Six Months in the ROK!

Anyang Haseyo friends, family and random blog readers!

It's hard to believe that I have been here for six months! The time has flown by. November and December were total blurs with the holidays and travel throughout Korea. Winter English Camp and my trip to Thailand burned through January and February. Now I'm starting to see the end of a freezing cold winter and the beginning of hiking and climbing season. Yay! It's been a whirlwind few months, but I'm settling into life in Korea nicely. I haven't had any serious bouts of homesickness, other than a few around the holidays, which is only natural.  Now for some highlights from the fall and winter!

OCTOBER 2012

I had my first outdoor climbing trip in Korea in the beginning of October. There was a meet and greet that I found through a Korean climbing website for foreigners. The meet and greet was at a climbing crag in North/central Korea in a place called Wonju. I met a lot of climbers from all over Korea that I will be able to climb with in the coming months. We had a nice two day campout. I got to enjoy some homebrews and share some whiskey around the fire. You're never too far away from home here.

 Chloe and Leah setting up to climb.

 Leah leading a route.

 Crowded crag.

Shot courtesy of my friend Tim. 

I rang in my 25th birthday at the end of October. I had a nice dinner at the all you can eat BBQ restaurant near my house and then went for drinks at one of my favorite bars/lounges in Jeonju. My Korean coworker, King, was incredibly sweet and bought me a cake to surprise me. I also took my first trip to Seoul where I went out in Hondae (the Hongik University area) and got my first taste of Magpie Brewing beer. Best beer in Korea by far!

 Will, Kang, and Hyojun.

 Happy birthday wave by King and Will.

 Jeonju sisters, Rosa and Quinn.

Magpie!

I also took a hiking trip with my Korean coteachers from YoungJin Elementary school. We left after school on a Friday and all got on a bus where I was immediately handed a beer and given fried chicken and oranges to eat! It was a great way to bond with the staff and see some of the insanely beautiful fall colors. We went for barbecued eel after our hike. My coteachers taught me about different side dishes and we tried a locally made plum wine, which was delicious! They also kept telling me that I needed to go on a date with the gym teacher, who speaks a very small amount of English, and informed me (with his limited English skills) that since I live in Korea, I should know Korean. My third grade coteacher told me that the gym teacher is rich and that he could buy me lots of beer. Hah!  

 Fall foliage.

 Staff of YoungJin Elementary.

My coteacher Ji Eun and me.

 Buddhas and water cups.

 Buddha in cliff thought to be carved during the Goryeo Dynasty (918–1392). English name of Korea came from this dynasty.

People can give a small donation to the temple and write their prayers to Buddha on roof tiles.

 Barbecued eel and all of the glorious side dishes.

The day after my faculty field trip, I headed to Jirisan National Park and did a day hike with a group of friends. The hike was a few kilometers and we got to visit a temple and summit a peak by the name of Nogodan. All around beautiful fall day!

NOVEMBER 2012

The beginning of November, I had another climbing trip in Busan. I had my first multipitch climb at a place called Moo Myeong Ridge (see separate blogpost for pictures and details).

Next for November was the Reel Rock Tour 7 in Seoul. RRT was an opportunity to gather the climbing community, foreign and Korean, to raise money for Korea on the Rocks Initiatives (KOTRi). KOTRi is a nonprofit that helps keep crags in Korea safe through rebolting efforts, as well as creating new routes on crags, and establishing a fund for injured climbers that have exorbitant medical bills. There was a silent auction, as well as four climbing documentary showings at RRT. The gear auctioned was all donated, so all of the proceeds went to KOTRi. The documentaries were awesome, and the after party was a blast. We raised 7,000,000 won for KOTRi (6,500 USD) through the auction and donations. A large group of us hit a norebang (private karaoke room) after the show and had one of the greatest norebang sessions that I've ever been a part of. 

 Magpie Brewery provided awesome beer for the event.

 Dream Forest Northern Seoul Arts Center

 Gear that I helped set up for the silent auction.

Norebang!

