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!
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