Cycling, cyling and more cycling!

My weekend was spent in Chuncheon (1hr east of seoul on a bus) mostly sat on the saddle of my little bicycle. A friend from climbing got himself a road bike last week and as we are off climbing at Seoraksan National park at the end of this week, we decided that we would do a cycle to from where he lives in Chuncheon to the park. It is an estimated 120km so we thought it would be a good idea to see how the bike felt!



Chuncheon is a smallish town set by a lake and surrounded by lots of mountains. The roads are very good and quiet too, so it is perfect for a long ride. As usual, pictures to come! We set off on a loop around the lake, up and over the mountain cycling through some stunning scenery, stopped off to see a temple and made it back after 86km. There was one MEGA hill where I thought it would never end, however when I did make it the top, it was a satisfying feeling! On the way we took a ferry to cross one section of the river and encountered a snake which had been run over but was still alive (we put it out its misery) - we stopped for this half way up the hill for this... always a good excuse to have a rest!



Managed to get some wakeboarding in on Sunday. It was very different to wakeboarding at Cheongpyeong as there is NO traffic on the lake.... So smooth!! I had a bit of a suprise when I got back in and then realised the driver was just a little bit tiddly lol!! Good ol' Korea for you :)



Back to Seoul and off to the Drum Festival. This was fantastic. There were performers from Korea, Peru and Mexico and I now want to learn how to play the drums! :) Thoroughly enjoyed it.



Some good news about the teaching teachers - I am not teaching them how to teach at all!! All the teachers don't teach English, they just want to learn more English :) So, it is just like my parents class and there are only 12 people in the class. I was relieved when I figured that one out! ! We've had some good classes so far. There are three of us teaching: a girl I am working with temporarily and a bloke (who neither me and and the other girl particularly like...) I teach the middle group, my friend the lower group and the bloke the higher group. I think we'll have a fun few weeks with them!



This coming weekend is Chuseok - Korea's thanksgiving holiday. So, we have Thursday to Monday off work. Much needed!! We were given a present from school today to celebrate this holiday - a lovely gift package with different types of oils, spices and honey. I had the sesame seed oil mixed with soy sauce with dinner tonight - lovely. Because it is such an important holiday, everyone goes home to their families. Which means that the roads are blocked with traffic and a journey that usually takes 3hrs can take up to 9hrs. This is one reason I am relying on my bike for transport!! Apparently Seroaksan is fairly quiet hence why we've decided to go there for the break. There will be about 20 of us going to get some climbing in. Seoraksan is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places to see in Korea, and with autumn coming, the colours will hopefully be turning.

I am lucky enough to only be teaching today and tomorrow - Wednesday is lesson planning day this week. Off to Chuncheon Wednesday night and on my saddle Thursday morning to hopefully arrive at Seoraksan early afternoon.. Wish me luck!

Some photos...

View to street from my window on a rainy night:

A flower at school after the rain:

Some entertaining work done by the kids :)

This is the way to shift flowers around :) Motorbikes here are fully ladened with anything and everything. This one doens't have much on it - I will have to take a picture of one which looks like it shouldn't be able to stay vertical.

The eclipse:

Drying chillies:

Me and my boss Jenny shopping for blankets in my first week in Seoul.! I think I got the only blanket not covered in 'pretty' flowers :)

Back to the PCbang!

It's Saturday morning, it's raining outside and it smells of the rain at home! The weather is changing and the mornings and evenings are now quite chilly, but the sun has been shining most days. It's still flip flop and shorts weather :) I think this is the longest time i've been able to leave the house not even thinking about a whether or not I need a jumper, an umbrella etc since I left Kenya. It's been nearly 4 months! Brilliant! I could get used to this ;) (the winter is supposed to be unbelievably cold though... apparently if you go hiking, you aren't allowed through the gates if you don't have crampons!)

The last month has been a busy one. I've had to write tests for all my kids, then get all the marking done and write reports on them too. The reports was the hardest bit because I don't really know the kids well enough - i'd only taught one lesson to some of them at the time so I ended up just writing reports for the kids i'd had more teaching time with.

It's now the new term, lots of new students in. We had James' leaving do last night (hence why I am sat here now rather than doing anything too active! Ha ha!). Shame he is going but luckily he is only leaving the school after his year contract and not Korea. He has a one month old baby - beautiful girl! - so is taking some time out to spend with the family. We did have a new teacher supposed to be arriving next week but he wrote us an email two days ago to say he wasn't coming.... Arggghgh! I now have to cover all of James' lessons including his extra ones and start teaching new material from Monday onwards - makes for a fun weekend preparing! And some longer days too... My boss will be taking over some of my lessons and we'll just have to split the workload until we get someone new... Hey ho.

