It had been a long time coming, but they finally canceled school at Hae Song Elementary.
They have had several meetings here and there about swine flu. A few days ago, they had 6 deaths in one day here in Korea. All of next week school will be canceled. I will still be getting paid .. and I will still have to show up too! The only thing is I will have no classes - so it will be 8 hours of dead time every day for 5 days. Not too bad though, I can catch up on some reading and knock out lesson plans from now until Christmas. The only reason I can't plan further than that is ... by the way, yes it is further and not farther (I looked it up to double check but I got it right on my first try, booyakasha!) ... anyway, the reason I can't plan lessons further than that is because I will have no clue what my schedule will be and how it will change after the semester.
The two big changes will be:
a. It will be a new semester. The new school year for Korea starts in February, so everyone moves up and some of my classes (like the immersion class I mentioned before) might be different. In fact, they are thinking of adding a 4th class per grade, which will completely change everything about the way our school runs. No one knows what to expect though.
b. Matthew and Blair, two teachers from the English center at Hae Song, will be finished with their contracts. Describing the workings of the Hae Song English teachers can be a little tricky. First of all, there is Josh and Amee, (Amee replacing my good friend Ryan after he changed schools) who do a private after-school program we usually refer to as Okey Dokey. Then comes Matt and Blair, who have been at Hae Song for 8 months or so and have a couple left on their contract. They work out of the English center, each teaching to half the grades (Matt takes 2/4/6, Blair takes 1/3/5 or something like that) plus a couple of after-school programs themselves. I teach the official, by the book, English class. I am not too sure on the differences between responsibility but they work out of the English center and I work out of our official English classroom. Anyway, this has been sufficiently boring - the point is when they have finished their contracts, all these different classes will be up in the air and I have no clue how they will fall because there will most likely be two new English teachers to come in after.
So that's that. All I wanted to say was that school is canceled week. However, I decided to indulge a thinking aloud urge .. or a thinking composition if you will. Or just writing if you aren't into the whole brevity thing.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
This past Weekend
Hi all!
Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything. I have a few updates for everyone, but a day or so after my last post I got sick. This killed my writing aspirations for the week. Fortunately, I was able to rebound in time for this past weekend; the most exciting 24 hours of my life!! Though it might be phrased better if I say that I have not done as much crazy stuff in a 24 hour span.
I was invited by my Korean friend Hero to tag along with his University's English group for an overnight trip to Gangchon, just outside of Seoul (I think). Hero formed the English Club at his school, and I must say he did a darned-fine job. Originally there were over 80 applicants - so he had to do interviews to shave it down to a shade under 30 or so. The people he let in were picked mostly on their personality rather than strictly their English skill. It definitely showed because they were a really fun group of people. There were 22 Koreans along with 5 native English speakers invited along. Generally, he invites out some of his American friends to grab dinner and drinks and just speak English. This is great for a young chap like myself because they usually pick up the tab on the meal and drinks to thank us for going out. I would honestly do it for free, it is so much fun to be around them!!
Anyway, back to Gangchon. We left on a Friday night for a day of "mountain biking and bungee jumping" as it was pitched to me. How could I pass this up??
The 27 of us took 2 vans (which sat 11 apiece) and an SUV to get there for a trip that took roughly 2 hours with terrible traffic. I learned a lot of Korean travel games that will definitely come in handy. We drew tiny sandwiches for who would cook. Of the 27 sandwiches, 8 were packed with wasabi and the others were regular. Luckily, none of the Natives drew a sandwich packed with wasabi, especially after watching those who were unlucky trying to eat it! The ones who didn't have to cook kicked off the night by heading to a miniature carnival. It had 2-3 rides, a batting cage, and some cheesy games like throwing darts and shooting bee-bee guns. We went on "The Hurricane", a ride that works by spinning everyone in it from side to side while simultaneously spinning you around. It was tons of fun, and I have pictures of the whole weekend that should follow this post by no more than a day or two. The ride was rather tame in the grand scheme of things, but exciting enough to worry me about bungee jumping if I freaked out about this baby one.
It provided short lived food for thought because we ended up going home to a grand meal of Korean barbecue. In fact, they had four grills going at the same time. We had a nice long night! In fact, one of my new Korean friends, Nicholas, had such a great time that he couldn't find our lodging and ended up staying with a new set of Korean people he met that night. He actually went missing into the late morning the next day, but more to come on Nicholas in a bit !! ..
