EPIK Andong Cultural Trip

Last week, EPIK (public school) teachers who were in their second or higher year were invited to go on a Cultural Excursion. This basically means two days without teaching, and a paid trip! We went to Andong, a city famed for its mask festival, and Yeongju, a city... that is Gyeongju without a G?

The weather could not have been more perfect. Gorgeous clear blue skies over vivid autumn. Andong and Yeongju are a bit farther North than I am likely to travel to alone, so I was thrilled to be taken there.

We saw a few museums, traditional villages, and monuments. My favourite part was on the second day when we went to Boseoksa Temple. This temple was located up a nice hike which included a path absolutely surrounded by brightly coloured trees. At the top, we were rewarded not only with a stunning temple, but amazing views of the surrounding area. And, oddly, a lot of lady bugs.

In some ways the trip was a little odd. It's hard to be back in a huge group and feel very much like a child/student/camper. A lot of people complained of "being treated like children," but of course they failed to realized that they, we, were acting as such. I think I'm just not the best with massive groups, but this isn't self reflection hour now is it?

The main difficultly for me, however, was being surrounded by so many English speakers. My specialness that I've grown so used to was instantly gone. Worse, I was able to understand everything. It was too much. The majority of conversations I overheard were uninteresting, but I couldn't turn my brain off! I felt like a character in a sci fi where they suddenly inherit brain reading capabilities and go insane from the cacophony! I am extremely nervous for my return to the Western world.

Oh also - sleeping on the floor. Traditional Korean style... It's very unpleasant. I think of myself as fairly bendy, but I wasn't sure I would survive the freezing-turned-boiling night on the floor.

Despite these misgivings, it was absolutely lovely. The days were sunny and the views spectacular - not to mention it gave me a three day week!

We had cultural activities in the evening. My class was called "Korean Bow." It was a mystery as to weather this meant bowing, or archery. The mystery lasted until we saw the targets! While I missed every shot, the photo certainly turned out well!!

We slept in this "traditional Korean village." It was
gorgeous, but very chilly in the evening as there
was no lobby type room. 

Funny enough to have a sign happily allowing pictures,
but "Photography permittled" was just icing
on the amusing cake

Silvergrass fields on Mujangbong Peak

Fall is definitely hitting Gyeongju these days. Mornings and nights are brisk as can be, but days are sunny and sprinkled with autumnal colours. This weekend I decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather by heading hiking. It's been a while since I have! A friend had told me about this trail famous for having fields of Silvergrass. After a little research, I found this website with lots of useful info. Turns out the silvergrass can be found on Mount Dongdaebong where we hiked to the Mujangbong Peak. The 18 bus took us from Gyeongju directly to Amguk village where the trail began. It seems forest on top of the mountain was cleared to become a farm of some sort, but when the project fell through this silvergrass took over.

I hiked up with two friends, Dan and Ian. We hiked at a leisurely pace taking photos and enjoying the colourful trees. I actually forgot about the grass while hiking since it was so pretty to be outside. It was a lovely surprise though, as it is quite an unusual mountain topping. The grass really was silvery as it caught the sunlight and glinted beautifully. Sadly, I don't know how well it photographed. It was really beautiful and peaceful.

Hiking in Korea is always amusing because Koreans get decked out in hiking gear. Most people look like they're either going on a week long deepwoods backpacking trip or a advertisement photo shoot instead of a three hour hike. They have huge backpacks, hiking pants, jackets, hats, gloves, and shoes. Also everything is coloured from bright to neon. We never had to worry that we had gotten on the wrong bus as all we had to do was follow our neon friends.

After reaching the peak, we headed down the other side of the trail. It was super steep. Everyone we passed who was going up was panting heavily and looking fairly miserable. There were even ropes for us to cling to as we climbed/jumped our way down. We were very very happy to have ascended on the gentler trail! I would have taken a photo but I was a little preoccupied with survival.

No soil under me? No problem, I shall
be a floating tree.

Temple remains. Pagoda. Best part:
we saw a chipmunk climb in and out
of the pagoda!

Walking sticks are very popular.

Taking photos alone is always awkward,
so somehow my joke pose turned out the best.

If you don't have a smartphone you can't
survive an emergency I guess.

Peeking at the peak! 

View from the peak.

Pretty colours

Back in Gyeongju, I passed these glorious
hiking backpacks. If you haven't already
figured it out: Cute is BIG in Korea.

Science Fair Friday

This Friday I didn't teach, and instead went to a science fair. It wasn't quite the same as back home with the experiments and posters. Instead it was more like a fair, with popcorn and cotton candy, and with a sciency theme. Various tents were set up with different experiments, many of which were interactive. These included pottery, planting little plants in soil, growing some kind of waxy crystal in liquid (bear with me nothing was English), looking in microscopes (yay recognized plant cells!), and other fun stuff.

Cutest/most exciting parts:

1. A little girl who is not one of my students came up to me and said
"Excuse me, I think I remember your name... Is it.. Anne?"

Turns out she was at the district summer camp! How cutes.

2. Some graduates, all decked out in their new middle school uniforms, were presenting a booth. I went over to say hi and they totally remembered me! It was lovely. They even managed to explain a bit of what they were showing. They have three sloped slide things with balls that would roll down. One slide was straight, another with a slight curve, and the third with a deeper curve. Anyways he was able to explain the straight one was the shortest, and the slopped one made the ball go the fastest. Yay! They looked so grown up! It really must be horribly bittersweet for parents to see their cuties become humans.

3. So many kids gave me popcorn. I love them.

4. My coteacher's husband is a high school teacher and had a booth showing how to make hand drip coffee. So I got coffee. Oooh yeahh.

Super cool tent showing silk worms! Here are the cocoons
being spun!

Apparently one of my students raised them!
Also the worms dyed purple will make
purple silk??

Also I went on a bike ride and took some pictures.