Monday, May 18, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
May 1st-2nd
Life in Korea is still a blast. Every time we have a good weekend we wonder if we can possibly out do it. We as a group are having so much fun together whatever it is we are doing. About a couple weeks ago we were told we were going to have a workshop with all of the foreign teachers and the Korean teachers. By workshop, most of the teachers had to perform their class the way they do it in front of all of us other teachers so we could get ideas on how to do things in our classes. It was actually very helpful for someone like me because I am NO teacher and still learning new things everyday. This workshop took place on Friday night directly after work. Once everyone went through their routines, we headed to this restaurant right next to the school in which our principal paid for. It was a Korean BBQ duck restaurant that was delicious. Once we finished dinner, we got on one of the school's school buses and drove to a resort about an hour and a half away. We were told that the resort had a theme park that we would go to on Saturday if it was not raining. If it was raining, we were going to do pottery instead. When we got to the resort, there were the six of us foreign teachers (Tate, Jillian, Daniel, Dave, myself and our new teacher Ta-Leah), and maybe 6 of the other Korean teachers and it was already close to 11:30 PM but we all stayed up and sat around a table and chatted about so many different things. It was actually something that was so good for us because a trip like that breaks the ice between the foreign teachers and Korean teachers. The next week at work, I noticed a difference in the way we interacted with one another in the workplace, so I can say it was an awesome thing for us.
We finally got to bed around 4:30 in the morning to only wake up around 8. It was little sleep but not bad because we knew we had a fun day ahead of us. It had not rained so we were heading to the theme park after breakfast. When you think a theme park, you are thinking of fun rides and roller coasters and what not. But that was not the case at this theme park. I would call it a park. Don’t get me wrong, this place was gorgeous and we had to walk up a very steep inclined hill to get to the highlight of our weekend. They had a 150 meter zip line at the top of the hill. We were able to go on the zip line two times and it was an awesome experience. I have never been on a zip line before but had always wanted to go on one. My plan was to have my camera going the whole way down the zip line because I knew it would be awesome to put on the blog but for safety reasons, they would not allow me to. So when I got to the bottom on my first run, I gave my camera to Dave to film me but that didn’t work out as well either. There are some really awesome pictures and a short video clip before I took off that will give you a view of how high up we were and how gorgeous or surroundings were. It truly was a very gorgeous piece of land that was very well kept.
After everyone went on the zip line their two turns, we walked down the hill and stopped at a foot bath (It is pretty much a hot tub for your feet) for ten minutes or so and soaked our feet. It was a little interesting but relaxing I guess. We then went to the pottery barn and were able to do pottery. I again have never done pottery and was a little excited to try it out. The man that helped us out was incredible. I am a very artistically challenged and very nervous to see what I would make. I started off making this huge bowl but could not decide what to do with it and what shape I wanted it to be in. I became extremely restless and decided that I would rather do something that meant something to me than "just a bowl". I don’t think any of you reading this will be surprised with my bowl once you see it. I won’t ruin it by telling you what it was but will let you see for yourself in the pictures. Once we finished pottery, we hopped on the bus and headed back to Dongtan for a mid-afternoon lunch and then back home to enjoy the rest of our weekend.
Lately, Jillian, Tate, Daniel and I had been talking about getting a BBQ to put on our rooftop. As we were leaving from the school after the workshop/resort trip, we asked Jade if maybe the school had an extra BBQ they would let us barrow. Sure enough, she called her dad and he said we could take one to put on top of the roof. We were so excited that we planned a BBQ party on the rooftop for Sunday and had a few people over. We barbecued lots of steak, chicken, turkey burgers, and vegetables and enjoyed our Sunday in the sun with good company and some beers. The BBQ was so much fun that we knew it was going to be something we would do very often. We have had the BBQ now for about 3 weeks and would say we have barbecued around a solid ten times. In fact, I barbecued chicken tonight by myself for dinner (5/17/09). As we are becoming more and more professional with the BBQ, we decided we needed a change up on the rooftop and we made a beer pong table that we use for beer pong obviously and other games. Our next investment is going to be a table that can stay outside at all times. It has been a blast barbecuing up there with everyone in the apartment. I see nothing but good from this BBQ and a ton more good times to come on our rooftop in Dongtan, South Korea.
We finally got to bed around 4:30 in the morning to only wake up around 8. It was little sleep but not bad because we knew we had a fun day ahead of us. It had not rained so we were heading to the theme park after breakfast. When you think a theme park, you are thinking of fun rides and roller coasters and what not. But that was not the case at this theme park. I would call it a park. Don’t get me wrong, this place was gorgeous and we had to walk up a very steep inclined hill to get to the highlight of our weekend. They had a 150 meter zip line at the top of the hill. We were able to go on the zip line two times and it was an awesome experience. I have never been on a zip line before but had always wanted to go on one. My plan was to have my camera going the whole way down the zip line because I knew it would be awesome to put on the blog but for safety reasons, they would not allow me to. So when I got to the bottom on my first run, I gave my camera to Dave to film me but that didn’t work out as well either. There are some really awesome pictures and a short video clip before I took off that will give you a view of how high up we were and how gorgeous or surroundings were. It truly was a very gorgeous piece of land that was very well kept.
