Hallasan

This was taken last week, but I think its kind of nice. The snow reminds me of the mountains back home

Hallim Harbor

I've always wanted to get some pictures at the harbor at Hallim on the western end of Jeju Island. I loved the colors of these lady's aprons. They were right in front of the boat so I couldn't get their faces, but we did talk to one of the workers who came from Bali! He was so friendly! Jeju is nice, but I can't imagine leaving Bali for Jeju!

Sashimi and Soju

Yesterday, on one of Troy and I's semi-regular cruises, we ran across these local fishermen and their picnic near Samyang Beach. They were really excited to see us and gave us a taste of their freshly caught sashimi (japanese style raw fish). Unfortunately due to riding the motorcycles we couldn't partake of the soju!

Horse

Bouldering

We got back in the riverbeds for some bouldering last week

Fire Festival....Rescheduled!

The Jeju Fire Festival was rescheduled! It was awesome! Here's a photo slideshow!

Fireworks before the blaze

People were swinging these cans around

The torches arrive

The procession to the Oreum (hill)

Lined up at the base of the Oreum

Fireworks

More Fireworks

Its on Fire!

More Fire

Ajummas (women) singing

Everyone Dancing

Cruisin'

The weather's gotten warmer! Troy got a bike, and we've been cruisin'!

Fire Festival is a Bust (and cold)

The fire festival didn't happen. The weather was relatively warm (maybe 5-7 celcius) but the winds were blowing like mad. I heard that they reported 40mph gusts! I'd believe that number for sure, and it would've been crazy to burn that hill. The bad part was earlier in the day, they cancelled all events, but not the burning finale. It wasn't until the last possible minute, at 6:30pm, after many people left and everyone else was frozen stiff did they officially cancel it. It will be rescheduled for Saturday, March 1st.

Fire Festival

This weekend is the fire festival! The weather is beautiful, so Troy and I went for a cruise to check out the opening ceremonies. We saw a massive drum band combined with over 400 people! There were also ceremonies and contests. It should be an exciting weekend! On Saturday night, they'll light the whole hill on fire.

They look fairly important

Good Food

Marching In

They Look Interesting

Performers

You can drum any instrument!

Trip to Seoul, Bukhansan, and the North Korea Border

Last weekend, I went to Seoul to visit Lindsey and do a bit of hiking. It was a great trip but too short! We went to Bukhansan (북한산) Nat'l Park and did a hike along a ridgeline. Not only was t was a really nice hike, it was a proper hike, no stairs, and even a little scary at times. After hiking we went to a bar where you can put your feet into a little pool and the fish pick at your skin! It was wild! On Sunday, our host Wang Ki Won (왕기원) took us to the North Korea border. We went into an Observatory on top of a hill and looked with little telescopes into the country. You couldn't see much, but it was really interesting. The highway along the road up there is all covered in fencing and periodic military mini bunkers. Mr. Wang told us that his father was born in North Korea, and his uncle is still there.

Me, Lindsey, and Nicola with Bukhansan in the background

Lunch

Lindsey on the Death Rope

The Crew at the Fishy Bar

The fish come to eat your feet

The other side of the river is North Korea

Rock Writing

Doctor

I had a sore throat for quite a while in January. Thankfully, it went away, but it came back with a vengance and swollen lymph nodes the other day. I've never had such a bad sore throat before, so I sucked it up and went to the doctor. I've been wanting to go try the oriental doctor, especially for something as untreatable as a sore throat, but I was a little too scared. Instead I went to the normal doctor and after looking at my throat, he said I have "a bacterial infection due to hard work and fatigue." Duh. He charged me 3500 Won ($3.50) and 2000 Won ($2.00) for antibiotics and told me to come back in 3 days.

Disappointed and aching, I learned the best remedy at the bar the night before... a nice warm whiskey drink with honey and lemon.

Halla Snowline

Hallasan is covered in snow!

Sledding

Awesome Shoes John!

Went out Saturday for some sledding with John and Troy. It was a bit of a bust, since we didn't find a steep uncrowded hill. We ended up hiking down the road to 물찻 oreum, but the road was long and the hill was covered in trees. So in the end, we didn't get much sledding in, but still had a nice hike. I love walking in the snow!

Lunar New Year

Yesterday was Lunar New Year so we did a CDI family lunch buffet at one of the hotels. It was a wonderful lunch and I feel like I've gained about 10lbs! Seriously! I feel like I've been hibernating for the past month or two, just staying at home playing guitar. The extra winter layer is good right now, but I need to get back in shape!

New Toys

I made a shopping trip with Troy last weekend and bought some new toys! I got the guitar in front and a surfboard! The guitar is a decent guitar for a good price. It's an acoustic with a pickup, so we can play shows and actually hear my guitar! Behind the guitar is a surfboard! I'm going surfing! Node says that the board is too short for me, but hopefully I'll prove him wrong! Betsy is going to teach me how to surf....I can't wait for the summer!!!

Missing Climbing

I forgot to bring in pictures of last weekend, so I'll post a picture of last summer! I'm really missing rock climbing outside these days. I feel like I've been in a bit of a hibernation period! I sleep in so late every day! Hopefully it will get warm soon so we can get on the bikes and go bouldering or climbing! The temps have been just above freezing for about the last month, which is perfect bouldering weather to some hardcore folks, but hopefully for us fair weather folks, we'll only have to wait a couple more weeks for it to get just a little warmer!

Coffee and Superbowl

Node came over Monday morning for a cup of coffee and the Superbowl! The Superbowl was on television here in Korea on Monday at 8:30am. It would've loved to see a team go undefeated for the season, but since I'm a Colts fan, that team could be any team but the Patriots! We got a super exciting 4th quarter, a Patriots loss, and a couple good cups of coffee!