The next day we woke up early and hit the road. We got to the bungee jumping place, and then took an elevator up. It was only 25 meters high, so from the ground I was able to talk a big game about how weak it looked. However, things are always different judging by one's point of view. From up there, it looked hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Added to the scariness factor was that the floor was a steel see-through grate.
- 2 Quick Notes: It was not over a bridge (man made structure) and we were strapped up by our backs.
About 10 of us or so were up for it. All of the Americans, plus Hero and a handful of new Korean friends. *Reenter Nicholas* Nicholas, after the long forgetful night, was not feeling quite so well. He had me laughing the whole time because he did in fact go bungee jumping. While we were 25 meters in the air, nervously awaiting bungee jumping, Nicholas was asleep face down on the platform. He stayed asleep until it was his turn and as he stumbled off the platform to jump I swear he looked asleep and motionless the whole time. His limp, noiseless body bungee'ing around had me laughing pretty heavily.
I went third to last, and it was about as scary as anything I've ever done leading up to it. However, actually doing it was fantastic and I can't wait to go higher and connected at the ankles. I will probably be just as scared but it is about as fun as it gets.
We headed out to the place where we were supposed to go mountain biking. Still a little sick, and after a long night, mountain biking wasn't high on the priority list. When we got there, though, we had no trouble upgrading from a mountain bike to an 4-wheeler ATV. I mean, is this even a decision for people? The prices weren't that different. I don't get how anyone rents a mountain bike in good conscience with an ATV sitting RIGHT THERE next to it. I can't believe I have gone this far in life without driving one. It was awesome!!
2 hours on an ATV was the perfect way to close out my overnight trip. We ate a great lunch, hopped in our vans, and came back home. I managed to get to sleep around 8 PM that night and slept for a solid 14 hours or so. the nice things that come with an overnight trip vs. a full weekend sometimes can only be measured in sleep!!
The only negative about the whole weekend was that I saw my SK Wyverns force a Game 7 in the Korean Baseball Championship only to drop it to a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th against the Kia Tigers of Gwangju. To make matters worse, I have a bunch of friends in Gwangju and now I have to put up with whatever trash talk comes my way.
My cousin Steve should be arriving in Korea soon, and I will be visiting with him at some point next week. I am super psyched!!
Hope all is well with everyone - you are all in my head more than you know and I miss you guys dearly!! From my family to friends to Westwood, I wish you the best and appreciate all the emails I get from everyone!!
Sorry it has been so long since I have written anything. I have a few updates for everyone, but a day or so after my last post I got sick. This killed my writing aspirations for the week. Fortunately, I was able to rebound in time for this past weekend; the most exciting 24 hours of my life!! Though it might be phrased better if I say that I have not done as much crazy stuff in a 24 hour span.
I was invited by my Korean friend Hero to tag along with his University's English group for an overnight trip to Gangchon, just outside of Seoul (I think). Hero formed the English Club at his school, and I must say he did a darned-fine job. Originally there were over 80 applicants - so he had to do interviews to shave it down to a shade under 30 or so. The people he let in were picked mostly on their personality rather than strictly their English skill. It definitely showed because they were a really fun group of people. There were 22 Koreans along with 5 native English speakers invited along. Generally, he invites out some of his American friends to grab dinner and drinks and just speak English. This is great for a young chap like myself because they usually pick up the tab on the meal and drinks to thank us for going out. I would honestly do it for free, it is so much fun to be around them!!
Anyway, back to Gangchon. We left on a Friday night for a day of "mountain biking and bungee jumping" as it was pitched to me. How could I pass this up??
The 27 of us took 2 vans (which sat 11 apiece) and an SUV to get there for a trip that took roughly 2 hours with terrible traffic. I learned a lot of Korean travel games that will definitely come in handy. We drew tiny sandwiches for who would cook. Of the 27 sandwiches, 8 were packed with wasabi and the others were regular. Luckily, none of the Natives drew a sandwich packed with wasabi, especially after watching those who were unlucky trying to eat it! The ones who didn't have to cook kicked off the night by heading to a miniature carnival. It had 2-3 rides, a batting cage, and some cheesy games like throwing darts and shooting bee-bee guns. We went on "The Hurricane", a ride that works by spinning everyone in it from side to side while simultaneously spinning you around. It was tons of fun, and I have pictures of the whole weekend that should follow this post by no more than a day or two. The ride was rather tame in the grand scheme of things, but exciting enough to worry me about bungee jumping if I freaked out about this baby one.
