Entry from the plane...

  So, I'm writing this blog from somewhere over Russia. Pretty cool, huh? Too bad Jon and I are in the middle of the middle row, so we are nowhere near a window. We flew over Canada, the Arctic, and now we are over Russia. We'll cut down across a little bit of China, then around North Korea to Seoul. It's wierd, because it's 12:15 am Eastern time (who knows what time it is underneath us) and it's still light out. It'll be 5:30 pm (Thursday) local time when we get to Seoul, in four hours. Which I guess means it'll never be dark, even though it'll be a different day. Wierd. Two days and no night. I can't really think about that too much.... :-) 

   So far, the ride's been alright. We have those video-on-demand video screens in the seats, so I've been watching a lot of TV and movies..."Definately, Maybe"; an episode of Friends and House; "Dan in Real Life"; and some of Horton Hears a Who. Plus they have games like Tetris, which is good for killing time. Jon's watching...I'm not sure, but it must be funny because he keeps laughing. :-) 

   Alright, writing this blog post did not kill nearly enough time. Guess I'll mess around some more on the computer. I'm tired of watching movies. I slept a little earlier, but I don't want to sleep now since I want to be on the right schedule, which I guess makes it 1:30 in the afternoon for me now. Aye.

  

Or maybe I'll just play some more Tetris .

       Jon says hello,

~Aileen

We're here!!!

Hey, so we made it to Korea!! I definately wrote 2 nice blog posts on my laptop, but we found this internet cafe before somewhere with wireless soo...guess you'll have to wait to read about our trip here. :)

Right now it is about 8 am, and we are wandering around the city. It's a nice city, and we can kind of figure out what some stuff is, by pictures or random English signs. We found a 7-11 to buy something to drink in....and a Domino's. I dont think they quite have the same menu as the ones in the US....they had a huge picture of a pizza with crab, octopus and noodles on it! It's really hot and humid here...good thing we have AC in the apartment...at least in our bedroom. (I'll write more about the apartment etc later when I post pictures of the apartment and our neighborhood!)

Today at 1, our school director's wife is picking us up...I'm guessing to go to the school...she didn't say when she dropped us off here last night.

~Aileen and Jon

Finally Leaving!

So, we're finally leaving the United States on Wednesday morning, two weeks later than we were supposed to leave. That's a long story, but basically it was a long and complicated visa process. But we have the visas, and the plane tickets, now. All's well that ends well. We've definitely had a good time in Vermont, spending time with my family and some of my friends, relaxing and enjoying the great outdoors! 

Just so everyone's on the same page, this is what we are doing: Jon and I are going to be in Jeonju (also called Cheonju or Chonju, like it's labelled on the map) South Korea for one year, teaching English as a Foreign Language at the Reading Town English School branch in Jeonju. We will be teaching mostly elementary and middle-school aged children, but could have students of all ages. Reading Town is a private school that provides English classes outside of the normal school day. Our hours will be 1pm-9pm, which I 

think is good because it gives us time to explore the city and do other things in the morning. 

Jeonju is a city of about 650,000 people, surrounded by mountains and known for its qu

ality produce. It is about 2 hours south of Seoul by train, and seems to be very close to the coast. It also has many historical sites and parks, including a full-size model historical village. It is also an important center for traditional paper-making arts and hosts many festivals throughout the year. All in all, it sounds like a great city for Jon and me to live in!!  

So we leave Wednesday morning, July 30. We fly from Burlington,

 Vermont to New York City (LaGuardia), then from there to Seoul. We should get to Seoul around 5:30 pm Thursday (local time-- they are 13 hours ahead of Eastern time), then get picked up by someone from our school. 

Thanks for tuning in to the first, and kind of boring, installment of our blog, which I promise will be much more exciting once we get there. 

Hope everyone is having a great summer! I look forward to hearing from you all...feel free to leave comments, even if they're unrelated!!