March 24th Update

Its been a while since the last update, but frankly there isn't much to update you on. Last weekend I just wanted to hangout in Daegu, and then this Sunday it rained, so Curtis and I canceled our planned trip to Busan to play beach volleyball with some people we got into contact with. I guess I can tell you about the weather, how nice its been, sunny and warm, but maybe you don't want to hear about that since your weather is still so cold. Every day this week is supposed to be around 15C, it was above and below that last week. Many early flowering trees are in bloom, and quite lovely. Magnolias, May-hwa (sp?), and some others will be starting soon. I'm heading to the arboretum this week, so I'll try and take some pictures. With the warm weather we have started playing basketball, smacking a volleyball around, and even playing soccer at night with some Korean pals of ours. They pay a fee, but so far we haven't had to chip in. It feels really great to be running around playing sports again. Although, our cardio isn't what it used to be..and I'm sure the air quality affects that as well - at least that's my excuse.

I just signed up for an online TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) course. Pretty much to teach anywhere other than Asia you need one of these certificates. In class courses are preferred, mainly because you get to practice teaching kids for a few days. However, since I will have about 1440 teaching hours after this year, that balances that part out for sure. Some countries and schools might not recognize my online certificate, but others will. Its a 60-hour course, from a reputable company, so it will count for something. In any event, I don't really have a real purpose for taking this course other than that it will help me improve my English skills, my teaching skills, and give me some leverage if I want to get another job in the future. I can have an advantage over people without a certificate, negotiate better pay, and teach in more places if I choose to. Also, there was a special deal on it for Easter weekend so I saved 30% on the cost. I have 6 months to complete the course. Hopefully it's easy and I can whip through it, but who knows. I might have forgotten something from the past few weeks, but I'll probably post again after the arboretum trip, so I can talk about it then.

March 1st to 3rd - Hongdo, Mokpo, Gwangju

This past weekend was a three day weekend for us. It came earlier in the month because there was a statutory holiday, and so they move our three day weekend to minimize the number of extra days off we get each month. Anyways, Shelly, her newly arrived friend from back home Annie (who is teaching at Like for the next several months), and myself ventured to the southwest coast and an offshore island. Curt couldn’t make it because his girlfriend didn’t get three days off, so he went to a spa near Daegu instead. We had to take a 3 ½ hour bus ride to Gwangju, transfer and ride another bus to Mokpo for another 1 ½ hours. After 5 hours on the bus we arrived in Mokpo and had a wonderful sushi dinner. We can’t recall how many courses there were, but it seems like we ate every sea creature that is edible. There were many shapes, sizes, colours, and most importantly - textures. We stayed in a hotel for about 8$ each and boarded a Catamaran style boat for Hongdo (red island) in the morning, another 3 hour journey.

A panoramic view of Mokpo harbour.

This peculiar island close to Mokpo was strangely lit up by seemingly pointless bright lights.

The trip was pretty scenic as we passed by many islands, but it also got rough further out. I was on an upper deck trying to get a better view of things, and it sounded like people were on a roller coaster down below me from all the “wooaahhs” I heard. Shelly and Annie later told me that there were Koreans puking everywhere! I got a little seasick, but nothing I couldn’t handle. Also, our plan was to stay the night on the island (since the ferry cost about 64$ roundtrip just to get there). Unfortunately some Korean guy told us that a windstorm was moving in, a sand storm from China, and the two boat trips the next day are cancelled. One guy said we picked the worst day of the year to visit! We were forced to take the next ferry off the island a mere 4 hours after we arrived- after all that traveling!

The island is very small, and there are two towns on it with a combined population of 500. There are no roads, and only a dirt path up the mountain connecting the two villages. There is a tiny beach, but for the most part the sides of the island rise straight out of the sea. We decided to follow a path up the mountain and do a little hiking, and it wasn’t too long before we were at the top. On the way up I easily spotted a pair of Peregrine Falcons soaring in the wind of the ocean, cruising around the mountain. It was very warm, and one flowering shrub was starting to bloom. Broadleaf evergreens dominate the island, with some 150 species occurring. The views from the path were very nice, and the fresh ocean breeze felt great. We then made our way down and ate some abalone porridge, a specialty of the island. We also bought some medication to prevent seasickness for the ride back. It was a little sticker that you attach behind the ear, and it seemed to do the trick as it knocked us right out. Before we left I found a Blue Rock Thrush on the rocks, a very attractive blue and brown bird found only in coastal areas. Also, the falcons made another appearance buzzing low over a completely oblivious crowd waiting for the ferry.

Hongdo Island, and one of the two towns on the island. We never got to the other one.

View from above part of the town and harbour.

View from the mountain, there are ports on both sides of the town.

A view of the trail we hiked up to the top of the mountain. There was no photogenic view from the top as there were many bushes and trees that obscured our view.

This is one of the catamarans that travels to the various islands, and the one we rode.

