Mactan Island

Our traveling day was incredibly long and annoying. The 10 hour layover was ridiculous and seemed like it lasted a lifetime. We had the opportunity to go out into another part of the airport, but we were unsure of the restrictions. Turns out, we should have went out and explored. We were so bored and restless... Our flight to Cebu was quick and we met a few Koreans on the way. Needless to say, we had no idea that the WHOLE island would be saturated with Koreans. So much for a vacation away from them.

We got picked up by the hotel shuttle and was taken to the hotel. We were able to check in right away, which was nice because we were early. As soon as we got to our room, we settled down a bit and got dressed for the pool/beach. Well...the beach wasn't exactly what we had in mind. Apparently, Mactan Island is technically a coral reef, not really an island. Our beach was the equivalent of someone taking a bunch of shells and grinding them into tiny pieces. It hurt when you walked on it and under no circumstances would you want to put a towel down and lay on it. Luckily the hotel had out plenty of lounge chairs for sun bathing.

I was a little disappointed as to where we were located. We were really far away from everything and Cebu City was about a 45 minute cab ride. We were pretty secluded and it wasn't all that safe to take a stroll into downtown. I didn't realize til after I got back to Busan that there are way better options for the Philippines.

Our days were mostly spent relaxing at the pool side. On our second day we did manage to get out and about on an island hopping tour. We asked the bartender "what is there to do around here?" so he suggested this little trip. It wasn't arranged through the hotel so we were a little sketchy on what we were getting ourselves into. It turned out to be just the two of us going and we got the entire boat to ourselves.

The island hopping tour was quite interesting. We were the only ones on the boat with a crew of 4. Two young kids and two older guys. We made our first stop near the closest island to do some snorkeling. The water was gorgeous. So clear and blue. In order for us to even get in the water we had to pay a "water entrance fee" and a rental fee for the snorkeling gear. Did I mention that Filipinos will charge you for anything and everything. The snorkeling was great and we saw some amazing fish. After snorkeling we got back in the boat and headed for the floating restaurants. Half way across the water to the restaurants, it started getting cloudy and we could see there was a storm coming in. Oh ya, giant black clouds, down pour, in an all open boat. Great. We were soaked, our stuff was soaked, and we were starving. We got to the floating restaurants with ease, but I was a little nervous because there was lightning and thunder and we were under metal roofs. It was amazing how fast the rain came and how hard it fell. The restaurant owners gave us bright pink table cloths to wrap ourselves in, and were given the menu. Being in SE Asia, the menu was not just a handed to us....we were able to get up and choose what we wanted to eat. They had buckets of fresh seafood (catch of the day) that we could go up to and pick what fish, crab, snail, squid, shrimp...etc. we wanted. It was amazing...but as you all know, I'm not much of a seafood person. I ordered a Lapu Lapu (Philippines are famous for this fish and a city is named after it). My friend Katie ordered shrimp, clams and fish. As a courtesy, they offered us some spicy clam soup. Our meals came with some DELICIOUS 맛있요 fried rice. The fish was cooked whole, obviously...can't get a nice steak of fish anywhere around here, and EXPENSIVE. I can't really recall the amount but it was the most expensive meal we had in the Philippines.

The rest of our vacation was spent hanging out with some "locals". I put that in quotes because they are all from different islands but work in the same field. The Phillipines Islands are huge. There are over 7,000 different islands and over 150 different dialects. Pretty crazy. We met these crazy cats through a friend/acquaintence of Katie's. She lives in a small town in Korea called Andong and this guy is a University professor (he might be younger than me). We met up with him and he was friends with about 7 or 8 Filipinos. They are all Medical Reps or as we say Pharmeceutical Reps. Great people. We went out for dinner and coffee one night to get to know them and then the next day they took us on a 2 day tour of Southern Cebu. It was great because they all had cars and spoke English. We went to Mantayupan Falls and played around all day and then they took us to a beach after. We stayed the night at the beach and had a big Filipino dinner. It was great. They were so hospitable and wouldn't let us pay for anything. I was a little bummed out about the beach. There wasn't really anywhere to lay out in the sand because again, it had shells all over it. The view was gorgeous and the water was warm and clear.

Overall, we had a great time. There would have been a few things I might have changed but it was a great experience. When I got back to ROK everyone decided that was a good time to tell me of a better island to go to....jerks. Haha. Well I hope that fills you in a little bit on my first exploration around Asia.

Hope all is well on the home front. I'm thinking of coming home in January...not quite sure though. It will be summer in Australia..haha.

