Blogs from Busan, South Korea, Asia - page 31

Yo. So I'm sitting at the work PC desperately trying to plan classes in preparation for the new classes I will be taking as of tomorrow. The students I have known and loved for the past two months will be replaced by new students who I haven't known and loved at all. Plus they are nearly all free talking classes which means I have to have a steady stream of articles up my sleeve ideally with accompanying vocab lists and thought provoking questions. Thank God for the BBC website is all I can say. Things are going ok. Still moaning daily about the early morning start as it totally limits socialising. However last weekend was an absolute blinder, probably the best I've had since I've been here. About 4 weeks ago when Will and I were ... read more

So last weekend Sunny and I went to the Chinatown Cultural Festival. To be fair there wasn't that much going on but I did get a cute couple of kiddie pics!And some dude was making intricate sugar lollies which was pretty cool. I wasn't really in the mood as I'd been hoping to go to Thailand over CHristmas and new Year to catch up with the King of Stink (that's Paul or Pikey P to some of u guys) but had been told I couldn't have the holiday as it was within the first 6 months of my contract. I was so so gutted- kind of dreading Crimble here- I love it back in the UK- last year was 12 days of eating, drinking and being merry with even a sprinkling of snow-totally perfect. I thought ... read more

Ok so not last week but the week before (really must update this more regularly!) it was Chuseok which is basically the Korean Thanksgiving. What with being British n all that I wasn't exactly sure what Thanksgiving was (ok so being British AND being and idiot) but apparently it's when you give thanks to the harvest for being prosperous. So Koreans get a holiday that lasts about four days depending upon when it falls (I think our equivalent is Harvest Festival- from what I remember this is when 7 year olds in school uniform roam the streets on mass and force tinned goods onto biddies- kind of like what I did last Christmas too...altho I wasn't seven....anyway..) Initially I was pretty worried about Chu-seok as I didn't know what I'd do to fill the time and ... read more

So every year a modern art exhibition comes to Busan so I thought I'd best check it out! I went with one of Wills students, a guy called Joey. His English is really good and he's a really cool guy to hang out with. Although I love all of my Korean friends sometimes there are moments when it can be testing for both parties, especially when it comes to humour. Sarcasm can sometimes go way over their heads! Joey spent a year living in Guatemala so his English is good, and he's travelled so he's open minded and laid back. So basically he's cool to hang out with as there is no real language barrier. Off we trotted to the Busan Museum of Modern Art which is one of the three sites where the art exhibition ... read more

Why, you may ask, did Alexis have all this time off in the first place? Well, let me tell you. For the conference, it was over a weekend, plus my school was required to give me Monday off. But the rest of the glorious days off were because of a wonderful and huge holiday here called Chuseok. Chuseok is the biggest holiday in Korea and can be considered equivalent to Thanksgiving. People go to their homes, exchange gifts (not quite in the same way as Christmas, I should say-- usually they give food items or gift sets or things, from what I observed), meet with extended family, make traditional foods (including some delicious, sweet rice cakes-- soft kinds, not the hard stuff you're thinking of that they sell in the US). It's an important holiday here ... read more