Asian Adventure: part 1

Arrival & Korea:
From July 15th-August 5th I had two of my au pair friends I met in Switzerland, Michelle and Sarah, come to visit. I was looking forward to their visit for months and now that it's over, I don't know what to do with myself. I had a wonderful time hanging out with them and we had a great trip. We got to travel around Korea, China, and the Philippines in the 3 weeks they were in Asia. We named our trip the "Asian Adventure." I'll write about the trip in a few different blogs because we did sooooo much, I have to break it up a little. So, here is part 1: Korea!!

Michelle and Sarah arrived on Wednesday the 15th. I was initially suppose to work the rest of that week, but because of the swine flu scare (and I have to say that Koreans are petrified of getting it) I got Thursday and Friday off because I was coming into contact with "the foreigners." My school told me to take sick days; it was just fine with me!! So, I had Wednesday-Saturday to show them around my stomping ground. We went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace and museum (picture 1), walked around different parts of the city, went to a few markets both in Seoul and Incheon, as well as met up with some of my friends. One night we met up with my friends Mark and Cam for a big Korean BBQ dinner; though I don't eat the meat, you can see there are tons of side dishes I can have. The side dished come free with the BBQ, so I'm a really cheap date here!! After dinner we went to a cafe called Dr. Fish. At Dr. Fish you can sip on a coffee while soaking your feet in a tub with dozens of little fish that eat your dead skin. I was really squeamish and barely let them even touch me, hehe!

One afternoon we went into Seoul and did a little shopping as well as went up to Namsan tower. I had been there once before when I first arrived, but it had been a while. A tradition at Namsan is to attach a lock to the fence with your significant other and write a little love note on it and then your love will last forever. They call it love locks. So, we of course wanted to add on to this tradition! My friends Rebekah G and Mallory were with us this day, so together we attached a lock and labeled ourselves the Seoul Sistas!!

One of the evenings we went for a night out in a popular area called Hongdae. Mallory and my Korean friend Lucy joined us for the night of fun! We stayed up all night and slept the next day instead! Oh, and as you can see in the last photo, I showed them the wonders of Korean glasses. My favorite thing about Korean fashion is the AMAZING eye glasses they wear. They come in every color, every shape, but the best thing of all is that they are so CHEAP! I already bought a pair of glasses about 6 months ago, but when they only cost $30 for lenses and all, you might as well get another. All 3 of us got a new pair of glasses, Sarah got 2! We fit right in!

My kids, my house, & Mud Festival!

Here are some videos I've taken lately. In my 3rd grade classes we taught the students "Pat-a-Cake", and a song called, "I can." They are so cute when they sing, so I had to get a video. Also there was another English festival at my school, so I took a video of some little girls singing as well as took a couple of photos of some other performances. The last video is of my house. I am leaving in about a month, meaning I need to start packing soon, but before I do, I wanted to show what it looks like these days. The last video of my house was the first day I got here, so this video is more like what it really looks like. I love my house!!!


In mid-July there is a big festival that brings all the foreigners around Korea to the same place. It's Mud Festival! It's not just for foreigners of course, there are lots of Koreans there too, but for some reason the foreigners come in flocks, me included. I ran into everyone I've ever met since being in Korean at Mud Festival. Basically, Mud festival is just as it sounds, it's a festival in Boryeong, where everything is devoted to Mud... a huge Mud fight! They had mud slides, mud jump houses, different color muds, mud soaps, mud everything. Me and a few of my friends shared a hotel together (the sleep on the floor kind) and enjoyed the mud. The monsoon season weather was in full effect that weekend, but we tried to have fun despite it. As you can see from the photos, we built sand castles, played in the mud, went swimming (or drowning!). It was fun acting like a kid for the weekend (as if i didn't already do that every weekend!!).

Jeju & Jumping!

