I was very fortunate to be able to see the DMZ this month. We had to sign up in advance and the price is usually around 90,000 won. However, a special price was running at this certain time and it only cost 42,000 won. The money pays for the bus to and from the DMZ. Also, we are given a traditional Korean lunch at a village outside of the DMZ.
The trip started at 7:30am. We had to take the subway into Seoul to meet up with the bus and other tourists at 9:30am. Once we were on the bus, we had a quick 1 hour ride to the "Freedom Bridge" site. This is the bridge that once connected the two Koreas and also the bridge that refugees once used to escape North Korea. Prior to arriving at the bridge, our bus was stopped and a soldier came on the bus to check everyone's passports. I was a little frightened but it went by quickly without any problems. After the bridge, we went to the village and had our lunch. This village is were only a few hundred people live and they are exempted from taxes and military service. However, they are not allowed to leave the village. They are mostly farming families in this area.
It was always a little scary because when we would get off the bus the tour guides and military would say "Don't wonder too far and stay with the group!" Sure, I'm just going to go wondering around the DMZ by myself. I might be blonde, but I'm not a complete idiot!
After our lunch, we went to the site of the third tunnel. "The Tunnels" are four tunnels created by North Korea and discovered by South Korea. The starting points are at various places in the North and all connect into Seoul. They were created for a surprise attack during and after the Korean War. There are believed to be 20 more undiscovered tunnels. We were allowed to go into the third tunnel, but no pictures could be taken. We had to wear hard-hats and it was very cramped. The tunnel itself, is 700 meters below the earth's surface, so we had to go down a tunnel to get to the actual tunnel. It was quite a workout!
After the tunnel, we looked around the museum dedicated to the tunnels and at the beautiful garden outside. The garden had traditional Korean statues and structures. When I took a closer look at the fence though, it said "MINE" with a skull on it. That took away the beauty of the garden! But I had no time to worry because it was back on the bus and off to the observation deck into North Korea!
When we arrived, everyone was very excited because this is what the big tour was leading up to! We were actually going to see North Korea! When we got to the deck, we discovered this big yellow line that was the "Photo Line." We could not go past the line to take pictures and if we did our cameras would be taken and searched. The reason for this is if the pictures got into the hands of the North Korean military, than they could see the advantage point that South Korea has from the observation deck. The actual view wasn't great. It was a little foggy and we just saw mountains and trees. The only interesting thing was on either side of the actual line seperating the countries is two massive flags. One for the South and one for the North. But of course, I couldn't take a picture of that!
The final stop was to Dorasan Station. Basically, this is the biggest waste of money ever spent. It is a station that was built in the DMZ for the HOPE that one day it will be the first station a subway will go through to North Korea. A train goes to and from this station only once a week and it's for the Korean military. The tagline for Dorasan is "Not the last station from the South, but the first station to the North." I don't see that happening anytime soon and I think it might be time to ask for your money back! We got to go on the platform and look at the tracks that "may one day" lead to North Korea. It was the most boring part of the trip, which was fine with me because we were all dead-tired!
Seeing the DMZ was really great! I learned a ton about the Korean War and got to see a great part of history. I hope to have more experiences like this during my time remaining time in Korea. Only 3 more months!
On a happy note, I want to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my beautiful sister! She is lucky to be at home with our parents on her special day, and I can't wait to see all of them very soon!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Buddha's Birthday
This weekend was a time of celebration all over Korea. It was Buddha's Birthday and it is a huge holiday for the country. Almost every school (except for private academys) had Thursday thru Tuesday off for the holiday. Thursday of last week, was Children's Day. A day to celebrate kids, buy them presents, and take them to a rowdy amusement park. I went to a wonderful festival for Children's Day in Ilsan. It was the Flower Festival and the entire park was covered in flowers and displays. It was a beautiful day and I had a great time! Then it was back to school on Friday.
On Saturday, a group of teachers and I went to go see the Lantern Festival, which is the celebration for Buddha's birthday. Before heading into Seoul, we stopped in Itaewon for a Western meal. I remembered seeing a restaurant called The All-American Diner and I promised the teachers a real breakfast like back home. Well, I forgot where it was and we walked around for about 30 minutes. Luckily, we started talking to a Korean couple from America and they pointed us in the right direction. It was so worth it! We all had breakfast at 1:00pm. I had eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns with a big barrell of coke to top it all off! It was wonderful! Except that it cost about $15. At IHOP it would have only cost about $8! But I will make the sacrifice for a little taste of home.
After brunch, we went into Seoul to the Lantern Festival. It was unbelievable how many lanterns filled the city. Every street corner and store had a lantern hung up and the colors were incredible. We ended up going to a temple and observed many people praying and bowing to Buddha. After the temple and walking around the city, we stood on the streets of Seoul and watched the Lantern Parade through the city. The best part was seeing the hundreds of monks walking through the street with their offerings for Buddha. There were many floats in the parade and every float was a huge lantern. The parade lasted for two hours and when it finished it was 9:00pm. We decided to head home after a long day of being tourists.
As for my daily life in Korea, I have been working alot and actually enjoying myself at work. I feel like I am so used to this job that it just comes naturally now. Rarely do I have a surprise or get scolded at for not doing something because I am on top of my game! My friends are great and I have been bonding well with the new teachers. It's amazing how fast you become friends with people here, but us foreigners have got to stick together! I made the stupid mistake of joining a gym and now I feel obligated to go. 6am work-outs here I come! The Summer weather has started and that means humidity, rain, and poofy hair :( Also, Korea has the awful season called "yellow dust." It's when the pollution from China drifts down with the wind and creates a yellow dust in the air. The level of danger changes daily, but small children, the elderyly, and sick people should stay inside if it's at a high level. It causes phlem and people get coughs, etc. It should only last for a month, so hopefully it'll be gone for my Birthday! I don't want to be sick! Have a good day friends and family! Love you all!
