Two weeks left

As of today, I only have two weeks left here in South Korea.  I can't believe how fast the past four weeks here have flown by.  It's such a bittersweet feeling right now.  I'm excited to see my family and friends back in California again but bummed to leave this place and the new friends I've met.  Well, I'll just have to enjoy the next two weeks as much as possible.

I've done so much since the last time I updated so this post might be a little long.  Let's see, first up is my trip to an amusement park called Lotte World.

Here is my ticket to Lotte World.  It's kind of like the Disneyland of South Korea.  

Part of the inside portion of the theme park.  

A huge ice rink at the bottom of this place.

Stage for performances.  

At the outside portion of Lotte World.  See how its similar to Disneyland?  

The first ride we rode, called Atlantis.  These are just some random people though.  This ride was lots of fun and the beginning caught all of us off guard.  As it started to move forward, we had maybe five seconds of cheering and all of a sudden it was blast off.  We thought it was going to ease us into the ride but instead it just went all out.  Definitely recommend this ride to start off your day here.  

So many plushies to win from the claw machine.  We were here for such a long time. 

The parade at the inside portion of Lotte World.  The guy is the guy raccoon mascot of the park named Lotty.  The parade went on for a long time and my friends and I thought it was very interesting because when we think of South Korea, it's pretty conservative, but the dancers were all dancing half naked for the most part.  Just something that caught our attention.  

Some dancers.

More dancers.  Overall I had a good time at Lotte World.  Could have stayed longer but Krystal and I had other plans in the evening.  The rides we had the chance to get on were all lots of fun and we came on a good day that wasn't too hot and not too packed.  Next up is visiting our friend Seohyun's house.  

Seohyun is the guy at the top left making the peace sign next to his face.  Going right is his mom, dad, and younger sister Jun.  Seohyun was kind enough to invite all of us to visit his family and they are all such amazing people.  His parents are very friendly and caring people and we had some fun conversations with them like guessing everyone's age, to which sibling looked like which parent.  They fed us lots of delicious food that definitely filled us up.  

It was Jun's birthday two days after the day we visited and we brought a cake for her and the family to say Happy Birthday as well as thank you for having us over.  Jun was so funny when we tried to look at her and Seohyun's pictures from when they were younger.  She was so adamant about not having us see a specific photo album.   

After hanging out at the house for an hour or so, the family took us out for some bowling.  Here is team 1 with Jun, Krystal and Seohyun. 

Team 2 with Talyn and Christina.

Team 3 with Kevin and the parents.  This team was so good, especially Seohyun's dad.  

And team 4 with me, Anna and Daniel.  We had such a fun time with the family and they provided so much for us.  Hopefully we get to see them again before we leave and give them a huge thank you present.

Next up along the week was going to a bar called Doors.  One of my students, well noona now, is a bartender and we went to her friend's work place because the drinks are cheaper here.  It was really fun to see her mix drinks for everyone.  One of the coolest drinks she made was two shots that she put on fire.  My friends Tara and Kylie got the chance to try it.  We introduced the game King's Cup to my noona and her friend and they really enjoyed the game.  

Here is me with my first drink!  Just kidding, it was non-alcoholic.  

Next day out was with my friend Alex's cousin, one of the two from the time we visited his aunt.  He took us around Gangnam for lunch and more.  Here is where we ate for lunch. 

After that, we went to one side of the Han River where my friend's Christina and Krystal rented a bike for an hour.  My friend's Talyn and Kevin also rented one out but they left by the time I could take a picture. 

One view across the river.  

A dandelion of the Korean alphabet characters.  

Rode the bike for a little bit with Anna when Krystal and Christina came back.  

From left to right: Alex's cousin, Ales, Daniel and Krystal.  

Ended the day with Alex's cousin with some drinks.  We played lots of drinking games and Alex's cousin is hard core.  When someone loses and takes the drink from the center bowl, they get to fill it up with as much as they want for the next person that loses whatever game we play.  Alex's cousin pours more than half of the bowl, which is way more than anyone else pours.  The cousin's fiance came to join us later and she's just as hard core as him.  He even said that she can out drink him which was mind blowing to us.  Do you guys like Krystal's hat?

