And so begins another year…

Wow, it’s hard to believe that I’ve just begun my 2nd year here at Daegu Univeristy. Last year at this time I was so nervous! This year was much easier. I had 3 classes today, with one student in each. I said ‘hello’, and checked to see if their name was on my attendence list, gave ’em the name of the textbook and said “See you next class!”. I’ve seen several of my students from last year out and about as well. They seemed happy to see me ~ I guess they weren’t ones that got an F. The campus, although still cold and brown and bleak, has come alive again. It was so quiet during the winter, but the returning students will hopefully bring Spring with them.

As for my own studies, I began my course today as well. If introducing myself on the discussion board, and glancing at the titles of 4 articles counts as beginning my studies. The title is “Languages and Cultures in Contact” and I’m looking forward to it.

Hmmm, I still haven’t figured out how to put more than one picture up at a time. Sorry!

Anyway, as part of our Korean class, we went on a few field trips. This one was to Andong ~ on a cold, rainy, cold day. Still, there was lots to see in the traditional village. Well, maybe there was. We weren’t there for very long, and were too cold to feel much like sightseeing. Still, I got a few pictures. This one is of a little house in the village, and the one below is of an old gnarly tree that looked quite striking against the pearl grey sky.

Currently, I’ve got the TV on to AFN (Armed Forces Network) and am watching Growing Pains: Return of the Seavers. I used to love this show when I was a kid. My sister and I would watch it every week (I had a huge crush on Mike Seaver played by Kirk Cameron.) Now 14 years later, it’s horrible. I can’t bear to watch it, but neither can I bear to turn it off (“Just incase it gets better” I tell myself). Ugh.

Tomorrow is the first day of the new semester. The spring semester in Korea is the beginning of the school year, so I’ll have a whole batch of new freshmen. We’re not expecting more than 2-3 students to show up during the first week, as they’re all still registering. So, tomorrow I’ve got 3 empty classrooms to rest in for 15 minutes. Next week though, we’ll be in full swing.

These pictures are from a recent trip to the traditional village in Andong.