Jindo sea parting

Hi!
I had a busy weekend this last week.  I went to Jindo island, off of the southern coast of Korea, to walk on the sea floor after it had parted, and then I went to a butterfly festival the next day.  It was a great weekend, but it began with a very early start so I was very tired.  I had to wake up at 4:30 on Saturday morning to take the train to Seoul.  There I joined a group, the majority of whom were expats, and began the five hour bus ride to Jindo island.  The ride went fairly fast, with most people sleeping most of the way.  I unfortunately cannot do this, and didn't sleep on the bus at all, but I did rest my eyes.  The scenery in South Korea is very similar throughout the entire west side of the country.  Tree-covered mountains everywhere, although, as we got further south there was more farmland which was surrounded by tree-covered mountains.  We stopped at a rest stop about half way through the trip.  The rest stop was pretty amazing.  Imagine about four of the largest bathrooms you have ever seen all beside each other.  That is what the restrooms were like, it was impressive, and there was still a long line, although the wait wasn't bad.  The rest of the rest stop was basically a strip mall of food and coffee vendors, so there were a lot of options.  It was the most impressive rest stop I've ever seen.  It sure beats a gas station with one or two stalls.

We finally got to the bridge that went to Jindo island and we got out of the bus and walked across the bridge.  It was beautiful and it had three statues around it of a Korean general who outsmarted the Japanese back in the day.  Apparently the Japanese had fire power of some sort and the Koreans did not.  This general designed a boat that was low to the water, made of steel, or something, and had large spikes all over the top.  So, when the Japanese fired on these boats they couldn't damage them and the fire power actually bounced off the boat and sometimes bounced back to the Japanese boats.  This allowed a surprising defeat of the Japanese by the Koreans who were severely outnumbered.  There is a bit of questionable history for you.  Please feel free to look that up to see how much of it is actually true.  My main point being this general is a Korean hero and these three statues weren't the only ones of him I saw on the weekend.

After we got across the bridge there were some rubber boots we could buy for $5.  I had brought my own so I didn't get a pair even though I really wanted a pair because they were kind of awesome.  They were thigh waders, like hip waders, but they only went up to the mid-thigh area at most.  Since I had brought my own boots I thought it would be wasteful.  However, I soon learned a lesson.  If you ever plan to do this, get the thigh waders.  I got soaked.  It started off decent enough, the water was higher than I was led to believe but it was not higher that my boots, but as the tide rose back up the water flooded my boots.  What happens at the sea parting is the tide goes down, low enough for a road to a nearby island to emerge, and then tons of people walk to and from this island while the tide is out.  I got about half way before boats started blowing horns, and event organizers started blowing whistles, emphatically gesturing to us to return back to Jindo.  These warnings made it seem like there was imminent danger, so I high-tailed it back to Jindo and there was one section that the tide came in pretty quickly, and the current was pretty strong, so this all led to my boots getting filled with water.

Before the see parting on the beach on Jindo island.

In the water, before the road emerged.

Road starting to emerge.

After I got back to shore.  The line of people still working their way back.

The next day we got up and drove back to the main land.  There, we stopped at Mokpo which is my new favorite place.  We were driven halfway up a mountain and were then told to hike or have coffee or whatever.  We didn't want to sit so we ended up climbing up the mountain.  By the time I leave Korea I will have climbed enough mountains to last me a lifetime.  This was the most beautiful place.  It was manicured, and paved in sections, with beautiful views every so often.

This is another statue of that general.

After that we hopped back on the bus and headed to the butterfly festival.  The location seems to be a learning center on all things insects.  There were giant insects everywhere that were obviously permanent residents, and curiously enough there were many cow statues too.  There was a cactus exhibition, two tunnels of squash, and a butterfly and insect museum.  There was also a butterfly habitat, but all of these things seemed to be there all year round.  There were a lot of food vendors there, so I guess that is what makes it a festival.  I did have a good time, although some of the insect stuff was disturbing and I hope to never see some of them in real life.  After spending three hours there we hopped on the bus to take the 220 km drive back to Seoul.  I naively thought, oh 220 kms that won't take that long........5 hours later we finally got to Seoul.  That made me miss good old SK. 

