Amanda in Aju

Today is my 6th day in Korea and my 4th day teaching at my new school. The town that I live in is called Aju. It is a very small town that has one major industry: the DSME (Daewoo) Shipyard. Walking around town, I noticed right away that it is very hilly (see the mountains in the picture below) and the shipyard can be seen from almost everywhere in town.

So far, I am very happy with my apartment. As you can see from the pictures, it is fairly new and has modern décor. I have everything I need, including my own washing machine :) I live in between Beth's apartment and the school so we meet on the corner and walk to school together.

The school itself is great so far as well! Much better organized than the camps that I worked at before, and the working conditions are much better too! I feel like I am living in luxury this time compared to the slave labour and sketchy accommodations that I had before.

I haven't had a chance to do much else besides working yet... and I have also had a lot of official things to do this week like going to the immigration office, setting up my cell phone, getting a medical check, etc. hopefully I will have a chance to do more exploring this weekend, and then the following week we will be on holidays!!

Right now I am about to have lunch and then head into work. More later!

Safe and Sound in Geoje!

After a 13 hour flight to Beijing, 13 hour layover in Beijing, and a 2.5 hour flight... I was picked up from the Busan airport in an airport limo, complete with a driver holding a sign with my name and massage chairs in the car! My boss, Lily, met me at my apartment, which is super cute and already furnished and pretty well equipped. Beth and Will stopped by soon after and took me on a quick walking tour of our city: Aju, their apartment, the school... and finally, a delicious korean BBQ dinner!

I feel very rested and I have mostly acclimatized to the time zone and everything here. The only tipoff that my internal clock is a bit wonky is that I am writing this at 7:45am local time on a Sunday!!

Found Will and Beth!!

Geoje Calling

After a long hiatus from Korea -- and updating my blog, I will be traveling to Geoje, South Korea to teach at Tree House English. I will be meeting my friend Beth and her partner Will, who are already teaching at Tree House. I am excited to have awesome teaching colleagues and great travel partners for this experience! Stay tuned for updates and pictures of food, adorable anime characters and travel adventures!

Here is a link to Beth and Will's blog, which gives some detail about Geoje and their experiences teaching English in Korea so far!

http://operationexpat.wordpress.com