My visit to the N Seoul Tower Video

Credits
Cinematography.....Squeezy
Editing.................Squeezy
Production............Squeezy

This last weekend we grabbed our stuff, chucked it in the car & drove off to the coast!

Since this was our first chance to do more than a lap of Taebaek (Mike made that last 30 mins! - only because we got lost.), we decided to head to larger cities with larger shopping facilities and historical sites of importance. So Saturday morning, we drove to Samcheok and decided that we should go further on to Donghae for lunch. We had a little trouble recognising which part of Donghae would have some interesting things to check out or food to eat and accidentally (!?) ended up on the tollway direct to Gangneung.

Two and a half thousand won later (cheap toll-road!!) and we are at the outskirts of Gangneung. Seeing as my directions and Mike's driving had done sooooo well to this point - we headed to the nearest Tourist Info desk. There we met a charming woman, (who apologised for not being in uniform on a Saturday!) and were loaded up with maps and a couple of tips for where to go and what to do. We already knew the Unification Park was a must see, but looking at the map, quickly decided we could do that on Sunday on the way home.

Next, it was time for lunch and seeing as Mike didn't fancy the local speciality of Tofu made with seawater; we sought out more carnivorous friendly options. By aiming at the clearly marked tourist areas, in front of the beach, we hoped to find a lunch that was both tasty and reasonably cheap. Maybe we should have stopped at the E-Mart and had lunch there? Due to the amazing looking fish tanks filled with fantastic varieties of soon-to-be-dinner fish, we chose a spot and immediately chocked on the menu prices! We wanted to run, but there was a man standing by the fish tanks and we felt it would be a bit gutless. Fortunately our kind waitress was able to translate the cheaper end of the menu (nothing under $15 Aussie) and we ended up ordering Raw Fish Bibimbap. The Bibimbap was ok, but it was the side dishes that made this lunch really tasty - a really small pasta salad, a hot calamari and green onion pancake (the most delicious thing there), some nicely pickled vegetables and; you'll never guess; kimchi! The good thing we took from this - the calamari & green onion pancake does seem to be a coastal speciality and we love it!!

That afternoon we end up at the EMart and found ourselves enjoying the shopping opportunities there. A couple of dinner plates, a measuring cup & yoga matts (I didn't buy one - yet). We had planned to walk around Gangneung but seeing as it started to rain, we felt it was time to check in to our Love Motel. This time we had the red & white room - it's all too funny being asked to choose the decor for your room - and it was magical to have a spa bath. Oh yes a spa bath... sigh.

Fortunately the rain cleared as quickly as it had started, so we were able to walk around town, but with the time being after 5pm, not all that much was open. Still I found a stunning bright orange organza-mesh wedding dress, for my good friend Georgie, sadly I was thwarted from taking a photo of this stunning piece of "fashion" by the people working very late hours! We meandered for a while before attempting dinner.

Sunday morning and even with sleeping in until 9am, there still isn't anything open when we emerge. We walk and walk and I'm close to collapsing from hunger (missing breakfast really doesn't agree with me). We find a coffee shop that is open and well, with the shop owner roasting his own beans, we have to try it! The coffee is great but they didn't serve food. So we continue the breakfast search. In fact I was about to bet Mike W10,000 that he couldn't find us a bakery to have breakfast in and what do you know, we turn a corner and find a little Tous Les Jous (local chain bakery). Good thing I didn't open make that bet...

After breakfast, We hop back in the car and leave Gangneug for the Unification Park. We know there is a North Korean Submarine on display and a South Korean Destroyer. When we arrive, we are a little surprised at the obvious military lookouts positioned regularly and the large barbwire fence along the coast. It is quiet clear that there is no intention to allow the North Koreans to use the rocky beach as a landing point ever again. The cool point was donning a hard hat and walking through the NK submarine - I hope the guys who manned this vessel were my height or shorted and very skinny! The sub is 35m long, 3.5m wide and 6.7m long and somehow it carried 26 men! We struggled to have 12 tourists walking through taking photos! I imagine this was a very uncomfortable submarine. The destroyer is fun and I get to move around the anti-aircraft gun (the gun was, of course, removed). Not so fun was Mike trying to put my handbag on the end of the aiming guidance - which I had no way of reaching whether on the deck or in the control seat!

We drive on through the back-again rain to Samcheok and have a fabulous lunch at the Home Mart. It's just food court food, but we are entertained by an enourmous projector (showing Korean drama - the Older Man always crys, the young men always fight and the women are always scheming). We listen to my favourite podcast ((Cool) Shite on the Tube) for the last of the drive home and have a good giggle. In this podcast my email was read out at the end - I don't know if it's a good thing to be impersonated by a guy with a beard and a breathy voice but it made Mike & I laugh. A lot!

We've bought a CAR!!

Well the exciting news for today is.... we've bought a CAR!

I'll give you a minute to take in this spectacularly exciting piece of news...

dum-de-dum

Oh - What kind of car? It is a Hyundai Avante, commonly referred to as
an Elantra in Australia. Before anyone asks - yes it has cup holders, Mike assures me that not only does it have plenty of cup holders but they are a good size too. Silly me to ask about engine noises (as I wasn't there for the test drive) and instead I am reassured on the cup holder front!

