On Thursday, our boss told us that we would be celebrating the end of the year by having lunch together on Friday at noon.  Nice!  The following day, 11:45 am, Mrs. Kim came into our office and informed us that there would be entertainment...us!  Please be prepared to sing, dance and give speeches.  There will be wine.  

At noon, we wandered over to the conference room where there was a nice spread of Korean food, although we were told that the chicken had not arrived yet.  We started with wine and reflected on the past year at UIFLE, then we ate the first round of food.  Since we were still waiting on the fried chicken,  we were told that it was time to sing.  We had decided on a Beatles theme.  I got away with being the back-up singer/dancer for the "Yellow Submarine".  This was followed by "Hey Jude".  The chicken arrived, so we finished eating.  There was time for one last song before heading back to work...one of the Korean staff members took out his ukulele and played us a Hawaiian tune. Darn, no time for speeches.  LOL...gotta love Korea.

As mentioned previously, I was able to take 2 days off right after Christmas.  This was basically  the only break that I would have until March, so I decided to take a tour of Jeju.   I arrived in the snow in Seoul on Friday night, then departed for Jeju on Saturday morning.  The landing in Jeju was one of the bumpiest rides I've been on...it was good to be on the ground again.

On Saturday, we started with a delicious lunch at a black pork restaurant.  This type of pork is supposed to be some of the best.  It was good, but I honestly didn't think it was all that spectacular.  After lunch, we headed to the Trick Art Museum.  This place was so much fun.  Basically it was a bunch of paintings that you could pose in front of and take pictures. Very clever idea.  After the museum, we went horseback riding (AKA...short pony ride in a circle).  Not so great, but still entertaining.  Our next stop was the Sungsan Crater.  We hiked up the steps, in the wind & snow, to the top of this mountain.  It took about 20-30 minutes...not so bad except that it was SOOO cold.  From the peak, you could look at the crater and see a great view of the ocean and the city.  Very nice.  After we returned to the bus, we headed for dinner, then to the hotel.  The hotel was right on the beach and had a great view.

Sunday, Christmas day, was filled with sites to see.  We toured a green tea museum, watched an acrobat show at Jeju Circus World, walked along the beach for a section of the Olle Trek, visited the Hallim Botanical Gardens, had our Christmas dinner, then went to downtown Jeju to sing in the noribong.  For me, the most enjoyable part of the day was the walk along the beach.  The sun came out for a bit, the ocean was beautiful, and (of course) there were tons of amazing rocks to look at.  It was very calm and peaceful. 

Christmas dinner was cute.  They told us that turkey would be served.  Yes, yes it was...and they even brought a TUBE of cranberry sauce...LOL!  Aside from the turkey, everything else was typical Korean side dishes...kimchi, bean sprouts, etc.  It was kind-of funny, but I know we all enjoyed it.  As far as the rest of the evening, they did a nice job of decorating the room and they also arranged for a white elephant gift exchange.

The tour continued on Monday.  We went to the Glass Castle, saw some columnar basalt, visited the Cheonjeyeon waterfalls, toured the Jeju History Museum, and walked through Loveland before heading back to the airport.  The columnar basalt was a bit of a disappointment as it was nothing compared to the Giants Causeway in Ireland.  Oh well.  The Glass Castle, on the other hand, was quite interesting.  It was basically a museum of glass sculptures and such.  It was absolutely amazing.  I especially liked the gardens with the glass plants and flowers.  Loveland was also a VERY interesting experience.  If you want to see pictures from there, you'll have to email me as they are a bit much for public viewing.

I have many, many, many more photos of the trip...nearly 400 in all.  If you're interested in seeing them, send me a message.

Christmas is celebrated in Korea, but not to the extent that it is in the U.S.  There are a few decorations here and there, but you really need to look for them.  Since Christmas was on a Sunday, there wasn't a school holiday...the kids and teachers returned on Monday.  Fortunately for me, I was able to take Monday and Tuesday off because I'm not working at a traditional school.  Here are a couple pictures I've taken around Ulsan.  My next post will describe the trip I took to Jeju Island over the Christmas weekend.  

Note to self...ALWAYS CARRY YOUR CAMERA!  Today was our scheduled fire drill.  We were told that we would go stand outside and take a picture for evidence.  We were also told to bundle up as we could be out there for a bit.  There were no classes at this time, so it was only staff.

