Easter Sunday

While I may or may not have forgotten about Easter prior to a chocolate filled package from my mom, I had a lovely brunch with some friends to celebrate. Today was even more gorgeous and sunny than yesterday, so we went down to Cheomseomdae to frolic in the blooming canola flowers. Yet another beautiful day in Beautiful Gyeongju!

Easter Brunch:

Lindt Bunnies supplied by my lovely mommy,
and the rest of this gorgeous spread by my generous
friend!

I was extremely amused by the pattern of her
floor. It is made to look like a balcony with
plants growing in the cracks. It's very confusing.

Cheomseomdae!

Very pollen filled flower.

I have so many pictures of this observatory it's getting
ridiculous. This is Cheomseomdae itself.

There were a TON of people enjoying the sun and taking
a billion photos in the yellow flowers.

Gorgeous! Who knew canola oil came form
such a pretty flower.

This shirt is odd.

Maybe this high school student should leave it behind if he ever travels abroad...

The March Road of King Shinmun

After a few rainy weekends, we finally had one that was lovely and rain free. Two friends and I decided to check out a new hiking trail in Gyeongju and headed for "The March Road of King Sinmun." None of our friends had heard of this trail, and compared to most mountains around the trail was almost empty! We found it one this super handy blog, Gyeongju Love. While not an actual mountain, the trail was still beautiful. It goes pretty flat for a while, then downhill to a gorgeous waterfall. We searched for a bus stop at the other end, but sadly had to make our way back uphill to our starting point to get home. While it was a long day, it was very beautiful and the waterfalls were lovely. Hiking on a fairly isolated trail was a particular treat compared to the overcrowded main routes.

When we got off the bus, we were fairly certain we were in the wrong spot. It was pretty desolate except for these stores selling mysterious things.

We wandered up a road (to the left of the tunnel, for any future hikers) and saw these stone piles, and some Buddha's. We figured this must be the way.

Statue of what I guess to be a boddhisatva
holding some babies.

At the base of the statue were creepy
baby scultures.

Creeeeepy

Next we wandered across an incredibly surprising
house. It looked so Western we wondered if we'd
somehow teleported elsewhere.

We soon came across a beautiful resort called JY Pension. The owners were lovely and let us use their washroom and get some water. We also saw some very happy frogs.

 We finally found the trail. We later saw a sign that said the trail was 2km from the bus stop. We were glad to find it!

Oooh nature.

Sadly, I didn't see any of these guys. It's so interested
to see how similar yet different the animals all are.

Koreans are renown for wearing very high tech gear for
even the most leisurely of hikes. These friendly hikers
provided a good example.

Traditional Korean hiking fare: kimbap, pictured below. While it may bear a resemblance to sushi, kimbap is a fast food that doesn't involve raw fish. This is tuna kimbap, my favourite. It includes tuna salad, egg, spam (yuck), and veggies like sesame leaf, pickle daikon, carrots, and some brown thing that's yummy. Two years ago, I would never have thought in a million years to eat such a concoction. Now I adore. I even think it surpasses a sandwich for hiking fair because it can be squished without being ruined, and you can easily speak between bites!

Chamchi kimbap!

We almost missed the waterfall! We had to climb over
a fence and down some rocks to get this lovely view.

Clear spring water

As on all Korean hikes, we spotted some of
these piled stones. Apparently you pile them
and make a wish.

Sadly we saw a ton of squished froggies along the path.
This lady was still hoppin' though.

Here is the sign at the end of the trail.
It led us to believe there would be a bus at this end as well..
But there wasn't. So we headed back!

There are some words carved into this stone.

The final leg of our journey: the last bite of road
from the trail down to the bus stop.

Officially returning home in the fall

I was officially asked today if I would like to re-sign my contract. With a very heavy heart, I declined. While Korea has been absolutely amazing, I know I need to get my real life started. Having little experience will only become more of a burden the longer I stay, and I am started to notice I'm enjoying teaching less. Still, it felt pretty terrible making it official.

We have just over 4 months left together, Korea! Let's try and make the most of it!

Black Day

As you may remember, Black Day is Korea's Single's Day. It occurs two months after Valentine's and one month after White Day. In elementary, I haven't really noticed any mention of it and only know about it from foreigner friends telling me. When I asked my middle school students if they celebrated, only a few said they did and only one said she cried (jokingly, don't worry.) So I don't think it's quite as ubiquitous as Valentine's or White Day.

Still, pretty hilarious that there's a day to wallow in singledom sadly. You'd think a "Single's Day" would be full or partying and dates? Some friends and I went for the traditional Black Day dish of Jajangmyeon, Korean-Chinese black noodles.

Pre-mixed noodles and sauce.

Sad loser single

On the way home, I passed this
Chicken Live Club.
I only see chickens in clubs
if they're live. 

