All's still all right: Storms and new people

Typhoon Bolaven came and went here with nothing more heavier than usual rains and winds. Nothing much happened that we hadn't seen before. While the rest of the country didn't fare quite so well, the storm didn't hit as hard as predicted. Nonetheless, we've another storm coming, Typhoon Temblin. It's set to cross across the peninsula on a diagonal, so Cheorwon's likely to get even more crummy weather. Matt shot a message out earlier that said we might have to cancel our welcome dinner if the conditions get bad, so we'll have to see what happens. Let's hope that it's just another round of rain for us here. 

I'm getting tired of this rain because the summer's for sunny days where I'm from. People had mentioned Korea's rainy season before, but I didn't think it would go on for this long. Apparently I'm not alone in this one because the Korea Joongang Daily ran this article about our great wet and sticky August. It wasn't like this at this time last year. We hardly saw much rain and instead got plenty of heat instead. 

But enough about the weather, because as interesting is that is, we've had some changes in the Cheorwon crew recently. Gabe, Pete, Carrie, and Johanna have left the country and Claire's transferred to Chuncheon. It's been nothing but a pleasure getting to know them while they were here. They'll be missed. Everyone left on great terms; all had had fun with teaching but had decided that it was time to carry on with other adventures. I can personally attest that the kids loved Peter for his bobbing height and goofy good humor. Gabe did well too; their former 6th graders have become my 1st grade middle schoolers and they've done well thus far. Farewell everyone--and I hope to see you all soon! 

New arrivals Dave and Alexis arrived yesterday and assumed their teaching duties already. Dave's from the States and Alexis hails from Canada. Me and Kirsten took them out for dak galbi and beers last night; they dove into the chicken and we talked for hours. Dave even had the verbal dexterity to keep Kirsten from monopolizing the conversation with her laments that we didn't have any more UK people here anymore. They were both a bit wary of living in this small town but they seem fine with it now. I too had worried about living in the country. It's natural, but I think they're going to do just fine here. Cheers!




Tropical Storm Temblin