Bus to Baeksusuh Elementary School

For the whole route you can look at the entry titled 'The bus to Baeksu Middle School & Elementary' first. This picks up just after the middle school.

The view just after the bus pulls away from the middle school.


Just a little further down the road.


Just a little further down the road.


This is the bus stop where you catch the bus going home.


The bus stop heading home, it's a small convenience store. It's a 3-4 minute walk to/from the school.


The SK gas station is a good landmark.


I usually press the stop button when I see the yellow and red awning on the left.


The stop buttons are positions all over the bus including some on the ceiling.


Just beyond the red and yellow awning you'll see this gate on your left.


Baeksusuh Elementary School.

The bus to Baeksu Middle School & Elementary

I don't teach at the Baeksu Middle School or the other elementary school. The replacement teacher for this job is probably starting on Nov. 1, 2010. The same bus that I take to the Baeksusuh and Baeksunam elementary schools goes past both of these schools.

You'll pass this monument on your right.


This GS gas station is a good landmark. You'll pass it on your right just before the road splits.


The road splits on either side the signs you see here. The bus goes to the right.


Immediately after the bus takes the split to the right you'll pass this fire station.


Just past the fire station is the brand new police station. The elementary school is about 100 yards down the road on your right. You can press the stop button when you pass the police station. There is almost always someone else getting off the bus here so you may not have to press it yourself.


The stop buttons are positions all over the bus including some on the ceiling.


This wooden pagoda on the right is on the grounds of the elementary school.


This is a convenience store on the left side directly across from the wooden pagoda. This is where you'll catch the bus to go home.


A picture of the elementary school through the front gate.


Just after the bus continues down the road from the elementary school you'll pass this NongHyup bank on your right.


And 50 yards further down you pass this post office.


A little further down the road you pass this pre-school on your right.
Picture 22


This shade tree is about 250 yards before the middle school.


The middle school is on your righthand side. The green fence out front is easy to spot from a distance.


There is a bus stop on the lefthand side. This is where you catch the bus to go home.


The green fence by the athletic field.


The athletic field has artificial turf.


Baeksu Middle School.

Cooking rice

Every apartment comes equipped with a rice cooker. I got a whirlwind explanation from my co-teacher on my first day in Korea. Due to jet lag and culture shock I basically forgot everything she said on how to use this device so I thought it would be helpful to document this for future teachers.

I usually add about 1/2 cup of rice and twice that amount of water. I don't get very scientific about the proportion so long as there is at least twice as much water than rice. The cooker will boil off excess water. Once you have rice and water in the pot, you close the lid and give the big knob on top a quarter turn to the left. After you turn the knob, the light next to the tan button on the right will light up. Then all you do is hit the tan button once and the red light in the lower left of the gray oval will come on. That's all you need to do.

I've never timed it, but it seems like it takes about 20 minutes to make rice. At some point in the process the cooker will beep once and then vent steam up into the air. It'll probably scare you a bit the first time it happens. A few minutes later you'll hear a series of beeps (four shorts beeps and one long) and then it's safe to turn the knob to the right and take out the rice.

When the lid is open all the lights are off. However, if you close the lid again it goes into a warming mode to keep any remaining rice warm. You can tell because the light on the upper left button will come on. If you want to be sure that the power is off press the power button once. The power button is the lower right button under the tan button. You'll see the light in the upper left go off.

The Front with both lights lit up.


The top. The silver bell-shaped piece is the vent that lets the steam out.


A look at the back of the cooker. Excess water (with rice particles) will drip into the clear plastic container. Every few weeks it's a good idea to detach this piece and rinse it out. It's easy to snap back into place.

Jeollanamdo teachers on Facebook

If you're going to teach English in Jeollanamdo I think it's better to arrive when the Jeollanamdo Office of Education is doing a 1-week orientation in Gwangju (coordinated by Canadian Connection). There was an orientation in late April and another one in late August. Attending an orientation gives you an easy first week in Korea. You're in a hotel with 40-70 other new western ESL teachers who are all going through the same experience. It also gives you a week to get over jet lag before you start teaching. I arrived in late November and had to get started without an orientation and I don't recommend doing it that way.

