Cheonan, Korea Rep.

Yesterday I finally taught my first two lessons and they went pretty well. I also caught the bus by myself to school for the first time and it all went smoothly. The only thing is, there is only one bus that goes to the school at the right time for me. If I miss it then I have to catch a taxi. Bus fare is not too bad, I think it is the equivalent of about R8 one way. The school is probably about a 20-25 minute walk from my place – now that it’s nice and warm I will probably start walking home in the afternoons, provided I don’t have too much to carry. (My bag is rapidly filling up with teacherly things and my laptop weighs a ton!) This afternoon I was waiting for the bus and one of the students moms pulled up next to me and said “excuse me teacher, where are you going?” so I told her I was going home and she offered me a lift. She was such a nice lady and spoke very good English. Turns out she is one of NINE children! Six sisters and 2 brothers. Yikes.

After school yesterday Mr Koo took me to see the “largest sitting statue of Buddha” at Gagwonsa Temple. I was keen to see it but did not expect the place to be so completely breathtaking!! There is a mountain behind our school and I always wonder what is up there. Well the road we took wound its way up the side of the mountain and eventually came to the most beautiful Buddhist temple set against the backdrop of a forest (a novelty here). There is a huge bell that the monks gong every day and there are many separate buildings, each beautifully hand-decorated by the monks who live there. The main temple is sooo peaceful and serene, I wanted to stay longer! There are small bells hanging from the roof outside and they tinkled so delicately in the breeze while inside incense was burning and people barely spoke, only in whispers. The air felt cleaner up there and I realised how much I have missed “nature” without knowing it! Finally, we walked further up and saw the huge bronze statue of Buddha which was really impressive. He looks like he is very happy to be in that lovely peaceful place. Completely annoyed that I did not have a camera, but Jina has ordered me one online and I should get it this week sometime. I can’t wait!