I've been asked to take a training course - when I say take it, I mean teach it. There will be about 200 local and foreign (I still hate that word!) elementary teachers taking a teachers training course over a 13week period. Eeeek! I'm a new teacher and some people on the course will have been teaching for a lot longer than me... They are all teachers in the area who will come in for 2hour long lessons. I think it is 3 times a week that I have to do it. Luckily a friend of mine does the same thing as a full time job at a university so he's going to give me hand with everything... I am being paid extra to do this so that's definitely a bonus!

hmmmm, think it'll be a long couple of weeks to Christmas! Or, it'll fly because it is so busy. Who knows?!

I've joined a cricket team called Pacific Storm. There is a league with 10 teams - each team is generally made up of people from the same country e.g. Australia, Korea, Pakistan, New Zealand, India, England.. Our team is however a good ol' mix :) We have Koreans, Americans, Canadians, Australians, Pakistanis and Indians. We also have the only girls in the league :) Me, and a Korean woman who is completely new to cricket! It has been great fun so far :) We beat the Pakistani team who were runner's up last year and have a cricket's 6s tournament coming up in 2 weeks to look forward to.

The pitch at SKK University:

Pacific Storm with some players from the Pakistani team taken after the match.

Went on a really good climbing trip last weekend. Absolutely fantastic!! It was my first real climb on rocks and I was really chuffed with my climbs :) I even managed a small overhang! On these weekends there are usually about 10 people who go, but for some reason, more and more people kept arriving! It was a few people's birthdays, and there was nearly 40 of us celebrating at the campsite on Saturday night! The place we went to is called Ganhyun and it's about 1.5hrs east of Seoul. Beautiful place. The rockface is just by the river and the river is so clear you can see straight to the bottom of it. We had a few swims inbetween climbs to cool off. There was also sand on the river shore so that was the tents went up :) Here are some piccies!

The view from the tent:

The first climb:

The view from the top of my second climb:

Third and last climb - coming up to the overhang:

Navigating the overhang...

Whoop!! I did it! near the top!

The train ride back:

Am still managing the hikes and rides before work in the morning. I have also found a POOL!! Extremely happy about the find, however... it is extremely busy. And its a half an hour away which isn't great.... But, I can still get there and back before 9am and it's just good to get in the water again.

Only a few more chances to go to the lake to wakeboard before it gets too cold. My good mate Victoria is coming up from Gunsan tonight and we are heading out there tomorrow. One of the blokes from climbing lives very close to the lake so he is going to join us too.

And that is me for now! Will put up some random pictures in a minute. Then, i'm off to cricket training :)

Bye for now!

New city, new school, new home and some travel!

It has been a while! Unfortunately I cannot access my blog from my work computer and as my laptop has died on me, I cannot access it from home either! Am currently sat in a PCbang - internet cafe- down the road from my NEW HOME!

Since last time....

I have finally moved to Seoul and got a new job! And it is fantastic!! Seoul has all the things I was missing not having in Gunsan - the music, culture etc. BUT, I am lucky enough to live in a quiet area of the city and have Mt Bukhansan a 15min cycle away from my doorstep! And I am now only an hour away from my beloved Lake Cheongpyeong too!! Getting out of the city is extremely easy and I managed to make it right down to the south of the country on a direct bus in under 4hrs.

School couldn't be better. I work with some lovely people, the whole system is far better organised and the kids are great. It is more work than where I was before and it feels great to actually have to plan lessons and be productive during the day. We are now on holiday at the moment so all has been a bit quiet, and this week in particular we have been allowed to take a week off.

My new flat is brilliant! It is so good to have my own space and not be surrounded by kids ALL the time. It is just round the corner from work which is handy too - especially in the winter when (i've been told) it gets extremely chilly.

Apart from the new start :) Well, i've had lots of visitors already, mostly from Gunsan, and have taken them out on the town in Seoul. I think I had 6 people round on my first weekend! :) A mini housewarming! I've been doing a lot of hiking and cycling too and have just got back from Japan.

