December and January

Winding Down

December as a whole proved to be a very busy month. To keep it short, from the start of the month up until the third week, on top of my regular teaching schedule, I taught two English camps, one for the county and one for the school, which demanded that I be at school from 9 to 6:30 every day (including Friday, which normally I have off). **On a side note, when I use the word "camp" I it is meant to be understood the way Koreans define it. In Korea, a camp can mean anything from two to three hours of instruction following the ring of the schools-out bell, to the more conventional camps that we are used to in the states.

You can find pictures of my classroom, and Yuchon students and staff here.

Japan

My teaching obligations for the semester ended on December 22, and soon after on the 23rd, I was on an airplane headed for Haneda airport in Japan. The entourage consisted of three total, all friends from Fulbright, who expressed an interest in traveling to Japan. All in all, we spent four nights in Tokyo, four nights in Kyoto, and we took a day trip to Nara, Japan's first capitol. Japan was fantastic, and of course, 9 days was not enough to explore this terrific country. My only complaint however, are the ridiculously inflated prices, on everything. I wouldn't mind high prices on merchandise, because to be honest I have no interest in shopping. I was truly disappointed with the prices for transportation and food. I am fortunate that the prices in Korea for these two things are very fair. It affords me the opportunity to travel all around Korea, which I have, and it enables to me to enjoy very delicious Korean cuisine, all the time.

You can find photographs of my adventures in Tokyo, Japan here. Photos from Kyoto are on the way. My camera's battery decided to die completely midway through our Japan trip, so I'm still waiting on the Kyoto photographs from a friend.

Korea Travel

After Japan, my friend from the states came to Korea and paid me a visit. I took him around Korea for a total of 16 days, and the itinerary included a wide range of activities. I made sure to expose him to my favorite part of Korea - the food. We enjoyed a lot of great food. One of the first activities I'd arranged was to do a temple stay at Golgulsa, located 20 km east of Gyeongju, one of Korea's most historically rich cities.

Temple Stay, Pohang, and Muse

The temple stay experience was unique in the sense that we were at the only temple in Korea where the Zen Martial Art of Saunmudo is practiced. We were also exposed to several Zen Buddhist rituals such as those of sitting, chanting, and walking meditation. Immediately after the temple stay, we traveled to Pohang to visit a good friend of mine, stayed there for a few nights exploring the city, and continued on to Seoul for the much awaited Muse concert. Seeing Muse perform live was great. They played all the classics, and many of the songs on their most recent album release. At one point, Matthew Bellamy, the lead singer/guitarist, was thrashing away on the keytar. Very epic indeed.

The Sancheoneo Ice Fishing Festival, Hwacheon, South Korea

On January 9th, we traveled up to Hwacheon for its esteemed annual Ice Festival, which attracts people from around the world, not to mention many Koreans. To set the premise, Hwacheon is a small town of a population of less than 25,000, so you can imagine, this is a very tiny place that used to be part of North Korea that doesn't get much attention for the remainder of the year. During the Sancheoneo Ice Fishing Festival, however, about 1,000,000 people from all over compete to catch as many sancheoneon, or rainbow trout, as they possibly can. This year alone the city of Hwacheon predicts they will make approximately $2,000,000 in revenue.

You can find some photographs from the Hwacheon Ice Fishing Festival here.

That's all for now. More to come soon!