Well i am in Korea and have been for a while but totally forgot about this lovely little blog that I set up and never got around to using. So it about time that I start I think. Coz as many of my friends would be able to tell you I am hopeless when it comes to keeping in touch by email and things like this and some people still want to know what has been going on. So this is quite a nice little alternative as I can update it at my own pace even while I am at work . . like right now.
So where to start.
I am in Korean. South Korea to be accurate. I'm in a smallish city called Cheonan about 80km south of Seoul. The nice thing about Cheonan is that it is away from Seoul but because it is connected by the Metro rail line you can get to Seoul in about an hour on a comfortable train for about A$4.
I arrived here on December 27th and right after that the snow started and it was cold as . . . well it was really cold for the first month or so but now spring has sprung and everything that was dead or looked dead and gray over winter has sprung to life again and all the mountains are green and full of life.
I am working for a Hagwon (private cram school or kindergarten) and that is not too bad but the hours have changed since I first started to make what should really be a 6 or 7 hour a day job to something more like 9.5 to 10, sometimes even longer. So that is a bit poo but it could be worse.
I live in a little apartment not even a minute walk from my school. It is pretty basic but not as small as I expected and very comfortable now that I am all set up there. The folks that I work with are all really nice and friendly and we all get on pretty well. Even the bosses are nice enough people but they do have their moments which can be seen from the fairly high Korean staff turnover.
I have started to try and learn Korean however it is no where near as easy as I thought that it was going to be when I first got here. The writing and alphabet is easy enough but the rest of it . . . well I know I should be studying more often and trying to use it when I can. But to be honest it is easy enough to get around here without it.
Other than that everything here has been good so far. As i am already coming up to being here for six months i am starting to look at if i want to stay here for longer. My initial contract is only for 12 months but if I am going to stay here longer I don't plan to stay at this school. I would rather work at a public school somewhere in this area. In fact I am looking into my options at the moment as the new school year starts in September.
Well that should catch everyone up to what I am doing so far. I will be putting some more stuff up shortly so enjoy.