I went over to Kyoto and stayed with a friend I used to work with in London. Met up with another friend too - the three of us used to work in the same building! It was a lovely 5 days. I took my bike over with me and spent my days cycling around Kyoto sight-seeing. It is the definitely the best way to get around. Kyoto has a well laid out bike system and I have NEVER seen so many bikes in my life!! EVERYONE owns a bicycle!! Managed to get around lots of temples and shrines including Kinkakuji temple - beautiful. Next time i'm over it will be to climb Mt Fuji :)

Now, to relax at the lake tomorrow and get some more wakeboarding in, then head down South to do some cycling before going climbing this weekend.

Then.... to the start of my year long contract at my new school :)

Pictures to come when I can figure out how to put them up!

Mud glorious mud!

It is strange to be leaving Gunsan after such a short time, however it feels like I have been here for months on end and I know that I will keep in touch with everyone. Had a get together on Friday night to see everyone for one more night out here. We had a few drinks in a bar then moved on to where we always end up - the noraebang (karaoke for those who don't know)!! It's always a good laugh and after singing for about 3hours, we called it a night ready for the fun packed weekend ahead.

MUD FESTIVAL!! Yes, this is where we spent the weekend :) Covered in MUD. And it was brilliant! The first thing you have to do, is put ALL your belongings in a locker before you get thrown in a mud bath with them, the next thing is to go to the 'self-massage' area and pour mud all over yourself and third thing is to have lots of fun doing it!! Managed to swim in the Yellow sea too which was amazing. It was the first time I have been fully submerged in water in nearly 3 months - great feeling. I also had my first jinjibang experience - this is a public showers type affair where you can have a hot shower, bath, sauna, body scrub etc for the price of about 2 quid and they are all over the place. A lot of people go once a week as it is so relaxing. It all gets very close and personal as it is all communal so for those who aren't too keen to strutt your stuff naked in public and have random women scrub your back for you, this may not be the thing for you! And if you are a man with hairy arms or legs, be prepared for the Korean men to pull them while they are sitting next to you starkers as it's not something they see very often!

So, Victoria, Tara and I had our showers, got all the mud off us, then got some food. We had clams and beef bulgogi (hard to describe but it is beef cooked as if in a stew but without all the liquid. It's very tasty). A drumming and singing performance was layed on followed by fireworks, after which we made our way to a club to cut some shapes on the dance floor. Was great to be able to dance whenever you want to rather than having the dance floor manned by the dj. The beers in there were \10000 (about 5 quid each) so we were cheap and didn't drink! I guess that most business down there make most of their revenue over this one week period. It's a very quiet town on a normal day.

Breakfast was a very non-Korean breakfast. The first in a long time! Toast with jam then pancakes with lemon and sugar! Tasty! Stayed with a friend at her mate's house and there were about 10 of us there having brekkie together - most South Africans. I was going to head back to the festival but it was tipping it down (the sort of rain you get soaked through in after 5 secs in it) so decided to come back to Gunsan.

All packed and ready to go for my new start in Seoul. Looking forward to it!

Photos to come tomorrow.

A week on a bus and a job to go to!

So this week I have spent every single day on a bus..... Monday I was on the bus from 9:30am - 5pm.. Gunsan - Gimhae - Gyeongju. Because the school I was visiting had nowhere to put me up, I ended up getting on another bus to stay with a friend of a friends in Daegu. Lovely lovely girl called Hannah - she climbs with a friend of mine in Gunsan and is from near Bristol in the UK. It's always nice to chat to someone with a British accent rather than an American/Canadian accent - there aren't many around in Korea.

On the way to Gimhae:

In gimhae:

Bus stop in Gimhae:

Gimhae:

Leaving Gimhae:

Got back to Gunsan on Tuesday via Jeonju in time for Matthew's birthday dinner in lovely Italian restaurant. Had ricotta and spinach ravioli - yummy!!

Between Daegu and Jeonju:

Matty's birthday dinner:

Set off to Seoul for my interview on Wednesday. Was a good day. Unlike Monday where they thought I was going there to work straightaway, I had a proper interview and also had to teach 2 x 80min classes with no preparation so they could see how I teach. So, I got the job! Woohoo!! I am very happy about this :) The school is a public elementary school in Bomun - dong, Seoul. This means that I am technically employed by the government and so shouldn't have any of the problems I had at my last job. I also have my own apartment (finally!) which is in walking distance from the school. I move in to it in a week and it is nice a spacious for me on my own. There is one other foreign teacher called James. He is from High Wickham and he seems like a nice guy. He is quite well settled in Korea (been here neraly 2 yrs I think and has a Korean girlfriend) and I get the distinct impression he does not want to have to baby sit me. So, will try my best to not get in his way!!

