Hi friends,
I was telling a friend about something that I find baffling here in Korea, and she suggested I write about it and things like this, when I don't have any special travels or events to write about. So, I will share with you something I find very troubling here. It began when I first got here, but I thought 'Hey, it's just Korea' but then, a few weeks ago, I rediscovered the matter, and it had become more puzzling in my mind.
During my first month here I was excited to find there was a Starbucks relatively nearby. I have two drinks I order there. When I'm hot, I drink a chai frappuccino and when I'm cold, I drink a peppermint hot chocolate. It was still cold when I first came to Korea, so I was excited to get my favourite peppermint hot chocolate. I was disappointed to hear them tell me in broken English that they did not have it. I even asked if they had peppermint syrup, but alas, they did not have any. As disappointed as I was, I just accepted it was not a thing here in Korea.
The summer was very hot and I had forgotten my troubles over the occasional chai frappuccino. However, the cold weather returned and I naively tried again, thinking with Christmas coming maybe they would have it. They did not. I asked again about the syrup, and again I was denied and crestfallen. Then, I started to think. I realized something was awry. I don't know why I hadn't realized it earlier, but once I realized it, no sense was to be made.
I'd had peppermint hot chocolate in Korea. In fact, I'd had a peppermint hot chocolate in every coffee shop (and there are many here) that I'd been in. So, peppermint hot chocolate is a huge thing in Korea. So, why in the world does the coffee shop, with the best peppermint hot chocolate I've had, not have it on its' menu. How can one explain that? There is no logic here. So now, not only do I not have my peppermint hot chocolate, and am forlorn, but now, I'm also very confused. Where was Starbucks marketing on this one? If every coffee shop (possibly excluding independently run ones) in the country has it on it's menu, why would you not have it on yours, when you have it on yours in other countries?
I shall leave you with this to ponder, as I do every time I walk by a coffee shop, which is often. There are a lot here. No lie. They love their coffee here. I've never seen so many coffee shops.
Saturday, 30 November 2013
Monday, 28 October 2013
Fall Hike
Hi!
I finally got back up on the mountain, after the last terrifying hike. I wasn't that traumatized. I was waiting for an easy hike that began at a decent hour. I found one, easy being relative. I learned from the last hike that 'easy' is a term used when you have an incredibly small chance of falling off a mountain. Just the way I like it!
I hiked around Seoul's old fortress wall. It was quite beautiful. It involved at lot of stairs, but there were some great views and the leaves have started to change colours, so it was quite lovely. I enjoyed the scenery and I'm sure if not for my cold, I would have enjoyed the fresh air more. I was a little disappointed I couldn't smell the fresh air and the fallen leaves, but it was still a pretty good day. Here are some pictures.
I finally got back up on the mountain, after the last terrifying hike. I wasn't that traumatized. I was waiting for an easy hike that began at a decent hour. I found one, easy being relative. I learned from the last hike that 'easy' is a term used when you have an incredibly small chance of falling off a mountain. Just the way I like it!
I hiked around Seoul's old fortress wall. It was quite beautiful. It involved at lot of stairs, but there were some great views and the leaves have started to change colours, so it was quite lovely. I enjoyed the scenery and I'm sure if not for my cold, I would have enjoyed the fresh air more. I was a little disappointed I couldn't smell the fresh air and the fallen leaves, but it was still a pretty good day. Here are some pictures.
Sunday, 29 September 2013
Gyeongbokgung Palace
Hi,
I went to Gyeongbokgung Palace today. There isn't a lot to write about. It was a really large complex and had a lot to see. I have a bunch of pictures for you.
I went to Gyeongbokgung Palace today. There isn't a lot to write about. It was a really large complex and had a lot to see. I have a bunch of pictures for you.
