Awkward duck's bungee jumping experience:

Thoughts on PLUMMETING TO MY DEATH

This weekend was the wonderful, much-anticipated Team Cal weekend put on by that master of planning Cal Hudson. More than thirty waygook teachers showed up in Dongsong this weekend to participate in virtually every extreme activity that Cherowon boasts. Sadly, I didn't really get any good pictures, as most of the activities were too perilous for my camera, but I did hand my camera off to a friend for a final activity, and our wonderful guide/mafia boss/Cal's soccer coach took lots of pictures of everything which he promised to pass on to Cal, and which will hopefully find their way onto facebook eventually. Friday night kicked off with drinks at Cal's place (ok, I'm lying, some people had dinner, but I was at home napping in preparation for this exhausting weekend.) Followed by a trip to Dongsong's famous B Turn bar where you can actually order alcohol that is not called Cass or Soju. From there car loads full of people began to arrive and led by our guide/mafia boss/Cal's soccer coach we migrated over to what turned out to be a pretty questionable noraebang to wait for the rest of the Friday night arrivals. At last, we piled into a bus and made our way out the pension Cal had arranged for us. At 6am the next morning Cal woke us to ask if we wanted to go on a sunrise walk to Jiktang falls to which most people (myself included) responded "Ngh? No!"

At around eight I got up and fortified myself with copious amounts of black coffee and then got directions from Cal to nearest bus stop. It was about a forty minute walk, but I was determined to fetch my camera, which I had accidentally left behind in my apartment. After spending all morning walking to Goeseokjung, busing to Shincheorwon and then repeating the process in reverse, I arrived back at the pension, camera in hand in time to greet the rest of the new arrivals and pile back in the bus for the first event of the day: Survival. Ok, so this seemed like it would be the least exciting event, but it was way more fun than I anticipated. A few minutes after I arrived, and we were being coached on the things we weren't allowed to do with the paintball guns, I heard a quiet voice behind me say "Hello, teacher" and turned to see one of my students grinning at me. He introduced his dad who also worked at the paintball place. And this is where it pays to support your local businesses, because this student had so much fun watching teacher Jecky get hit by paintballs that every time I was out, he or his dad would say "Die? Die? No, it's ok!" and wipe the paint off, give me more paintballs and send me back out there. It was glorious. Except the part where I got shot in the head twice. Although even that didn't really hurt too much at the time. Once we finished the survival games (Team EXO won!), we headed across the street for a friendly soccer match against Cal's team.Once we were thoroughly worn out from soccer and survival, we headed back across the street and strapped on life jackets and helmets and went river rafting. This probably would have been more fun if out boat hadn't been crammed full with 12 people and gotten caught on every single rock. My favorite part was when we stopped for a short break and spent it leaping off the rocks into the river.

Finally, exhausted, cold and sopping wet, we arrived back at the pension for the best tasting samgyeopsal I've ever had. After that I wandered around trying not yawn and waited until 11 pm which seemed like an acceptable hour to crash into a heap on the floor and sleep. At 8 am we were rousted from our blankets (except for those who simply didn't sleep at all). Everyone thought I was hungover because I kept clutching my head, but in reality I have an enormous goose egg on my forehead where I got hit with a paintball just above my mask. I cheered up considerably when the bus arrived and off we went to ride ATVs. After that we went back to the pension and said goodbyes to people who had to catch earlier buses or were too terrified to participate in the final Team Cal event of the weekend: Bungee Jumping. 

I was SO excited. And here's where I've finally got a few pictures. First, I've been looking forward to this for ages, so there was never any question: I was going to do it.

 Here's the thing though, I always felt that the first moment would be the worst. Stepping off the platform. I thought the rest would be more fun, and somehow I thought it would be more of a feeling flying. No. It wasn't like flying. It felt exactly like I was PLUMMETING to my DEATH.

 And then- then came the lovely feeling of flying as I bounced back up, and that's when the worst moment came, because just as I was thinking "Whoo-hoo! I'm flying!!!" I stopped and began PLUMMETING to my DEATH again.

 I think it was on the second bounce I did an awkward flip which I wasn't expecting at all.

 I was terrified that I'd try to grab the harness so I kept my arms out with my fingers all spread out stiffly. About the fourth bounce I remember thinking it probably looked pretty stupid, but I was still too terrified to move.

