Arriving in Mokpo

We were both supposed to get picked up at the institute by our co-teachers, but Ellen's girl got lost and did not make it. My co-teachers 4 door could not fit her, her husband and the little boy with us and our luggage, so we had to have a big wig supervisor guy drive Ellen and I to my school first. The plan was to have our co-teachers meet us there which did end up working, but Ellen's co-teacher was late....and when she sat down in the principals office (which was pretty nice with a huge 10' round glass table surrounded by 10 letter sofa chairs) a few words were exchanged and she started to cry. We felt really bad for her, but all was good after that. My school was built in March of this year and is brand new. Here I am in front of my school:

It is the only school with its own soccer field with grass. I must admit it is really nice. Check out the inside of my class. It is a dedicated Language Lab...this is where I'll be spending my days handling the grade 3-6 class....average class size is suppose to be 30, but the grade 4 class I believe is 40. I'm thinking that I'll find Toyota was a breeze compared to this. Anyways...probably good time to also add that we are not teaching this week either. We start Sept. 1st, so this week is off. Alright, here is the class...without kids...so quiet.
Class had two computers, nice team desks, a drop down projector and a drop down projector screen. It has a touch screen podium station...really I will have no excuses. Each class I am suppose to have the actual class teacher show up to my class to help with discipline and stuff. We did learn how to make rules and what work and does not work for disciplining of kids. A three strike system was suggested. First strike for the kid, he needs to sit quietly and behave or its to the second strike. Strike two...it was recommended that you have him/her sit in the back with their arms in the air. Try that for 5 minutes...they will do it...so much so that make sure you don't forget about the little one, 'cause they will literally do it until they fall over. Last strike is to send them into the hall...this is open season on this kid if another teacher walks by, or if the teacher in the class gets a hold of the kid. Now, this is based on other schools and really my school may be totally different and will maybe not require any of the above steps, but still...a little wild. Even teachers smack each other around apparently as Koreans are very direct at times. I will update this condition as I get more experience..I am just sharing some worst case scenarios for now. Alright....lets move on to our apartment. They have some huge stores here. E-mart, Homeplus and Lotte Mart are all 3-4 levels. A grocery level that is super clean and looks like a Sobey's type place...one level is like walking into Zellers or K-mart...clothes, pots and pans, everything you need. So...we have been filling in some of the gaps in our apartment. We had the following in our apartment: Microwave, large fridge, 2 gas burners, double bed, dresser, closet, TV, DVD player, pots/pans, dishes, glasses, cutlery. Things that we purchased to close the gaps...rough price in brackets: found a mini oven (39...was on for 49 but last model on floor so we got a deal...cooked chicken in it last night....perfect), large pot for making spaghetti sauce, cooking knife, Pyrex cooking dish, shower curtain and bath mat. That's about it. The apartment was also super clean when we got there. Here is a couple shots of it:

Pis mom...on a tes torchons en place. Pas pire la cuisine? Ellen voulait qu'on montre notre fridge vide! Vraiment propre....nous sommes au 6ieme etage du building. Tu peux aussi remarquer que notre linge est etendues dehors....pas de secheuse en Koree. On a une laveuse dans notre appart. Aucun problem...on est bien installe, alors ne t'inquiete pas!!

We have also been hitting the pavement in Mokpo to find out what's what and where is what. Here is us around town a little. Waterfront boardwalk, on an overpass to safely cross the street.

So that's it for now. Plan this week is to find some bikes, get Internet hooked up so we can call, get a cell phone (one only for both of us and no land line as we will call using Skype). Friday we are also going to get our Banking done with my co-teacher Mirah and get our Alien Registration Card. Would also like to join gym so I can lose some weight. Taxi cab driver called me sumo guy when I got in the other day...thanks pal!! haha. Later.