A weekend Exploring

A few weekends ago, some friends and I set out to explore the southwest coast of Jeju. There are so many beautiful places that I have yet to see, and since my time left on the island is running short, I am trying to get to as many of them as I can.

On Saturday we explored a beach called Hwasun. It is a black sand beach. At this time of the year it is dead because to Koreans, even if it is hot and sunny outside, that does not mean that you go to the beach. You must wait until it is official beach season. That is great news for the rest of us because we can spend the time really exploring the beach.

We found many little coves off of the main beach. Some were very small and had little to no sand and others were decent in size. All of them were a little harder to get to as they were off of the beaten path. But the short hikes and small amount of rock climbing was well worth it!

On Sunday we decided to go to the Sangban-san Mountain area. While we did not climb the mountain or go up it at all, we enjoyed all the things we found in the surrounding area.

First we spotted a huge Viking ship carnival ride. Why would such a ride be in this beautiful place with no other rides around it? Well my answer to that is "Only in Korea". After the carnival ride I ran into a small black goat. He was tied to a tree and had a green bandana tied around his neck. He was very cute and friendly.

Second came another huge ship. This one was meant to be a Dutch ship. I have no idea why it was there. You could climb inside of it and what not but it served absolutely no purpose. Again "Only in Korea". There was a statue sitting on a park bench that was the Dutch captain of the ship. And another small wooden boat in the grass opposite the large ship that had flower painted all over it and said "Netherlands" on the side.

After that area we decided to head to the are called Songakson. It is another small mountain in the area. We were able to drive to the lookout point and do some exploring. There was a small cave that we spotted along with a rough looking staircase that could lead you down. Of course when we got to the top of the staircase we saw the "enter at your own risk" type of sign in Korean and simply stepped right over it. The stairs lead us most of the way don, but in order to get to the cave we needed to climb the rest of the way. I was no expecting all this climbing so it took me a bit not t slip in my shoes. But I made it safely down and was able to get some great photos looking out from insdie the cave. Once finished, we needed to climb back up! Again had to take our time!

It was a great day! We ended it with going to Oedolgae which I think I have posted about before. It is an amazing rock place on the ocean where my friends and I spend lots of time relaxing, swimming, snorkeling and cliff diving.

My 25th Birthday

"A Black & White Affair" was the theme for my 25th birthday! At first everyone was a little confused that I was doing a theme birthday. Most birthdays here on the island consist of the same thing: dinner, bars, then norae-bong (karaoke). So I decided to mix things up a little bit.

I have become good friends with a Korean woman here named JuYoung. She is the owner of an Indian restaurant called "Bagdad's". All of the foreigners for the most part love the food. It is a little on the pricey side compared to the Korean places eat, but well worth the extra cash. JuYong loved the idea of having everything Black & White. She also said that she would pay for all the linens and extras to decorate the outdoor (heated) seating where she would put all of us! It was so nice of her.

When I arrived at Bagdad's I was in aw of everything. It was beautiful. About 25-30 of my closest friends came to dinner. All were wearing black and white of course and most of them were dressed up! It was wonderful. The food was amazing and the company was too.

After dinner we proceeded to a newer bar in the area called "Stone Island". I had never been there before my party, but heard it was lots of fun. That it was! The bartenders did this awesome show for us including a fire part. Since it was my birthday I got to pick out what cocktail I wanted :) Also at this bar you could wear wigs, hats and other costume type things. It was so much fun.

My birthday cake was amazing too! Here in Korea there are two different candles. The tall candles are each 10 years and the short ones are a single year. So instead of having to blow out 25 candles I only had to blow out 7! The bad part about the cake was that there were no plates or forks! So everyone went and washed their hands and then ate their piece of cake with their hands. It was a great end to a fabulous night!

New Classroom

Over the winter break most of the public schools here on Jeju received an enormous English budget to make "improvements" for the English influence in each school. Most schools built new classrooms all together with top of the line technology. My school was one of these schools.

I received a brand new English Classroom. The classroom size itself is amazing. I don't feel cramped for once. The students have room between groups and plenty of space for games and role-plays. I have a "Virtual Studio" as well. This is an area that has yet to be used by me, but I plan to use it in the near future. Each window has a special English shade. Some of the shades have: world maps, body parts, family trees, directions, etc.

The best part of my classroom by far is my Smart Board. If you are not familiar with these, they are nothing short of amazing. It is a computerized white board. No markers or erasers needed. It has its own set of fake markers and erasers and the markers come in all the basic colors. It is completely touch screen as well. The down side to that part is that the kids walk by and touch it. It can confuse the Smart Board if too many things are going on at one time. To recalibrate these Smart Boards is very expensive and I have a feeling that my board will need that pretty soon they way things are going. You all know how kids are, if you tell them that they cannot touch the Smart Board, they do it MORE! Ha ha ha.

I also have two computers at my desk (one just for the Smart Board), a small row of 6 computers for the students to use, a laser printer and surround sound. My classroom makes me smile every morning when I walk in. It is frustrating however that everything is in Korean. Why would they spend all this money on English equipment and then put Korean versions of all the programs? It is VERY annoying as the Native English teachers at every school are the only ones for the most part using these computers and programs. I guess some things will never change!

One interesting thing about my classroom is that the students are responsible for cleaning it. Twice a day students come in with their little brooms and dust pans and proceed to sweep the entire classroom, and empty the trash. I LOVE this idea. Since the students are the ones that make the mess I see that it is only fair that they be the ones to clean it up. The classes each rotate cleaning the English room.