The Team
On Monday just as we were about to start lesson planning, we were all called into the reception. The reason for this is Mr Kwack wanted to take a photo of all the staff together. I was cringing as with most days I had made absolutly no effort to dress up or even look presentable mainly because its so bloody cold at school. As you can see below most of us are wearing coats, jumpers and extra layering. Henry however took off his new blue leather (questionable) jacket he was sporting for the rest of the day.
The Staff (From left to right, me, Jinny, Sophia, Henry, Alice, Anne and Jenna)
I have found out since then that it is for a the school's hompage that I can only imagine is new because there has been a buzz about it all week. Each of the students have to come in sign up and fill in their details. Only problem is they're going to have to up date it again in the not so distant future. Sshhh!
Mr Kwack aka "God"
Our very charasmatic boss, once the mum's are in he's all charm. How else do you think this school is still a float?
- Posted by k_millington on 28/03/2007.
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A Leap of Faith
This weekend we went on a cycling trip with Adventure Korea, which included the chance to do a bungee jump. We left at stupid o'clock in the morning to meet the bus at Honguk University at 7.30 am.
We arrived at a lake surrounded by half built buildings, and one massive metal construction that looked like a crane with one of those fixed diving board platforms. This is where Emily, Brian and Kristen along with another 50 people would be chucking themselves off of in the next couple of hours.
Emily went 4th out of the group and spent a good few minutes at the top gearing herself up to jump, later I found out she was asking the guy to push her. Everybody began to scream and whoop and then count down, 3…2…1… (She's still up there) and again 3…2…1…she jumped!!
It's Spiderman
http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s254/katrinaleanne159/?action=view¤t=MOV02915.flv
Then Brian and Kristen went, I was so scared someone was going to hit the metal cage they all came so close and people I've spoken to haven't rated the Korean's safety procedures.
After sitting around for another two hours, watching what felt like hundreds of people jump we got back on the bus. We headed to Gugok Waterfall where the Buddhist tradition is to construct a pile of rocks and make a wish. The waterfall falls 49 meters into a pool at the bottom. Although this was covered in ice and snow so we trekked up it, through a few snowballs and watched as Dave saw snow for the first time in his life (he's from South Africa).
After that we went to Chuncheon and hired some bikes and went on a couple of the courses along the river, up some steep hills and around the town. After returning the bikes Emily insisted trying out one of the two-seated bicycles. First her and Brian and got on and looked very cute together.
Ah how cute!
Then Jenna attempted to have a go and I've never been on anything so scary in my entire life. I hated being at the back because I couldn't turn the handlebars so I just hopped off as Jenna rode off without noticing I was no longer on it.
http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s254/katrinaleanne159/?action=view¤t=DSCF4807-1.flv
Who makes the perfect pair?
We then strolled round the town, went and looked at the fair, got hot dogs and ice creams and then got back on the bus for the long journey home.
- Posted by k_millington on 28/03/2007.
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St. Patricks Day
On Saturday 17th we headed into Seoul to Daehangno where the St. Patricks Day Festival was taking place, hosted by the Irish Association of Korea.
I was very excited when I found out there there would be free samples of the all important Baileys and Guiness. We arrived at around 12 o'clock and headed straight for the Baileys tent.
After watching a Korean band sing U2 we went and got our faces painted with some very festive Shamrocks, and then helped ourselves to some Guinness. They had loads of games you could play that included this one where you put on some drunken glasses and had to walk round this course making sure you didn't knock over any pint glasses. I didn't have a go but Kristen was rather good at it.
They had all sorts of things going on throughout the day including folk bands, Western Rock bands, Gaelic sports, and free face painting. They even had some Irish dancing demonstartions but we decided we hadn't had enought to drink to get up and join them. Here's a little taster.
http://www.mediamax.com/katrinaleanne/Hosted/Irish%20Dancing.MPG
At around 2 o'clock they annunced the parade would be starting soon and be working its way up the road. We decided to go find and kind of followed all these people down to a school play ground where they were setting up for the parade. Whilst standing there chating, taking pictures and generally not doing a lot, one of the oraganisers came over and asked us if we wanted to walk in the parade and carry one of the banners. So we said "hell yeah, it'll be a laugh."
