300 Koreans and 1 Waygook Go On Vacation!

It was not a normal Monday morning...there I was on a bus with about 40 middle school girls blaring K-Pop music, singing all the words, passing around candy, and shouting with excitement as we made the four hour trip to Jeolla province.  I was lucky enough to have a very kind principal who asked me to accompany the second graders as they went on a 3 day, 2 night trip to the south of the country.  My principal felt that I should have the "cultural experience" and who am I to agrue.  I got an all expense paid trip to places that I would never have gotten the chance to go, it was awesome.  My co-teacher, "Maria" (English name), was asked to accompany me essentially as my translator.  Many people say Seoul is not the "real" Korea and this was a chance for me to discover that myself.

I went down to Jeollabuk-Do and Jeollanam-Do.

This trip is probably the most immersed in the Korean culture that I will be this whole year as I only heard Korean, was only with Koreans, only ate Korean food, and even slept in a traditional Korean hotel.  As much as I love this culture, there are definitely parts I appreciate of my own culture, like the American breakfast.  Again, I really like Korean food, but spicy pickled veggies, dense soups, and rice are just not my forte for breakfast.  I will stick to my frosted flakes and milk, call me boring.  During the three days, I only saw one bus of Westerners pass by to which my teachers replied "Oh, Julie-Anne friends!".  I was like "Nope, sorry, don't know them".  Very funny.

We saw so many things on this trip, we were moving at every moment.  I can't even imagine how much work it took to plan a trip for 300 middle school girls.  It is smart to keep them busy, so they can't get distracted and get in trouble.  This trip was exciting for many of my students as some come from families with not enough means to travel, so this was a very unique opportunity.  Not only that, but these kids do not get to spend time with their friends outside of school.  When we got to the hotel the first night, I asked my co-teacher about sleepovers.  Her reply was basically that Korean students do not have time for sleepovers anymore because they are expected to be studying all the time.  Sad.  I loved sleepovers growing up.  So, as you can imagine the hotel was the best thing ever for the students and they stayed up all night with each other talking, doing hair, and all the things normal middle school girls do.

Here are the things I got see:
1.  UNESCO World Heritage Site in Gochang- This area was deemed a cultural site because it is covered in "dolmens".  My co-teacher kept using that word, but I finally had to admit that I had never heard of it.  But, after a private tour on a golf cart with my Principal, co-teacher, and I, we learned a lot.  Dolmens are a form of a burial stone, where two smaller stones are placed under one larger stone.  The stones create a space above the ground for the body to lie in.  The bodies were often buried with pottery and other speical things.  Apparently, it is a mystery to this day about how these stones got on the mountain.

A traditional dolmen.

Dolmens across the mountain.

2.  Damyang Garden-  This was a very pretty garden full of cherry blossoms and bamboo trees.  I had a unique experience as the current owner of the garden (15th generation descendant of the garden's creator) invited my Principal and I to have green tea in his ondol (a little hut with a heated floor).  He was very kind to me and although he only spoke Korean, we exchanged many smiles.

Some teachers and students in the garden.

The garden's owner serving us green tea.

One of my favorite teachers and students!

3.  Damyang Bamboo Forest-  This area is covered in hundreds of bamboo trees.  It is also apprently the scene where a famous Korean movie was filmed.  The best part for me was that we ate dinner at a restaurant near here and I ate bamboo!  I also ate rice cooked in bamboo, which had a different consistency and was delicious.  You could also buy anything made out of bamboo that you could think of like tea, rice, crafts, liquor, etc.

My bus of girls, we were the purple group.

The bamboo forest...but I can't rotate the pic.  Sorry!

We found a panda!

Perfect group pic under the cherry blossoms, which I found out later were fake!

This woman was deemed that she has an "intangible" UNESCO World Heritage craft (I think that is what they said at least).  She makes crafts out of bamboo.

My bamboo rice :)

4.  Hwa-om-sa Buddhist Temple- This is one of my favorite temples that I have seen yet because I can really understand how a person could relax here.  The temple, which was built 1,000 years ago, is set in the mountains with fresh air and nature surrounding it.  The temple was also being decorated with lotus lanterns for Buddha's birthday and looked really pretty.

The beautiful entrance and scenery.

Inside of the temple.

I love this.

My very kind co-teacher/translator and students.  She has a lot of knowledge about the history of Korea that she so generously explained to me.

5.  Posco- Some of you might know this name, but for me it was a first.  Posco, is the largest steel and iron factory in the world and I got to visit it.  There are two sites in South Korea and the one I toured employs 6,000 people (17,000 employees total in the company) and is large enough to fit 3,200 soccer fields there.  This part might have been a little lost in translation, but apprently this area used to be all ocean and they created the land here by bombing the area and filling it in with sand.  I told you, sounds a little funny, but my guess is that it is land made out of trash like a lot of major cities do around the world to make more space.  We got to take a tour around the grounds from the bus and then go inside one of the manufacturing buildings where rolls of steel are made.  I liked this part a lot.  It was very interesting to witness an international businness from the perspective of the factory.

NO PHOTOS ALLOWED....

6.  Suncheon Ecological Park- A marsh area where we walked around a lot of reeds and a musuem.  It was a nice place, but not much to talk about.

7.  Korean Traditional Village- This place used to be an old Korean fortress in the middle of the mountains, but it also housed a village inside of it.  Here you can walk around the old homes with straw roofs and some families still even live here!  We ate dinner here and I tasted "dong-dong-ju", a Korean rice wine.  I liked it, but I like the name even more.

We marched right through the fortress wall.

My Principal teaching me how to play a traditional Korean game.

Like my new hat?

The fortress is set deep in the mountains, with not much of anything around it.

8.  Namwon Jongja Palce-  There is a famous TV show in South Korea called "The Secret Garden" and this place was the official secret garden that the folktale and show are based off of.  I was told this garden used to be a honeymoon destination as it is known for its beauty all throughout Korea.  It was pretty, but not where I would want to spend my honeymoon.

9.  Maisan Park-  Our last activity was to hike Mai Mountain.  The mountain is in the shape of a horses ear and we did not climb to the top, but we managed to make it pretty high up.  The students did not like climbing all of the stairs and were ready to get out of there after about five minutes.  I admit it was not an easy hike, but it was worth it for the views.  After the hike we were rewarded with delicious bibimbop (Korean rice and vegetable dish) all made from ingredients from the mountain.

A really cool temple made entirely out of stones.

The girls climbing, again couldn't turn it...

Yummy, bibimbop!

After a long three days, the students and teachers were ready to go home.  Unlike the noisy bus ride there, the bus ride home was quiet with all the students sleeping.  I am so happy I got to go on this trip.  It was a very unique experience and I got to know both the teachers and students better.  This trip will definitely be one of the highlights of my year in South Korea.

Finally, I don't think I have ever taken more pictures or said hello more times in my life.  Every second I turned around there was a cell phone camera or digital camera in my face.  I am so awkward at taking pictures by myself and I had to do so many.  Also, every time a student walked by me they said "Hello!", so I had to reply the same thing many, many times.  But, it was all worth it.  I got to know the kids a little better outside of the classroom, which was very fun.