Koreans Aren't Friendly?

Okay so this is something that's been bothering me for a while so I figure I should finally sit down and write about it.  One of the most interesting things about going abroad are is of the opinions, tips and precautions people feel the need to share with you before you go, suddenly everyone you know becomes an expert on your next destination.   Before coming to Korea and over the past 7 months living here I've heard plenty of suggestions, warnings and comments about the people, food, driving, weather, you name it.  One common utterance I've heard, on multiple occasions is "Oh Korean's, they're not very friendly", this has come from people in the US, Taiwan, and even others living in Korea  (by both foreigners and Koreans, speaking of those from different provinces/cities). Well, after living here for 7 months I'm finally going to call BS.  Like many generalizations and stereotypes, this may have been true for some people, but so far, in my experience, it's been quite the opposite.  Even this morning during the last part of my run, the man riding on the back of the garbage truck turned to smile, wave and say hello - maybe he's the one that prompted this blog post.

Seoul Surprises

This past weekend I had plans to travel to Seoul with Sara so she could scope out the location of where she'll be taking the GRE next month.  I knew that I didn't have classes on Friday and found out Thursday night (from one of my students, 이장희) it was because my second graders were going to Seoul for the day to tour Seoul National University. As I approached school Friday morning it dawned on me that I should have asked to go with, scoring myself a free ride since I was already planning to be there for the weekend, oh well too late.  Or was it?

I sat down at my desk and seconds later my phone was ringing, it was the principal telling me I should come with "hurry, we're going to Seoul now".  I tried explaining that I needed my backpack since I wanted to stay for the weekend, but there was some info. lost in translation.  With the help of one of the English teachers it was arranged that I could run home, grab my stuff and they would wait for me to leave. Score! This is where my planning ahead totally pays off, I had thankfully laid out what I planned to pack for the weekend so I was able to throw it all together fairly quickly.  10 minutes later instead of sitting at my desk drinking coffee and catching up on emails I was on my way to Seoul.

Geumosan on Crack

After a few weekends of adventure I decided it was time for me to stay closer to home for once. Originally I was hoping to catch some of my students playing soccer but their game turned into practice so that was no longer the plan. Friday night was spent at Loudine's house watching "What to Expect when you're expecting" eating pizza and drinking wine, i'm beginning to really enjoy these movie nights.  I had been texting Shaun (the newbie in town) about the Packer vs Bears game - yeah he's from Chicago and of course, a Bears fan.  At some point during our conversation we decided we were going hiking the next morning, always up for a challenge I decided we'd try the hike behind my house annnnd take it all the way to Gumi.

Map of our route - bottom right corner to the biggest peak (red rectangle)

The Next Einstein

Two weeks ago I was struggling to come up with what to teach for my next lesson, but with the help of my friend Charles that problem was quickly solved. He sent me an "inventions" lesson which was a big hit with his class so I thought i'd give it a try. There really isn't much explanation needed; I just wanted to share with you some of the weird, wonderful and wacky inventions my students created.