My First Month in Photos

I read about it happening to many other people who came to teach in Korea before me, and then I succumbed to the same phenomena. Due to jetlag, a lack of internet, and just getting acclimated to my new life here, my blog has sort of fallen to the wayside. I’ve also been so busy DOING things that I haven’t had time to write about most of it! So as a peace offering, here are some pictures that best capture what I’ve been up to during my first month in Korea!

Made it to Korea after a long day of traveling with all of my stuff! EPIK teachers waiting to be shuttled to Daejeon for orientation. My recruiter, John from Reach to Reach, and me! Paper Fan Crafts It's common Korean cafeteries to find the metal water cups sitting in these sterilized cabinets...interesting! For all your Doctor Who fans out there. Practicing storytelling during an orientation class. Waiting to find out our school placements on the last full day of orientation... YAY! We're happy with our placements! Let's get down to business. Hiiiiii-YA! ... I may have accidentally kicked the instructors hand when we were practicing high kicks...werps. The block I broke during our taekwondo class. Brilliant photo bomb by Dannie. EPIK teachers gathering for the closing ceremonies. YAY! Orientation is over! McDonald's delivers, just as you've heard. Woooo! A party for foreigners during our first weekend in Ulsan! Wandering near old downtown in Ulsan. There are more and more complexes springing up like this all over the city. Walking the rocky beach about 15 minutes from Ulsan. An overnight adventure with my new coworkers. Sunrise. My coworkers and their families. The seaside market where we bought dinner items to cooks (fresh baby eel!). Tubs and tubs and tubs of fish. Me and my co-teacher! A seaside fish market. My school (the white one in the middle). Nitrogen ice cream (it starts out as just regular cream, they blow nitrogen gas on it and BAM! Ice cream! Riding around Ulsan for the first time! An incredible network of bicycle paths run along several rivers, taking you from the outskirts of the city, right through downtown, then off to outskirts on the other side! Another market. Market. Beautiful sunset viewed from one of Ulsan's many bridges. My school! Ulsan Sports Science Middle and High School. Catching the sunset on another great ride around the quieter parts of the city (near Taewha Park). Munsu Soccer Stadium! Or football. I attempted to bike up Munsu Mountain but had to turn around before it got too dark. It was also deathly hilly and the views weren't what I had hoped for. Still a fun adventure! The view from my turnaround point on Munsu Mountain. The Korean countryside. One of Ulsan's most famous parks right on the coast. Another successful biking voyage! Ilsan beach, probably the most accessible sandy beach in Ulsan. The Hyundai Heavy Industries shipyard, on the way to Ilsan beach. Good words of advice. One of my coworkers who kindly invited me to spend the night at his house and learn more about Chuseok, Korea's version of Thanksgiving. His two adorable kids: Hazel and Casey. Hazel and Casey in traditional Korean dress for Chuseok. In Busan, if you leave a coin under this statue (that's probably the wrong word for it) then you're praying for good driving safety. Almost left all my change there. All the zodiac signs lined up outside a seaside temple in Busan. Me and my zodiac sign, the snake! Ssssss. Gwangil beach in Busan. The bridge in the background lights up at night. It's a famous sight to ring in the new year while watching gorgeous fireworks with 1 million of your closest Koreans. Hiked a small mountain on Yeoung-do in Busan! Hiking hiking hiking. The most amazing ice cream/waffle combo ever. Gotta grab the bull by the horns if you wanna live in Korea. (Busan) The temple by the sea in Busan. IMG_0363 My middle school classroom! My future school, which will be completed this fall! We move into it in February 2015. I attended an International Jazz Festival in Ulsan. This is a Korean twist on the Phili LOVE statue (these LOVE letters are made out of Korean alphabet characters). The group we saw FO FREE at the Jazz Festival. Biked past View from my bike. IMG_0452 Country farmland. IMG_0456 Ulsan Grand Park. Hang drying my money afer laundering it. Jinha Beach (about halfway between Ulsan and Busan). I think this is the place that Shel Silverstein named his book Biking through the urban jungle. I've noticed Korea has a tendency to build nice sidewalks far ahead of any buildings that would need them, so they wind up being very overgrown. Standing on the bridge in Jinha. The friends I made while riding back from Jinha Beach. The guy in blue actually studied English at Western Michigan University for a year! He knew where Ann Arbor was! Note the matchy-matchiness. It means they're dating. No, seriously. Umbrella's for sale! Panoramic of Busan A stroll through the park in Busan. View of the water in Busan.

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