Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Yee-haw, folks


I got placed today! Here's the short of it:

City: Gurye
School: Co-ed, Public, High School
Size: 383 students in the school
Class size: 20-25 (15 classes)

Gurye is pronounced "Goo-rlay" the "rl" sound is similar to rolling r's in Spanish.

This is what I found out initially. I was pretty happy with everything. I mean, I heard of some ETAs having close to 1,000 students with class sizes around 40.

So, I went online and looked up the school. Here is the link: http://www.gurye.hs.kr/
It's all in Korean, but the photo album on the first page is pretty entertaining. I was getting excited; there were pictures of kids doing lots of sports.

But I knew nothing of Gurye. So. I did a quick online search and had to pick my jaw up from off of the floor.

First of all, on the preference survey, I left everything blank except for the "Open Comments" section where I wrote: "Put me in a place where I can run. If I cannot run I will, in all seriousness, go crazy. I am also a vegetarian."

Now, let me paint you a picture of Gurye. The average temperature ranges from 37-degrees to 66 degrees. Can someone say, "Perfect for running?" Oh, it gets better.

Gurye is surrounded by a famous mountain on one side and a natural spring lake on the other. It's described as a "small, picturesque farm town." Wait for it. Wait for it. They are vegetarian-friendly. They have a working Buddhist Temple on the side of the mountain. Score.

Anyways, it's better than anything I could have imagined. Here is the Gurye web site (in English, this time) if you are curious. Gurye and the mountain surrounding Gurye are the tourist center on that side of Korea...

http://www.gurye.go.kr/english/aboutgurye/introduction.html

Thanks for reading, that's all for now!

5 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great place. Congratulations!! Mom & Dad

    ReplyDelete
  2. Perfect! Congratulations.

    I have never been there. I can already hear you speaking Korean with the Chunla-do accent. As small as Korea is in area, it is divided into these regions where you will find enough differences including the accents and some subtle cultural pride (and distrust of "outsiders"). The tendency to find differences being a part of the human nature, I do not expect that the internet and the technology would have really changed it, although things may look similar across the country due to "developments" and "progress".

    My parents were from the north, forced to flee communism, effectively making them refugees in the south once the border was closed. They were forever strangers in the land and never attached themselves to it, always encouraging us to go abroad to start fresh.

    I do remember some families whose roots went far back in one region hesitant to marry their children to those from certain other region. Crazy, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Wow, I was wondering if there would be an accent. I was told that it wouldn't be as strong as the Jeju 도 dialect.

    I'm really excited about Gurye because I think it is a part of Korea that hasn't really been touched too much by the Western world.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I would have a hard time understanding and carrying out a conversation if they spoke entirely in the Jeju-do dialect. I think they have even separate vocabulary for a lot of words in that dialect. Chunla-do dialect is not that extreme, but it's sort of like the southern drawl. ChoongChung-do dialect (and culture) is supposed to be the real slow and laid back, though.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Gurye sounds like a really neat place and a perfect fit for you. Of course, your great attitude sure helps too. Amy, did you know that there is this really great swiss chees (vegetarian) with a similar spelling? JK, I know you know of it. I have a funny story for you from home. Guinness is getting senile, I think. He lifted his front leg to pee-pee the other day. Also, he did something funny tonite when Jim came home from work. I had been home all day with Guinness and we were both in the kitchen when Jim walked in. I exclaimed (as usual), "Guinness, daddy's home!!!" Guin ran around the kitchen island a few times and stopped and greeted ME! LOL. I hope that goofball is still around when you get home. He always loved his Amy so much!

    ReplyDelete