Hiking and History

Today I decided to bike/hike to the Okpo Great Victory Commemorative Park. This was the site of a famous battle between Korea and Japan in the late 1500s. As you might be able to tell from the name of the park, Korea was victorious! There is a 30ft high memorial statue, as well as some great look out/rest points, shrines and park space. The hike to get there turned out to be fairly easy and very scenic, which I was happy about! 

Happy Korean Thanksgiving!

 

This weekend was Chuseok -- also known as Thanksgiving in Korea! We decided to make some traditional Korean food, including Kimchi Pancakes, Chicken Skewers, eggplant and zucchini side dishes and fried tofu.

 

We also took advantage of having a FIVE day weekend by exploring our island a bit more. We took a ferry to check out an island called Oedo, which is known for its landscaped gardens and sculptures. As you can see from the pictures, it is very beautiful, but like everywhere in Korea it was extremely hilly, so an unintentionally good workout as well.

 

I'm at school now planning lessons, but we have a two day work week this week, which will be nice! Back to reality, and less vacations for the rest of September and October!

View Out My Window!!

One Month and Counting

I have been in Korea almost a month now and I think I'm pretty much settled in. My "Alien Resident Card" arrived the other day, which means that I can open a bank account and access medical services and all that good stuff!  

I have also found a great place to walk and see the ocean (as you can see in the pictures) and I even bought a bicycle so that I can get around a bit better. The next town over from where I live is a bit bigger & has more to do, so having a bike makes it more convenient to just pop over there whenever I want. There is also a designated bike path by the river so I don't have to deal with traffic (although occasionally there have been other vehicles parked in my lane!!) The only downside is that Geoje, and my town specifically, is VERY HILLY! The ride TO my destination is easy... But the ride home gets increasingly more steep, ending with me walking my bike the last 200m up a sheer incline to my apartment.

Last weekend, I went with Beth and Will to a place we found in a guidebook called "The Hills of the Glowing Sunset." Despite it being mentioned in the guidebook, there was no mention of this area on any website we could find... but we decided to make the trek to find it anyway. It is on a peninsula that juts out from the North West corner of Geoje island so we were able to do an ocean walk around the tip of the peninsula, which was quite beautiful (besides the garbage on the beach-- there is a lot of that here, unfortunately). After our walk, we popped into a convenience store/bait and tackle shop hoping to get a snack... After purchasing beer and potato chips (which was about $9 total for the three of us) the proprietor came out with a bowl of fresh mussels for us, on the house! That seemed like a pretty good deal to us, and softened the blow when we realized that it was too foggy/cloudy/mountainous to get a good view of the sunset!

I am just about to get ready for work now, and excited for it to be the weekend soon! Happy Anniversary (in my time zone) to mom and dad!

Summer Vacation Trip to SEOUL!

> My school is on summer vacation this week so Beth, Will and myself decided to venture to Seoul for a few days to explore the sights and catch a baseball game. We arrived on Monday, and after checking into our hotel, we went on a failed mission to find a grocery store because we have a kitchenette. We did end up finding a convenience store to have a snack and drink outside of (it's very common here to see plastic furniture and tables outside a 7-11) followed by an impromptu trip to the local bowling alley and, finally, a visit to the local sticker photo booth to finish the night.
>
> The next day, we headed to the baseball stadium to watch the KIA Tigers play the Doosan Bears. The whole experience was much different than in North America: you can buy any food and drinks outside the stadium and bring them inside-- plus, you can go back outside the stadium at any time during the game and are allowed to return to the game inside afterward. Many of the vendors inside the stadium are convenience stores, not just big chain restaurants. The game itself was fun! The crowd was very lively and it was a good game despite our team (the Tigers) losing. After the game, we headed to Dongdaemun which is a cheap late night shopping district. Beth and I bought matching Lion King t-shirts before we headed home.
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> Today I have plans to get my cell phone set up and do some shopping/exploring in Myeongdong, the fashion district in Seoul. We will head back to Geoje tomorrow to spend the rest of our vacation on the island.
>

Amanda in Aju

Today is my 6th day in Korea and my 4th day teaching at my new school. The town that I live in is called Aju. It is a very small town that has one major industry: the DSME (Daewoo) Shipyard. Walking around town, I noticed right away that it is very hilly (see the mountains in the picture below) and the shipyard can be seen from almost everywhere in town.

So far, I am very happy with my apartment. As you can see from the pictures, it is fairly new and has modern décor. I have everything I need, including my own washing machine :) I live in between Beth's apartment and the school so we meet on the corner and walk to school together.

The school itself is great so far as well! Much better organized than the camps that I worked at before, and the working conditions are much better too! I feel like I am living in luxury this time compared to the slave labour and sketchy accommodations that I had before.

I haven't had a chance to do much else besides working yet... and I have also had a lot of official things to do this week like going to the immigration office, setting up my cell phone, getting a medical check, etc. hopefully I will have a chance to do more exploring this weekend, and then the following week we will be on holidays!!

Right now I am about to have lunch and then head into work. More later!

Safe and Sound in Geoje!

After a 13 hour flight to Beijing, 13 hour layover in Beijing, and a 2.5 hour flight... I was picked up from the Busan airport in an airport limo, complete with a driver holding a sign with my name and massage chairs in the car! My boss, Lily, met me at my apartment, which is super cute and already furnished and pretty well equipped. Beth and Will stopped by soon after and took me on a quick walking tour of our city: Aju, their apartment, the school... and finally, a delicious korean BBQ dinner!

I feel very rested and I have mostly acclimatized to the time zone and everything here. The only tipoff that my internal clock is a bit wonky is that I am writing this at 7:45am local time on a Sunday!!

Found Will and Beth!!

Geoje Calling

After a long hiatus from Korea -- and updating my blog, I will be traveling to Geoje, South Korea to teach at Tree House English. I will be meeting my friend Beth and her partner Will, who are already teaching at Tree House. I am excited to have awesome teaching colleagues and great travel partners for this experience! Stay tuned for updates and pictures of food, adorable anime characters and travel adventures!

Here is a link to Beth and Will's blog, which gives some detail about Geoje and their experiences teaching English in Korea so far!

http://operationexpat.wordpress.com