36 Hours in Gwangju and Gwangyang

At the beginning of November, a few of my crazy futbol (soccer) friends and I jumped on a plane and flew to Gwangju, South Korea. It is a southern city in South Korea. In fact it is the 6th largest city in the country. Once we arrived (25 minute flight), we got on the subway and headed into the city. We spent a while walking around trying to pick the best area to find a hotel. We were lucky enough o have a Lonely Planet with us (one of the best guide books ever). The guide book directed us to the art area of the city. It was said to have the best shopping and night life as well. For a group of 20 something year olds, these things are important! Our hotel ended up being smack dab in the middle of the chaos of the city. There were shops, restaurants, bars, and clubs all within walking distance! We were set.

The rest of the day was spent looking at art exhibits and one city temple. They were doing mosaics on the walls lining the streets. It was so interesting to see the artists actually putting them together and creating the art. We walked into what is typically an everyday market but for the month it was turned into an art gallery! This event occurs every two years in Gwangju. All of the booths had artists selling and displaying their work. The artists varied in style and ages. I was surprised by how many young artists there were. Some were even elementary school students trying to sell their art! Like most art galleries, the prices were a little steep for me. I went home empty handed but had a great time soaking it all in. I also stepped into a shop where these older women were making fresh kimchi. **

** For those of you that do not know what kimchi is, it is a spicy fermented cabbage. Google it :)

The kimchi looked really good and I had never had it in this form before. So my friend Tim and I decided to have a try (See picture). It was by far the spiciest kimchi I have ever had! Time loves spicy kimichi but even this was too hot for his taste buds! I think that our mouths were on fire for the next 20-30 minutes! ha ha ha. That is what we get!

We ventured to the Memorial Park of Gwangju's Student's Independence Movement. This park is a remembrance of the movement that began in 1929 where students boycotted classes under Japanese rule because there was discriminatory education. This eventually led to the independence movement in which many of the students participated. During this time there were many riots and hundreds almost a thousand people were killed in the on going of these riots. There is a memorial cemetery as well, but we were not able to make it there.

Now what? More wandering. It is sometimes the best way to find things. You never know what you will com across on these types of adventures. We walked down to the river. There was actually a running/walking track that followed the river. It was really neat. Then we walked to this huge arch that led us to this hill. The trees were all bright fall colors and beautiful. I just had to know what was at the top of this enormous hill. So Tim, Stu and I hiked to the top! Low and behold it was an amazing park. There were all these hand made benches and statues. Even a small cemetery. The park was high up enough that it had a decent view of parts of the city below. It was truly beautiful. We sat in a pavilion and ate fresh oranges that I had bough with me from Jeju. **Note** Jeju is said to have some of the best oranges int he WORLD!!**

After all that art and culture, it was time for a break. What better of a place for a break then Starbucks! Ha ha ha. My friends that I travel with now have this on going joke that no matter what city we go to, if there is a Starbucks, I will somehow find it and work it into our travel plans to make a pit stop. Well I indeed found the bright green Mermaid Sign :) We sat and had a coffee. This Starbucks had an enclosed patio that was on the third floor and we could sit out there and watch the hustle and bustle of the street traffic below. It was a perfect resting spot to catch our second wind before dinner at an Outback Steakhouse and a night on the town!

The next morning we were up early. Some of us, including me, had maybe 2-3 hours of sleep. But hey we are young right? I cannot do this forever so I take advantage of it while I can! Luckily we were able to grab Starbucks and even a Krispy Creme doughnut before heading on the bus! We had an hour and a half bus ride to take us to watch the Jeju United Soccer team play their final match of the season in Gwangyang. We had special shirts made for this trip and everything (see Picture). The front of the shirts say "Highting" in Korean which is actually a mixed word that means fighting but they pronounce it "Highting". I have no idea why.

