Busan

We decided to have a weekend away from home, which ended up being brilliantly timed as we had teacher in-service days on Thursday and Friday, making it easier to leave school.  Finally - my chance to ride the KTX!!

Mike organised the accommodation, and we took off on Friday evening to Busan - a port city of about 3.5 million down south.  Our idea was to simply visit somewhere new, and have a chance to relax, as it has been 'full-on' at school, with not much time to ourselves during the weeks, and falling exhausted into bed at nights...so - Busan it was!

During the train ride my i-phone rang - during a skype with Matty and Megan nontheless - with a Korean man in halting English trying to check that we were coming to his motel that night. This was my first official Korean phone call - someone needing to communicate with me, and managing to do so after a couple of calls! We got directions to walk to the accommodation as soon as we got off the train, which turned out to be easily achieved. The motel did turn out to be fairly rudimentary, but at backpackers rates, we weren't suprised! At least we had found it.

Next, we headed out to find somewhere to eat. Across the road from the station were several regular franchises, such as 'Tour les jours' where I like to buy my bread, and 'Dunkin Donuts' so we headed that way, expecting to find a few restaurants. We ended up wandering down a street that ran parallel to this one, only discover the bars and hostess places...ahem...then into the Chinatown area. We had had enough walking and Mike was getting toey, so we went into a restaurant that had 'tourist restaurant' above it's doorway. This, in future, will steer us away. Tourist restaurant means tourist prices. We were shocked - W60,000 for a very, very average take-away type meal. Feeling somewhat ripped off, we went back to the Busan Inn via a very nice coffee house, and had a bit of a look at the map and lonely planet guide, only to discover that the lonely planet had warned us away from that particular area as a place that could sometimes have the 'occasional hold-up'!!! Duh.

Saturday dawned, and we decided to take the Busan city tour - we paid W10,000 (NZ$11) and got to see around the city and it's sights, and decided to hop off at an area that looked interesting. This was well worth doing, and we really enjoyed the views.

We had hoped to catch a show that night, so after touring, we called into the info centre at the station, only to discover the one I'd hoped to see (JUMP) was not on any more, so we went to the Busan Cultural Centre to see 'Wind Tone Orchestra' - which turned out to be really enjoyable. Bit of a mission to find it, but we conquered the subway, found the venue, got last minute prices on the seats (W10,000 each instead of W30,000), found a great Korean restaurant (W16,000 for both and much, much nicer than the night before, all faith is restored...!!!) and had a really nice evening.

Sunday we decided to put our gear in a locker at the station then head on the subway up to one of Busan's cultural attractions - Beomosa Temple. This was quite an experience. We were accosted by a keen taxi driver as soon as we got off the subway, but for W4,000 he drove us right up there, and as it was up the top of a reasonably high mountain (well, say, Flagstaff height), we were pleased we hadn't tried to walk! It was a beautiful place to visit, and was in full swing being a Sunday, lots of people up there for worship, being an active Budhist temple, so we were careful about when and where to take photos, but here's a taster...

On the way in our subway ride, we were surprised to see 4 different entrepreneurs try to sell the carriage of people different products, amused to see their different selling techniques, but ended up buying a pair of leggings for winter for W5,000 just so I could say I bought them on the subway train!

Our weekend ended up being just 'what the doctor ordered'!! We've come home refreshed and ready for the next 3 weeks before Christmas holidays - lots to do in that time, but we feel ready to take it on.

I will post some selected Busan photos and put them onto the photograph page this evening, but want to leave with one of those funny coincidences that sometimes occur in life. When we arrived up at the temple site, we were approaching the entrance when I noticed these piles of roof tiles with writing on. I took a closer look, and discovered the very first one on the corner pile next to the pathway had this written on it...so, we had our photo taken - not a bad coincidence eh!!

They even spelled the names the same!!

Blessings to all!
Isabel

November

Autumn has been a very pleasant season, and we have been able to enjoy the outdoors and quite a few events during the last few weeks. The weather has cooled a little, but it is still very pleasant, only really cooling at night time. We haven't turned on the underfloor heating yet, and have only needed to wear jackets a few times.


This weekend we have caught up on ourselves a little as we have found ourselves getting exhausted at work - there's always more to do than what we ever have time for in teaching, and I think more so in an International school! We are certainly working hard, but both find the work very satisfying, and the children we teach are very responsive, and a pleasure to teach.  So, we spent most of Saturday at school doing prep work, but then at 4pm took off to meet friends at the bus stop to head into see the 'Seoul Lantern Festival'.

This annual event happens in downtown Seoul, where the creators of these amazing paper constructions place them on platforms in the stream, and people are shepherded along the streets, zig-zagged back and forth and then allowed down the stairs to walk along the footpaths beside the stream, to be 'wowed' by the sights. We really enjoyed it - along with about 100,000 other people! It was very orderly however, and we were quite impressed when the people on organising duties actually did prevent anyone from stepping out of line, and trying to cut into the next line over. Even the ajima's were prevented from trying this trick!! And, that is saying something, as little old ladies here do have a fair bit of say!