Next up is haircut day.  My friends and I went to this place called Juno Hair for a Korean styled haircut.  It was pretty expensive but the workers were very nice.  You can't really tell what my hair looks like here but it was pretty cool.  

Here is a more recent event that happened two days ago.  This was an after school activity called Korean Traditional Music.  The people that went to this activity got to listen to multiple performances.  

The drummer that accompanied the flute player pictured above.  

String instrument called the Gayageum. 

This guy was a very good singer and entertainer. 

She was a very good singer, having to make sure her voice was heard with five instruments being played behind her.  

These four did the most interesting and up beat/full of energy performance that had lots of different kinds of rhythm going on.  

Got to play the Janggu.  

Also got to play the Gayageum.  

Yesterday I got new glasses along with Krystal, Alex and Anna.  How do I look?  They say I look more studious.  

Then me, Krystal, Alex, Anna and Daniel went to the Seven Luck Casino which is only for foreigners.  It was really fun getting to play the slots for the first time.  Too bad we couldn't take pictures inside though.

So you can see it was a pretty packed week but filled with lots of fun.  Sorry I don't really go into too much detail or description, not very good at typing all of that out, but definitely can if I speak to you about it in person.  Man it is so hot today.  Alright, stay tuned for more.  Redondo out!

Rafting and first day of class

On Sunday I got to go white water rafting for the first time in my life and it is by far one of the best experiences I've had on this trip.  I went with a group of a little over twenty and we had a blast.  If you ever read this, thank you Marissa for inviting us and to your student Marie for helping with this event.  Everyone was full of nervousness and excitement, especially since it was raining that day.  Luckily, that's what made the activity even better.  The bus ride to the place was around two hours and it was mostly full of sleep time for me.  When we arrived, we grabbed some lunch first before heading out to raft.  We had delicious warm dumpling soup which was perfect for the chilly weather.  This definitely pumped me up even more.  Once we got to the place, people rented some water shoes and bought string for their glasses.  Then we geared up with a life jacket, a helmet, and a paddle and headed into a bus that would take us to our starting point of the river we were going to travel in.

Once we arrived, we were given safety instructions like how to sit on the raft and how our feet should be placed so we don't fall out.  We had two guides that were our steersmen and one of them gave a demonstration on my friend Tori, on how you could get swept out of the raft by the rapids.  He had her sit on the raft, place one foot in the strap with the other tucked underneath and all of a sudden yanked her out of the boat with so much strength.  We were all really surprised because we didn't know what he was doing at first.  He had Tori do it again and this time her feet were more secured and she didn't go out, but it looked kind of painful because of how hard he was pulling her.  Once the safety guides were understood, we split into two rafts and headed to the river.  Now the nerves and adrenaline were kicking in more as we entered the rafts.  Once in, we were given the last set of instructions which were when the steersman says ready, we'd reply ready and when he says "one, two", we'd repeat after him along with paddling for each number.  We did some practice runs before he headed out on the main course.

My raft headed out first and right away we headed straight into some rapids.  Screams of excitement and fear burst out of all of us as the boat rocked hard and waves of water rushed over us.  We were definitely not expecting that first rapid but it was amazing and the adrenaline within us raised up even higher.  It wasn't raining anymore but it was still very cold.  The water steadied out and everyone was shivering but laughing about the first rapid.  We could here the same kind of yells from the other boat behind us as they entered the first rapid.  Then we began our one, two paddling across the calm river.  We encountered some small drops along the way before facing a couple more heavy rapids.  As we paddled, my eyes scanned the surrounding environment and a was speechless.  The scenery was so beautiful, filled with trees of different shades of green on both sides, accompanied with walls of different shaped rocks standing so high and mighty.  We also saw a waterfall and a Korean traditional looking temple.  We all wish we could be taking pictures but thinking about it now, I think you'd have to see it with your own eyes.  These words can't even compare to what I saw.  The view was just gorgeous.

