***Korea 2***

Eventually we did manage to move into our apartment, Hyundai Apt. 101-103.When I say 'we' I mean my former flat-mates and I. For reasons that may seem petty by some I've decided to exclude these particular people from my site. You may understand why when I tell you that one of them started hitting on my ex-girlfriend (while we were still together.) I was actually with the young lady when he called her on her mobile phone (and I listened in) and then, instead of doing the manly thing and admit it he denied everything later that day. The other became quite neurotic and after two years of trustworthy co-habitation insisted that one day, while he was at school and I was picking up a few of my possessions (after having moved out) that I'd left there he insisted to the Apartment guard that I should be watched while retrieving my possessions. For reasons of fairness I feel that I should withhold their identities.

Anyway, it felt great to have our own place at last. After a while of settling in and cleaning up (The previous tennants didn't enjoy dusting it would seem) We threw housewarming parties for our respective schools. The schools were very good to us (as we heard later some of the teachers had real problems with their schools) and supplied us with beds, a table and chairs, a fridge and a TV.
In the months to come I made the place really comfortable by bringing in what the locals didn't want, cleaning it up and rendering it fully usable. As you can see from the above photo taken in '98 I had a comfortable room which didn't cost the earth (mainly as nearly everything was free. One of the downfalls of Korean people and their economic success was the ease with which they'd throw away the most useful and still usable objects only because they were a couple of years old or a fuse needed changing.) One of the flat-mates (or rather his girl-friend) installed cable TV which was invaluable for English language TV. I am indebted to Miss Pyoun and to Dawoo Cinema Network, without which I may never have made it through the first six months.

In the first few months of my working at Kwan-Ak we were visited by student's from US school who were touring Korea.
This day nicely co-incided with the School trip across Seoul to Kwan-Ak San (Mountain) after which the school is named. In the above photo you can see Kim Jae-Ho, who was my first supervisor and to whom I owe a lot of thanks for his support in my first six months,
walking with the two American teachers and in the photo below you can see some of my students and two of the US students.

As previously mentioned I was warmly welcomed into the school and this included social activities with the teachers. The first I experienced was mountain 'climbing' or as we would say 'Hill walking'. Mind you, some of the mountains can be very high. The first I 'conquered' was Wol Chul San which is in the south of South Korea. Korea, being made up of mainly volcanic area (all extinct now) is over 75% mountatinous which gives for some really impressive landscapes.Many of the teachers are die hard mountaineers and I was totally impressed by their ability. Just while scanning these photos my mind drifts back to the warmth I felt from many of these people and I feel a sense of longing for a way of life which is now behind me.

Right from the very first day I found support in Mr. Chi Chong-Oh who was one of my co-teachers at Kwan-Ak. As I had little teaching material with me, having uprooted from the UK with nought but a 100 litre rucksack and things I'd need to live, he gave me his own copy of an English teaching book which I still have today and intend to use wherever I go. Over the two years I taught at Kwan-Ak Mr. Chi took enough photos of my progress to fill an entire album and he presented me with it on my departure. I believe I would have to search a long time to find selflessness like this anywhere else in the world, he is personification of Korean hospitality. Mr. Chi is also a personal hero of mine. In his fifties he decided that he was to get the better of a weight problem and early in the morning you would see him cycling around the school yard, working toward his personal target of fitness. In the two years I worked alongside him I saw his efforts and hard work bear fruit.