Sunday, 22 September 2013
Hiking Gwanaksan
It was an interesting day today. I signed up for a meet up to go hiking on Gwanaksan. This is a challenging mountain. The peaks were very scary to climb. It was really more like mountain climbing. There was a point when we went past fun into insanity. I would have turned back but that would have meant having to go over some of those parts again. Every peak it felt like it was worse than the last. I don't have pictures because the path was so narrow, there was no way to stop and take a picture. Here are a few pictures from the third peak I believe.
We then climbed to the top of the rock you can see here, which was very steep and went down the back side. Here it got worse. We started to used ropes and wires and had less than a half a foot to stand on. Here are some pictures I took when I got to the other side. It's hard to really capture the dicy-ness.
Here are some pictures of the top of the peak seen in the third picture. They are of Seoul and myself, disbelieving my sanity.
Here are some pictures of the top of the peak seen in the third picture. They are of Seoul and myself, disbelieving my sanity.
The hike was supposed to get better. There was only one sketchy part left. Near the bottom of it something awful happened. A girl fell. She is alive, as far as I know. Considering the fall (which I saw), she didn't really have many external injuries, and those she did have were minor. As long as there isn't something wrong internally, she will be fine, but that was terrifying. I honestly thought I was watching somebody fall to their death. Luckily, there was a point where she didn't continue to descend, and miraculously her injuries weren't bad. She was even conscious and communicative, and she could feel her arms and legs. Needless to say, we were all extra careful and after the emergency responders were on their way, all but five of us headed down to get off of the mountain. We were all ready to get off of that mountain.
It was a bit of a stressful day, but things could have ended a lot worse. I will definitely not go to the peaks on these mountains again, and make sure I understand more what the routes are like, and avoid the more difficult ones. I will stick to easy/beginner from now on, although that's what I thought I was doing this time. So, as I said, next time I will make sure of it. On a semi side note the Koreans in our group say it is very unusual for something like this to happen, and that none of them had ever seen anyone hurt before. So, please don't worry, I will be smart and more careful in the future.
Wednesday, 7 August 2013
Osaka!
Hi!
Last week I was on holiday and I went to Osaka, Japan. It was a great trip and I got to know the city really well. My only regret is that I didn't travel outside of Osaka. There were so many things within a few hundred kilometers. However, that just gives me a reason to head back to Japan.
The first few days were packed with things to do. I got a pass that gave me free subway and free admission to most of the local sights for two days. On the first day, I went to the science centre/museum, Osaka castle, the zoo, and rode on one of the largest ferris wheels in the world (or so they say). The science centre was pretty interesting, but it would have been ten times more interesting if they had any of the information in English. The highlight for me was sitting next to Einstein (I'll post pictures at the end). Osaka castle was wonderful. It had two moats, and outer one filled with water, and an inner one filled with foliage. It was beautiful. Osaka was hot, I mean hoooot. So, it was obviously a good idea to climb up 8 flights of stairs to the top of the castle, but there was a good view, and going down was fairly easy. The zoo was kind of cool and depressing all at the same time. It was cool to see some of the animals so close, but there was a polar bear that made me sad. It was in its' own area, which was probably good for the other animals, but it only had a foot or two of water, and with how hot it was there was no way that water was cold. It had scars all over its' face and kept pacing back and forth and had a little froth around the mouth. It really depressed me to see that. Poor polar bear. The ferris wheel was kind of cool. I'm normally fine with heights, but I got really nervous as we ascended. I felt fine after I realized we were going down again. It was a really slow ride, but it only lasted about 15 minutes (one rotation).
The second day I went to the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, cruised the harbour in a larger replica of the Santa Maria, and went to the Osaka floating observatory. The temple was a huge complex and there was a garden I was able enjoy, although I paid with bug bites for the rest of the trip. The harbour cruise was nice and relaxing and I saw cargo ships from all over the world. Osaka is a major shipping port. The floating observatory provided an amazing view of the city, and I went about an hour before sunrise, so I was able to enjoy the view in both day and night.
