Yet another Saturday spent working....

Hello all! It's Sunday here in Dongtan and I'm sitting at my usual Sunday spot, back corner booth at Tom Toms Coffee with Brianna and Katie. Listening to Western hits play through the speakers and eating a pretzel, am I in Sammamish?! They love English pop hits here and I frequently hear them being played when I'm riding my bike through town, in my Korean co-workers cars, through kids' iPods, etc. It's sometimes nice to hear though especially on Sunday when I don't have too much to do and I'm feeling homesick!

This was an overall uneventful weekend, we stayed in both nights and had to work yesterday from noon to about 6:30 pm. It was "Sports Day", a huge production for all the 7-year kids at GGUM and their parents. Overall, there were about 200 kids and maybe 350 parents there. GGUM rented out another school and their yard for the event, we wouldn't have had enough room at our hogwon. The whole thing was pretty extravagent and really well-received, the kids had such a fun time and it really looked like the parents were enjoying it also. I really enjoy seeing the kids and their parents interact. For some reason, I have always had this impression that the Asian culture and the parental-child relationship is such a structured and stern one. I picture there being a lot of pressure on the kids to be excellent students, the parents being absent often for work, and just an overall strict environment. I know this is not fact it is just my impression, but I really love to see parents and their children laughing together, joking around, and letting loose to have a good time. So even though we were working on a Saturday, I had a good time at the Sports Day. It started off with a sort of "opening ceremony" with the Olympic flag and Korean flag presented at the front and a speech from the GGUM principal (Jade's mom).



Next was the torch lighting and presentation...



followed by the lighting of the fireworks! Somebody put about 15 fireworks in a dirt-filled pan that was barely supported on its stand and lit it to fire off the festivities. Fire Hazard? I think so!



Oh, and did I mention this was the MC:



haha! If you notice the guy in the red cowboy hat in the other pictures, he was the other MC. These two guys are the gym teachers at GGUM and the kids just adore them. I managed to get a few videos of some of the games before my camera died, and lets just say you probably wouldn't see these at an American "Field Day".




Let's pull a log under 250 peoples' feet and see how many we can trip!




Clearly the white-ball team won this one!




Running-start Tug-O-War



Running-start Tug-O-War MOMS ONLY! I didn't manage to catch it in this video but 2 of the moms almost got into a little scuff after this, pulling back and forth on the rope well after the whistle was blown. Stiff competition!! My camera died after this video but the Tug-O-War dads only was hilarious! They really don't like to lose here.

We had expected it to be yet another unpaid Saturday at work, but we were pleasantly surprised when the principal handed us each 30,000 won at the end and congratulated us on a job well done. It means a lot to hear that from a superior here as it happens very rarely. We were also treated to a 3-course duck galbi (galbi=bbq) dinner afterwards, DELICIOUS! It was a really fun time with us foreign teachers and all the Koreans that work at the GGUM school, there were about 25 or 30 of us in all. Jade and her brother Michael also brought their babies, 4 months and 5 months old. Jade's baby Isaac is so adorable and well-behaved, I got to hold him for a long time at dinner and he loves Auntie Tia! :) I don't think I mentioned before, but about a month ago we went to Isaac's "100 days" party at Jade's apartment. In Korea, 100 days of life for a newborn is cause for a big family gathering and celebration. In older times, most babies didn't live past 100 days so it is a big event for the family to be happy about. Koreans also don't take the baby outside for the first 100 days, so the party is kind of like presenting your baby to friends as well. It was nice to be invited into Jade's home and to spend more time with our Korean coworkers, another one of those uniquely-Korean experiences I so enjoy having here!

That's all for now! Thailand tickets are booked for Dec 25-Jan 2. I am already sad thinking about spending the holidays so far away from home and where my heart is, but thankful I have the opportunity of such an exciting trip to take my mind off it!

Until next time....

-Tia Teacher

Chuseuk holiday and beautiful Jeju-do

Hello all! It's back to work again after a relaxing (sort of) 4 days off for the Chuseuk Holiday. Chuseuk is the Korean version of Thanksgiving with family gathering and lots of delicious food, or so I hear! We left mainland Korea to head to Jeju, the island off the southern peninsula of Korea comparable to Hawaii. Before I jump into that, some Chuseuk pictures:




Katie and I in the morning- we had an LCI Chuseuk Event and all the female foreign teachers had to wear Hanboks, the traditional Korean dress. A Korean woman typically receives her Hanbok at marriage, presented to her by the groom's mother. I am wearing Sue's Hanbok, she is all about fashion and style and supposedly black is a rare color! All of the students came to school in tradional dress also, it was too cute.



Clara and I



Alan, the little prince.



Mickael and Clara- boyfriend and girlfriend :)



Most of the LCI kids, all lined up and ready to go outside for the event. Look at all the little princes' and princesses!



Friendly game of Tug-Of-War for the little kiddies dressed all nice in their outfits! I felt bad when they would fall and scrape their beautiful clothes on the ground!



Kathy and Daisy looking beautiful



Mia- posing like always.



Abby- the pretty princess! Supposedly this Hanbok, the design and colors, are of one typically worn by a fortune teller. haha!



She caught a dragonfly!