Today, we decided we really needed to have a proper day off, so we slept in, then caught up on some housework, did a bit of baking, and then bussed down to the station to purchase some KTX tickets to Busan - we will have a weekend away on the 25th. We haven't had one for a while, and I think we both need a break. After that we visited a beautiful Chinese garden set in a park a few blocks away from our apartment - I really love the concept of different rooms in a garden. 'Maybe one day'...!!

Hello to our blog followers...

We've had a wonderful day off today - a REAL day off! No schoolwork done at all, we had a late start to the day, and have managed to skype with family, do some housework, watch some kids play soccer and do a bit of wandering. AND watch a movie at the Imax theatre in Suwon Station - Real Steel - which was actually our first movie here in Suwon, in English too - a great day!

One of today's highlights would have to be finding a vacuum cleaner 'up for grabs' down at the recycling area of the apartments - this area is where you put things that you no longer require, and anyone can grab them - we've now got two spare mattresses for guests (hint, hint) and a vacuum that also is a steam cleaner, and so far it appears that it is working properly, so that's a bonus!

Our wandering about today took us back to the Suwon fortress area, and we enjoyed taking a few photos of the views and the autumn colours. At the watch tower we found a group of kids about 12 or 13 practising their English speeches for a competition which they will participate in next week. They were talking about the fortress area and the surrounding landmarks, so we stopped and listened and gave encouragement, thanking them for their helpful information! It's fun to meet with Korean people who like to practise their English with you!

While walking we came across some rather interesting artwork in the form of a statue outside a cafe. I suspect they serve pork, hence the forlorn look on the pig's face, and his rather dejected demeanor...

I hope you enjoy the pics!  I've had to change picture applications, but if you'd like more to see from our tripping around today, go to the 'photographs' page. Videos will be added tomorrow!

A Cultural Experience

Today has been a wonderful day of new experiences for us. Our co-worker and new friend, Chang Min invited us, along with some of the other Elementary staff, to attend her daughter's 1-year-old birthday party. This in itself isn't unusual, but here in Korea, turning 1 is a major life event, and the only other birthday that is celebrated to the same degree is 61. Family, relatives, and friends were invited, and the celebration began with a 'liturgy' of sorts - hymns, prayers and a short sermon, then of course - a feast! Special foods including a soup that people have only on their birthday - delicious, too!

After the food was shared, Chang Min and her husband had speeches, including a video and slideshow, a cake, and a wonderful song sung by her father. All in all, a wonderful privilege to be a part of. We finished by being taken down to the bus stop by her father-in-law who wanted to make sure we got to the right place, so we could go back to visit Insadon.

We have another exciting day tomorrow, well - I do !! Time for a hair cut for me, and Mike will most likely spend part of his day on a bike ride - no doubt some school work will need to be done too.

We are off on the PYP training course next Thursday - to Bali!! Very exciting...:)

Great day out in Seoul

Mike and I decided to spend today exploring some areas of Seoul that interested us. We took the train in, and negotiated the subway for several trips around the city to find the places we wanted to see.Getting around has been relatively easy, after having been taken to Seoul by our Korean language and culture teacher, and pointed in the right direction for catching buses and subways. The first place we visited was 'Itaewon' - a shopping area with quite a strong 'western' feel to it, with many embassies nearby. We enjoyed browsing, and ate lunch there, but didn't buy anything. Next stop - after negotiating 2 subway rides, was Gyeongbokbung Palace - built in 1394, it was an interesting and very delightful place to visit - lots to see there, really picturesque, and right in the heart of the city. In fact, some shots will show the contrast from the old to the new, with the city street right outside the gates, and large screens on the buildings. We then explored 'Insadon' - an area that appealed to me greatly - lots of character! Older buildings with lots of restaurants that look authentically Korean, as well as art and craft shops and lots of interesting street vendors selling jewellery, crafts, and so on. A great place to find gifts! I think I'll be going back there again...

Our 28th wedding anniversay

Today we celebrated 28 years of married life together. We are constantly telling each other how much we love each other, and appreciate the fact that we have been together a long time now and actually still LIKE each other!! I am sure this is different from love - and today we spent the day having another adventure together. White water rafting on the Donggang river in South Korea!

We are so fortunate to have these opportunities to explore our area, and we are taking the opportunities that get presented to us whenever we can. We have the luxury of having a person on the staff whose job it is to organise social events!! So, today we hopped on the school bus, travelled for about 4 hours up into the mountains to a beautiful area to enjoy the white water rafting trip.

The rafting itself was pretty tame, but the company and the water fights made up for that!! The next adventure will be in Chusok week - the Korean 'thanksgiving' holiday, when we go with a group from GSIS again but this time to stay at Taejon Beach.

Work is full-on - but play time is too!!