The rest of the trip was pretty relaxed. I walked a lot, checking out the stores. My favourite shopping area was a restaurant supply area. It had more traditional Japanese items. Japan seems to be more westernized than Korea, and it was hard to find traditional items. Overall though, I think the trip was a success and I'm glad I went and am happy with the few souvenirs I did find. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
View from observatory
Aquarium - diver cleaning the tank
Last week I was on holiday and I went to Osaka, Japan. It was a great trip and I got to know the city really well. My only regret is that I didn't travel outside of Osaka. There were so many things within a few hundred kilometers. However, that just gives me a reason to head back to Japan.
The first few days were packed with things to do. I got a pass that gave me free subway and free admission to most of the local sights for two days. On the first day, I went to the science centre/museum, Osaka castle, the zoo, and rode on one of the largest ferris wheels in the world (or so they say). The science centre was pretty interesting, but it would have been ten times more interesting if they had any of the information in English. The highlight for me was sitting next to Einstein (I'll post pictures at the end). Osaka castle was wonderful. It had two moats, and outer one filled with water, and an inner one filled with foliage. It was beautiful. Osaka was hot, I mean hoooot. So, it was obviously a good idea to climb up 8 flights of stairs to the top of the castle, but there was a good view, and going down was fairly easy. The zoo was kind of cool and depressing all at the same time. It was cool to see some of the animals so close, but there was a polar bear that made me sad. It was in its' own area, which was probably good for the other animals, but it only had a foot or two of water, and with how hot it was there was no way that water was cold. It had scars all over its' face and kept pacing back and forth and had a little froth around the mouth. It really depressed me to see that. Poor polar bear. The ferris wheel was kind of cool. I'm normally fine with heights, but I got really nervous as we ascended. I felt fine after I realized we were going down again. It was a really slow ride, but it only lasted about 15 minutes (one rotation).
The second day I went to the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan, cruised the harbour in a larger replica of the Santa Maria, and went to the Osaka floating observatory. The temple was a huge complex and there was a garden I was able enjoy, although I paid with bug bites for the rest of the trip. The harbour cruise was nice and relaxing and I saw cargo ships from all over the world. Osaka is a major shipping port. The floating observatory provided an amazing view of the city, and I went about an hour before sunrise, so I was able to enjoy the view in both day and night.
The rest of the trip was pretty relaxed. I walked a lot, checking out the stores. My favourite shopping area was a restaurant supply area. It had more traditional Japanese items. Japan seems to be more westernized than Korea, and it was hard to find traditional items. Overall though, I think the trip was a success and I'm glad I went and am happy with the few souvenirs I did find. I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Canal downtown near my hotel
Well, look who I found!
Three great thinkers?
Osaka castle and moat
Osaka castle
Inside Osaka castle - The only thing you were allowed to take a picture of
Two random tourists getting a ride
Garden in Buddhist temple
At the Buddhist temple
View from the observatory
View from observatory
Aquarium - diver cleaning the tank
Lady and the Unicorn tapestries were on loan to the art museum in Osaka
Tuesday, 2 July 2013
Dealing with Normal Schoolhouse Antics
Hi!
I haven't done anything that exciting in a while, but I'm going to Japan at the end of the month, so hopefully that will be interesting. This last weekend we said farewell to one of the teachers. She had been here two years and she is the first to go during my year here. In two months another one will go, and then a month or so later another two will go. Of course, they will be replaced by new people. It's such a transient job. It's nice to get to know people for a little bit, but in the grand scheme of things it is for such a short length of time.
Work is better than it was a few months ago. My class is still quite unruly. It's kind of a known fact that I have the worst class. It may be in part because of my lack of teaching skill, but I definitely think there are factors beyond my control. I have twelve students. Six of them are boys, two of these are pretty much uncontrollable, three of them join in easily, and they occasionally suck in the sixth. This means that no matter what technique I try to get them quiet, they are not quiet enough for me to get a word in edgewise. As I said, things are definitely better than when I first started and none of them knew any English, but they are still a challenge most days. I do have to say though, if I can survive them I can survive any class. My other classes are nothing compared to them. Thank goodness, or I would have gone insane by know.
