Monday, May 13, 2013

My Daily Walk to School

I meant to post this a bit ago but forgot.  I took these pictures about a month ago though when the cherry blossoms were in full bloom.  It only really takes about 10-15 minutes from the apartment to school and when the weather is nice, it's a pretty enjoyable walk.  You'll see a lot of cherry blossoms in these pictures but now the streets are lined with azaleas.  Spring in Korea is pretty amazing..


Out in front of the apartment.  You can't see it but there's a
plot of land out front that has a small garden planted on it.  On
the weekends, there's usually an older lady and man that tend to it.
From the top of the hill looking away from our apartment
And, the descent begins..
                         
                                    Some cherry blossoms that were
                                  out in front of the apartment
Almost to the bottom of the hill.. (I didn't take a picture of the intersection up here but we take our lives into our own hands whenever we cross the street to go to the convenient store.  It's pretty busy  and only has flashing yellow lights to direct traffic).
        
       At the bottom of the hill and about to cross Suji-ro.  After I cross,
       I hang a right and head towards that green mesh stuff on the bridge
Passing a gas station
after crossing the bridge
A little further down Suji-ro.
There's been construction here
ever  since we've arrived but
I'm still not sure what they're doing.


A little further down the street and
making a slight left onto Seongbok2ro
Some more cherry blossoms across the street.  The buildingyou see over there is
 actually another hogwan (private English school).  Hogwans are everywhere in
Korea though.  There are about 10 of them on the same block as the school I work at.
There is a little farm on the way to school.  It's kind of random but actually pretty
common. You  can see these farms all over the place, nestled between the high rises.
Still walking down Suji-ro though.
An overpass for Route 43 that will take you north or south of Suji.
A look back at the farm.
Under the overpass, there are some pretty cool murals
painted on both sides.  Here is the fall and winter.

Spring and summer are on the other side.
Through the overpass and now on SangHyeol-ro...almost there!
This is getting closer to a more commercial area.   There are plenty of restaurants
and shops around here.  Up at the building straight ahead, I'll make a left.

Making the left turn onto Manhyeol-ro

And then making a quick right turn onto the street where the school is.
You can see the blue and white Dayelin Langcon school busses ahead.
And here we are!
I've posted this picture before but here it is again.  Dayelin is the kindergarten on the 1st floor and
Langcon is the elementary school that's on the 2nd floor.  Our offices are up on the 2nd floor too.
As you can see it's really not that bad of a walk.  If it happens to be raining, there is a bus that I can hop on at the bottom of my hill that will take me to school in about 5 minutes.  There's not much night life near the school but  there are a lot of restaurants, shops, several grocery stores and some bars.  Almost 3 months in and I can't complain much about the school, living situation or everything we've gotten to do since moving to Korea.  I'll do my best to get into a more regular routine of posting at least once a week but I hope you're enjoying what I've posted so far.

Did You Know Korea... has legal prostitution?  I was pretty surprised myself, but should've expected it given how common it is in other parts of Southeast Asia.  I'm still not sure if it's 100% legal or if the police just look the other way though but Seoul has a few red light districts.  Another city about 20 minutes from my house has a pretty big red light district too.  It's right around the corner from a Baskins Robbins so you can get your 31 flavors of ice cream and then buy a hooker in the same night..

7 comments:

  1. Hey Brian! It's Michelle (Z)! Brien and I talk about you and S often and hope that you are doing well. I love reading your blog and we really hope that you are having an awesome adventure! We wish we could visit you but with the baby it just is out of our realm of possibility, but we are as adventurous as you in spirit!Keep the posts coming & our love to S!!
    Lots of Love,
    Michelle & Brien

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Michelle,
    Great hearing from you and I'm glad you're enjoying the blog. I'm trying to get better about posting every week so will post another one this weekend. How is everything going back home? How is the family? I tried emailing Brien a little bit ago about the job search but it must've gotten lost in the shuffle. I bet things are pretty busy but I always enjoy hearing from both of you so don't be strangers. Thanks for keeping in touch and talk to you soon!
    Brian

    ReplyDelete
  3. Brian,

    First off, I would like to say that I enjoy reading your blog. It brings back many memories of my time in Korea. I was stationed there for three years with the US Army. Currently, I am working on my education degree with hopes of returning to teach English. Is "Exit" bar still the main hang out in "Green Plaza"?

    Thanks

    Nate

    ReplyDelete
  4. Brian,

    First off, I would like to say that I enjoy reading your blog. It brings back many memories of my time in Korea. I was stationed there for three years with the US Army. Currently, I am working on my education degree with hopes of returning to teach English. Is "Exit" bar still the main hang out in "Green Plaza"?

    Thanks

    Nate

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hi Nate,
    Thanks for the email. I'm glad you're enjoying my blog. I didn't really think anyone I didn't know was following my blog so it's a bit flattering too. Exit is still here though and is one of the go-to places in Suji. There are a few other Expat bars (Underground and Batman) but I prefer Exit over all of them. When you planning on coming over to teach? You don't really need an education degree to teach over here but it definitely would help. Thanks again for the comment and for following!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Brian,

    I appreciate your first-hand knowledge and what other advice you can provide me. I think that you are very fortunate to be in a good place like Suji. I personally love how the people there were nice and polite. One of my friends use to be a recruiter for Avalon and he would tell me stories about some of his clients complaining about how boring it was there.

    What is the preferred teaching style in Korea? For instance, a typical reading bloc in 3rd grade would consist of 15 minutes of instructions and 45 minutes of at least three different learning centers. Sometimes "Brain Breaks" would have be incorporated in order to maintain student interest.

    Keep the stories coming.

    Nate

    ReplyDelete
  7. Hi there. I was wondering what your daily teaching hours are like. thanks!

    ReplyDelete