The week did not start so well. A nasty cold decided to attach itself to me and hit hard on Monday. I honestly haven't really been with it much this week at all. Perhaps that is why this week seem to drag on, and on ...
I'm so thankful it is Friday and tomorrow is Sabbath!
A really exciting thing happened over this long and sniffly week. I was able to go pick up my Alien Registration Card this week in Suwon. Of course, it was Tuesday, and I was just barely hanging in there, and had cold medicine in me ... the drive down and back was just killer to stay awake, but I did see some interesting new sites. There is this really tall glass building, that you could see a closed in structure inside. I commented to S- (the immigration person for English Village who drove) that it was an interesting structure and he informed me that it was a famous elevator testing building. I don't think I had seen one of those before, I thought that interesting, and promptly fell back asleep, to be awakened as we drove through this man made, window like tunnel. I believe it was created to be a sound barrier to the nearby apartments. I asked S- if that was what it was for, he scoffed and said yes, but it was a waste of money because it didn't really work that great. Hehehe! Ok, so there is a bit of humor that once you get to know the guy and have ridden with him a few times, you would see. It's a good thing he isn't much of a conversationalist, because out I went again. (the trip back was worse, I kept falling asleep, then feeling so guilty for being asleep and would wake up with a start).
We got there, and in five minutes, I picked up my card. We didn't leave though, Sandy must have had to do some paperwork for another EV employee. He told me he would be done in one hour, so to go and walk around or whatever, and meet him back at the lobby of the immigration office or at the car.
Oh ... yeah, when you don't feel good, walking around, checking out the shops and whatever else did not sound fun. I actually wanted to just go to the car and sleep, but didn't feel comfortable asking if that would be ok. So instead I took a stroll around the block first one way, and then another. Then I went around another block. In my walk I found a little park where some older people were walking, some kids were playing on the playground, and a Jehovah's Witness got so excited to see a foreigner to practice talking in English and ask if I knew Jesus. She was a sweet girl, and was so excited when I said I was from the States, because she was going to Canada in a couple weeks. Hehe, she's in for a surprise when she realizes just how big both Canada and the US are. Anyway, she didn't push her beliefs on me, probably because I mentioned I was a Seventh-day Adventist in our conversation, she decided to use another approach which is kinda clever actually. She handed me a couple of the fliers and said that maybe these would be useful in teaching English, because they were written in English. It wouldn't work for my classes, obviously, since I'm not actually teaching the English Language, but Social Studies and English I ... I smiled and she wished me a good day, skipped back to her friend sitting on one of the benches and wrapped back up in a red blanket. I wish I had some pictures of her ... but alas, brain was not functioning well at that moment.
I walked around I don't know how many times. If I had someone with me, and a watch, I probably would have ventured out further. Had I a phone, I could have found out that only a few blocks away was a HomePlus ... instead, I decided to sit in the park for awhile, and watch a beautiful golden retriever and his/her master play together. I haven't seen that many dogs of that size here yet. Mostly just little Yorkies and other dogs of that size, or medium sized dogs tied up in front of places, close to their little dog houses. It was really nice to see. Course it really made me a little lonesome for my girls back home. <sigh>
Ah well, my day ended with this:
Here are a few shots from my walk around two blocks around Suwon Immigration Office from that day ... The leaves are starting to change color so with another teacher and the girl's dean, I'm headed back over there tomorrow, to visit an old fortress that has hiking trails and lots of trees that are supposed to be quite beautiful in the fall.
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| The Immigration Office |
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| Not the best photo, but such a beautiful dog. Very puppy like in playing with his/her master. |
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| This was such a cute couple walking hand-in-hand. They looked like high school students, but they could be college ... |
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| So why do they wrap the tree up? |
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| I found this funny. I guess they don't like for people to back into the parking spaces here. |
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| back at campus, the leaves are changing too. |
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| Ahhh, they're little red hearts forming. :-) |
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| US Government Class busy looking up information about the Judicial Branch ... such a studious looking group. Good Kids :-) |
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| English I class writing in their journals. |
