Packed Week

Last week was our one week where we didn't have to travel to Seoul for class. We were transitioning from 1st term to 2nd and we ended up with a week "vacation."  Monday & Tuesday were regular teaching days, but Wednesday my school had Sport's Day. This is the day where all the students get to participate in sporting events all day long with all of the classes competing against each other. This year's winners received money coupons for the school store, so the competition was intense. My job was basketball scorekeeper (my annual post). We couldn't have asked for better weather: mid-seventies and sunny with a slight breeze!

The students stretching in formation on Sport's Day.

After the students went home, the female teachers played a practice game of kickball against the high school teachers in anticipation for the Teacher's Sports day which was scheduled for Friday. The high school teachers won but it was still fun to be out in the fresh air. Immediately after the game, I rushed home, showered, and met my rural schools' PE teacher for dinner with his family. He wanted his 2 young sons to have a chance to meet a foreigner, so he invited me over for a nice dinner. The family was very sweet and I had a great time.

Mr. Kim, the PE teacher at my rural school and his family.

Thursday was a rainy day so our school festival day was a bit damp. We started with a school-wide quiz show in which I was asked to participate in the reading of the English portion of the quiz. Next the students enjoyed all sorts of Korean snacks and then they were free to head to the various booths set up around the school. Some included: nail art/face painting, arm wrestling, Bingo, darts, water balloon fighting, balloon animal making, and even a "guess the teacher" contest in which teachers brought in old photos of themselves. Luckily my mom was able to scan a few of my baby photos to me, so the kids and teachers got a kick out of seeing those.

Several of my students getting excited for nail art/face painting.

My baby board.

The water balloon fight area.

Friday was "Private School Teacher's Sports Day" for all 35 of the schools in our province. Luckily this year it was held in our city, so we had a 10 minute bus ride to the school where it was being held. The forecast was saying rain but when we woke up there wasn't a cloud in the sky! (So sunny in fact that I ended up with sunburned cheeks!)  Our team won our 1st round of kickball, only to be eliminated in a close 2nd game. The teachers who weren't playing were either cheering us on or eating the tasty snacks that the mother's group had prepared for us. Other activities included tug of war, soccer, and badminton. After awards were given to the winning schools, we headed to a tasty restaurant for a nice dinner. Some teachers then headed to a karaoke-style song room, but I headed home instead. I actually ended up pulling a hamstring in our intense game of kickball, so have been on the mend since then. 

Daesung Middle School teachers after Sport's Day.

Saturday morning we woke up early and headed into Seoul to begin a new round of classes. They include International Business and Economics. The IB prof is from Syracuse and is very interesting, while the Econ prof is from a Korean Think Tank in Seoul. For the next 4 weeks we'll be in Seoul 4 times a week, and after that it'll only be twice a week until July 14th. Time will fly by for sure! This morning I woke up early and headed to the traditional Korean medical doctor, or acupuncture. Hopefully the hamstring will be back to normal in a week or so! 

We want to wish a Happy Memorial Day to everyone!!!

EPIK Field Trip

We work for EPIK (English Program in Korea) and this year the government gave our province money to take all of the teachers on a day trip. 37 of us boarded a bus Wednesday bright and early (7:20am) and headed to the west coast. First we stopped off at a temple that is famous for having a large amount of female monks. At the temple I met another teacher who's teaching near the temple. Her two best friends were visiting her from the States and she was showing them around. It reminded me of when I showed my best friends around Korea!  

Boo-deok-sa Temple

For lunch we were treated to bi-bim-bap (rice with fresh veggies, fried egg, and spicy red pepper sauce). After our meal, we got back on the bus and drove for another hour until we arrived at the Anmyeon-do Flower Festival. The grounds overlook the West Sea, and are covered in colorful flowers. B and I had planned on staying for a short time and then catching a taxi to the local bus terminal so we could head to Seoul for our final accounting class. Once we got to the fest, we learned that the nearest bus terminal was an hour away, and it was going to be a big hassle for us to make it. We ended up calling our classmates and telling them we wouldn't be able to make class...We were able to take in some really great flower exhibits though!

Andy, Rox, Jean, Sarah and I posing with the totums.

"Namdaemun" Gate covered in flowers!

The view from above (The West Sea in the distance).

At 4:30 we boarded the bus for the final time and headed home. We were on a "norae-bus" which is basically a bus equipped with karaoke equipment. Someone started and the rest of us joined in! We sang for the last hour of the trip; what a blast! 

"Song-bus" complete with flat screen tv, disco lights, and 2 mics!

Back in Wonju we finished the night with a tasty meal of "dalk-galbi" sweet/spicy chicken!! We got home at 10pm and pretty much crashed. 