It provided short lived food for thought because we ended up going home to a grand meal of Korean barbecue. In fact, they had four grills going at the same time. We had a nice long night! In fact, one of my new Korean friends, Nicholas, had such a great time that he couldn't find our lodging and ended up staying with a new set of Korean people he met that night. He actually went missing into the late morning the next day, but more to come on Nicholas in a bit !! ..
The next day we woke up early and hit the road. We got to the bungee jumping place, and then took an elevator up. It was only 25 meters high, so from the ground I was able to talk a big game about how weak it looked. However, things are always different judging by one's point of view. From up there, it looked hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh. Added to the scariness factor was that the floor was a steel see-through grate.
- 2 Quick Notes: It was not over a bridge (man made structure) and we were strapped up by our backs.
About 10 of us or so were up for it. All of the Americans, plus Hero and a handful of new Korean friends. *Reenter Nicholas* Nicholas, after the long forgetful night, was not feeling quite so well. He had me laughing the whole time because he did in fact go bungee jumping. While we were 25 meters in the air, nervously awaiting bungee jumping, Nicholas was asleep face down on the platform. He stayed asleep until it was his turn and as he stumbled off the platform to jump I swear he looked asleep and motionless the whole time. His limp, noiseless body bungee'ing around had me laughing pretty heavily.
I went third to last, and it was about as scary as anything I've ever done leading up to it. However, actually doing it was fantastic and I can't wait to go higher and connected at the ankles. I will probably be just as scared but it is about as fun as it gets.
We headed out to the place where we were supposed to go mountain biking. Still a little sick, and after a long night, mountain biking wasn't high on the priority list. When we got there, though, we had no trouble upgrading from a mountain bike to an 4-wheeler ATV. I mean, is this even a decision for people? The prices weren't that different. I don't get how anyone rents a mountain bike in good conscience with an ATV sitting RIGHT THERE next to it. I can't believe I have gone this far in life without driving one. It was awesome!!
2 hours on an ATV was the perfect way to close out my overnight trip. We ate a great lunch, hopped in our vans, and came back home. I managed to get to sleep around 8 PM that night and slept for a solid 14 hours or so. the nice things that come with an overnight trip vs. a full weekend sometimes can only be measured in sleep!!
The only negative about the whole weekend was that I saw my SK Wyverns force a Game 7 in the Korean Baseball Championship only to drop it to a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 9th against the Kia Tigers of Gwangju. To make matters worse, I have a bunch of friends in Gwangju and now I have to put up with whatever trash talk comes my way.
My cousin Steve should be arriving in Korea soon, and I will be visiting with him at some point next week. I am super psyched!!
Hope all is well with everyone - you are all in my head more than you know and I miss you guys dearly!! From my family to friends to Westwood, I wish you the best and appreciate all the emails I get from everyone!!
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
Baseball & Relaxation
I am coming to you in this post a little aimlessly. I have no direct purpose for it, but I have gone so long without writing that I felt I ought to. So get ready, this should be good!!! *cue sarcasm, for my mom's benefit
Time has flown by since Chuseok. I have been having a great time the last few weeks despite coming under the influence of a bad cold just a few days ago. I think a trip to a Korean sauna is in the works; they are supposed to be quite wonderful (and cheap!).
I just got done watching my beloved SK Wyverns beat the Kia Tigers in Game 4 of the Championship series. We won 4-3, evening us at 2-2. The next 3 games will be played in Seoul. It is a bit of a strange format, with 2 games in Gwangju, 2 in Incheon and the remaining 3 (if necessary in this best-of-7) in Seoul. I won't complain though since Incheon is the little brother city and shouldn't have too much trouble flooding the stadium.
I have only been able to read up on the Horns recently. I was scheduled to go watch the RRS, (I refuse to call it the Red River Rivalry), but my phone died in Seoul that night and I was a little worried that I'd be in dire straits if I got lost going from the group of friends I was hanging out with to the friend watching the game that night. It was ugly, so I hear, but we won and that's all that counts.
