Around Mokpo




photo credit: Krista Farley

Today is the last day of regular school until March. Lizzie booked tickets to Singapore last night so we're going from January 20 till February 4th and we're meeting Krista there, as she's going with her mom. I have a Korean teacher dinner this evening with all the teachers from my school. Next week will be another trip to Seoul for a New Year's eve party with a bunch of Mokpoites. Will be in touch by email for the next little bit until I can upload some more pics for the blog. I'm going to miss my school computer.
cheers!

I have a camp!

Yay, I am so happy that I have a camp as it means an extra million in my pocket for the holiday! (won that is, oh well) It's kind of out in the country so I will be staying in a motel, but the dates are good, second and third week of January. That means I have next week to RELAX! Then the camp, then three weeks in Singapore and Malaysia with Lizzie and Krista, then a week back at school (but no classes - ok!) then two more weeks off. This is just the winter break folks! Teaching rocks - I highly recommend it.

I know the pic does not really match the post, but I like it! This was taken very early, maybe 6am, on a Sunday morning in Gwangju which is why the streets are deserted. This is near the Migliore shopping district and is ablaze with lights and crowded with street vendors at night.

Christmas day at the Illo orphanage near Mokpo.

There were 22 kids and about 10 foreign teachers, plus three staff so this event was a lot more crowded and busy than the party last week at the smaller orphanage in Mokpo. We did crafts, music, presents, fried chicken and a good time was had by all. Santa even showed up! I think for many of us foreigners it felt good to have a focus for Christmas day, especially those of us like me who have never been out of the country for Christmas. The day was so warm and sunny it felt like a day in April back home, plus many businesses were open so it wasn't a typical Christmas. Many people had to work the next day too...

Of course the children were adoraable and were very excited and appreciative. I had fun taking pictures and video and got a lot of candid shots.

more apartment pics...

A sunrise from my 7th floor window.

Christmas party at the Mokpo orphanage on the 22nd

This was a real delight. Christa volunteers here once week and organized some of the foreign teachers to come and help out for Christmas. We brought gifts, did crafts, had pizza and fried chicken and the kids put on a concert for us. Truly have the Christmas spirit now ...

photo credits: Sloane Kusmack

Good times in Seoul...

We went out for Indian food with a big group, organized by Michelle bless her heart!

The trip to Seoul takes about three hours by train and is very pleasant.

Michelle, Erin, Kira and I looking not too bad for three in the morning!

We went to three or four bars all on the same street in the University district, this one was the most fun and we stayed till they closed at 6am then went for breakfast!

Good times in Gwangju...

This was a couple of weeks ago when Shanda, Lizzie Krista, Tanya and I spent the weekend in Gwangju.

Its a bigger city than Mokpo and about an hour away by bus. This is Shanda and I in the elevator which are always mirrored like this.

Krista and I practicing our side kick in the motel room.

Lizzie and Krista looking gorgeous as usual!

Have a great weekend!

I have this afternoon off (yay!) and am taking the KTX to Seoul for a weekend with Krista and Lizzie. I'll bring the camera and post some new pics on Monday.

World Clock for your convenience...

Click Here

Also, you might like to have a look at another site I am developing that will have resources for teachers of English as a second language as well as travel information. Mainly it's so I have a place to keep my links organized until I get a computer.

Resource Site

Everyday life...

Oh, did I mention there are no clothes dryers here.... or ovens or showers, but that's another story :)

School has been a little busier than usual as we are preparing tests for the grade fives and sixes. My co-teacher and I translated some legends from Korean into English yesterday, it was a struggle but eventually we managed it, with help from babelfish.com and a mobile translator.
I have increased my taekwondo practice to five nights a week, mainly because that's what all the other students do and I don't want to be the slacker! Plus getting my blue belt was very motivating and the patterns I have to learn require many repititions before I even have a clue. By the time I'm home afterwards it's almost seven. Krista and I usually meet for dinner and then often go for a 5k walk to E-Mart or the shopping district by the KTX, or just around the track at the highschool near Krista's apartment. Weekends are definately more unstructured, with random social opportunities probably involving dinners and bars and dancing, never dull!
So many things here are so different and interesting and amusing. I like not knowing the language becasue of all the commercialism I am automatically exempted from. Plus, without being able to understand what you overhear fromothers and the fact that communication takes such effort, you tend not to bother and instead get to focus more on your own thoughts and feelings. There is less external noise.

Despite all the distractions I do miss everybody a lot and lately I've been dreaming that I came home, because I really really wish I could just pop in! Already though this adventure is a quarter over, and in a few weeks it will be a third over....I don't want to wish it away, and one of the very best things about it has been that I am very aware of being happy, thank God!!!

My apartment

Notice the needlepoint that Jolene made for me is on the wall at the right. The entrance door is on the left, the door on the right goes to the bathroom.

These shots are a little blurry as we were trying different settings on the camera but you get an idea of what a cute little place it is.

picture of the pictures on my fridge...the other pic is Mom and Dad :)


The kids at the Unesco camp made this poster for me.

More images from Saturday

I was so happy to finally have purchased a digital camera, from Christa (shown here) and I couldn't wait to use it. It's a Panasonic Lumix DMC f27 with a 12x zoom - how fun is that! We decided it was a beautiful day to get out of the city on Christa's motorcycle and so we headed to the cable car mountain about an hour South of Mokpo.

We had bi-bim-bop at one of the restaurants at the base of the mountain. The food was excellent and we got to help ourselves to the little instant coffee packets which was much appreciated.

About twenty-five people fit into these cable cars for a fifteen minute ride up to the top. It was foggy, so the view was partially obscured, but this made for some really dramatic shots.