I do have to say, as difficult as they can be, most of them can be super sweet and cute. Not so much when they are beating on each other, or running around the room, yelling, and flailing their arms over their heads, but they can be enjoyable now and again. They are learning English pretty well, and are picking up things pretty fast. Some are picking it up faster than others, but that happens when some just stare at the wall, or the ceiling, or the floor, or the desk, or at their hands, pretty much anywhere but where I need them to look. They are reading more and more words and can read simple stories on their own. This is pretty impressive considering four months ago they didn't even know the alphabet. The credit doesn't all go to me. I share the class with a pretty amazing teacher, and she feels the same way as I do about them. She finds them very challenging as well, and she's magic.
I have two really challenging students. The one started with a broken arm and still managed to get into at least one physical altercation a day for the first two months. He always has a smile on his face, even when you are telling him to stop. He loves to sing, but only when I'm talking, not when we are all singing a song together. Last week he kicked a kid in the head because the kid hit him in the arm with a piece of paper. A couple days ago he threw his activity book on the ground because he thought it would be hilarious, and how he laughed. This kid also cannot stay seated more than five seconds. Actually he may be up to ten seconds now. He is improving. Every time I turn around he is out of his seat, bothering someone. Again improvement, because the first two months every time I turned around he got out of his seat and hit someone. Ahhh, the joys of progress!
The other boy, also has problems sitting down, but isn't as bad. Unlike the last boy, this one has no real fear of me. So, he will just refuse to do things. He also get in physical altercations. He was the boy who got kicked in the head for hitting the other boy with paper. Today, he was thrown hard against a wall and had his face scratched by a boy that doesn't usually do things like that, so he may or may not have aggravated the other boy to that point. This boy, too, thinks he's hilarious and is always performing for his classmates. However, when you punish this one he laughs in your face, and may feign remorse before going back and doing the same things again. A few weeks ago, one of the other teachers said he was spitting in his shirt, collecting a nice little pool of spit. Then he began encouraging the other boys to join him, which they did. He apparently felt they weren't doing a very good job, because he then started spitting into their shirts. The teacher looked shell shocked, as I know I have after some classes with them.
So, this is the fun I deal with on a daily basis. As I've said it isn't all bad, but there are definitely days I think I may be insane.
Take care all!
I haven't done anything that exciting in a while, but I'm going to Japan at the end of the month, so hopefully that will be interesting. This last weekend we said farewell to one of the teachers. She had been here two years and she is the first to go during my year here. In two months another one will go, and then a month or so later another two will go. Of course, they will be replaced by new people. It's such a transient job. It's nice to get to know people for a little bit, but in the grand scheme of things it is for such a short length of time.
Work is better than it was a few months ago. My class is still quite unruly. It's kind of a known fact that I have the worst class. It may be in part because of my lack of teaching skill, but I definitely think there are factors beyond my control. I have twelve students. Six of them are boys, two of these are pretty much uncontrollable, three of them join in easily, and they occasionally suck in the sixth. This means that no matter what technique I try to get them quiet, they are not quiet enough for me to get a word in edgewise. As I said, things are definitely better than when I first started and none of them knew any English, but they are still a challenge most days. I do have to say though, if I can survive them I can survive any class. My other classes are nothing compared to them. Thank goodness, or I would have gone insane by know.
I do have to say, as difficult as they can be, most of them can be super sweet and cute. Not so much when they are beating on each other, or running around the room, yelling, and flailing their arms over their heads, but they can be enjoyable now and again. They are learning English pretty well, and are picking up things pretty fast. Some are picking it up faster than others, but that happens when some just stare at the wall, or the ceiling, or the floor, or the desk, or at their hands, pretty much anywhere but where I need them to look. They are reading more and more words and can read simple stories on their own. This is pretty impressive considering four months ago they didn't even know the alphabet. The credit doesn't all go to me. I share the class with a pretty amazing teacher, and she feels the same way as I do about them. She finds them very challenging as well, and she's magic.