School has been a series of highs and lows. With the enormous amount of time I have spent with kids in the past 8 years, I can't help but hold myself to high standards with this teaching gig. It is hard to realize that I have started something new in regards to some lesson plans being great and some being just OK. I want my students to be engaged at all times - and when they are in school for literally 12-14 hours a day, sometimes I just have to come to terms with the fact that they won't be running on all cylinders at all times. That being said, my immersion classes which I was originally stressing over are much improved. I see them 4 times a week (M,T,W,F), with a joint class for 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and a 5th grade class by themselves. I have been having trouble tailoring most of my teaching stuff to the 1st and 2nd graders, but the 3-4 and the 5 classes have been going really really well. My other half of teaching (the regular public school hours), along with the English courses I run for teachers, have been great too. If I can get the 1-2 class up to my standards, I will be about as happy as I can be for a new teacher 2 months into the job!!
For now though, I am off to Skype with my parents!! Hope all is well with everybody!! Hook Em!!
Oh and P.S.
I have been growing out a bit of a beard, mostly out of apathy after being sick and a little out of motivation for my Halloween costume (I am going as my friend Joe - there may be pictures of him up and I need to have some appropriate length for the sideburns!). Today, however, one of the teachers asked me if I hadn't shaved because I was so busy. This has shamed me enough into chopping off the beard tomorrow morning!
Time has flown by since Chuseok. I have been having a great time the last few weeks despite coming under the influence of a bad cold just a few days ago. I think a trip to a Korean sauna is in the works; they are supposed to be quite wonderful (and cheap!).
I just got done watching my beloved SK Wyverns beat the Kia Tigers in Game 4 of the Championship series. We won 4-3, evening us at 2-2. The next 3 games will be played in Seoul. It is a bit of a strange format, with 2 games in Gwangju, 2 in Incheon and the remaining 3 (if necessary in this best-of-7) in Seoul. I won't complain though since Incheon is the little brother city and shouldn't have too much trouble flooding the stadium.
I have only been able to read up on the Horns recently. I was scheduled to go watch the RRS, (I refuse to call it the Red River Rivalry), but my phone died in Seoul that night and I was a little worried that I'd be in dire straits if I got lost going from the group of friends I was hanging out with to the friend watching the game that night. It was ugly, so I hear, but we won and that's all that counts.
School has been a series of highs and lows. With the enormous amount of time I have spent with kids in the past 8 years, I can't help but hold myself to high standards with this teaching gig. It is hard to realize that I have started something new in regards to some lesson plans being great and some being just OK. I want my students to be engaged at all times - and when they are in school for literally 12-14 hours a day, sometimes I just have to come to terms with the fact that they won't be running on all cylinders at all times. That being said, my immersion classes which I was originally stressing over are much improved. I see them 4 times a week (M,T,W,F), with a joint class for 1st and 2nd grade, 3rd and 4th grade, and a 5th grade class by themselves. I have been having trouble tailoring most of my teaching stuff to the 1st and 2nd graders, but the 3-4 and the 5 classes have been going really really well. My other half of teaching (the regular public school hours), along with the English courses I run for teachers, have been great too. If I can get the 1-2 class up to my standards, I will be about as happy as I can be for a new teacher 2 months into the job!!
For now though, I am off to Skype with my parents!! Hope all is well with everybody!! Hook Em!!
Oh and P.S.
I have been growing out a bit of a beard, mostly out of apathy after being sick and a little out of motivation for my Halloween costume (I am going as my friend Joe - there may be pictures of him up and I need to have some appropriate length for the sideburns!). Today, however, one of the teachers asked me if I hadn't shaved because I was so busy. This has shamed me enough into chopping off the beard tomorrow morning!
