SUMMER WORK
RETREAT

 

 

This is something I need to remember to do more often. I've discovered a whole new, not so happy side to myself when it comes to dealing with teaching children who either don't want to be taught or who are just too hyper to be taught. I was feeling overwhelmed and stressed, in part because of misbehaving and overly hyper children, but a larger contributor was actually stress from the higher ups at work (I won't get into the nitty gritty details except to say it was an issue with our school's director who was overworking everyone, but he has since been fired which makes everyone much happier). So I was at this point of almost breaking down when the school principal announced a work retreat (for everyone except our troublesome director). The principal's parents owned a small motel up north in the countryside at which they kindly offered to host us for a weekend.

 

We left Friday night after work (probably around 8) and didn't arrive at the motel until 10. We were greated by our principal's parents who were both amazing people. They had prepared a wonderful feast of some basic Korean foods and also barbequed us up some hot dogs and some pork ribs (YUMMMMM!!!!!!). Needless to say it was delicious. We enjoyed our feast out back on the porch. After dinner was finished some of us went over to enjoy the view (the motel was on the water front of a river) and others decided to break out the soju (Korean alcohol) and relieve stress the Korean way. Needless to say I did not participate in that part. We stayed up pretty late talking. A few of us snuck of to bed early (2am) while others held out a little longer (3:30am...that was me) and the rest didn't make it to bed until around 4:30am.

This was the view from my room :) Relaxing, isn't it?

We had a nice little porch area (I was on the first
floor.)

Here's a view from the outside.

And here's the outside at a different angle.

All of us enjoying the amazing food!

More yumminess :)

We all woke up the next morning, some of us to some surprises...

David got the brunt of the attack.

Here he is showing off his battle
scars at the dock.

We had originally planned to leave around 11 the next morning after a nice breakfast and a walk around the neighborhood. But after the boys discovered there was a dock nearby with boats and other water games available, they convinced some of us to stay behind and enjoy the water a little. I was a little sad I couldn't go swimming, but we hadn't been informed the motel was by the water so no one packed swimming stuff. The boys got by with their shorts, but unfortunately I had brought jeans and my long batman pj bottoms were not exactly made for swimming...But I had fun anyway :)

Our group :) Don't we look happy?

The boys. Pretty handsome bunch, yes?

Getting ready for some fun in the water.

Shoving off.

And they're off!

We got some nice spray while out boating :)

Some more fun and games on the water.

This one was quite the experience (the boys had to do it a dozen
times until they got it right).

 

I don't know exactly what this contraption is called, but I took some videos of them trying it out. I have more than what I uploaded (mostly of them trying and failing). The hardest part was them jumping and falling in sync with the other person.

 

One of the first attempts.

 

 

Still trying to get it right.

 



 

And finally success!!!

 

So that was our work retreat. We didn't do a whole lot, but it was an absolutely glorious escape from kids, work, stress, and the city. Sometimes you just need an escape :)

 

SUMMER DAYS

IN KOREA

 

I think that quote is appropriate seeing as I'm so behind in my blogging that it's now winter. Sorry about that, guys. Things have been absolutely crazy! So anyway, on to my summer adventures!!! The three this post will be dedicated to are my school's field trip to a mine, my trip to Muuido, and the first mountain hike I went on here in Korea (don't ask me to recall the name of the mountain this long after the hike because that ain't happening).

 

Adventure #1

School Field Trip to a Mine

 

It had been super humid already for a few weeks so the prospect of going to a cave/mine was like heaven. We went on a 45 minute bus ride through the city and then up a mountain. At the entrance to the mine, we were given hard hats to wear (some kids loved that part and others not so much). I made sure to pack a sweatshirt just in case I got a little cold inside (which turned out to be a good plan). It was dark and damp, but also nice and cool once we entered the mine. This mine had been modified to be educational for both children and adults and it had a lot of cool passageways and cavernous rooms. Here are a few pictures from the trip.

 

This was a view up to the entrance from the parking lot.
Very pretty scenery.

Right when we came inside, they had tanks filled with different plants
and fish. I'm not sure what for because the tour was all in Korean.

This display case showed different tools they used when the mine
was still in operation.

Some stairs that led down into the belly of the beast...or just further
into the mine. I don't know because it was blocked off.

Another shaft, but this one led up instead of down. Had I not been so
out of shape and had it not been illegal, I probably would have
climbed up just to see where it went for you guys ;)

I'm assuming these were creatures that used to inhabit the area
millions of years ago (apparently it used to be under water).

 

More sea creatures.

And this was the last room they brought us to before we left.
It was a massive cavern that was turned into a huge theater.

 So that was it for the mine. Sorry for the poor quality of some of the pictures. It was quite dark inside and I only had my phone camera.

