10 Week Update

Hey everyone! It's been a while since our last official update post, so we wanted to take this time to let you know how we're doing, how work is going, what we've learned about Korea, and share some more miscellaneous photos ☺

First of all- Wow. Sam and I can't believe that October is now over and we're in November. It's crazy to think that two months has already passed and we only have 10 more left on our contract! We still have so much left to explore and do, I think we are just hoping we can do it all with the time we've got.

How is life?

Sejong. Life is great! We are loving Sejong. It may be a city under construction with lots of changes to come, but it has everything we need. Even with the weather getting colder, we have been enjoying taking walks along the rivers and roads. The sidewalks are wide and they are everywhere, and the bridges are so pretty.

Last night walking to the movie theater

One of the larger foot bridges we've seen here

Weather. The weather is getting colder. People have told us that while Korea has four seasons, winter and summer are very long while spring and fall last only a few weeks. We are sort of experiencing that, though I think it has been a very gradual change to winter. These last few nights have been the first below-freezing temperatures we have experienced. And the average temperature in January is apparently in the mid 20s F, so it never gets too crazy cold.

Here's the forecast for the next couple of weeks:

As you can see, it's cold but not too cold ☺

Exploring. So last weekend we went to Geumgang natural recreation forest in Gongju, which was amazing. If you haven't seen our post from that trip, definitely check it out. We have a long list of places we want to visit and explore, so stay tuned for that. We are planning for our next adventure now--Seoul.

Parks and green spaces around Sejong

How is Work?

Work. We have gotten to know our students really well by now. We know which students are struggling more, which ones are doing better. We also know which students cause trouble or try to get away with different things and which students care the most about doing well. It's up and down every day but for the most part, we are enjoying work ☺ We have also been getting to know our co-workers better. We had our first lunch meeting last Thursday, we went to a Chinese restaurant and had a great time.

Front door area of our school

Yoga studio down the hall

Quarter system. We were given a 3-month schedule when we first arrived, and on December 1st we start a new quarter here. We're not 100% sure what this will mean, but we are at the least expecting all new books. Some students will move up to higher levels, some students won't. We may have all new students in some classes, a mixture in others, and all the same class in others still. We will have to let you know in December, as we've been told we won't know a day sooner than that.

Happy Halloween!

All of the staff dressed up in halloween costumes for market day

Market Day. Market day is an event that happens twice a year for the students, in celebration of all the hard work they put in throughout the year. The students earn stamps in class by doing homework, participating in lessons, and for general good behavior. These stamps are exchanged for prizes on market day. Prizes range from toys like slime, squishy keychains, stickers, candy, posters, and wallets, to more higher quality prizes like Legos, Beyblade, and electronic phone chargers. The top prizes were Kpop albums from top groups like BTS, Wanna One, Twice, and more.

Miscellaneous Pictures:

Here we just wanted to share some pictures that didn't have a place in our last posts. Enjoy!