Tomorrow (friday) is Teacher's Day so I have the day off and B has a lighter schedule than usual. We were hoping to have Saturday off from Uni but at the last second we realized we still have to meet with our team to finish up our group project...hopefully Sunday's weather will be nice!

Childrens' Day, Parents' Day, Teachers' Day

May in Korea is filled with holidays. On May 5th, we celebrated Childrens' Day as a National holiday. Parents are supposed to treat their children to a fun day; needless to say amusement parks, movie theaters, and baseball stadiums are always crowded. I was surprised to hear how many of my middle schoolers went to the PC room to play games with their friends all day. We had the whole day off, so we met with some friends for a friendly game of basketball, and then the boys went home and Rox and I headed to Ganhyun Resort (30 mins outside of town) for a bit of sunshine. It was a nice, relaxing day.

Our subway stop in Seoul is connected to "Children's Grand Park" so it was decorated nicely in anticipation for the big day.

On the 8th it was Parents' Day. The small children make small gifts and write notes to their parents, and older children (IE working age ones) are expected to give money to their parents. We recently learned that $100 for each parent is customary, but only if you have a stable job. We didn't get this day off as a nat'l holiday, but I was lucky since my rural school had mid-terms I stayed home. We ended up having class in Seoul that night due to a scheduling conflict but B was out at his rural school so couldn't make the bus in time. I headed in solo; got back home at 12:30, and woke up ag 7am to do the same journey on Saturday morn! After our accounting class there was a BBQ party at one of our professors from school. There were lots of fellow classmates there and it was nice to chat on a casual level as opposed to strictly educational level. We got back to Wonju around 6pm, and I met up with Rox for a walk around the nice track. After that, we met up with the boys for a beer and a laugh at our local pub. 

A view of our campus. On our way to the BBQ.

A group of our classmates enjoying the sunshine, tasty food, and good company.

Today (Happy Mother's Day) was a nice day so we  had a picnic with the same group from the pub last night. The high is 84 for today, so we had a nice BBQ lunch and then caught some rays for a bit.

B, Brandon, Rox, Bryan, Phil and Adele enjoying a tasty lunch by the river on Mother's Day.

Weekend Ride

Friday evening we joined our friends Roxanne, Brandon and Phil on an extended bike ride. We left Wonju at 6:30pm, and arrived in Danyang (southwest of us) at 9pm. 

H, B, Phil, Brandon and Rox posing by "3-Peak Rock" just outside of Danyang.

After finding a motel, we grabbed a bite to eat, checked out a seemingly random saxophone bar, and then headed to the norae-bang (karaoke room) for an hour. We awoke on Saturday morn and headed to Cheon-dong Cave, where we did a bit of exploring.

Cheon-dong Cave in Danyang.

 

The gang posing for a photo in the cave.

After leaving the cave we drove for about an hour and arrived at Hui-bong Mountain. There's a famous Buddhist temple located near a waterfall, so we swung in there for a bit. It was actually Buddha's birthday that day so everyone at the temple was treated to a tradional monks' meal: steamed rice topped with fresh mountain veggies and spicy pepper paste. A few of us (Rox and Love and I) took a bit too much pepper paste and our mouths were on fire for a while after that.

The crowds at Hui-bong Sa for Buddha's Birthday.

Enjoying our free tradional meal.

The waterfall just below the temple.

After leaving the temple, it was just another hour to Andong, our final destination. We got into town about 4pm and had just tucked the bikes into the storage garage at the motel when it started to rain! We tried a new spicy chicken dish for dinner, and then the guys and gals split up for the night. Rox and I first went to a coffee shop and then headed to a sauna for a relaxing night. The boys found a pub and had a beer. 

This morning we woke up and again did the boy/girl thing. The guys hopped on their bikes and started home (with a few stop-overs along the way), and Rox and I headed to another sauna that we'd heard was much better than the first. For 5,000won ($5) we were able to relax in hot, warm, and cold tubs. There were 4 different saunas to try, and they even had a pool big enough to take a few laps in! We took the train home (2.5 hour ride) and got home at almost the exact same time as the boys. It was an excellent weekend!

Tomorrow and Tuesday are holidays for us, but we still have grad school tomorrow night. We're getting a take-home accounting mid-term (we've had 2 weeks of class and only 2 more to go for this one). 

Almost May!

It's hard to believe how fast the time flies. We finished our Finance class lectures on Saturday and are now in the process of cramming for the final exam, which is this Tuesday (the 28th). In the meantime, our Accounting class has just started; it's one of those 4-week long intense courses so we have class 3 times a week til mid May. The prof is from Syracuse and so far he's the best lecturer we've had! The finance class, on the other hand....let's not go down that path. Anyway, once this final is finished we can put that class behind us.

