Changnyeong

I am working in a little town called Changnyeong (창녕) Changnyeong is a county in south Gyeongsang-nam Province of South Korea. It has a population of around 74,000.

I live in between Daegu and Masan.

My apartment is very cute. It is very Korean and very big. I really like it. It is only 5 minutes walk from the school, which is great! The other teachers live in the same block, which is nice and convenient. The school I am working at is an English Camp. This type of school provides a short term immersion English experience in an environment where only English is spoken. The school has a variety of simulation rooms, such as a  shop, bank, post office, hospital, movie theatre, and airport. Here the student's learn key English vocabulary relating to the different topics and they also practice fun role plays. Students come to this English Camp for one week. Every week we get a new set of students from a different school. All of the students that attend Changnyeong English Camp are from the surrounding areas. There are 6 lessons a day. The day starts at 9am. Everybody has prep time for half an hour. The students arrived at 9.30. Each lesson is 45 minutes long with a 15 minute break  in. Movie Theatre Hospital Airport Post Office Shop Changnyeong English Camp also has a Cyber School. Cyber School is an on line class where students are taught from their home computer. Cyber school is a slightly different set up than English Camp as the teacher teachers the same students for 3 months and they can teach anything they like. Adults can also attend these classes. I think I will be teaching in Cyber School to begin with. It will be a new experience teaching students via the Internet but hopefully I will get the hang of it.

My first blog entry....

I arrived in South Korea safe and sound! The flight was not as bad as I thought it would be! (It took only 14 hours to fly to ICN South Korea’s main airport. After this I had to get a bus to Gimpo airport which took around 20 minutes and than the connecting flight took 45 minutes. I had no waiting around, which was good. My Korean bosses Suzie and Richard picked me up from the airport with no problems. They are both extremely nice!

I spent the first night (Monday) in a quirky motel. It was extremely strange. Strange in a really crazy unique way! I was picked up and taken to the school where I will be working the next day (extremely early!) to meet everybody. All of the staff are very friendly and welcoming. There are 7 staff including myself. Five people are from England! Whoop Whoop! And one member of staff is from Australia… Whoop!

I love my apartment it's so cute. It is quite big. I have a large kitchen and a separate living room. My bedroom is big as well. I have a spare room which has my computer in it and my own bathroom. Just a bit cold at the minute but I bought some oil yesterday so it should begin to warm up soon! I found out that I DON'T PAY ANY RENT EVER! How cool is that! All I have to pay for is my cable and Internet which is around 30 pounds a month.

Yesterday (Tuesday) was my first day at the school I shadowed everybody, so I could get a feel for things. Today (Wednesday) I have been doing a little bit more but not much. My working day is 10.30 till 6.30. 

Tonight I will be taking my first Taekwondo lesson which is exciting! The other teachers said that they are going to take me on a trip to the closest city Daegu, at the weekend to show me the sites!

The food is okay, so far! It's what you expect really. Loads of noodles, rice, vegetables, fruit and raw fish. A lot of meals contain a lot of peppers and spices which is a bit too much for me but I think I will get used to it. I am not really loving the raw fish but it is mostly served as a side dish so it’s not too bad. 

The first few days have been pretty strange but a good strange!As you can see I am settling in extremely well and I am looking forward to my teaching and all of the adventuring! Eeekkkkk! I will keep you up dated on my Korea adventure!!!