Love you all,
Jin

Goodbye Silver CRV

Just an FYI, if you see the old CRV around town, you won't find me in it. Dad sold my car at the end of June to an 18 year old. So don't honk and wave...it's really not me. I'm sad but am looking forward to getting a new car when I return.

Address Update!

I know that I have told you all my address before, but I just found out the way I had it written down, wasn't the correct Konglish. I tried to order something online and couldn't find my area for some reason...then I figured out Yejin didn't write it down right.

Its:

Busan, Busanjin-Gu, Beomcheon-Dong
875-24 Frenvil 1202, South Korea
614-829 Jin J Thompson

Don't worry, I've been getting all of your letters, pictures, cards...etc.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!

How much can you cram into one month, seriously?

Hello!! Since school is almost coming to a short lived end, I am going to try and keep up with my blog updates.

As a school we started volleyball up again. We are just playing one of the nearby schools for fun. We only have a week left of school...so technically just a few days of volleyball, but it's felt good to be back on the court. Yesterday was a doozie...I jammed my thumb receiving a serve. It wasn't even my ball....I don't like playing with new players, they duck and then I get hurt. I was a little hesitant in even saying anything to the teachers. In Korea, if you have a hang nail they would probably have you on bed rest and in a cast for 6 weeks. It hurts so I tried explaining that I would put some ice on it and take some pain medication and they told me to not take any pills for two days. It already feels a lot better, so if I just keep ignoring the topic, they'll forget about it.

Last Friday, the 10th, I had a Family English Camp. It was actually quite fun. The parents came in with some of my students and we cooked, sang, and made posters of each family. It was good times and it was nice having the parents there. It really helped with managing the kids. The camp was about 3 hours in the evening, so after my co-teacher took me and a few of the other teachers out for drinks.

Saturday and Sunday was Mud Fest! It's a huge festival in Boryang on Daechon Beach. It's about 6 hours away and the hype of conversation for the past 4 months. As soon as we arrived in Busan, all we could hear about is how amazing Mud Festival is and how everyone should go at least once while there are in Korea. It was pretty fun. We left at 6:30 am and took 3 buses filled with around 40 DRUNKS in each. My friend Nikki and I were on the bus with a fairly tame group but the music they played was a little loud and obnoxious. One of the other buses apparently had a huge baby powder fight...glad I wasn't on that bus. We got to Mud Fest pretty early in the day...maybe 2 and started out fun. There was a carnival (which I never saw) huge blow up slides and pools filled in mud, and a main stage that had performances throughout the day. There were little stations where you could paint mud on people and there was a small hut, which they named the "Mud Prison" where if you stood inside, you'd get buckets of mud thrown on you. To be honest, overall, I wasn't that impressed. I assumed the mud would just be everywhere...but it wasn't. It was strategically placed in various parts of the festival and sometimes it felt like they ran out. Nikki and I were fast to get our party going and then crashed early and was in bed by 9. Long ride to only be awake for 6 hours....but it was fun and I'm glad we went.

Saturday we had a teacher's retreat in Miryang. It's about an hour away. We stayed in a cabin and had a lookout to a great view of the mountains and a river. It was beautiful. We unpacked and headed down to the river. We found our principal there....fishing, of course...? It was peaceful and was nice to stick our feet in the water. And then...some of the younger men came and decided to throw all the women in the water, including myself. I'm not a big fan of swimming with all of my clothes on. We ended up playing a volleyball game in the water which turned out to be a great game that I'll have to come home with. After our swimming adventure we came back, showered, and started preparing our night of food and drinks. Being a good little foreigner, I brought with me ingredients to make my co-workers a special "American" drink. I made Jungle Juice (Spodie, fruit in vodka with juice). It was a big hit and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I think we had more drinks than we had food...and we had a lot of food. After dinner we were teamed up into pairs. The way the decided this was by taking these green peppers, cutting them in half, giving the guys the ends with the stem, and then women got the other half. Then you go around and find your second half of the pepper and that person is your partner. Pretty clever..haha. My partner was my friend Sancheol/Tyson. I'm not quite sure why we needed partners, most of the night it was unnecessary to be paired up, but it was definitely good to have a partner that spoke some English. Our first game was a miniture volleyball game. We were all told to sit on our butts and kick this long balloon around, same rules as volleyball. It was pretty entertaining and funny. It went a little LONG though... After volleyball the whole school gathered around the living room and we sat and played drinking games. Koreans are serious about their games. It was intense. Overall, the weekend had great moments, but I was still quite bored with the language barrier. I am happy I had an Ipod and a book. The next morning we gathered and did the "workshop" part of the retreat. We sat around and everyone reflected on the past 5 months, their relationships with each other and the students, and what they look forward to for next term. I was forced to give a speech spur of the moment to, what I'm sure, was about 2 people....the ones that could actually understand. Going away for the weekend and not speaking NORMAL English is exhausting...