My favorite teacher from Bugeum class, she is so sweet. One day, when we came to pick up our kids for the afternoon classes, we noticed that 30 or so of them were crying! It happened to be right before our summer break, and the kids were crying because they had found out that they wouldn't be seeing their teacher for 3 weeks. We were on summer break for a week, and then she would be doing a training class for 2 weeks after that. She is so sweet with her kids and was always extremely helpful when I was teaching in that class.



Ceasar, the cool kid :)



Andy helping Clara jump rope, it looks like she's flying!!



All the little girls looked so gorgeous! How cute is she?!



Running circles aroung Sarah, she was trying to take a picture but somehow got caught up in a game of chase.

Overall, the Chuseuk event was a success. All the kids love to get outside and play for a while and they were all exhausted by the time we went back inside! The only downer was the heat, I felt bad sweating so much in Sue's beautiful Hanbok. But man, those things are warm!!

So after the Chuseuk event, we had the weekend, one day of work on Monday, and then the rest of the week and following weekend off work. Brianna's brother was here visiting, as well as Amy's brother and his fiance. We had a crowded apartment building for a while! So the seven of us (Amy, Kyle, Crystal, Brianna and Brandon, Katie and I) headed to Jeju on Wednesday afternoon.



Our flight was supposed to leave in the morning, but it ended up being delayed 4 hours so we didn't get into Jeju until late evening. We were counting on having 2 and a half days in Jeju, but it ended up only being 2 full days. We made the most of those 2 days though! We rented a taxi driver for 9 hours for the first day, it was a flat fee and he took us all over the East side of the island. Here's a pictorial of Day 1:



Katie and Amy at dinner the first night, DELICIOUS chicken bulgogi!!



View from the roof of our Guesthouse, Tae Gong Gak Inn.



Another view.



Beautiful walk through the woods to get to Oedolgae Rock, first stop on the tour!



Above Oedolgae Rock, on the way to the viewpoint.



The crew: Kyle, Crystal, Amy , Brandon, Bri, Katie and I in front of Oedolgae Rock.



Oedolgae Rock on the left







Second stop: Jeongbang Waterfall












Fourth stop: Samyang black sand beach



Look what I found: heart shaped rock! There was a lot of beach glass and unique rocks and shells on this beach.



Fifth stop: Soesokkak Estuary. The name is interesting: 'soe' mean and ox, 'so' means a pool of water, and 'kkak' means the end. This area is at the mouth of the Hyodoncheon stream and is the area where the fresh water meets the ocean, creating a really beautiful scene amidst lava columns and overhanging pine trees.



Traditional Korean kayak




Sixth stop: hike to Seongsan Ilchubong or Sunrise Peak. Sunrise Peak is a huge crater that was formed by hydrovolcanic eruptions thousands and thousand of year ago. We hiked to the top, which was exhausting, but it sure was worth it! This picture is the outside of the crater and beginning to the hike. If you look close you can see the pathway with hundreds of people on it.



Views on the way up....





The crater: we made it to the top!



Yours truly, just wandering around barefoot on Seongsan Ilchubang, no big deal! :)

Next stop: Manjanggul Caves: one of the longest lava tubes in the world! Unfortunantly, I couldn't quite figure out how to take great pictures in the darkness, so I only have a few of this area.



Lava column



Interesting lava deposit, some say it looks like Jeju island. Either that or a turtle, depends how you look at it!



Crater #2 at the top of the hike to view Mt. Halla. We did this hike just as dusk was approaching and the view was beautiful. The clouds had parted to let the last of the sun in and it was like the mountain had a halo! Mt. Halla stands at the center of Jeju island and is a dormat volcano and inside is a crater Baeknok Lake.







The beginning of Day 2- the group split up for the day, Katie Bri and Brandon to hike Mt Halla and the rest of us were on a mission to find something fun to do in the sunny and very undexpected nice weather! I took this picture on the way to find the snorkeling shop, before getting lost for a good hour and a half only to discover the dive shop 20 minutes too late, they had left without us! This is the harbor on the east side of the island, near our guesthouse. In the distance is Gapado Island.



Jungmun viewpoint, formed by lava! There were different lava formations, deposits, columns, etc.





Close up of the tops of the lava columns



Jeju 'harubang' symbol of the garden deities and a representation of the three characteristics of Jeju: rocks, wind, and females! These statues are found all over Jeju island.



Kyle, Crystal, Amy and I out front of the Green Tea Museum. Not the most exciting museum I've been to, but seeing the fields was pretty cool.



Green tea fields



Korea Straight in the background



Wild Horses



Biggest Buddha ever! Sanbanggulsa Temple



Sanbanggulsa Temple



Atop 200 meters of stairs at Sanbanggulsa is a cave temple dating back hundreds of years, handcarved out of the rock walls and created as a place of worship. Was worth the hike!



Yakcheonsa Temple



Yakcheonsa Temple at dusk- one of those moments that almost takes your breath away it was so beautiful





Beautiful bridge on the walk to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall, it changed colors!



Walk to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall



Walk to Cheonjiyeon Waterfall



Cheonjiyeon Waterfall lit up at night



Most of the crew in front of Cheonjiyeon Waterfall: Katie, Brandon, Bri, Amy and I



Gorgeous Jeju sunrise before heading out on Saturday morning! Yes, I was in fact up for the sunrise :) This picture marks the beginning of a 12 hour day of travel. Taxi to ferry to taxi to bus to taxi to home! I had a great time in Jeju and what it lacked in relaxation it made up for in beauty. Back to reality now, I did miss my little student Clara!