Finally they lowered me into a boat where I collapsed into a heap and was unable to stand for several seconds while I processed the fact that I was somehow still alive and the boatman kept asking me to stand up so he could get the harness off me. 

Conclusion: Bungee jumping was approximately one million times more terrifying than I expected it to be. 

And I can't WAIT to try it again. 

For those who aren't aware, makguksu is an evil combination of slimy noodles, hot sauce, vinegar, mustard and sugar. It is served so cold that if you can get past the disgusting taste and slimy texture, you will get a brain freeze. 

Haeundae beach, Busan. Looking a little more peaceful and quiet than it did when Dani and I were there for the sand festival.

Another reason to paint more: I update my blog much more often when I have a hobby to show off. Although, I think I'm much more talented at the jewelry making than watercolors.

After mentioning I don't want to fill my scrapbook with landscapes, what do I do but paint some landscapes. I feel very peaceful when I'm painting landscapes, so I guess my subject just depends on my mood.

 This is yet another version of my memories of Oaxaca. I feel like each one I paint has parts of how it really was, but none of them will really capture it all.

 This is one I've actually worked on for a while. It's a view from the war memorial in Sincheorwon last fall when all the leaves were so bright. The view from the top of that his is gorgeous in all seasons,but especially in the fall when the leaves are turning and the spring when the cherry blossoms are blooming.

 I get a lot of inspiration from the top of that hill. This the view facing the other direction in winter. My current favorite painting.

 This is what happens when you hurry a self-portrait. It's not TOO terrible, but it looks like I had plastic surgery to make my nose smaller, and what happened to the corner of my mouth? I'll have to try again sometime when I'm feeling more patient.

I bought a teapot when I was in Busan. I'm already putting it to good use. Peppermint tea, green tea, rooibos, black tea! I'm consuming a lot of tea out of this little pot.

The Awkward Duck

 Hey, so the update is happening quickly! I could have promised after all! So here's the project I've been having fun with lately. Someone suggested I keep a scrapbook of my experiences here and I was trying to decide what form I wanted that to take, since I am not the type remember to get pictures printed and that sort of thing. The obvious answer was my water color paintings, but I didn't want to fill my scrapbook with landscapes, and so The Awkward Duck was born. I've decided to paint some of my experiences- odd cultural moments and such- in the character of The Awkward Duck. Here are the first few results:

 My friend Dani and I actually saw a dog with painted on eyebrows when we were in Busan, and it's quite common to see cats and small dogs wearing blush. I definitely find it disturbing!

Koreans pull out their umbrella when it's sprinkling, or even when it's just a bit misty. I don't understand this at all. I've even had people tell me quite seriously that if I go out in the rain too much my hair will fall out. The concern for me when it's sprinkling and I'm not carrying an umbrella is so strong that I cave and carry an umbrella. I use it in a downpour, but still don't like to take it out when it's just sprinkling. Having grown up in Western Washington, I feel like light rain is my natural habitat.

My life in Korea is pretty great, but I think we all have days like this.