Ahhhh Tuesday was the last day of SCHOOL!!! Whooo hooo. The students have been nuts for the past month...itching to get out of here I'm sure. I'm so happy for the summer break. Although, technically I'm not on break. I get to come into school every day, even though I don't have students, just in case some stop in to use the English room. Oh well, the extra time will be nice to prepare lessons, get some summer camp materials ready, and I'll be able to organize everything on my laptop!

Last week I was invited to spend a few days with the Scouts/Leadership kids on a field trip at Maritime University. Of course I agreed and on Wednesday we left for a little water adventure.


This little boy is Brian. He is a 4th grader and a little shrimp. I showed up to leave for the trip and this is what he packed his belongings in for the two days. Guess who was carrying it most of our trip?

We got there and were surrounded by hundreds of Elementary school kids. There seemed to be a lot of down time due to organizing all the students so when we had extra time, the instructors/lifeguards had the students sing K Pop songs and dance while we all watched. It was actually, slightly entertaining. We got changed into our swim wear and were off to our first designated location on campus, to get life jackets!


We went down to a docking area where the kids were instructed on proper paddling techniques for rafting and canoeing. Again, lots of down time so the lifeguards used it by singing, throwing innocent children in the water, or splashing water on them using boat paddles. Again, a little (cho goom 초 금, not really sure if that's how you write it in Hangul, but I think so) entertaining. Some of the students were so bored they went looking for crabs instead. It was great because there were so many lifeguards that the teachers really didn't have to do anything but watch and relax. The students rode on a banana boat and rafted on Wednesday. Before rafting, Koreans must warm up...so the instructors have them do jumping jacks. It's quite an interesting process. There are a few leaders and they count to three, and then the rest of the group has to count also...eventually the group will be too tired and depend on the others and no one will say anything and they will have to start all over again. Haha. I was able to go with the other lady teachers on a boat around the little cove we were in. It was really nice to be on a boat again!! I love boats. Then when we got back I went rafting with the students. It was fun. They had us in 3 different rafts and we paddled out and had a paddle water fight with the other boats. Apparently, my lifeguard was unimpressed and as we were approaching the dock...he threw me out of the raft, and when I attempted to climb the ladder, was thrown back in. My co-teacher and James Bond (5-1 Teacher) also wanted to go swimming so I pushed them both in. Another one of the lifeguards thought he would be tricky and throw me in when I wasn't looking, but I taught him and took him in with me. The students had a quick snokeling lesson in a big bin of water and while they were waiting (again), I showed them how to make a whistle out of grass. Big hit...not too much grass in Korea so it was fun to see them play with it. The night was filled with snacking and sleeping (for some) and then the next day we got up early to do more water activities. The students started Thursday by canoeing around the cove followed by some snokeling and swimming. I got in the water again. Did a little snorkeling but saw NOTHING. Then took a swim while the kids climbed up a blow up mountain and slid down. They were quite impressed that I could swim without my lifejacket. Koreans don't swim well... That basically wraps up my little field trip with the students. It was great and relaxing and am blessed I get invited on these little outings.

And...for the last major event of the month, I went with the students and a few teachers to some professional Men's Volleyball games. I have been watching volleyball on TV since the day I got to Busan, so it was quite exciting to see these players in person. The students could only sit still for one match, but I was allowed to stay and watch the other 2 matches! It was great! I was also given 2 more tickets for another game later on this week. I missed my "team" tonight because all of my friends were busy with English camps, but I'll try and watch one of the playoff games.

Hope you've enjoyed July as much as I have!
Love you!

And if you didn't know already, Kyle is home safe from Iraq! Yay!!

4th of July Weekend

Best picture I could get of the few fireworks I saw on the 4th..

Fourth of July is just not the same in Korea.

Last week went by fairly quickly.

I started the week off by meeting my friend Alice at Kyungsung University to watch Transformers 2. The theater is a good way to get away...sometimes I walk out forgetting I'm in Korea. Sometimes I think that the translation in the words isn't quite on, because I found myself laughing when no one else was.