"We Are Jeju" was our most often used chant! Being the cheerleader at heart, I had no voice by the end of the game. We were actually the only people that came from Jeju to watch the match. Lucky for us, we had our loudest cheerleaders there. So I am pretty sure we were still heard! The game was a draw 0-0. Oh well there is always next season!

After the game we took an hour taxi ride to the smallest airport I have ever been to. There was one gate!! The flight was still only 30 minutes, and then back to Jeju. Home sweet home. I have been here long enough that when i get back from a trip somewhere and return to the island, I have that "at home feeling". I always take a deep breath of fresh air and say "It's good to be home!" I think that we do have the cleanest air in South Korea!

Tim, Stu and I went for dinner after the flight. Stu always likes to go to dinner when we get back from a trip to wrap up the weekend and talk about the memories that we made. Funny stories, I can't believe you did that things, etc! It was a short but sweet trip!

More pictures from PIFF

Pusan International Film Festival

In October, I went back to Pusan (pronounced Busan). It was the International Film Festival. Many of my friends decided to take the trip as well. Some of them took the ferry over, but I was not doing that because it was an 11 hour ferry! I have never been on a boat that long as was a bit afraid that I might become sea sick. I flew over with my friend Stu. He is a private teacher here that is from Scotland. We both stayed at Josh's house for the weekend.

We arrived early Friday morning (October 3rd). The first place we went to is an area called Seomyeon. It is where the giant fish market and shopping area is. Giant is an understatement of how large this place was. There were markets that went on in every direction. At one point we were so turned around that we had to find a main street and gather our barrings again! The fish market was awesome. Along the bay there are these tents with tables in them so you can sit and have fresh fish that they are bringing in off the boats. At the market we saw this huge chunk of meat that still had a spine in it,so I asked the woman what it was and she said "Shark"! WOW.

We also went to PIFF (Pusan International Film Festival) Square. There was a stage and booths set up for the festival. The square was packed with people watching performances on the stage and waiting in line for films. We tried to get tickets for Saturday but that was not going to happen because we are not Korean. They tend to make things really difficult for people that are not Korean, and then wonder why no other cultures attend these things! Gee, I wonder! Ha ha ha ha ha. So we decided to just wait until Saturday and go to a box office and buy tickets.

That night we went to the Casino. Here, Koreans are not allowed to go to the casino. The only people that are there are Chinese and Japanese business men, and of course foreigners. The perk of the casinos are that they serve free alcohol and this one had free food. There was a bar and a dinning area, so you could take a break from gambling and have a meal! It was great.

The next day we headed to Haeundae Beach to scope out the ticket scene. I was really afraid that all of the tickets for the outdoor theatre would be sold out. Once we got to the beach, there were people every where. The beach was lined with booths and vendors. We had to ask a few people how to get tickets before they sent us to another area about a 20 minute walk from the beach. We finally got the the box office and had to buy tickets for 10 people (mind you there were 3 of us) and they instructed us that they can only sell 2 tickets to each person. Luckily, there were some other foreigners eating lunch next door. We kindly asked them to buy extra tickets for us. The agreed and that solved that problem. The tickets were nowhere near sold out. I wasn't surprised because Koreans do everything at the last minute. We bought the tickets about 8 hours before show time!

We had lunch that day at an AMAZING Mexican place. It is a hole in the wall. Literally the place had four stools to sit on inside and a line that went down the street. The owner was from San Diego and made everything to order! It was a long wait but well worth it.

After lunch we went back to the beach to hangout, look at the vendors and meet up with everyone that we bought tickets for! We then figured out that the outdoor theatre was not at the beach we were sitting at. We had to take a taxi about 10 minutes away to another location. The theatre was amazing. We had the Pusan Skyline, ocean, and bridge as a back drop.

The first movie was a Japanese animation. I have never watched a film like this before. It luckily had English sub titles. This film was rather slow and dragged on. People were falling asleep. I payed attention though because I thought it was amazing how they construct these films. There was a malfunction with the projector in the last part of the movie so we had and "intermission" early. It took a while to fix and when the first movie finish it was pretty late. Many of us headed out and didn't stay for the second film.

