Jebu beach day

In June at Jebu we spent one day on a field trip to the beach. The kids got nice and muddy digging around in the seabed looking for creatures.

Scout Day

Several kids at Jebu were active in scouts, and one day in June we had Scout Day at school.

Hwaseong Fortress

The city of Suwon was just 40 minutes away by bus. There wasn't a whole lot to do in Namyang, but I could pop in to Suwon to see a movie, or go to Outback Steakhouse. I could also catch the train into Seoul, which only took 35 minutes, so day trips to Seoul were quite feasible.

Suwon is also home to Hwaseong Fortress, a UNESCO world heritage site.

trip to Gyeongju

I enjoyed my time at Seosin, Jebu and Haeun schools, and I was planning on renewing my contract, but I decided to apply for a few university jobs, just to see what might happen. One Saturday I travelled to Gyeongju for a job interview at Gyeongju English Village, operated by the Catholic University of Daegu. This was my first look at the Bomun Lake resort area of Gyeongju. During the train ride home, the director called me to tell me he was hiring me.

on the way to Jebu

Jebu Elementary is a branch school of Seosin Elementary, and Haeun is an independent school that shared me with Seosin. On Mondays and Tuesdays I'd take the bus in to Seosin school (20 minutes) and around 9:00 one of the staff from Jebu would pick me up and drive me to Jebu Island. Sometimes the causeway closure would delay us, and we'd take the scenic route on the way there. This is an area on the mainland near Jebu. There's some landscaping being done for some new housing behind me to the left.

soccer fan song

Here's a video of my Seosin kids learning the "Red Devils" fan song, used to support the Korean soccer team in the 2006 world cup.

winter camp

The kids break from school around Christmas and don't come back until March 2nd. Foreign teachers are expected to teach winter camp during that time. Each school organizes its own camp, mine was four weeks long. Here's the only shot I have of my winter camp kids.

Sports Day at Jebu

This video is a sequence of still photos.




This video is a sequence of video clips.


In October at Jebu we had Sports Day. It was a fun day. The parents show up and take part as well. Here are a couple of videos.

lunch at work

Once in a while my fellow teachers, the other staff and I would go out for lunch or dinner. Usually we had lunch in the school cafeteria with the students.

causeway to Jebu

This is the causeway to Jebu Island, with the island in the background. There's an intertidal zone between the island and the mainland, and the causeway is underwater at high tide. Sometimes I'd have to go to work late or come home early (or late) depending on the tide. Koreans refer to the parting of the water as the "miracle of Moses".

house near Jebu

This is a house we used to pass on the way to Jebu. This sort of architecture isn't all that common, but you see it once in a while.

Haeun School

I finally got around to taking some pictures of Haeun, my Friday school. It's kind of late in the fall, so the foliage isn't at its best. This school was voted to be the most beautiful elementary school in Korea a few years ago. (You can click on all the pictures in this blog to see an enlarged view.)

flowers at Jebu

Here are some flowers and landscaping at Jebu.

autumn colors at Seosin

There are plenty of these trees around, which turn a beautiful yellow in the fall.