Buseoksa Temple and a Spring Hike

The weather is finally starting to get warm here in Deasan. Lance and I decided to explore some of the what Seosan has to offer. Namely, the Buseoksa Temple, which is the oldest wooden building in Korea. It's a beautiful series of buildings sitting atop Mt. Bonghwang. We took the tank out for a spin, parked at the bottom and hiked our way to the top. From the top of Mt. Bonghwang we were able to see the vast sprawl of farmland and ocean front that's now our current home. It left us breathless. The cherry blossoms are in their final days here and it's really the most beautiful time I think because with the slightest breeze petals fall down to the ground like soft snow. The lanterns that  decorate the path up to the temple are there because of Buddha's birthday coming up in May. They made the journey to the top all the more beautiful.

We're getting ready to move again in about a week. It turns out there aren't enough classes to support two native teachers out at the oil bank, so we'll be moved into Seosan and commute to the next town over in Dangjin. We've each visited the school in Dangjin a handful of times and it seems nice enough. Really, Lance I are both excited to move into the city. It's really hard being so remote. We're going to miss our very spacious apartment though. Studio living here we come.

In general life here is starting to settle. We've gotten into a routine, though we find ourselves a bit bored at times, we're mostly comfortable. Really this year is about preparing for 2015 back in the states. It's 11 months away and it still seems like there's so much to do! I'm looking forward to it though. I miss home.

Desk Warming

A big part of being a teacher in Korea is desk warming. Basically sitting at your desk doing nothing worthwhile. This happens because you are contracted for so many hours, but they don't have enough classes to fill that time, but they're going to get that time out of you. So they make you sit here. Some people master the art of looking busy. Me on the other hand, I just sit back and relax. 

Adventures in Malipo

Spring has sprung in Korea and today Lance and I traveled to Malipo Beach, about an hour south of where we live right on the yellow sea. We took the tank for a spin and explored the whole area. We found lots of sea glass, walked along some beautiful scenic beaches and explored some of Korea's rural farm land. The flowers and acres of rice paddies were quite a sight, even if there was quite a bit of yellow dust and smog in the air. We finished the night with a movie and dinner. All in all it was a good day in the midst of a difficult month. Lance and I are adjusting to the new job, which we both really enjoy, but there are some minor problems we're both having to deal with. I'm sure once the summer is in full swing things will have settled back into a routine.

Tank You for "The Tank"

Greetings family, friends, and random internet people who find this blog.  Bethany and I are still alive and we're continuing to blog.  In recent news we've obtained a car/van/suv which came with the nickname of "The Tank" with the reasoning being it's green and sort of square.  It's quite the hoopty and runs on LPG which is basically propane.  The good news is that LPG is a lot cheaper than regular fuel.  LPG usually runs about a dollar or so a litter while regular fuel is near 2 dollars a litter.  

Yesterday we drove the tank up to Seoul to eat some good food and look at Cherry Blossoms.  We ate a great Mexican restaurant called Taco Amigo and went to a foreign foods grocery store and bought a lot of things we can't get around where we live.  I never would have thought canned tomato soup would be a luxury item.  The Tank did great and we saw some beautiful cherry blossoms.  I don't think we'll be going to Seoul very often though for a few reasons; 1) There is virtually no parking in Seoul and when you finally do find parking it's outrageously expensive.  We paid $4 for 40 minutes of parking 2) It takes about 2 hours to get there with no traffic 3) The traffic in Seoul is unbelievably bad as is their driving.  

Tonight we're going into the "city" to meet some people and play some board games.  It'll be our first social function since leaving Jeju and we're hoping to make some new friends.  The community in "The city" is a lot smaller than Jeju and the community where we live is pretty much nonexistent.  There are other foreigners living out here but they mostly keep to themselves or participate in the city's community.  But in possibly good news we might be moving to the city because there are not enough classes for two teachers so they want to move one teacher out here and move us to the city and have us work in the next city over from the city we'll be living in.  The bad part of that is, we'll have to give up our huge apartment for a much smaller one, but it's a trade off.  If we live in the city we'll be able to do things on the weekend without having to drive 30-40 minutes first.  This plan isn't set in stone yet and we'll definitely be living in BFE for the first month.