Scan.dal.

I have often felt like I could do no wrong in Korea. I've worn sleeveless tops and gotten compliments, gone to work with hair that puts Medusa to shame, and basically bumbled around with an astonishing lack of  language skills . While I always try my best to be polite, I've noticed I definitely have a permanent get out of jail free card when it comes to customs like bowing or the double handed pass. And of course, regardless of whether or not my lesson was a success, I am constantly swarmed with love and admiration from students. So again, I felt like I could do no wrong.

I did so wrong.

With the spring weather currently upon up, it's a little tricky dressing for school. Mornings are cool, and the school hallways can be very chilly, however midday and some classrooms are hot. So when I was getting dressed yesterday I was pleased to discover a pair of thin tights I had forgotten I had. I put them on and noticed a little hole on the back of one knee. I considered changing, but thought such a small hole certainly wouldn't be noticed, and definitely not on invincible, foreigner, beautiful Anne.

I was so wrong.

The snickering that burst throughout the classroom when I turned around was so intense I was absolutely convinced I had tucked my dress into my underwear. I kept running my hand down my back to reassure myself that it wasn't. It couldn't possibly be the tiny hole, could it? I had seen another teacher wearing a dress so short I actually saw her bloomers underneath, so surely a tiny back-of-knee back was nothing to worry about? But no. Soon, the good students were motioning me towards them with a look of panic.

"Teacher! Stockings! HOLE!!!'

I spent the rest of the day being followed by giggles and urgent whispers. "Hole Teacher!!" "HOLE!" Of course, as I should have known, the hole did nothing but get bigger throughout the day.

I swear I felt like I was walking around naked with a skull and cross bones tattoo across my back. It was very, very frazzling.

Lessons learned: Mom was right, no holes allowed in stockings!

TIdbits

Life is good.

Outdoor "exercise" machines are
super common and popular.
While I definitely didn't work up
a sweat, this machine is super fun. 

Graduated middle schoolers came to visit their
old school and decided to escort me home.
I miss these two a ton!!

The author of the following letter asked me where a reply was on Monday. I told her I had never received her letter. So she (And Elsa, author of the above two treasures) came into my class and searched for it. They found it all soiled in the trash can! I told them it was no problem, I would take the dirty letter. It's hard to read so I will type out what it says cause it's super cute.

"Hello ~ Hello ~ :) I think you and I letters are very~ very~ VERY~ funny!!! You thinks too? Your birthday is 12/2. My brithday is 10/13. My favorite thing to cook is very very many. I like cooking cookies sweet cookies!! What cookies do you like? I like chocolate cookies! Today's leter super amezing fantastic leter~~~

Bye bye"

I am so happy the students enjoy the letters! I've been getting a bunch of cute ones from the new grade 5s too!! How will I handle leaving these lovely little ladies?

Cherry Blossom Marathon

The Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon is one of my favourite Gyeongju events. You may remember the pictures from last year where I got to wear a hanbok! This year, the run was timed perfectly with the blossoms and Bomun was completely exploding with flowers. Sadly, there was no hanbok station, but I still had a great time!

The morning started bright an early, as I needed to be at Bomun around 7am. Because of congestion due to the run, I figured I would bike there. I estimated it would take me 40 minutes if I biked without stopping (I usually do to take pictures), and I was precisely right! I met up with my friends, and we registered, checked in our bags, and enjoyed the verrry ccrisp morning air. By 8am, the run began.

First to go were the full marathon runners. These people are so intense. Despite the chill in the air, they all wore short shorts and tank tops, because I imagine somewhere along the 20th kilometer one is pretty far beyond chilly. Next were the half marathon runners, a pretty impressive lot as well. The 10km runners followed, and this included some of my more athletic friends. Finally the 5km race began, which included yours truly!

While 5km is nothing special, I decided I would jog it this year instead of walking. I jogged along with two friends and it couldn't have been lovelier. I even finished the last little bit with a sprint, so I felt like the worlds most powerful athlete with those endorphins pumping.

After the race, there is a whole bunch of stuff for participants to do. We were given water, a snack pack, and a medal. Handing out these items were volunteers. It turns out, almost all the volunteers were recently graduated girls from my school! I felt like such a star finishing my run only to be met by a crowd of fans calling out "Anne Teacher!!" Next we can get some free noodle soup, free jimjilbang eggs (a new obsession of mine. Eggs that are very slowly cooked in low temperatures for a long time, resulting in a chewier and yummier boiled egg), and best of all, free makoli. We spent the morning enjoying the sunshine and the freebies before heading home. Point of smugness: despite being caught in insanely frustrating pedestrian traffic for half my ride home, I managed to beat those who took a cab home (because they couldnt find one!) and about tied those who took a shuttle. Yay  me.