The orientation groups now establish Facebook pages to help the new teachers stay in touch. This is VERY important because you need a network of people you can get together with in Gwangju on the weekends. Go on Facebook and search for Jeollanamdo Teachers April 2010 and/or Jeollanamdo Teachers August 2010. They are both public groups so you can post questions on the wall. If you've been offered a job in a really small rural town then hopefully you can find someone who is already working there so that you can ask questions.

As a reminder, if you have questions about Yeonggwang and would like to contact me, please email me directly. My email address is jleonard518 AT gmail DOT com. Please put something like 'questions about Yeonggwang' in the subject line. Thanks, Jim.

Doing laundry

Laundry is a bit of a hassle in Korea. The washing machines work well, but no one seems to have a dryer. I never thought the 'pigeon' fabric softener did much good so I stopped buying it.

Here's my washing machine


Here you can see the soap tray. The section to the right with the aqua green plug is where the fabric softener goes. You can also see the two removable lint collectors on either side of the soap tray. On the bottom left you can see the place where you can pour in bleach.


WHAT DO THE BUTTONS DO?

Here's the breakdown of what I was told by my co-teacher (moving from right to left).
- The orange button the far right is the power button. The machine automatically powers down after a full cycle is run. You press this once and you'll hear a beep and some lights come on.

- The next button (the largest button) is the start button. After you have the cycle set up how you want it, you just press this button. You'll hear a lovely little chime that tells you the machine is starting.

- the next button (blue) is where you select the laundry cycle. I assume there are choices for delicates, double wash, etc. I have no idea. My co-teacher just told me the the upper left (as seen in the picture) is the 'normal' cycle so I always use that one.

- The next button controls the four vertical red lights. From top to bottom they are Water, Laundry, Rinse, and Spin (or so I was told). I always run the machine with all four lights lit up. Each time you press this button the machine cycles through set combinations of these options so I have to press it about 7 times before all four lights are lit up.

- The next button is the 'reservation' button (directly below the 70 in the picture). I was told not to bother touching this one so I don't use it.

- The next button sets the 'water depth'. I usually just put it all the way up to a full load (though in this picture the light is next to the 3/4 load setting). You can almost make out the icons of a full load, 3/4 load, 1/2 load, and 1/4 load to the left of the 70. Like the other button this one goes in a set sequence so I usually have to click it several times before the light goes to the icon all the way at the top.

- The next button controls the spinning speed. From top to bottom they are Fast, Medium, and Slow. I always use the fast as shown in the picture.

- The last button controls the water temperature. The top light is hot water and the bottom is cold. If both are lit up then it uses a mixture of hot and cold water. That's the way I usually run it. Don't forget to make sure your hot water unit is turned on before you start.

These are how the lights look when I start a load of laundry.


Here's the cheaters version of what I described above. Just press these buttons in the following order: G, A, B, C, C, C, D, D, D, D, D, D, F.


I have a series of strings across my apartment for hanging laundry.
You can also see part of the aluminum clothing rack. These are very common in Korea and you'll want to get at least one if not two.

Teacher volleyball

Nearly every ESL Teacher I know has been invited to play volleyball with the Korean teachers. It varies from school to school but the volleyball events seem to happen once every three months on a Wednesday afternoon. This appears to be a pretty big networking event among the Korean teachers and more or less everyone plays. The students won't be there.

This is also a social event so they have lots of food and adult beverages. The one time I played back in December my principal kept pouring me beer and mokoli (Korean rice wine). Coming from United States it seems rather odd to drink during work hours on school grounds, but that's just how it's done. Like random days off, the trick is to find out in advance so that you can bring proper shoes and a change of clothes.

The gym at Baeksusuh Elementary School




The food and booze

Baeksusuh Elementary School

Here are some pictures of Baeksusuh Elementary School.