This is Korean artwork on a wall in my school. It shows the popular Korean masks that they wear during celebrations. Also, there's a picture of a amazing cloth picture in the front hallway of my school; one of the teacher's put it together and it is made of tiny little pictures all taken from weekend field trips for the welfare program (I went on one so I was in a few pics).
Today was definitely a good way to end the long week. I only had to run 4 hills this morning, and no kick-boxing after school because Keith and I were invited to go out with his co-teacher and husband for dinner, and I didn't have to teach today because all the students at our school went on a field trip to a folk village museum and small mountain. It was very different than I expected.
These paths take you on a hiking trail for exercise and to see the pretty site of the galdae reed and other small mountains in the distance. It is a popular place for tourists and for wedding pictures.
This is the beautiful galae reed that is popular is Jeju, especially in the fall. We are at a small mountain that is known for the galdae reed fields and the crater at the top of the mountain (similar to the crater at the top of Mt. Halla but no water). These are some of my wonderful students. They were screaming my name, asking if I can be in the picture with them on their camera too! This is my vice-principal on the left with another teacher at lunch break. My vice-principal is awesome because he comes to my desk every day to practice his English with me...he is very smart and kind!
We are eating kimbop (similar to sushi rolls), mandarins, gigantic grapes, and fried chicken. This is the way they used to collect their water and a small old Korean-style house. I am with my supervisor, Aun Mi Lee (which "mi" means "beautiful", "mi guk" means America, or beautiful country) A little interesting trivia for you:) We are in front of a small Korean traditional house/hut.
These are fun characters that were displayed in the building that showed traditional Korean games and performances. They are all paper dolls (which is a difficult process to make one). The kids are having a Korean wrestling match, and are playing hopscotch, and are dancing with traditional Korean masks for a celebration. Also, you can see the kids playing a horse-back ride game where they have to go between someone's legs. The other game you see is holding their foot as they hop. The flat wooden circle board is what Koreans used to iron clothes with. The bowl on the left has hot water, so they would use a hot ironing press and put the clothes on the board.
Above you can see the paper doll Korean girls dance around the circle as they sing a traditional Korean song. Next, is traditional Korean instruments, fruit or herbs (such as jinsing) that is kept in bottles in the process of turning into wine. Then you can see the Korean masks that are used during celebrations, the traditional Korean-style houses (that my supervisor said she lived in as a small child), the old Korean schools (and the bad students being punished in the front of the class, which they still do today), and the old-style school uniforms (the one held up is for girls and the suits are for the boys), and the tools they used to use and how they made them, the wells they got water from (I look so tall next to the Korean women!), and the living arrangements (which you can see they all share a room, sleep on the floor, and some used books as pillows!).
The first thing that caught me off guard was when I found out we don't actually have to watch or even walk around with the students. Many times students would all call out my name and yell, "Hi, Tina Teacher!!!" being very excited to see my outside of the classroom. However, the students and teachers were given a time (a little before noon) to head back to the bus where we then went to a small mountain to hike and have lunch. The folk village museum was not like the museums we are used to back at home. It was not a huge indoor building, but rather small village-type houses that each had a theme to it that showed things from the far and near past of Seoul and Jeju and how the city or villages were set up compared to now. There was a building with all clothes from a few generations past, and one with tools for working in the farms, and with games, clothes, schools, and little towns with all the main buildings. It was sweet because you could actually walk in or peek in the different rooms and each room had little funny characters to represent the people in the folk village. I have tried to explain the pictures above as best as I can from what Mrs. Lee told me. Hope this is interesting to you..I know it was to me:)
Another thing that surprised me was when we walked past a bar-type little room and I peaked in and saw the male teachers, including my Principal and vice-principal. At this point, they gestured me in, and both Aun Mi Lee (one of my co-teachers/supervisor) and I giggled because we knew they would encourage us to have a drink...makali and that we probably shouldn't say no. So we went and hung out with the male teachers, drank this very strong and delicious tea, along with a little makali and this seaweed pancake that was pretty spicy. Anyways, I can't believe teachers can drink at field trips and not have to monitor the students!! I love Korea! :)
After the folk village, I left (instead of the bus this time, I went by car with Mrs. Hyun, head of English Department) to go to the small mountain . This park is very popular to tourists that visit Jeju Island. It is a place to walk around, get exercise, and see the beautiful site of other mountains in the background, of the fields filled with Galdae reed (the popular Jeju plant that grows during the fall), and the crater that is at the top of the mountain (similar to the crater on top of Mt. Halla but without water). The teachers all ate lunch together at the top of the mountain. We ate kimbop, fried chicken, fruit... mandarins and huge grapes, and other small side dishes, such as kimche. These are popular foods for a Korean picnic. Kimbop is similar to sushi rolls...it has seaweed wraps with rice, carrots, pork, egg, and a few other little vegetables inside. Since I love sushi rolls, this is one of my favorite foods here...to Koreans, they are considered snacks though, not a full dinner. Keith and I often buy them after kickboxing for a dinner and luckily they are SUPER cheap...they are only $1,000 for a roll of kimbop, which is usually enough, because when you eat at the restaurant you also get a small bowl of soup and this yellow sweet radish/fruit type of dish with it. Oh, and the male teachers gave me a beer to go along with lunch, although the water in front of me was mostly all I drank.
