Rafting and Bungee Jumping

This past weekend I went on a trip through a company called Adventure Korea in order to continue to experience what the country has to offer as well as get out of the city. The trip was exactly what the title says. First a two hour rafting trip on the Hantan river located in Cherwon,Gangwondo which is north eastern most province of South Korea.

The trip was fun and while there was not enough white water in my opinion it was still a very enjoyable time. Throughout the trip the Korean guide in the boats would point out different rock formations that looked like animals as well as play games with the 8-9 people in the raft. The trip was wet and unfortunately I was not able to bring my camera along if I wanted it to survive, so the only pictures I have are ones I was able to take once finished.

The area was beautiful with lush green sheer cliffs on either side of the river and the natural flow of the water cutting its way through the mountains.







After rafting we enjoyed a buffet lunch and drove to a bridge close by that spans the river where there was the option of bungee jumping. Of course i took the opportunity to jump off the bridge 52 meters up (170ft). I always though bungee jumping would be more of a rush than skydiving as I found skydiving peaceful but I found out it was quite similar only much shorter of a duration. Fun nonetheless and something I would definitely do again.

Love from the students

So yesterday was the last day of the term. It seems like the terms are going by faster and faster. Well that means I have been here for a little over half of a year which is just a strange thought. It seems like i have been here forever but at the same time first arriving feels like yesterday.

Anyway a couple of girls in my lower level classes decided to write me letters on the last day of class to say thank you so I figured I would share as they are not only nice and heartwarming but amusing.




Click the picture so you can read the notes.

You may notice that pretty much all of the letters call me Leor Chicken. No its not a horrible mispronunciation of my last name but a nickname I received the first day of class. When telling the students my rules of the classroom I told them that if they are late from break they have to do the chicken dance and thus Leor Chicken was born. Its funny how much they liked, they would always draw pictures of chicken on the back of their tests and label it Leor Chicken.

Also one of the letters says Hi Leor Teacher? While the punctuation and grammer is not the greatest in the letters the ? is not too out of place for a Hi. In Korean when you write hello 안녕하세요? you put a ? at the end because it is actually a question, are you at peace? Thus it was carried over into her English letter.





If you cant read this one is sates as follows:

To Leor teacher.
Hello! I'm Emily.
Today is Last day in mega.
I'm feel a sence of loss. some!!
You are very interesting teacher
so I'm very interseting in
mega class.
Thanks to teaching me!
Teacher. (insert a picture of emoticon and then a picture of a thumbs up) Good!

I will don't forget you!
Because you are very funny
teacher. (another emoticon)
If I don't forget you,
I am going to visiting
you're class!!
THANK YOU (emoticon)

and the drawing has a thought bubble that reads To Leor chincken

-2010. may. 27th from. Emily(12)

the 12 is her age but Korean age so she is really 10 or maybe 11.



From Emily (going to giga class)

Lotus Lantern Festival

"Please attain Buddhism in your next lifetime by lighting a lantern in this life.''

This past weekend I attended the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. Its Buddha's birthday this Friday and the way Buddhists prepare for it here is with the Lotus Lantern Festival. The weekend is comprised of all things lantern. There are lantern making festivities around the Jogye Temple as well as many other festival activities that locals and tourists alike can part take in all in preparation for the Lotus Lantern Festival parade. I didn't partake in the lantern making activities but I did attend the parade and watched all the crazy lantern floats where they were shown off in all there glory as well as all the people proudly marching down the street carrying their own personal lanterns lighting up the darkness. Here are some pics, I took a bunch and this is just a sample.




















Animatronic elephants





Fire breathing dragons



















Buddha in a helicopter



I know its a Buddhist symbol but is still strange to see marching down the street



Especially when its presented like this. They are waving, but from this angle it looks like they are saluting. Good thing the car wasn't a Volkswagen.

Vagina

This past weekend I made a trip down to a town in the south of Korea called Jinju. A friend of mine lives and works down there and this weekend was in a production of the Vagina Monologues. I had planned on going down to visit her eventually but when this came up I figured why not go see a show while im there and even better she was in it. I left Saturday afternoon on the bus which takes about 4 hours. The bus was nice with big relatively comfortable seats that reclined pretty far back.

