Blogs from Gangwon-do, South Korea, Asia - page 13

This weekend, the Korean Fulbright office treated our group to a trip to Songni-san, a national park in the heart of Korea ("san" means mountain, so it's obviously a great place to hike and has several trails). It was a fabulous visit, replete with plenty of relaxation, hiking, and good food. We left early on Friday, and it was about a three-hour bus ride. When we got there, Mrs. Shim, Korea Fulbright's executive director, took us all to lunch at a local restaurant. We all sat on the floor, cross-legged and shared all the little dishes that were placed on our tables (the traditional way of eating in Korea-- you get your own rice bowl, sometimes soup bowl, and then you share all the different dishes on the table). That afternoon, Nika (another Fulbrighter) and I ... read more

It is officially monsoon season here. Today is the first sun I've seen since the first couple days after I arrived. I think we were nicked by a couple typhoons, and there's been flooding throughout this area. Here at the university, it's just been very wet, but I saw pictures in the newspaper of other parts of town that had accumulated quite a bit of water. Needless to say, I've been indoors a lot. In fact, the camping trip I planned on going on this past weekend was cancelled due to the rain. However, I did venture out to the local Korean bathhouse on Saturday night (largely because the power was out throughout campus for the weekend-- supposedly, they were installing a new power grid or something). So, a substantial group of us made an outing ... read more

Yes, coffee in a can is the newest addition to my coffee-loving repertoire, thanks to Korean vending machines. I'm currently in Chuncheon, training at a local university for a year of English teaching, and in our dorm (as well as the Humanities building where my classes are) is this wonderful vending machine with a variety of coffees and even a cappuccino or two. It's like iced coffee-- but in a little can and only 50 cents. The cafeteria doesn't serve coffee (or tea) with breakfast, but with these beautiful little vending machines, I'm saved. With the coffee problem solved, everything else is going well so far. We started classes today-- 4 hours of language training a day and 3.5 hours of cultural or teaching classes a day. I'm in beginners' Korean, obviously, but I can write ... read more