I think it's a good thing that a month has gone by without a blog. This means I have something that resembles a life, with appointments, obligations, fun, friends, experiences and so on. Or like my mom says, no news is good news! And in this case it is most definitely so. August went by like my senior year of high school, no sooner had it started than it ended, and I was left wondering where the time went. Moreover wondering what the hell happened. Thank God for pictures is all I can say! Thus, here's a glimpse for you and for me of just what my summer was all about.
First up was Jeju - the Hawaii of South Korea. It's an island just south of the mainland and is accessible via ferry or plane. I decided to fly as I would have to travel 6 hours just to get to a pier that would have an eleven hour overnight boat ride for me. I like my vacations to be a little difficult and therefore interesting, but not that interesting. I opted for the hour and a half plane ride that would take me to my exact destination. (I must be getting old to want something so easy!)
I got to Jeju City, Jeju Island on a Sunday afternoon. I had no hotel or tour booked, nor a plan in the world. (Outside a day at the beach that is.) So I spent an hour at the airport just trying to find a hostel and the means of transportation to get to one. I ended up taking a taxi to a place that would end up being my savior for my entire stay. It was called YEHA Guesthouse, a hostel type of boarding. I switched rooms probably three times during my four nights there, but I didn't mind. I had a place to sleep and keep my junk while I roamed the wilderness (faux wilderness?) of the island. My first day was an adventure walk around Jeju City. I found the wharf and downtown area with a bonus Indian restaurant (a place I returned twice more throughout the week!) Then also discovered a derelict water park, a roller rink, the origin of the first kings/princes of Jeju, and an outdoor Korean music festival. And this was just the first day...
Throughout the week I met new and different people. I went out with a wonderful girl I met on my tour a couple of nights. We tried our hand at a Korean nightclub and quickly realized we were not their usual clientele! Then went to the beach the next day and soaked up some rays with our books. When she left I bought a tent and spent three nights camping. The first of which was at the base of Mount Hallasan, the highest mountain in South Korea. Well, actually I pitched the tent at nine in the morning, then hiked the three hours to the peak for lunch. Met a fruit of a person at the top, who then proceeded to follow me down the mountain (though he had taken a completely different trail and was informed by me that there was no bus at the base of this trail like the one he started at... I'm now quite certain I have a honing device in me for this type of person. I'll be having surgery next month to extract it!) Anyways, back to my lovely solitude, I camped at the base that night in full Korean style. Meaning I was surrounded by Korean families and thus not really in solitude but enough so that I could relax and read my novel.
Next two days were a bliss of wandering the island and camping on the beach. I even extended my vacation one day to get some more rays, got burned in that good, almost won't peel way, finished my novel, found a chocolate museum, sound museum, botanical garden and mystical Buddhist temple. Even got a movie night on the beach due to some freak luck I possess and will not extract like the honing device. In all, it was a brilliant vacation! Island life had gotten to me and I did not want to return to the mainland. But not wanting to push my luck, I receded to my post, texted my teacher to let her know I had survived and enjoyed my "home training" for the rest of the second week.
The two weeks after that were camp weeks. This means I worked for four hours straight in the morning, had an hour of awkward lunch with the few Korean teachers who were working for the other summer camps (math, science, computer, etc.), slept for an hour or two on the cold concrete floor of my teacher's room cell, made a worksheet for the next day then went home and recharged my batteries for the next grueling fight. I probably make it sound worse than it is, because in reality it wasn't that bad and I do believe the kids had fun, which IS all that matters. Yet, to put the difficulty of teaching for four straight hours with minimal breaks (really no breaks for the teacher!): imagine you're given fifteen monkeys that are used to having the same routine everyday for the past four months. You are not supposed to follow their routine but instead have to do your best to change it, reinvent it, make it interesting for the monkeys so they don't go crazy and take over the classroom. Course, it also has to be educational and somewhat challenging for them because they are smart monkeys even if they are monkeys. So you prepare and prepare material you think worthy of inspiring and taming them only to find they react to little outside candy and K-pop (Korean version of Backstreet Boys). Your monkey interpreter (aka co-teacher) is also on vacation in their head and sees this as your show and their break. You now have to control the monkeys with entertainment at their level, teach them, get them to want to participate in things that are educational, then make sure they don't ruin the classroom. This was every morning for two weeks. I had to meet my parents at the airport on the last day of camp, and I can easily say I've never wanted to do anything more. Camp was grand fun, but there's a reason it's only two weeks and not the whole vacation. Jenna Teacher would be sent to the asylum!
Like I said, the parents saved me. They came to visit for just one week but I think it was the perfect amount of time. We got to hang out and enjoy ourselves, my parents got to see me and a bit of Korea, and I got to play tour guide for about as long as I can really stand. (I'm not a leader, I'm a doer. I believe my parents found this out! I think they'll have to buy new shoes now after this trip!) We walked and we walked and we walked and walked. The transportation here is cheap, but in order to really see anything you've got to just walk and take in your surroundings. I'd guess we put in about five to seven miles per day at the beginning. It was a slow saunter, but enough for us to pass out each night in exhaustion. Well, exhaustion from walking but also exhaustion from heat and humidity. It was in the nineties for the first three days they were here. The humidity feeling like it was at a hundred percent. Probably the only time of the year it will get this bad, and my parents came in the thick of it. We took naps and enjoyed the Korean dessert, Potbingsu, a kind of shaved ice topped with fruit, syrup and ice cream. I have many more stories of our journeys around the blocks of Korea, but I think I'll save them for their own posts. Just know that I did not control the weather, but it certainly wanted to test my parents! Then again, I did do the walking and they the following. Sorry Mom and Dad! Just hope your soles are still in tact!
Well, what do you know? I finally get to typing all of this and this is not letting me upload photos! I'll try tomorrow at school, sorry! I promise I didn't make you read of all this for nothing!