Monday, October 19, 2009
Let's kick some Ice
I've been waiting for a while now for it to get cold, practically overdressing a few days in anticipation. Now it is finally here!! It is 40 degrees this morning, though it should warm up a bit throughout the day. For a Texan, this is as good as it can get. However, Mother Nature had to wait til I was sick before it changed on me. Yesterday it was cold and rainy, and I was rather miserable. I feel a bit better today and should be on the up-and-up.
btw the quotation is from Ah-nold, playing Dr. Freeze in Batman & Robin
btw the quotation is from Ah-nold, playing Dr. Freeze in Batman & Robin
More photos
An album documenting the baseball games I went to, listening to the renowned Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, and a few pictures from around SK.
pictures
pictures
Photos from School
A few photographs I have taken around school, featuring a few of the kids I see most often!
pictures
pictures
Friday, October 9, 2009
Korean Music
In case anyone has been curious what I have been jamming out to:
my favorite song thus far by the pop group Brown Eyed Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTqQjOJ7jk
another big hit right now, it's up on my list too, by 2NE1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0
the nice thing about Korean music, is that it is so commercialized that there are only a handful of popular groups, so it is easy to learn and if you find yourself really liking a song you can take solace in the fact that you will hear it 10-20 times per day. If you dislike a song, you better learn to like it!!
Our school actually has a dance class for 1st - 4th graders, where they learn the choreography to all these pop hits. Watching them do the Abracadabra dance by Brown Eyed Girls (the arms crossed with the hip swivel) is probably one of my favorite things in the world. There are about 30 8 year olds doing these synchronized moves. It is by far the cutest thing in the world. In fact, I wasn't able to attend, but today we had a similar class just for teachers to learn the moves too, we take our dancing seriously at Hae Song Elementary!!
my favorite song thus far by the pop group Brown Eyed Girls:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlTqQjOJ7jk
another big hit right now, it's up on my list too, by 2NE1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MgAxMO1KD0
the nice thing about Korean music, is that it is so commercialized that there are only a handful of popular groups, so it is easy to learn and if you find yourself really liking a song you can take solace in the fact that you will hear it 10-20 times per day. If you dislike a song, you better learn to like it!!
Our school actually has a dance class for 1st - 4th graders, where they learn the choreography to all these pop hits. Watching them do the Abracadabra dance by Brown Eyed Girls (the arms crossed with the hip swivel) is probably one of my favorite things in the world. There are about 30 8 year olds doing these synchronized moves. It is by far the cutest thing in the world. In fact, I wasn't able to attend, but today we had a similar class just for teachers to learn the moves too, we take our dancing seriously at Hae Song Elementary!!
Chuseok Pt. 2
My Busan adventure is undeniably quite shorter because my time there revolved more around who I was with rather than what I did. Ryan from OK stayed back in Jejudo, spending his whole vacation there (not a bad idea at all). Patrick, Sophia and I touched into Busan that early afternoon. On a random aside, most of the flight was dedicated to Patrick telling us his experiences on September 11th, in NYC. Pretty powerful stuff..
The 3 of us met up with my roommate from orientation, Neil from Boston. Neil and I seemed to be one of the few sets of roommates who grew quite close during our orientation there. In fact, he reads my blog, Hello Neil... Neil and I, it seems, spent our time doing different things - because while he has become quite adept and dedicated to his Korean, he isn't what I would call a master of geography. I, on the other hand, have spent a LOT of time aimlessly traveling around Incheon and as much of Seoul as I can, while forsaking much of my Korean language duties. I don't know about him, but I am certainly jealous of his new found skills!
I was able to see three different beaches during my time in Busan, hit up as close to a legitimate Mexican restaurant as I could find (see: burrito), walk around the closed Jalgachi fish market, and take some sweet photos from the top of Busan tower. We went to a "heliparty," which is a party on a helipad, and dancing after that. I think this was the let-loose portion of the vacation. I had a great time the whole way through, and managed to make my flight home on Monday without too much difficulty. You really can fly anywhere in Korea for about 50 dollars.
We also managed to watch a terrible terrible terrible terrible movie called "The Marine", terrible. It is about.. surprise surprise, a marine (the title was NOT spun in any metaphorical sense) who gets mixed up with some criminal masterminds midway through a jewel heist, or something.. I'm not exactly sure. What I am sure of is it has at least three scenes in which he jumps out of a building as it is blowing up - who could ask for more? I have already given up trying to explain to Korean people why these are bad movies. Michael Bay will always have home a Korea. Limited dialogue makes for good dubbing I guess, and they really like it when stuff gets "blowed up."
It's good to be back, and I am glad that I had a few hours before I got back into the rhythm of school. It has been a tiring week, but it is finally the weekend and I loved my first vacation!!
