My school, ECC, truly likes the foreigners and really does its best to make us happy. I LOVE ECC because of this but their timing seems to be a lot like my dads- not the best. So 4 weeks ago (wow that sounds like forever ago... I really need to update this more...) ECC took all of the foreigners on a field trip to 3 different places. We went to a temple, a traditional Korean folk village, and to the bay. They all turned out to be super duper fun, but I am getting ahead of myself. So, they pack all of the foreigners, who are all coughing and not in good moods because we are all ridiculously sick, into a small ECC van and drive us an hour away to our first stop. This would normally have been something we all looked forward to because we all like to hangout with each other and travel on the weekends together, but this was the first week that EVERYONE in the office was sick, and the Swine Flu had even hit a couple people. However, it became an unspoken but well known fact that this was pretty mandatory so coughing, sore throats, runny noses, upset stomachs and all loaded the bus. I personally had come down with the office sickness and had it not been mandatory I would have stayed in bed all day in my pajamas. It was bad news bears. But like everyone else, I loaded the van and immediately fell asleep on the way to the temple. When we got there, I was immediately in awe (and maybe it was the fresh air, but I started feeling better, and at least functioning) because there was fog all around us and the sun was hiding behind it but was starting to come out which made for some pretty awesome pictures. And the temple itself was just really pretty and really cool. We even got to see some monks in the temple praying which was pretty sweet too. It was a really big temple and it's hard to explain what exactly it looked like, but it was neat. And I had just learned a week or two before how to properly use my Macro setting on my camera, so I spent the whole time macro-ing EVERYTHING. Thank goodness Erica like to use this setting as well, because at one point we split off from everyone and got some AMAZING pictures. I know this is a side tract, but the macro setting on my camera makes me soooooo happy and has made me realize that I really want to get a super nice camera with a special macro lens and become a professional photographer- BUT only ever take macro pictures. If you don't know what I am talking about, you should check out my facebook album titled "Let's Macro That!" Anyways, so back to the temple... I got some awesome pictures, enjoyed being there, as well as the company and had lots of fun. Our next stop was at a traditional folk village. I didn't know what to expect but it was pretty cool too. We saw tons and tons of hut like places that were made out of mud with roofs made from hay. We also got to walk on a huge wall that went all around the village. This was fun and in a way reminded me of walking on the Great Wall of China. There was a HUGE swing there too that looked super fun but I never got to go on it because I was in the front of the group and got corralled to be in a group picture. The people in the back fell behind and went on it for a bit before someone ran back to get them to make them run and get in the group picture. Oh well, next time I'll go on it. After the village, we went to the bay. This was lots of fun too. A group of us hiked up the mountain to get an amazing shot of the bay. It was AWESOME and quite the view. It was worth all of the hard work to see water surrounding us, with mountains in the background. Korea is so beautiful. And it is soooo neat to be able to see mountains all around us all the time. This is quite the change from Florida, that's for sure. The field trip ended up being loads of fun and I think everyone enjoyed the trip, sick or not.
Two weekends ago, all of the foreign teachers went up to Seoul together because it was Prairies last weekend to travel and she really wanted to see the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone- the division line of North and South Korea) so we all went up for that and took a half day tour of that together. It was really cool. First, we got to see "Freedom bridge" also known as "The Bridge of No Return". This the only bridge connecting North and South Korea and was the bridge where over 13,000 war captives crossed. There were fences and barbed-wire everywhere and also ribbons and flags. It was very interesting to see, but it was very rainy and extremely cold so a but miserable, but none the less, super neat. We stayed here for a little while before boarding the bus again and going to a museum. This museum told all about the DMZ and the history of fighting and friendship between the north and south. We also learned about 4 tunnels that North Korea dug leading right in to Seoul. North Korea originally denied they built them and even went through the trouble of even putting black coal ashes on the ceilings of the tunnels so they could claim their miners must have gotten lost and they were all accidents. However, there is no coal in this area so that lie obviously doesn't stand. Anyways, so after the museum we got to walk for awhile in the 3rd tunnel South Korea found. This was awesome. Its over 2o stories underground and we got to walk for a long while in it which took us super close to the North Korean border. There was a blockade at the ending point of where we could walk, but if you looked closely you could see North Korea which was super exciting. After going through the tunnel we boarded the bus again and got to go to a lookout point where you could see quite a bit of North Korea. Its a lookout point but its funny because you can only take pictures from behind a line which is kinda far back. This was a little strange but I guess its because North Korean doesn't want us getting a good look of their country... or at least not any good pictures. You could pay about 50 cents and look through binoculars to get a closer look of North Korea. I fo course did and it was kinda neat because with them I could see some buildings and stuff and even a basketball court. It was just cool to be able to say I have seen North Korea. Anyways, after that we to Dorsan station which is an almost completely empty train station. It has only one train that is on a track that leads from South Korea to North Korea. It has never run but it will be the first train to go from South Korea to North Korea supposedly when the two become friends rather than enemies someday. According to South Korea it is "Not the last station from the South, but the first station toward the North." This shows South Korea's hope of there someday being a friendship and no longer a divide between the country. It's a nice thought, but I am not sure if this train will ever run. I guess only time will tell. The DMZ tour was awesome and I really enjoyed going. Next time I might try to take the full day tour that actually lets you go to North Korea. This is the tour my Oma and sister went on 15 years ago when we lived here the first time.
After the DMZ tour, Prairie, Steve (new foreign teacher- Prairie's replacement), and I went to make free "paper arts." We weren't sure what this entailed but we thought it could be fun so we went and all enjoyed ourselves- even Steve. We made paper mirrors and paper boxes. I am thinking he is going to have to give his away as gifts because they are quite girly looking but I think all three of us really enjoyed ourselves and had lots of fun. Later that night we met up with Erica, Jason, Devon, and Jake and went downtown to see a lantern festival. It was really cool and I took a bazillion pictures. There were just so many lanterns of all shapes sizes and of all sorts of things, that I could not help myself. I put up those pictures tomorrow on facebook maybe so you can see for yourself just how cool it was. The next day we went Christmas shopping and Devon and I even got to go to Forever 21 and make some fun purchases. We also went to Itaewon and shopped and looked around and ate and then headed out later that night to celebrate Katelyn's birthday. That night turned out to be a super crazy night but loads of fun. The next day we went to Insadong where we did even more Christmas shopping and I got some pretty neat things. You will have to wait until Christmas to see just exactly what I got... I don't want to soil Christmas gifts by writing what i bought here. :) We left later that night which turned out to be a complete nightmare and super long story but we eventually made it home. Lets just say we were supposed to leave at 5:40 and we didn't end up leaving till 8:45 which got us home around midnight... ugggh when you have to wake up early. But I had a great weekend so it was worth it!
Last weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving Dinner which will have to be a separate post because I need to get this one posted and then head off to bed. There's a ton to write about it too so look for it in the near future. I promise I will do it soon and not wait a month before my next post. :)
Be looking for pictures on facebook and another post soon. Love you all lots and lots and miss you guys too!!!!!!!
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