My New Town

As many of you know, I've returned to South Korea for a second year.  After a long hiatus from any form of work, a trip to Europe and a nice visit with family and friends in the USA, I'm finally back.

As of now, I've moved to an area called Cheorwon (철원군).  I've mentioned Cheorwon a lot in former posts, so my moving here is not totally random.  I've visited a lot over the past year for various events.  I've finally gotten to join my boyfriend and a great group of friends that are teachers up here.

Here's Matt and I doing some grocery shopping

First I'll tell you a little bit about Cheorwon.  Cheorwon is a county of about 50,000 people.  Below, you'll see a map.  The big red line is the DMZ (demilitarized zone separated North and South Korea).  The area highlighted in green that says "North Gangwon-do" is North Korea.  As you can see, Cheorwon is on the border.  The county actually straddles North and South Korea because it was split after the Korean war.  Where I live is about 2-2.5 hours from Seoul, by bus.

Being on the DMZ, Cheorwon has a very interesting history.  Before the division of Korea, Cheorwon was populated area and a transportation hub for the country.  It was actually larger than Chuncheon, which is now the state capital of Ganwon-do.  After the division of Korea, Cheorwon fell under control of North Korea because it is located above the 38th parallel.  During the Korean war, it became a bloody area.  As the southern point of the Iron Triangle (a major invasion route to Seoul), the city was wiped off the map (sort of).  Much of where "old Cheorwon" was is now inside the DMZ, which can't be accessed by civilians.  But, new Cheorwon is now my new home.

Cheorwon has three main towns- DongSong, Sincherwon, and Wasu-ri.  I live in DongSong, which is the biggest of the three.  We have almost everything you could think of that you might need- a large supermarket, a gym, some bars, good restaurants, etc.  Almost everything is in walking distance, which is nice.  There is a small downtown-ish area located on the main street that runs through town.

DongSong at rush hour

We have fine wine available at our local supermarket: "House Wine Red Wine"

Fresh Mondoo (Korean dumplings)

Only the best pizza toppings- peaches and olives

The road that leads to our apartment

Below are some photos that I have taken around DongSong.  It really is a beautiful town.  There are a lot of gardens/ farms off of the main road.  A bit outside of DongSong are big rice padis.  We have a large mountain, Geumhawk-san (san meaning mountain) that is a tough hike, but definitely worth the views.

Geumhawk-san

The road leading up to Geumhawk-san, where you can get the freshest spring water

DongSong

View from the top of Geumhawk mountain

View of DongSong from the top of Geumhawk mountain

walking through town

outside of the apartment

my new running route

along the stream

view from our apartment

great place for running

the alleyways of DongSong

you know how it's really close to North Korea? Here's a war bunker in the mountain

As for my job, I'm currently working a brand spankin' new English academy called Thanks Mom English.  My students are great.  I still only have a few because it's such a new school, but they're slowly coming.   My boss is really nice and has helped me a lot with visa issues that I had.  She's really encouraging and we get along really well.

Street that the school is on

It says "thanks mom english" in korean

here's the school

classroom for the little ones

classroom for adults

I have a few different levels right now.  I have advanced adult students, a university student who's brushing up on (aka learning) English because he's going to the US to teach taekwondo next month, and a few elementary school students.  It's been nice making my own lesson plans and deciding what we'll do each day.

A lot of the Koreans think I'm crazy for leaving the exciting city of Seoul to move to a much more rural area.  And maybe I am.  But... I love it!  I love the small town feel, the simplicity, and the beautiful of countryside.  I like how excited the people here are about meeting me and learning English.