White Water Rafting

This past weekend I went white water rafting and river trekking.  It was very fun.  I've been rafting a few times before but I had never been river trekking.  

What is river trekking, you ask?  Well, in this case it was the following: hike up a mountain for longer than preferred in the hot and humid weather.  at the top, decide to jump off a bridge into the water below.  think it's no big deal.  stand on the bridge.  feel legs tremble and freak out.  jump anyway.  realize it wasn't so bad.  walk in river downstream for a long long time.  find rocks to slide down and additional rocks to jump off of.  walk on trails when river trekking gets tiring.  walk walk walk some more.  swim in water.  walk more.  the end. 

dorktastic river rafting

river trekking with a thousand other trekkers 

The other noteworthy thing is that we got to stay in a beautiful pension.  This house turned pension was so stunning I could have spent way more than just 1 day there.  Life felt just a little bit slower while at that pension and it was great.  Living outside of 10-million strong Seoul, you really have to escape to the countryside sometimes.  

Mudfest!

This past weekend was the Boryeong Mud Festival.  As expected, it was a crazy fun time.  Though we wished it hadn't rained for much of Saturday, the day of the main event, it just meant the mud was a little more muddy.  

We <3 Mud! 

<-------------   What goes up...

                                    Must come down --------->

The obligatory jump shot (Take 1).  

Take 5

After mud wrestling, mud sliding, and mud jump shots, it was time to rest.  

At around 6pm we started hearing rumors that Super Junior was going to play a free concert at the festival.  Come on, one of the biggest K-pop bands in Korea play a free concert?  Well, to be fair it happens all the time.  But I still had my doubts.   Asah!  T-ara (of the famed terrible song Bo Peep.  It's so bad it makes me want to puke) came on and played 3 songs.  Then Super Junior came on and rocked the house.  I'm so very sorry sorry but how can you not love a 13-member boy band that wears eyeliner.      

Last, but not least, we may or may not have done something that would warrant these facial expressions.  Just sayin' 

School Lunch

People often ask me, "How is the lunch at your school?"  Honestly, I'm never quite sure how to answer that.  I haven't had lunch at any other school in Korea so I can't compare it.  Furthermore, I seldom eat Korean food outside of school save for Kimbap and Korean Barbeque Galbi, which we can't eat at school.  

So here is a week of my school lunch.  This was just as typical a week as any other.  In every meal we get some kind of kimchi, soup, and rice.  Then we get 1 extra source of protein and 1 other side dish.  

Monday: 

- Soup made from bean paste.  I hate this kind of soup most of all.  In the soup there are pieces of potato, tuna, and seaweed.  

- White rice and a 1/2 banana

- Kimchi

- Dried fish thingies.  I don't eat these.  

- Tofu with a slightly spice sauce on it.  

Today I ate banana, tofu and the rice.   (I took a picture of my co-teacher's tray because mine was so sparse looking.) 

Tuesday: 

- Beef.  Lots of bone and very little meat.  

- Korean pancake.  Love these.  

- Kimchi. 

- White rice and a nectarine 

- Soup with potato and fish cake

My nectarine was a little mealy tasting.  The Korean pancake (pajeon), however,  was delicious.  They are made from flour, eggs, oil, scallions, and a little vinegar, soy sauce, and sugar.   

Wednesday: 

- Boiled potato.  No salt and no butter. 

- Hot sauce for the bibimbap (Gochujang 고추장)

- Green kimchi

- Bibimbap (seasoned and sauteed vegetables like carrot, zucchini, and mushrooms) with rice.  

- Soup with potato, fishcake and something green. 

- Also, grape juice!   

Thursday: 

- Mook.  A gelatin made from buckwheat and acorn powder with seaweed and sesame on top.    

- Fried chicken with lettuce and a mustard dipping sauce. 

- Kimchi (Oisobakki: kimchi from cucumbers) 

- White rice 

  

- Not delicious soup.
















Sorry that the formatting on this sucks.  For some reason pictures are impossible to navigate on blogger.  

A Pocketful of Adventure

This past weekend I went on an organized trip with the company "Daegu Pockets."  At w115,000 ($95) the trip was a little pricy but I think it was worth the money because I had a great time and got to do things I know I otherwise would not have managed to do on my own. 

At 11am we met at the Sports Complex Station which is great because as far as Seoul goes, it's one of the closer stations to my home.  Apparently a group of 20 people canceled at the last minute and so our group comprised of just 4 other girls.  No big deal though.  

After horrendous traffic from Seoul we finally arrived in the Gapyeong area (가평) at about 3 or 4pm.  It should not have taken that long, but whatever.  At about 5ish we had a paintball game.  I had wanted to do paintballing for a long time but it turns out it's not quite my thing.  To understand how I felt about this game you might want to picture me in the fetal position screaming "stop stop stop!"  Ok, I didn't do that, but it's how I felt.  I got hit in the head, the ankle, and my forearm, all of which left little bruises on me.  I'm glad I did it, but now I know: never again.  

After paintballing it was time to ride ATV's.  Now this I liked!  Besides the fact that I felt bad for the environment I was polluting unnecessarily,  I had an awesome time.  (Unfortunately I forgot my camera so I can't show any pictures.  Hopefully one of the girls will send them to me.)

At night we went to a batting cage and played a few rounds.  I kicked ass since I have been going to the cages on a weekly basis for a while now.  It's addicting!  

Then we went to some small amusement park thing in Changdong with a pirate ship ride, a haunted house, and a ride that would never be allowed in the U.S.  Basically you sit on a bench without a seatbelt or harness of any kind and you spin around and around and bounce up and down.  I guess what makes the ride so awesome is the commentary the ride conductor is saying, but of course I couldn't understand.  

The next day we slept in until about 9am and then got ready to go wakeboarding.  It was raining a little bit when we got there but it stopped and was considerably nice out.  I was elected to go first on the wakeboard because I had the most waterskiing experience.  

oh yeah.  

After wakeboarding we went tubing behind the boat.  I didn't take a picture and I can't seem to find one on the internet but that was also super fun.  We flew so high in the air for a prolonged period of time that it was almost like flying.  

When we got home to Seoul it was about 6pm or so.  A very fun weekend.  I sure do love me some adventure sports!         

Here it goes again!

Here it goes again from SDub on Vimeo.

I gripe about the 5th graders a lot.  In the classroom they tend to be loud and disrespectful.  They talk and talk and don't seem to care about my class.  In class I attempt to be strict with them, but outside of the class I try to be fun and let loose with them.  I mean, how can I be strict with these kids who are forced to clean my classroom every week?  

About a week ago or so I played the music video for Ok Go's "Here We Go Again" because they wanted some music while they cleaned.  I never could have imagined how much they would love this song.  They have been assigned to clean my room about 4 or 5 times now.  And we have listened to that video (and danced!) each time.  Um yes, we.  Sometimes I dance too.  But just a little.  

Anyway, I finally caught it on video.  I hope it works!