Video of the parade: http://www.mediamax.com/katrinaleanne/Hosted/Dancing%20Guinness.MPG
We ended up walking in front of the marching band waving at all the people on the side of the street that had gathered there to watch the parade. There were hundreds of people there and nearly all of them in the parade were white, which was quite weird to so many in one place. It's true, it doesn't matter where you are the Irish always manage to have a party. If only we could celebrate St. George as much as we do St. Patricks Day.
- Posted by k_millington on 18/03/2007.
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White Day
Today I arrived at work to find a number of toffee's on my desk that were quickly followed by lolly pop's and other bits of candy. The reason for this is it is White Day. According to the Wikipedia:
White Day is a festival that was created by a concentrated marketing effort in Japan. White Day is celebrated in Japan and Korea on March 14, one month after Valentine's Day. On Valentine's Day, women give gifts to men; on White Day, men who received chocolate on Valentine's Day return the favor and give gifts to women. This holiday is starting to gain popularity in Hong Kong, where Japanese influence is strong.
Valentines Day only appeared in Japan in the late 1950's and was introduced by a Japanese confectionery company. White Day is believed to have been created by a marshmallow manufacturing company in the 1960s. The white marshmallows gave the day its name but other kinds of presents such as candy, flowers, etc. have become more popular over the years.
I hope to be getting a lot more candy throughout the day, it's a good job I have a sweet tooth.
- Posted by k_millington on 14/03/2007.
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A Graveyard fit for a King
This weekend we visited the Seonjeongneung Royal Tombs of Seoul, to find out more about the Joseon kings and queens who played such an important role in Korea's history and culture for over 500 years.
The tombs are situated in southern Seoul, not far from Gangnam, "the area provides a tranquil getaway from the surrounding city". Except you can see it poking up all around you whilst you walk through the park.
Seonjeongneung is comprised of the Seolleung tombs and the Jeongneung tomb, which house a total of two kings and one queen from the Joseon period. King Seongjong became king in 1469 and ruled until 1494. He is buried here with his second wife as his first wife died at the age of only 18.
The Tomb of King SeongjongThe tomb is a perfectly shaped grass mound that sits on the top of the hill and is surrounded by a number of statues. These statues included military personal and animals such as tigers and sheep. All the animals were facing away from the tomb as if they were on guard. In front of the tomb are two stones called Mangjuseok, which are designed to guide the dead King to his tomb.
One of the protecting warriors
At the base of this hill is a shrine, where memorial rites would have been performed. The T-shaped structure is common to many tombs of the Joseon era and on the eaves of the roof are carvings of different animals, which are believed to exorcise different spirits.
The Jeongneung Tomb houses the burial mound for King Jungjong(1506-1544). The second son of Seongjong, he is considered to be one of the best kings of the Joseon era for his policies and the economic growth that occurred during his rule. His reign is also notable for political reform and the correcting of mistakes of previous administrations. He was also responsible for the introduction of Hyangyak, a method of self administration that is still practiced by modern Korean government today.
It was 1,000 won to get in and is quite peaceful it would be lovely in the summer. Unfortunatly as you can see from the pictures the grass was brown and the trees were bare.
- Posted by k_millington on 09/03/2007.
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Independence Day
Thursday 1st March was Korean Independence day, well one of them anyway. The other is celebrated on August 15th to celebrate Korea's independence from Japan. This one, however celebrates Korea's first independent movement against the Japanese invasion and is known as the Samil Movement.
This meant it was a public holiday and we had the day off work. The weather had been getting better all week and so I was quite happy to head into Seoul when Jenna suggested going to Pagoda Park (Tapgol Park) Korea's first park. This was where the first Korean Independence Movement gathering happened. On 1st March 1919 the Korean Declaration of Independence was read here and we thought that if anything was going to happen it would be there.
A reading of the declaration
We arrived at the park just in time to catch the reading of the declaration itself in front of a make-shift alter. As you can imagine it was all in Korean and we couldn't understand a word of it, so here is a translation I found.
"We herewith proclaim the independence of Korea and the liberty of the Korean people. We tell it to the world in witness of the equality of all nations and we pass it on to our posterity as their inherent right.
