Almost May!

It's hard to believe how fast the time flies. We finished our Finance class lectures on Saturday and are now in the process of cramming for the final exam, which is this Tuesday (the 28th). In the meantime, our Accounting class has just started; it's one of those 4-week long intense courses so we have class 3 times a week til mid May. The prof is from Syracuse and so far he's the best lecturer we've had! The finance class, on the other hand....let's not go down that path. Anyway, once this final is finished we can put that class behind us.

It's mid-term season for students in Korea. B's school had theirs last week and this Mon-Wed the kids are heading on over-night field trips, so he doesn't have to report to school til Thursday. H's school has them this Monday and Tuesday. The kids take tests from 9am to 12:30 and then go home for lunch (hopefully she'll be cramming during that time). After lunch, the teacher's have a mini sports day. Since we go to Seoul that day, she'll join in for a few hours and then catch the bus into Seoul. Tuesday she'll get to go home at 12:30 with the kids and of course that's the big final exam day! Wed and Thurs her students go on the over-night trip so she'll get 2 free days!! Then Friday we're both back to work for a day. We're planning a 3 day bike tour for May 1-4, since we don't have class on the 4th! It's still in the planning stage, but we'll post more info when we figure it out!  Back to studying....

Easter Sunday Ride

         Last Sunday morning at 10am we took a ride on the bike with our friends Brandon and Roxanne. They recently purchased a bike so it was their 1st big trip and we were lucky to be a part of it. We had heard that there was a flower festival in Icheon, about an hour from our city, so we thought we'd check that out. An hour turned into three as the country road we were looking for kept elluding us. Luckily the scenery was nice and the weather was warm, so we couldn't reall complain. 

   After stopping for lunch at a small restaurant at 1pm, Icheon happened to be just 20 minutes away. We found the site of the festival, which was the weekend before, to be fairly deserted. There were still a few painters taking in the landscape and getting it down on their canvas. After walking around the nieghborhood, we took the bikes up a big mountain to a temple. The flowers were also blooming around there so it was very scenic. We finally came down the mountain and headed back to Wonju. We got home at 5pm, took showers, and headed to meet Brandon, Rox, Adele and Bryan for a pasta dinner. It was a great way to celebrate Easter. Hope everyone had a nice day with family.

B, H, Brandon and Rox posing at the festival (it took place in a tradional Korean neighborhood).

Some pretty flowers at the temple. 

Pink cherry blossoms (our new desktop computer picture).

English Classroom

In the Korean public school system, the kids have a homeroom and have all of their classes there. The teachers move around from class to class, and when they don't have class, they stay in one of the teachers' offices around the school. In another effort to stress the importance of English education, the Korean govt has been giving money to hundreds of schools around the country to establish English rooms. These rooms are used primarily by the Native English speakers when they teach the students; and are filled with the latest technology. H's school just set up one such classroom this March. Here are some photos: 

Welcome to the "Exciting English Environment"  (yes, I made that up)...

Simple but necessary rules for my class.

6 groups with 6 students in each group. A few of my 7th grade classes are up to 38 per class...

This is a touch-screen system. I take the stylus and can write/draw on the screen, and it's projected onto the big screen for the kids to "ooh" and "ahh" at.

The view from one of my windows (the EEE is on the 3rd floor).

This is my desk in the main teacher's office. There are about 20 teachers (including the VP). A few of us just got new computers last week. My monitor used to be in the "fish bowl" under my desk; now the new flat screen monitor is proudly on my desk top.

1st Ride of Spring

Last Sunday (the 5th, H's grandpa's 80th birthday) we took our 1st motorcycle ride of spring 2009. We went about an hour away to Jecheon, which has a lake (not common in Korea). We knew that there would be a cherry blossom festival the following weekend, so we wanted to beat the masses and see if we could spot some blooming flowers. Not many were in bloom yet, but it was still a wonderful ride and we also happened to stumble upon a cool rock formation.

This Saturday after our class in Seoul we're hoping to check out the "most famous" cherry blossom festival in Korea. We were there a few years ago but this time we may take in the festivities from a new spot...we'll keep you posted.  Hope you're enjoying the nice weather as much as we are!!

The cool rock formation.

I bet this is looking georgous right now!!

Colorful bushes along the side of the road.

After our ride we met friends Adele, Bryan, Brandon and Roxy for dinner. (yes, 2 Brandons!)