Journeys in Jeollabuk-Do

I went along with the teachers at my school on an excursion last Friday to celebrate the start of the Summer vacation. We boarded the Everland bus and zipped down to the other end of the country for the day (it took 3 hours to get there). Clever clogs here forgot to take his camera so this blog will be unillustrated. Originally I thought this was fine because I had so much to say about what I observed, but the passing of only 48 hours since Friday afternoon has caused me to forget the details.

As a result this entry will be both unillustrated and sparse on detail.

It was nice to see some of my best students before I left. If you stick to the formula and use the phrases that were in the text then you can have a short conversation with some of them. It's good to see how some of them have the confidence to approach foreigners. Admittedly the standards are different in this area of Korea because many students attend private academies which employ people from all over the USA. And the orthodoxy, I think, is that making errors in front of strangers is still very embarrassing. This is really frustrating for me because it can still be difficult to elicit responses even in the classes of higher ability. I often say to them "I know you can do this" but it's not nearly as effective as candy or at least points for their team.

I remember the last day of school as a student: your teacher didn't seem so bad on that day. Most of them won't see me for 5 weeks (which could partially explain their happiness) but I still have a further 2 weeks to work with the low ability students during Summer Camp. I've just looked over the material and fear it will go clean over their heads, but if that's the case then I have 2 weeks to dumb it down. On the last day we make chocolate sodas together then I fly to Thailand without them. So I don't care.

Now, Friday turned out to be a good day overall, though it took a while to break the ice with some of the teachers. We travelled to North Jeolla Province, to the towns of Buan and to Byeonsanbando National Park in particular. The attractions were, in this order, lunch, a walk to some famous rocks, a temple, another temple, dinner. For lunch I ate raw fermented crab, not something I would ever order myself, but it wasn't going to eat itself. During the walk over rocks the principal, vice principal and grandpa teacher argued all the way about something or other. Nobody had told me we would be walking after lunch so I left my umbrella in the bus. Seongsuk shared her brolly with me and we tried to be positive and joke about stuff as it continue to rain and were obliged to follow the old men further and further from where the bus was parked, and my umbrella.

Temples in Korea all look similar and I won't be hurrying to see anymore. The one on the east coast, Naksansa, was unique and very beautiful because of its location. Otherwise, I don't find them terribly exciting. So when I heard we were visiting two before eating I felt a mild case of panic. The settings of each of these temples was beautiful however. The first one had a dramatic mountain backdrop. At the second, we walked beside a river and some very tranquil "bushland" for roughly 500 metres before entering the temple. Pansu bought me a cup of fresh blackberry juice as we walked. Seongsuk and Pansu, who are usually in my staffroom, have been the two most important figures responsible for my ease of transition into Korea. Pansu also did me the kindness of pointing out that I was gaining weight too fast and that I don't exercise enough, bless him. As if I hadn't already noticed it.

At dinner we got stuck into the soju and blackberry wine and I finally got talking to some of the other staff members. I felt as if we were only just getting settled at the tables before the order was given to move on once again. I would much prefer to do a few things and take my time rather than quickly and superficially do a lot of things. And when it comes to eating and drinking I hate being made to rush. No one can superficially appreciate drunkenness anyway. Fortunately we were permitted enough time for the sexy 5-2 homeroom teacher to stumble over and ask me a few questions (after she spent the first 5 minutes giggling behind her hand). Good on her for her efforts though.

This week I begin Summer School and a weight loss program. Then I go on holidays. Perhaps I should put it off for when I return. Ok, I will.

Cheerio!