Anyhoos, me and Mrs. Hyun walked around for maybe 30 minutes after lunch and then headed back to her car and she then drove me to the Jeju International Education and Information Institute so that I could fill out my form for taxes, since I just received my US residence certificate in the mail from my Dad. It was nice of Mrs. Hyun to bring me there and get that last errand out of the way. We are so lucky because for 2 years, Keith and I won't have to pay taxes for Korea or the US...if we fill out our forms correctly. As of now, we only have a year contract; however, for this reason and because of our wonderful placement, if we could stay in the same area, same apartment and same school, it would definitely be worthwhile for us to stay for one
more year. We will see......
Above are a few pictures from the volleyball
tournament that Keith played in last weekend (I didn't because of my shoulder). There were about 20 teams with mostly foreigners and EPIK teachers and a few Koreans. This was the 2nd year for this v-ball competition that was meant to be a big donation for a woman living on Jeju who's husband pasted away and to help support her and her children. The tournament went on for 2 days (although they practiced many weeks ahead each weekend), and there was music, food, lots of drinking:), and just a bunch of people on the beach to hang out with. I went Sunday to cheer them on, to help with the scoring, and to chat with friends. Plus, there was a yoga instructor there, so I did some yoga on the beach...check out the pics! There's also a picture above from Keith catching a fish on the beach. Some of the fish that he has caught is worth 100,000 won ($100), if he were to bring them to businesses/ restaurants near the ports. This is what other Korean fishermen told him last time when he had thrown the fish back into the water. Well, now he knows and this could be a fun hobby for him! Keith will also sometimes go to the casino at the fancy Rosemont hotel near the ports. He won 150,000 won ($150) last time he played! Don't worry, fortunately Keith's a smart player and knows when to stop, at least that's what he tells me!
Last night, Keith's co-teacher took us out to dinner with her husband to her favorite restaurant (and supposedly the most popular on the island). She even had to make reservations a week before since it was so popular! It was very fancy and was located above a grocery store, which is common here. We took our shoes off and sat on little pillows by a table for four, where we were served the best beef you can find here. It was called "Hamu", which is sweet Korean BBQ beef. They ordered 12 rounds of Hamu and since I dn't eat much beef and since Keith's co-teacher's husband was just there the night before so was not as hungry for it, Keith was able to eat as much as he wanted....which meant a TON!!! :) We cooked the beef on the little burning stove in front of us and dipped it into this delicious soy sauce/ teraki sauce. We could then put it in a lettuce wrap and add vegetables and garlic (which were part of the side dishes on the table. We also ate cold noodles...which is very interesting to me. It is a green angel hair noodles with other vegetables and half of a boiled egg in a cold soup with seasoning/spices and ice actually in it. It was good but very different than the pasta from home. The meal was excellent and anytime we needed anything we could just press the little bell on the table that they have at most fancy restaurants...it calls the waiter/waitress. This is a good idea and we should have this in the states! For dessert we ate Su Jung Wa, which is a type of tea served with cinnamon, ginger, and sugar.
Keith and I had a great time chatting and getting to know both his co-teacher and husband, who was shy using his English. But we all were joking around and it was neat that in any situation, whether Koreans know little or a lot of English, there are ways to communicate and hold a conversation. And by now, from talking with my co-teachers and other Koreans, I feel like I understand what they know, the speed to talk and what words they would recognize over others. Plus, learning so much about Korean culture and parts of the island and having experiences now visiting many places here, I feel like I have so much to talk about and relate to with Koreans. So it was a great end to my week! Now, what to do for the weekend....the highlight so far was talking to my parents on skype this morning and actually seeing them!! My dad just got this new webcam so we can see each other very clearly. It's like they're really there in front of me. Gotta love skype")
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