Busan

Busan was really fun! We flew out Friday night on Jeju Air, a small local airline where all the flight attendants wear orange and beige 70's style garb. From the airport it was an hour bus ride to Hae-un-dae to Hugh and Jung Mi's apartment where we stayed for the weekend. Jason and I were both pretty tired so we relaxed, watched some TV (which is quite a novelty!) and had an early night.

Saturday we went to Nam-po-dong where we started our morning with...Starbucks! I was quite disappointed that they neither carried Gingerbread or Peppermint, but I settled on a scrumptious soy Toffee Nut Latte. We hit the "strip" of designer, name brand, international, and local shops. I looked in just about every store for boots, but to my dismay women's shoes just do not come in my size in Korea. I wear a size 255 and the very largest you can find is a 245. *sigh* Good thing for online shopping. We did find some "cramp-ons" for hiking in the snow so I'm planning a trek up Mt. Halla in January. The Nam-po-dong market was really fun, too, and we found some great deals on booze and clothes. Then we took the short walk up to the temple and spire which had a nice view of the harbour and surrounding hills. We ate dinner at Ganga, a delicious Indian restuarant, with Hugh and Jung Mi and had another early night at the apartment. (After tea at Starbucks...again)

A temple in the city amidst designer shopping and busy streets

A colorful street decoration - Kale!


Busan

A marble dragon statue

Sunday we went to a fabulous bakery around the corner and enjoyed some french style pastries and cookies for breakfast. It was a rainy day, but we took a long walk to a giant bookstore that had a nice selection of English books and then to a sweet shop where we found Tim-Tams and candy canes. (You can't really find candy canes on Jeju and the Tim Tams-Aussie wafer cookies- were a big surprise!) I really wanted some Thai food since you also can't find that on Jeju so went to Happy Thai for lunch and had green curry and spring rolls. Yum!

Hae-un-dae beach

Unfortunately, we missed the airport bus - he drove right past us! - and had to wait about 30min. By the time we got to the airport it was 5:58 and our flight was to leave at 6:00pm. They actually held the plane for us, ran us through security and threw us on the plane by 6:03pm. I've never been through check-in that fast! The flight attendant on our small puddle-jumper made us a balloon animal and took our picture with Chrismas ears. We felt like celebrities! Jeju Air is a nice airline, very considerate and friendly staff and a smooth plane trip. The landings were a bit short (and a little scary) but we all made it safely home. It was great to get off Jeju for a few days and I really liked Busan, but it's nice to be home, too. We had snow again yesterday, though not nearly as much as Seattle, and I have a little cold and 2 long boring days at school ahead. Tonight I'm making puff-pastry and teaching yoga, and tomorrow the Christmas parties begin.

Merry Christmas to everyone!

One Goal Met

When I started weekly Korean lessons with a friend in September I set a goal to have a conversation in Korean by Christmas. Last night was our last meeting before said Yuletide Holiday and...I did it! It was full of holes, corrections and "한국말오 오두개 말아요?" or "how do you say that in Korean?" but I consider it a success. Happy Holidays!

The Korean alphabet: consonants on the left, vowels above

I'm dreaming of Christmas at my mom's...

It's beginning to look....

Catching up a bit...

(12/6) We had snow! (Although not nearly as much as back home from what I hear!) I stayed in bed most of the weekend wrapped in my down comforter, knitting my scarf, and watching movies. Save for the hour I was outside playing in the snow! It didn't stick in the city, but out in the country where I live it stuck around until Sunday afternoon. Fortunately, since the snow melted, the weather has been unseasonably warm and sunny! Well, maybe they're not "unseasonably", I wouldn't actually know that yet.

Snow angel! Does it look like me?

"Mmmm...snowflakes..."

(12/9) My friends hosted the 3rd "Stich & Bitch" of the year...we get together and do crafty things, mostly knitting and crocheting. I'm almost finished with my first knit scarf and I'm having a crocheting lesson this week. It's a great, productive way to pass the time on the bus everyday. I went to Temple in Gimnyeong (김녕) on Tuesday, taught yoga on Wednesday (to the biggest class yet!), and Thursday I'm watching Christmas movies with my friend Sin Nae in a DVD Bong. You can rent a room with a huge screen and watch a movie. It's about the same price as renting a movie back home.

