Hey everyone,
Just a short post about the weekend and our first day of classes…

We were switched last minute by Mr. A from B teaching speaking and me doing reading/writing to me doing the speaking classes. This is a minor wrench in the gears because we observed the classes for a couple days and had good ideas set on how to go about conducting the classes we had already been in. Now, we have to learn a whole new set of ways to interact with our students already. Just some small bumps on the road on our way to learning along Adventure Ave. Nonetheless, the first day of classes with us flying solo went very well. We finally found the open market again (more about this later) today before a 14:00 meeting that will apparently be a regular Monday thing. I think this will be constructive as we will have a dedicated time to talk with the director/owner of the school about any issues in pedagogy, trouble students, progress, and whatever other matters might arise. It is amazing to see the various levels of ability and interest in learning a language.

The biggest challenge so far is just communicating instructions to the wee tykes that barely do well to follow directions in Korean, let alone English. Being on this journey though with B and growing together has me very excited for our future.

Now about the weekend and coming plans. Having found the hiking trail that B mentioned, I am stoked about having a place to workout for free several times each week. The trail is 1.8km (1.1 mile) to a 465 metre (1,525 feet) summit that basically starts from sea level. Along the way there is an initial rest/stretching area that has pull-up bars, dip bars, stretching machines, and a bench. This is about ⅓ of the way to the summit. There is a more complete workout station about ⅔rds of the way up. This area has a bench press, pull up and dip bars, leg press machine, rings for stretching, several mobility machines that I've never seen, a hula hoop, and a sitting deck. At the bottom, and this struck B and I as very interesting and comical initially, there is a station with four air hoses with a metal nozzle on the end to blow off the dust, dirt, and debris from clothes and shoes. After summiting, B trying to catch a cat, spotting a random black billy goat, and enjoying an AMAZING view, we returned to the air hoses and found them very practical and useful. While there was some trash left around the summit, the general lack of human destruction, graffiti, and good condition of all of the equipment leaves much to be longed for back in the States. It really begs the question as to why people back home can't show this much decency and respect generally. Sure there are National Parks and Forests, but they are federally policed and nearly always require a fee at the National Parks. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to starting a solid routine of working out on this awesome trail through evergreen forests and stunning views. Many pictures to come once we buy a camera or two!

Ok, if I stop now this my be the "short" post I mentioned. Oh, the open market though…we had been shown there by the teachers we replaced but didn't pay enough attention to directions on the first trip there. One can find more fresh fish and odd seafood there than I ever care to eat. It was validating though to point out the live sea cucumbers to B that I have tried to describe as eating a salty ball of mucus encrusted with a layer of chewy mucus. Just google it, the image alone is enough to deter most sane folks. We did find and buy some really awesome wooden cooking utensils we've been wanting though. And we're keeping keen eyes toward finding great gifts for Big L and Little l, among many others.

Please feel free to share our blog link with others that might be interested.

Off to bed…
J&B