Workout gym

I guess I will have to find a new place to continue exercising. My gym closed suddenly last Tuesday. Monday, I went to the gym and the next day, a teacher, who also exercises at the same place, told me that I better hurry and get everything out of my locker (shoes, socks, shampoo, etc.). When I arrived the place was empty. All of the workout equipment and weights had been removed. Unfortunately, I had only used 6 weeks of my 6 month membership. I was better off than some people. Another teacher paid her 6 month membership a week ago. The gym was still accepting people's membership fees until the last days. Rumor has it that the owner didn't pay his rent and kept membership fees to take a long trip. There were about 10 Pagoda teachers that had memberships, so we were all quite shocked and upset. The day after closing they did take people's names for possible refunds, I highly doubt that I will get any money back.

New place

I have moved to new Korean home. I live with my father's friend, wife, and son. It is a 4 bedroom place in a 23 story building. It is a gated community with multiple buildings. It is a lot closer to work, so it is convenient for commuting because I only need to take a 5 min. bus ride and 10 min. subway ride. My hours at work are still the same, so I start early and end late. I am not sure if I will ever get more convenient hours, but I will continue for awhile at least.

For the most part, my Korean lessons are going well. I don't have enough time to study as much as I should, but I have learned the Hangul alphabet. This means that I can read letters, but have little or no clue what they mean. Grammar is quite different from English, so it is tricky to remember which order the words belong.

Last weekend, I went to a park with a teacher friend. She showed me the cherry blossoms. It is quite pretty because the trees will have pinkish-white petals. For a couple weeks each April, they blossom. After, the trees will have normal green leaves. During the couple weeks, thousands of people go to the parks to walk along the the cherry blossoms.

yellow dust/Nike/housing

Hello again, sorry for not blogging for awhile.

I have been still trying to get rid of my cold that just won't disappear. Last week, the air quality was not good in Seoul. "Yellow Dust" from China/Mongolia came over to Korea. The air has a yellow haze from all of the sand and other particles picked up from the Gobi Desert. It makes breathing a little uncomfortable and really difficult when having a cold.

I did get a chance to shop in the Nike Employee store. One of my K-father's friend who translates for us works at Nike, so she could get me in the store. Everything is 50% off, but it is still expensive. I only managed to find a pair of shoes because most of the clothing is in sizes for "normal" Koreans. The store is pretty small since it isn't for regular customers, but it was nice to get the discount.

I will soon live closer to work. I have decided to live with Mr. Han, who is my K-father's friend. It will be a lot cheaper to stay with him and it should take about 20 minutes to get to work. He is around 60, married, and has a son, who is finishing his university studies. Hopefully, everything will work out well. I will move this weekend.

Also, it is another new month of teaching. It has been a little more difficult adjustment teaching Business English. I thought it would be simpler to teach this subject, but it is equally difficult because the students are quite demanding and the teaching materials are not very organized. I am trying to adjust to the students desires, but they can be very challenging.

This month, I have started my Korean lessons. I am going to a private hagwon that focuses on Korean only. The teacher speaks 99.9% Korean in class, so I sometimes have difficultly understanding the explanations. It is an immersion class, but so far so good.