Have a great week!  Here are a couple more pics.

The first squash tunnel.  Yes, there were two.

Hey!
Today I went on another soul crushing hike.  It was actually a pretty good hike and day, but the uphill kills me.  So many stairs.  A girl I work with and I joined a group hike on the mountain one train stop away.  It was a decent sized group with four Americans, two of them soldiers, two South Africans, who are here teaching English, a Chinese girl who is working here, and about four Koreans.  I seemed to be the most inexperienced hiker of them all, and fell behind a lot.  This mountain was steeper than the last, but the path was mainly made of stairs.  Yes, I climbed a mountain worth of stairs today.  What did you do?  I'm just kidding.  I fell behind quite quickly, and one of the organizers came back and hiked with me, and encouraged me to go on.  He was very nice.  They were all really concerned with our safety and us having a good time.  I enjoyed getting to know some of the other hikers on our rests and during the easier sections of the trail.  We some some people rock climbing on our way to the peak.  I would not try that for all the world.  They were so high up there.  I did get some good pictures of me on the top of the mountain.  Oh and just to taunt some of you back home, I burnt a bit today.  It was nice enough to go with just my t-shirt for most of the hike.

Take care!

Here are the people climbing the top section of the mountain.

As I was about to take this picture one of the organizers told me to move over so I wouldn't get the sign in the picture.  He said it said 'Danger - Death', I of course found this hilarious and insisted they get the sign in the picture.

Victory!  Darn, now I'm wishing I would have thrown my arms up victoriously.  Next time.

Cherry Blossom Festival

Hi!
Yesterday I went to Seoul's Cherry Blossom Festival.  There was one street that was lined with the cherry blossom trees, although only one side of the street was blooming on Saturday.  They were very pretty, but difficult to admire because I was in a large stream of people and it was hard to stop and look or take a picture.  I eventually got some pictures when I was standing away from the crowd.

It was at the National Assembly and there was an outside entertainment venue.  There wasn't any entertainment when I was there, but they had many food vendors.  They had all the corn and waffles anyone could possibly want.  I helped myself to some corn, but didn't end up with any waffles or other Korean treats.

I didn't end up staying for the evening festivities because I did not get much sleep the night before, and wasn't in the mood to wait a few hours for the festivities to continue.  Some of the other teachers and I had went out for a friends birthday on Friday and ended up going to a music lounge and enjoyed some 70's and 80's music and expensive drinks.  So, I stayed up too late on Friday, and woke up too early on Saturday and left the festival early.  I slept intensely when I got home.  I know you care.

Have a good one!

Work/Hair

Hi!

So, I thought I would talk a bit about my job today.  I work at a private school where I teach both preschool and elementary.  My mornings are with the preschoolers, who are about 5-6 years old.  My homeroom is filled with children who have never taken English before.  The first month was quite challenging because I was trying to get them used to the routine, but they didn't understand what I wanted them to do.  It would have been nice to have a Korean teacher in the class to help the children understand that sooner.  It has started to get easier with them now that they understand what they are supposed to be doing.  

I have had some training in teaching how to teach English and classroom management, but with 12 5/6 year olds it is very difficult at times.  Especially because I have two boys that, if I turn my back on them for a second, they are out of their desks and talking to and/or hitting someone.  Two of the other boys are like that only 70% of the time, and the other two occasionally get sucked in.  So, basically half the class is bouncing off the walls the majority of the time.  This has been very frustrating at times, and I have tried many things.  Although, now that they understand more they are easier to manage, so here's hoping it keeps getting better.  As far as the first two boys go, they to are getting better but there is still an incident at least once a day (and that's a good day).  My supervisors advice: Keep a closer eye on them.  After every incident I'm told I need to keep a closer eye on them.  I find that frustrating because I do keep an eye on them but they are faster, and stealthier, than ninjas when it comes to sneaking out of their seat and making contact with another, but you should see how slow they move when it is something I need them to be doing.  They then move at a sloth-like speed.  I guess the parents out there can understand what I mean.

