School Picnic to Mireuk Mountain

Last Monday, no students were in sight at Tongyeong Elementary School! Why?!...You might ask. It's because all of the students were taking part in their class picnics. Each grade level went to a different destination, and since I teach only 6th grade right now here, I tagged along to Mireuk Mountain along with the other English teachers. I must be honest in saying that our little group didn't actually summit the mountain, but we did hike about halfway up and wait for the 6th graders to come down from the other side and have lunch. Here are some pictures from our day:

Our hiking group...아름, me, Minie, Karen, and Jennifer

We passed a temple on the way up and there were lanterns leading up to it in honor of Buddha's birthday next week

Beautiful Minie and me with the island view

Pretty in Pink ladies...Karen and Jennifer

I took my traditional picnic lunch with PB&J, chips, and a banana, but that is nothing like the picnic lunches in Korea. These kids feast on gimbap, mini sausages, rice-stuff tofu pockets, and a variety of other foods. These mothers here aren't messing around when it comes to picnic lunches!

The teachers opted for a local specialty for lunch...Chungmu Gimbap (충무김밥). This special type of gimbap was created in Tongyeong and is a favorite for tourists. Instead of the fillings of the gimbap being inside, they are instead served on the side. There are sort of mini rolls of rice and gim, served with sides of spicy radish and spicy squid. It has quite an interesting history and is pretty popular around here.


Of course, spending the day with my wonderful students was lots of fun! Since I didn't start the journey with them and only met them for lunch, most of them were quite surprised to see me...which is good..I like to keep them on their toes!! :)

After lunch, the students played games in their respective classes.

On the way down the mountain, I enjoyed seeing the sun peek through the trees.

It was a great day and I can't wait until the next one! :)

Eobang Festival in Busan

I can tell it's spring, because I'm a busy little bee these days! The last few weekends have been a wonderful contrast to the previous weeks...weather-wise...and I've been taking advantage of it!

Last weekend, Busan was the destination and the Eobang Festival at Gwangalli Beach was the target! It was quite a fun weekend on the beach and the weather was amazing!! I headed to Busan on Saturday morning with Danielle, where we met up with a few of her friends and a few of my friends from around Korea. One of the best things about traveling to Busan is that the west bus terminal is right on a subway stop (Sasang), so it makes it quite easy to get around town from there. And now that they opened the Geoga Bridge connecting Geoje to Busan, the trip is a little less than an hour and a half! Amazing!

On to the festival...From what I could tell, this festival was to celebrate fishermen and the fishing lifestyle. It was pretty similar to most of the festivals I've been to...with booths, festival food, and the likes...but in my opinion, the best thing about this festival was the fireworks at night! I am a sucker for fireworks! Also, I finally got to see the Gwangan Bridge in Busan...a pretty popular bridge in Korea. It made a beautiful backdrop for the day's events. Ok, let's get to the pictures!

A show with fishermen singing and swinging a net on the beach

This is a traditional game in Korea, Neol-Ttwigi, that is similar to a seesaw...except you aren't sitting down. I have seen this at several different places, but these two girls were the best I've ever seen. They were getting some serious air!

There was also a parade during the festival...these are my two favorite pictures from that! I love the bright colors!

At night, we enjoyed the fireworks on the beach. Here's a portion of the group that we wandered around with:

This was the best picture I could get with my camera...but I like it!

There were a couple of these arches with hanging lanterns and at night, it was such a nice sight!

Group picture under the lanterns:

After spending the night in Haeundae, we woke up Sunday morning with one thing on our minds....BREAKFAST!!! We Googled and found The Pancakes in Seomyeon had the best reviews for a Western style breakfast. So we hopped on the subway to Seomyeon for an amazing treat! Here are the directions we followed, just incase you don't click the link above...Subway: Seomyeon exit 1. Take your second right, and turn left on the main street. Go down a half a block. The Pancakes is on the left, just past Uncle Tomato Italian restaurant. Orange sign. Second floor.

My awesome breakfast...except...what is that salad doing on my breakfast plate??!!

Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. It was great meeting up with some of the new friends I met at EPIK training and to make new friends! I can't wait until the next one...Tea Festival in Hadong in May!! See you there! :)

Jinju Castle

I figured that before I set off for my next weekend adventure, I should tell you about my adventure last weekend! I didn't go too too far, but in Korea, you can't go too far without being in another country! Anyways, I headed to a town only about an hour away, Jinju. I visited this city for the Lunar New Year when I was in Korea last time, but I didn't actually see any of the city.

I went to see some friends, but before that, I headed to Jinju's biggest attraction, Jinju Castle (진주성). As always, I'm sure I didn't appreciate it to it's full cultural potential, but it was still a nice little visit! I took a few pictures to show you! I can't really explain the pictures, so you'll just have to put captions there for yourself!!

I would like to mention that if you ever go to Jinju Castle and you go to Jinju by bus, please be aware that the castle is in walking distance from the bus terminal that is close the center of the city. I didn't know that and I hopped in a taxi for all of 2 minutes. So when you come out of the bus terminal, just head straight left for about 7-10 minutes and  you can't miss it!

Until next time...

No Dryer, No Problem!

Few things surprise me in Korea anymore, so sometimes I forget to share them with you...but the other day, on my way to the bus stop, I snagged a couple of pictures that demonstrate Korea's efficient side. There is a little cleaning shop near my apartment that mostly cleans shoes, but also does a purses too. I guess they couldn't be bothered to get a drying rack, so they took advantage of nature's drying racks!

Korea's 'Grand Open' Experience

Recently, a new mart opened in my part of Tongyeong, so I thought it'd be a great time to show you what this experience is like in Korea. While we would call this a 'grand opening', Korea has Konglished this into 'Grand Open'...so here a look a this mart's 'Grand Open'.

It's always easy to recognize a new store that is opening because of the loads of flowers that are outside on the street. They almost remind me of funeral flowers back in the States...with their massive size and free-standing structure. But they are still beautiful and eye-catching, so it is a pretty sight to see! At some bigger stores or business, the Grand Open event can be really big. Sometimes they'll have dancing girls, a band, or stilted men. It's all very fun!

A close look at the pretty flowers!

One reason it's good to spot these 'Grand Open' occasions is because the new business usually gives away free things to promote their new business. I've gotten a range of different things...reuseable shopping bag, coffee mug, etc....just by going to these events! And we all know how much I like free stuff! :)