Well, (at last!) we finally have our arrival date and city. We are well underway in obtaining working visas, signing contracts, and booking airline tickets. Our arrival date is August 21st to Incheon, South Korea. Incheon is said to be the "San Francisco" of S. Korea. We will meet up with our liaison and fellow teaching-co workers and proceed to orientation for several days at a hotel. Most of the day I assume will be spent in training, obtaining bank accounts, phone services, legal working documentation, etc. However, we are hoping to explore a bit of the city on our free time.
The city we will be living in a small city (pop 130,000) called Gongju. This city is kind of like a suburb right outside a metropolitan called Daejeon. The city is well-known for it's education and research, so I will be researching the two universities there to get involved in some outdoor and/or hiking clubs. I have been told that hiking clubs are popular in Korea since 70% is mountain terrain! We are also looking forward to taking trips to the bigger city, Daejeon, during the weekends or evenings since it is only a 30-min bus ride from our city. Which by the way, the public transportation in South Korea has an amazing reputation and looks ,from what I have seen thus far, utterly amazing! It literally goes EVERYWHERE in the country (which is really not that big). Actually the entire country of South Korea has an area of about 38,000 square miles, compared to just the state of Arizona at roughly 114,000 square miles!
Check out the city website at http://gongju.go.kr/html/en/index.html
Michelle and I will be at different schools, which we are looking forward to so that we have different experiences to talk about at the end of the day. Also, it is very rare that the organization/government that we are going through sets up friends with 2-bedroom apartments. Usually, it is always a studio or 1-bedroom apt. The only ones that usually share an apartment are married couples that come to teach. However, our liaison is trying to get us in a 2-bedroom, but we were just informed that is is likely we will have a single apartment/studio but in the same apartment building.
The city we will be living in a small city (pop 130,000) called Gongju. This city is kind of like a suburb right outside a metropolitan called Daejeon. The city is well-known for it's education and research, so I will be researching the two universities there to get involved in some outdoor and/or hiking clubs. I have been told that hiking clubs are popular in Korea since 70% is mountain terrain! We are also looking forward to taking trips to the bigger city, Daejeon, during the weekends or evenings since it is only a 30-min bus ride from our city. Which by the way, the public transportation in South Korea has an amazing reputation and looks ,from what I have seen thus far, utterly amazing! It literally goes EVERYWHERE in the country (which is really not that big). Actually the entire country of South Korea has an area of about 38,000 square miles, compared to just the state of Arizona at roughly 114,000 square miles!
Check out the city website at http://gongju.go.kr/html/en/index.html
Michelle and I will be at different schools, which we are looking forward to so that we have different experiences to talk about at the end of the day. Also, it is very rare that the organization/government that we are going through sets up friends with 2-bedroom apartments. Usually, it is always a studio or 1-bedroom apt. The only ones that usually share an apartment are married couples that come to teach. However, our liaison is trying to get us in a 2-bedroom, but we were just informed that is is likely we will have a single apartment/studio but in the same apartment building.
So far, we are working on lots of final preparations. Forms to fill out, people to see, cancelling services, and I am in desperate need of a haircut!
More updates as we prepare.
Love,
Kayleigh and Michelle
Hi Michelle, excited to hear about your adventures in Korea! Love, Grandma
ReplyDeleteDear Michelle,
ReplyDeleteLove you and I finally got brave enough to look at your Face book. I had to wait for my pastor to give me moral support. Will write more later.
Love, Grandma
Dear Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThisis Tuesday Sept 1. Read your letter again and found it very interesting and informative. I am so proud of both of you girls. Korea sounds like a fascinating country. Tom and I send our love. All is well here.
Love,
Grandma
Sorry about appering on your blog twice. old email address and all, confusion over passwords.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I'll be in Gongju from the 21st. I from Britain, London to be exact. Well nothing like being a stranger in a strange land. So would be nice to meet new people. Dont be shy welcome the new guy.
I look forward to meeting up with you.