Advertisement
Published: December 7th 2008
Edit Blog Post
calm, cool, collected
steepest wooden coaster in the world. I know that my blogs have been few and far between as of late, but I don't feel like writing, and you probably don't want to read, about my some what repetitive lifestyle since starting school. Personally I think my stories were better when I wasn't working, and you probably enjoyed reading those stories much more than how my kids in class strive to over come the English language.
There have been a few hiccups in the routine lately though, Yvonne and I went to an island just south of main land Korea called Jeju-do for the weekend. Soon after that trip (the next day), Yvonne hopped on a plane and headed back to the United States. Before she left though, and before Jeju, we had a not so delicious Thanksgiving dinner and Yvonne got a job at an Irish pub. This is the story of our last month here in Seoul.
I left off last time that school had started and I was a bit flustered, but in a good and excited way. I found that being on the other side of the classroom was some where I never pictured myself before. It made it all so real when you
all hallows eve
pre funkin at my place. see the students progress right under your wing. Well I have been teaching now for a little longer and the respect I have for what my mom, aunts, and teachers I have had in the past went through to make sure we got all we deserved in a classroom. I think about my Mom sitting in the living room folding papers or making something for 30 kids while I complained about homework, or about the amount of work in a class. Little did I know that later I would be sitting at my desk cutting and pasting random worksheets together and mumbling under my breathe about how these kids won't even appreciate this.
Yvonne was contacted from an ad she posted on craigslist for cooking lessons. The person who contacted her was an American who owned an Irish pub who wanted to revise his menu and include a breakfast menu. He want Yvonne to come in a few nights a week and change the menu around and teach his kitchen staff the new items. She took the job which was good for her since I was working all day and she was at home or tooling around Seoul aimlessly. She
cleanin
Nightly dishes duty. got to make a few extra bucks while being over here and add to her cooking resume. She was lucky to find the job and it made traveling around easier with the little more cash in her pocket. She worked there for about 3 weeks, 3 days a week. I was asked to be a food tester, which I had no problem doing.
Thanksgiving wasn't blessed with a huge feast or even pub food at that. Yvonne had stopped working at the pub a few days before Thanksgiving, because she wanted to the last week free to do whatever her heart desired. When Thanksgiving arrived, she was sick and stuck in bed. I got home from work and bought some soup at the market down stairs and we ate $1 soup packets and saltine crackers. If it were any other day this might have been ok, even good. This was not any other day in my opinion, so the soup didn't quite have the same soothing appeal that it usually does. None the less we enjoyed it and finished the night with a couple of movies.
Soon after Thanksgiving, Yvonne and I jumped on a plane and found our selves
Lava caves
me at the entrances of one of the many lava tube systems on Jeju island. on Jeju island. This island is off of the very southern tip of Korea. It is considered to be the Hawaii of Korea, and I can see how they would say that. Pom trees, crystal clear warm water, white sand beaches, and the friendliest locals that Korea can boast. The island is not that large, so it was easy to get from one end to the other. It was also the low tourist season, so finding a place to stay and popular tourist attractions weren't crowded with the masses. We started our weekend at the northern part of the island and went to mangual lava caves. I had no idea how massive these systems were, or how extensive. The one tube that we were in was about 50 feet high and 30 feet wide. This tube went on for 9 km, but we could only see about 1 km of it due to cave ins and weak infrastructure. We did get to see the largest lava dome in the world, which was about 40 feet tall. The picture of it I have on here describes what a lava dome is.
After doing the whole cave thing we got on a
bus and headed down to the southern part of the island for waterfalls and beaches. When we got to the waterfalls you could say we were a little underwhelmed. Nothing like multnomah falls, but just as many love struck couples or family vacationers there to take in it's non breath taking view. Shrugging off the disappointment of the waterfall, we decided to skip the rest in the area and head to a rocky out cove where there just happened to be tons of shells, and a great sunset over the ocean. We stopped here to take pictures and take it all in. Yvonne found two little star fish on a rock and I found a cluster of crazy looking shells. We ended the night at a pizza joint for dinner, and hunted for a place to stay as it was getting dark.
The next day we headed to another part of the southern coast and checked out the local beach which would have been perfect if it were only 20 degrees warmer. We left the beach and headed back north again before checking out love land, which is something else entirely, and Yongduam rock. Here is the story about it
cave
yes the inside is really that blurry. courtesy of asiarooms.com...
Yong means dragon in Korean and the rock formation resembles a dragon rising from the sea into the sky and the dragon head rock has been so named after this rock. The Yongduam Rock is a volcanic rock that was created from an eruption about two million years ago. It is 10 m high, and 30 m long. It is named so because of the legend that a dragon (“yong”) living in his dragon palace tried to ascend to the heavens and got stuck. This is why it is said that the dragon’s head is facing the sky. A portion of the rock fell of during a heavy storm some time ago and now only “the body parts” of the dragon remains.
Another, more colorful legend, states that the Dragon King's messenger was sent to Halla Mountain to gather bulloch'o or a herb that would give him eternal life. The messenger was killed when an arrow released by an angry mountain god hit the messenger. Part of the messenger's body sank into the water while the head remained above the water, trying to return to the sky. Soon after that we had the worst meal yet of
yvonne
2 minutes before we had to flee the caves as a river of lava came rushing towards us at sixty miles an hour. Korea, it was bitter sweet to say the least. This was the last meal on Jeju, we were leaving for the airport a little bit after dinner. Not only that, but When we got home, Yvonne was leaving the next day. This is/was the hardest part, trying to enjoy your last few days together before parting ways again. This time for seven months. I remember flying away on the plane back to Seoul and just off the coast of Jeju, were these bright lights in a sea of darkness. It was like looking at the sky below us. The lights were from fishing boats right off the coast, and they were clustered all over the coast. Looking at this amazing sight and then looking to my right and seeing Yvonne sitting next to me, really made me feel special and loved. I know there are few people, if any that would do what she has done for me, and go through the time alone with unanswered questions looming over head. I care so much for this girl and I am happy to say that we are going to stick out these months apart together. She is a special, amazing, smart,
lava tower
Largest lava tower in the world. What a lava tower is, is a stream of lava that pours down like a waterfall from another tube system and the stream hardens as it falls, creating a a wall, or pillar of lava. beautiful person, and hopefully this time apart will only open my eyes more to that fact.
As for me right now, school is my top priority here. I am excited for my parents to get here, so for once, I can show them some far off exotic place. It's always good hearing from you all. Until the next time, annyakasayo!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.162s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 9; qc: 61; dbt: 0.087s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Maureen
non-member comment
teaching in korea
Hello! As someone who is looking to teach in Korea, I was wondering if you could provide any feedback... Anything would be so helpful! Thank you!