Things have not slowed down here much, even though our schools have been having exams. Carin and I have been out an about, climbing mountains and meeting up with other English teachers. We climbed one of the most famous mountains in Korea, Dobongsan (Dobong Mountain), on Sunday, and we were pleasantly surprised that neither of us collapsed from a heart attack. We've been a lot more active since we arrived in Korea, and it's really starting to show. Carin even had another hike with her fellow teachers yesterday, and is still walking around today!
Tomorrow we're heading to Seoul to watch a Buddhist festival. This is a last minute decision, but it looks very interesting. Next week we are making a trip to the DMZ. We are really looking forward to that! Quite a few people have told us that you can still feel the Cold War tension at the DMZ. I'm looking forward to some decent photo ops.
Home and Away
On the home front we finally managed to organise a couch, even if it is bright orange. It fits with our general decor theme, though. Now all that we need is a bright red coffee table, and we're all set. I found one for R200, but I have no idea how to get it back to our house. The language barrier is a problem. Korean is not the easiest language to pick up. The sounds all flow into each other, with plenty of "yos" and "imnidas" thrown in for good measure. But we're trying to expand our repertoire of Korean phrases, especially since "hello", "goodbye" and "thanks" don't seem to be enough anymore.
On the travel front, we've booked our flights and accommodation for our China trip. We'll be spending six days in Beijing just before the Olympics, and then taking the train to Xi'an to see the terracotta warriors. This is going to be a fantastic trip, and we're missing the expensive dates by a smidgen. We check out from our hotel in Beijing on 31 July, after paying about R3oo a night. From 1 August the same room will cost about R1200 a night. Timing is everything!
Pseudo-Africa
This week the teachers at my school all went on a picnic (not quite what you think) to a place which definitely piqued my interest - the Africa Cultural Centre. It's located about a half an hour drive from my school. This was a weird experience. It is always strange to see how the rest of the world views Africa and Africans, and this was very much a pseudo-African experience. Basically Africa is only three things - wild animals, wooden carvings, and black people. End of story. So experiencing "African culture" involved seeing some stuffed animals, a couple of wooden masks and statues, and pointing at the black guys that worked there.
Admittedly, anything that isn't Korean tends to be pointed and stared at (including Carin and myself), so this was only to be expected. And I guess it isn't any worse than going to Malawi and having all the kids run up to you and shout "Mzungu! Mzungu!"
I chatted to one of the guys working there. He comes from Zimbabwe, and seems to have ended up here after trying to get some business dealings going. I guess the money must be decent to put up with all the poking and prodding every day. The funny bit was that I was really happy to chat to someone from home, even if he wasn't exactly from SA. Zimbabwe's close enough!
Photos
We've put some more photos up for everyone's viewing pleasure. Check them out here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=22384&l=c503b&id=517113801
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=21643&l=5b384&id=517113801
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)