After everyone went on the zip line their two turns, we walked down the hill and stopped at a foot bath (It is pretty much a hot tub for your feet) for ten minutes or so and soaked our feet. It was a little interesting but relaxing I guess. We then went to the pottery barn and were able to do pottery. I again have never done pottery and was a little excited to try it out. The man that helped us out was incredible. I am a very artistically challenged and very nervous to see what I would make. I started off making this huge bowl but could not decide what to do with it and what shape I wanted it to be in. I became extremely restless and decided that I would rather do something that meant something to me than "just a bowl". I don’t think any of you reading this will be surprised with my bowl once you see it. I won’t ruin it by telling you what it was but will let you see for yourself in the pictures. Once we finished pottery, we hopped on the bus and headed back to Dongtan for a mid-afternoon lunch and then back home to enjoy the rest of our weekend.
Lately, Jillian, Tate, Daniel and I had been talking about getting a BBQ to put on our rooftop. As we were leaving from the school after the workshop/resort trip, we asked Jade if maybe the school had an extra BBQ they would let us barrow. Sure enough, she called her dad and he said we could take one to put on top of the roof. We were so excited that we planned a BBQ party on the rooftop for Sunday and had a few people over. We barbecued lots of steak, chicken, turkey burgers, and vegetables and enjoyed our Sunday in the sun with good company and some beers. The BBQ was so much fun that we knew it was going to be something we would do very often. We have had the BBQ now for about 3 weeks and would say we have barbecued around a solid ten times. In fact, I barbecued chicken tonight by myself for dinner (5/17/09). As we are becoming more and more professional with the BBQ, we decided we needed a change up on the rooftop and we made a beer pong table that we use for beer pong obviously and other games. Our next investment is going to be a table that can stay outside at all times. It has been a blast barbecuing up there with everyone in the apartment. I see nothing but good from this BBQ and a ton more good times to come on our rooftop in Dongtan, South Korea.
April 18th and 19th
Ok, ok so I know what you are all thinking. In most of my blogs I apologize for how long it has taken me to update and I always throw out the line, "The next one won’t take as long, I promise." As I am sorry for how long it takes me, I will no longer tease you by saying it wont be as long. It has been about a month and a half since I have updated and it has been an awesome month. We have done a lot and had tons of fun on the weekends. To start off, on the weekend of April 18th and 19th, there was a paintball trip planned for the weekend by the Dongtan Clan. The Dongtan Clan is a group on facebook that is made for foreign teachers who live in Dongtan or the surrounding cities as well. There are over 100 people in the group and about 25 of us went on the paintball weekend excursion. There was only about 5-6 people that I had actually met before so I knew I would be meeting a bunch of new people that live in the area. On Saturday, April 18th we all met in the morning at our Central Park and headed off to paintball. In Korea they call paintball, "Survivor" which actually makes sense. It was the first time I had been paintballing and oh my goodness, it was a blast! We were split into two teams and battled for about 2 hours. I have a bunch of pictures that you will be able to see. I was doing good and dodging shots the whole day. I think for the first hour and a half, I was not shot once. But I tell you in that last half and hour, I probably got shot like 10 times. I was shot on the top of my head I think twice and that was terrible. Once we finished and cleaned up, we all couldn't believe there was still more fun to be had. We didn’t think it was possible to top the paintball. I don’t think we have ever been so wrong.
One thing you realize about the other foreign teachers here, they are all looking to have a good time just as we are. After paintball, we went to lunch where we ate Korean BBQ, had plenty of beer and soju. At this point we are all starting to actually meet one another because during paintball it was a little tough as you are shooting others and dodging shots yourself. The group was really awesome and we could tell we were going to have a wild day/night at the resort we were heading to. Once we got to the resort, I think all of our eyes widened and our mouths dropped to the floor. The place was huge and beautiful. We got our rooms where there were three rooms and about 8-9 people in each room. There is only one bed if you are lucky because Korean resorts are more known to have lots of blankets and pads to sleep on the floor. I have been to three resorts so far in Korea and all three I have slept on the floor. The balcony of our room looked out to the backside of the resort and we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. There was a huge mountain/hill that we knew we would be on all day. We all met down in the lobby, went to the market in the resort and loaded up on lots of beer and soju. You were able to do two things on the mountain. You have to take up the chairlift to the top and you could either golf a par three 9 hole course the whole way down or you could ride the alpine slide down the mountain. We wanted to golf but it was very pricey and you got to remember, we are just poor teachers. Instead, we decided to take the chairlift up to do the slide. The slide was at the top of the mountain and you sat in this little sled looking seats that had a stick shift. The stick shift could be used to push forward to accelerate or pulled towards you for a brake. The brake was the least of anyone's worries. We actually did not to the slide right away because it was so gorgeous at the top and about 15 of us just hung out on top, drinking our beers and still getting to know one another. We finally took the slide down and it was so much better than I thought it would be. I actually took a video while I was on it and will have it uploaded for everyone to see what it was like. The slide went a lot faster than we expected. Many of us including myself had situations where we fell off our slide because it was going too fast. Had a couple wounds but they are all taken care of now. A girl that was with us, her sled actually flew off the path and she had to wait for the next person coming down and hop on her sled.
