The perfect rock ledge

This past Tuesday we went over to Dongnae to see David and Duck for the first time since Duck's birthday. It was high time, and we were on a mission. We would walk towards Guemjeongsan (mountain) from David and Duck's place til we found a trail, which we would hike up until we found the perfect rock ledge for our kimbap and soju picnic. This plan went swimmingly. It was a hike up the roads heading towards the mountain, but as soon as we hit dirt we knew we were in luck. These little guys guarded the way.

There was even a map that we puzzled over for a bit.

But we didn't much need it since the only way to go was up. And up we went. Along the way we found many offerings such as the one below. Soju for the ancestors or forest spirits, depending on whether the offerer believes in Confucianism or shamanism.

At some points we lost the trail and used the river bed.

Behind one rock we found this colorful figure on top of a tiger.

Part way up we came across a road and what looked like the entrance to a temple. A Korean couple on the road asked us where we had come from as we scrambled up out of the river bed. Then they pointed us on to the temple, Okbulsa.

At the base we found this waterwheel and pine.

Up some more to find some of the shrubs blooming already and more temple paraphernalia.

This temple turned out to have their own rock carving of Buddha.

But this wooden piece was my favorite sculpture there.

The view from Okbulsa was lovely.



Some of the buildings were an interesting mix of western and Korean architecture. But we still wanted to go higher and find that perfect rock ledge for our picnic (no soju on temple grounds). So we were off again. We found another site that seemed related to the temple, but there was an old woman there who ran us off and pointed out a trail going up up up. It wasn't well maintained, but it was empty. An empty trail is a rare and precious thing in Busan and probably all of Korea. Most trails are extremely wide and packed with technicolored Koreans in the trendiest new hiking gear, complete with two poles and packs for 1 hour, graded trail treks. It was a wonderful surprise to find a solitary hike. It was steep, but it wasn't far, and we managed to see a quail or pheasant and a hawk or falcon (not too familiar with Asia's birds). All this in a city of 4 million. And we did finally find that perfect ledge where we had our picnic after all.

When we finally tore ourselves away we found this guy on the way down. He's the Korean incarnation of Buddha. He's always portrayed as this sort of fierce, bearded protector who will ward of evil spirits. Not quite the Buddha I learned about in the States, but this was the first sculpture image we'd seen in that likeness. He's more common in prints and calendars.

Unrelated to the mountaineering, yesterday all 4 of us went to the Bexco conference center for a conference Brian's school had told him about. We knew it was for the opening of an English language radio station, but David heard there'd be a "famous buffet" from his coteacher, Brian's teacher said it would be "almost festival", and Duck's teacher just told her she should go. So we were excited but didn't know what to expect. It was an opening to the radio station, but it was a fancy affair and they gave us a gift bag (contained a portable radio) and the mayor of Busan was there and everyone assumed we were part of the radio organization. When they found out we weren't they all wanted to know what we were doing there. Oops. Our explanations worked, but everyone had that look in their eyes like you just came for the free radio didn't you. I'm glad about the radio station, but don't kid yourselves radio people, a portable radio the size of a walkman is not desirable even if it's free. Now, if their eyes had accused us of this famous buffet having brought us... but there was no buffet. It was a strange hour with dancers and a fog machine and firecracker confetti, but the fruit tray on each table was delicious and we got offers to contribute to the station. It's wonderful how speaking English has suddenly qualified us for jobs that we're absolutely unqualified for.

Another side note, Brian's been refurbishing the blog and he's moved the Appalachian Trail posts to a new blog you can find at http://www.atsummer08.blogspot.com/. He's added some new pictures and posts and will be adding for a while til we get all our favorites up. Also, he's made another at http://www.canyouenglish.com/ where David, Duck, Shannon, Ryan, Brian and I will be cataloging the great konglish signs and other printing that we find. There are links to both of these blogs on the left hand of this blog under the heading Our other blogs.