My other class I have eight 5-6 year olds, there were 10, but the other two dropped out.  One of which was because of the other students.  This class is much easier to handle because they understand what I'm saying and they know the rules of the school.  That being said, I have two boys in that class that are difficult to handle, but next to the other class it's cake.  I find that they learn English in kind of a weird order.  They learn some vocabulary, but then they learn how to read and then learn more vocabulary as they go.  So, this class can read.  They don't always understand what they are reading, but they can read.  They even want my other class to be learning how to read, which I find difficult because they don't understand enough yet.

In the afternoons I have elementary classes.  These students are between 8 and 11 years old.  These classes are easy breezy, although one of the classes had started to get too chatty.  With the help of the Korean teacher I was able to get them to quiet down a bit.  I find the preschool classes to be quite draining, but the elementary classes usually help me to regain some energy.  I don't really have many breaks for lesson planning and I was just given another class, which means I know have less time for lesson planning.  Over all I am enjoying my teaching experience so far.  The younger children can be difficult to handle, but for the most part it's going pretty well.

I hope that was of some use to my former tesl/esl classmates.  That's enough about work.  Not much happened this weekend.  I finally broke down and  re-activated my facebook account.  I don't know if that is a permanent thing or not, but I am now back.  I also got my hair cut today.  It's not what I was going for so I'm a little disappointed, especially when I think how Sarah KN. would have nailed it.  It's a cute cut, kind of a 60's bob, but I was going for a long pixie, so it missed the mark.  It's and inch or two too long in some areas and the shape isn't right.  I didn't really realize it until I was already home and tried to style it.  I don't think the guy had ever cut a pixie type cut before.  Again he did a good job with what he did, it just wasn't what I was looking for.  So, I think I'm going to have to get it re-cut somewhere.  One thing I find amusing about the salon I was at is that they double team you with the blow drying.  The stylist has an assistant to hand them things, and then blow dries on command.  They take it seriously.

Well, that's all for now.  I should have something more exciting for you next week.  Have a great week!

Itewan

Hi!
This last weekend was a bit more relaxed than others.  I went to Seoul on Saturday to check out Itewan.  It is an Expat haven.  There were a lot of Expats there.  Usually the people on the street are 99% Korean, but in Itewan the Expat population is significantly higher, more like 30-40% instead of 1%.  The neighborhood is mainly one street with stores and restaurants that cater to tourists and expats.  There is an English bookstore, a Mexican restaurant, larger sized clothes, and a Canadian bar.  The bar was closed so we didn't go in, but it made my weekend to hear that I would not have to go a whole year without fries and gravy.  They have poutine, but it isn't made with curds, and I hear it is somewhat lacking.  I saw a few Middle Eastern men selling their traditional foods on the street.  It's not just popular among Westerners, but people from all over the world.

Later that day, after some delicious Korean Mexican food, we went to Dongdaemun.  It has a lot of shopping malls.  We only looked at two.  The first had mid-ranged clothes, $40-100, and was 8 floors.  Their malls seem so disorganized compared to ours because the use up every possible inch of floor space.  It was more of a vendor style than an actual store style of mall.  So, the vendors did not have much space, and they were all crammed together, and not in the usual grid pattern we are used do.  I found it somewhat challenging to get around, and I think it will be difficult to find my way pack to a particular vendor, if I had wanted to come back for something.  They did have a lot of really good things there.  The other mall was much of the same but cheaper and of less quality.

On Sunday one of the teachers invited us over for Easter supper.  It was so nice to have food I recognized.  I'm starting to recognize a lot of Korean food, but there is something so nice about seeing and eating something so familiar to you, even if you've never had that specific dish before.  After supper we played Crimes Against Humanity.  It was so much fun.  It is like Apples to Apples, but really inappropriate.  All in all, it was a great night.  We had a lot of fun.

That's all that really went down.  It was more of a relaxed weekend.
Take care all!