It was another great weekend in Pusan. I have posted some pictures with this post and I will do another post with more pictures. Enjoy!

Saeseogwi Elementary School

Saeseogwi (Sa-So-Gee) Elementary School is the first school that I was assigned to work at here on Jeju. Last semester I worked here full time as did another Native English teacher named Ali. This semester I split my time between two schools. I am only at Saeseogwi 3 days a week.

The school is comparable to elementary schools in the US. There are 601 total students here. In fact there is a huge chalkboard in the teachers main work room that shows the break down of each grade and each class by gender. We have 317 males and 284 females.

Each grade at this school has three classes. For example: 1-1 means First Grade Class One, 1-2 is First Grade Class Two, and 1-3 is First Grade Class Three. The class sizes are larger. The largest grade is 3rd. It has 40 students in each class.

Third grade is my favorite. I am not sure if it is because I have them the most or because the students are just that great. It must be because I have them the most! Ha ha ha. In two of the sections I feel that I am zoo keeper more than a teacher. I am fortunate enough to have an amazing co-teacher, Mrs. Kim. She really is a great teacher who is excited and dedicated to learning English.

Ali is the other native English teacher at this school. He is now in his second year of teaching. Ali is from Canada. This semester he still works full time at Saeseogwi.

Saeseogwi Elementary has been chosen for the English Pilot program. In a way that makes it a special research school. For me it means more work and preparation at times. We have what are called "open" classes. This is where teachers from our school and other schools come and watch one of our classes. It is on no way a natural class however. My Korean co-teachers practice how the class will go over and over again with the students. It is almost as if it is scripted. I am not a fan of this method at all. It does not represent the struggles of having co-teachers and just teaching a foreign language in general. Plus the kids act like angels during these "open" classes and that is not how they really are either! Ha ha ha.

Next semester I might be moved to another school, but I don't think that I will. The school can keep me if they want and so far they have kept both Ali and I. Enjoy the pictures. The view of the playground, World Cup Stadium, and ocean is from my desk! AMAZING

Busan

I took a trip over the summer to Busan, South Korea. It is the second largest city in South Korea and also the southern most city on the mainland. The population is about 3.6 million. It a young city that is growing rapidly. After a few days there I could see why!

Busan was wonderful. I cannot wait to go back. The first thing I did when I got there was locate a Starbucks! Ha ha ha. My friend Josh (from my TEFL course in Prague)knows how much I love Starbucks so he made sure to point out the closest one to my hotel that I stayed at the first night. He now lives in Busan and teaches at a private institute.

The first night I stayed on Heaundae Beach. It is in the Guiness Book of World Records for the most umbrellas on one stretch of beach. I believe it! I was there on a Thursday and it was still pretty busy. I hear the weekends are really crazy! It really was a great beach with the city sitting right on the water. There was a Starbucks on the street that ran along the beach. No city mugs for Busan yet, but I still picked up a new mug to have at my new home in Jeju.

The second night I stayed in the Busan National University area. Not sure where the actual university was though. I wasn't able to find it. On this day I went to Beomosa Temple. It sits up high in the mountains. You can hike to it if you please but I didn’t have any real shoes to do any hiking in. Maybe another time. This temple has been around since 678 but has been burned down a few times. The last re-build was in 1613. There are lots of small buildings all over the grounds. The monks walk around freely and interact with visitors. I was shocked to see this because most of the time, the monks seem to be in hiding. My favorite part of the temple other that the gorgeous insides, were these three little Buddhist statues that were hear no evil, speak no evil, say no evil. They were wonderful. The view from that high up was also amazing. That night I had dinner with Josh. A traditional Korean meal called Galbi. It is like an indoor BBQ. Great fun with friends. We decided on pork and it was in fact the best Galbi place that I have been to yet and I eat this often.