After doing the slide a couple times, the whole group met up in the lobby to then go bowling. This was very interesting because you had about 25 foreign teachers at a Korean resort (I wonder if we stood out?) who had been drinking all day and were going to attempt bowling. I like to think of myself as a pretty good bowler and let’s just say my score was about a 58 or so. I like to tell myself the lanes were too slick. To say the least, no one bowled well. After bowling, we all went to a huge cookout that the resort puts on and we BBQ'd and hung out with one another for a few hours. After dinner, the party resumed and we took it into one of the rooms where we hung out and played some games before we attempted to go to the Karaoke bar but were denied by the owners. It would have been a lot of fun and also really funny to see some people sing karaoke but it was probably better that we were denied. At this point, the group started to taper off and people were ready to call it a night. It had been a very long day and we couldn’t even believe that paintball was that same day. It felt as if it was yesterday. The next morning a few of us woke up to get breakfast and reminisce the day before and how much fun we had. It honestly was the best time I have had in Korea so far. Everything worked out smoothly; we met some amazing other people and cannot wait for the next Dongtan Clan trip to take place.
Again, sorry it took me so long to update you. There is still a few more blogs to catch you all up.
One thing you realize about the other foreign teachers here, they are all looking to have a good time just as we are. After paintball, we went to lunch where we ate Korean BBQ, had plenty of beer and soju. At this point we are all starting to actually meet one another because during paintball it was a little tough as you are shooting others and dodging shots yourself. The group was really awesome and we could tell we were going to have a wild day/night at the resort we were heading to. Once we got to the resort, I think all of our eyes widened and our mouths dropped to the floor. The place was huge and beautiful. We got our rooms where there were three rooms and about 8-9 people in each room. There is only one bed if you are lucky because Korean resorts are more known to have lots of blankets and pads to sleep on the floor. I have been to three resorts so far in Korea and all three I have slept on the floor. The balcony of our room looked out to the backside of the resort and we couldn’t believe what we were seeing. There was a huge mountain/hill that we knew we would be on all day. We all met down in the lobby, went to the market in the resort and loaded up on lots of beer and soju. You were able to do two things on the mountain. You have to take up the chairlift to the top and you could either golf a par three 9 hole course the whole way down or you could ride the alpine slide down the mountain. We wanted to golf but it was very pricey and you got to remember, we are just poor teachers. Instead, we decided to take the chairlift up to do the slide. The slide was at the top of the mountain and you sat in this little sled looking seats that had a stick shift. The stick shift could be used to push forward to accelerate or pulled towards you for a brake. The brake was the least of anyone's worries. We actually did not to the slide right away because it was so gorgeous at the top and about 15 of us just hung out on top, drinking our beers and still getting to know one another. We finally took the slide down and it was so much better than I thought it would be. I actually took a video while I was on it and will have it uploaded for everyone to see what it was like. The slide went a lot faster than we expected. Many of us including myself had situations where we fell off our slide because it was going too fast. Had a couple wounds but they are all taken care of now. A girl that was with us, her sled actually flew off the path and she had to wait for the next person coming down and hop on her sled.
After doing the slide a couple times, the whole group met up in the lobby to then go bowling. This was very interesting because you had about 25 foreign teachers at a Korean resort (I wonder if we stood out?) who had been drinking all day and were going to attempt bowling. I like to think of myself as a pretty good bowler and let’s just say my score was about a 58 or so. I like to tell myself the lanes were too slick. To say the least, no one bowled well. After bowling, we all went to a huge cookout that the resort puts on and we BBQ'd and hung out with one another for a few hours. After dinner, the party resumed and we took it into one of the rooms where we hung out and played some games before we attempted to go to the Karaoke bar but were denied by the owners. It would have been a lot of fun and also really funny to see some people sing karaoke but it was probably better that we were denied. At this point, the group started to taper off and people were ready to call it a night. It had been a very long day and we couldn’t even believe that paintball was that same day. It felt as if it was yesterday. The next morning a few of us woke up to get breakfast and reminisce the day before and how much fun we had. It honestly was the best time I have had in Korea so far. Everything worked out smoothly; we met some amazing other people and cannot wait for the next Dongtan Clan trip to take place.
Again, sorry it took me so long to update you. There is still a few more blogs to catch you all up.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