Met the headteacher and he is very keen on his sport - have been asked if I would be willing to help out with sports stuff and I my reaction was "yes, yes, yes"!!!! Apparently there are volleyball tournaments between teachers at different schools so will getting involved in that :) There is a music room next to the English centre so maybe I can also get time to practice my violin and piano.. I hope.

My new coteacher is interesting.... I'm not allowed to go to Itaewon (lots of US air force guys there) because I will become a drug and alcohol addict. I am not allowed to meet with foreigners because again, I will become an alcoholic and I will also catch swine flu. Do I have a boyfriend? How much do you drink? And it went on and on.... CRAZY!!!!! She then proceeded to tell me that I have to be able to drink because the head teachers likes to go out with the teachers once in a while... Hmmm, I think I will have to avoid telling her about what I do in my spare time!! Or just say I stay at home reading books day in day out...

Got back to Gunsan yesterday and met up with Victoria, Jamie and Josh. It was like going on a double date! Very good fun as we played that line up the whole night - played doubles in pool and had little "domestics" between us as if we had been going out for years. All good fun and yes, childish!

It's my last day in Gunsan and haven't actually done very much... Need to get my documents together for Monday and get stuff packed for the week. Meeting up with a few friends later on. will be sad to be leaving here....

Tomorrow is MUDFEST!! Cannot wait! It's a festival on Boryeong beach (about an hour north of Gunsan). Click here to find out a bit more about it. It looks like good fun and anyone I know who has been says it is not one to be missed.

Oh, and guess what I found in Gunsan last night!! A little Kenyan coffee shop! I was so shocked!!

I'm sure there will be lots of pictures from the weekend to come!!

Jeonju and July 4th celebrations

On Friday I ventured off to Jeonju with the lads. Jeonju is about an hour away from Gunsan so is very easy to get too. We had the most amazing dinner ever!! Lots and lots of meat and garlic :)

Me, Dan, Josh and Josh

After this we found the 'foreigner' bar and where we discovered the poker set. Played a good round, had a few beers and then went clubbing - the most interesting clubbing experience I have ever had!!! Going for a dance in a club is not as easy as it sounds.... You are only allowed to go to the dance floor when the dj allocates 'dancing time' because inbetween 'dancing times' you have to have 'social time' - this is where the dancefloor disperses and everyone heads back to their tables for forced 'social time'!! You then have to wait for the next time the dj thinks you are able to dance again. Toooo funny!!

All in all it was a good night, we had some really good fried chicken before we headed back to Gunsan on the first morning bus.

A few of us were invited to the US air base to celebrated July 4th. Was really good fun!! A great bunch of people, some good chat and a nice early night to top it off with!

Edwin, Laura, Jocelyn and me on base.

'Shotgunning' the beer!

I am currently sat in Gyeongju where I thought I had an interview for a job - in fact, they thought that I had already taken the job and was coming here today permanently!! The language barrier can definitely cause a few mix ups over here!! It's a lovely city and is very well known for its history and outdoor activities. It is a little out the way though and more difficult to travel within Korea in comparision to where I currently am in Gunsan. I head to Daegu to stay with someone there tonight and then back to Gunsan tomorrow. Off to Seoul on Wednesday for my other interview and then it is decision making time!!

A move in Korea

So, unfortunately all things ended at my current schools, however due to the circumstances, my employer has been extremely helpful and is writing me references and actively helping find a new job. Glad it's ended on up between us. Have already had 3 jobs suggested and the good thing is I can go and meet the directors, see the school and the set up before I sign any papers. So, next week will be spent at interviews and then when i've decided where to work, I will go on a short holiday outside of Korea and then come back to a new start. A long and difficult week but it has ended well.

Not much else has happened this week. I have been doing 20+km cycles every morning and seeing new parts of the city. Some beautiful places. Especially down by the sea.

We celebrated Canada day on Wednesay night - all dressed up in red and white with lots of balloons and flyers. Good fun :) Tomorrow, a few of us have been invited to the US air base to celebrate July 4th with them. It will be the first time i've actually been on base - looking forward to the bbqs, swimming and fireworks. Sunday is supposed to be my cycle with the man from the bike shop - I have to meet him at 6am to start so will have to keep it low key on Saturday! I hope I have got the date right and it is not next weekend! Wish me luck - its over 100km!! Eeeek!

Till next time...