We make this proclamation, having behind us 5,000 years of history, and 20,000,000 of a united loyal people. We take this step to insure to our children for all time to come, personal liberty in accord with the awakening consciousness of this new era. This is the clear leading of God, the moving principle of the present age, the whole human race's just claim. It is something that cannot be stamped out, or stifled, or gagged, or suppressed by any means......We awake now from the old world with its darkened conditions in full determination and one heart and one mind, with right on our side, along with the forces of nature, to a new life. May all the ancestors to the thousands and ten thousand generations aid us from within and all the force of the world aid us from without, and let the day we take hold be the day of our attainment. In this hope we go forward.
This is only a taster as the whole thing is extremely long. For the full version please go to here
The park was a lot smaller than I imagined but with most ancient sites based in Seoul it had been cut down by size to make room for the surrounding buildings and apartments. However it still housed some national treasures including the Declaration of Independence Monument and the Wongaksaji, a ten story pagoda. The park was created as a garden by the British advisor in 1897, and opened to the public in 1920. There are also many statues and monuments in the park, dedicated to various patriots and victims of Japanese brutality.
Housed in a glass case to protect it from erosion
The word tap means "pagoda", and the park gets its name from Wongaksaji 10 tier pagoda in the park.
This 12 meter-high stone pagoda once stood in the early Joseon era temple, Wongaksa... In 1447 the upper three levels, which had long lain scattered on the ground, were restored to their original state. The marble pagoda is unique in form, being the most recent of all pagodas designated national treasures. Also, the structure has been built in a refined and richly ornate, thus making it a superior work of a kind not found in any other Joseon era stone pagodas.
Jenna in front of the Turtle Monument (Daewongaksajibi)
This monument was built in 1471 and records the history of the founding of Wongaksa Temple, which was built in 1465. The monument is 1.3 meters wide and 4.94 meters high. The turtle-shaped base is made of granite, while the head and body of the monument are made of marble. The turtle-shaped base is covered with fine lines and geometric patterns, with lotus petal shapes in between. The head and body of the monument are made of one stone, and on the head of the monument are two elaborately carved intertwined dragons rising toward the sky and holding a wish-fufilling Buddhist gem (yeouiju; Sanskirt: cintamani).
The granite base of the monument
- Posted by k_millington on 09/03/2007.
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I ate an ugly fish!
Due to the fact that some of the teachers were leaving they had all decided to go out for dinner as a farewell to Cindy, and for a change we actually got invited. We headed down one floor under the school to the fish restaurant. I had mentioned that I wasn't a lover of fish but that I was quite happy with rice and veg. However they had obviously taken heed of this and had ordered Jenna and I a Korean style hamburger. When I say style I mean it is round, quite thick and is made of meat I think. Unfortunately I'd had something like this before and it is covered in this thick custard looking gravy that is not nice. Luckily for me one of the Korean teachers found the dishes too spicy and ate half of my burger.
I did however venture trying the food that was in front of me. It consisted of two large metal bowls that like most things in Korea are put on a gas hob and cooked in front of you. The first dish was called Maeun-tang. This is cooked with fish, vegetables and hot chili sauce, which gives it a strong and hot flavour. The dish that was served up in front of us indeed had fish, along with a whole crab, whole octopus, two whole giant prawns, some sort of fish insides and a mixture of deep-sea creatures, which I have never encountered before. When the lid was first lifted in front of us Jenna yelped and jumped about two feet off the floor from fright of what we were about to eat. When the things in this dish began to turn pink and look semi cooked the waitress came over and just cut it all up with an extremely sharp pair of scissors. This included the crab, which just ended up as bits of claws and legs, which you were supposed to attack with your chopsticks some how.
The second dish was called Jjim and Jorim both mean something simmered for a long time. The main ingredients are fish or meat seasoned with various spices. In our dish one of the main ingredients, which I happened to try, was Frogfish. That was after wading through the bits of bone, shell and squishy snails to actually find some. I was told after eating it what a hideous looking fish it was and I was so intrigued I looked it up.
How ugly is that?
- Posted by k_millington on 02/03/2007.
