Mt. Cheonggyesan: My first hike!

So today I successfully completed my first mountain hike! It started off in really nice weather but once we reached the summit at 2200 metres it started snowing so hard unfortunately there was barely a view to be seen! It took 6 hours to hike the mountain and at some points seemed to drag on for ages. My crampons came in handy when some people in the group were sliding down the trail, I had a firm grip on the ground and didn't fall once! Which I am happy about because I am already sore enough as it is!
It was a tremendous workout and by the time we reached the summit we were covered in snow and could barely see the view in the distance. We stopped for a half hour lunch break at a Buddhist temple in the woods at the top of the other side of the mountain when we began our descent, here are some photos!

 This was the view at the summit. It was difficult to see in the blizzard but the mountain in the distance was apparently very large and we were above that. I hope the next time I hike it's a clear day for photos!

 A huge statue of the Buddha in the background!

This is me at the Chonggye Buddhist Temple in the middle of the woods on the slope of the mountain where we stopped for lunch.

Finally some wildlife! A rarity in a city the size of Seoul.

My first trip to Busan!

Yesterday I went to Busan with my recruiter Ellie and she introduced me to an awesome American teacher named Ada, and although it was freezing cold near the water, I HAD to check out Haeundae Beach: the famous tourist spot in Busan. These are just a few of the pictures I took!

 Ellie, Ada and I were sitting on the patio of a second story coffee shop overlooking Haeundae Beach. In the distance you can see small mountainous islands. It was absolutely gorgeous!

 These are more views from the balcony and to the right you can see downtown Busan.

 On Hauendae Beach. Even though it was freezing by the water I had to take at least a few pictures. It was so beautiful! This is Ellie and my new American friend Ada from Colorado.

 Ellie and I on the beach!

Ellie, Ada and I having dinner after we went to the beach! at a local tiny restaurant. It was delicious, and I forget what the name of the whole meal is called but it was bbq pork which you put in a lettuce leaf along with all the different type of vegetables they brought to us. We also sipped on Soju, the cheap Korean drink!

 This bar was about 100 feet from the beach. We stopped in for some jello shots. Really cheap! 3 for W5000! Which is about 3 shots for $4.50!

Ada and I in the bar! It was really cool. Can't wait for the warm weather to come!

Busan was such a cool city and when the weather gets warmer Ada and I decided to do as many water sports as we can on the weekends! Can't wait for the next trip!

Itaewon on a night stroll

Tonight I decided get out and get some exercise since I haven't found a gym yet nearby, so I decided to walk around and try and take some nice pictures of Itaewon!

The welcome gates of Itaewon.

The foreign book store.

Apparently one of the the best places to go to catch the Superbowl! Which of course I can't see live unless I watch it at 5am.

Welcome to Itaewon!

 On my way back home I can use the North Seoul Tower as a guide!

 The US Army Garrison looking creepy at night.

 My local food store/stand where I pick up vegetable and my new favorite..green pumpkins!

Street meat...Seoul style outside my place.

My classroom in Hannamdong

So I have officially begun teaching this week. Today was my second day and I teach six 5 year olds who are incredibly cute and who I will eventually put up pictures of but for the time being I want to get to know them a bit better first!

 This is my classroom!

Our board!

Our message board that has a new message everyday for the kids to take home and then I mark them the next day to make sure they wrote it correctly.

The school is incredibly clean and new and the staff are very nice and helpful. The majority of the students come from quite affluent families which is a bonus for us because it means for the amount they pay everyone means they can afford an entire kitchen staff to prepare all of us free and delicious food everyday, so to my surprise I am eating a lot better than I thought I would be.

I only teach for some 4 hours a day and the rest is lesson planning for the following day and serving them food at lunch before we serve ourselves. At the end of the day I have to get their outdoor shoes on and zip up their coats and walk them hand in hand to their designated bus.

An interesting aspect of Korean teaching standards is that they consider a child 1 when they are born. So in actual fact I am teaching 5 year olds in grade 1, as opposed to a North American standard that would have 5 year olds in kindergarten. I have some kids who were born so late in the year that by North American standards they are actually 4, and I am teaching them subtractions already!

