round two: 석천 (seokcheon), south korea

in case you were wondering, i made it to korea as scheduled.  15 hours in the air was a bit rough with only patches of sleep, but i had my own movie theater/video game console on this flight, which was a first for me, so that kept me occupied a bit.  when i landed, there was a cab driver waiting for me who had a sign with my name on it.  that always makes things so easy.  i had a pleasant ride south with another arriving teacher, thomas.  he was heading to a middle school about an hour away from where i am.  i haven't heard from him since being dropped off at my school, so i hope he's adjusting well.

i'm in 석천 (seokcheon) this time, which is nowhere.  it's located on the west coast about an hour southwest of where i was last time in suwon.  that's not too bad of a bus ride, but getting to the 'local' bus station in jo-am is a bit of a hassle.  a bus stops at the bus stop near my apartment only a few times a day and i still haven't figured out exactly when those times are.  so i can call a taxi to come pick me up and take me to jo-am if i want to go somewhere on the weekends, but no matter how hard i try with the best korean i've got, they have a difficult time figuring out that i want a taxi to come pick me up.  they'll figure out soon enough that i'm the only foreigner in this apartment, that's in the middle of nowhere, that wants a ride and send one right away.

that's my apartment building on the right (click photo to enlarge).

i have a half-basement apartment that is quite a bit larger than my old places in the gok.  i'll post some interior pics sometime.  it snowed a few inches one night last week, it's snowing again tonight.  here's a 7am sunrise shot out from one of the ground-level windows in my kitchen.

the raised rows and wooden stakes are for planting a new crop of ginseng.

here's my school, 석천초등학교 (seokcheon elementary).  it's fairly small because it's so rural.  about half of the students' parents work at a local kia factory, the remainder are mostly farmers and fishermen.  i haven't started teaching yet, but i'll be primarily teaching 3rd-6th graders.  i'll have a couple of extra (outside of the core curriculum) classes, composed of 1st-2nd graders, as well as a parent and a teacher class.  i get free school lunch everyday and i would say that it's probably better quality than what i remember of public school lunches.  all of the lunch ladies know that i'm a vegetarian, so if there's a whole bunch of meat in the dishes one day, they set some aside just for me that doesn't.  that makes it especially awesome and i really appreciate the effort.

on the left we have king sejong, who invented hangeul, and on the right i believe we have a famous maritime admiral whose name i don't know (it could be there in hangeul, but i don't know which part would be his name, i could guess but i'd probably be wrong).

this right here is a korean swing called a 그네 (geu-nae).

well, it's approaching my bed time of 10pm (which is about 5 hours earlier than i'm used to, but i'm adjusting) so it's time for a late, but light dinner and some sleepy time tea.

i'm out

due to the incompetence of the united states postal service, i just received my visa back from the consulate nearly a week after it should have arrived.

i'm leaving my parents' in an hour to go to the airport.  i'll be arriving in korea on friday afternoon (korean time).

we'll see how this year fares.  stay posted for more happenings in the east.

in and out: korea again

i remembered that i had some photos from when daniel came to korea in november, right before we left for the three week trip.  i guess that would make it his first of four weeks.

 

  

  

  

since the subject of korea is up, i should take this time to say that while i was in ohio i was offered a contract to teach at a public school in hwaseong city.  hwaseong city is not the same as hwaseong fortress (also above), but a small rural town about an hour south-west of where i was living last time in suwon.  i'm currently waiting on a document to arrive from korea so i can head to the consulate and get another visa.  officially my contract starts on march 1st.  they would like me there on february 26th, which is impossible because i still don't have the document and they are aware of that, so the next date for arrival is march 2nd (as the 1st is a holiday?).  i'm still not sure that the 2nd is even possible given visa processing time in conjunction with this holiday.

it will pan out one way or another.

could it be thor battering the midgard serpent?

nope, just daniel and a dragon.

 

killadelphia

i was stranded in the atlanta airport for 19 hours because of that snowstorm.  what's the deal with not having free wi-fi, other airports have it, why can't atl?  anyways, after not sleeping, another a.m. cancellation and countless delays, i made it to philly.

  

  

too much snow and ice.

 

  

time to hit the bar.

 

 

time to hit the sack.

 

without fail, duck people?

 

  

  

if you were wondering, this is my bed.

  

  

  

  

deep roots, ohio

i spent feb 2nd-10th at the linscotts' deep roots farm outside of athens, ohio.

 

  

the linscott children had a 'welcome' sign for me in my room upstairs.

  

the snow came.  the fowl stayed in.

 

 

 

  

  

  

  

cale started an igloo.

  

  

the kids played a little in the snow.

  

  

the bulk of the photos with the kids are crazy blurry simply because they are kids.

 

  

  

  

i'm not really sure.

 

  

the goats, daisy and petunia, came out for a bit.

 

 

here's a hard shot to get.

 

 

 

for some reason someone was constantly trying to kill me.

  

  

 

and scream in my ears.

  

  

  

we saw some deer.

 

 

the ducks came out for a bit.

 

show me what you drew on your foot...no, the other one.

 

melanie and the kids playing calmly.

 

on the way to the bus station.

i think i said that i wouldn't put these where the world could see, but there's too much gold not to.