A Calligraphy lesson with a fundamental line from the Diamond Sutra

(12/13) Last weekend we got out for a hike in the beautiful December sun. We hiked up Chunweongsa, a nice trail that leads to a small residence with a temple. I spent the day with Jason and John and it turned into a spontaneously fun tour of Jeju including Chai and curry at Baghdad Cafe, the Indian restaurant on the island, a few hours at a jim-jil-bang, a co-ed sauna, drinks at the Sky Lounge on the 21st floor of the nicest hotel on Jeju, and a late night at a few foreigner pubs.

Jason & John on the trail

Zen rocks at the top of the trail

Yeah Christmas tree! At the lobby in the Kal Hotel

And the night continues...

On Monday (12/15) I was invited by my co-teacher Pyeong Su to play piano and sing at a recorder recital of school teachers. I accompanied a few pieces and then sang "O Holy Night" while Pyeong Su and a 5th grade teacher from my school accompanied me on recorder. I met many new Korean teachers and had a really great time. It was nice to play some classical music and sing! Hopefully they'll invite me back again in the new year.

6 days of classes and counting! We have school next Wednesday but I'm almost positive there won't be any English classes. Then the kids are done until February. I had my last classes with the 4th graders (we sang the 12 Days of Christmas) and 6th graders today (who were acting like typical end-of-the-year-6th-graders) and have 1 more class with the 3rd and 5th grades tomorrow and Monday. I have a bunch of Christmas plans that span about 4 days so I'll be celebrating in style with all of my friends. And this weekend I'm off the Busan on the mainland!

December already?

My co-teacher and I went on a little outing last week. Here is San-bong-san, a mountain on the south side of the island. We stopped at O'Sulloc Green Tea Museum for the best green tea ice cream I've ever had. The grounds were beautiful, especially in the warm sunny weather.

Our Thanksgiving party was on Saturday afternoon. My 4th graders made "hand turkeys" and I borrowed some to decorate the lobby. We had about 30 people show up representing most nationalities here on Jeju. I cooked traditional American food: mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing and sweet potatoes (my sister's recipe with honey and pineapple). We also had many Korean rice treats - dok and songpyeon, cakes, wine, and Indian and Puerto Rican food. Cindy's co-teachers came with their families. I hope they liked our American food!

Cindy's co-teacher and her daughter, another co-teacher's daughter (in the pink), me, my co-teacher, and Cindy. Cheers!

My friend Ji Yeon and I enjoying our wine

I took Sunday off from adventuring and spent a quiet day at home gazing at Mt. Halla bathed in snow and sunlight. The sky was clearer than I've ever seen it. I did my afternoon yoga practice to this view.

I can't tell you how fast the time is going. It's really hard to believe there's only 3 weeks left of school! Half of my kids I'll only teach 1 more time before the next school year. I'm going to teach some Christmas songs the next few weeks. There are keyboards in most classrooms so I can lead a real music class! I'm looking forward to singing with the kids and teachers. I'm also thinking about teaching a lesson about the multicultural holiday season in America. I got some strange looks when I tried to explain the "other" December holidays in the teachers English class yesterday.

It looks like I'll have a good turn out at my Winter Break English Camp (which I titled "The Best Winter English Camp Ever!"). We already have almost 60 kids signed up, 3x more than the last break camp at our school. I get to plan the camp myself, so those years of teaching camps will come in handy. I think it's going to be tons of fun. Thanks Waskowitz and Village Theatre!

Yoga Class is going really well; we've had new and returning people at each class. We even added a 3rd class every week that Lana is teaching. I'm very happy to be teaching yoga! I also started meditating with some awesome folks in my building once a week. I couldn't be happier with the welcoming communities here on Jeju.

Holiday Nostalgia

Today, being the day after Thanksgiving, I moved into the holiday spirit. I decorated my classroom for Christmas, made Hot Buttered Rum (from scratch), and watched a Christmas movie. I'm realizing that the holiday season won't be the same in Korea. I have wonderful friends who are happy to share in the movie watching and holiday foods with me, but I will miss Christmas movies with Debbie, Christmas Cookies with the girls in the family, cheesy Christmas music on the radio, and the excessive decorations and advertisements. Christmas is not celebrated on Jeju to 1/100th of the extent it is in America. There's already talk of a Christmas Brunch in my building and possibly a gift exchange, but I will miss my family. I'm one of those "really-into-Christmas" people...light looking and Gingerbread Lattes make me very happy. Hopefully the weekend before Christmas getaway to the mainland will feed my hunger for Christmas Cheer. And singing Christmas Carols with my 900 students.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season! Take it all in, I already miss it.