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'Piggy Piggy'
According to the Chinese calendar we are entering the year of the pig, which is the 12th animal to appear on the zodiac calendar. But this is not just the year of the pig, but also the year of the chonghae, which means red pig. This occurs about every 60 years. But what is more interesting is that this coincides with the Chinese Year of the 'Golden pig'. This only happens every 600 years and is believed to have steam from fortunetellers and rumours spread throughout China and Korea.
Since it began living as a domestic animal in Korea some 2,000 years ago, pigs have brought a lot of myths and superstitions closely associated with wealth, good luck and sometimes a mythical supernatural power in sacrificial rituals. For example they are very fertile animals, giving birth to 6 to 12 piglets on average, and grow faster than any other animal. For that reason, a shop owner may hang a picture on his wall of a pig feeding a lot of piglets, symbolizing fertility and abundance. (Korea Times)
For these reasons and many more pigs are seen as a lucky symbol throughout Asia and have been for many centuries.
This is supposed to be a lucky year for most people, but it is supposed to be particularly lucky if you are born in it. Any child born in this year is supposed to live a happy and wealthy life. According to the BBC website there is expected to be a baby boom, as it is one of the most auspicious years for having children. The hospitals maternity wards should be getting ready for an onslaught, as the wedding chapels did in 2006.
Some rather tacky looking money boxes
Around our area many of the shops began to start selling pig merchandise and souvenirs. Everything from beautiful woodcarvings of pigs, to golden plastic money boxes. Maybe the idea of the pig being lucky in the money department steamed the idea of the 'piggy bank'. Who knows, but lets hope it's true about this year being a lucky one.
- Posted by k_millington on 27/02/2007.
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Escaping to Shanghai
In this backward country you either having to be at deaths door or at work. Little colds, food poisoning and even pneumonia just doesn't cut it. So when mum and me were at the travel agent and realised that it would be cheaper and we'd have more time away if I pulled a sicky from work, I got rather nervous. Normally as probably a lot of you know I don't have a problem with this. But it does make it a little harder if every time your sick your boss wants to take you to the doctor, so he can shove needles in your ass. Plus he knows where I live.
Just so none of you think I'm exaggerating ill tell you about the time Jenna was chucking up in the school bathroom (lovely) and although she only had 25 min of her shift left to work, he was very reluctant to let her go home. Saying "I've got to think of my school". If he needs to think about his school maybe he should get some Korean teachers than can actually speak English. Anyway getting a bit side tracked. Now I knew that if I were to phone in he would try and convince me to come in that afternoon, or take me to the doctors. Here's where mummy's can be very handy.
Our second problem was that due to our flight being at 10.15 and having to be at the airport earlier to book in, I had to ring him from the airport. Problem, the airport announcements can be heard everywhere, I'm guessing that’s the point. So we spent ages looking for somewhere to ring him without giving the game away.
We eventually found the airport hotel and managed to get lost down its corridors enough so that if he heard them he would think they were the radio or TV. He was not a happy bunny but I would like to say at this point that I do have 4 sick days written into my contract, so he kind of asked for it. Anyway mum held her ground when he asked to speak to me claiming I was in bed. When I was actually cringing round the corner when all these French people came out of their hotel room. That would be hard to explain. Eventually she got him off the phone to which I quickly turned off so he couldn't ring back and went and got on the plane.
At around lunch time we got to Shanghai and it was lovely the sun was actually out. We stayed in a great hotel and spent the first day wandering the streets, trying random food and shopping. Mum even managed to find this little hut where this man repaired her heels as she'd only bought one pair with her. This is mainly my fault as most of her suitcase was filled with my stuff
Mum in the slippers the man provided so she wouldn't get cold feet
Whilst walking round the area near our hotel we both realised how different each street we walked down was. One minute you would be in the slums of Shanghai and then you would come across a ten story shopping mall and fancy hotels. They are expanding so quickly that a lot of old China is being ripped down and literally disappearing. There is definite wealth gap, however Shanghai's skyscrapers and modern lifestyle seem to show the future of Shanghai and indeed its recent economic development.