I think I forgot to mention...after my friend Alice left school, we got a new 5-2 teacher. She just got back to Korea from New York. She was there for 5 months and worked at some of the local schools learning how to teach the "American" way. She's very nice, but no one can replace Alice! She likes to talk to me a lot because it helps her remember her English. I was warned before she came to our school that she wasn't the nicest of people. She has been very sweet to me, but she's a little rough. We'll see how it goes. I heard a rumor that she might be taking over my co-teacher's position next school year, so I might be teaching with her if I stay another year. So far, I enjoy talking to her because she knows a lot more about the American culture than the others at school.

Monday we received another new teacher! She took the place of my friend Victoria (4-1). Sad. I lost 2 friends in a matter of weeks. The new teacher is very kind and her major in school was English Education. Which means...there might be a fight for who gets to be the English teacher next year. I named this girl Ann. She is actually YOUNGER than me...and Korea is huge about that so it's kind of funny that I'm no longer the youngest. Not like it had any affect on me...they treat me better than anyone else here. Ann is really sweet and kind and I think she likes that we are similar in age. She speaks a little bit of English, so we can communicate when need be.

On Thursday the entire school went on a field trip to Haeundae and went swimming at the Grand Hotel. It was the smallest pool ever and we had 200 + students in it. Cramped my style a little bit. I was going to go in but then I found out I had to wear a swim cap...so I opted to stand on the sides and take pictures. But then....a few of the students splashed me so I figured I should just go in. So...with the help of the students I got the awful swim cap on and went in. It was fun! Still hate swim caps though.





After the field trip, some of the teachers took me to this little hole in the wall restaurant. Well, I thought it was going to be a restaurant...it was a little "Korean Ice Cream" shop. It was incredibly crowded so I was quite excited to see what all the hype was about. Hmm....you know how in America we like our beans to be savory? Well, not Koreans. They love to take all kinds of beans and soak them in sugar! Everything is made with mashed sweet red beans in it. For example...there are little food stand on the streets...and you see that they are serving little waffle looking things, oh contrare....red beans in the middle. Back to the ice cream...apparently it's a fine art. First they put a small amount of milk in the bottom of a bowl. Then they will tip the bowl with shaved ice, red bean grossness, and a spoonful of apricots or some kind of fruit. Not good, but I was a good sport and tried it. Of course I was only with 4 teachers when I tried it, so when I got back to school (we did a few more bowls for the teachers who rode on the buses), they shoved a spoon in my mouth as well....even after I pleaded.

Saturday on the 4th was a little disappointing. Some friends and I went to Songjeong Beach. It is the farthest beach in Busan on the east coast. The weather was cloudy and sprinkled. I really missed being home at the Laymon's. I left the beach pretty early and headed to Haeundae beach to meet my friend Jana. We just sat at a coffee shop and people watched all night. There were soooo many foreigners at the beach it was pretty entertaining. I did see fireworks on the 4th. Some yaucht in the ocean lit a few off! That's all I needed.

Sunday was a normal beach day, with sun, but with a twist. After dinner my friend Jana got a phone call asking if we could go up to Ulsan. She was interested in getting a free puppy and the girl called her and asked if she wanted to come that day. So we hopped on a bus...not really knowing where we were going, and went to Ulsan, about 90 minutes away by bus. We got to Ulsan and picked up the puppy and was back on the bus within 10 minutes. It was a great, spontaneous trip to pick up the cutest little puppy!

Well, I'm going to start working on a new more recent blog entry since this one is so old...sorry it's not very entertaining.

Last Weekend in June

I can't believe June has flown by. Now that my time in Korea has passed the "honeymoon" stage, looks like the "homesick" stage is next. Hopefully, with all of your support, you won't let me know too much of what is going on in your lives. It seems to make me miss home a little...so, all I really want to know is how you are and what you have been up to.

Now that I have this blog, I have been making it a point to document things that I observe (on my Itouch) so I can update you all in a more entertaining/speedy way, without forgetting.

In recognition of baseball season, I've come to the observation that many more Koreans know about Seattle that I thought. Well, maybe that's not the case, but I have been seeing a handful (probably around 3) men around the city wearing Mariner's caps. It's quite shocking. Saw a man running down the sidewalk a few weeks ago, a guy at the Lotte Giants game, and a guy on the subway...all sporting the hat. I'm not really sure if they are particularly interested in the Mariner's though. I met a guy at a bar who was wearing a Cleveland Indians cap and I asked him if he liked that baseball team. His response was...."I bought this cap because when I drink, my face gets red, like the Indian." Sooooo...I guess they buy things because its resembles them?

