First Week and More Pics

Hi everyone!
So these are some photos from our first week in Uijeongbu. Jesse has been going in to school every day this week but has just been meeting people and doing lesson plans and getting to know the school and his co-teacher Aisha. He won't start teaching until next week. Aisha's been really great and is really helping him (and indirectly me) learn about Korea and Uijeongbu. Tonight she is showing him this marketplace near her house that is there every Thursday and she has been great about explaining the complicated recycling system, Korean customs, and neat places for us to check out.
I went in to my school today for the first time and met the director. I also met my supervisor who is a Canadian from Halifax who seems really helpful and it's nice to have things explained to me in English so I have some clue about what's going on. Tomorrow I'm going to the hospital for the necessary medical exam (Jesse's already done this) and seeing my apartment in the afternoon. Next week I'll start by observing classes and I'll officially start teaching on the 15th. There are about 10 foreign teachers at my school and the average class size is about 7. I'll be teaching kindergarden and some elementary so the kids are super young and cute. I'm so excited. My school seems really nice and I can't wait to get started! It's a bit boring trying to keep myself busy while Jesse's been at school all day so it will be fun to start teaching. I'm also really happy that there will be so many other foreigners around because it's not great to just sit and smile politely while everyone around you talks in Korean.


Jesse in front of 'Pizza School'. I'm so happy they have pizza here - even if they insist on covering every pizza in corn.


Me joining in the romance on some random movie poster.


Jesse's apartment building from the outside.


Jesse's street.


The view along the river. So many apartment buildings! No wonder this city is half the area of Burlington with just under a million people.

Anyway, we'll keep you posted on how things are going! Miss you!
Ali