Saturday, June 20, 2009

JeJu Island


















Well the last week has been pretty great. I had my birthday, my friend Madison arrived from the states and I got to spend three wonderful days at JeJu island off the southern coast of Korea with her and my friend Crystal. The three of us managed to get around the island without a rental car. We ended up creating a bit of a road trip around 3/4 of the island. We were able to take in quite a few seascapes as well as some gorgeous mountains and volcanic rocks. It was also nice to be away from Seoul and in "real" korea. We got to have some amazing traditional korean food cooked by a cute old lady and we made a point to try many of the local dishes including a pancake filled with radish. The days went a little like this:

1st day- arrive at the airport
take a bus around to the side of the island around the coast
check into our accommodations, a cute little set of korean huts :)

take a ferry to u-do island, an island off the island
walk around the island and hangout on the beach
ferry back to the main island
take in the scenery down the coast and see a old volcano
wander to a art museum or two
head back to the accommodation and have a little soju party and watch willy wonka

2nd day- leave accommodation pretty early
take the bus to the next city down the coast
meet a random Austrian women in a bakery
wander into another art museum
see a really pretty waterfall
take a taxi to the bus terminal
take another bus down the coast
meet a nice girl from St. Louis on the bus who shows us where to get off
get picked up and taken to our next accommodation
head to the beach
walk along the beach by the hyatt hotel
sneak into the hyatt grounds and pretend we are staying there
find some good korean food
head back to the hotel with some wine and snacks
Sit on our balcony and take in the brightest moon I've ever seen

3rd day
wake up early and head to the mountain
wait for a very long time for the bus
take the bus to a recreational forest and walk along a nature path in the woods
run into some guys taking berries off a tree and ask to try them, apparently they are like Viagra
take the bus over the mountain and stop at the goblin road
take pictures with cute goblin statues and moo cows
go to love land, an "erotic" sculpture park
take a whole bunch of funny pictures with the statues
get back on the bus and head to jeju city
go to a traditional jeju korean market and buy oranges and chocolate
walk down to the beach one last time
head to the airport to fly back to seoul and watch the sun go down

Overall a pretty crazy three days. I don't think I could have asked for a better vacation or a better two girls to spend it with. Well work starts back up tomorrow so I have plenty to do. I will write again soon!

love
Kristyn

Thursday, June 11, 2009

End of the Term


First birthday in a new country! Thanks for the cards and things! This weekend is going to be great! I thankfully have lots of good friends around to have a good time with.

So I only have today and tomorrow left in this term! It has been quite an 8 weeks and I think that my whole staff has learned a lot about how this centre needs to be working. I am sad to see most of my students go though some of them will be returning for summer courses. I am also sad to see my friends from SFS leave though excited for their adventures abroad.
My friend Madison who I am very good friends with from college will be coming on Tuesday to stay with me for the entire summer to teach at my school. I'm pretty excited about her coming. It should make for a much more exciting summer. As soon as she gets here we are heading to JeJu island for a few days with our coworker SoJung. It will be nice to relax and take in some sun on the beach. I will leave you with a really adorable picture of me and the babies from my class. Hope all is well out there in the world, I will write again after this crazy weekend.

love Kristyn