It's mid-term season for students in Korea. B's school had theirs last week and this Mon-Wed the kids are heading on over-night field trips, so he doesn't have to report to school til Thursday. H's school has them this Monday and Tuesday. The kids take tests from 9am to 12:30 and then go home for lunch (hopefully she'll be cramming during that time). After lunch, the teacher's have a mini sports day. Since we go to Seoul that day, she'll join in for a few hours and then catch the bus into Seoul. Tuesday she'll get to go home at 12:30 with the kids and of course that's the big final exam day! Wed and Thurs her students go on the over-night trip so she'll get 2 free days!! Then Friday we're both back to work for a day. We're planning a 3 day bike tour for May 1-4, since we don't have class on the 4th! It's still in the planning stage, but we'll post more info when we figure it out!  Back to studying....

Easter Sunday Ride

         Last Sunday morning at 10am we took a ride on the bike with our friends Brandon and Roxanne. They recently purchased a bike so it was their 1st big trip and we were lucky to be a part of it. We had heard that there was a flower festival in Icheon, about an hour from our city, so we thought we'd check that out. An hour turned into three as the country road we were looking for kept elluding us. Luckily the scenery was nice and the weather was warm, so we couldn't reall complain. 

   After stopping for lunch at a small restaurant at 1pm, Icheon happened to be just 20 minutes away. We found the site of the festival, which was the weekend before, to be fairly deserted. There were still a few painters taking in the landscape and getting it down on their canvas. After walking around the nieghborhood, we took the bikes up a big mountain to a temple. The flowers were also blooming around there so it was very scenic. We finally came down the mountain and headed back to Wonju. We got home at 5pm, took showers, and headed to meet Brandon, Rox, Adele and Bryan for a pasta dinner. It was a great way to celebrate Easter. Hope everyone had a nice day with family.

B, H, Brandon and Rox posing at the festival (it took place in a tradional Korean neighborhood).

Some pretty flowers at the temple. 

Pink cherry blossoms (our new desktop computer picture).

English Classroom

In the Korean public school system, the kids have a homeroom and have all of their classes there. The teachers move around from class to class, and when they don't have class, they stay in one of the teachers' offices around the school. In another effort to stress the importance of English education, the Korean govt has been giving money to hundreds of schools around the country to establish English rooms. These rooms are used primarily by the Native English speakers when they teach the students; and are filled with the latest technology. H's school just set up one such classroom this March. Here are some photos: 

Welcome to the "Exciting English Environment"  (yes, I made that up)...

Simple but necessary rules for my class.

6 groups with 6 students in each group. A few of my 7th grade classes are up to 38 per class...

This is a touch-screen system. I take the stylus and can write/draw on the screen, and it's projected onto the big screen for the kids to "ooh" and "ahh" at.

The view from one of my windows (the EEE is on the 3rd floor).

This is my desk in the main teacher's office. There are about 20 teachers (including the VP). A few of us just got new computers last week. My monitor used to be in the "fish bowl" under my desk; now the new flat screen monitor is proudly on my desk top.

1st Ride of Spring

Last Sunday (the 5th, H's grandpa's 80th birthday) we took our 1st motorcycle ride of spring 2009. We went about an hour away to Jecheon, which has a lake (not common in Korea). We knew that there would be a cherry blossom festival the following weekend, so we wanted to beat the masses and see if we could spot some blooming flowers. Not many were in bloom yet, but it was still a wonderful ride and we also happened to stumble upon a cool rock formation.

This Saturday after our class in Seoul we're hoping to check out the "most famous" cherry blossom festival in Korea. We were there a few years ago but this time we may take in the festivities from a new spot...we'll keep you posted.  Hope you're enjoying the nice weather as much as we are!!

The cool rock formation.

I bet this is looking georgous right now!!

Colorful bushes along the side of the road.

After our ride we met friends Adele, Bryan, Brandon and Roxy for dinner. (yes, 2 Brandons!)

The Month of March

Our first month back to work/school has really flown by. It's hard to believe that we've already got our 1st mid-term at grad school this Tuesday. Our finance class is not our favorite; the professor basically reads from the book and is not helpful with our homework assignments either. At least he's allowing us to have a cheat sheet for our test. 

Our school life has also had some changes. B has 3 new Korean co-workers, and 1 new foreign teacher. His class schedule now includes going to an elementary school twice a week as well. They've set up after school programs for most of the elem. schools in our area, so most of our friends also have to take part in this. It's a lot more planning and a bit of headache to get out to the schools (since they're all in the rural areas) but B has his motorcycle so he's fine.

