Gimhae - home sweet home

So, i guess it's a bout time that i write a little something on the city that i'm living in - i'm really sorry i haven't been posting regularly, but i jsut don't have time at school, and i don't have the internet at home yet... today i have no classes because there is some big exam that all the students are taking in their english classes... so i'm free - sort of - i still have to sit here and look busy for the whole day! i thought i was going to get my alien registration card today - and i might be - but i've just been told that i'll have to go get it myself - all the way in Ulsan. i have no idea how to get there, or what to do when i do get there, i can only hope that they speak english. i'm a little upset with my co-teacher for telling me that he would take me and then turning around and telling me to go on my own - i would have gone last week if that were the case... then i'd have my card already. everything in my life is on hold until i get this card, so hopefully they'll give it to me right away. anyway, enough ranting, i'm finally able to post something a little longer than a sentence or two and all i can do is complain!!! for those of you who know me, you'll take this as a good sign! i hope!

so the city of gimhae - i can't tell you much since everything that has any kind of information is in Korean... but it has a population of about 350,000. here is the view from my apartment:





















as you can see the city is surrounded by mountains, but it's like that all over Korea. they like to keep their nature close by, and since Korea is so small geographically they tend to build up instead of out. here's a view of the city from my school:


my school, Young-Eun, is at the top of a hill (i'll have buns of steel by the end of the year from walking up all the hills around here!!!) so it isn't easy to get a good picture of it, but i tried:



it's a nice school with lots of good kids, but teaching is a lot harder than i ever thought it would be. it's really quite tiring, but reqarding - at least i hope it will be - some of the students are really attentive and others like to just fool around, i guess it's like any school... the difference is that more of them pay attention than would in NA. and they respect their teachers quite a lot more... all in all, it's an all right gig. i'm like a rock star - they scream my name out the windows when they see me coming... i don't know how long it will last for, but i'll use it to my advantage until it wears off.

stay tuned for a post on "the trek to ulsan for the alien card" ... coming soon!