Teaching Souls in Seoul (Cheonan, Jeju, Cheongil, Gapcheon, & Masan)

Friday, May 6, 2011

Jeju Island (pt. 1)

Welcome, one and all. It is now the end of the 1st week of Term 4 (May - June).

I am thankful to now have the time to show you my pictures from my trip to Jeju Island.

Jeju Island is off the southwestern coast of South Korea. It is sometimes called the "Hawaii of Korea". Ever since I came to Korea, I've been told countless times of how much I need to go to Jeju while I'm here in Korea.

Now, I understand why.

Naturally, I took many pictures, but my pictures don't do the original subject justice. I'll still show you my humble pictures, so you can get some kind of idea.

I flew to Jeju Island from Gimpo Airport (in Seoul). Here I am, contemplating what awaits me in this famous island, as I ride the shuttle bus that takes me directly to the airport.

Just an interesting sight in Gimpo. My flight was delayed, so I had plenty of time to explore Gimpo Airport.

I had about 2 hours to kill, so I went a little camera-happy.

I won't show all my pictures, but just the ones that seem "ok" enough to be shown.

Two Dragon Drums.

(traditional Korean drums)

A palanquin for a middle-class bride to be carried in.

My 1st sight of Jeju Island, as soon as I stepped out of the airport.

I was told to go here: the bus terminal in Jeju City (about a 10 minute ride from the airport).
Why? For my accomodations: provided by an SDALI student's family (who own a motel just down a street from the terminal).

Inside my room.

It was a lot better than I expected!

Yeap, even a refrigerator!

Wow, a full-sized bed for me and me alone!

I forgot to take pictures of the bathroom, but it was nicer, bigger, and cleaner than I thought. All in all, very pleasant.

Taking in a bit of the motel from outside.

Reminds me of the flowers in the traditional Korean embroidery.

Gardening is apparently a big deal here.

The entire motel. I was staying on the 3rd floor, right beside the stairs.

After settling in, I decided to go for a walk.

These signs are everywhere!

This statue is beside the City Hall--which happens to be a major bus stop.

Same place, but it's a compass.

It says : "Seoul 453 km, Busan 300 km, and Seoguwipo (in Southern Jeju) 42 km"

Here: "Daegu 324 km, Kwanju 187 km".

Both are major cities in South Korea.

I met the coordinator of the Jeju institute, her roommate, and 3 other SDALI teachers who came down for the break as well.

We went out to a Mexican restaurant for supper. It was full and we had to wait to be served. Here we are, waiting. I decided to capture the "animated" event.

A nearby restaurant that caught our eye . . . and not exactly for the menu . . .

My dinner: Mexican taco salad.

It wasn't quite the ones in the States, but it was pretty close. Not bad at all!

Afterwards, the 2 Jeju teachers took us to the Underground Shopping Mall.

Here is the entrance we used.

While the other girls shopped, I just walked around.

There's no point in me shopping for clothes in Korea: unless it's in the men's department, there's no way it'll fit me. All the sizes are too small for me in just about every way imaginable.

So, I walked around and took this picture.

and took this picture too.

In a nutshell, this was Day 1; consisting mostly of traveling and then spending time with other SDALI teachers.

Day 2 was packed. You'll see the result . . .

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Taejo Mountain Weekend (Pt.2) _17. April_

Alright! 'Tis the day of the picnic! The Cheonan group arrived 1st and met us at the park. We got to meet everyone, set up, and start eating. We brought a lot to eat--mostly snacks.

Afterward, we explored the park area a bit then walked up some of the mountain to where there was a clearing--just perfect for our games. We had a great time, lots of laughs, and relaxed a bit. At around 14:00, it was time to go.

Kinda sad, I wanted to stay longer. Oh well, perhaps another day.

Someone is happy about the picnic.

This was taken as the father (my former student) drove his family, another former-student of mine (neither in the picture), and I over to the park.

The fountain at the park.

Wow.

Setting up. I think we were maybe half-way through with the set-up.

An apparent outdoor war exhibit.

What will we do?

Let's go and explore! (my natural answer)

1 of 2 fighter planes.

Hi there.

I went up the steps on the previous picture to take this shot.

Too bad I don't know much about planes.

Hmmmm . . . army land vehicles . . . .

No one in our group knew what this was.

Blast.

Walking up, we reach an indoor rock wall. It looked waaayyyy too advanced for me. Then of course, I am not even a beginner.

Up at the clearing where we played our games.

oh, these trees and their flowers . . .

I thought the family I rode with needed to leave early, so I ran down the hill (was sore for 3 days because of it) to let them know, they can go if they want. They ended up waiting for the rest of us.

So, as I waited for the rest of the group with them, I thought, let's take pictures of this little one.

So, I did.

Daddy's girl with her very proud father.

Bongseo Mountain Sabbath Hike _16. April_

Sabbath afternoon was a glorious afternoon. It was the kind of weather where you'd feel it was a sin to stay indoors. So, I invited the other 2 teachers to come on a hike/walk with me. I called 1 of my former students to ask him if he were coming on the Taejo Mountain hike. He wasn't sure, asked me what I was doing, and asked if he could come along.

Why not?

Of course he can join!

So, our party of 3 (1 of the teachers was exhausted from this week) went on to Bongseo Mountian, which is 1 block behind the institute. This is my favorite--and the closest--mountain/hill to hike. We talked a lot and got to know each other better and catch up as well.

Off to the pics!

Teacher Annamarie and Student "Bruce" (that's his English name).

Really good people.

A sign of an entrance to an outdoor study are, where teachers can have lectures in the open space. Also, there were various plants on either side of the steps, with signs and some information about each one.
Good thing Bruce was with us; he could translate what the signs (completely in Korean, except for the Latin name) said.

Endless steps . . . or so they seem.

We found a place that had natural spring water! It was pretty good, although we had to go down quite a bit to get it. Going down was not difficult, the challenge came when we had to go back up.

But, you know what? After the 350m walk up in the 3rd Tunnel at the DMZ, that hike up I-don't0know-how-many steps wasn't that bad.

Alright, we had a nice time, departed to our seperate ways . . . and neither ended up coming to the picnic on Sunday.

Sadness.

Well, Taejo Mountain, Pt. 2 is next!

Taejo Mountain Weekend (Pt. 1) _15. April_

Surprise, surprise . . . I've been quite busy lately.

Are you tired of seeing that same song on every post?

Anywho, the 2 SDA Institutes in Cheonan (There's 1 in downtown and there's 1 in the west side of the city. I'm in the West) came together on Sunday, April 17 to have a picnic at Taejo Mountain, just outside of the city.

I wanted to check out the place before Sunday (to get a feel for the place, see how to get there, be ready for whatever, etc.). So, on Friday afternoon (April 15), I got on a bus and went there. Later did I find out I was at the wrong part of the mountian.

Oh well. That's fine. I got to do my own exploring.

This side is where the Buddhist community is located. This is as I was coming up the hill to the entrance of the vicinity.

No idea what the paper lanterns were for, but they looked interesting.

Oh, I have to go up there . . .

Bring it on!

What was to greet me as I reached the top? Nothing other than 1 of the largest sitting Buddhas in Asia!

It's so huge, the ears themselves are about as tall as me!

Looking down at the Buddhist community.

Buddha peeking through a row of paper lanterns.

Greetings.

Some of the monks who reside here.
They actually came up to me and we had a little chit-chat (with broken English, sign language, and guesses). They were nice.