Sunday, July 31, 2011

Hanging out in North Korea and Seoul.

On Saturday I went to the DMZ and it was awesome.  The tour started out with a brief presentation to give the history of the DMZ and talk about how it is controlled now and how it is used.  The presentation was actually quite interesting and I learned a lot about how it was formed and what it all means.  Here are a few pictures of the slides:







After the presentation we got on a bus and went to headed up to the DMZ!  Our tour guide was Sgt. Jenkins, he was a really cool guy and did a great job explaining everything.  Once we got to the DMZ we went through the freedom house and right up to the border between North and South Korea.  The border is marked by concrete that is about 12 inches wide and 2 or 3 inches high and it runs throughout the border.  Once we got out there we were able to not only have a very clear view of North Korea, but we also saw a North Korean soldier who was watching our every move.  We had to be very mindful of our body language and hand gestures, if the North Korean soldiers would have misinterpreted something or felt as though we were threatening them they probably would have shot at us. seriously. 


North Korea, if you look closely you can see the soldier a little left of center in the photo.


The blue buildings are used for meetings, we got to go inside!  In the middle of those buildings is the border between North and South Korea, neither country has more of the building than the other...I think.



A blurry photo of the North Korean soldier.  If you look in the lower right hand corner of the window on the left you can see another pair of binoculars from a soldier who was watching us from inside the building. 

After seeing that we got to go inside the blue buildings, it was pretty cool!  I actually stood in North Korea for about 10-15 minutes, I also took a picture with one the South Korean soldiers.  They are not the friendliest of individuals, but then again they have a pretty serious task on their hands.  One man got too close to a soldier and he was stiff armed by the guy.  They are always standing in a ready position and I certainly would not mess with them, I am pretty sure they could tear your arm off with their pinky finger.  


Proof that I was north of the border!  The raised cement in the picture is the boundary that I was trying to describe earlier.


ROK soldier in ready position.  The guy in the polo is the one who got stiff armed.


Me, in North Korea, hanging out with my new soldier friend. 

After being led around there we hopped back on the bus and saw some other pretty significant areas in the DMZ.  We saw the bridge of no return and a monument that was erected in honor of officers who were killed by North Korean soldiers in the 70's (i think) while they were chopping down a tree.




Once we were finished there our tour continued on to a tunnel that North Korea dug, they claimed it was for mining but no one believed that.  Unfortunately I couldn't bring my camera with me but it was pretty cool.  We put on hard hats and went pretty far down to a very narrow tunnel with a very low ceiling, I hit my head several times while I was crouched down walking through the tunnel and some of the people I went with were much taller than me, I can only imagine how uncomfortable the walk was for them.  Once we reach the "end"(the tunnel continued into North Korea, but we obviously could not go that far) there was a steel door with a small rectangle cut into it so we could look in to North Korea.  It was just their end of the tunnel, but it was still neat.  To prevent people from going to North Korea or coming from North Korea there was about six feet in front of the door that was filled with barbed wire, that certainly enough of a deterrent for me. 

After the tunnel we went on to an observation deck where we could look into North Korea and actually see a village, it was pretty cool.  Again, unfortunately, we were not able to take pictures close up because it could pose a threat to South Korean security.  After that we had an opportunity to purchase some souvenirs, there was North Korean beer available and it is actually quite good.  One of my friend's informed me that it was because Kim Jong Il bought a brewery from Germany and now has it in North Korea making beer for him.  With that the tour concluded and we headed back to Seoul where we continued our day.

Once we returned to Seoul my friends and I went to a part of the city called Insadong.  Of the three different areas of Seoul that I have been to this one is by far my favorite, it has a very cool artsy vibe to it and has really neat shops all over!  There was also a really cool outdoor mall there that had garden throughout it and some really neat artwork.  All of these next photos are of Insadong and the mall.














When we were finished wandering around we headed back to Seosan and sampled some of our North Korean purchases.  It was a very long and full but very awesome day.

Living in Korea is getting better everyday, and I am truly very happy here.  The opportunities to travel are wonderful and so affordable, living in a new culture is such an amazing experience and is helping me to learn and grow in ways that I could never have imagined.  

This week is my vacation!  I was going to visit an Jeju, an island off the southern tip of Korea, but I think that now I may head back to Seoul for a day or two to explore Insadong more and check out the touristy parts and then maybe head to Busan, which is another large city in Korea. 

I'll be sure to update where this week takes me!






Thursday, July 28, 2011

Internet!

Finally, I have internet in my apartment!  It is wonderful to be able to leave my apartment without lugging my laptop around.  All I need now is my bank card, which should be here tomorrow, and I will actually be fully functioning in this country! It only took five weeks...

Anyway, I am going to Seoul tomorrow night so that I can head to the DMZ with some friends bright and early Saturday morning!  It should be a pretty interesting tour, I am hoping to give some North Koreans a high five...or maybe a hug.  There were some pretty strict guidelines regarding attire, and I am glad my friends told me otherwise I would have paraded up to the DMZ in a dress and caused some type of international incident.  There are no dresses or skirts allowed, no short pants, no sport clothing, no "gangster" attire, that one really got me mad, no large print on shirts, no offensive sayings, no tank tops or revealing of midriff or shoulders and, my favorite, no high hill shoes...they don't really leave many options. My DMZ trip along with vacation this upcoming week should hopefully make for some pretty interesting posts!

In other news, school is going really well! We started our summer intensive program this month, which means I teach from 9:50 - 5:00 without any breaks, but it isn't too bad and I really enjoy the kids in my intensive class!  I don't really have any fun stories or new pictures, so I will leave you with the dong chim: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kancho.  My youngest students find this to be absolutely hilarious, I find it to be quite awkward, especially considering that I wear skirts or dresses to school a majority of the time.  If that link does not clearly explain the dong chim to you just type it into google and look at the pictures and other descriptions, I think you will get the point.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

so, it's been a little while.