When we arrived my friend met us at the bus terminal and took us to a tea room for a little tea before taking a walk through a park where there is a castle (Korean castle not your European fairy tale type).

That night was the second and last night of the performance. The show was great! It was put on by the foreign community in Jinju, mostly teachers as well as some locals. None of the actors in the show had any acting experience but the show was still very good and entertaining. Most of the actors wore black and some had a red accent in their attire but one of the local Korean women in the show, and elderly lady who I found out was my friends co-teacher, went all out with the red, she even wore a wig. It was incredibly entertaining.

The next day we went to another park and went hiking around some trails through the woods as well as a small bamboo forest before stopping at the university area to get some smoothies and relax while sitting in the sun watching the baseball team practice. The weekend was short as always but after getting some lunch I headed back to Seoul to the crappy weather we have had for the past couple days.

Long overdue

Yes, I realize it has been 4 weeks since the last time I wrote something on here but I mostly blame it on The Wire. The 5 seasons of the show consumed my ability and desire to do other things with my free time before and after work therefore no blog posts. So, here is something I did two weekends ago.

On thursday when I arrived at work one of my coworkers asked what I was doing for the weekend and if I wanted to go to Namisam which is an "island on the east coast of the country". He didnt know much about it besides it was an island and there is a French area close by that oui would be going to. I am always willing to take a trip somewhere so I figured why not get out of Seoul for a little bit.

Well after driving 2 hours east we reach our destination. Lots of cars and buses parked in the area where you get on the fairy to take you to the island. The area was next to the river so I figured we would take the fairy down the river and out to the sea to the island but I was wrong. Found out the island is actually an island in the middle of the river and the fairy ride to it consisted of crossing the river to the island which could have been easily walked across if there was a bridge. Turns out the island is just a decent sized park and is famous for some Korean drama that used to film there. Not exactly what I was expecting but it was a nice day outside so it was ok although I didnt need to drive 2 hours for that.

Well next up was the French part of town which I found out was called Petite France. When we arrived I realized this was going to be another Korean fail. Petite France consisted of a bundle of "French style" houses, maybe 15 buildings total in the middle of nowhere. There was an entrance fee and like any other amusement like park it was very fake and fabricated looking. We walked around for a bit but didnt stay long before leaving to go back to Seoul.

While neither event was really all that great it was still a nice day out and I enjoyed myself. I am used to the Korean claim that this or that is "famous" and then ends up being pretty ordinary but it is amusing to see people make a bigger deal out of it than what it is.

Busan

So this past weekend I took a trip down to Busan which is a coastal city in the south of Korea with friends and coworkers. The trip was a much needed break from Seoul and especially the colder weather. We left early Saturday morning on the Korean train system, KTX, at 530am for our 3 hour train ride south. We were a group of about 16 people.

When we first arrived a Korean staff worker from my work, Leo, began taking us around the city as it is where he is originally from. Our first stop was a famous restaurant that has been around for over 50 years and serves a rice soup which is a common breakfast meal. A little bit of meat, lots of bean sprouts, seaweed, onion, and rice where the main components. The soup was cooked in giant pots out front of the restaurant and was quite tasty.



After eating we walked to the beach and the surrounding area of Haeundae since we could not check into our room until 2pm. While the weather was warmer than Seoul it still wasnt beach weather.







Found the greatest name for an Irish bar in Korea. O'Kims.







After walking around for a walking around for a while we went to the hotel and got settled in. We stayed in a hotel that was basically a large apartment with a kitchen and two rooms where we slept on the floor in true Korean style.





The view from the balcany





That night we ordered a bunch of food and drinks to the apartment and had a little party with everyone before heading out that night. When we were out we met up with a friend of mine from college who is teaching in Busan who then took us out to a couple places. The next day Leo's parents invited us to lunch and paid for everyone which was very nice of them.









After lunch we went to a Buddhist temple which was on top of a mountain with a nice view of the ocean. The temple was called Okransonwon or 옥련선원 in Korean.















After the temple we went to Nampodong which is another district of Busan with lots of shops and street food.



After eating a bunch and walking around we went to the seafood market. While there we got to see the skinning of an eel which was quite the site especially since they continue to move and squirm around after the fact.







The weekend was a really good time and definitely made going back to work on Monday all the more painful. I will definitely be going back when it is warmer to enjoy the beaches.