This has been a big week for meeting other
foreigners. Last Saturday, we just happened to be wandering the streets on a
rainy evening and passed another foreigner couple. We stooped and said hello and ended up going for a cup of tea
and a chat. The next day we met up for lunch and got to know each other a bit
better. They are a couple from the United States, but had been living (and met)
in Spain for the past 8 years! As we talked we found we had quite a bit in common
with regards to our goals with teaching abroad and our experience in Buyeo so
far. It was quite relieving to hear that other people have had some of the same
difficulties as us with regards to getting set up and settled here. We're
excited to have met them and look forward to hanging out with them more often.
The weekend was rainy so we stayed in Buyeo and made the most of it, walking
when we could and getting some errands taken care of. This past Tuesday we met
up with another bunch for dinner. Three are teachers the fourth is eh husband
of one of the teachers. All very nice people. We had dinner at the buffet at
the outlet mall and it was pretty decent. We got a lot of great info and tips
for teaching and living in Buyeo and Korea. It's been a steep learning curve to
date, but people like this make it heaps easier.
I (Brian) am finally in a place / routine
where I can get up and have enough time for an hour long walk / jog / hike /
run. I'm loving having the mountain right across from us. I step out our door
and within a few minutes I'm up into the mountain. It's quiet and beautiful at
6:30AM. Just me and a handful of the ever so prominent 60+ crowd. They walk,
stretch, do sit-ups and aerobics, it's awesome to see. Today I went for an
hour, 40 minutes of which was in the mountain with lots of uphill running,
jogging and power hiking. The last 20 minutes was back down through town, with
a stop at the grocery store to pick up some soy milk for Julia. I managed 11k
in the hour. Not bad considering the hills and technical trail on the
mountain. The fitness is coming back. We
have the Spartan Beast (25 obstacles over 20km of running) June 13 and I have
the Incheon 70.3 on July 5th.
I'll have to get out cycling soon! And Julia's main school in Buyeo supposedly
has a pool that will open in June. I suspect it will be packed though.
The teaching is getting a bit easier, but
we have good days and bad still. Sometimes it was our lesson or our delivery
and other times it's because we aren't getting much help from our co-teacher.
It's a tricky situation because we want to do a good job and have the support
of our co-teachers, but we know how busy they are outside of our classes. I
also start a Teachers Training class this Friday that will run from 3 – 5PM. I
found out about it last week and will have to figure out what to do ASAP. After
a class or two I'm sure it will be easy.
Glad to hear you're settling in and making friends. I look forward to reading your blog and keeping up with what's going on. We miss you both loads.
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