Practice

Last night we went to the recording studio to practice with the band. Kat wants to play drums with us so we wanted to see how it would. Troy has set a tentative date for our first proper show in about a month and a half. This studio is awesome...it's so cheap, only about $10 an hour. We don't go there for recording, but practicing (if you record, only $20 an hour! so cheap!). They have a drumset there and big amps that you can plug into to play loud. It was super fun and we just went to try out a few songs to see what works and what doesn't work. I definitely learned that I need to plug in my acoustic guitar....or maybe buy an electric????? who knows????

Ice Climbing

Lindsey on the Ice

Yeongdong Ice Park

Last weekend, I went to the mainland and to go ice climbing with Lindsey. We went to an ice park near the small town of Yeongdong, near Daejeon. The ice is all man made, pumped from the river below and sprayed over the cliff with little shower heads. That weekend there was a major climbing festival and competition. We didn't compete, but it was a super time and met lots and lots of people. It was really crowded!

Nagging Sickness

Life during the past week has been as good as it can be, but I've had this nagging sore throat ever since New Years Day at the bar where they play the music too loud and I end up yelling all night. Its funny about living in Korea...sometimes I get sicker than I ever did before. I know I'm not the only one that has this problem and I know that this is one of the difficulties about going to another country halfway across the world. But it is one of those difficulties, and it is something that I guess you just have to be prepared for and deal with. Today was the first day I felt 100% better and its funny about how I got better. I asked my students what they do for a sore throat, and they said to gargle salt water. That's what I used to do as a kid too! So I tried it out again and life is much better now that I can sleep at night!

Birthday Hallasan Hike

Emma, and our New Slovakian Friends on Hallasan

Wednesday was my birthday and what a great day to have Wednesdays off! This is a bit of a special birthday for me since I turned 29, but in Korea, they count your age from conception, so you're a year older than your western age. I get to try out being 30 for a year! To celebrate, I went on a hike up Hallasan with my friend Emma. We woke up super early and got a good view of the sunrise on the drive to the mountain. The weather was nearly perfect, blue skies and warm with little wind. I think Hallasan is easier to hike in the winter time since you put these little mini spike/crampon things on your feet. The snow covers most of the stairs, so you don't have to be so careful about your foot placement. At the top, we met a Slovakian couple who are on a long Asia trip, visiting South Korean Buddhist temples. They turned out to be climbers and super nice folks. We invited them out to the saunas then to dinner at the Bagdad Cafe (Indian Restaurant) and had a good dinner with them and Darren, Christine, and Sam. It was a perfect birthday!

Haenyo

The weather over the past week has been incredible! Nearly 15C lately. I went for a bit of a cruise on Sunday and at the end of the day we saw the Haenyos out diving. Everyone in Jeju will tell you that Jeju is famous for three things...Wind, Rocks, and Women. These are the famous women free-divers of Jeju.

Gardeners

When I'm at home and practicing my guitar, I like to watch the gardeners outside my window. This picture doesn't show how amazing I think this is. This garden is right on the corner of quite a busy intersection. I don't know how people decide who gets to use the land, but every little section belongs to different people. The people around here use every bit of land possible for something!

Students

I like to think that most of my students are happy and enjoy my classes!

Some of my classes can be pretty large (for Korean hagwons)

Sometimes they even study hard!

Although I post pictures of climbing, turkeys and bands, the central point of my life is my work as an English teacher. Lately I think I've kinda been neglecting that aspect of my life here in Korea on my blog, so here's some photos of some students. I teach both upper elementary and middle school students, sometimes in the same class. As a reminder, I teach two classes a day. Each class is three hours long. Lately it seems like the end of the evening class can get pretty grueling since it finishes at 10pm!

Christmas

Carving the Christmas Turkey

Everyone enjoys the spread

Although I had to work, I had a pretty good Christmas. My friends Amy and Joel are some of the lucky few in Jeju with an oven in their apartment and ordered an 18lb turkey from Seoul. I haven't had turkey in a year and a half and boy was it delicious. I had to work on Christmas Day, thanks to the corporation that I work for, but it wasn't so bad when Emma and Amy delivered me some turkey! The best Christmas present ever!

The Thread

We're Rock Stars! I love Jeju because its like our own little playground in a way. You can pretty much do anything you want! Troy, Betsy, and I decided to become rock stars and we were the opening band for a show at the Led Zeppelin bar last weekend. Our band name is "The Thread" and we played 4 songs lasting 12 minutes! It went pretty well, though the sound was a bit rough due to the electronic equipment. It's a lot different than just playing in your apartment! Our friends Powernomic$ put on a fantastic show, and it was fun being the opening band!

Korean Class

My Korean Teacher

Some Students in the Class

For about a month now, I've been taking a Korean Language class at the Jeju Migrant Worker's Center. It's been a pretty good class for me. The level was actually way too easy for me, but the teacher spoke super fast and was a little difficult to understand. The best part was that she didn't speak any English, and she'd also use children's stories in class that I could break down at home then go to class and practice reading.

The class itself was a bit of an experience since it was full of mostly Phillipino and Vietnamese girls who married Korean husbands over the internet. The girls on the left in the bottom picture are from the Phillipines and the girl between Danielle and I is from Myanmar.

Danielle Teacher

Here's Danielle, the other 'new' teacher at our school. She's practically a veteran now since she's been here five months! She's from some little town near Vancouver, probably less than an hour's drive away from Node. Danielle is here to make a little money and get some teaching experience to get her teacher's certificate back in Canada. These days in Jeju she takes belly-dancing classes, studies Korean, and paints at the arboretum.