The weekend before last I went to Jeju, an island off the south of Korea, with 3 friends. I went to Jeju once before, over New Years, when I went on my road trip. This time it was much warmer and sunnier. It's Korea's Hawaii, or so they say because I've never been to Hawaii. Anyways, we flew down there Friday night and came back Sunday night. We rented a car there allowing us to see a lot more. The island isn't too big, but takes about 4 hours to drive around the perimeter, so it's big enough that it would be a hassle to rely on the buses. We started our adventures Saturday morning after we picked up the car. Our first stop was Mystery Road. It's a road that seems as though you are going uphill but you are able to coast down it. It was bizarre because even though we were going downhill it looked as though we were going up. I don't know how they did it. Next was a place called Love Land... basically it's what it sounds like. It seemed like something that would be in Amsterdam rather than Korea.

Our next stop was to see one of the islands many waterfalls, of which the name escapes me right now. But it was really beautitul.

After the falls we went to the beach for some swimming. After a pit stop to shower and buy some food to grill, we set up camp. There was a "camp ground" just next to the beach we swam at so we put our tents up there and made some dinner. We made foil packets of vegetables and they ate sausages too. By the time we started making dinner, dark clouds began to roll in and it got really windy. We knew there was a chance of rain, but were hoping for the best. Well, it started to rain... and then pour. It was seriously the biggest storm I have seen since in Korea. Cam and Nan Hee decided at about 2am to finally go look for a hotel because their tent started leaking. Rebekah and I thought we could bear through it until about 20 minutes after they left in the car, lightning started. Our whole tent would light up and I started freaking out. Rebekah and I made a dash to save our lives to the convenient store across the street. We got soaked! The old man running the store probably thought he was dreaming seeing 2 white girls running up to his store in a thunderstorm, soaked at 3am. It's funny now, but at the time we were so scared. We sat outside the store under a roof for about 2 hours, snacking and chatting, as we couldn't get a hold of our friends. Finally the lightning stopped and because we were so tired, we darted back to our tent to sleep a couple more hours. The funny thing was when we got back, Cam and Nan Hee were back at the camp site. They weren't able to find a hotel and so they slept in the car. They hadn't realized we were gone. haha. What a night!

The next day we did a hedge maze. We had a race, me and Rebekah against Cam and Nan Hee. Rebekah and I killed them finishing like 30 minutes faster. Their punishment was to buy us all ice cream. After that we went to a lava tube; an underground cave formed by rushing lava. Jeju is made from a volcano, actually it's the big hike I did up Halasan my last trip to the island.


The trip was really fun and much different than the last time I was there. My last trip was mostly hiking and this trip was mostly tourist sights. So, now I've got to see a little of everything in Jeju.

This past weekend I went with a touring group to go white water rafting and bungee jumping. It was just a day trip, but a packed one at that. We went on a 2 hour rafting trip down the Han tan river in Gangwon-do. It as a nice ride, but not too rough and a great day for swimming. We had some lunch and then went to the bungee jumping sight. I wasn't 100% sure I wanted to do it, but I just kept telling myself, "mom would be proud." Everyone that wanted to jump had to go up to the top of the bridge. They put us into different groups depending on weight. The heaviest group went first. So I waited. Then the next group. Then the next. I was waiting and waiting for them to call group B, all the while getting more and more nervous. Finally they called B, BUT... only those that were jumping by their ankles (I had the harness that goes around my waist). So, there were about 4 of us left. We played rock, scissors, paper to see who would go last, and thank god I didn't lose. BUT, then they split us up once more and, no kidding, I was the last out of about 40 people to jump. I waited 2 hours and thought for 2 hours about jumping and then I was left up there with just me and the safety guy who didn't speak English. BUT, I did it!! I got to the edge and my mind started racing and then I said, if I think too long, I won't do it. So I jumped right off the side! Holy Cow!! and I don't think I took a single breathe the whole way down.
I know you can't really tell too much from the video, but I promise you it's me!!



And finally, my friend Cam took a video of one of his middle school students beat boxing, it's pretty funny if you want to check it out. The link is below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxD5hiyor-Q&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fmy_videos_edit&feature=player_embedded

I can't believe it's already June!!