Finally, finally I have a new computer!
And the fact that I didn't have a smoothly working one until Sunday will be my excuse for not updating the blog for over a month. I've got an art project I've started working on so perhaps pictures of that coming soon. I hope to make a series of paintings and perhaps posting photos of them will help me remember to write updates as well.
This semester is just FLYING by. I can't believe it, but after this week is the middle school speaking test, and then there's one more week for review and then finals!!
After that I'll have those three "What the heck, Korea?" weeks after finals where the students turn into either zombies or holy terrors due to the fact that they won't be tested on anything I'm trying to teach them.
Luckily I've been getting much more creative about lesson planning, and I'm feeling more and more confident about my teaching. When I first came to Korea I thought classroom management would be a big struggle for me, but to my surprise, I took to the classrooms of 30+ middle school students pretty well (I mean, there are those days, and those classes, that are horrible, but for the most part, things are pretty good). What I struggled with my first semester (and the beginning of this one) was lesson planning, and now that is just getting easier and easier, so my job is going great.
Since my last blog post, there've been two holiday weekends. First, we had Bhudda's birthday and Children's day in May, and then election day and Memorial day at the beginning of June. For the first holiday, I didn't plan ahead, so when my friends Tami and Vicky and I tried to take a last minute trip to Busan or Sokcho or somewhere else, ALL bus tickets were sold out, so we ended up just wandering around in Seoul. Having learned my lesson, my Dongsong neighbor and Cheorwon's official newbie Dani and I decided to go to Busan for Memorial day weekend and bought out tickets ahead of time. The planning hit a few bumps on the way from changing bus schedules and limited motel reception hours, but despite those bumps, we managed to get our bus tickets and book a motel. Ready for adventure, we set out on Thursday as soon as Dani finished work. We caught our bus to Seoul with no problem, and even met up with Ben and Rochelle for a quick dinner before the long bus ride to Busan. We arrived at about 1:30 am and spent he next half hour trudging down the street looking for a motel that wouldn't charge us an exorbitant amount. After refusing the first few places our patience was rewarded. The next morning we met up with a friend of Dani's and several of Busan foreigner community. We went for a nice walk along the coast in Amnam park, and then had a fantastic late lunch at Jalgalchi Seafood Market. Unfortunately the remainder of the day was spend searching for our motel, which but between our three phones and the help of a kind hostel worker, we managed to find it.
On Saturday we headed to Haundae beach for the Sand Sculpting Festival and, of course, to take in the beach. It was a beautiful day involving sun, sand, swimming in the ocean, photos of giant sand-animals, Mexican food for lunch, Korean ice cream and dinner at lovely Thai restaurant with kittens frolicking on the ledge outside the window.
Sunday we took the KTX train back to Seoul and went to lovely Insadong for lunch and shopping before heading our separate ways- Dani back to Cheorwon, while I went on a mission at Technomart. I decided I wasn't leaving without a computer and so here I am finally able to blog again!

I would promise more updates soon but... chances are I'll forget again. So, maybe I'll update again soon.

Easter and Midterm Desk Warming

I’ve been keeping pretty quiet lately, with lots of excursions to Seoul on the weekends. School has been nice, though a bit chaotic for everyone but me lately, as class after class has been cancelled due to approaching midterms.

        Easter was my favorite holiday spent in Korea so far. My friends Hannah and Trevor made the loooooooooooong trip from Yangyang on the East coast all the way to Cheorwon for a day of hiking and eating lots of amazing food. After their arrival late Saturday morning, we headed over to Dongsong, where we met Cal and Blythe for a fantastic lunch of Budae Jiggae (Army Stew). From there we headed straight to the hiking trail. Unfortunately, I had injured my toe earlier in the week by accidentally kicking a door (yes, that is what actually happened, one of the perils of being a naturally clumsy person.) So the hike was a bit painful, but I arrived at the top despite my injuries and enjoyed a beautiful view of Dongsong from the top before heading back down (which was actually a great deal more difficult than going up.)

After a brief respite at Cal’s place, we headed out to the somewhat isolated gem of a sushi restaurant which is sort of in no-man’s land in-between Dongsong and the miniscule town of Gwanin. Massive sushi consumption followed.

The following morning after a delightful Easter breakfast cooked by myself, Hannah and Trevor and I headed to Seoul for the Easter church service together.

        We ended by going to Hacienda for an absolute feast of Mexican food. Then Hannah and Trevor said their goodbyes and headed back to Yangyang, while I headed to Yongsan Electronics market where I spent a confused hour or so trying to make sense of the flashing displays on every kind of screen imaginable. Feeling too overwhelmed, I put off computer shopping for another time and headed back to Cheorwon.

        This week I have had very few classes and have mostly been desk-warming. No classes today! Here’s a list of what I’ve accomplished so far:

1.    Wrote a rubric for the speaking exam for the students applying to go to Japan.

2.    Updated my schedule.

3.    Read several MLS articles.

4.    Updated my fantasy team.

5.    Folded an origami penguin

6.    Watched Simon’s Cat videos on youtube

7.    Chatted with the class 2-4 homeroom teacher

8.    Adapted a powerpoint game.

9.    Looked up recipes to try.

10. Retrieved some supplies from the old English room.

11. Printed some pictures.

12.  Planned a lesson for the highschool students.

13. Facebook

14. Mended the hole in the sleeve of my jacket.

15. Wrote this blog post.