The old Shanghai over shadowed by the new one
That night we escaped the cold by darting into a nearby shopping center that we happened to be passing. It was huge it had about 12 floors and the roof had water constantly running across it like a big waterfall. We spent ages looking at the strange fashions and restaurants until we found the food court, which was also very large. I think we walked round it twice looking at all the lovely looking food before we decided on Japanese, with a western touch. It had a huge hot plate table where the chef cooked our dinner and then dropped it onto our plate. We had fried cabbage, some sort of peppered beef and udon (noodles).
It was delicious here’s a clip: http://www.mediamax.com/katrinaleanne/Hosted/Chef.MPG
Our chef for the evening
Then we headed back to the hotel for an early night as we'd been awake since about 6am that morning and it had been a long day.
- Posted by k_millington on 27/02/2007.
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Ice Fishing Festival
It was a very early start this weekend, my alarm clock was set for 5am! We met the bus at 7pm at the Honguk University pick up and convinced the driver to wait another 15 min till Emily arrived. We were heading to Inje Ice fishing festival which is held ever winter in Korea.
The Inje Ice-fishing Festival, designated by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism as a representative festival of Korea, is one of the largest wintertime events in Korea, drawing 700,000 visitors every year. Soyang Lake of nam-myeon of Inje is Korea's largest clean lake where the clear valley water of Seorak Mountain Rangers, Naerin River and Backdam Temple meets together and makes an unimaginable ice surface. As part of the festival, the river ice is broken to reveal clean waters flowing through a beautiful landscape, offering to both adults and children the pleasures of fishing. In addition to ice fishing, festival-goers will enjoy a variety of hands-on events and games.
So this weekend we went to this went to an ice fishing festival that happens once a year in Hwacheon in Gangwon-do. We had an early start again, I think i got up about 5am and it was definitley a struggle. After getting to the bus stop and asking the driver very nicely to wait 10 min because Emily's train was running late we set off.
When we got to the destination there were thousands of people there all with their fishing rods down a hole. So once we'd got our rodes (that looked more like a twisted hamburger flipper with a badmington handle) we went to join the crowds. Each group was given a large metal thing to hack at the ice to make a hole, but me, Jenna and Em found an abandoned one and claimed that (were not really ones for hard work).
Now as you can see from the photo's ive posted it looks like we managed to catch three fishes, this I have to admit was a bit of a set up. One of the tour guides came over and asked if he could take some pictures of us for the website. Now not ones to shy away from a camera we said hell yeah, hence why we got the fish to pose with. After we'd got our fish we promptly gave on up on trying catch one and decided it would be more fun to play with the fish we'd been given and name them. We got to christen one each Sarah, Becky for the little one and Laura Jenna's friend from home.
When belly's began to rumble we went over to the barbeque area where they wrapped Sarah, Becky and Laura in foil and stuck them on the barbe. For anyone that doesn't know I hate fish and although I tried it, it hasn't converted me into a fish eater.
After this we wandered round the different tents and found one that dressed you up in a Hanbok (the traditional Korean dress) check out the photo's, we look pretty stupid.
About two o'clock we met to do some bare hands fishing, well when we signed up for this at the begining of the trip we thought we'd just be trying to catch fish with our hands through a hole in the ice. Boy were we wrong. We got given shorts and t-shirt to change into and told to be prepared to get wet. They had cut this huge hole in the ce that looked like a large pond, with loads of trout in. The idea was to jump in and catch as many fish as you could within 5 mins. Emily didn't join us as it probably wasn't a good idea after being so sick so me and Jenna doned our lovely orange shirts and basketball shorts and stood on the edge of this pond, crapping ourselves.
On the edge, freezing our butts off
Three, two, one the gong sounded and everyone jumped in and it was absolutly freezing. I had my hands on a couple of fish but didn't manage to catch one, the water was so dirty you couldn't see anything. The river bed was covered in tiny little pebbles which at first walking around on them hurt, but after about 30 seconds your feet were so numb you couldn't feel a thing. When the gong sounded again I realised Jenna had long gone and I ended up being the last one in the pool.
I'm still smiling
Luckily the small changing room we crowded into had under floor heating. At least we got a souviner, we were allowed to keep our lovely bright orange t-shirts. After a small stop over in a food tent for the last of our pack lunch and a hot drink we headed back to the bus and started the long journey home.
- Posted by k_millington on 31/01/2007.
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