 

Adventure #2

Muuido

 

Muudio is an island off the western coast of Korea. It's actually really close to Incheon, which is the city I live in. It still took about an hour and a half to get there. We (my friend Karli and I) had to take a subway, a taxi, and a ferry just to get to the island We found out after there was an easier way, but oh well. It's all part of the adventure, right?

 

This was our ferry :)

 

We enjoyed a nice, albeit short, ride over to Muuido, which you
can see in the distance.

 

This is Karli, the friend who convinced me to go with her and
did the majority of the planning. Thanks, Karli!!!

 

After some walking we had to stop and figure out
where we were and where exactly we wanted to go.

The pretty scenery from where we stopped to get our bearings.

We decided to go to Hanagae Beach which was made
famous by a Korean drama (I'm not sure which one...)

I was a little disappointed by the beach to be honest. I had hoped for something with more swimming possibilities. What we were met with was a lot of tourists (not entirely unexpected), course sand (not very nice on your feet), and mud flats instead of ocean water (probably the biggest disappointment). The mud flats were kind of cool though. They extended out maybe a mile past the sand and dozens of people were out digging for clams and whatnot. Karli and I decided to venture out, but decided against taking our cameras seeing as there was still a little water covering the mud and we didn't want to risk dropping our phones. So sorry, no pictures from the mud flats.

This was one of the better views of the beach.

At the end of our little tour of Muuido, we decided to stop off and get some bingsu (a delicious Korean dessert with ice, frozen fruit, and sweet red beans).

A bowl of sweet, cold deliciousness :)

In the little cafe where we had the bingsu, we found
a Korean copy of Sherlock Holmes and the nerd in
me couldn't resist snapping a photo.

Adventure #3

The Mountain Hike

 

Some friends decided they wanted to go on a hike (not too uncommon during the summer), and seeing as I didn't have anything planned, I decided to go along since I hadn't hiked a mountain yet. So we met at the subway station and took a bus to get to the base of the mountain, which was almost in the center of the city. We started off and the hike wasn't too bad. It progressively got more steep, though thank goodness there were stairs on the steeper parts. We hike for maybe two and a half or three hours to get to the top, by which time I was soaked through with sweat, had jelly legs, and was a tad dizzy (remember I'm out of shape). I was quite surprised how many people were on the hike, everyone from old men and women in their classic Korean hiking outfits to small toddlers clambering over the rocks. I loved being out where I could see and touch and smell nature rather than being surrounded by concrete all day every day. And the views from the top were pretty amazing too!

 



We saw this near the beginning of the hike
and I though it was pretty.

The easier part of our trail.

Nearing the peak.

Just a pretty view.

 

This is my beautiful self at the top. I was sooooo
exhausted and sweaty.

This was one of the girls who came with us (a
friend of a friend) who I bonded with a little
seeing as we were both out of shape and at the
back of the pack.

I told you I was sweaty...

This was a picture of our hiking group at the Buddhist temple
at the top the mountain.

 

After I had recovered, we expolored some of the places on the
peak. This is a pagoda we saw from a distance.

A closer view of the pagoda.

I'm not entirely sure what that tower was. I was
too tired to try that path (other hikers said it was
the hardest part of the hike).

A view down into Seoul.

The Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain.

Thankfully the trip down was much easier than up. By the end, other than a bad case of jelly legs, I was feeling pretty great. We took the bus back to the subway station and decided to stop for lunch and ice cream. Then one member of our group proposed a trip to Namsan Tower to watch the sunset. Most of our group decided against it because it meant climbing another mountain. I must have been half out of my mind that day because I decided to go. The hike was much easier than our previous one and was stairs the whole way up, but was well worth the view over Seoul as the sun set.

 

And we also made a new friend. We were on our way to the entrance of the hike when a Japanese man stopped us and asked for directions to...can you guess where? To Namsan, of course! We told him we were on our way there ourselves and asked if he wanted to join us. He said yes, so we spent the hike getting to know our new Japanese friend (well I actually did more listening than talking). Apparently he does a lot of traveling, he's a life coach of sorts, and he's big into yoga, which may explain why he looked younger than he was.

 

Here's our group with our new Japanese friend, Yoshi :)

There were so many people I had to hand my camera over to
Brad (the tallest member of our group) to take a photo for me.

Seoul at sunset :)

Pretty city lights.

Namsan Tower all lit up.

And my last shot before we left the mountain.

Let me just say that if you want a really good night's sleep, all you have to do is hike two mountains in one day :)

 

 

So those were the majority of my summer adventures squeezed into one blog post. I hope you guys didn't overdose from so many pictures. My last summer post should be up either later today or tomorrow. Then I'll do my fall adventures (not too many of those) and the one winter adventure I've had so far. And then I'll be all caught up :)