Megs In Soko: 1/24/10

I know, I know....it has been over a week since my last post...sorry!! So my second week at school went as well as my first. One of my students brought me a flower ring!! I had told one of the students that I liked her ring the week before and one of the other girls brought one for me....soooo cute!! I also finally bought a pot(which is more like a pan/pot) this week, so I cooked my first meal at home....some form of spaghetti. It was actually pretty good, but I ate too much and subsequently felt sick...standard!

Apart from my rather boring school week, my post-work week found me watching a couple of movies...one of which particularly touched me. "The Cove" is a documentary about the massacre of dolphins in Taiji, Japan. http://festival.sundance.org/2009/film_events/films/cove I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins,and when I was younger loved Sea World, but after seeing this film, I will never swim with the dolphins or visit any attraction that hold dolphins in captivity. I encourage everyone to see this film(it will probably give you nightmares, Mama, since you love the dolphins so much). Linda, who I previously mentioned, is an active Green Peace member and has been for years; her passion for animals and our environment is really inspiring and as a result, I am definitely going to do some more research into Green Peace and other organizations like it. This week also found me eating my first homemade curry(YUM!!) thanks to CJ and Linda, and getting my first manicure thanks to Jinah--she is studying to be a nail tech!!

Now, on to the more interesting stuff...

Last weekend, I took my first roadtrip in SoKo. Linda, CJ, Jinah, Ryan and I took a van up to Gangwon, which is northeast of Bucheon. The roadtrip got off to an interesting start when after getting stuck in traffic(story of driving anywhere in SoKo), we were running on fumes on the exit ramp to the gas station. We managed to make it to make it off the ramp, but fell short of the pumps by about 50 yards or so!! Jinah went into the station and asked an employee to come out with a canister of gas to fill us up to get to the pump. Then we discovered that there was air in there since we had run all the way down, so they had to send this truck over, take out all of the gas, and then refill us with enough to get to the pump. Naturally, I just laughed b/c that is what I do in those sort of situations. About an hour later, we were on our way and managed to make it to Hera pension(our room in a house) in Gangwon.

After unloading the van, we headed over to Lake Kyeong-po to take a bicycle ride around and take in the scenery in the bitter cold. Linda decided she wanted to go on a single-person bike...smartest decision she could have made!! The other 4 of us decided to take the 5 person bike out....big mistake!! It was sooooo tiring!! After taking nearly an hour, with Koreans of all ages passing us with ease, while Jinah and CJ took turns getting out to push us, we finally made it around the lake!!

After that, we made a stop off at this cute little cafe/coffee shop with a great beach view!!

The owner made us this special potato pizza and we sipped hot cocoa, coffee and beer looking out at the sea. They have these really cool books there that visitors can write or draw a memory in, so CJ drew the 5 of us! Despite the sub-zero temperatures, I was so happy to put my feet on the sand!! There really is no place on Earth that I love more than the beach!! After a few pics, we hopped back in the van and headed to Seonkyo-jang, the house of a traditional Korean noble family. Jinah gave us the tour as quickly as possible since the sun was going down and it was getting really, really cold!!

When we got back to the house, Jinah prepared all of the things for our Korean bbq of pork, chicken and salmon kabobs, along with roasted potatoes with garlic and of course wine and beer.The meal was AMAZING!! After we had all more than filled our bellies, we played the "questions game" and learned a lot more about each other. The night ended with Jinah, CJ, Ryan & Linda sleeping on the floor and me on the couch...all in the same room, despite the fact that we had a bedroom with a bed upstairs. Who knows?!?!

Sunday morning, I went for a nice run, part of which was on the beach. Of course I didn't bring my inhaler, since I just got asthma at the age of 25 I always forget that thing...needless to say my run was shorter and slower than I would have liked, but it felt really good to run for the first time in ages! After we ate breakfast, we headed to the War Monument of the Gangneung District, which featured a plane, boat, ship and North Korean submarine(which had been captured in the war between North & South Korea). After touring the ship and submarine(which was clearly built for people the size of children) we headed to our last stop...a cruise ship that is now a hotel that sits atop a cliff over-looking the sea. We decided we didn't want to pay to get in, and that we should be getting on the road to head home, but not before a group of Koreans asked, "could you take a picture?" CJ said, "sure we can take a picture." "Together?" they asked. So, we all took a picture together with them, and it made their day. It was really funny, because this one boy was standing next to me not looking at the camera at all; he is staring at me!! Hahaha!! We all got a good laugh when we saw the pic!

The ride home was long because of traffic, but we made it without anyone killing each other!

In another first....I kicked a student out of my class yesterday. He tends to make a lot of noise, which I usually for the most part ignore, but today, he decided to write "fucky" on the board...which he looked on his phone dictionary to write, so I knew his intention. Since he would not know what leave the class meant, I told him...stand up, pick up your papers, goodbye, see you tomorrow! We do not write bad words in my class. Thank you!! All the while of course I was acting out the motions of my words. He tried to sit back in his seat and ignore me, but I walked over and told him again and he left class...there were only like 5 minutes left, but still....

I posted as many photos as I could on here, but link to my Facebook page to see all of them: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?ref=profile&id=21302006