Chuseok 2011: Jeju Island!

The Chuseok holiday fell on Monday, September 12th this year and we also had a couple of extra days off which meant a 5 day weekend which really meant time to explore more of The Land of the Morning Calm!
In case you are wondering the significance behind the Chuseok holiday, read here and here for more information and to read what I did last year.

제주도 or Jeju island is located off the southwest coast of Korea. It is a major holiday and honeymoon destination for Koreans. The island is beautiful and covered with volcanoes, mountains (including the tallest mountain in SoKo which we weren't able to climb because it was raining so hard, booo,--guess we just have to go back!) and of course, beaches. My first thought after landing was how green it was! Seoul is definitely a concrete jungle so it was nice to be surrounded by grass (and palm trees!). :)

       

Some fellow SFSers (Misty, Kristen, Laura) and I planned this trip during the summer and we decided to go through Adventure Korea. Adventure Korea is a tour group that plans the entire trip (flights, accommodation, transportation, interpretation, food) for a large group of people (there were 40 people total on our trip). It was my first trip with them and everything went smoothly. I definitely plan to use them again for another trip around SoKo.

On Saturday, September 10th, we got up early and headed off to Gimpo airport (the other airport in Seoul which is a lot closer than Incheon). We met the rest of the Adventure Korea Jeju trip travelers, got on our plane and headed off to Jeju. The flight was only 55 minutes long. Our first stop after we landed was a restaurant. Then we headed off to our first hike of the trip, Mt. Songak.

Check out the differences in packing and traveling style between us:)

Gimpo airport

Outside of the restaurant and our first stop in Jeju. Time for touristy pictures!

Views as we climbed Mt. Songak

Beautiful Jeju

After our first hike, we headed to an interactive show called Airarang. It included taekwondo performers,  nanta drums and B-boy dancers.

Taekwondo!

The Korean flag while everyone yelled the famous soccer chant "Dae Han min guk!" which means Rep of SoKo

We then headed to our hotel, had dinner and rested for the next day. The next day we attempted to hike Mt. Hallasan but the weather was really bad. Instead we went to Jusangjleori to get some great views of the coastline. Then we went to  Hallim Park, the biggest park on the island (which also included a lava tube cave) and we ended the day by goin to Jungbang waterfall, which drops straight into the sea.

I survived.

Amazing views of the coastline

Sporting our hats at Hallim Park

Group shot by the waterfall

On Monday we were able to sleep in a little bit and headed off to Loveland which is an outdoor sculpture park. Some of the sculptures showed the human form in all its glory...haha. The sculptures were designed and built by graduates of Hongdae University. Misty said that they should've named it Lustland because all the sculptures are sex-based. It was definitely very odd.  Haha! Here are a few  PG-13 pictures. 

awkward!

ummm??

Next, we headed to the beach for some much needed relaxation. We took a nap, went swimming and then rented a little boat for a few hours.

Our last day, we headed to a green tea plantation and climbed the Jeju Volcanic Island.

We also did noreabang one night, took many group pictures and ate a lot!

What a fun trip!

Baseball Game and Faculty Retreat

Baseball in Korea

 Although never good at the sport myself, I really enjoy going to baseball games for the environment (cheering, songs, hot dogs). I knew I wanted to watch a game here in Korea, especially hearing that Koreans are HUGE baseball fans. Some of us SFSers got on line 2 and made the long subway ride out to the Olympic Stadium and met up with Elisa and her friend. We watched a game between the Doosan Bears and the LG Twins. After finding our seats, it was time to get some snacks--Korean style! Instead of a hotdog, I got fried kimchi rice:) A few other different Baseball game experiences included dancing cheerleaders and vendors selling fried squid snacks:)

Ya ku jang or Baseball stadium!

Baseball!

Waiting for my kimchi fried rice.

Go 두산 Bears!

Cheering!

 Some things are just universal

The cheerleaders

Faculty Retreat

SFS held its faculty retreat at Daecheon (aka as Taecheon/Taejon/Daejon --argh romanization!)Beach during the first weekend in September. I mentioned here that SFS has a few cabins on the beach for retreats, weekend trips, etc. This weekend was a nice getaway to bond with other colleagues (don't worry--no trust falls or group pyramids) and enjoy the beach. A few highlights of the weekend included swimming at midnight with bioluminescent dinoflagellates (or glowing organisms that resemble Tinkerbelle-hehe), laying out by the beach, my first jjimjilbang experience (exciting blog coming soon which will include personal accounts of a naked bathhouse--stay tuned) plenty of good food and relaxation.

Laura and Kristen--ready for the weekend

Walking around on our first night

No, we didn't plan the color coordination going on here but we had to document it.

 Kristen, Misty and Fiona

Playing random games on the side of the street

Cabins

Getting ready to swim in the Yellow Sea

Nothing like walking around like this around all of your co-workers....:)

August Adventures

The first few weeks back were spent getting ready for the school year so I didn't have a lot of time for the usual "getting off the SFS hill" and exploring but I was able to squeeze in a few activities:)

My first waffle since being back:) PS: This is Lilly and she is our student teacher in the elementary school--what a cool opportunity!

My name is Hangul...it's the sloppiest one on there as it still takes me a long time:)

Meza, Ellie in Hangul (your last name goes first) :

메자, 엘리

There was a long wait at a restaurant so I had to write down my name in HANGUL...all by myself! Yiippee! (Big improvement for me)

A bread-soup bowl with all sorts of good stuff at the restaurant where I wrote my name:)

Basket and all...

Club Friday in Hongdae: We had a girls night and went out to one of my favorite places in the city, Hongdae. We went dancing and then of course, NORAEBANG (obsessed much?) .

Getting ready pictures

Typical shoes picture

Noraebang at 3am? Yes please!

Random:

I may be helping out with the youth at church (yeah Youth Ministries minor!) so I went with some chingu deul to an event at YISS to check it out...

Walking around Hannam-dong with some cool youth  Onnuri

Hanging out with Trish and digging into some frozen yogurt before heading to a youth event at YISS

Megan's birthday

Being sardines in the subway. Line 1, I have not missed you.

with my chingu! (the bow in my hair is an attempt at Korean cutesy hair fashion--to be blogged about some other time)

Bulgogi dinner with SFS penpals: SFS held a dinner for pen-pals. Last spring current teachers mentored new-coming teachers about SFS, Korea, etc.

My penpal, Juana (previously taught in Egypt, the US and Chile)

YUM.

I also had to get my monthly cake from Paris Baguette. (Yes, I still plan to get one cake a month....obsessed/fatty) This time I let Kristen pick it out though so she could be introduced to the wonderful world of Korean cakes:)

Oh Happy Day!--Korea is so cute.

"cake-uh"

During August I was also able to start volunteering at a baby orphanage and I helped out at a soup kitchen at Seoul Station.  These areas are out of my comfort zone but I've known for a while that I need to get more involved in the city I currently call home. 

'Til next time.