Cruisin'

One of my favorite things about living on Jeju is cruising on the motorcycle, and today was another day that proved it. Wednesday is my late start day, so I went out for a cruise with Luke, Josh and Ryan (in picture order). It was such and awesome day for it too. The weather was perfect and we took the most perfect path out past the oreums and back along the coast. What makes Jeju great for cruising on bikes is that it only takes about 5 minutes to get out of the city. You then have your choice of turny mountain roads, beautiful horse pastures, or the cool coastal road. It also seems to be a great way to get a little taste of rural life in Korea. The farmers are out working in the fields and even the Haenyos (Jeju's famous women free divers) were out in full force today.

Sea Cliff Climbing at Oedolgae

This weekend, I had some friends, Mary and Adam from Seoul, come to Jeju for a long weekend. I met Mary in Thailand. She climbed very well there, but unfortunately got 2nd degree sunburns on her shins!

On Sunday, Juin and I took them climbing at Musucheon. After climbing, they wanted to get down south to Seogwipo so we decided to also climb on the sea cliffs at Oedolgae! Mary and Adam decided not to try the climbing, but Juin and I got down for one climb. It was pretty fun, but a little scary too. I'm not used to climbing at a place where your only escape is UP! It is certainly a beautiful setting for climbing though and proved to be an awesome afternoon.

Buddha's Birthday

Thursday was a national holiday in Korea for Buddha's Birthday, so on our half day on Wednesday we went down south to a temple and had a nice seafood meal in Seogwipo.

I think most of the literature on Korea that I read before I came here said that nowadays the majority of Koreans are Christians, but Michelle insisted that the majority are Buddhist. I can't tell you exactly, but there's certainly plenty of both.

Horseback Riding

Horses are one of the many things that Jeju is famous for. Our friend Jen really wanted to go horseback riding, so she took Ryan and I along to find some stallions. After a bit of driving around on the bikes, we finally found a place that had some decent looking horses and went for a half hour ride. I've said that I want to try new things while I'm here, so...this was my first time on a horse!!! I rode it like a pro! Just like I'm posing like a pro-jockey for this photo!

Blue Agave

Last weekend I went to the Blue Agave to see a band. The Blue Agave is one of the bars where the foreigners in Jeju City go to drink. To be honest, I try to steer clear of the place because I usually don't feel so good the next day. However, I went the other day to see this punk band and to try to take some photos. I didn't get as many photos as I would've liked to, but here's what I got.

Training

I've been ultra busy lately. I'm training for a new class, so I have to come into work 3 hours early for a few days this week. It might sound bad, but I'm actually quite grateful. I think it's a great advantage of my job that I have co-workers and a company that places a sincere value on education. I love that they make the effort to make me the best teacher possible.

From my end, I'm glad to be able to teach the new class. For one thing, it will get me out of the monotony of teaching the same classes over and over again. Also, it's a higher level class which will keep me on my toes. The training is exposing a lot of weaknesses in my teaching and its good to help polish those.

Korean Language Dictionary

Check out this awesome interactive Korean Dictionary! Its from IU!

http://www.indiana.edu/~koreanrs/kordic.html

Teacher's Day

Today was Teacher's Day in Korea. It's a little informal holiday where people show appreciation for their teachers. Some parents sent rice cakes, some sent pound cakes. Ryan even got a gift certificate to E-Mart! (Korean version of Wal-Mart). Best of all, Michelle took us out to dinner at the local Mexican Restaurant. I was pleasantly surprised that the food was pretty good. The fajitas were especially delicious. I guess I was most excited since I haven't had sour cream or guacamole since I've been here! MMMmmmm....!

Romance Cruiser

I took my bike into the shop, Mr. Lee's. He had to keep it for the evening so he let me borrow this totally awesome (not!) scooter. Josh told me it's called a "Romance Cruiser." Hah! I'll tell ya, this thing would be really nice for just commuting around town, but it really makes me appreciate my motorcycle more. It is nice though to have a replacement while the bike is gone.

Mr. Lee is an all around great guy for foreigners owning bikes. He's super friendly and speaks English really well. It makes owning a bike an enjoyable experience since I seem to go to the shop every couple of weeks. Its not too bad to go the shop because of how cheap it is. It seems the shops barely charge for labor! 5 bucks here or 10 bucks there. It's really nice. I'll say that owning the bike is probably my favorite part about living on the island. I love going for cruises... especially now that the weather is warm!

Climbing Video!

I officially posted my first video to YouTube and now have my first video on the blog! Darren took this video of me at the climbing competition from his hi-tech camera. Here's a little play by play: First, I stutter and duck down as I'm walking out because I forgot to lace up my shoes! I do pretty well at the beginning since it was quite easy, but I botched up the middle. I couldn't see the crutial bright pink hold that was just above my head. Finally, I make a nice move to my last hold, but make a dramatic fall because I accidentally heel hooked my pinky finger!

Back to the River

A few folks went to Musucheon on Saturday. I got a little impatient on waiting for them, so I went out on a bike ride. They did finally go, so I was a little bummed that I missed it. However, I was able to come a little later to take some pictures and get one climb in. It was a fun day for pictures since it was super foggy. I didn't get many good ones, but it is helping me learn a little more about the camera!

Shoe Man

Now that its warm out, I've been spending more time outside taking photos and getting used to my camera. Hopefully I'll post some more pictures on a regular basis.

This shoe repairman always sits in this box outside my apartment. He always looks so lonely.

Level-Up Test!

The time has come for our students to take their level-up test. We give them a test once every 3 months that is very similar to the TOFEL English proficiency test that will be quite an important test later in their lives. Sometimes its painful to give them this test since it's quite difficult, but they get through it alright. My favorite part (other than the fact that it's easy work to administer a test) is the speaking section. The kids give the funniest answers! One of Ryan's students once had this classic answer:

Ryan: What's your favorite holiday? Give reasons and examples to support your answer. You have 45 seconds.

Student: My favorite holiday is........Frankenstein........because........it's............DIRTY!