Busan!!

After a year and a half of living in Korea, I finally made my way down to the second-most populous city in Korea. Busan. Now, Hwacheon, if you don't know, is located at the top of the country, and Busan is located at the very bottom. They are both on the eastern side, but it is still a bit of a treck to make it all the way down there.

Since it is such a long trip, I made the decision last year to go down for several days during my winter vacation. I would get to see a lot more then if I just went down for the weekend.

So, as soon as I was officially free from school, I left. I had four days planned to see the city from Monday to Thursday the week after winter camp. I didn't want to stay any longer than that because Friday started Lunar New Year and it would be an absolute nightmare to travel. Note to anyone who is going to come to Korea, don't plan to travel on public transportation very easily on Chuseok or Lunar New Year. Everyone goes home for those holidays and it is an absolute nightmare.

My trip was mostly condensed to two and a half days because of the time it takes to get from home to Busan and back.

Monday:
After finally arriving at my hostel, I decided I still had a few hours to see the sights. So I went down to Haeundae Beach, one of the more famous beaches in Busan, and I went to the Sea Life Aquarium. I got there pretty late, so there weren't many people still there. After I finished, I walked along the beach and looked at the lights they had laid out. I got dinner and decided to see a movie, just because I didn't feel like going back home yet.

Tuesday:
Since I had the whole day, I was going to take advantage of it. I got a hostel right next to Busan Station and what I didn't realize was there was a hop-on-hop-off bus that started right outside of the station and took me to a lot of the places I wanted to visit.

My first stop was Taejongdae. This is a natural part. I wasn't exactly sure what to do there but I figured I would wander until I found something. Or I guess something found me. As soon as I got off the bus, there was this guy, who I thought worked for the park, telling me and the older Korean lady, who was on the bus too, about a boat cruise and he had discount tickets. Now, I will be honest, I only sorta knew what was going on, but it seemed good and the lady was okay with it, so they transported us to this little cove where there was a boat waiting for us. Some other people straggled in after us while we waited for the cruise. It was a 20-minute ride in the water that was nice and had good views of the water and the traditional fishermen. It would have been a bit more interesting, had I understood what the recording was saying, but it was a nice first adventure.

After Taejongdae, I took the bus to Oryukdo Skywalk, which was an observation deck that overlooked a bunch of islands known as the Oryukdo Islands. And this, I found out, literally means 'five or six islands' because depending on the time of day and tide, there are either five or six islands.

Songdo beach was my next stop. I know, there are a lot of beaches and water for January, but it wasn't too cold out and it's part of the appeal of Busan. I walked around the beach and the observation deck pathway before taking the cable car over the beach and water to a nearby cliff.

After this, I went to Busan Tower. This tower overlooks the whole city. It was actually pretty cool seeing all the places I had been today and the places I had planned for tomorrow. The tower didn't take too long, so I decided to add on to my itinerary and hit some close by places next, like the Busan Modern History Museum, Bosu Book Street (an alleyway several blocks long, lined on both sides by little book shops), a few markets that were close together like Bupyeong Kangtong and Gukje Market, before deciding that my legs were killing me and it was time to grab some dinner and rest for the evening.

Wednesday:
Even though my legs still ached from Tuesday, it was full steam ahead as I went to Gamcheon Culture Village. A huge village that was built like stairs into the side of the mountain. The idea is that no one's house would intrude on the view of the sea for another house. I spent a fair amount of time there, even though it was drizzling the whole day. I briefly went to Jeonpo Cafe Street, which really reminded me of the Myeongdong area in Seoul, and finally ending at Centum City. This is a huge shopping complex and is recognized as the largest department store in the world. There is even an ice skating rink there on the 4th floor.

While I only had a few days there, I do feel like I got to see everything I wanted to see and it was fantastic. I really enjoyed my trip and I am glad I got to go.

Detective Kristy and the Case of the Winter English Camp

Just like last year, at the end of the school year in January, we had a winter camp. It was set up slightly different this year, in that there were four classes that rotated each day. So for five days, we each taught the day one lesson 4 times and on Friday, we would have the first class again and teach the day two lesson. The camp consisted of all of the EPIK teachers in our town and Gia (the other ETA at my school) and I. We were each in pairs teaching one of the four classrooms. Gia and I were paired together and made a Detective themed camp based on the board game CLUE.

Day one was the detective day. We played a bunch of games calling it "detective training." We played games where they had to remember the shapes on the board, spot all the differences in a set of pictures.

Then we learned "what am I?" poems. We called these clues, so the students would read three sentences like "I am red or green" "I am a fruit" and "I am crunchy" and they would come up with the answer apple. We read a few, wrote one as a class then the students had to write one for themselves (or pairs). I am so surprised at how well some of the students did. They were really good at coming up with them and when I had them read their clue aloud to the class, the class was able to figure it out as well. We then used this skill to complete a scavenger hunt around the room, using the clues to get them to the next object and ultimately to the winning sentence.

We did day one four times and each time was slightly different. Some classes went faster than others, some really enjoyed certain activities more than others, some just ended up not even getting to do some activities. But it was fun adjusting every day on the fly.

Day two had us actually playing the game CLUE. We made our own modified board with objects and rooms that they would better be able to learn.

After playing a few games to get the students familiar with the appearance and household vocabulary words, we set them to play the game (after 20 minutes of explanation in both English and Korean). Surprisingly, most of the groups really understood it. One group didn't even need any help, freeing Gia and me up to monitor the groups that need help playing. The strategy part of the game was a bit difficult as it was third graders we were playing with. Some groups really got into the game and some even finished before it was time to go. They were so invested, they didn't want to stop playing while they got their snack.

I'm really happy with the camp that we made this year and I hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did.

The Garden of Morning Calm- Light Festival

Yes, I went back to the botanical gardens.

I can't help it. I love them.

This time I wasn't there for the flowers. In the wintertime, the arboretum puts out a spectacular lights display at night. It was something I really wanted to go to last year but I didn't get a chance to go. So when the festival rolled around again this year, I was determined.

I ended up going with two other ETAs in Hwacheon. Since school is over, we are working half days right now so we decided to leave after lunch. We ended up shopping in Chuncheon for a bit and finally headed over to the gardens around sunset. It took almost an hour to get there by train and taxi.

We could see the lights from a distance and it was so beautiful. There were arches of lights and little houses and a whole sea made of lights. It looked like the perfect place for couples as well. There were a lot of really romantic spots  I had so much fun walking around and taking pictures. My phone didn't though. It decided that it didn't want to be cold anymore and died. I was very happy I brought my portable charger, or I would have had to walk home.

6th Grade Graduation

A few days ago, I taught my last class for the 2019 school year, and yesterday, I said goodbye to the students that I started with. My 6th graders are charming, and smart and enthusiastic. They are also brats and made me want to pull my hair out or duct tape their mouths... or both.

As I stood in the back of the gym, I thought about all of the days I've taught these kids in the past year and a half. Each student that walked across the stage is someone that I've talked to, worked with and that I care about. I am so proud to have seen these students reach the end of their time in elementary school.

After all the students did the walk, some fifth and sixth graders performed. Usually, it is just dancing, which is always so good. I'm amazed every time by the talent of these kids, but we also had some play instruments and had a few fifth-grade boys who decided they wanted to rap and sing. It was so cute. I had to put my hand over my mouth so that I wasn't laughing in the video I was taking. It was so cute.

After the performances, the students are dismissed and I tried my best to congratulate and give hugs to as many students as I could. When I hugged Siyeon (my old host sister), I couldn't help but start to cry. I was so proud of her. So proud of all of them.