Hello all,
I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was crazy, as usual, and also went by way too fast, as usual. I ended up zipping all around Jeollanamdo (my province) but I had a great time visiting with friends and visiting new places. Fall is definitely in the air - it has been beautiful here, with dry, crisp air, mild to cool temperatures, and a beautiful array of fall colors in the trees and mountains. Simple tasks like walking to the bank or the store evoke a sense of wonder at the beautiful nature here, especially if the sun is shining and the light hits the trees just right. I don't want fall to end, and I wish I had so many more free days to go explore all of the fall colors. But, I'm glad I've gotten to experience a taste of fall in Korea - it truly is spectacular.
So, back to my weekend. Friday night was a crazy busy 'I hate people right now' couple of hours as I tried to make my way home from school to the bus terminal. First of all, I shared the bus ride home from school with what seemed like half of the entire Korean Army (there is a base nearby my school, so there is usually a handful of guys in uniform heading home with me, but Friday was more than ever before.) I counted over 30 people and soldiers crammed in the front half of the bus, since I couldn't even see past all of the people to count the back. The highlight of that hot, crowded bus ride, however, was watching an adjumma (remember the old Korean grandmas?) climb onto the bus, barge her way through the soldiers, and singlehandedly yank one of the soldiers off of a seat so that she could sit, all the while scolding, slapping, and yapping in Korean. It was a beautiful moment. Once I burst out of the doors for some fresh air, I ran back to my apartment to grab my stuff, and then ended up waiting over 20 minutes for my bus to the terminal. This bus, though less crowded on the inside, was stuck in traffic at what seemed like every single intersection. A two mile trip took over 45 minutes, and that was good time for a Friday evening. It's hard getting used to living in a city.
However, once I got the bus terminal I made it straight on a bus to Mokpo, my destination for the night. Y
ou might remember that I headed to Mokpo the weekend before - this time I was returning for a surprise birthday party. The party had been organized via Facebook, and we were all able to keep it a secret. There ended up being about 15 other teachers from orientation for the festiv
ities, which consisted of dinner at a burger restaurant, cake, singing, presents, and then out for some drinks. It was a fun evening and great to see some teacher friends from orientation again.
The next day my friend and I got up bright and early to head back to the station, where we hopped on a bus back to Gwangju. Unfortunately, the first day of Korean class was that morning, and we had committed to both the party the night before and the class the next morning. But no worries, we sacrificed missing our bus to grab some coffee to ensure that we were properly caffienated, and then we were good to go. We even made it on the bus with a few minutes to spare. Korean class went well, and I can already understand more of what my co workers are saying this morning. I'll write more about the Korean language later, but basically the alphabet and grammar are entirely different than English. It takes some getting used to, but I'm glad I will have proper classes and a book to keep me studying. It feels good to get back in the learning groove again.
After Korean class we hung out in G
wangju for a bit, enjoying the weather, (the picture to the left is of my library park with the fall colors) running some errands, and munching on my new favorite fruit, sweet persimmons. Their consistency is like an apple, but their flavor is very sweet and almost cinnamon-y. Yum. By late afternoon it was time to head back to the bus terminal (my third time in 24 hours) to catch another bus, this time to the city of Suncheon. We were headed to Suncheon with two objectives: eat Mexican food and see some friends of ours who teach there. Both were accomplished with great success (we actually ate the Mexican food while seeing said friends, so bonus points for multitasking) and we all had a lot of fun catching up and swapping teacher stories. We met up with some other teacher friends who live in Suncheon later that night also.
Since we had arrived in Suncheon at night on Saturday, we decided to spend a bit of Sund
ay exploring in the daytime. Our friends turned out to live right at the base of a small mountain, which was covered in pretty fall trees, and around 10 AM four of us set out to go hiking up the mountain. We were led by a teacher who had lived in Suncheon for a couple of years, so she expertly navigated us up the side of the mountain to the top and then we followed some of the trails aro
und, catching breathtaking views of the city spread out below us while walking in between the trees. The views were wonderful, the weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a great time chatting, taking pictures, and talking about one of our favorite topics: travel. It was the highlight of my weekend, and I was so glad I had the chance to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.
When we returned from the hike, we grabbed our stuff and went out for lunch at a deli
cious Western style restaurant (every foreigner knows all the Western restaurants in their city) before heading back to our respective homes. I spent the hour and a half bus ride back reading and enjoying the scenery. (Ok, I napped for a bit also, I'll admit.) As I looked back on the weekend, I thought again about where I was at this time last year, which was frantically working on all of my crazy history papers and projects, swimming, doing my ESL internship, and counting down the days until I could go home for Thanksgiving. How much my life has changed since then! I count my blessings every day for having the amazing opportunity to be here, and this weekend really reinforced how lucky I am to have made such good friends so quickly here, and how lucky we all are to have such a beautiful country to explore.
I topped off my Sunday evening by taking care of things at home (after my friend and I tried out the brand new gelato shop that just opened down the street...very very dangerous) by doing some laundry, tidying the room, and then testing out my oven with a loaf of banana bread. I woke up this morning to the smell of fresh baked bread, which I brought in to share with the teachers this morning - it seems to be going over well so far, though they seem to be curiously poking at it at the moment... With that, I should close out and get back to my lesson plans for the week. I wish you all a great week and hope you had a great fall weekend - enjoy the weather before it gets too cold. Take care, let me know how things are if you have the chance!