I realize it has been a little while, but now that I am settled in and figuring things out here I actually find myself with things to do!

The last time I wrote was right before mud fest and mud fest was just like the name says, a festival for mud.  It was a lot of fun and full of foreigners and mud, lots and lots of mud.  There were giant inflatable things covered in mud to play in, buckets of mud to throw on yourself and others, and areas where you could paint yourself in mud, it was wonderful.  Unfortunately I didn't bring my camera because it was raining and I didn't want to ruin it, but here are before and after pictures that I took from a friend:



We made sure to get covered.  I also discovered that mud in the eyes is a very painful thing, especially when you wear contacts, I would not recommend it to anyone. 

This past week in school went well, my kids are still wonderful and saying funny things.  The other day when I was leaving my kindergarten class the ENTIRE class decided to give me a hug, which resulted in my falling over on top of students and throwing my basket of teaching stuff everywhere.  Luckily no one was injured.  

We also went on a field trip to the beach on Thursday, it was a good time, and I got a little sunburned.  One of my students, Sky, is an expert crab catcher and ended up with about 7 or 8 to bring home, he said his mom would think it was a wonderful surprise.  The kids were surprisingly very well behaved and we didn't lose any! I would say the day was a success!  Here are some photos from the field trip:


Not the best of visors to wear on a field trip, at least not if you want your child to come back.


Sky was very excited.


A bus full of screaming children.


They were very well behaved!


Blaze just being Blaze.


Griffen being adorable.


Sky and his first crab, Pincher.


There were about 7 or 8 in this bottle by the end of the day.


Crab hunters. 


I told Phillip that this is how they wear visors in America.


So Jamie wanted his visor to be like that too.


Phillip wanted to take a picture.


We lost one crab, Spot, on the bus ride back to school.

This week I finally got my alien card! Now I have a cell phone, a bank account, and I will be getting internet this week! So many exciting things.

This week also brought my first norybong (Korean karaoke) experience.  It was a great time, and I think I may have earned myself the postion of lead tambourine in my friend's band.  Success. 

I went to Seoul on Saturday with a group of friends, it was a really good time.  I didn't do any touristy things, though I certainly do plan to go back and do that. We hung out during the day with some friends of my friend and then we went to Hongdae, which is an area of Seoul that has a pretty large University, for the night and stayed at a hostel, a good time was had by all.

All is well and I am certainly starting to get pretty comfortable here.



Thursday, July 14, 2011

fish market video!

yay! Here it is, just click the link, unfortunately I could not just upload the video from my computer.  You don't quite get the full picture, perhaps if you sit on some damp concrete and smell a can of tuna that would help...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOE_bOzp0Ig

Also, my kids have been full of wonderful things this week!  One day we were talking about the word soft, so I asked them to list things that were soft and one of the kids said that hair was soft.  Another student then replied, "But Simon Teacher's hair is not soft, he has too much gel in it."  Today, while grading some assignments one of my students was standing near me and he said, "Amy Teacher, why your teeth like beaver's?"  Awesome.  These kids have no filter, and it is hilarious. 

Mud fest this weekend. I. Can't. Wait.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

the fourth of July, mountain climbing, and other assorted things.

On Monday I walked into work and one of my coworkers told me she was going to look into getting some fireworks for that night...I thought that was cool, but what was the occasion?  Oh, it was the fourth of July...oops.  So we celebrated!  First, we grilled on the roof of our apartment building, I was surprised at how tasty the brats were! 



This is Cassie and Sabrina, they work at my school and live in my building!


Not too bad of a spread!

After grilling we went to the roof of another teacher's apartment, there was a great view and some pretty awesome fire works!






Cassie and I were the only Americans present of the seven of us there, but it was certainly a lovely celebration!

That night I also discovered a giant hill (it's a mountain if you ask me) with a lookout tower on it!  I climbed it the next day and it was pretty cool!  Once you get to the top there is all sorts of exercise equipment and different paths, getting to the top is a bit of a workout, not too bad though, and then you can workout a little more once you're up there!

here are a few pictures of the views and the equipment:









I really dig this place and will probably venture up there often!

I was also fortunate enough to purchase and taste the worst ice cream in the world.  Seriously, it was terrible.  It was a cold rice and milk something, I guess I'm glad I tried it, but I will never EVER have it again.



I've also met a lot of the other foreigners who live in Seosan!  They all seem like some pretty cool people.  I had a social gathering of sorts at my apartment on Friday and there was quite the turn out! The Korean police even came to let me know how awesome of a party I was having, it was a stellar event.

Last night I ventured out a little and experienced some of the Korean night life, it wasn't anything too crazy but it was a good time.  There is a bar called Halloween Bar that seems kind of intriguing, and the area where the bars are are kind of looks like Vegas.  There are neon lights and flashing signs EVERYWHERE. It is pretty intense.  

My students are surprising me everyday with the things they say.  The other day in class we were reading Frog and Toad and talking about best friends.  I asked my students if they had any best friends and one of my students said, "Yes, Solomon (another boy in my class) is my best friend, and I will walk through fire with him."  My students asked me if I had any best friends, I told them that I do and they asked me who they were.  First I told them that my sisters were two of my best friends Rachel, a girl in my class,  said to me, "No Amy Teacher, they are your sisters, your sisters can't be your best friend."

That's all for now.  Not too sure what will be going on this upcoming week, but I am going to the Korean Mud Festival this coming weekend and I am ridiculously excited for it.