Blogs from Incheon, South Korea, Asia - page 5

Dear Becca, Thinking of you in the airport.... read more

Heute war in Tokio wieder ein sonniger Tag, was mich dazu brachte noch mal den Tempel in der Nähe zu besuchen und Fotos zu machen. Diesmal habe ich 100 Yen gespendet und aus einem Behälter ein Schicksalsstäbchen gezogen. Auf dem Stäbchen waren japanische Zahlen, die man dann auf einer von hundert Schubladen suchen mußte. In der Schublade war dann ein Zettel mit einer Vorhersage. Diesen Zettel hat man dann gefaltet und um ein Seil neben dem Tempel gebunden, damit sich das Schicksal nicht erfüllt, falls es schlecht war. Falls es gut war nimmt man den Zettel mit. Mal schauen. Danach gings zum Flughafen und in den Flieger nach Südkorea. Nach vier Stunden bin ich dann am Flughafen Incheon in Südkorea gelandet. Hier habe ich dann meinen Anschlußflug nach Sydney bestiegen. Landung ist Morgen um 9 Uhr ... read more

As I write this entry I have tears in my eyes since I am homesick once again, but overall I think I am doing much better then when I first arrived here. The first 2 week camp is done, and I made it through. I taught my class of kids for 2 weeks, and have a grasp on how to teach in the classroom. The next 2 weeks are a lot less intimidating. Actually, I'm sure it will fly by. Good points about being at this camp are as follows: 1. Made some new friends - Korean and American, and Chinese 2. Got experience teaching kids, found out it wasn't so bad, so I may find a job doing that since the hours are better then teaching adults. 3. Will get paid at the end of ... read more

PRE It's 3 days until Christmas and like the more Christian or Western part of the world I am EXCITED! Even in South Korea which is traditionally a Buddhist country, Christmas trees are going up and Christmas music is playing (albeit 3 months too late). Why do we get excited? I think it's because of the families coming together -seeing your rellies that you can only fight or play with once a year. Giving and receiving presents, or giving the presents you received and didn't like LAST year. And the EATING - Pavlova, fruit salad, potato, pumpkin, chicken, cake, chocolate....! and the hopefully sunny but usually rainy weather in New Zealand. Plus last but not least, the mandatory one week holiday between Christmas and New Years that we cherish to frolic in the sun, play sports, ... read more

If you need to know one thing about Korean people, it's that they are CRAZY about hiking and shopping! I was rather surprised that they love the outdoors and didn't consider these two hobbies to go together until I went hiking in Seoul's national park- Bukhansan. It's on the far side of Seoul about an hour from where I live and the subway gets more packed with every stop. Hordes of "fashionable", label clad Koreans with walking sticks clamber on in anticipation of the mountain that awaits them. When the subway finally reaches our destination everyone swarms off like a school of fish and you are taken with the tide. But don't be fooled. We do not immediately start hiking. Instead there is an agglomeration of stalls and shops selling everything from fried fish, to Makoli ... read more