Good Day All,

I thought I would take a few minutes and let you all know how we are doing so far. It will be 2 weeks on Monday and it seems to have gone by fast.

We got in late Monday just to find our apartment on the 5th floor with no elevator. Our "penthouse" is nice with 2 bedrooms and a very large kitchen. It is fairly new with a few exceptions but it (and all the apartments apparently) are designed for someone 5 feet tall. The sinks are at thigh level and the light fixtures can really put a knot on your head. We are right next to school and most of the teachers and some of the staff live here in the same building. Not much of a view but I think it will stay warm in the winter.

We started classes last Monday and the first day was tough. I have 6 new classes with some scattered resources but I am making due. Bets has 12 I believe in her grade 6 and it started out slow but seems to be getting better. Her computer keeps crashing on her and without being able to access the server to see her unit plans and such she is about ready to chuck it out the window.

Other than that, we are finding Korean people to be very hospitable and respectful. We don't stand out as much here as in Africa. Shopping is an adventure because many of the labels are in Korean with no pictures. We seem to be doing well so far. I have been to most of the big stores and by big I mean really big. One place called Kuomo World is about the size of a Wal-Mart but 6 stories high. You can get just about anything you would want. I bet there are at least 10,000 cell phones for sale in there. I was looking around with another teacher the other night and he mentioned that there was a KFC in the bus station so we stopped in and I brought some home for our anniversary dinner. Things are fairly expensive here so we are saving some $ to maybe go somewhere over Christmas break. Some other teachers are going to Thailand and some to Taiwan but we really haven't looked into that yet.

We are fortunate to find that there are some really good kids here. I will be boy's soccer coach starting Tuesday and girl's basketball coach starting in March. Betsy will be advising the Model UN Club starting sometime soon.

That's about it. It has been very busy and very hot. 90's with humidity and rain. It should start cooling off soon.

Take Care and God Bless,

Brian & Betsy