Fishing in Korea (Last Trip to Bonghwa)

Crossing the street to DongSeoul Station

Towards the last weekend in July the little country town of Bonghwa had it's annual fish festival. Jesse and Teresa had told me about this event and apparently it was a big deal. I thought to myself..."Well, I like fishing, and it's a big deal, I better be there!" I was swamped with prep work for my English camps starting the next week but made the trip regardless. It turned out to be a great time and a nice breather from not only the city but lesson planning.

At the Bus Station

I arrived to the DongSeoul bus station about four hours too early (apparently the fish festival was a big deal and all the buses were booked!). I wondered around and finally the time came to get on the bus for about three hours. When I go to the station Jesse greeted me in Yeonju (a nearby city) and we went to Bonghwa, where Teresa had prepared a delicious fish feast in celebration for the festival.

Teresa and I with the Creepy Statues

We spent the time wondering through the festival and around Bonghwa. We saw some creepy statues, cars being pulled by giant robot animals, and lots of food. To get the festival started right, the night of my arrival we took a ride in a GIANT goose. That was a lot of fun. After our goose ride we waited for a spectacular firework show which really was impressive. The next day we did a little more wondering, and I stayed to see the anticipated fishing expedition before heading back to the city. This was a great last trip to Bonghwa and I will miss the simple and slow paced life of Korean country living. It was great to have Jesse and Teresa here in Korea to visit and even better to get to see a different part of the country! Though I loved the visits, it helped me to see how perfect being in the city was for me in this season of life. It is always good to take a break but just as good to return!

Giant Goose Boat!!!

The fishers charging into the river!

Some very smart fishers!

FIELD DAY AT ANYANG JUNGANG!!!

This is one of my favorites!

A nice tune to start the day!

I remember when I was in elementary school, having field day. It was a day where us students played games and celebrated physical activity all day. Guess what!... They do that here too! Yep, we had field day at Anyang JungAng Elementary. I was instructed to wear athletic clothes and shoes. I had no problem with that. It was a lot of fun. The day started with a song played by the whole school on the recorder which was followed by a nice warm up consisting of none other than the national sport of Korea..Taekwondo. And then to get the celebration off right, they released balloons that contained an origami swan. The swan had the dreams written of each student on it. Of course there was a swan for each grade/class. It was a really neat thing to experience. The rest of the day consisted of many games directed towards grade levels. Running was the core activity. Wow, these kiddos can run.

Like I said, both the USA and Korea have field days, but the games played are a little different. There was one game which was similar to pinata. The students had to throw little balls at a big ball until they broke it. They raced against another team. Surprisingly, the large balls were nearly impossible to break. But with a little persuasion from an adult they budged and set free some candy, confetti and balloons. Another part of field day I found very interesting was a display of pictures and art made by students. It was a great break from the field to take a glance into the lives and minds of these young athletes and dreamers that I call my students!








What is a athlete without their protein and bokki? Well, I don't know, but I do know there was plenty of this food to go around. I even got a unwanted taste of some delicate pig intestine. A student of mine came up to me and held this black thing on a stick near my mouth, as I opened my mouth to say a kind no, he slipped it right in. I was unable to chew it all the way through so I toughed it out and just swallowed it. At the time I had no idea what it was, then later found out that it was pig intesting. Wonderful ^^ Did you know that this is a heart healthy food for woman to eat after giving birth in Korea. Well you do now!


Another student gave me a surprise I liked a little better. he bought me bokki, which is one of my favs here. It is rice cake in a very spicy sauce! What a nice moment we had eating our delicious bokki together! I wrapped the day up with a story during my weekly story time program and then enjoyed a little more time out on the field. Coming soon...a look into my classroom...or rather a day in the life of Kate as a teacher.