Thanksgiving could have potentially been a huge homesick bummer for me, but have no fear, the moms from the adult class that I teach came to the rescue! They took me to lunch in the traditional Hanok village, showed me around, and then we played some traditional Korean games. It made being away from family on the holidays a little bit easier. 

 Korean school room.

 Korean couple in traditional wedding garb.

My last November event was my first 10k. I ran it in a neighboring city to Jeonju by the name of Namwon. We had a little group of Waygook runners. My goal was to run it in under an hour and I managed to beat my goal! I hadn't really trained much for it (a few training runs in the weeks leading up to it), so I wasn't expecting much. 

 10K runners

 Post race free meal. Makkoli (Korean rice wine) was also free!

10K and Half Marathon finishers.

DECEMBER 2012

The first weekend of December, I took a trip up to the northeast part of the country to visit my friend Will and meet up with a group of climbers at a pension in Mureung Valley. I bussed up to Yangyang on Friday night and then we headed out to Mureung in the morning to boulder during the day and enjoy a keg of homebrew that night. On our way to the valley, it started to snow. We picked up a friend, Andrew, and made the executive decision to go snowboarding instead. We headed to Yongpyong resort, where part of the 2018 Winter Olympic games will be held, and I snowboarded for the first time. I had a blast, but also left with bruised knees and hips. Totally worth it. We met the rest of the group at the pension for a night of games, homebrew, and jams. The next day the weather warmed up and we headed to Mureung to boulder. 

 Preboarding refreshments.

 Will, Andrew and me.

Games.

 Jams.

 Boulders.

In the beginning of December, Jeonju saw it's first snow and the beginning of two very frigid months of winter. I got to share some snowball fights with my kids and enjoy some beautiful scenery on my way to school through the bus windows.

 Outside my apartment.

Third grade boys.

Why go to just one RRT when there are two in Korea? I headed to Daegu for one more RRT showing the second weekend of December. I caught a beautiful snowy sunset on the way to Daegu on the KTX (the KTX is the Korea's high speed train). The event in Daegu also raised 7,000,000 won for KOTRi and the after party was also tons of fun. There was arm wrestling, dance, and push up contests for drinks, as well as some awesome live music, and wonderful company.

 First snow sunset on the KTX train on the way to Daegu.

I took another trip to go snowboarding in Yongpyong later in the month. This time went a little better. I wore butt and knee pads, and I definitely improved technique-wise from the last trip. I got to make a stopover in Seoul on the way home to check out a photography exhibit and meet up with a friend from the states, Eric, that had just started teaching in Seoul. This ended in some delicious tacos and beers in Itaewon (the very foreigner friendly area of Seoul).

Christmas was spent with friends and Skyping my family and friends from home. It's strange, it just didn't really feel like Christmas, because of the normal rituals of Christmas were not fulfilled. I was actually okay with that. There will be plenty more years of Christmas to share with the family!

Christmas Dinner with Rosa.

Pre Christmas tacky sweater celebrations.

At the end of December, I got to say goodbye to my classes from my first semester of teaching. I had to get a photo of my classes from Young Jin to remember them!

 Fourth Grade

 Third Grade

Sixth Grade

Fifth Grade (with one of the best teachers)

JANUARY 2013

January was spent in winter English camp at the university I work for. I was lucky (spoiled) to have a high level sixth grade class for camp. They were sweet, and some of the more well behaved students I've worked with. Camp was refreshing for me since I got to have my own classroom that my students help decorate, my own permanent co-teacher, and I actually got to give grades. Camp got to be exhausting with 12 hour days, but it was a nice change up from the norm. The kids choreographed and performed a High School Musical Song at the end of the camp, which was amazing to see come together. All in all, camp was not as bad as I thought it would be. 

Journal entry from one of the kids.

Test essay answer; 15 million won is about $14,000 dollars.

Cooking instruction day. Cooking a Korean dish called Rabbokyi.

Up with the sunrise everyday.

Choreagraphers: Henry, Christine, and Jackie

Post dance.

Precious note that the kids gave me.

October class and Angry Birds themed classroom. 

That about catches you up on life in the land of kimchi! The end of January and beginning of February was spent traveling Thailand. Separate blogpost to follow...