i love autumn in korea

pics from the last few weeks here!!

these are from the lake near my house:



in the mornings and evenings, these pathways are crowded with ajumas and ajushis speed walking/huffing/puffing/exercising :D





coming up a subway exit in seoul:

wonderful fall coffee break!
(photo credit to kyuhee.. haha no i didn't pose for and then take these pictures of myself)





hiking trip to visit nancy at goesan!!

hello tree!

kyuhee, nancypants, me



one of my fav weekends in korea so far!!

at lotte world with kristina and jenniferrr (in front of the famous carousel)

autumn!

autumn is just about here!
last week i went on a field trip with my school to an arboretum somewhere near seoul.
needless to say, it was gorgeous. it would have been more gorgeous though, without about 40 first through third graders running/screaming/fighting/crying/whining. hahaha

sigh.



i'm sitting at my school right now wasting time bc i came to school around 9:40 to join my students' regular english class.. when i got here i sat in one class for thirty minutes and found out that 3-6 grades are making wheelchairs outof cardboard boxes for handicapped-people-awareness. thus. i have been sitting here since 10:30 waiting for lunch. HAHA and then i can go home. :)

chungju, korea

things i have gotten used to (or been forced to):
-being a pedestrian, walking 247283947 miles a day, but not having right-of-way
-narrowly avoiding being hit by a car at least twice a day
-no bathtubs
-NO AC!!!
-doing dishes
-cooking things for myself

i'm starting to love my city more and more. fortunately for me, it actually is a city. i love living across the street from e-mart and going there like 8 times a week. i love the gorgeous lake about a mile away, and the downtown shops and bars. i LOVE how cheap the food is and the free lunch i get at school. AND you can get ANYTHING delivered!!!!
i'm starting to love my kids too. everyday there's another challenge and another hurdle, ususally in the form of kids smacking/kicking/slapping/screaming at each other... BUT.
haha.
it makes me sad that there's no one at home to teach them any different. i consider the fact that they say hi or hello when they see me a pretty awesome little victory. hahahaha. then i say how are you and their eyes go blank.... -____-

school is having a festival tomorrow so pictures to come!!!

big big picture post

I apologize for taking so long to update! for now, since I don't have a large amount of time or patience i'll just put up pictures since arriving in chungcheongbukdo. for the last week 33 of us have been staying in a teacher training facility in cheongwon. pretty much in the boonies.. but very beautiful!
taken from the bus ride about 2 minutes from the dorms:



our dorm rooms (newly renovated and super nice!):

view from my window:

last sunday we took a field trip to songnisan to hike and see a buddhist temple:





me and giant gold buddha:



on wednesday we visited chungcheongbukdo foreign language institute:

my roomie and future apt mate--kyuhee:

but i only have pictures of us hanging out on grounds:



cool picture.. except i didn't take it.. hahaha

and afterwards... SANGYUPSAL TIME!!!


it was seriously.... AMAZING....

and the man that made it happen... Mr. Jo! our supervisor who took amazing care of us this last week:

mr. jo and just the girls!

took a walk around the grounds and found this amazing spider spinning a web:

strolling





pic of the walkers!


that's what i have for now~ tomorrow i'm going to chungju to move into my one room studio! i probably won't have internet for a while.. but when i can i will try and be a better update-er!
i miss everyone from home.. wish you could all be here

spoils of the day!

did a little shopping spree and i just wanted to put up what i got! :)

i know.. the shoes are very gold.. but they were only $5!! and the heels were $15!

surprisingly, even with the traveling to busan and taxis and whatnot, i still have about half of what i cashed.. so about $100~ hooray for me!!

busan

my camera battery died just as i got to heundae (the beach in busan)

but i had the most tiring day ever. that's pretty much it.

and i bought gold shoes. :)

now that i'm not impatient i'll post what happened yesterday

friday: went to an elementary school in the morning to observe their english program~


this is their garden that their vice principal bragged about like it was a huge school effort. i later learned she's the only one who works in it

weird tomato/pepper hybrid looking things





BIGGEST SPIDER EVER!!! it was the length of at least my index finger and its body was at least as thick as 2 fingers

if you look close you can tell it's eating something..

in the english section of school



english chat time! hahaha

that night... >:]



beer and chicken... the best combination





haha english chat group! (the tall one is austrailian!!)