ (as in they have been here a while) westerners, newer westerners and some Koreans. I’m really glad a few Koreans joined us, I don’t want us westerners to form an isolated community.

On Friday night Jess and I discovered a new restaurant which has outdoor seating. Ok, so the outdoor seating looks onto a parking lot, but it is still outdoor seating.

So things are looking good at the moment. My only bad news is that our iron is on it’s way out. That’s the last time I buy a Locust (brand) iron, bloody hell.

Keep well.

I've started a spot for post cards. I would love it if you would send me a few. Email me and Ill send you my address.

I'm trying to improve the students' knowledge of Africa.

Flash cards from one of my lessons.

If I remember correctly I added the text to this poster, not that it actually has any affect.