First Impressions of Yanggu

Yanggu (Yahng-goo) is small but spread-out.  It's home to about 24,000 people and its main industries -- agriculture and military -- are everywhere.  But everywhere is not as big as it sounds in Yanggu.  The city center consists of one small street.  There are a couple cafes, a few clothing shops, two grocery stores, a sprinkling of students, and a whole lot of military men.

(Two years of military service is mandatory for Korean men and many of them end up serving in rural places near the DMZ, like Yanggu.)

As far as scenery goes, Yanggu's got it.  The town is surrounded by mountains, with a river running through it.  Weather has been pretty nice so far as well.  It's been chilly, but dry, every day except for today, when it snowed and hailed pretty heavily in the morning, but cleared up by afternoon.

Here are a few photos to give you a better picture (haha?) of where I am...

My Apartment

Out for dinner the first night with several of the other foreign
teachers.  All of the foreign teachers in Yanggu (about 12)
live in the same apartment building. 

The "foreigner" building.

Inside my apartment... View from the front door.
Washroom and kitchen are to the left, bedroom
and laundry room (with huge, balcony-style window)
are straight ahead.

In the bedroom... a desk...

...bed and TV... This apartment is far larger than any
I've lived in in Seoul!

View out the laundry room window... 

Nothing says, "Good morning" like a nice, big mountain. 

Walking Around Yanggu

In "downtown" Yanggu.  Notice that every phone booth is full. 

Crossing the bridge near school.
Notice that a bit of the river remains frozen. 

What did I say about agriculture? 

I think those are rice paddies.  Should be turning green soon!

Driving into Yanggu, it reads: If you come to Yanggu, you'll
grow 10 years younger.

Driving out of Yanggu, it reads: If you come back to Yanggu,
you'll grow 10 MORE years younger.  (Don't ask me how it works!)

My School

Yanggu Girls' High School... This is where I work!  Actually,
what you see parallel in front is the middle school and what
you see perpendicular on the left is the high school.

Going up the stairs to class.  I took this one for you ;)

The English Room!  I'm quite lucky that this school has a designated
English Room so I can set it up the way I like, and not have to
worry about running from room to room.  (In Korea, oftentimes
the students will stay in one room all day while teachers come in and out.)

Some of My Favorite Responses So Far 
(Students responded to the question, "Do you like learning English? If yes, why? If no, why not?")

"Yes!!  learn and learn long time funny."

"yes. because english used all the world so I learn English and
talk all the world so I like learning english"

"Yes. I like learning English becaus English teacher is beautiful."

That last one obviously made my day!

Thanks for reading :)