The 3 of us met up with my roommate from orientation, Neil from Boston. Neil and I seemed to be one of the few sets of roommates who grew quite close during our orientation there. In fact, he reads my blog, Hello Neil... Neil and I, it seems, spent our time doing different things - because while he has become quite adept and dedicated to his Korean, he isn't what I would call a master of geography. I, on the other hand, have spent a LOT of time aimlessly traveling around Incheon and as much of Seoul as I can, while forsaking much of my Korean language duties. I don't know about him, but I am certainly jealous of his new found skills!
I was able to see three different beaches during my time in Busan, hit up as close to a legitimate Mexican restaurant as I could find (see: burrito), walk around the closed Jalgachi fish market, and take some sweet photos from the top of Busan tower. We went to a "heliparty," which is a party on a helipad, and dancing after that. I think this was the let-loose portion of the vacation. I had a great time the whole way through, and managed to make my flight home on Monday without too much difficulty. You really can fly anywhere in Korea for about 50 dollars.
We also managed to watch a terrible terrible terrible terrible movie called "The Marine", terrible. It is about.. surprise surprise, a marine (the title was NOT spun in any metaphorical sense) who gets mixed up with some criminal masterminds midway through a jewel heist, or something.. I'm not exactly sure. What I am sure of is it has at least three scenes in which he jumps out of a building as it is blowing up - who could ask for more? I have already given up trying to explain to Korean people why these are bad movies. Michael Bay will always have home a Korea. Limited dialogue makes for good dubbing I guess, and they really like it when stuff gets "blowed up."
It's good to be back, and I am glad that I had a few hours before I got back into the rhythm of school. It has been a tiring week, but it is finally the weekend and I loved my first vacation!!
Chuseok Pt. 1
I am splitting up my Chuseok (T-giving break) into two posts. I spent two days on the island of Jejudo, and two days in the city of Busan (pronounced Pusan). The Chuseok celebration for Koreans is definitely a big deal. The customs mostly revolve around a big feast, and it isn't always on the same day every year, a la Thanksgiving. However, it differs in that it is mostly focused on paying respect to one's ancestors. The highlight of Chuseok is the eating, but also the preparation of many foods - most notably songpyeon (rice cake). They are about the size of a dumpling, and vary in colors between white, pink and a dark green. Personally, I think they are just OK. Koreans go nuts over them though, and I heard they are fantastic when fried.
But, on actual Chuseok day, I ended up eating a burrito!! .. So let's get on to the vacation part!! In all seriousness, I just wanted to give you guys a brief intro to the holiday so you were aware of why I had time off and what it means to Koreans.
I left for Jeju on a ferry around 7 PM on Wednesday, September 30th. This means that I had about an hour and a half after school to get to this ferry, with the necessary stops of picking up a duffel bag, getting home and quickly packing clothes I had already set out, making a stop along the way at Juan Station, to pay for and pick up my repaired camera (hooray!), and pay off a cell phone bill. I was able to get the bag, pack, and pick up the camera - if you couldn't tell by the photos I uploaded. However, the cell phone bill fell by the wayside. Luckily, I was able to pay it off one day late without any charge. Anyhoo, made it to the ferry with enough time to get some necessary supplies for a 13 and a half hour ferry ride, you can use your imaginations as to figuring out my list!! I was travelling with my friends Patrick from NYC, Ryan from Oklahoma, and Sophia from Austin, TX. The boat deck was freeeeeezing, and our cabin, which had a maximum occupancy of 55 in a room built for 20, was about 88 degrees. Pick your poison! I am glad to report that I had no issues with sea sickness or anything like that; outside of the temperature, it was all smooth sailing. I got about 8 hours of sleep or so and woke up to us being pretty close to the island of Jeju. Picked up McDonald's for breakfast, of course, and hopped on an hour long bus to Seogwipo, the southern area of Jeju-do (as opposed to Jeju-si, the northern side of the island where the ferry brought us).
wikipedia page for Jeju-do:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju-do
They refer to Jeju as the "Korean Hawaii," and while I am fairly certain that Jeju is not in fact as nice as Hawaii, I have never been to Hawaii so I am rather easily impressed!! It is honestly beautiful. In terms of vacation spots in Korea, I can't see it getting much better than Jeju. Living there, as amazing as it is, might be tough in an area that small. Plus, being from Brownsville, I have already gone through the small town routine - granted, comparing Brownsville to Jeju is like comparing fire to ice ... I suppose I'd be the lukewarm water .. these go to 11!
