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!