The Ceiling of Lanterns
Inside the Temple
On Saturday, a group of teachers and I went to go see the Lantern Festival, which is the celebration for Buddha's birthday. Before heading into Seoul, we stopped in Itaewon for a Western meal. I remembered seeing a restaurant called The All-American Diner and I promised the teachers a real breakfast like back home. Well, I forgot where it was and we walked around for about 30 minutes. Luckily, we started talking to a Korean couple from America and they pointed us in the right direction. It was so worth it! We all had breakfast at 1:00pm. I had eggs, toast, sausage, bacon, and hashbrowns with a big barrell of coke to top it all off! It was wonderful! Except that it cost about $15. At IHOP it would have only cost about $8! But I will make the sacrifice for a little taste of home.
After brunch, we went into Seoul to the Lantern Festival. It was unbelievable how many lanterns filled the city. Every street corner and store had a lantern hung up and the colors were incredible. We ended up going to a temple and observed many people praying and bowing to Buddha. After the temple and walking around the city, we stood on the streets of Seoul and watched the Lantern Parade through the city. The best part was seeing the hundreds of monks walking through the street with their offerings for Buddha. There were many floats in the parade and every float was a huge lantern. The parade lasted for two hours and when it finished it was 9:00pm. We decided to head home after a long day of being tourists.
As for my daily life in Korea, I have been working alot and actually enjoying myself at work. I feel like I am so used to this job that it just comes naturally now. Rarely do I have a surprise or get scolded at for not doing something because I am on top of my game! My friends are great and I have been bonding well with the new teachers. It's amazing how fast you become friends with people here, but us foreigners have got to stick together! I made the stupid mistake of joining a gym and now I feel obligated to go. 6am work-outs here I come! The Summer weather has started and that means humidity, rain, and poofy hair :( Also, Korea has the awful season called "yellow dust." It's when the pollution from China drifts down with the wind and creates a yellow dust in the air. The level of danger changes daily, but small children, the elderyly, and sick people should stay inside if it's at a high level. It causes phlem and people get coughs, etc. It should only last for a month, so hopefully it'll be gone for my Birthday! I don't want to be sick! Have a good day friends and family! Love you all!
The Ceiling of Lanterns
Inside the Temple
Friday, May 6, 2011
It's So Hard to Say Goodbye....
The realization of this job has finally hit. When I was preparing to leave for Korea, I was so sad to leave all my friends and family back home. I didn't realize that I would come to Korea and make a new set of friends and have a "family away from home." It is unbelievalbe how close you can become with people in just a few months. It's amazing how you can develop a community of people you can rely on. This job has a constant turn-over and people are always leaving and new people are always arriving. I was very fortunate to have gone the first six months of my contract without losing any of my friends, but now the cycle has started. This weekend, we said goodbye to a very beloved teacher at ECC. He was an awesome person who always made the best out of any situation and he will truly be missed! I told myself I wasn't going to cry, but I had a wimper the day he left. We all did! But like I said, the cycle has started and at the end of June another teacher leaves and then another in the end of July. A month after that, I leave and I can't believe my year will be over!
Apart from having to say goodbye to my friends and fellow co-workers, I will be devestated when I have to say goodbye to my students. I absolutely adore these kids, especially my kindergarteners. They make my days better and put a big smile on my face! I wish I could see them grow more, but this job and lifestyle is a cycle that must keep moving. I think that four months from now, when I am packing my bags for home, I will feel as though my time is up and I need to move on from Uijeongbu and ECC. I was talking about this with a fellow foreigner and said that ECC has been a great place to have a first time contract. I have learned so much about Korea, private schools, and myself. This has been a challenging year, but a great one at that.
As I said before, we said goodbye to a teacher this weekend and it was his goal to leave Korea with a BANG! We celebrated his departure with the norebang and a trip into Seoul. By the end of the weekend, I was happy to see him go for the fact that I would never have to party like that again for awhile! The weather is finally getting warm enough to go without a jacket, but since this is Korea I will probably be sweating buckets in the humidity by next week. Korea is the land of extreme temperatures. It's either too cold or too hot and no in-between. Oh well, I'd rather be sweating my ass off than having it freeze off! Also, the rain has started and it just makes me feel so lazy. It's 11 o'clock on a Friday night and due to the rain, I am in my pajamas, in my bed about to fall asleep. I hope everything is going great back home! Miss you all and love you!
Apart from having to say goodbye to my friends and fellow co-workers, I will be devestated when I have to say goodbye to my students. I absolutely adore these kids, especially my kindergarteners. They make my days better and put a big smile on my face! I wish I could see them grow more, but this job and lifestyle is a cycle that must keep moving. I think that four months from now, when I am packing my bags for home, I will feel as though my time is up and I need to move on from Uijeongbu and ECC. I was talking about this with a fellow foreigner and said that ECC has been a great place to have a first time contract. I have learned so much about Korea, private schools, and myself. This has been a challenging year, but a great one at that.
As I said before, we said goodbye to a teacher this weekend and it was his goal to leave Korea with a BANG! We celebrated his departure with the norebang and a trip into Seoul. By the end of the weekend, I was happy to see him go for the fact that I would never have to party like that again for awhile! The weather is finally getting warm enough to go without a jacket, but since this is Korea I will probably be sweating buckets in the humidity by next week. Korea is the land of extreme temperatures. It's either too cold or too hot and no in-between. Oh well, I'd rather be sweating my ass off than having it freeze off! Also, the rain has started and it just makes me feel so lazy. It's 11 o'clock on a Friday night and due to the rain, I am in my pajamas, in my bed about to fall asleep. I hope everything is going great back home! Miss you all and love you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)