Do you want to see it??? Well you can't, at least not yet. Mike has the car parked in the car park at school, so instead how about a photo off the web?


Mwahahahaha - Ok guess my Mum isn't laughing.

Seriously, it should look like this;

I think this is the kind of car you'd describe as nifty or comfy, its much larger than we'd intended to buy. But the small car market was repeatedly referred to as "You drive, You die!". So I feel Mike has done a good thing is obtaining a medium sized car.

more to come soon - such as actual photos of the car!
Squeezy

So just what work am I doing??

To give you an idea of what I'm teaching in class, here is a short story I wrote. Then I blanked out key words, so that the students had to ask each other for the missing information (hopefully in english!!). The students are still really interested in Mike & I, so I thought I could use this to capture their attention. If you'd like to see the worksheet (its a pdf), leave a comment at the end of this post.

Susie and Mike's Holiday

Susie and Mike went on
holiday to Thailand last
month. They flew from
Sydney to Bangkok. 
When they arrived
it was 2:00am!

Firstly, Susie and Mike,
stayed in Bangkok.  They went to the temple, Wat Pho,
and had a massage.  "Ow! It was very hard." said Susie.
"Just the way I like it!" said Mike.

Next they travelled north to Chaing Mai by plane.  Susie and
Mike were very busy in Chiang Mai!  They went on an Elephant
Trek, did a cooking course and went shopping at the Night
Market.  Susie had a bad case of food poisoning and had to
stay in bed all day.

After Chiang Mai, Susie and Mike,
flew to Bangkok and caught a taxi
to Kanchanaburi.  The next day they
joined a group to go to the Tiger
Temple.  Mike was the last person
to pat the Tigers that day.  So he
was the first person to walk with the
Monk, to take the Tigers to bed.

On the flight home to Sydney, they were both very tired.
"It was a fantastic trip!" said Susie.  "Yes, it was." said Mike
and then he fell asleep.

Catch up & Happy Birthday!!

Ok, I've been away due to the wonderful public holiday system here in South Korea.

So I have a very overdue Happy Birthday to shoutout to my Dad.

While I'm shouting out; My brother just turned 18!!

Happy Birthday Michael!!

Now to catch up!

I last wrote about the mountain of doom - well that was followed by a very quiet weekend. I was tired, sore and cranky. It did bring home that Taebaek really is a small town, as we were bored out of our teenies! So we had a fresh and firm resolution to spend the minimum number of weekends stuck in our flat.

This brings us to the 23rd & 24th of September, a normal weekend - with no actual plan, we packed up and headed to the bus terminal (5 minutes away). We decided to head to Chuncheon ( the capital city of Kangwon-do), considering it had been a 4 hour trip with our supervisor, we thought it wouldn't take too much out of us. Well 6 hours later, we arrive in Chuncheon, weary but with a friend to visit. This weekend deserves its own post (so it shall have one). In short we had a lovely time in Chuncheon being looked after by our friends family - which means fed a lot of food!

The following weekend, we had a plan! On Friday the 22nd of September we caught the train to Gangneung - in order to reduce our travelling time on Saturday. Gangneung was interesting, we found a brilliant Love Hotel - choose your room; red and white, pine, dark, bright.. It was quiet funny but we will definetly return to that particular Love Hotel. It had a spa bath... I need say no more!
Saturday, we get up early (that would be 9am-ish) and make our way to the bus terminal. There is no train to Sokcho and we knew this trip should take 2 to 3 hours.

The bus route is along the coast for a long time, so I enjoy the beautiful scenery while listening to my favourite podcast CSoT.

We arrive at the beach in Sokcho and meet up with other English Teachers from around our province. To my utter surprise, someone has brought a cricket bat and proper stumps! So we entertain ourselves teaching a couple of Canadians cricket, while discovering just who all the Aussie's and Kiwi's are! That night we all have a couple of beverages together, the photos are here!
Sunday, there are a few sore heads and a few tired ones! We catch the local bus to nearby Soraksan - a beautiful national park, and enjoy an easy walk to lunch. Lunch turns out to be pankcakes with spring onion and/or marine products! We all giggle over the menu. The marine products turn out to be baby octopus! After a few brief farewells, we catch a "direct" bus home to Taebaek. It really wasn't direct but we were just looking forward to getting home, so it all worked out well.

Last week, both Mike and I had the terribly heavy workload of 1 day of work! Tuesday was Korean Foundation Day, Thursday, Friday and Saturday were Chuseok; all public holidays! We were lucky that our schools felt it was just to hard to make any students or teachers come to school on Wednesday. So with this happy news, our mini-holiday, we set off for Seoul on Wednesday. In brief, we went shopping, site seeing, met up with EPIK friends and tried to eat non-Korean food. Click here for Chuseok photos!

We planned to eat the following;

• A Steak
• Thai food
• Indian food
• Italian food (other than pizza)

We didn't eat a Steak or Thai food, because we ate the Indian food and were sick for a day.

I had planned to get my hair cut and coloured - I managed to get it cut, so I'm happy with that. Mike wanted geek toys - he bought plenty in the end!

I will post more on the Chuncheon trip very soon!
love
Squeezy