Day One
5:30 - I finished packing and closing down my apartment for the weekend. Sorta. Breakfast was supposed to be at 5:30am so I headed out the door then and walked to the cafe. It wasn't open yet. So I went back to my apartment and took out the trash. A must if your going to be gone for several days. Wrote some more goodbyes on the internet but was restless now. Went back to the cafe and found it was unlocked, but they weren't ready. Davin (student in middle school) came outside and I asked him (he is a favorite, eager to help and please others as well as abstaining from bullying which is rare in Korea) what time breakfast was. He said that we were waiting for the bread.
A car pulled up and a teacher got out with two big boxes from the famous and popular Paris Baguette. They were half circled balls connect and filled with strawberry jam. I helped carry a box inside and looked longingly at what the rest of the school was getting to eat. Salad with kiwi yogurt salad dressing and the must desired bean paste ham that is for all intents and purposes "vegi meat." Getting my strawberry dessert bread and strawberry milk, I hurried back to my apartment and gulped them down. Grabbing my bags, I headed back to where the bus should be.
Double checking with the staff on the way, I confirmed I was indeed supposed to get on that bus. Putting my small bag underneath, I climbed on up and inside. Three girls quickly waved to me and I sat with them. Then I got the surprise of a lifetime. I wasn't sure if I should be happy and nervous. I went with slyly happy. The math teacher, single I am told, was checking to make sure students were on the bus. Turns out he is a Sophomore home room teacher in middle school. YES!
6:10 - Our bus pulls out and we get going. I talk with the students a little bit but mostly focus on not freaking out. You see, I am not fond of planes. I like them well enough, but there is always a strong sensation similar to fear and dread when I am going to fly.
7:00 - We got to Daegu airport and got ourselves organized. Two other buses were already there with other sophomores in middle school. In some cases, parents had brought the kids since it was a weekend we had just enjoyed. I got my ticket. A student walked with me to check in my bag (I don't speak Korean, so I get really shy about what to do here.) Once that was out of the way, we all went through security and to our gate. Once on board, I happily settled into the window seat.
8:00 - Our plane took off just after 8am. Settling in, I slept between stewardess' offer of something to drink. Not making it difficult by seeing if they had ginerale, I opted for water. You see, I had a slight cough at this point. It had been just lack of drinking enough water, but by the end of the weekend my allergies had kicked in. So now it had developed a little and I figured with enough water it would go away. Oh how naive I am at times.
9:00 - We landed in Jeju. Paradise. Korea's own Hawaii. The vacation place to be if you visit South Korea. We got out bags and headed outside. I was greeted with palm trees. That just made my day. I happily snapped pictures and followed my students out to our tour buses. To make sure I wouldn't mistake my bus, I snapped a picture of the sign in the front window of the bus. I didn't need to. I am in group one with 2-1. Teacher Oh's homeroom. Each bus (no matter the Korean writing) had a 1, 2, or 3 in the window. Also, my bus was the only one with tropical blue print for window shades.
10:00 - We reached our first stop. The science museum with all it's art and inventions showing Leonardo DaVinci. I snapped a lot of pictures and followed the tour guide or students from place to place. Thankfully, most of the exhibits had English as well as two other languages explaining more. Very helpful since I couldn't understand the tour guide. There was replicas of the paintings. I knew that the original "Last Supper" had been falling apart shortly after being painted and that the restoration and preservation of it was difficult at best. I learned here that actually, almost the entire painting is no longer the original but restored/redone because so much of the painting over time had simply peeled away.
Finally we headed outside and around to the back. The kids got to build bridges such as Leonardo designed for warfare. Some were sturdy and it was fun to climb on those. Others were not so sturdy and we worried. I took this opportunity to get pictures and video of a certain young math teacher.
11:30 - We arrived at our resort and were given our room assignments. They did their best to get the boys on one hall and the girls on another. The teachers were all on the girls hall though. The room is a large open room with all the bedding kept in one large dresser. Sleeping on the floor. Different but alright. I was so glad that the bathroom, though similar to my own bathroom, had a shower stall and good water pressure. We got lunch at the hotel's buffet and then got regrouped for the afternoon.
13:00 - We next went to a museum a tea company set up that was all about - tea. There were fields of tea surrounding the entire countryside. A calm and enjoyable place, I relaxed there and ended up buying rose tea. Haven't tried it yet. Drinking ginger tea in an effort to combat this cough. We got group pictures there. Yes, I was in one with the math teacher. *sigh*
14:00 - From there we went to the Glass Castle. A museum full of glass art. I was so astonished. Had a lot of fun getting pictures there. I refrained from buying anything there. It was all well out of my price range.
15:00 - We drove a ways until we reached the ferry. It was actually a big boat with three levels. There was room outside to stand or sit. I stayed inside. There were plenty of tables and soft seats. I sank into one with a female teacher and the rocking of the boat soon had me dozing. But as I relaxed, and ran out of water, I started coughing more and more. Soon I had the Koreans worried if I would be alright. When we got back to the bus, I hurried to refill my water bottle. But by now, nothing was stopping my cough.
16:30 - After that nap on the ferry, I felt a renewed sense for adventure. We got to our next destination, a waterfall. We parked in the parking lot and then I followed the others down towards the shopping booths and stores that were there to attract tourists. The kids got stuck by the snacks. I snuck past most of them and headed down the path. A teacher warned me it was like 500 stairs. It might have been, but didn't seem like it. They weren't even though so some students were tripping. At the bottom was a gorgeous waterfall.
I wanted a head start back up just in case I needed to stop and take a breather. Worked out fine in the end. I was almost to the top when I stopped for the fun of it to rest. A little old Korean lady, an ajima, was sitting there as well. She tried to talk to me in Korean, but wasn't asking the normal questions that were usually asked so I didn't know what they were or how to answer. Normally answers like "American" and "teacher" are enough. Nope. So I snagged a student who was walking back and told her that I needed a translator. She listened, giggled, and asked, "Are you married?" At my answer of no, I was then told repeatedly that I was beautiful. Evidently, it is a mystery to everyone here as to why I am single.
We headed on up and now I was distracted by the shops. Bought a Korean hat. Almost bought one I though was rather nice and close to a ball cap. A student quickly told me no, that it was an ajima hat. I don't want to be considered an old lady before my time (at least not by my students) so put it down in favor of another. It always is pretty and gained me quite a few compliments from Teacher Oh and some of the boy students about how pretty I was. Evidently a simple hat raised my beauty points.
18:00 - Headed back to the hotel and stopped on the way to see a famous sports stadium. It was pretty large and everyone else looked thoroughly impressed. To me, it is a stadium. With soccer goals. We got back and had supper. I then went to the gym where the girls were gathered for a game of dodgeball. It was played differently than I have seen before. Confined to a small badminton lines, the girls had one ball with which to get each other out. Once out, they went to the outside of the opposite team to help them get out. My team lost once and won twice before I left. Every time I had the ball, the student I was looking at would plead/beg/scream "Ah! Teacher no!" I evidently got very lucky. They think I am super good at sports ;)
After that I went, showered, and crawled into bed. Feel asleep happy (except for the continual coughing) with no idea of both the wonders and paralyzing pain the next day had to offer.
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