Suddenly the ready command was given and we can see and hear more sets of heavy rapids ahead.  We paddled forward a little bit more and then braced ourselves for the impact.  We entered the rapids and our boat rocked in every direction possible with more gushes of water toppling over us.  At the final rapid, the image that I can remember clearly was a giant wave just eating my friend Anna, who was sitting at the front of the boat just hanging on the the rope along the inside of the raft since she couldn't paddle in order to balance out the boat.  It was such a funny sight because the giant wave only went over her.  Luckily she wasn't swept away.  On the other boat however, my friend Christina was tugged out of the raft at the last set of rapids.  Luckily they got her back safe with no major injuries.  We stopped at a little rest spot of sand and the guides flipped over one of the rafts for us to slide on into the water.  We all took turns running and jumping on either our backs or bellies on the under side of the raft and into the river.  It was lots of fun, full of laughter and smiles and then eventually the dunking began.  One by one people started pushing and throwing each other into the river.  Unfortunately, we started to have a little too much fun and an accident occurred.  Me and some of my friends decided to push our other friend Kevin into the river together since he dunked them so many times.  On his way running into the river along with the momentum of the shoves, he hyper-extended his left knee.  He's doing better now but it was still scary and if you read this Kevin, I'm sorry!!

Overall the trip was so amazing and I will definitely never forget it.

Sorry I only have one picture!  And it's not even of everyone :(

Next is about my first day of class here at Dankook University, which was today.  Don't worry it won't be too long.  I'm taking Introduction to Korean Culture and Society from 9-12 in the morning with Ria Chae.  She doesn't want us to call her professor because she isn't one yet, so instead, we call her 선 생 님 , which is teacher in Korean.  I already forgot where she was born, but when you see her, she looks Caucasian but has Korean citizenship and grew up here in South Korea since she was a little girl.  She studied at Seoul University which is the top university here and is married to a Korean man which I think is awesome.  We had a lecture already about the brief overview of Korea's history like where it got its name, what the territory was like in the past and how it came to be, etc.  Her class looks like it's going to be lots of fun because we will be covering many interesting topics.  We have our first field trip tomorrow at the Dankook museum which I am looking forward to.

Matching clothes on the our first day! :) (Talyn and Anna) 

Backpack I got as a present from my morning class student April!

It was weird not teaching today, not seeing my students, and now being the student.  Oh well, I'll hang out with them again soon and time to take a nap.  Redondo out!

Last EV Class

Today was the last day of teaching for the English Village program.  So much emotion has been running through me, along with all of the other teachers.  It's crazy knowing that three weeks has already passed by and starting next week, we're going to be students.  Being part of this program to teach English has been an amazing unforgettable experience.  Everyday was a blast with each of my classes, each one having it's own dynamics and style of conversation.  We watched a different movie for each class: 50/50, Inception and Kick-ass.  It was so sad saying bye to the students after each class was over.  It won't the last time to see them though.  I will make sure to keep in touch and plan more activities with them.

 Combining classes for the last day so bought lots of snacks for our students.

 First class: April and Iris.  Missing HaeSung because he had work.

 Second class: Young and Anna.  Missing Philip because he had to leave early.

Third class: Eric and Judy

Luckily for me, I got to see half of them today after classes for dinner and 노 래 방 (norebang).  The activity was also with my roommate Daniel, Krystal and some of her students as well as Christina with some of her students.  It was nice meeting more students and seeing many of them opening up some more after drinking.  I had such a good time but it was still sad saying bye to them even though I will make sure to hang out with them later.  I think it's because I won't see them everyday for sure anymore.  My students always gave me a smile on my face.  If you, my students read this, I miss you so much already even though it hasn't been a day yet.  I better see you all again soon!  Redondo out!

Suwon

On Tuesday, a group of us EV teachers went to Suwon since our activity there was cancelled due to the rain last week.  At first I was kind of hesitant to go since many students said there isn't much to see or do there, but I'm glad I went.  It was nice seeing the more traditional things of Korea.  The trip was full of walking/hiking which was super exhausting but an awesome work out and worth every step in my opinion.

The group that went to Suwon.

I like this angle of the statue.

Hiking the great little wall of Korea as I would call it.

More steps to conquer.  I think these are tougher than the Dankook stairs. 

At the top of the hill/mountain. 

Awesome view of the city. 

Beautiful traditional Korean work of art to me.  I really love the color and pattern on the building. 

 Messing around with the sign.  Met someone new named Ashley who is super nice.

Sun is starting to set making the view even more breathtaking.  

I can't wait to see more traditional Korean sites during my trip.  Redondo out!