Field Trip and Outlet Mall Shopping

Last week all the native English teachers of Wonju were taken on a (mandatory) field trip. We got to miss school for this and it ate away part of our weekend. A bus of 40 of us, plus about six Korean coteachers, traveled down south to Gyeongju. There we saw the anicent mounded tombs of the Kings of the Silla dynasty. We also got to do some hangji paper crafts. (Although our Korean instructors kept taking the crafts away from us as if we weren't doing it correctly, I felt like I was the kind in first grade who is bad at art and their teachers wants them to know it.) On the second day we go to see a famous old buddha statue and some temples. After that we headed down to an island that is south of Busan. There we took an exciting ferry trip to a botanical garden and saw these huge, impressive rock cliffs that composed the smaller islands in the area. There was a definite (and appreciated) temperature change between the snow in Wonju and the bright plants growing on the island! We didn't want to leave!

One of the "highlights" of the trip was our loding for the first night. All off our meals and lodgings were paid for by the Wonju Office of Education, which was ridiculously nice of them. The first night though, our bus pulls up in front of some traditional looking Korean homes. The owners come out to greet us and we realize we are staying there. Thinking there must be more to the complex than we initially saw no one is concerned. Until we realize that all 40 of us will be staying in only four rooms. Each room has only four floor mats. And while they did have ondol heating, the walls were made of paper and the doors didn't close all the way. It was cold. People were unhappy, especially the boys, who outnumbered the girls and had 12 people in one room! It didn't turn out too bad for me, I was surprisingly able to sleep, although many people had problems. Amber and I shared a spot on the floor. You were supposed to use the mat to cover your body and keep in the warm air, which we did. Some of the boys also didn't realize this and were freezing all night. The problem with that is that it left no padding for you to sleep on, you just slept on the hard wood floor. Needless to say my shoulder, hip and back were quite stiff.

The shock the first night also continued when we found out where dinner would be. We were initially told we were going to a resturant. But this was not true. Instead we had dinner at the loding complex, in the middle of the square the four buildings created. Outside. In the freezing cold. They set up tables and chairs for us and built a big campfire in the middle of them all. It was warm if you stood right next to it, but no where else. We had sam gip sal for dinner. When I saw it was freezing I mean it. Literally there was ice forming on the lettuce they set out which had recently been washed. All in all the night turned out pretty fun though, as everyone stood around talking for hours because it got dark so early. I felt like we were camping.

The next night we staying in a beautiful hotel with a bay view. We had a balcony with chairs and two double beds. We wanted to stay longer but sadly didn't get much time there. That night there were no bars near the hotel and while some people took taxis into town, a group of us decided to be really Korean sit and drink in front of the Family Mart. We bought wine and candy inside and used the plastic chairs outfront. We had a really good time just relaxing and talking, sipping our wine and chomping on mentos. The weather was beautiful, cold but not freezing.

Earlier that day we had also stopped at a POW museum, located on the site of where a POW camp was created during the Korean War. North Korean and Chinese soldiers were brought to the camp when they were captured. The museum was huge with lots of lifesized diaramas and rebuilt structures. It was a little strange but I learned things about the Korean War that I didn't know and may not have known without visiting the camp.

The trip was fun but a lot of time was spent on the bus, we were glad to get home. Checking my email Saturday night I noticed a message from two of our friends from orientation in August, Janine and Ben. They live in Sokcho, high up the coast, but were coming down near Wonju to do some shopping at a near by outlet mall in Yeoju. They are married and thinking of staying in Korea for two years so they bought a cheap car. They invited Jason, Scott and I to join them for the day. We happily agreed!

On Sunday morning they picked us up (which was glorious, no taxi or bus this time!) and thanks to Scott's excellent navigation skills made it on the highway to Yeoju. They shockingly don't have a GPS in the car (it seems like everyone in Korea does!) but they make it around okay, although we did get a lost a few times. The outlet mall was huge and definitely wasn't bargain shopping. It was filled with designer labels from Gucci to the Gap, and had two Starbucks! It was a pretty place with lots of Christmas decorations. We visited most of the stores in the place, Ben was intent on finding shoes that fit him (size 12 is huge here and he ended up not finding any!) and I was looking for a down jacket since everyone keeps telling me I "need" to buy one! After two trips to Starbucks and lunch at a revolving sushi bar we called it quits. Right before we left we did pop into the Nike store where at the last minute I found a great down jacket, comfortbable and warm but still kind of cute! (I think I might look like a marshmellow.)

The day was lots of fun and it was great to talk with old friends, now that we've been here for four months we all have new things to talk about. Last time we saw them we were saying "good luck" this time we were talking about coming up to Sokcho to stay with them in their two bedroom apartment.