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Monday, 23 September 2013
추석 CHUSEOK
Chuseok is the Korean thanksgiving holiday. Most people have 3 days off work and it common practice that individuals and families return to their parents or relative's hometown to celebrate. This means that traffic is crazy, and also quite sadly it means lots of work for the women and relaxation for the men in the household. I'm not this is not true for every family, but my co-teachers all confessed that they were anxious rather than excited about the holiday.
We had a great time, though. On the first day we spent time with Eunmi's whole family and her Uncle. We ate lots of delicious food and then had a small worship session together with some readings and Eunmi's brother Logi gave a short talk.
After that it was pretty much time to eat again so we ate some tomato soup that I had made, haha. I think it was well received.
In the evening we went bowling.
The next day we spent the whole day with the family again, but this time everyone was just sleeping. Then at about 7pm Eunmi's mum woke up and decided that we should eat out so we went to a meat restaurant for some 'Samgyupsal'.
The day after that we took a train to a nearby city called Miryang followed by a drive up into the mountains where we had rented a small house with 6 of our friends from Eunmi's church (friends means people born in the same year in Korea). There was a communal swimming pool and trampoline and in the evening we ate Samgyupsal, again.
It was great to hang out with some of our friends. I've uploaded some photos and video my friend made on his iPhone for you to see.
We had a great time, though. On the first day we spent time with Eunmi's whole family and her Uncle. We ate lots of delicious food and then had a small worship session together with some readings and Eunmi's brother Logi gave a short talk.
After that it was pretty much time to eat again so we ate some tomato soup that I had made, haha. I think it was well received.
In the evening we went bowling.
The next day we spent the whole day with the family again, but this time everyone was just sleeping. Then at about 7pm Eunmi's mum woke up and decided that we should eat out so we went to a meat restaurant for some 'Samgyupsal'.
The day after that we took a train to a nearby city called Miryang followed by a drive up into the mountains where we had rented a small house with 6 of our friends from Eunmi's church (friends means people born in the same year in Korea). There was a communal swimming pool and trampoline and in the evening we ate Samgyupsal, again.
It was great to hang out with some of our friends. I've uploaded some photos and video my friend made on his iPhone for you to see.
Wednesday, 4 September 2013
ENGLAND
Well it's been more than two weeks already since we were in England but we've hit the ground running since we've been back so it's been hard to find time to reflect on the trip.
It was very strange for me coming back to England because although it had only been 14 months, so much had happened in that space of time that it felt strangely unfamiliar touching down onto British soil again. One of the first things I did was to try and get in the drivers seat instead of the passenger seat. A simple mistake but actually everything kind of felt like that for the first couple of days - everything was so different and fascinating to me, people looked different, people acted different, for just a few hours you get to see your own culture more objectively than ever before.
Anyway, I had a few days in Bristol and then Cornwall on my own before the Korean family all arrived. It was great to see friends and have good conversations (a good conversation is quite difficult to stumble across in a country where you're still learning the language).
So then on the weekend Eunmi arrived along with her mum and sister. We spent the night with our friend's Matt and Esther Way, which was great, and then headed out early in the morning for an open top bus tour (and river thames cruise) of London! Luckily the weather was great and suffice to say that everyone came away feeling deeply impressed by London with all it's spectacular sites and history.
After London we spent a night in Bristol. I think the shear size and amount space that we have in our British homes shocked the Korean contingent, but they seemed just as impressed by Bristol as they were with London.
Finally we made it all the way down to my Parents place in Cornwall. I know that for me and Eunmi it was a really special time, we haven't had much time together with the family, and Eunmi was doing very well with her English. As for Eunmi's sister and her mum or Ohm-ma as we seemed to keep calling her (which means 'Mum' in korean), I gathered that they really enjoyed it too, but they did spend a good deal of time sleeping. I guess it was especially difficult for them since their English isn't very good and neither are my translation skills...
Some of the highlights our time in Cornwall are surfing all together (a first time for all the Koreans) and also eating my mum's delicious food all together.
