Still Safe

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm still safe over here. I know the incident hasn't been televised to the States as much as it has here, so I guess I'll give a quick rundown of what's going on.  Earlier today, North Korea sent over 200 artillery rounds to a small South Korean island called Yeonpyeong. The island is about 25 miles away from my home... so it was pretty close. I'm supposed to be going on a teacher's field trip on Friday in a city closer to the coast, but that may change.

I've taken precautions with the U.S. embassy in case I need to make a quick exit. Information on what will happen from here is pretty scarce. South Korea has already retaliated with their own artillery fire, but further actions are still being discussed.  Tensions are rising due to the arguments of "who fired first", but everyone still wants to avoid an all out war.

I'll keep you all posted on further developments. Just wanted everyone to know that I'm still safe. 

Keep your prayers with the South Korean people.

Anyone still reading?!?!?!

Greetings everyone! First of all, let me give a deeply sincere apology for taking so long to write in this. It would be an amazing understatement to say that I've been busy for the past few weeks. Not to mention, I've only had internet in my apartment for less than a week. So I guess it's time to do some major catching up. Please understand that I'm almost guaranteed to repeat myself at some point, and I'm even more likely to forget some events and specific details. So please, bear with me...

Wondang (view from Gyeyang Mtn.)

Let's start with my location. I'm living in a place called Wondang, which is a really small area out in the country, in Incheon. But if you look up Wondang, you probably won't find much if anything. Explaining location here is really weird. I'm in Wondang, which is like a village in Seo-gu, which is like a district in Incheon city, which is in the Incheon province, which is just west/southwest of Seoul. There are pros and cons of living where I am. For instance, I'm living in a very safe community, near the airport, and everything (including my apartment) is within a short walking distance to everything else (like my school).  The only bad thing is, it's about a 10 minute bus ride to a subway station, and another 20 minutes or so to any place that I would consider a "real city". Getting to Seoul is about an hour by bus, which isn't really that bad... but all this means that I have to travel about an hour almost every time I want to meet up with friends or do something fun.  I don't have any pics of my town yet, but there really isn't much to show. One main drag runs through the place with tall buildings on each side. That's about it.


My school is the Changshin Elementary School. I teach the 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classes. I have five classes on every day except Wednesday, when I only have two. I have about a 15 minute walk to the school and have to be there by about 8:30 every weekday. I stay until 4:30 and use my free time to make lesson plans, help the other teachers with whatever they need, or play around on the computer (can you tell my job is tough?) Every morning I have to say hello to the Vice Principal (I have very little contact with the Principal). Like most of the adults at the school, he speaks very little English, but it seems like he's trying to learn more.. every morning, he tries to ask me a new question like, "isn't the weather cold today?" I can't walk the hallways or eat lunch without saying hello to a student every 10 seconds. Everyone knows my name since I had to introduce myself over the school's news broadcast on my first day. Teachers in Korea hold a very high status, much higher than they do in the States, so all the children call me "Mark Teacher", and get scolded by the other teachers if they just call me "Mark". Lunch is free everyday for me, which is nice because middle and high school teachers have to pay for theirs. Once in awhile, I go outside and play basketball with the students during lunch break. They don't really know how to organize pick up games, but I still have fun running around with them and showing off some simple dribbling moves.

Co-teachers +1. (L to R):(forgot her name), Mrs. Lee, Clara, and Sally

I have three co-teachers who assist me in the classroom. Sally is my head co-teacher, and she teaches the 5th and 6th grade. Clara does the 3rd grade, and Mrs. Lee does the 4th. Obviously, Sally and Clara aren't Korean names. They both have been to the U.S. and were given names. Oddly enough, Clara had a nephew (or some other relative) that went to Michigan Tech! It was someone who went way before I got there, but it was still a strange coincidence. The other teachers I know are Yuri, the girl I mentioned before who I spend a lot of time with (4th grade), and Jin-sung, the only male teacher in the school who speaks enough English to hold conversations with me. I have many students who like to stand out and make themselves well known to me, but I'll only mention a few. Alex, a 5th grader, has quickly become my little buddy at the school. He loves the fact that my middle name is Alex, and he never misses an opportunity to ask me how I'm doing. Another kid with an American name, Jeff, I have a slight problem with... he looks exactly like the kid Russell from the movie Up, and I have a hard time calling him the correct name. One of Jin-sung's students who goes by the nickname "Squid", is probably the most brilliant kid in the school. I did a presentation on Thanksgiving last week, and he was able to explain the entire story of the pilgrims and Native Americans, in perfect English. There are multiple girls who stand out due to their ability to speak English very well, but they never really tell me their names, so I get by just by saying "hi" to them.

