Dear Family and Friends, April 9, 2010
Hello to my family and friends, it has been a while since I last wrote everyone, although I have been writing to my BLOG quite regularly since being in South Korea. I hope and pray that this letter finds everyone healthy and happy and enjoying life. I am still living and working in Gunsan, South Korea. It is finally starting to get warmer, thankfully, the winters are pretty brutal in Korea, especially where I live, right on the yellow sea, where we get these huge gusts of 50-60 mile an hour winds that not only knock you down, they chill you to the bones. So far that is the only thing I don’t like about Korea, the weather. All of my experiences so far have been pleasant and exciting, but the weather leaves something to be desired and definitely makes me appreciate my San Diego weather even more.
I started to take Korean classes and have been learning the language as well as how to read the language, which is a big help in living here with most of the signs being in Korean. I can now say hello, goodbye, please, thank you, nice to meet you, my name is Tonya, give directions to the cab drivers(straight, left, right), order food to be delivered to my apartment, and I can also say “it’s time to drink beer”, which is one of my favorites to say on Friday, the Koreans always laugh. I recently cut all my hair off, look at the BLOG for the pictures. I have never had my hair this short before and after looking at myself, I look like my baby sister Sarah, since she has always had short hair. I also found out that I should be wearing eye glasses every day after seeing the eye doctor here in Korea. The new haircut and glasses bring a whole new look and make me seem more like a studious teacher than ever before. Hopefully I will live up to the expectations of the look.
My students have been great, I currently have about 400 students between the two schools and the new school year just started this last February. I see my students once a week, so we have been spending time getting to know each other and experimenting with many new learning strategies and games to get them speaking, hearing, and writing English. I am still treated like a celebrity both in the halls and in the classroom by most of the students. They really desire to speak to me in English, as much as they can and as much as possible. I am even teaching some conversation classes to the teachers at the city school, which is really fun. Some of them speak very little English, so it can be a bit of a challenge to get them talking. We recently played a game of scrabble, and they loved it, they are just as competitive as us Americans when it comes to games.
I lost some weight when I first arrived in Korea, but with the cold weather, my exercise routines went out the door. I haven’t weighed myself recently, but I know I am not a in the best of shape. I just recently bought a mountain bike, so I am hoping riding it 4-5 times a week will help me get back into shape. Also with the warmer weather, I can start hiking and running again.
I just recently got a Costco membership, yes, they have Costco’s in Korea, woop woop!! The closest Costco to where I live is about 2 hours by train, but it is well worth the trip. I was able to buy things like bacon, cranberry juice, hamburger patties, pasta, salmon steaks, salsa, and different types of cheese. The other night I had the mormom missionaries over for dinner and I made bacon cheeseburgers for them, which was a real treat, considering you can’t get that anywhere in Korea. They are really nice guys, one is from Anaheim and the other is a Korean. They showed up at my door a couple of times and I invited them over for dinner a few weeks later.
I have decided to stay in Korea another year, if they will have me. But before continuing a new contract I am going to go to school for the TESOL, or the certification needed to teach ESL. By being certified to teach ESL, I am improving my abilities as an ESL teacher, opening up job opportunities in other countries and back home, and it puts me in a higher pay bracket. I really want to teach at one of the local Universities, since that has always been one of my dreams and I am enjoying teaching the adults so much. The school I will be attending for the TESOL is on a small island in Thailand called Koh Samui. I will be staying in a resort for a month to attend the school which is all inclusive as part of the school fees. I will be going at the end of my contract in November and then I plan on coming home for the month of December and Christmas. I am so excited about going to another country and experiencing yet another culture and at the same time earning a certificate to improve my teaching and my marketability as a teacher. I will be sure and take lot of pictures to share on the BLOG.
Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t give credit to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ for a being able to do all of this. He truly has opened these opportunities for me and has provided me with many friends and relationships that will last a lifetime. Between my foreign friends and my Korean friends, I never go without. On Easter morning I went over to one of my friend’s house for a huge brunch and my friend Joanna and I take turns cooking for each other throughout the week, each week. I have two parties to go to this weekend and another friend coming in from Busan to visit. Thank you Lord for all of my family and all of my friends both here in Korea and abroad and for all of the wonderful opportunities that you give me on a daily basis, even if I don’t always deserve them, in Jesus name, amen. I love you all and God Bless.
Love,
Tonya
www.gunsanadventure.blogspot.com