One of the first things we wanted to see were the famous waterfalls. We told the cab driver to take us to the Cheonjiyeon watefall, in fact, we even pointed at the sign. However, he decided to take us somewhere else. It was about 100 yards from the waterfall entrance, but we entered where he took us and ended up taking a 2 hour tour or so around this mini island. It was beautiful, and that's where all my photos came from of the rocks and spiders on my facebook album. It really did rain ALL day long. We ended up finding the Cheonjiyeon waterfalls (pronounced Chon-che-yon with a Hispanic "o" sound). It was worth both the effort and walk. We saw a Mandarin duck, and found that huge bridge in this area too, where we got that coconut rolling from the photos. We also ate fresh, emphasis on FRESH, raw fish and breaded shrimp.
Later that night, we met up with some EPIK people stationed in Jeju. I knew none of them, but they were very friendly. They do a weekly potluck, where we were able to eat PB&J sandwiches, so good, and a few other treats from home. I was under the impression that night that it was around 2 or 3 AM when they decided to go to the karaoke bar. I ducked out and hit the sack early, and got close to 10 hours of sleep. The next day they informed me that I went to bed sometime around 11:30 PM, and it was not in fact 2 AM. Evidently, I can be a real party animal sometimes. Truthfully, the sleep on the ferry wasn't the most relaxing, and we went about 36 hours without a shower at one point, so I would have taken the sleep 10 times out of 10 even if I knew I was checking out a little earlier than the others.
The next day we hit the beach - this involves the photos where we buried Ryan in the sand and had that marvelous view of the Hyatt hotel. Being the noob I am, I went to one of the most outdoor specific areas in all of Korea and managed to omit taking a bathing suit or hiking boots. For the first time in my life, Evan the swim coach had to wear basketball shorts - I felt stripped of my armor with out a good jammer!! I did a little swimming, but for the most part the water was freezing and no one was interested in paying me for private lessons. We left the beach and did a bit more traveling .... wait a minute.. no no, THIS was the day I went to the aforementioned bridge. Anyway, I am too tired to go back and switch around the order of events, so just know that all these things happened and we can be a little relaxed with the specific order of events!!
Had a relatively quiet night the second go around. We made it out to a famous Western bar, which was a nice flashback to the good ol' US of A with the amount of English speakers. Our night was cut short because we jumped on a shuttle home, yes, this bar runs a free shuttle to take you where you live. The only downside is the driver enjoys speeds bordering on 90-95 MPH. You know those rides you sometimes take your baby on to help it fall asleep? This was NOT one of those rides. We compared it to the VR roller coaster back in Incheon, but coined it the AR coaster (Actual-Reality). The next morning we woke up, caught a bagel breakfast, and headed for the airport to Busan. The flight was great and only cost 52 dollars. I ended up meeting two people from Texas during my time in Jeju by the way, both older men who I managed to have relatively lengthy conversations with considering I was a young buck on the go.
Part 2 to follow!!
But, on actual Chuseok day, I ended up eating a burrito!! .. So let's get on to the vacation part!! In all seriousness, I just wanted to give you guys a brief intro to the holiday so you were aware of why I had time off and what it means to Koreans.
I left for Jeju on a ferry around 7 PM on Wednesday, September 30th. This means that I had about an hour and a half after school to get to this ferry, with the necessary stops of picking up a duffel bag, getting home and quickly packing clothes I had already set out, making a stop along the way at Juan Station, to pay for and pick up my repaired camera (hooray!), and pay off a cell phone bill. I was able to get the bag, pack, and pick up the camera - if you couldn't tell by the photos I uploaded. However, the cell phone bill fell by the wayside. Luckily, I was able to pay it off one day late without any charge. Anyhoo, made it to the ferry with enough time to get some necessary supplies for a 13 and a half hour ferry ride, you can use your imaginations as to figuring out my list!! I was travelling with my friends Patrick from NYC, Ryan from Oklahoma, and Sophia from Austin, TX. The boat deck was freeeeeezing, and our cabin, which had a maximum occupancy of 55 in a room built for 20, was about 88 degrees. Pick your poison! I am glad to report that I had no issues with sea sickness or anything like that; outside of the temperature, it was all smooth sailing. I got about 8 hours of sleep or so and woke up to us being pretty close to the island of Jeju. Picked up McDonald's for breakfast, of course, and hopped on an hour long bus to Seogwipo, the southern area of Jeju-do (as opposed to Jeju-si, the northern side of the island where the ferry brought us).