Birthday Cake in Korea

Delicious Fruit Birthday Cake

Birthday cake in Korea is DELICIOUS! My co-teachers surprised me with a fruity cake from Paris Baguette (a very popular bakery) for breakfast, yes breakfast! It was lovely, and they spoiled me with their singing and fellowship before a day full of teaching. Clara my friend and co-teacher made sure the students knew it was my birthday...all week... thus, my ears were certainly not deprived of hearing the joyous song of "Happy Birthday" in English and Korean. It was very sweet and cute of my students, some of them missed it even amongst all the commotion, they did however notice it in the weeks to come, so it really was my Birthday all month long! Thanks to all my friends back in the states and here in Korea for all the messages of happy wishes ^^

A little bit of cultural information...here in Korea birth age is ordered a little different. Their one year begins at birth (or closely around there..not sure...I think there might be a big celebration at the 100 day old mark, not sure which marks)...point is my age is a year older here than what it is in the USA :p Yep, so when I came to Korea I was 25 and I am now 27, the plus is when I return home I will be 26 again, that is if I can remember, this age thing joggles my mind a little too much for my recall. Enjoy the photos!

Soo, brought me this cake <3

Clara and I

A gift from a student <3

The Principal greeted me with this flower :0)

Some of my students singing to me!

The Change of Seasons

The beginning of Spring from a view  at work.

 

 

 

Walking on water???

Seasons come and go, as they do so they bring new surroundings and perfect opportunities for new adventures. As spring took full speed in Korea I took full speed on catching up on my outdoor time that I had deprived myself of during the cold winter. Seeing the cherry blossoms was a must. It has always been a dream of mine that my grandmother also shares. Hopefully my photos will capture the beauty I experienced and give her eyes an illusion of seeing blossoms in Asia during the spring. Gyeonju is the ancient capital city of Korea and the place to be to see the blossoms. I took a day trip to this city, which was 2 hours by express train. Jesse, Teresa and a friend of theirs were there to meet me! We had a fun day of hiking, walking on water, eating street food, and enjoying the spring season together. Here is a small glimpse of what we saw.....

To stretch my traveling legs a little further one weekend I took another short venture into the country land of Korea (AKA Bonghwa...Jesse and Teresa's home for their year in Korea). Jesse and Teresa greeted me at the bus stop, we shared a meal Korean style on the floor! We then took a night stroll by the river and played a competitive game of midnight croquet. Which I dominantly lost. The next day we visited the street market, made gimbap for a picnic lunch, hiked through the country side, visited a beautiful stream called SoakJan and went to a cookie festival where cookies were absent. I then caught a bus back to the city life.

More adventures coming soon of what should be called "The Adventures of Kate, The Ever so Consistenly Inconsistent Blogger"

INDIA

The Taj is picture perfect, I really was there!

 Well Readers, if you are still there you will finally have something to read. I am not even going to try to catch you up on my adventures one post at a time. I will just a few big events that have been happening in a few posts. The first big thing will be to share some pictures and a little about my trip to India with you.
The trip to India was short, but enough time to open my eyes and heart wider to a different land in this large world I am living in. India is a big country and in the place I visited...New Delhi and Agra, there are people everywhere. My experience in India had some ups and downs just as most things do, but it was an experience I would not trade for anything. I want to share with you things I experienced for the first time and that I will never forget


1. TAJ MAHAL
I visited a wonder of the world that truly was breathtaking and remarkable. The Taj Mahal! It's beauty and story are unique. Your mind just wonders in the construction of the architecture and the purpose for it's build. It was constructed out of love to serve as a tomb for the love of one Sheik. I can't believe I had the opportunity to see this for myself, walk inside and around a place that has been marveled over for years.






RECKLESS words pierce like a sword but the tongue of the wise brings healing
On my way to see the wonder of the Taj, I had my first verbal fight with a man with a monkey. He tried to trick me into taking a picture by telling me he would NOT charge me. I hesitated and almost took a picture, he thought I did and I insisted I did not. After he thought I took a picture he demanded I pay, I tried to plead my case of innocence (not with much love in my voice or heart) however, eventually we came to a mutual understanding and I left learning a few things about myself as well as a few things about this man who will impact my life in a positive way when I remember him.

3. HARVEST
I saw many rice fields of my favorite type of rice, truly beautiful!
   FOOD
Palak Paneer and Naan...I LOVE indian food! I ate palak paneer multiple time while in INdia it is a spinach based curry and the naan is a type of bread that you scoop the naan up with, delicious



4. TRANSPORTATION
Camels on the HIghway. I saw several camels hard at work passing cars, being passed by cars as they hauled some type of materials



5. TRADES
Bazaar's are shopping stores where business men and tradesmen display their handmade creations for tourists to purchase. I saw many scarfs, marble works, purses, rugs, and many other things

A Day In Malaysia OR A Day At The Airport???




