So during break I have just been going down to Jeonbuk University every day to meet people or play basketball or soccer. I've met many very nice people, and even been approached by about 12 pairs of missionaries of various religions....
First, Gihun and Bongjin, I met playing basketball. They are both really cool, and of course very nice. Gihun later introduced me to some older men who play soccer at a nice facility every thursday at 3pm. Gihun leaves for Seoul soon to go to school to become a policeman. I will miss him.
Next, a group of girls. Jiun, Myeongjin, Jihae, Youngeun, and I think.....Sumin....oops, she's going to be mad I forgot her name...They all came to watch me play soccer on Thursday and cheer. It was fun. They are all first year students, so are a little younger than I am. I invited some of them to go with me to the zoo here in Jeonju yesterday, but only Jiun could come. It was very fun and ended up being a kind of date. That night we went together to a free acoustic guitar performance put on by Jeonbuk students.
Finally, I met some older guys, grad students, who are really good at English and play soccer every Saturday morning at 7AM. I played with them yesterday morning before going to the zoo. Notably there is another foreigner, Bobby, who is also quite good at soccer and actually speaks Korean ok. He seems nice.
We had our official meeting today followed by dinner together. My schedule follows.
MT: Yong Bong Elementary School
W: Yong Jin Middle School
Th: Bong Seong Elementary School
F: Gan Jung Elementary School
I basically have to walk down to the Wanju Education building by my house every day by 8AM where someone will pick me up to take me to the schools, all of which are about 10 minutes north of Jeonju. I am done at 3pm and take a bus home.
Tomorrow I would be teaching at Yong Bong Elementary, but it is Yong Bong's memorial day holiday, so I have no class. Everyone else does, haha.
This is Jiun. Near the zoo is a small amusement park so we went on a couple rides for fun.
Baby elk.
This is my room.
Post office in Masan. This is where you get off the bus.
I walked up the hill and found the exact apartment I lived in.
Then I walked what I remember to be about a half mile, which turned out to be about 3 miles, down the road to this bench that I took a picture on 4 years ago, and took a taxi back.
The walk down from the apartment is very beautiful and interesting, with curving alleys and paths between houses.
The church building in Masan.
Yes, the fine culinary arts of the east. Cheese of the sea.
I only spent a couple hours in Jinhae, finding less to do than I had anticipated. This store in Jinhae is part of a funny coincidence. I was joking with my companion about how unoriginal the store names typically are. For example, occasionally they will just put the korean word for "land" after the main product they sell, such as hardware land, or kimbap land, etc. to create the store name. I had just purchased some hoddeok, which is a kind of fried sugary treat, and said, jokingly, "someone should make a hoddeok land." About two days later we found it. It is particularly odd because I've never seen another store that specializes in hoddeok. Usually it is just something people sell in addition to whatever it is they normally make.
The rice fields are really beautiful right now.
These are from my Friday school, which is way out somewhere in the Wanju area. The kids are mostly from poor families. One of my students told me he father sells corn for a living.
The school has one teacher for each grade level with about 10 students each. My Thursday school is similar, with only 47 students in the whole school.
This is my class in front of our class newspapers. My coteacher, Cinda, had to leave this morning after she found out her grandmother's health has started to deteriorate. Tomorrow is the last day of camp, but I get to move my bags over to my new apartment tonight! I will be living in Jeonju.
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