Me and Yuri on top of Gyeyang Mtn.

Since I've been here, I've seen and done quite a few things. I've made multiple trips into Seoul, as well as outlying areas like Bucheon and Bupyeong. I went hiking up Gyeyang Mountain, one of the smaller ones in the area. I've even been to a few different live shows involving both classic and modern Korean music. I even got to see Spamalot... but it was all in Korea. Yuri translated as much as she could, but I was fortunate enough to have known the story already so the show was still enjoyable. Strange story... I went to one musical that had an old car as one of the props... it had a black license plate on it, and halfway through the show I noticed it was an old-school Michigan plate with "The Great Lakes State" on the bottom!

I could go on and on about life here, but this entry is already getting pretty lengthy. I'll try to update this more often so I can be more detailed with specific events. Hope everyone knows that I'm having an awesome time here and I've yet to have any boring moments! Seems like something new and exciting happens every week, so stay tuned for more stories!

Quick Update

Just to fill you guys in (I'm sure there's only one or two of you by now), my ARC should be coming in on Friday. I can't get a cell phone or internet at my apartment until after that, so I would say lets hope for sometime late next week! After that, I'll be able to post regularly, and with pictures!

Korea is still going well. I love my classes and MOST of my students! I've successfully learned to read most Korean vowels and consanants... but I have no idea what most of the words mean! Babysteps people....

Anyways, keep checking on this... don't give up on me! You never know when I might actually post something interesting...

I'm still here!!!

Sorry guys... the past 5 days have been insane! To start out, for anyone who wrote down my address, I forgot to put the postal code. It's 404-818. I'll change it in my post too.  I'm currently at my school and done with classes for the day. This is the only time I get for internet because I still don't have it at my apartment. When I finally get internet, I'll post pictures and be more descriptive about everything.

I work at an elementary school and the kids are so fun! They love to say hello to me and give me high fives. I even have a small gathering of basketball players who always want me to play with them! My classes this week have consisted of me giving a presentation to teach the kids about where I'm from and about the things I like to do. Next week I start teaching real classes, so that's when we'll see my true worth as a teacher.

This past weekend I hung out with one of the other teachers, Yuri. She's the second youngest teacher next to me (25) and we're the only two single teachers in the school. Seems like everyone wants us to get together but right now I'm just happy to have someone to spend time with. Her English is pretty good, and she has a new hobby of teaching me different Korean phrases. My favorite one so far has been <pay-gu-pie-oh>... which means, "I am hungry"! On Saturday, we went to Bupyeong (sp) and met up with one of her friends. We went to lunch and dinner and did a bunch of shopping (one of the few downfalls of hanging out with only girls). But I was surprised to see that Yuri also loves arcades! So we went there and I kicked some butt at airhockey. But I was even more surprised when she destroyed me at a game of Tetris. Losing to girls in video games is NOT something I'm used to!!!!!! The three of us also sang in a Karaoke booth and it turns out that Yuri has a beautiful singing voice. I later found out that she sings in her church's choir. Which leads me to what we did on Sunday...

On Sunday, I met Yuri in Seoul to go to church with her. It was quite an experience. It reminded me of the Charismatic church that Mom told me about. There was a lot of singing and it was very emotional. Some people even broke down in tears during the service. It was a rather powerful experience. Afterwards, I went to a youthgroup meeting with Yuri, where I was introduced to the group and sang a welcome/blessing song. I also met a guy named Mike, another Korean-American who spoke both languages fluently. It was nice to speak normal English again. After all of that, Yuri gave me a brief tour around town and showed me some museums and historical landmarks. I even had a meal of "spaghetti", which was really skinny noodles in alfredo sauce, with BACON!!! It was good stuff.

That's all I have to report so far. I hope to meet up with my fellow EPIK teachers once we all get our cell phones. Hope everyone back home is doing well. Until next time!!