Busan Fireworks Festival

Hangul lesson

Today we're going to learn some Hangul!!!



Let's start with a few basics. Hangul is an alphabet, just like the Roman alphabet English speakers use. The only two differences are Hangul blocks syllables, and there are no lowercase or capitalize letters in Hangul.

Each syllable is formed like a square. The characters are stacked from left to right, top to bottom. For example ㅎ, ㅏ, and ㄴ are three separate characters. But, as they would form one syllable, they would be written 한 instead of ㅎ ㅏ ㄴ.

ㅎ + ㅏ + ㄴ= 한



Here's another example...

ㄱ + ㅡ + ㄹ = 글

Then we combine the syllables to form words.

한 + 글 = 한글

한글 - This word means Hangul

ㅎ = H
ㅏ = A
ㄴ = N
ㄱ = G
ㅡ = ə (U)
ㄹ = L

Here is a chart of all the vowels and consonants. It's much easier than it looks;)

























Happy studying!

Korea Happy Fun Time

Annyeong-seo!

I just thought I'd spread the word out that I'm in Korea. Duh! But, if you're wondering what I'm up to, but are for some reason reluctant to ask, read my blog. I post musings and general happenings in my life. So, give it a read if you're bored or want to know what my life is like.

Annyeonghi gaseyo :)

Where am I?

Time for a Geogrpahy lesson! Let's take a look at where I am.
First, I currently reside on the continent of Asia. I've circled the location of my city.













Here's a more close up picture of the Country. I've kept the labels on just in case you aren't familiar with the city layout of Korea. Once again, my city is circled.



















Here's a nice shot of the topography of the area. Most of the country is mountains.














This is the city of Busan. 3.6 Million people live here. It's the 3rd most visited sea port in the world. I live in the Sasang-gu area.













This is a closer view of my stomping ground where I do most of my wondering. The circle in the top left corner is my apartment and the circle on the right is Gaebup Elementary School where I work. The area isn't exactly the best area of Busan but it is convenient because it has everything I need. Stores, restaurants, banks, PC Bangs, a subway station and a bus station.













The subway station is a five minute walk from my house and my school is a ten minute walk. I usually walk through the subway station to avoid the busy streets. Traffic lights are much longer here than they are at home.














Hope you enjoyed your geography lesson. There will be a quiz later.

Checking In

Just checking in to let everyone know that I'm alright. A few of you have expressed your concerns about my status but now I'm feeling better.

Today was a really easy day. I only had to teach one grade 5 class. Normally I teach 4 classes in the morning, but today the students had to do some endurance tests in the field. We had Be-be-bop for lunch today which is basically mixed vegetables (bean sprouts, mushrooms, seaweed) with rice and hot sauce. SOOOOO good. I made sure to bring my container so I can eat it again tonight. Mmmmmmmm.

Yesterday the internet guy came to my apartment and hooked up my connection! He had to throw a cable line from my window to a box on the third floor in order to get the connection. The process seemed highly complex involving untangling and splicing wires. I have no idea how he managed to connect the wires but he did. All said and done I have my internet connection and it is glorious!

It has been a month and a half and I still have not made a dime in my name.