The third day we went to Gwangalli Beach. This beach sits on a bay. It reminds me of something you would see in Southern California. It has a boardwalk and everything. Not to mention a three story Starbucks that sat right on the beach. We of course stopped in and had a coffee and watched the people on the beach below. There was a Farris Wheel and other carnival rides. We returned that night to the beach to hit the bars and nightlife. Lots and lots of foreigners were out and about. It was great because they close the streets on the beach at night and put out tables and chairs. You can just eat and drink and hangout with people. Also there are no laws telling you where and where you cannot drink. I was pretty surprised by this. But it seems that as long as you are not out of control or harming other people you are free to drink wherever your little heart desires. A lot of people drank on the beach. It was wonderful.

All in all Busan was a great place to visit. I am actually going to be there again October 3-5th for the International Film Festival. Lots of my friends from Jeju are going, so it should be a wonderful time!

3 Month Check-in

It seems like just the other day I was saying to goodbye to all my family and friends because I was moving to South Korea! I cannot tell you how many times I heard "Are you crazy?" or "What are you going there for?"

Well I am not crazy! I am just a free spirit in many ways. I figure that you only get one life here on earth and I want to make the most of it. Traveling has become a passion of mine. Those of you that know me very well also know that I am talker! That is putting it mild. Ha ha ha. So what a better way to travel the world and talk at the same time, than to become an English as a Foreign Language teacher?! I was able to find a way to do both. It just so happens that I landed in South Korea! The plus side about South Korea, is that I live on the beautiful island called Jeju and have met some amazing people that are my age and have seen so much of the world.

So here I am at the three month marker! YAY. I made it! From what I hear the hard part is over. Most people that have done what I am doing said that the first three months are pretty rough. You have to deal with the initial culture shock and the obvious language barriers, as I do not speak Korean (yet). My "honeymoon" phase as they call it has come to an official end. I know feel that I am part of this place. Part of the city that I live (Seogwipo) in and the schools that I teach at.

Do I still love it? Absolutely! Don't get me wrong I miss all of you back home in the United States, and other parts of the world, but I know that I will return. Everyday brings something new. I am learning new things about the Korean culture and people. My students teach me as much as I teach them, I think. In fact some of them have started giving me small Korean lessons during breaks. Ha ha ha. I guess they figure they can only benefit if I learn Hangul (Korean).

I still have 9 more months to go here in South Korea, then onto another continent! I have had an amazing summer and it is not over yet, as we tend to get the seasons later. I will try to post more blogs about my summer adventures, so keep your eyes peeled :)

Beach Beach Beach

Summer time has been here for a couple months. I have tried to make the most of it because I am not sure how long it will last. I am told that October and November are wonderful here and people were still swimming.

I went to the tourist center and asked for a good size map of the island. The kindly gave me one and also a book all about Jeju and another on my city (Seogwipo). I put the map on my wall at home so that I can start marking off all the places I have gone. mostly I want to get to all the beaches that I can before winter sets in. There are so many beaches and each one is different.

Udo Island is a great place. I have been twice now. The last trip we rented scooters and rode all around the island. There is a white sand beach, black sand beach, and a coral beach all on one tiny island. The coral beach is one of two natural coral beaches in Korea. It was a little rough on my feet the first time I went but the last trip I seemed to do better with it.

All of the beaches have had some decent snorkeling. Some were better than others. Hamdeok beach is probably my favorite so far (the picture with the really turquoise water and green oreum in the background). I have so many great beach pictures that it will be hard to get them all on here so I will just put a few of my favorites :)

American Beef, Gays, and T-Shirts

This post does not mean that if you eat beef and wear t-shirts that you are gay! Ha ha ha. These are merely three topics that I would like to blog about that I find interesting here in Korea especially.

