Uijeongbu News (의정부 뉴스)
We frequently have parents stop by our academy to get a tour and speak with the academy director prior to having their child take a placement test and signing up for classes. Today saw a mother come in with her two daughters, the oldest of which may be a future student at our branch. What made this visit noteworthy is that her family spent three years living in Washington State before returning to Korea.
Most of the Korean families I've met in Washington first settled in the area around through south Tacoma, but the girl from today had been living in Vancouver -- which is also a city that I have called home in the past. (Although for me it was before entering preschool so I have no memories from our time there.) The girl didn't seem at all surprised to meet a fellow Washingtonian in northern Gyeonggi-do, although her mom did seem to have a mild reaction to the news. I later heard that her speaking level is quite advanced but she does relatively poorly when reading; I wonder what class she would join if her mom has her enrolled here.
In other local news, two of my students told me a story last month about a schoolgirl who collapsed while participating in a running event at her school's field day. She was taken to the hospital but died before reaching the emergency ward. This comes only a month after I wondered why Uijeongbu only makes the news for negative reasons.
Meanwhile, the sky is falling in neighboring Pocheon (포천). Or maybe just pieces of it containing dated military hardware. The original article (in Korean) is from Naver and includes a video of the firefighting efforts; at the 32 second mark you can see just how close it came to crashing in the city itself. Pocheon is located adjacent to Uijeongbu, and the accompanying map indicates that the jet fighter wasn't that far from the border with my current hometown.
