Nonsan Cultural Trip

Last weekend we had our long anticipated, yet much dreaded cultural trip. A cultural trip is when the Local Office of Education takes all of its specific TaLK scholars on a weekend excursion. In other cities, TaLK scholars have been going on trips to Jeju Island, Busan, and other significant cultural sites of Korea to eat, drink, and relax on the government's money. Nonsan's trip was a bit of a surprise, mainly because we didn't think we were going to get one and had to beg our mentor teachers to take action. They let us vote on an activity, and somehow everyone voted on a snowboarding trip (I blame the male population).
However, when we finally received our Two-Days-and-One-Night itinerary, all of us wished that we had never complained in the first place and had just happily accepted the lack of forced group activity. Our schedule was chock-full of museums, parks, and temples (honestly, temples are nice and all, but they all look the same), complete with a 9 p.m. curfew (yeah right) and an 8 a.m. breakfast call (actually better than orientation). Finally, we were told that snowboarding was not an option, as it is "too dangerous," so we would be skiing instead. Personally, I didn't care either way, as I have never done either and naturally assumed I would be equally bad at both sports. Also, sliding down a huge mountain on your feet sounds dangerous to me no matter what you're strapped to. The men, however, were outraged and threatened to boycott the trip if they weren't allowed to snowboard. They are all liars though, because everyone showed up at 8:30 Friday morning.

Friday morning we also had our first real snowstorm in Nonsan, so that cheered everyone up considerably. The temple and park visits were a lot more fun with snowball fights and snowmen.

The temple behind my apartment.

Tiny Buddha.

Trying to clear the path for our bus.

By the time lunch rolled around, the supervisor was considering cancelling the ski trip, because it was snowing so much we weren't sure if we would be able to get out of Nonsan. Lunch was really good, we had beef soup with lots of side dishes, of course.

The snow stopped a little after lunch, and the roads cleared up enough for us to head out to Muju Ski Resort.
Before we left, they warned us that we shouldn't expect much from the ski resort, as it is really old and cheap, but it wasn't so bad. Very small and without beds, but this is pretty typical for Korea. At least our rooms had heated floors.

My co-teacher and roomie, Yihoon, modeling our cozy room.

Finally, around 6 it was time for our first ski lesson.

Anna, Linda, and me.

Skiing was pretty hard, but we all had fun. The next day we just played around in the snow. We took a gondola to the top of the mountain.

At the top of the mountain.

With Linda and Merry.

After we left the mountain we went to O-World, which is the zoo/ amusement park in Daejeon. It wasn't very exciting because it was cold and the animals looked annoyed. We wrapped up our second day with Pizza Hut and a bus ride back to Nonsan. Overall, the trip was a lot more fun than we expected, although it was definitely a lot more togetherness than necessary.

December

Well I haven't updated in a while, mostly due to the fact that I'm pretty settled right now. I didn't travel as much in the last month because it was pretty cold, and everyone seemed content to just stay in. I did go to Everland though, which was a ton of fun. We voted it the scariest amusement park of all time. It looks like Disneyland, but the rides are way more intense. I could barely move my neck the next day, but it was totally worth it.

Feeling like we're going to hit the ground face first.

After the scariest ride of our lives. I'm not including David in that statement because he looks too happy.

Nonsan family photo.

It was soo high.

The most mellow ride, a ski-lift.

This ride was fun, you got to shoot ghosts.

Creepy Christmas elves.

Wendy and me.

Gibbons!

Lots of trees.

Pretty floats.

Here are some other photos. They pretty much sum up how I spend my time here:

I play pool with George and David.

I hang out with my co-teacher, Yihoon.

I play with the kids and occasionally teach them things. These are my third graders.

Hayan and I helped Linda decorate her Christmas tree.

7th Street is our favorite bar.

Every Sunday Hayan and I have a pizza date.

Other than that, I'm just trying to enjoy time with my friends here while I have it, and see as much of Korea as possible.

Things I did: November 5th- November 7th

I had a very busy weekend.

Friday

I attended my school's talent show. Classes were cancelled for the day and all of their parents came to watch.
Before the show, they were soooo hyped up. I was just sitting in the hall, attempting to eat some yoghurt, but they kept jumping on me and going through my purse.

And now, for the talents...

My 5th graders drumming.

My second graders' talent was being adorable:

My fourth graders danced to 2ne1, a Korean pop group.

My 6th graders did a Little Red Riding Hood skit. The song cracks me up. "I'm little Red Riding Hood. I want to play with my friends, but I always listen to my mother. Good little good little girl, good little Red Riding Hood!"
They practiced that dance in my classroom every day after school for a month, so by the talent show I knew it pretty well.

The talent show was a little long, but they were all so cute that it was worth it. After school, I met up with my friend Linda to go to a farmers' market in our neighborhood that sets up every Friday:

We got lots of sweet potatoes. After that, I stopped by George's place to play with his kitten, Molieoh:

Finally, we all met up around 8 to set off some fireworks. In the U.K., the 5th of November is Bonfire Night, so David wanted to celebrate here.

Saturday

Shalini came to visit from Ulsan. At first, I was a little worried about entertaining her, since Nonsan is so rural  compared to the Ulsan/ Busan area. We had a lot of fun though. During the day we just went to lunch, wandered around Home Plus, watched ANTM, and napped. We also hiked to the top of the hill behind my house. It's really pretty up there now that the leaves have changed colors.

She makes me look like a giant.

For dinner we had kimbab, then we met up with George, David, and Hayan to go bar-hopping.

At the log cabin bar.

Fruity soju drinks.

David refusing to do the standard peace sign.

Sunday

Shalini and I were pretty tired today, but we were craving Western food, specifically CostCo food. So we took the train to Daejeon and had lunch.

It's comforting that CostCo is the same everywhere in the world.

I had a hotdog.

After lunch we went to the bus terminal. Shalini got on the bus to Ulsan, and I headed back to Nonsan. Shalini and I are taking our vacations at the same time (last week of January), and we're thinking about going to Japan for a few days.