I also has a new foreigner at school. Actually,  my guy is dating B's co-worker (they came together). I've also got a new main co-teacher, so that's been a big change. The best new thing at my school, by far, is the new English classroom. Some schools in Korea have been given grants by the govt to establish English Zones, classrooms filled with hi-tech goodies for the foreign teacher to use. My room reportdly cost over 30,000 US dollars to renovate and set up. I'll have to take some pictures and post them on here soon.

Our computer's hard disk crashed a week ago. At first we thought we would lose all of our data, but luckily the repairman was able to find most of our documents and recovered them for us. We were happily surprised that he only charged us a total of 120,000won (about $100) to fix it up. So far it's working well again.

On the 7th we took in "The Marriage of Figaro" in Seoul.

Last weekend was our friend's b-day party. Roxanne & I got dolled up for the event.

Our group enjoying dinner.

Back to Work

On Monday we both headed back to work. The Korean school year begins in March, so we have a new bunch of 7th graders at our school. In addition to new students, there were a number of faculty changes in both of our schools  as well. Both of us have at least one new English co-teacher, so that will be a big change since we work together with them in the classroom. We've also learned that both of our schools will be getting an additional foreign teacher. H's school will get a man and B's school will get a woman. We've been told that these two newbies are married, but they will arrive sometime next week and we'll find out more then.

H is still going out to her rural middle school every Friday (starting on the 6th), and now B will also be picking up an additional school. He's been told that it will be an elementary school, but the details aren't set yet.

Tomorrow (the 6th) after work we will be heading into Seoul to watch the opera, "The Marriage of Figaro." We're looking forward to our second opera experience (the 1st being in Prague when we were studying abroad in '06). We'll spend the night in Seoul since Saturday is our first grad school course of the new school year. We start with an analtyitcal accounting class every Tuesday and Saturday, and in April we'll begin our 4-week long finance class. This semester's classes sound more rigorous than last terms', but we'll see how it goes. 

We'll leave you with a few fun quotes from our new 7th grade students:

"Teacher, what size shoe do you wear?"

"Do you have a gun?"  (When asked why he would ask that, he replied that he read that all Americans own guns).

"Can your cat jump high?"

"What's your blood type?"

Trip Pics

Here are some photos from our trip to Malaysia!

Langkawi Island- northwest Malaysia- 1-31-09

Cable Car on Langkawi Island: 1-31-09.

7 wells waterfall: where we lost and found both our camera and wallet!!

We took a 3 hour boat tour around Langkawi: we saw bats, eagles, fish, and lots of cool formations. 2-1-09.

Crocodile cave, full of bats.

Driving the boat through a cave!

Coral Island-Snorkeling day trip from Langkawi 2-2-09.

Feeding the sharks on Coral Island.

Naan, an Indian bread, so delicious!! 

H trekking throuth the jungle. Cameron Highlands, 2-4-09.

Halfway there!

We hiked up a steep trail for 20 minutes expecting to reach the lookout: when we got there, we found this sign :(

We finally finished our jungle hike (took 3 hours)

Jungle Trek- Cameron Highlands- Our 4X4 got stuck! 2-5-09.

Waterfall on the way to the flower.

Rafflesia-the world's largest flower. We trekked for over an hour to find it!

Tea Plantations.

Cameron Highlands: More tea plantations 2-6-09.

A lone tea picker in the fields.

Kuala Lumpur: the Hindu Thai Pusam Festival 2-8-09. (thousands of people)

Many of the believers will shave their heads before the festival as a testament of their faith.

The purpose is to make a march up to this cave temple. Some of them carried their babies on this bamboo stick all the way up.

Some of them had hooks in their backs and rods through thier cheeks.

Some of them carried heavy alters up the 300 stairs.

View from the top looking down on the crowds.

Old buildings in the historic town of Melaka, UNESCO World Heritage Site) 2-9-09.

Dutch church in Melaka 2-9-09.

Hand made shoes in Melaka.

The Tour de Langkawi passed right by our hostel.

Birthday dinner: H, Chantal, John, B and Mark. 2-10-09.

2-11-09 Mersing: Coast town where we were supposed to board the ferry for our island. Low tide= stranded in Mersing for the day.

Tioman Island: 2-12-09.

Monitor Lizard Crossing.

Monkey on the beach.

Mark & Chantal; our new Dutch friends. We saw each other in almost every city that we traveled to! We spent 3 days together on the deserted island.

Tioman Island: Paradise!! 2-14-09

Singapore city Scape  2-16-09.

Fountain of Wealth (Largest fountain in the world) Laser Show.

Singapore: 1000 Lights Buddha (15 meters, 300 tons)