Photo Extravaganza

So I signed the new contract, and I'll be changing apartments next week. My new place is about twice the size of my current one (and has a loft!), so that's rather sweet. I'll put some pics of it up once I move in. I visited my new school--which is actually a library--a couple days ago; it seems pretty chill. The things that get me most excited about it is that I can make my own curriculum, and I get to see each class five times per week. It'll be nice to have more consistency, more time to develop the bond I've come to know is so important with teaching. I'm teaching between 3rd and 9th graders, which I guess will also be nice because (I assume) I won't have to defend myself from the little biters anymore.

I don't really have much else to say; just wanted to throw some more pictures on here. These first ones are pictures of some of my CBS students. It kind of breaks my heart that I didn't even have a chance to say goodbye to them; classes were just canceled without any notice, and I felt--still feel--super ripped off. So these pictures are extremely important to me. I like to think I made an impact on these kids' lives somehow.







The Haeundae Sand Fest was held a couple weeks ago, and though it was pretty overcast for the weekend, there were still some sweet things to see at the beach. These are pictures of a few of the different sand sculptures people had built/ were building.







We went to Beomosa Temple (The biggest temple in Korea) a few weeks ago. I was thinking it was one giant temple, but rather it's more like a complex of dozens of temples. For some reason I failed to capture the sheer size of the place, but I always feel weird taking pictures at temples. So instead you get pictures of the journey, and a candid shot of what it looks like inside a typical Buddhist temple. The last picture is Lauren with some good ol' Yahtzee! action. We take Yahtzee! everywhere, along with a frisbee to roll the dice into for when the terrain is a little too rugged for proper dice-rolling. (Side note: I am a Yahtzee! god.)




Some other randoms: my friend Andy performing with his band, Mamason. A group of my friends/coworkers at Gwangali beach. Me being about as creative as I can be with a camera. Lauren and my friend Megan on Haeundae Beach at night. My pals on a journey to Songjung Beach--we hiked over a mountain and along some traintracks to get there. And a ridiculously drunk dude who wandered into our section when we were eating at a restaurant (mid-day) ... for 30,000 Korean won: what is he missing????




Annyong.

Things are Looking Up

Okay, so an update:

Most importantly, I found a new job. I worked my butt off to call, email, and speak to as many people/organizations I could think of, and it paid off. I'll be working for a government-sponsored school in a town called Gijang, about 20 minutes north of here. I'm not really looking forward to the daily commute, considering I'd grown rather fond of my 30-second walk to CBS every day, but the bright side is that I can keep my same apartment and don't have to go through the hassle of relocating. And I've even getting higher pay and more vacation! I have to take on a couple (small) additional financial burdens with this new contract--help chip in for the housing cost, the daily bus fare--but all in all I think I'll still be making a bit more money. Disaster avoided, and I can breathe normally.

I'll be starting the new job in a couple weeks, so for now it's basically a paid vacation for me. This weekend Lauren and I, because she had yesterday (Monday) off, decided to explore some of Korea. So we hopped on a bus headed toward an area called Gwangju, directly West of here about 3 hours. As we traveled, the thing that caught my attention most is how incredibly mountainous Korea is. I'd never really considered that the landscape here had such drastic contour; quite refreshing to see compared to the monotony of the city.

Our first little adventure was to Cheonwangbong mountain, which was incredibly beautiful. There were several temples dotting the mountainside, the trail was strenuous and invigorating, the forest green and lush with fruits and flowers, and the views amazing. Here are some pictures and video. (Note: for some reason my video uploading isn't working quite right; it seems like the audio lags, so I apologize, but at least the video is cool. Oh yeah, and I realize the pictures are ridiculously big, too... not sure how to fix that either.)


1.Lauren doing the monkey thing on the trail. 2. A temple on the way up the mountain. 3. A view of the cliffs.

1. Some people picnicking on the edge of the world. 2. The same temple from above. 3. Typical countryside in Korea; quite a nice break from the city.


This is what it looked like at the top. We could have gone up the mountains a lot further, but we had run out of water and didn't feel like dying.

After Gwangju we bussed it to a sea-side town called Wando (pop. 70,000--TINY for Korea), which is safe to say is the most ridiculous town in Korea. At some point it was probably nice, but it seems like time and neglect has gotten the best of poor ol' Wando. We tried to find somewhere to stay, but nobody spoke English to help us out, and every motel we dipped into was super sketchy and insect-ridden. Luckily, one of our tour books recommended a hotel, saying it was very nice and popular with tourists. So we hopped in a cab, which took us 10 minutes straight into the pitch-black countryside and dumped us in front of a place I couldn't help but think was the hotel from "The Shining". There was nobody else there, save for a scary old woman who showed us to a room and limped off. In the morning we realized how bizarre of a place it was; it really was like "The Shining": really nice, with expensive furnishings and lots of space, but completely deserted. We were thinking we might have been the only ones to have stayed there for a LONG time. In fact, after we left Wando we were wondering if maybe the place had even existed at all.

1. Some kids playing soccer at night on a fake putting green that was so out of place it was laughable. 2. Wando harbor. 3. The motel that might not really exist. (Note the scary ghost-woman in the bottom right.)

Our final destination was a place called Yeosu, a bigger city consisting of a chain of a couple hundred islands. Apparently they're hosting the 2012 world expo, ,whatever that is. We didn't have enough time to see much, but the island we trekked to (Odongdo) was pretty cool. Rocky and forested, Odongdo provided some cool hiking, as well as my favorite part of the trip, the "Cave of Dragon." We clambered down some rocks to where this cave is, which we could tell went quite a ways back into the island. I hopped down into the water and waded into the cave, but then got a little freaked out, considering that if a big wave came, or if the tide were to change quickly, I'd be in trouble. So I hopped back up onto the shelf (cutting my feet in dozens of places on the way) and Lauren and I played some Yahtzee while we waited for the tide to go down. Then we ventured in to face the dragon. Needless to say, I slayed him and now Korea is going to present me with a medal of bravery. Lauren (being the copycat she is) managed to cut herself nicely too on the way out of the cave; those rocks are sharp.

1. Hiking around Odongdo; the vegetation was amazing. 2. The coastline of Odongdo. 3. Lauren and I playing some cliff Yahtzee, waiting for the tide to go down so we could enter "Cave of Dragon"

1. Lauren standing at the entrance to the cave. 2. Dragon wounds. 3. Odongdo island from above (yes, I took a picture of a picture)

1. Scary giant rock alien creature thing... they were everywhere and I didn't like them at all. 2. More Odongdo coastline; there's a guy plucking snails off the rocks and eating them.

So this might not have been the most insane or action-packed trip summary ever, but it's hard to express the best part of traveling around here: the interaction with the people. The language barrier creates so many funny situations, making even the simplest of things (like asking where to find an ATM, or requesting no onions on a pizza) impossibly hard. And it was truly great to be away from the city; I was lying in bed the first night, wondering what seemed so weird, then I realized it was the fact that I could hear myself think. There wasn't the constant blare of car horns and sirens, or the irritating cries of the street vendors. I could hear birds, see stars, smell the ocean. It's weird how easy it is to forget simple things like that when I'm constantly caught up in the hustle and bustle of the city.

So things are going to be okay, and once again I'm feeling alright about life. I was worried there for a bit, but after receiving the promise of a new job and taking a much-needed trip I'm ready to get back to the grind.