Back in Mokpo we slept in a Jin-Ja-Bong (bath house). It was very relaxing sitting in the saunas and hottubs, but it will still take some getting used to sleeping on a hard floor with nothing but a bamboo mat, brick like pillow, and thin blanket. Regardless, the price is right at 6$ a pop. The next day we walked around a botanical garden and sculpture garden in Mokpo, before heading back to Gwangju. In Gwangju we went to a tea house were we had some Korean black tea. The teapot sat over a candle to keep it warm, and they also gave us a thimble full of whisky for our tea. While the girls splurged on some tea for home, I ventured off on my own to walk along a river in the middle of town. I found a common kingfisher (a tiny blue and brown beauty), and a Hoopoe. A Hoopoe is so unique, there is no other bird in its family (the way there are many of types of sparrows for example). It has a long curved beak, a long crest, and has striking black and white colouration. I recommend you do an image search of that guy.

View of Mokpo from the sculpture garden and botanical gardens.

My first Korean squirrel in Mokpo, notice its hairy ears!

At dinner in Mokpo these three kids kept trying to tease us, licking the window and being little rascals. They followed us for 2 blocks before finally heading back to their parents. They were crazy little monkeys for sure.

Finally we headed on back to Daegu. In the end, we were not disappointed at all that we couldn’t spend more time on the island. We did some hiking, saw pretty much what there was to see, and enjoyed our extra time in Mokpo and Gwangju. In some ways we were glad about our misfortune. Curiously, it was snowing pretty heavy on the way back to Daegu, the biggest snowflakes I have seen since being here, although they didn’t last once they hit the ground. As for the sandstorm from China, apparently Daegu is in the “sand-belt”” if you will, and got hit by it this weekend. It’s more like a smog than a raging storm, but it can burn your eyes and throat. Apparently the desert where it comes from has lots of industry and was the site of a nuclear bomb test. The sand carries heavy metals with it and potentially radioactive substances! – although I’m not sure on the validity of that last part. On “sand-smog” days the government here recommends everyone stay indoors, so it’s not something to be taken lightly. I might have to get a cotton mask that everyone wears over here. A good portion of the population always wears a mask when they go outdoors, regardless of the weather.

Korean Wedding

Last Sunday, the 23rd, I went to my manager's wedding (Mr.Lee). Most weddings take place in a wedding hall, a big building with multiple floors and rooms to hold many weddings throughout the day. I think when I was there, there were 6 other weddings taking place at the exact same time. The ceremony itself was about 1/2 hour long at most. We stood in the open doorway because all the seats were taken, and it was quite noisy actually. We could actually watch two weddings from where we stood. They were dressed in western style clothes, a big white wedding dress for the bride, and a nice suit for the groom. It basically followed the same pattern as our weddings, except for some bowing between the groom and the brides family. Mr. Lee sang a love song to his wife, and when he paused to turn the page to look at the next page of lyrics it was pretty funny. They started walk back down the aisle and then Chinese firecrackers went off and shot colourful, tinsel-like streamers all over them. Afterwards most people cleared out and then some pictures were taken. A big one with both sides of the family was taken, and then one with friends. He called us all up there for that one, so I'm curious to see that one. Oh yeah, I forgot my camera but lots of pictures were taken by my coworkers so I should be able to get my hands on some. After the pictures we all went to a big buffet area where you eat food with people from all the different weddings. The food was great and then that was it, it was over. While we were eating Mr.Lee and his wife got changed into really colourful traditional wedding clothes and got some pictures taken. Luckily I crossed paths with him when I was leaving so I got to see him in some really need clothes.

After the wedding I went to another Daegu Orions basketball game. Daegu is a terrible team, but we somehow pulled out a win in the dying minutes so that was entertaining. And, it seemed to me that someone taught the crowd English because the "defense" cheer was substantially better. It only had two syllables instead of the three I heard before. Not much more to say about that.

Other "news" this week was that I got my hair cut pretty short (courtesy of Shelly), and shaved off my huge beard. As one of my students put it, I went from being a mountain man to a city man. I took votes in all my classes and the ratio was about 6 to 1 kids preferring me with short hair and shaved. And it was mostly boys that were trying to be funny that said they liked me better with a beard and longish hair. Actually, I shocked a lot of people. Students and teachers alike were like "Who are you?" "Where is Adam?". One student was so confused that he honestly and truly didn't know who I was, and thought I was a new teacher. He did not believe his friend until I confirmed it.

I handed in my time sheet for this month, and because of all the holidays we had this month, and because of where I work, I only worked 85 of the 120 hours I'm supposed to work each month. So that's a sweet deal because my pay stays the same. March won't be much different as I got my schedule for next week and I only work 17 hours next week! I wonder if they will make me take some shifts at another school to get my hours up..we shall see. We get three days off this week and we are going to try and get to an offshore island called Hongdo. "Hong" means red, describing the colouration of the rock that the island is made of, and "do" means island. Its going to be a 5 hour bus ride to the west coast (Mokpo), and then a 3 hour ferry ride. It should be interesting though, the island is really small and there are no roads. The island has no beaches or anything I think, it just kind of rises out of the ocean with sharp cliffs and spires. The traveling will suck, and we will only get about one full day on the island, but I think it will be fun. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures.