Catt – Normalcy

If I’m counting correctly, this week makes about 8 weeks that I’ve been in Korea.  I have to say that overall it’s been a nice time too.

Things in my life are settling into a sort of normalcy.  I teach Monday through Friday and visit/see Dan on weekends.  Thursday evenings I have Korean class with some of my new friends and other nights I just relax at home, usually recovering from the previous weekend, lol.  I plan on signing up for dance classes at the gym across the street from me but just haven’t managed to go inquire about it yet.  That would then fill up my Monday and Wednesday evenings.  

Living on my own again has been a big adjustment, mostly in the cooking department.  I don’t like to cook for one, so I haven’t been doing it much.  I made mac ‘n cheese last night though, which was a big deal.  Haha  My most substantial meal of the day comes from my school lunches, which is generally really good.  Occasionally I find out that I’m eating something a little strange, like eel, so I’ve stopped asking what everything is and I just enjoy it. 

Teaching is going pretty well for the most part.  I of course have good days and bad.  Bad days are usually days that the kids are particularly unruly or sleeping a lot.  Good days are days that the kids are super engaged and really asking questions and showing interest in the lessons.  (On a good day I’ve got about 75-80% of the class engaged in the lesson.)  I’ve been doing a 3 week unit on America lately which most of my classes have enjoyed. I talk about American geography, facts, places to visit, American high school life, holidays and customs.  They loved hearing about American high school life and how different it is from high schools here.  

I must admit though, teaching ESL in Korea hasn’t been as fulfilling as I thought it would be.  I guess I had some idealized image in my head of being able to make a real difference in these kids lives, be able to teach them a language that would really broaden and open up their world.  But honestly, I sometimes just feel like an English speaking monkey brought here to full up another 50 min class period with games.  I think that’s a whole other story though, one best left for a different blog post. 

So yes, I’m sorry I haven’t been updating the blog enough lately, I guess that falling into a routine makes you forget some things, you know?  I’ll make it a goal to post once a week or so, sound good? 

Love and miss you all!  Talk to you later!!!  <3  

Catt - Anapji Pond

Dan and I finally did something I've been wanting to do since we got here, we went sight seeing.  Not like in a big city like Busan or Seoul, but in Gyeongju.  We visited a historical sight called Anapji Pond.  It was beautiful to say the least.  

We went right at sundown, which many sites recommended doing.  It was perfect.  Here are some photos from our time there.   

The place was just absolutely stunning.  I plan on taking any one who visits Gyeongju there at night.  They say nighttime is the best time to visit and I'm so glad that we planned it that way.  

So Anapji Pond actually used to be a palace for kings of the past, like thousands of years ago.  Everything you see is rebuilt to look like it probably looked in the past.  The pond is artificial and has been there a very long time, I'm not sure how long though.  The kings would take their courts there and go boating, fishing and hunting around the area.  It was sort of like a weekend retreat for them from what I understand.  

If you want to know more, you can probably just look it up on Wikipedia or just google search it.  

Talk to you later!