Greetings from Daegu, Korea

I am writing this post from my studio apartment in Daegu, two blocks from the college where I will be teaching. I thought I would be living in the dorms, so I am thrilled to have my own place, where I can prepare my own meals and have peace and quiet when I need it. I am, in fact, right now enjoying a deliciously rich cup of Peets Coffee that I brought from home - the first good coffee I've had since I arrived. Two trainers working for the same organization but on different projects have apartments on my floor, so there is company and assistance when I need that too.

I will spend three weeks here in Daegu delivering a teacher training course to high school English teachers. There are three other trainers on my team, with a total of 33 public school teachers in the program. We will divide the teachers into three cohorts so that we will have 11 or so in each group. The teachers will rotate through our classes daily. The teaching schedule is heavy - 9:00 to 4:00, but I'll do the same lesson three times in a day, and there is time for journal writing and warm up activities at both ends of the day. In the evenings I'l have to read and respond to the journals and prepare the next day's lesson, so I imagine my time here will fly by.

Blessedly, the heat isn't so bad yet (They say Daegu is the hottest place in Korea in summer). It's rainy season, so that cools it down a bit. I do have the air conditioning running all day when I'm here, but I can turn it off at night. So, so far - so good!

I was woken up this morning at 3:30 by a couple clanking down the stairs - I wonder where they were going at that hour? And about a half an hour later again, by a guy who seemed to be playing a radio at maximum volume as he clammered down the stairs and onto a motorcycle. So that was the end of my night. Oh well, lots to do today (Sunday) get food, by a towel, tour the neighborhood, get to a meeting this evening and prepare for tomorrow. Oh, boy!