White Water and Mountain Views

Hey friends! A lot has happened in the past week- I love my life in Korea more and more every day- let me tell you about it!

Last week I observed classes to get a better feel on what teaching would really be like. There are 2 other new teachers and we all went to training for our franchise on Tuesday and Thursday. We did some mock teaching there and then at the end of the week we did mock teaching for our boss and started teaching parts of other teacher’s classes. They eased us in teaching, which was really helpful.

Everyone who is here on a E2 visa has to get a medical check up in order to become a registered alien. I had heard its super complicated and was not looking forward to it. I went with one of the other new teachers and it actually was not so bad. Everyone in the hospital spoke English- PTL! I go back tomorrow to get the results- and then I can send my stuff off to immigration.

Saturday was the bomb digity- seriously- the best day here so far

First we went WHITE WATER RAFTING with a group from New Harvest (the church we’ve been going to). It was a 2hr bus ride out of the city into the beautiful countryside.

After a big Korean lunch we divided into boats and got on the river.

Our boat was by far the most fun boat. There was a Canadian, South African, French, Koreans, Korean Americans, and plain ole Americans all in one boat. It was crazy! So much fun. We are pretty sure our guide was drunk- which made our trip even more wild- but fun =)

Jamie, Me, and Reuel

First stop was to jump off a cliff- so fun. Koreans just jump in without yelling- but us American girls weren’t so quiet. It was so fun- what a great feeling.

Like I said we think our guide was was drunk- the water was kinda low- to make the trip interesting he did things like putting us into rapids sideways- in one rapid I went over board along with 2 other guys in our boat. I got pretty beat up by the rocks and my sunglasses were destroyed- but it was really funny and well worth it.

Later the guide had us all put our paddles in the boat and everyone had to move to the back of the boat and hold on to each other- and this set him up to pull us all into the the water. This started a 10 minute long wrestling match. People would climb back into the boat and fight- and push each other out- so fun- I felt like I was 10 again.

I’m so thankful that we went on this trip and just thankful in general that I get to live this cool life.

We were wiped after- and had the BEST burgers for dinner.

We did not get back to our side of town till about 9pm- and I still had to move from the hotel to my apartment. My coworker and really great friend Reuel helped me move everything and find my apt. My apartment is really nice and only 5 minutes from work. It’s bigger than I thought and I even has a couch. Even better is that I have a shower stall. This is a big deal here. Most bathrooms just have a toilet, sink, and shower head. You just hold the shower head and the water goes all over the floor of your bathroom. But I got lucky- I have a stall that contains the water and my whole bathroom does not get wet =) yay!

my SHOWER!

the kitchen

The BEST part is the view- I’ve never had a mountain view except on vacations- ahhh- it will never get old.

I’m a very happy girl =)

I started teaching Monday. I have 3 different classes on MWF and 3 on T/Th. So far the kinds are really good. We are known to have some naughty ones here, but we had a lot of fun and they were well behaved. The youngest ones are probably my favorites. They are really cute when they talk and say the funniest things. They have lots of questions for me too. I love my students- I can't wait to see them progress and have fun durring the semester. I love that I get to be a part of their lives =)

Hopefully I'll have some funny stories about my students soon!