I didn't take any pictures this year because I already have a bunch of blossom pictures.. and luckily, my friend Dan is an excellent photographer and captured much of the day. Here are some of his pictures!

I really want to know where to buy such
awesome tights.

This is my favourite of Dan's photos. Look how
beautiful our day was!

This photo is not too bad either. Look at
that pro athlete!

The Gyeongju Cherry Blossom Marathon is definitely my favourite Gyeongju event. I highly recommend it to anyone in town in the spring. Who knows, maybe one day I'll even upgrade to the 10km division!

Cherry Blossoms!

One of the best times to be in Korea is spring. In fact, I'm starting to think this may be my favourite time. After a brown and bleak winter, spring happens very suddenly and is always marked by almost instantly warmer temperatures and the gorgeous cherry blossoms.

On Thursday, my school allowed teachers to leave early to go enjoy the short lived flowers. So we went to Bomun Lake. Unfortunately, the warmer temperatures had temporarily vanished and it was a blustery and chilly grey day that eventually became a very rainy night. Nonetheless, here are some pictures from our beautiful walk around the area.

Swan boats are an iconic symbol
of Gyeongju. 

I included this picture to laugh at my
own insanity. I have a strong and
irrational fear of dead animals, and
very often panic when I see what I
believe to be little corpses. This
pair of umbrellas gave me quite
the stomach flip as I was sure
it was a dead pigeon...

Cherry blossoms AND some bamboo.
Quite the Asian photo if you ask me! 

The following morning, after the rainstorm,
the streets were strewn with petals.
Luckily, the blossoms survived until
the weekend!

On Friday, my friend Samantha and I headed to the neighbourhood across the river called Chunghyo. This neighbourhood has a big street lined with cherry blossoms, so it has a little festival when they bloom. The word 'festival' is used rather loosely in Korea and often means a collection of tents that always sell the same stuff. This festival includes the usual tent suspects, but also has a gorgeous street with a ceiling of blossoms, which is beautiful in natural sunlight, then again at night when light from underneath by variously coloured bulbs.

Samantha and I walked down the street in the daylight, then stopped for dinner in one of the tents. The servers were thrilled to see us. We were told, as we so often are, how beautiful we are and how big our eyes are. Samantha's shockingly blue eyes were especially popular. We ordered pajeon, a favourite of ours, and a bowl of makoli. The server thought we were brand new tourists, because when setting up our table she slowly said "kimchi" while placing it on our table. So I tried to explain (in my so sos so so very limited Korean) that we were locals and taught in Gyeongju. She understood and was so proud, we heard her bragging to all the other servers that teachers were present. They all then began addressing us as "teacher." When a drunk elderly man got a little too friendly, the server came to our defence. She told me that we were pretty, had big eyes, were English teachers, but that he was not allowed to poke us. She was firm, and he obeyed. We thanked her, and she beamed.

Next, as we were finishing up, she commented on the cold and we agreed (again, in the simplest Korean you can imagine). This prompted her to give us free odeng soup! It was such a surreal little dinner where the kindness and generosity of Koreans overwhelmed me. Once done with eating, we completed our evening with a final walk down the street. By this point the sun had set, and the trees were all aglow in different colours. Sadly, it's incredibly difficult to capture the beauty on camera, but hopefully you'll get the jist of it.

Just before heading home, we bumped into one of my co-teachers. His eyes looked like they would pop out of his head and he asked "How did you get here??" It always amuses me just how helpless they sometimes think I am.

SO. Pictures!

My view crossing the bridge in Chunghyo.

A beautiful non cherry tree blossom.

And the main road! I wish they would cut it
off from cars for the festival, but I suppose
it would be a nightmare for the people
who live here..

Along the street were these tents, making it a festival!
Tents include food, toys, socks, teas, and
little restaurants.

For example, here is some freaky
dried fish.

Freaky dried fish heads.

All kinds of freaky dried stuff.

This stall even had dried mussels! 

This tent had massive amounts of seaweed.

Restaurant tents include gigantic
soups bubbling away.

Here are some stuffed squid, and some stuffed... well..
Sea creatures...

Sadly, festivals almost always include whale meat,
though I've only seen people eating it once.
(At the whale festival..)

Here's our tasty dinner! Pajeon, Korean seafood
pancake, and Makoli, Korean rice wine.

Pajeon was my very first meal in Korea
and will always be very special to me!

Look how happy I am!

And finally, our free soup! Odeng is processed fish bits
.. kind of like fish ham? Very mild tasting and much
better than my description would lead you to believe.

And the sun has set!

The next day, Saturday, was the day of the Cherry Blossom Marathon. I participated and ran the 5k! I'm going to make a separate post for that in a moment, so let's fast forward to Sunday. I completed my blossom themed weekend with a walk in the park with my friend Tina. Note the amusing outdoor exercise machines. Many, such as the one I am playing on below, are super fun.