I just boarded the plane to KLIA (Malaysia)!

 
Friends!  I made it on my first adventure and back.  I bet you are all waiting in anticipation to find out if I ventured out in Malaysia or stayed at the airport!  Well, wait no longer!  Well maybe just a minute longer.  I want to tell you about my flight first.  On friday I arrived at the Incheon International Airport with much time to spare before my 11:20 flight.  I got off the shuttle bus (which conveniently stops near my apartment so I had no issue getting on) and walked into the massive airport.  I found my check in right away, exchanged my Korean Won into Indian Rupees and Malaysian Ringetts and proceeded to my check in.  There were so many other foreigners I felt like I was back in the USA.  Turns out my good friend Nadine happened to be flying to her home country (South Africa) for her break and was taking a midnight flight on the same date as my departure!  Now, I have not told you much about my new friends here yet, but remember I am still working on catching you up.  Nadine is a great friend of whom I have been studying God's Word with for the past few months.  Prepare to hear more about this in the future.  Ok, back on track now.  Nadine found me in the check in line and we wondered around together to find a place to eat.  It was GREAT seeing her and sharing a meal with her.  At this point in my journey I was already dropping things all over (I did do a great job packing though), I had strapped my flip flops to my pack and one fell off.  Nadine told me to be careful or I might loose them!  (Keep this in mind)
We said adue as I remained calm and collected not worrying about the time at all to find my gate (fabricated truth, I think so).  She headed to South Africa and I headed for Malaysia. 

If you have never traveled by yourself I must recommend trying it at least once in your lifetime if you have a chance.  It really is not something to dread.  Turns out I really enjoy it!  I made it through my six hour flight, with no sleep, sleeping on flights is almost impossible for me :(

I was aching to get off the plane and feel the warm air.  Oh wow, was it warm.  I arrived at KLIA at 5am and it was already 24 degrees C!  Now the time has come to find out what I did in Malaysia.



The City of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia



Here it is, I stayed at the airport....FOR TWO HOURS out of the ELEVEN I was there for, where I searched for an information desk but found nothing.  I did find a man who was willing to give me a "great" deal of approx. 100.00USD taxi ride into the city, which I kindly refused!  That is expensive.  I ended up finding a bus into the city of Kuala Lumpur which was a one hour ride there and back, for about 5 USD now that was a deal!  I bought a ticket and focused so much on making sure I could get back that I failed to inquire about where I bought a ticket to in the first place.  So..I baorded the bus full of excitement that I would be able to say I left the airport and tried to forget that I did not know where I was going.  Now the adventure of Malaysia has officially begun!
 


My Kuala Lumpur Adventure Buddy

I arrived at KL Sentral, a huge building located in the central of the city.  I got off the bus and was  

KL Tower

immediately being ushered by a group of malaysian men onto another bus.  I of course was cooperating in  my obliviousness, thankfully a nice foreigner (keep mind I am a foreigner myself so when I refer to someone as a foreigner I am referring to someone that is native to a different country than where we are living) who is  also teaching in  Korea kindly directed me against it.  Turns out I would of been getting off a bus and getting right back on one to the airport!  Phew, close one! The kind stranger would be my Kuala Lumpur Buddy for the day!  He had a nice itinerary
and we explored the city!  We went to  a Mosque, walked A LOT, took a few taxi's, waited for a subway that never came, found the KL Tower, saw the Petronas Towers in the skyline, and I took a cab back to KL Sentral and had a nice detour through KL"s Chinatown!


This fella helped lead me in the "right" direction,
so many people here rode this awesome motor bikes






I thought this tree was so beautiful. 
The branches were like spiral slinkies.
I wondered what type of tree it was..
Alec?  Auntie?  What do you think??

It was quite the adventure and one I almost missed out on, totally better than staying at the airport.  I made it back,only missing my flip-flops, and checked in for my flight and was filled with so much excitement to tell Jesse and Teresa about my adventure, when I would meet them in India.  Now that I made it through Malaysia I just needed to get to India and figure out how to get to the hotel where Jesse and Teresa would be waiting for me.  Adventures in India coming soon.....


Yes!  This is me, in the National Mosque in KL.
What an interesting experience! 
You can not enter unless you are covered,
thus, what I am wearing ;P