Blogs from Jeollabuk-do, South Korea, Asia - page 3

As far as weeks go in Korea, this one was my toughest. I was starting to feel that my wander lust had completely worn out and that I should head home. After a "Western" breakfast burrito, a friend and I headed out for our now daily walk around town. We decided to take a new road which ended at a bridge construction site. After a few seconds of deliberation, we crossed the barriers and walked down the closed road. It lead to a place which seemed very un-Jeonju like. A small creek rushed through the neighborhood which made for a tranquil setting. Little concrete bridges created a path over the creek to the homes of a few lucky Jeonju residents. Even the dog looked content to just listen to the water rush by! On our journey ... read more

Boryeong, Jeonju und Jinan English below Nach Seoul ging ich zu Daechon Beach (Boryeong). Um Mitte Juli ist dies der Ort an dem jeder feiert, da das jährliche Schlamm-Festival dort stattfindet. Als ich ankam hat es natuerlich geregnet. Somit habe ich mich entschlossen nach Jeonju zu gehen. Ich hatte eine interessante Erfahrung als ich in Boryeong angekommen bin. Ich hatte meine Unterkunft nicht voraus geplannt, da ich mir sicher war dass ich dort ein Hotelzimmer finden werde wenn ich ankomme. Sobald ich aus dem Bus ausgestiegen bin, hat ein koreanischer Mann mich angesprochen um zu fragen ob ich ein Zimmer reserviert hatte. In weniger als einer Minute saß ich in einem Auto mit 5 anderen koreanischen Mädchen um zu einem Motel zu fahren. Das alles war sehr seltsam, jedoch hatte ich ein Motelzimmer in kürzester ... read more

The apartment we live in has started a hiking club; they meet once or twice a month at a nearby park and go hiking. Our first hike was at Sinsido, an island just south of Kunsan. To get there we drove along the new Saemangeum wall, the same road I ran the Half Marathon. Well when we got to the start of the trail and looked up I knew this would be a typical Korean hike; we went up over 100 steps. We stopped by the water and had lunch, one of the members who was not that familiar with hiking and packing lunch brought rice for everybody, over 5 pounds. It was a nice hike, many ups and downs, but lots of great views. ... read more

First week in S. Korea! Just getting settled in and used to my new job. We went out with our adult students friday night. I had a lot of fun hanging with them and getting to know them better. Sautrday, we headed out of town to a small town named Gimje. I got to see a 1200 year old Buddhist temple. Snapped a pic of a Buddhist monk chanting his prayers. I enjoyed seeing a monk in person. After checking out all the temples, we headed up the mountain. Everything was so green and beautiful. It is very common for Koreans to be buried in the mountains. Since they don't have grave markers, they indicate a grave with a mound of earth. Many families were having picnics by the graves of their deceased family. I could ... read more

EPIK Orientation Day 2 The day arrived for our little medical check-ups to find all EPIK teacher's irrationally nervous about failing the drug test by some fluke accident or finding out they have some sort of serious disease they were unaware of. The thing most people were not concerned about turned out to be my own personal disaster! They told us to stop drinking anything after dinner before the drug test so I stopped drinking water around 7pm...then the urine test wasn't until 8 am. When I went to "perform" there was just nothing. I kept going back to see if what I'd manage to put int the little dixie cup they gave me (yes, a little paper cup!) was enough and the poor guy just kept saying "no, I'm so sorry". I drank 1 bottle ... read more