For the most part the students have English names, however some have Korean names which I find difficult to pronounce. They of course find this very funny and have also adopted me my own nickname in the midst of trying to pronounce Robyn, so now many students call me 'wobaband teacha.' Yes, I am rubber band teacher.

Today we played games at the end and I introduced them to duck-duck-goose. They didn't know what a duck or a goose was, but they liked it! Once the kids are gone at 3pm I have 2 hours to myself in the teacher's lounge for lesson prep for the next day.

Myself and the staff went for a pint at Wolfhound Pub in Itaewon after work. An awesome Irish pub because it was 2 for 1 fish n chips night tonight. It began snowing heavily but I managed to get a few pictures on the way home from the pub.

 It was so cold my hand was shaking when I took this photo. It is supposed to be of the North Seoul Tower but even though it's blurred I think the light pattern looks good!

 And then it started snowing.. a lot!

Kind of creepy but this is the wall to the Yongsan US Army garrison at night and these line the outside perimeter some 2 minute walk from my place.

Hopefully when the weather gets better I can take much better and clearer photos of the area. At the moment Seoul seems to be experiencing more snow than apparently it has had in years, so when it clears up I will venture out further and take some more interesting pictures of the city!

Itaewon-foreigner's paradise

So on my second night in Seoul I traveled to downtown Itaewon with my recruiter Ellie and some other Canadian teachers she's friends with. It is a very energetic area with so many shops, pubs, bars and neon lights. I even saw a handful of American military soldiers walking down the street from Yongsan Garrison, the largest American military base in Korea with apparently over 30 000 troops.

So we funny enough went for Indian curry as my first meal in Korea, as the other 2 teachers were from out of town and rarely get a chance to have a good curry so we went to the Maharaja restaurant and had some shisha after the meal :)

This is my recruiter Ellie with me in the middle of Itaewon!

 Where everybody knows your name...in Korea!

Ellie, myself, Mary-Anne and James at the Maharaja. After our meal we smoked some shisha, however Ellie declined. She told me that it is somewhat taboo for women to be seen smoking in public in Korea.

After our dinner we ventured out onto the small side streets with no sidewalks and small motor bikes riding by to find endless pubs, restaurants and the tiniest bars I've ever seen!
We went to the 'foreign food market' to find an array of exotic things like avocados, Nutella, maple syrup and nachos :) We wandering around the area and saw many interesting names of clubs and bars and there were flashing neon lights everywhere!

 We passed one side street called 'Homo hill' which is where the very quiet Korean community comes alive at night. Ellie and the other teachers informed me that LGBT rights in Korea are not as progressive as you may find elsewhere, and the reason that the biggest gay community is found in foreigner's paradise is because that is where they find the least amount of scrutiny and can enjoy their nightlife with an array of bars and clubs. Needless to say when I asked when gay pride is..there is no gay pride.

 A club with a cool name :)

 The lights in real life on Itaewon street are sooo bright however because my flash was on it looks darker than it actually was.

 By the end of the night I did end up going to a local tiny restaurant and bar with Ellie and a new American teacher she introduced me to from L.A. named Eli. The green bottle is called 'Soju' and its the absolute cheapest liquor you can buy. So Ellie told me it's my initiation to Korea to drink a shot of this. 25% alcohol and that green bottle costs about 85 cents. The brown bottle is beer and i'm not sure how much that was.

 This was our Korean food we ordered. The orange and red small bowls in the middle are kimchi which comes with absolutely everything. Delicious!

This is Eli and Ellie taking a shot of sujo at the table.

Itaewon is a very exciting happening place with tons of stuff to do. There is an English bookstore here called 'what the book?' and when we ventured inside Ellie joked that she was the foreigner in there as it was all Americans and Canadians. The culture shock is definitely less here than anywhere else which I will admit serves a nice purpose. The majority of the city can give you a solid Korean experience but admittedly Itaewon will be nice some days when I can relax and perhaps read an English newspaper or order food in English. It's nice to have just around the corner.

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