I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was crazy, as usual, and also went by way too fast, as usual. I ended up zipping all around Jeollanamdo (my province) but I had a great time visiting with friends and visiting new places. Fall is definitely in the air - it has been beautiful here, with dry, crisp air, mild to cool temperatures, and a beautiful array of fall colors in the trees and mountains. Simple tasks like walking to the bank or the store evoke a sense of wonder at the beautiful nature here, especially if the sun is shining and the light hits the trees just right. I don't want fall to end, and I wish I had so many more free days to go explore all of the fall colors. But, I'm glad I've gotten to experience a taste of fall in Korea - it truly is spectacular.
So, back to my weekend. Friday night was a crazy busy 'I hate people right now' couple of hours as I tried to make my way home from school to the bus terminal. First of all, I shared the bus ride home from school with what seemed like half of the entire Korean Army (there is a base nearby my school, so there is usually a handful of guys in uniform heading home with me, but Friday was more than ever before.) I counted over 30 people and soldiers crammed in the front half of the bus, since I couldn't even see past all of the people to count the back. The highlight of that hot, crowded bus ride, however, was watching an adjumma (remember the old Korean grandmas?) climb onto the bus, barge her way through the soldiers, and singlehandedly yank one of the soldiers off of a seat so that she could sit, all the while scolding, slapping, and yapping in Korean. It was a beautiful moment. Once I burst out of the doors for some fresh air, I ran back to my apartment to grab my stuff, and then ended up waiting over 20 minutes for my bus to the terminal. This bus, though less crowded on the inside, was stuck in traffic at what seemed like every single intersection. A two mile trip took over 45 minutes, and that was good time for a Friday evening. It's hard getting used to living in a city.
However, once I got the bus terminal I made it straight on a bus to Mokpo, my destination for the night. Y
ou might remember that I headed to Mokpo the weekend before - this time I was returning for a surprise birthday party. The party had been organized via Facebook, and we were all able to keep it a secret. There ended up being about 15 other teachers from orientation for the festiv
ities, which consisted of dinner at a burger restaurant, cake, singing, presents, and then out for some drinks. It was a fun evening and great to see some teacher friends from orientation again.The next day my friend and I got up bright and early to head back to the station, where we hopped on a bus back to Gwangju. Unfortunately, the first day of Korean class was that morning, and we had committed to both the party the night before and the class the next morning. But no worries, we sacrificed missing our bus to grab some coffee to ensure that we were properly caffienated, and then we were good to go. We even made it on the bus with a few minutes to spare. Korean class went well, and I can already understand more of what my co workers are saying this morning. I'll write more about the Korean language later, but basically the alphabet and grammar are entirely different than English. It takes some getting used to, but I'm glad I will have proper classes and a book to keep me studying. It feels good to get back in the learning groove again.
After Korean class we hung out in G
wangju for a bit, enjoying the weather, (the picture to the left is of my library park with the fall colors) running some errands, and munching on my new favorite fruit, sweet persimmons. Their consistency is like an apple, but their flavor is very sweet and almost cinnamon-y. Yum. By late afternoon it was time to head back to the bus terminal (my third time in 24 hours) to catch another bus, this time to the city of Suncheon. We were headed to Suncheon with two objectives: eat Mexican food and see some friends of ours who teach there. Both were accomplished with great success (we actually ate the Mexican food while seeing said friends, so bonus points for multitasking) and we all had a lot of fun catching up and swapping teacher stories. We met up with some other teacher friends who live in Suncheon later that night also.Since we had arrived in Suncheon at night on Saturday, we decided to spend a bit of Sund
ay exploring in the daytime. Our friends turned out to live right at the base of a small mountain, which was covered in pretty fall trees, and around 10 AM four of us set out to go hiking up the mountain. We were led by a teacher who had lived in Suncheon for a couple of years, so she expertly navigated us up the side of the mountain to the top and then we followed some of the trails aro
und, catching breathtaking views of the city spread out below us while walking in between the trees. The views were wonderful, the weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a great time chatting, taking pictures, and talking about one of our favorite topics: travel. It was the highlight of my weekend, and I was so glad I had the chance to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.When we returned from the hike, we grabbed our stuff and went out for lunch at a deli
cious Western style restaurant (every foreigner knows all the Western restaurants in their city) before heading back to our respective homes. I spent the hour and a half bus ride back reading and enjoying the scenery. (Ok, I napped for a bit also, I'll admit.) As I looked back on the weekend, I thought again about where I was at this time last year, which was frantically working on all of my crazy history papers and projects, swimming, doing my ESL internship, and counting down the days until I could go home for Thanksgiving. How much my life has changed since then! I count my blessings every day for having the amazing opportunity to be here, and this weekend really reinforced how lucky I am to have made such good friends so quickly here, and how lucky we all are to have such a beautiful country to explore.I topped off my Sunday evening by taking care of things at home (after my friend and I tried out the brand new gelato shop that just opened down the street...very very dangerous) by doing some laundry, tidying the room, and then testing out my oven with a loaf of banana bread. I woke up this morning to the smell of fresh baked bread, which I brought in to share with the teachers this morning - it seems to be going over well so far, though they seem to be curiously poking at it at the moment... With that, I should close out and get back to my lesson plans for the week. I wish you all a great week and hope you had a great fall weekend - enjoy the weather before it gets too cold. Take care, let me know how things are if you have the chance!
aw... my birthday made it in your blog! it hasn't even made it to mine yet!
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