Culture
I have had both good and bad experiences in Korea. Some Koreans will bend over backwards to help you out. For example, one day while hiking at a near by mountain I met a Korean business man who promptly introduced himself on our walk down the mountain. Hearing that we (me and two other foreign teachers) had taken the bus to get to the mountain, he offered to give us a ride back to Iksan, but not before taking us to a cultural exhibit on the history of the Buddhist temple we had just visited (see below). On the ride back into town we exchanged phone numbers and he invited myself and the two other teachers to meet his family after he returned from a business trip that he was leaving for the next day. On the down side many school directors can be dishonest and some Koreans have a tendancy (at least in small towns) to stare at you like a zoo animal (mostly because some of them have literally a white person).
Here is a picture of the temple which is located a twenty minute bus ride away from Iksan.
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