Semester down!

Well, I survived my first semester teaching in Korea. I've learned a lot about my strengths and my weaknesses as a teacher. Mostly I've learned that I can actually be a teacher without peeing myself with fear. :) It makes me happy to know that I enjoy teaching as much as I always thought I would, and that I now have a career that I actually want to pursue. I'm excited to go back to the states and try my hand at a community college or university...that is, if America gets its s**t together and starts hiring again. We shall see.

Stretching before me now is about 6 weeks of vacation bliss. Tomorrow, Joe and I will pick up a rental car and head out across Korea. We want to fall in love with this place. Right now, we don't love it. Right now, Korea feels fine. Not great. Not bad. Just fine. I want to be able to tell people that Korea is a place they should visit. I can't say that yet, because I still don't feel I have a grasp of this country. So, tomorrow we'll be heading toward Mokpo, which is a coastal town on the southwest side of the country, and stopping at a few sites along the way. We hope to get into nature a bit and do some hiking. Hopefully, because of the season, there will be less foot traffic on the trails, which are usually so congested with gear-bedecked Korean hikers. Regardless, it'll be good to get out of Daegu for a bit and see what there is to see beyond its sprawl.