wikipedia page for Jeju-do:: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeju-do
They refer to Jeju as the "Korean Hawaii," and while I am fairly certain that Jeju is not in fact as nice as Hawaii, I have never been to Hawaii so I am rather easily impressed!! It is honestly beautiful. In terms of vacation spots in Korea, I can't see it getting much better than Jeju. Living there, as amazing as it is, might be tough in an area that small. Plus, being from Brownsville, I have already gone through the small town routine - granted, comparing Brownsville to Jeju is like comparing fire to ice ... I suppose I'd be the lukewarm water .. these go to 11!
One of the first things we wanted to see were the famous waterfalls. We told the cab driver to take us to the Cheonjiyeon watefall, in fact, we even pointed at the sign. However, he decided to take us somewhere else. It was about 100 yards from the waterfall entrance, but we entered where he took us and ended up taking a 2 hour tour or so around this mini island. It was beautiful, and that's where all my photos came from of the rocks and spiders on my facebook album. It really did rain ALL day long. We ended up finding the Cheonjiyeon waterfalls (pronounced Chon-che-yon with a Hispanic "o" sound). It was worth both the effort and walk. We saw a Mandarin duck, and found that huge bridge in this area too, where we got that coconut rolling from the photos. We also ate fresh, emphasis on FRESH, raw fish and breaded shrimp.
Later that night, we met up with some EPIK people stationed in Jeju. I knew none of them, but they were very friendly. They do a weekly potluck, where we were able to eat PB&J sandwiches, so good, and a few other treats from home. I was under the impression that night that it was around 2 or 3 AM when they decided to go to the karaoke bar. I ducked out and hit the sack early, and got close to 10 hours of sleep. The next day they informed me that I went to bed sometime around 11:30 PM, and it was not in fact 2 AM. Evidently, I can be a real party animal sometimes. Truthfully, the sleep on the ferry wasn't the most relaxing, and we went about 36 hours without a shower at one point, so I would have taken the sleep 10 times out of 10 even if I knew I was checking out a little earlier than the others.
The next day we hit the beach - this involves the photos where we buried Ryan in the sand and had that marvelous view of the Hyatt hotel. Being the noob I am, I went to one of the most outdoor specific areas in all of Korea and managed to omit taking a bathing suit or hiking boots. For the first time in my life, Evan the swim coach had to wear basketball shorts - I felt stripped of my armor with out a good jammer!! I did a little swimming, but for the most part the water was freezing and no one was interested in paying me for private lessons. We left the beach and did a bit more traveling .... wait a minute.. no no, THIS was the day I went to the aforementioned bridge. Anyway, I am too tired to go back and switch around the order of events, so just know that all these things happened and we can be a little relaxed with the specific order of events!!
Had a relatively quiet night the second go around. We made it out to a famous Western bar, which was a nice flashback to the good ol' US of A with the amount of English speakers. Our night was cut short because we jumped on a shuttle home, yes, this bar runs a free shuttle to take you where you live. The only downside is the driver enjoys speeds bordering on 90-95 MPH. You know those rides you sometimes take your baby on to help it fall asleep? This was NOT one of those rides. We compared it to the VR roller coaster back in Incheon, but coined it the AR coaster (Actual-Reality). The next morning we woke up, caught a bagel breakfast, and headed for the airport to Busan. The flight was great and only cost 52 dollars. I ended up meeting two people from Texas during my time in Jeju by the way, both older men who I managed to have relatively lengthy conversations with considering I was a young buck on the go.
Part 2 to follow!!
Monday, October 5, 2009
Photos from Chuseok are up!!
The dirty details of the trip will come later, but here are the photos I was able to take. If you can't view them, let me know so I can host them somewhere else too!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602&saved#/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602&saved#/album.php?aid=2755575&id=7935602
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