This is my city, Mung Yeoung. The spire you see in the background is a very large Presbyterian church. In some ways, walking around this city makes me feel like I'm back in Europe. The streets are very narrow, crowded with little boutiques and mini marts, everyone is out walking in the evening, and there are old church buildings everywhere. Oh, and there is that whole part about the beautiful mountain landscape that surrounds the city (unfortunately the rainy season makes it too dark and cloudy to get a good photo).
This is my school: Mung Yeoung Girls High School. I can walk here in less than 10 minutes and can see the school from my bedroom window. I'm actually quite impressed with the magnitude of the facility. There are four floors in one building and two in the other with two sky bridges between the two schools (both are two story sky bridges). The school has around 700 students and 50-some teachers (I am the 7th English teacher). My office is on the second floor in the building on the right.
This is my home--my studio apartment! This picture doesn't show it, but my room is actually quite big. On the left side of the photo is the door to my bathroom (pictured below) and on the left (but out of the photo) is my unfinished kitchen. However, when it is done, it will be really nice. There will be a small counter, a kitchen sink, a gas stove, and just yesterday the school installed my washing machine--but I still can't use it. A man from the appliance store came to hook it up and was showing me how to use it when water went running all over the kitchen floor because the drain is too small and plugs up. I'm not sure what we are going to do about it. The maintenance man hasn't come to take care of it yet.Yesterday was yet another day full of surprises. I found out that I am not teaching at a public school but that my school is actually a private school, and I won't be teaching at just one school, but two! Yesterday--quite out of no where--the VP told me to get up and follow her, we were going to the boys school to meet their principal.
I've never felt so conspicuous on in my life. We pulled up to the official entrance (used only for special occasions) where a gathering of Korean teachers were waiting for me. As someone opened my door and I crawled out of the backseat, everyone rushed forward to shake my hand followed by uncontrollable bowing (Koreans greet each other with a bow and hand shake). I was so uncomfortable! The first person to greet me was the principal and I really hope I made a good impression (the principal is a very important man--one whom I need to impress). Following the reception, I was taken to the teacher's office where we all sat down and I was force fed oranges and candy while the officials negotiated my position. I was a little lost among all the Korean. Another Korean teacher showed up for her very first day of school while I was there and I hope we can be good friends, seeing how neither of us are familiar with the school. Though I'm not sure what was agreed upon during the negotiations, about 10 minutes later I was instructed to stand and was led all over the school on a tour of the other teacher offices. Along the way, I was warned by a very sweet Korean teacher (I forgot her name) that the boys are very excited to meet the new foreign woman teacher and that they may be very naughty for me. lol. We then laughed about my opportunities to play match-maker between the boys and girls school. :) This should be interesting!
If I'm not teaching, out meeting school officials, or sleeping in my room, I'm sitting in the office at the girls hs editing long documents for the school. Yesterday I spent a good hour correcting the handbook for a language training program the school is participating in this summer (snorr!!). When will I get to teach!!? Still no sign of my co-teacher. I was first told Saturday but it's looking like Monday now. Oh, and I was originally under the impression that I would be working with a woman but now I have learned I will be working with a man (eek!). While the women are almost all especially kind, the men are a little unpredictable. The man at the girl's hs--Mr. Jeong--who has been helping me adjust is really wonderful and fun to talk to, but the man with whom I think I'm teaching with at the boy's hs isn't really that enthusiastic about my coming. While every teacher in the room stood up and came to greet me, he sat at his desk frowning, and when I was led to him for an introduction, he didn't shake my hand or say a word. He just stood there, stoic and petrified. I hope that I don't have any problems working with him. :S
For now, I have time off. It's Saturday morning here and I won't go back to school until Monday. I'm not really sure what to do with myself until then--especially since I don't have anyone to talk to. Well, there is the maintenance guy, Chang... He's from Maryland and speaks English fluently. I've been doing a lot of walking around and I went for a run this morning, but it's pouring outside, which makes outdoor adventures a little cumbersome. As for food, the school took me shopping for the last time last night and bought me a little bit of food for the weekend, but I don't think I can go six meals eating only oranges, bananas, and ham and cheese sandwiches. Chang told me the building next door has a $4 buffet with a wide variety of food--maybe I'll go try it out this evening.
One last thing: Korean tv is hilarious. So dramatic! lol.
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