Just a random, pointless thing that I saw while in a taxi...you know those stickers that look like gun shot holes...people put them on their cars.. ya, well, apparently they are in Korea as well. Hmm...maybe they were from Rochester and moved to Korea.

On a different note, I experienced 2 new things this weekend.

Friday, we had a dinner meeting with my teachers. I was a little bummed because, one, this was the first meeting without my friend Alice, and second, we found out Thursday afternoon so a lot of the younger teachers could not make it. I had already made plans so I was debating if I wanted to even go. Now that we don't have volleyball it's strange going to eat after school....we're not celebrating anything. And, guess what my co-teachers (well influenced heavily by the Principal) wanted to go....raw fish (sashimi) of course. By now, all of the teachers know that I'm not a huge seafood fan. As the side dishes were coming out, if they seemed more western, Brandon (4-2 teacher) would slide them in front of me. The evening progressed and the soju and beer were being poured..(OH MY GOSH I JUST DELETED EVERYTHING I JUST WROTE, THANK YOU FOR THE UNDO BUTTON)...sorry, I was asked if I wanted to try the RAW FISH. I said, "on ee yo"...no thanks. But then I got to thinking...I should just try it. I eat it cooked. So yes, my friends and family, Jin tried raw fish, three pieces on separate occasions, dipped HEAVILY into a mixture of soy sauce and wasabi and wrapped up in a leaf. My lovely co-workers were more than willing to pour me a few more glasses of "meck ju" to watch me down some "Korean tradional" food. My evening concluded with my Principal asking me to rate all of the men according to....how good of a man they were..haha. Oops, I forgot to put my Principal first..they got a nice laugh out of that. Oh how I appreciate and love those akward moments with my school...

On Saturday, my fellow foreign neighbors and I were invited to our "Den Mother's" baby's first birthday. Little Eu Joon turned one and it's a very very big deal in the Korean culture. First birthdays are huge here. She rented out a room at the W Party, which is a huge wedding banquet hall with tons of rooms and a huge buffet that the whole place eats from. They had everything you could think of eating. We tried to sit at a table where we wouldn't stand out too much. It was me, my friend Diana (Korean Canadian) and Christine (the only white girl)... They offered free booze so we were happy we were seated away from the crowd. YeJin (my Den Mother) and Kevin (my tutoring student) were dressed up in traditional Korean clothing and so was little baby Eu Joon. They looked so nice. We were asked to choose an item that we predicted the baby would choose as his future career. He sits on this little throne with all these items in front of him and he picks an item that they claim will be his future. He chose a computer mouse, but I thought he'd go for the ball. They also had this CRAZY MC. She was dancing and singing and running around screaming. It was definitely an experience I won't forget!




Ahh..June. Can't believe you've come and gone.

Activity Genius

Did you all know that I am brilliant at finding activities for my students? Well, I am. Guess where my new place to find games for my students is at...? Bridal and Baby Shower websites. I have been using games from there to play with my kids. It's quite entertaining. And no, I don't dress them up in bridal gowns made out of toilet paper. That would be quite fun though. In Korea, they might find that wasteful.

Today the activity I chose for my 5th grade activity class was a big hit. Too bad they were SUPER loud. Most of the teachers I've talked to this week have come to the conclusion that there must be a full moon out. They are excessively loud and we can't figure it out. Anyway, I first had the students stand in a line as they came into class. I clipped them each with 2 paper clips and had them sit at a table. I stuck a post it on our stage with the group numbers and told them if they spoke Korean, I would take away one of their clips. Then I had 4 baskets of items that they already knew...gave each table a basket to look at for 3 minutes and then took it away from them. They were to memorize all of the objects.. Do these games sound familiar? Then, had them write down the words and make a sentence for each word. I put all of the words on the white board and counted everyone's points. I went through a basket to see who was missing what. After that we added to their total points, points for each sentence that was correct. At the very end we subtracted the total clips I pulled off their shirts... Ahh.. Feels good to have a successful day. Anyone want to hire me?

So the next few weeks have a bunch of fun stuff going on. I've been invited to play in a volleyball tournament tomorrow at Gwangalli Beach. It should be fun. Tomorrow...I'm going to lay low. I have no money. I am going to start looking for vacations though. Southeast Asia...not quite sure where to go yet. I think I'm on my mine too...sad. Anyone back home wanna come meet up in some country??? End of July there is a Mud Festival where you drink and run around in fields and fields of mud. It's supposed to be epic and a must do before you leave Korea. I'm trying to get some people together to go around the 18th.

Hope all is well!