And then on out penultimate day we had our 'wedding party'. Unfortunately this was the only day on which it rained during our holiday in the UK. But by the afternoon the sun had come out and the guests had arrived, from our point of view the party was just brilliant. Eunmi got to meet all the people I love and miss, there was delicious food, a beautiful setting, beautiful bunting and a beautiful cake!
All in all it was a wonderful visit, and I can only hope that it will be less than a year until our next visit, but well have to see...
It was very strange for me coming back to England because although it had only been 14 months, so much had happened in that space of time that it felt strangely unfamiliar touching down onto British soil again. One of the first things I did was to try and get in the drivers seat instead of the passenger seat. A simple mistake but actually everything kind of felt like that for the first couple of days - everything was so different and fascinating to me, people looked different, people acted different, for just a few hours you get to see your own culture more objectively than ever before.
Anyway, I had a few days in Bristol and then Cornwall on my own before the Korean family all arrived. It was great to see friends and have good conversations (a good conversation is quite difficult to stumble across in a country where you're still learning the language).
So then on the weekend Eunmi arrived along with her mum and sister. We spent the night with our friend's Matt and Esther Way, which was great, and then headed out early in the morning for an open top bus tour (and river thames cruise) of London! Luckily the weather was great and suffice to say that everyone came away feeling deeply impressed by London with all it's spectacular sites and history.
After London we spent a night in Bristol. I think the shear size and amount space that we have in our British homes shocked the Korean contingent, but they seemed just as impressed by Bristol as they were with London.
Finally we made it all the way down to my Parents place in Cornwall. I know that for me and Eunmi it was a really special time, we haven't had much time together with the family, and Eunmi was doing very well with her English. As for Eunmi's sister and her mum or Ohm-ma as we seemed to keep calling her (which means 'Mum' in korean), I gathered that they really enjoyed it too, but they did spend a good deal of time sleeping. I guess it was especially difficult for them since their English isn't very good and neither are my translation skills...
Some of the highlights our time in Cornwall are surfing all together (a first time for all the Koreans) and also eating my mum's delicious food all together.
And then on out penultimate day we had our 'wedding party'. Unfortunately this was the only day on which it rained during our holiday in the UK. But by the afternoon the sun had come out and the guests had arrived, from our point of view the party was just brilliant. Eunmi got to meet all the people I love and miss, there was delicious food, a beautiful setting, beautiful bunting and a beautiful cake!
All in all it was a wonderful visit, and I can only hope that it will be less than a year until our next visit, but well have to see...
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
TOO HOT TO STUDY
On our return from our wonderful trip to England (more on that in my next post) Eunmi and I finally arrived at our house in Busan at about 5pm exhausted and Jet lagged only to start work the following morning. Actually it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it would be, but the first thing I noticed was just how hot it was! I was trying to teach with sweat pouring down my face in a 30 degree heat classroom.
I think its been a record high heat summer here in Korea. On that first day of teaching, no less, a television reporter crew arrived and started to film my class. Apparently they were doing a story about how its too hot for students to study and due to the electricity shortage in Korea at the moment, only schools that are suffering under more than 30 degrees are allowed to use air conditioning!
I tracked down the video, I'm in it for about 3 seconds, try and spot me wearing the blue shirt (also I'm behind the anchor at the start haha) also sorry but theres no sound.
I think its been a record high heat summer here in Korea. On that first day of teaching, no less, a television reporter crew arrived and started to film my class. Apparently they were doing a story about how its too hot for students to study and due to the electricity shortage in Korea at the moment, only schools that are suffering under more than 30 degrees are allowed to use air conditioning!
I tracked down the video, I'm in it for about 3 seconds, try and spot me wearing the blue shirt (also I'm behind the anchor at the start haha) also sorry but theres no sound.
Tuesday, 30 July 2013
WATER PARK
The temperatures are soaring, we've been working hard, just want to take a day to unwind... Let's go to a water park!
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