The Arm Wrestler

I think the majority of Americans assume that Asians are a much smaller people in terms of physical stature. I know that Jess and I both figured we would be towering over most people here. While it is true that the average size of a westerner is larger, in term of height and weight, the difference is not substantial. Much to her dismay Jess would probably be considered only slightly above average height in Korea. Her dreams of being the BMOC were crushed shortly after we got here. Of course Im only kidding. What I really wanted to accomplish by this post was to show everyone a video someone just sent me today. In this video Jess is arm wrestling our friend Mi yeoun. Its obivous that Jess had completely underestimated her foe and paid the price. Perhaps she was a bit fatigued becuase she had just gotten killed by another friend, Saw-Jin, not five minutes beforehand. Regardless it wasn't a pretty sight and quite a demoralizing experience for Jess. Another blow to her ego came when Jess found out that Mi Yeoun is left handed - ouch.

Jeshika is famous teacher in Pusan!

Sometime before winter break Gi Seon told me that a camera would be coming to my story time. I had no idea what that meant. But eventually it came out that there was to be a news clip on Dong Cheon Elementary School because the school had won the best rating during the annual country wide school evaluations. The filming was on a Thursday, when I'm normally at Yong Dang, my second school, but they changed the entire school schedule around so that I could be there. So, I plan out this elaborate series of games and activities to go along with the story (usually we play one game or one activity and call it a day) and I'm all prepared for them to tape parts of my 40 minute story time.

When I walked in there were over 20 kids there - terrifying because normally I have 8 and my activities were designed for that many, but I thought the show must go on. So I sit down and start saying hello to the kids and asking them some simple questions when the librarian comes in and says "STOP STOP!". I thought it was a strange way to conduct a class, but what do I know about it? So I stopped. The camera wasn't ready and I thought maybe they really wanted to get every second of the experience on film. The sweet librarian doesn't speak much English, so when they were ready she says "Don't stop!" and motions with her hands for me to continue. In the between time one kid that's always in my story time pointed out the camera to me with a big smile on his face like he was letting me in on a secret. So sweet and cute, what a cupcake.

So into the story and I'm reading and going along wondering what I'm going to do with 20 kids when it comes to activity time when on page 3 the librarian again with the "STOP STOP!" and now I'm thinking this is kind of an awful way to have a class when she says "BYE BYE!" (she speaks really loudly to me, trying to muscle through the language barrier, thus the caps). OOOoooooohhhhhhh, it was all just for show! No one told me that part (This is a common move in Korea, not as annoying somehow as you'd think it would be. In face, it'd be worse at home because you have your expectations, but in any other country you can just write it off as a cultural difference and it's no sweat). So 3 minutes after it started it was all over. But I do have a clip with about 3 seconds of face time on Korean TV! So as our Korean teacher friends are want to say of other teachers, I now rank among the "very famous teacher(s)" of Busan. If you click the link below a pop up list will come up in Korean. Click number 11, the last one (it translates to Dong Cheon wins best ranked school, roughly) and the clip will come up. I'm only in the beginning, but the whole thing's my school.
******** 알려드립니다 ********

Jess

Do you like the taste of our Curriculum?

Winter vacation is officially over. We all ended up getting more time off than we originally thought and for now its back to work - well barely. From February 9th to the 20th the kids are back at school even though most teachers have already finished thier lessons for the year. It seems a bit strange that the kids come back for a two week period after all grades have been reported and before spring break begins (we get another week off!). I guess its a good time for teachers to wrap up any loose ends and take a breather before the new school year begins in March. I havent had much to do because I'm finished with all of the set curriculum for the year an d many of my classes have been cancelled.

Speaking of lesson planning - the school system makes the life of an english teacher incredibly easy (in theory) by providing a daily lesson plan for every class and every grade. Unfortunately I've found that the students are typically bored to death by it. I've found that putting forth a little extra work and making/finding additional materials makes for a much more enjoyable experience for the students as well as myself. The material provided by the school system consists of a series of songs, chants, role-plays and sample dialogues that go along with a textbook. Today I stumbled across a blog called gallery of stupidity that showcases many of the videos that we are supposed to use in class. The website is very critical, but the author does raise a few good points and I think most of you will find it hilarious. The majority of the videos feature Korean kid actors with horrible out of sync dubbing done by 40 year old unskilled voice actors. It's hard not to laugh out loud in class sometimes. I'm especially fond of one character; a typical Korean kid that, with the use of a sharpie, is magically transformed into Joon - a happy go lucky freckle faced westerner. In the featured video below we learn how easy it can be to pick up chicks using english.


Brian