Classroom and Uiwang...con't from next blog

This blog actually comes after the next one...something got screwed up so read the next one then come back to this one...lol

K now a couple on Uiwang. The one taken at night is the side street off the main street where my apt is. The one taken during the day is one of 2 main streets...haha

My Apt/School and Uiwang

Hey Everyone! Well I've been asked many times what my apt and little town of Uiwang are like so i thought it was best to show you some pics. I've posted pictures of my apartment, classroom Uiwang. Hope you enjoy and now feel like you know where I live! oh and Happy Halloween!! Can you believe thay don't celebrate it here! I'm so sad...but next week i'm doing a special lesson on the history of halloween and how it came to be in North America. I am decorating my class and having a costume contest with the students. I will post pictures of all that next week!


So as you see my place is pretty big, especially for Korean standards, so I lucked out on that! K here are some of my school and classroom...

Fun Fun English Festival

Hey Everyone! So this week was my first English festival. I'm told that there will be many of these throughout the year. When I first heard of it I didn't think it was going to be as big as a deal as it was. Over 3000 elementary and Middle school students were invited to come participate. They were suppose to be the more advanced students of their schools. But like i've come to learn that doesn't always mean they know a lot of english.


Like I said before it ended up being a bigger deal than I thought. When I first arrived there was a huge band playing outside and 3 or 4 huge white outdoor tents sent up.
It started with an opening ceremony where all the principals of the schools were introduced, followed by skits preformed by some students. The Mayor also was there to address everyone. The funny part about the whole thing was it was all in Korean, they didn't even translate. So here they are saying how important english is in their education program but not even the english teachers said anything in english. But it's something I've gotten use to with some of my co-teachers who understand little. The problem is that most korean english teachers don't go abroad so they speak broken english.
But it was a fun day off getting to interact with many students. I also was able to meet more foreign teachers which was nice.
Speaking of new foreign teachers I finally met one that works in my town! So now i'm not the only one. He works at the language institute across the street from me. So it will be nice to know someone in town.
Ok well i'm off but I hope you're all doing well and will talk soon!

PRO Hockey in Korea!!

Hey! This blog is dedicated to all my Canadian friends and family who like me enjoy the great game of hockey! Yesterday I experienced my first hockey game overseas and let me tell you what a good time. For $10 we got to sit in the "hotdog party zone"...haha! This price included the ticket which was right up against the glass, a hotdog and all you can drink beer! And if you get the membership for $20 you get a jersey and tons of discounts including saving about half on tickets. What a great deal!
The league consists of 8 teams, 2 in korean, 2 from china and 4 from japan. They play about 4-5 home games a month. The season just started and lasts a few months. So I think I will become a regular, the arena is only a couple subway stops away. One main difference between Canadian fans and Korean fans is the atmosphere at the game. Koreans are quite reserved and quiet. Fortunately usually half the fans there are foreigners, mostly Canadians so we know how to rock the place. We do get odd looks from the korean fans whenever we start screaming and yelling but it doesn't bother us, by now we're all use to the stares we get whenever we walk down the street...so this is nothing!
This was definately a fun way to spend a sunday afternoon and I look forward to future games. I've also posted a couple more pics so take a look!

Suwon

Hey Everyone! So here's my first blog about being in Korea. The first weekend I arrived one of my co-teachers offered to show me around Suwon. Suwon is the second biggest city in Korea. It's 3 subway stops from me so it's not too far. This is a pic of me at the flood gates. This building overlooks a park and is where people can come and have pic-nics and enjoy the view of the city.




This is a pic of the front of Hwaseong Fortress. It took about 2 hours to walk and see the whole thing. It has 99 rooms. Before we walked inside there was a demonstation on how it use to be back in the 14thC. There were people dressed up and reinacting what would happen when the King would come visit. It was quite interesting and definately worth seeing. I also took some video so when I get home I can share that as well.