Once a month

The school takes field trips with the morning classes about once a month. We also go out to dinner, just the teachers and Julie once a month. Today it was both. 

We took a field trip to a light museum, about half an hour from the school. I kept trying to find out details about how the field trips work, but was never really able to get that much information. So aside from not knowing that the kids have partners and walk two by two, I wasn't able to understand the person leading the trip through the museum since she only spoke Korean. This means I couldn't tell when she was asking a question, or when she wanted the kids to be quiet and still, or when she wanted them to move around and touch things. Not only this, but the Korean teachers didn't really seem interested in keeping the kids under control. So the trip started out ok, but about half-way through, the museum had turned into a 3-dimentional walk-through, where the kids were in hospital rooms, classrooms, kitchens and the like, where they were talking about mood lighting, light therapy, etc. So imagine 40 kids in a house, with couches, remotes, bedrooms, kitchens and dining rooms with the table set with fake food, and then a person in a corner trying to talk to everyone.

(This was the first time most of them had seen a real chalk board. And I'm pretty sure most of them don't really know what it is.)

(My lemon class in the little light village that I wouldn't let them run through.)

It took everything in me not to bring everything to a screetching halt and make all the kids sit on their hands and look at the speaker. The only reason I didn't was because I didn't want to interrupt the speaker since I had no idea what she was saying, and I've only been there for two weeks. I did make it absolutely clear to my 6 kids when we got to a place where I could pull them aside that they were to stay with their partners, they were not to run around and their behavior up until now had not been acceptable. And when the other kids were running through the displays when they were supposed to be waiting, mine were sitting quietly on the floor where I could see them. 

After class today, Julie took all of us to dinner. It was absolutely delicious. It was a bit of a walk, but apparently Julie teacher picked it because she knows I don't like spicy food and most of the food was tasty but not spicy. There were about three or four things I couldn't eat, but the rest of it was great. I have no idea how much it cost, but I imagine it was rather expensive, since there were 8 of us, and a lot of food. Afterwards James, Cherita, Gina and I had a beer at a bar down the street from HP and had a rather lively conversation. And then I headed home. All in all a rather interesting day.

They grow their own mushrooms. They're delicious!

My boss, Julie teacher, and the other Korean teachers at the table.

They put beef and about 7 different kinds of mushrooms into this stone pot on the table, and you cook it as you eat. 

And this is what passes for dessert - ice shavings, red beans, fruit, and some sort of powder that you mix up into a slushy type thing. 

Seoul Searching

James and Cherita were going out of town this weekend (they took a guided tour in North Korea), so I thought I would do a little bit of exploring on my own. I took the bus near my place to the subway, and then rode the metro for about an hour until I got to Seoul. I knew that the first English guided tour started at 11:30. I got there about 10:30, so I bought a ticket, and grabbed a bagel and coffee a few blocks away at a Dunkin Donuts (it was the only place with a menu I recognized). On my way back to the palace, I saw this sign:

I didn't go, but I will. How can you not visit a museum with a sign like that??

Then I went to the Changdeokgung, or Changdeok Palace (official site here). It was absolutely beautiful. The tour guide spoke English, but with a very think accent so it was very difficult to understand her. You can't enter the palace unless you take a guided tour Friday through Wednesday, which costs 3,000 won. The self guided tour is available on Thursdays, for 15,000 won. 

This is the entrance gate to the palace, called Donhwamun Gate. It was first built in 1412 and was restored in 1609. It's the oldest remaining palace gate in Korea. Donhwa means to "teach and influence the people". 

Injeongjeon Hall was used for official ceremones and was built in 1405. You can tell it's the most important building because it has the most clay figures pearcher on the edges of its roof of any building in the complex; there are 9 figures total.

This is the gate to the Secret Garden:

It's one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. I'd love to go back on a Thursday and just sit in the garden and enjoy the tranquility.

This is the Buyongji area. It's a pond created on the traditional perception of the universe (that heaven is round and earth is rectangular). the recangular pond refers to the earth, and the round island in the middle symbolizes heaven. 

And this is the Aeryeonji Area. Aeryeon means "loving the lotus" which symbolizes the virtue of a gentleman. There are lotus flowers in the pond, but most of them aren't blooming right now. 

After I left the palace, I wandered down Insadong, which is a giant shopping street. There were some very interesting characters there. I don't know who the top one is, the bottom one is Dalki, similar to Strawberry Shortcake.

After Insadong, I stopped at Yongsan. You know how in department stores there's the little sections for all the different brands of makeup? Imagine the same thing on a scale about 10 times larger, and with electronics instead of health and beauty. And on 7 floors. This was about 1/10th of Yongsan. It took me forever to find somewhere to eat, because it had to have a menu outside with pictures that I could point to when  I ordered, since I can't read hangul yet. I managed to find a place, finally, and got some sort of dumplings that I couldn't finish because there was so much of it. And then I headed home.