Sunday, August 16, 2009

Hot day in Seoul




The fountain looked very tempting.... I think the kids really enjoyed it! My friends Lauren and Sarah in front of the cool wall with pictures making a bigger picture.

Trip to Seoul





I went to the Renoir art exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art with some other teachers. Then we walked around the city hall area and Insadong area.

View from my apartment- 20th Floor!!





These are views looking out from my apartment. One is looking towards the school. I have a nice high view and good windows along my apartment so I get lots of light during the day and morning. Much different than my tiny space between building last year.

Back in Korea

Well, I've been back in Korea for about 2 1/2 weeks. It feels so similar, even though I'm working at a different school. Orientation went fast and I've met some great people. There's a family that came from Orange City, Iowa, so a little of home will always be here with me. She even used to teach art at Akron before coming here. Now she's teaching 4th grade. I am teaching most of the same classes, but I have 3 new middle school classes. It's a bit overwhelming right now, but I'm sure once I get used to things, planning won't take so long. I have some amazing little kids in my classes. The elementary kids are really cute! I'm also helping with volleyball, so that started this week. We'll finish tryouts this week and start practicing with the girls that make the team. I feel really blessed to be coaching with a teacher that has played college volleyball and has lots of experience and skill. It will be great to learn from her.
This weekend I went to Seoul and stood in a really long line to go inside an art museum!!! I was amazed that so many people were going to this exhibit. It was a Renoir exhibit with many of his works from different galleries around the world. I saw some of his amazing Impressionist paintings.
It was also quite an experience being in Seoul because there were riots and riot police everywhere. People were just holding up signs that said something in Korean- one man told me that they were protesting their right for freedom of speech. I have never seen so many riot police and riot buses in one place. It seemed like everywhere we walked we saw them.
I also had the best crepe ever at a place that my friend Sarah recommended. I don't know if I'll ever be able to find that place again because it was down crazy streets in the college part of town, but I will definitely try if I am in that area again.
I am happy to be back in Korea and am excited to get to know the students this year. This school is very new, it's only the 4th year, and we are adding a high school grade each year. This year we have 11th grade and next year we'll have the whole high school. It's funny how crazy things were at the beginning of this year, with classes moving around and people trying to get furniture and their rooms set up. The other two art rooms had to be completely started from scratch this year so when they got there they had to set up everything. There's great things about new schools, but it's also niche to go somewhere that has things in place already. I was blessed last year at TCIS. There's a lot to learn this year about the school and living here in Suwon. I'm much closer to Seoul, so I am excited to go there more often on weekends. I already went to a soccer game at the Suwon World Cup Stadium. I didn't have my camera yet, so I didn't get any pictures. It was huge and a very cool structure. The soccer game was good as well- Suwon beat Seoul. Well, I better put some pictures up and get some other work done. I don't know how often I'll post this year, but I hope to write more than I did last year.