American beef. For those of you that are not up to speed on the whole American Beef controversy that is going on right now in South Korea, well it would take me a while to get you up to speed on all the details. Basically, Koreans think that American beef is bad and that if you eat any American beef you will get Mad Cow Disease. To us Americans here in South Korea we find this statement highly amusing. We have been eating beef in the US for our entire life and well we are ok. There are huge riots and protests going on in the larger cities like Seoul. There have been pictures taken in newspapers where children have drawn pictures against American beef. It is sad because they only know what their parents tell them just like any child in the world. If you go into a restaurant and ask if they serve American beef they will look at you really funny and some places will tell you to leave! Before I came over to South Korea I had to have a series of medical checks done, including blood work. Well all of that was pointless because in the mean time, the rage was building over here with the beef issue. So when I arrived, I had to have the entire medical check all over again because they would not accept my records from the US and they wanted to know when the last time I had beef was! I was in shock and super upset because I hate having blood taken. Luckily heath care is super cheap here so everything cost me about $40.

Gays. Here in South Korea they turn their head when it comes to homosexuality. They simply believe that it does not exist and do not talk about it. They think that it is something that western cultures make up and do not see how it can even happen. It is not surprising though because the religion here is mostly Buddhist and the other small portion Christianity. However, there is so much affection shown between young people here of the same sex. It is not un common to walk down the street and see all the boys holding hands and the girls holding hands. Often times I will be waiting for the bus and there will be two boys waiting as well. The two boys will be petting each other and practically sitting on each other's laps! I am in shock that they act so loving and affectionate towards one another but do not believe that gay exists! I see this kind of thing everywhere. It is completely normal, so I hear.

T-Shirts are popular just like every where else in the world. The thing that makes Korean t-shirts so special are the sayings that are printed on them! Basically they take any English phrase that they know or partially know and print it on a t-shirt. I see boys wearing shirts that say "I Miss My Boy", "I went on vacation and came back on probation". My favorite ones are those that have misspelled words or grammatically incorrect phrases. One shirt I saw this past weekend said "I taken this look easy" it was supposed to say "I make this look easy". Ha ha ha. Oh and some shirts have extra "eee" on it. Koreans are notorious to add the long "e" sound to everything. It sounds like "I am an Englishee teacher" So funny! One last thing are the curse words. I am not sure that they even recognize that they are curse words. I bought a shirt the other day that says "1970 Up Against the Wall Mo**er F***er!" My friend Candice and I laughed so hard in the store and no one knew why we thought it was funny so we each bought one. Mine is light pink and hers is white. All the other English teachers look at me when I wear it and say "you must have bought that here". I laugh and say of course!

Well readers, it is time for me to end this. Hope everyone is well :)

Pictures of Weekend Camp

Weekend Camp

This past weekend I did a camp here at my elementary school. The camp was for students and their parents. We had about 150 students and parents. All the teachers in my school had to be here for the camp even if they were not teaching.

Saturday afternoon I taught 6 classes on how to make popcorn! For those of you that know me, know that I love popcorn so it was right up my alley. ha ha ha. The kids were a little scared at first about the popping. Most groups didn't wait for the popping to stop completely before taking the lid off so then the popcorn would continue to pop and all the kids would jump and scream when popcorn came flying out every where. It was pretty amusing. You will notice in the pictures that most of the kids wanted to stand on the chairs are look down on the popcorn while it was in the pan popping. I think they did this so that they could see but be far enough away in case something happened.

Sunday morning I was in charge of a quiz game. This game was played at the same time by everyone at the camp. So in a sense I was the host. We had some technical difficulty with the microphones. I assured the other teachers that would not be a problem since I used to be a cheerleader so I am sure that I could yell if I had to. I did have to yell a little and it hurt my voice, but oh well.

I have put some pictures of the students and then I will post again of just me and some of the students. All in all it was a great weekend camp. I am very tired today (Monday), but it is the last day of the semester and I start teaching summer school tomorrow!

More pictures of the Swimming Hole