The last 2 weeks

It's fun to play in the snow!

It's been a busy few weeks full of yoga, Buddhist Temples, snow, delicious Korean food and hiking. (Fortunately for me, these are my favorite things!) I'm consciously not planning anything this weekend to give myself a break. Except, of course, our Thanksgiving Feast on Saturday afternoon!

Last weekend we visited 2 Temples on Mt. Halla. The first was Gwaneumsa (gwan-oom-sah) which is one of the largest temples on Jeju. We met a nice monk who spoke English very well. He showed us around and invited us in for lunch. The weather was amazing, the nicest we've had in at least a week, no rain, no snow, clear skies. We could see all the way to the ocean and even to Chuja Island! And as a bonus, the leaves are still turning colors on the mountain.

This new Buddha statue is the largest in South Korea.

The grounds and view of Jeju City and the oceanFrom left: John, Maya, Colleen, Alex, Sherrin, the monk (su-nim),

Young Ja, Marcie, Kim

The 2nd temple was a small hermitage on Yeongsil (Yong-sheel)a bit farther up the mountain. To my surprise, there was snow!!! Last week it snowed in the city twice and the mountain had a bit of snow on it, but I didn't realize that it would already be so snowy. We hiked about a half hour up to the hermitage and met a monk on a 3 year retreat. He was incredibly kind, making the 9 of us green tea and inviting us in for dinner. He was happy to share some Buddhist wisdom with us over tea.

John in the snow!

Kimchi pots

Our friendly monk who took a liking to my friend John

The Bo Sa Lim (person in service to the monks) who made us dinner and Young Ja, our friend and translator

The temple bell

From left: Amy, Maja, Alex, Su-nim, me, Marcie, John, Kim, Bosalim, Colleen...and the snowman!
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Friday was the 2nd Annual Foreign Language Festival hosted by the Jeju Provincial Office of Education (my employer). All the foreign teachers had to come volunteer in booths of different English speaking countries. Since there were more than enough Americans, I chose Australia and spent the day teaching kids the song "Home Among the Gum Trees" and eating Vegemite. Fortunately the weather cooperated since it had been raining and snowing the rest of the week.

My friend Emma in the USA booth. They were serving hot dogs!

The Aussie Tent

My co-teacher, Kee Jeung (Stella is her English name) and I sporting Aussie flags

Mmmm...Vegemite! (Did you notice my new glasses yet?)

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Last week my Korean language friend came over with her friend Nam and cooked kimchi jigae (kim-chee-jee-gay) and bulgogi for us. Cindy and Jason came over and we ate a scrumptious homemade feast. I invited them over for our Thanksgiving this weekend. Hopefully we'll have a little traditional American to share with them.

Sinnae, Nam, Jason (holding my bottle of Bailey's) and I after dinner in my apartment

Nam stirring bulgogi and Kimchi-jigae (soup with kimchi, onions, pork, garlic, and chili paste). Notice the marmite and maple syrup above my stove? Not your average Korean household! You have to know where to get those...

Before cooking all the chili paste, onions and pork
Sinnae is cutting fresh kimchi. It is made from whole cabbages, then cut with scissors. Koreans use scissors in the kitchen instead of knives. Nam is mashing the chili paste into the meat, kind of like making meatloaf. He's not to pleased...

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Two weeks ago I went to some tea farms and hiked an oreum. This is Mihee sharing homegrown green tea with us. Her husband's family owns this farm.

Green Tea Plantation

On top of the oreum...it was a blustery fall day! Kim, Marcie, Ji Young, and Colleen

The oreum we hiked above Mihee's family's green tea plantation

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The first yoga classes went really well. Seven people came to the first and 3 to the second. This week I'll teach on Wednesday and the woman who's co-instructing will teach Tuesday. There continues to be much interest among the foreigners. I'm also trying to encourage Koreans to come. One Korean teacher did come last week with some foreign teachers.

Winter holidays start in 4 weeks!! EPIK teachers have to be in school throughout the 5 week vacation even though there are no kids. We teach camps and do some extra work (don't know what yet). I'll be taking my 7 days of vacation towards the end of January, plus we get 1 extra day for volunteering at the festival last friday. We also get 1 day for Christmas, 1 day for New Years and 2 days for Lunar New Year. January should be a laid back month. But first things first...gotta get those Christmas presents in the mail ASAP!

Happy Thanksgiving!