**Because I know I don't have to much time left in Korea, I've been keeping busy seeing as much as I can. A few weekends ago I went with my friend Rebekah to Jirisan in the south. Korea's big 3 mountains are Halasan, Seoraksan, and Jirisan. Making it Jirisan rounded out my list and now I've been to all 3. Koreans LOVE hiking and I understand why. When you live in crowded spaces with big buildings and tons of people, it's extra nice to get out in nature when you can. I didn't take too many photos except for at the beginning of the hike where there was a Buddhist temple. And there was a restaurant that had seating IN the stream. I told you they love nature whenever they can get it.

**The following weekend I went on a wilderness trekking trip with my friend Candice in Gangwon-do with a tour group for foreigners. They claimed it was an area unknown to many, and it was actually true. Besides our big group, we only saw a couple other people the whole time. It wasn't quite like hiking because instead of going up then down a mountain, we walked along a river, climbing over rocks, up hills, through trees, and even having to get in the icy water a few times. It was a pretty unique trip.

**Then this past week, from Wednesday morning to Friday evening, I went with the 5th graders to an English Village in Gyeonggi-do about 2 hours away. The places was amazing!! It as based on old America. The buildings and roads were called things like, Monticello, Virgina Street, Georgetown. All the 5th grade teachers that went with me kept asking me if it was really like that where I lived, haha! Despite the place being beautiful, I really had nothing at all to do for 3 days. None of us teachers did (me, my VP, and all the 5th grade teachers) because they had their own staff that took the children from one activity to the other from the minute we got off the bus. Basically, I slept... a lot, played badminton, played soccer (though by myself because the teachers didn't want to get sweaty), ate lots of Korean food, and watched TV. I actually wished I had more to do because I got bored a lot. But, none the less it was fun to be somewhere new. It was nice also to be around some new teachers that I didn't know. They tried their best to communicate to me in English and I tried to say some things in Korean. But more or less, it was mostly gestures and laughing.


**This past Saturday I went on a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). The DMZ is a 4km wide buffer zone that separates North and South Korea. I went with a couple friends on a tour that the US military gives. We first went to the Joint Security Area, the only area where both North and South Korean forces exist together. It's where a lot of talks and meetings occur between the two countries. Then we went to a few lookout points. At one of them you could see the North Korean town called "Propaganda Village" (named that by the South of course). We also saw "The Bridge of No Return." After the signing of the truce of the Korean War, POW's from each side were lead to either end of the bridge. They could make a choice to cross or stay, but once they made a choice, there was no turning back. The last stop on the tour was the 3rd North Korean Infiltration Tunnel. South Korea found 4 tunnels (though they expect there to be up to 17) that North Korea made leading to Seoul. They were made after the signing of the truce in 1953. We weren't allowed to bring cameras in the tunnel, and actually there were a lot of photo restrictions in the DMZ so the ones you see were in the areas were photos were allowed.

These first 4 photos are from the JSA. The grey buildings belong to North Korea and the blue belong to South Korea. In the 3rd photo you can see the distinct line (the concrete slab) separating the 2 countries. The rocks are South Korea and the sand is North Korea. The 4th photo is inside the T2 building where talks between the 2 countries are held. The building is set in both countries. The microphones on the table are the dividing line of the 2 countries (they are in line with the same concrete slab in the previous picture). We got to cross into North Korea while in this room, so technically I went to North Korea! The mood in the room was very serious and we were'nt allowed to sit in the chairs, touch the soldiers, or touch the tables.

The first photo here is of "Propaganda village" in North Korea. Notice the huge flag pole. It is estimated that the flag weights over 600 pounds and was made that big after South Korea raised a flag bigger than their previous one. The second photo is "The Bridge of No Return."

These last 2 photos were taken outside the 3rd Tunnel. South Korea has tried to make light of the situation and made it into a tourist area.

**These last two pictures were from a while ago, but I forgot to post them. I went to a Swell Season/The Frames concert in Seoul with my friend Mallory. They are the singers from the movie "Once". The concert was amazing!!! They were so good. We rented binoculars too, not because we couldn't see, but just because we thought they looked fun!