Festival Fires up New Semester.
I have been updating my blog less frequently these days since I've been doing some writing on my friend's website about teaching English in Asia. In this blog, I will include links to articles I have written on his site as I write them. I recently posted information and pictures about where I live. I have also posted a few more pictures of Jeju and the Korean mainland on my main photo page.
Anyway, after the nightmarish supplementary English classes during the beginning of winter break, I had three weeks of winter vacation. I traveled around the mainland just to visit friends, but the timing wasn't great. Between people getting sick and relatives suddenly passing away, I spent a lot of my eight-day stay on buses, planes, trains and taxis. Fortunately, public transportation on the mainland is excellent, so I was able to cross the country in a single afternoon on short notice. I really enjoyed visiting my Canadian friend in Jang-su, a small town in the middle of nowhere in the Jeolla-buk province. She's the only foreign teacher in the county, so when I arrived, everyone in town was shocked to see another foreigner.
Following the winter vacation, school was back on for a few days, only to be followed by another three-week spring vacation. I contemplated travel to China or Thailand, but with the cost of airfare and the Chinese New Year, it would have been an expensive headache. And while I enjoy warm weather, suddenly switching from freezing wind to a sultry Thailand would have just been a shock, both going and coming. Thanks to cheap domestic airfares, skiing on the mainland sounded like a cheaper and more reasonable option.
On my second trip to the mainland this year, I met with two of my Korean friends who didn't know one another and we went to Yongpyeong, probably Korea's best ski resort, which was nearly voted the site for the 2010 Winter Olympics, second only to Vancouver. Unfortunately, the winter has been exceptionally warm this year, so the snow conditions were a far cry from the dreamy conditions I had in France and Austria last ski season. From the summit, I looked in disappointment at the brown hills and mountains in every direction. The trails had barely enough snow to stay open. But it was my first time night skiing, and I really enjoyed it.
In-between my trips to the mainland, I visited Jeju’s small neighboring U-do (Cow island). It’s noted for it’s white beaches and is home to 1,500 residents and even an EPIK English teacher! I also spent the Lunar New Year, which is probably Korea’s biggest holiday, with a Korean friend in Jeju and her family. It reminded me so much of Chu-soek last October - visiting the family graves, the huge meals and the Korean hospitality. More recently, just before the start of the new semester, I enjoyed the annual Fire Festival in which 10,000 people or so gather to watch a mountain light up in flames, fireworks going off all the while.
I've been in Korea six months now and little did I know the first week of the new semester would be my best week of teaching yet in Korea. Every few years, public school teachers have to change schools, so I have many new co-teachers. I too had to change one of my schools. While I miss my old co-teachers, the new teachers speak better English and are far more consistent in disciplining the students. I had the horn and the whistle ready in my pocket, but I never had to use them once. And since it’s the beginning of the school year in Korea, I have a bunch of new 7th graders, some of whom have never had a foreign English teacher. I told my co-teachers that if teaching went this well every week, it would be as enjoyable as it was last year in Dijon, something I never once fathomed last semester.
Anyway, after the nightmarish supplementary English classes during the beginning of winter break, I had three weeks of winter vacation. I traveled around the mainland just to visit friends, but the timing wasn't great. Between people getting sick and relatives suddenly passing away, I spent a lot of my eight-day stay on buses, planes, trains and taxis. Fortunately, public transportation on the mainland is excellent, so I was able to cross the country in a single afternoon on short notice. I really enjoyed visiting my Canadian friend in Jang-su, a small town in the middle of nowhere in the Jeolla-buk province. She's the only foreign teacher in the county, so when I arrived, everyone in town was shocked to see another foreigner.
Following the winter vacation, school was back on for a few days, only to be followed by another three-week spring vacation. I contemplated travel to China or Thailand, but with the cost of airfare and the Chinese New Year, it would have been an expensive headache. And while I enjoy warm weather, suddenly switching from freezing wind to a sultry Thailand would have just been a shock, both going and coming. Thanks to cheap domestic airfares, skiing on the mainland sounded like a cheaper and more reasonable option.
On my second trip to the mainland this year, I met with two of my Korean friends who didn't know one another and we went to Yongpyeong, probably Korea's best ski resort, which was nearly voted the site for the 2010 Winter Olympics, second only to Vancouver. Unfortunately, the winter has been exceptionally warm this year, so the snow conditions were a far cry from the dreamy conditions I had in France and Austria last ski season. From the summit, I looked in disappointment at the brown hills and mountains in every direction. The trails had barely enough snow to stay open. But it was my first time night skiing, and I really enjoyed it.
In-between my trips to the mainland, I visited Jeju’s small neighboring U-do (Cow island). It’s noted for it’s white beaches and is home to 1,500 residents and even an EPIK English teacher! I also spent the Lunar New Year, which is probably Korea’s biggest holiday, with a Korean friend in Jeju and her family. It reminded me so much of Chu-soek last October - visiting the family graves, the huge meals and the Korean hospitality. More recently, just before the start of the new semester, I enjoyed the annual Fire Festival in which 10,000 people or so gather to watch a mountain light up in flames, fireworks going off all the while.
I've been in Korea six months now and little did I know the first week of the new semester would be my best week of teaching yet in Korea. Every few years, public school teachers have to change schools, so I have many new co-teachers. I too had to change one of my schools. While I miss my old co-teachers, the new teachers speak better English and are far more consistent in disciplining the students. I had the horn and the whistle ready in my pocket, but I never had to use them once. And since it’s the beginning of the school year in Korea, I have a bunch of new 7th graders, some of whom have never had a foreign English teacher. I told my co-teachers that if teaching went this well every week, it would be as enjoyable as it was last year in Dijon, something I never once fathomed last semester.
posted by prey4wind at 8:43 AM
0 comments
