A little late

Well, when Sara and I left the states we thought we would blog every week or every couple weeks at the least. Every week or so the same topic of conversation comes up that we should really start writing our blog to at least give people that we haven't really been able to talk with a update on our life here.
Both of us have actually start writing to only get distracted with something else and then forget about it.
But here it is a brief overview of our first 2 1/2 months in the land of symbols and kimchi.
I teach in the middle school system. I have four different schools that i teach at. Each of the schools has a way different feel to it. My main school is Sapyeong which i go to Monday and Tuesday each week. The classes are small. My biggest class has 12 students but its fun. My 9th graders are to cool for everything so its a struggle to teach to them. I guess its a reminder to who i was when i was in school. Talking when the teacher was trying to teach.
I play ping pong with other teachers every day at lunch while i am at the school. On rare days when we don't play; the school also has a driver range with very nice golf clubs.
The school that i go to on Wednesday is called Bukmyeon but is pronounced Bugmyeon. Another very small school that takes 45 mins to get to by car and almost 2 hours by bus. My coteacher has laid down the law with them and they are a little bit more well behaved. One thing about Koreans is that they are for the most part very competitive. I do not need to bribe them with candy to get them involved in any games. Again for the most part that is true for all my schools.
On Thursdays i go to my biggest schools that has 70 students in 3 grades. My biggest class is my 8th graders that has 25 students. This may actually be my favorite school to come to. The students are great and the coteacher teaches me Korean when she gets a chance. Then thursday nights i go with my coteacher to another school called the Gifted Center and teacher another few classes for extra pay.
Fridays i go to a place called Dongbok which may be my least favorite but i have started to play soccer with the students during lunch time on their dirt field. Again very competitive and actually real fun even though i am out there with dress pants and shoes and these kids are lacing up soccer shoes.
Sara and I luckily got different apartments in the same building she is actually only one floor above me. Makes life a ton easier.
On the weekends Sara and i have tried to travel as much as we can but also save money. We have met some great people while we have been here.  We got close with a few other couples while we were staying at the hotel during orientation and they became like family. One of the couples lives a few blocks away.
We have been able to swim in the East sea, see a traditional Korean village, do some awesome hikes, visit a few buddhist temples, go to Korean's version of MLS soccer game, go to a lantern festival, go to the Kimchi festival and met diplomats and overall see and experience Korea.
The experiences inside the classroom are interesting to say the least. Students love us just because we are white and they always want to play games. I let them come up with English team names which usual leads to some unusual names. My favorite was at my gifted school one of my best students walks up to the boards write F*** and walks down when i tell her that can't be her team name. She looks at me with puppy eyes and  ask why.
Korea has stopped with corporal punishment and students have the attitude especially with native english teachers that we will not punish them but my teachers have let me have open reign on what i can do for punishments. It allows me to be creative. Pushup position is my favorite. Just watching kids get into pushup position and hold it is pretty funny and the teachers usually get a kick out of it.


Sara is teaching at an elementary school and she goes to 3 different schools. I know that she is planning on updating soon on her experiences. She can give a better take on what is happening then i can.


This first 2 1/2 months have been an interesting experience that we have loved and at times looked at each other wondering what we are doing. We can't wait till we are back in the states and understanding things that are going on around us but at the same time we really enjoy everything that we have. We have no regrets coming out here and i know that i want to continue teaching. It is what i want to do with the rest of my life.


We will hopefully blog a lot more about our experiences so we can give you more in depth stories instead of brief over views.


We love you and cant wait to see all of you


Congrats to my former soccer team NCU men on finally beating Prov in the regional tournament and heading down to Florida