I have two really challenging students. The one started with a broken arm and still managed to get into at least one physical altercation a day for the first two months. He always has a smile on his face, even when you are telling him to stop. He loves to sing, but only when I'm talking, not when we are all singing a song together. Last week he kicked a kid in the head because the kid hit him in the arm with a piece of paper. A couple days ago he threw his activity book on the ground because he thought it would be hilarious, and how he laughed. This kid also cannot stay seated more than five seconds. Actually he may be up to ten seconds now. He is improving. Every time I turn around he is out of his seat, bothering someone. Again improvement, because the first two months every time I turned around he got out of his seat and hit someone. Ahhh, the joys of progress!
The other boy, also has problems sitting down, but isn't as bad. Unlike the last boy, this one has no real fear of me. So, he will just refuse to do things. He also get in physical altercations. He was the boy who got kicked in the head for hitting the other boy with paper. Today, he was thrown hard against a wall and had his face scratched by a boy that doesn't usually do things like that, so he may or may not have aggravated the other boy to that point. This boy, too, thinks he's hilarious and is always performing for his classmates. However, when you punish this one he laughs in your face, and may feign remorse before going back and doing the same things again. A few weeks ago, one of the other teachers said he was spitting in his shirt, collecting a nice little pool of spit. Then he began encouraging the other boys to join him, which they did. He apparently felt they weren't doing a very good job, because he then started spitting into their shirts. The teacher looked shell shocked, as I know I have after some classes with them.
So, this is the fun I deal with on a daily basis. As I've said it isn't all bad, but there are definitely days I think I may be insane.
Take care all!
Sunday, 9 June 2013
Nature Walk
Hi,
Sorry it's been so long. The one weekend nothing exciting really happened. The last one was so exhausting that I didn't really have time to write. Last weekend I went to an area near the DMZ. I didn't actually go to the DMZ, but we "trekked" along a river towards it. It was such a long and incredibly hot day, that we didn't even finish the walk. It smelled so good there though. It smelled like home. Here are some pictures.
Sorry it's been so long. The one weekend nothing exciting really happened. The last one was so exhausting that I didn't really have time to write. Last weekend I went to an area near the DMZ. I didn't actually go to the DMZ, but we "trekked" along a river towards it. It was such a long and incredibly hot day, that we didn't even finish the walk. It smelled so good there though. It smelled like home. Here are some pictures.
Yesterday, I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, I was tricked into climbing up another mountain, two really. I'm not sure how this keeps happening. I signed up for a leisurely walk through a forest. They didn't mention that the forest was on a mountain, but it may have been a little stupidity on my part to not realise that the whole country is mountainous, where else would a forest be. In my defence the pictures showed flat paths.
The first part of the day we walked half-way up a mountain barefoot. For the first little bit, we were walking in red clay. This was challenging in spots where the clay was hard and wet, and the path was on an incline. Luckily, I did not fall (that day), or slide down the mountain backwards.....much. Part way up there was a sign stating the lofty health claims.
Shortly after the sign, the clay pretty much gave way, but we continued to climb up a mountain barefoot, and then climbed halfway down barefoot. Shoes and sock had never felt so glorious as they did after that walk.
After lunch, we went to a recreational forest. After some delicious watermelon, we decided to walk around. We started walking up an incline and continued up, even though the incline got steeper and steeper. Until we ended up at the top of a mountain. Then we had to rush down the "hiking" side of it because we were going to be late for the bus. It was a beautiful area and it would have been nice to have more time to explore it. It would be a great place to camp. Here are some pictures of it.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)