As we walked down the stairs to the ground floor, there was the smell of smoke.  Hmmm, interesting.  Once outside, I saw that a smoke bomb had been lit.  Within a few minutes, there was a gentleman in a suit using a fire extinguisher to put it out.  I thought, this is interesting....however, the best was yet to come.

Another smoke bomb was lit and some men came running out of the building with the fire hose.  They aimed at the smokey can, but the force of the hose was too much for the guy and he ended up squirting a bunch of the people who were waiting outside...so glad I wasn't over there.  After the guy tried to hit the smoke bomb without success, the hose was finally turned off.  The ca was turned over then out by hand.

Everyone gathered, a photo was taken, then all returned to their offices.  An interesting way to start the morning.

Day time: As part of the English program in Ulsan, there are several Saturday activities offered for kids and families.  I agreed to work on the second Saturday of each month at the Planetarium.  Basically, the program consists of 4 parts: a vocabulary lesson, a tour of the solar system with an explanation of a few constellations, a movie that describes the training procedures for astronauts (narrated in English), then a quiz game at the end.  Since there are 3 of us working, we each took one of the first sections then we all work together for the game at the end.  My section is the tour of the solar system and the explanation of about 5 constellations...pointing them out and sharing the mythology behind them.  I took a few pictures while I was at work today.

Nighttime: Tonight there was a total lunar eclipse (the last of 2011) that could be seen in it's entirety from Korea.   I was so excited to find out about this! (Thanks Carrie!) I bundled up to go out in the 30F weather to watch to moon disappear.  There wasn't a cloud in the sky...just the moon, Orion, and a few other stars.  Here are some pictures of the eclipse.  So freaking cool... and one of the most amazing things I've seen!!

Wow...what a weekend.  These two days were filled with all types of sights...from giant mailboxes, to acrobats performing in caves, to petroglyphs, to sealife, and temples.  This weekend had it all.

On Saturday, I had an opportunity to have lunch and spend some time with 3 high school Korean teachers.  One of the teachers had been in one of my classes, and the other 2 were her friends.  After they finished teaching on Saturday (yes, school is in session for a half-day on 2 Saturdays per month), we went for lunch at an Italian restaurant in the new downtown area.  It was delicious.  After lunch, we drove down to Ganjeolgot.  This is known as "the place where the sun rises first" in Korea.  There is a beautiful view of the ocean.  In addition, there is a lighthouse and one of the worlds largest mailboxes.  You can actually enter the mailbox and address a postcard while inside. Unfortunately, the postcards that were provided were for local mailing only.  Bummer.  

After walking around a bit, the 4 of us headed to a section of the beach that had a whole bunch of little cafes.  We picked one, went inside, had some hot choco, and enjoyed a good conversation.  It was a very nice afternoon/evening.  See pictures below.

Sunday was quite the adventure.  Four of my friends and I decided to take one of the Ulsan City Bus Tours.  We specifically selected this tour as it would take us to an amethyst cave.  Getting there by city bus would have been a bit of a challenge, so we decided that the bus tour would be a better option...plus we'd get to see other sites as well.

On the way to the first stop, our lovely tour guide told us all about the City of Ulsan... I think...it was all in Korean so I really have no idea.  Stop #1: Petroglyphs in Cheonjeon-ri (Korean National Treasure #147).  This was a small shale wall of carvings that were assumed to be carved during the Bronze Age.  There were geometric patterns as well as figures of humans and animals.   

The next stop took us to Ganwolsa Temple.  This was smaller than most of the temples that I have visited, but still beautiful.  Behind the temple was a bell and a stone pagoda.  This was a short stop on the trip.

After the temple, we made it to the Amethyst Cave area.  Woohoo.  Before exploring the cave, we had lunch and walked around the grounds.  Adjacent to the amethyst caves, there was another set of caves that had a  temple built inside it.  This was absolutely amazing.  You would move from room to room and see such beautiful shrines.  In one room, there was a wall full of Buddha statues...it was awesome.  

Finally it was time to enter the amethyst cave.  At first, it looked like any other cave, but within a few minutes, it became clear that this cave had very little to do with amethyst and was instead transformed into an underground museum.  There were paintings of dinosaurs & dragons, shrines, Egyptian relics, the history of modern man, a happy Buddha, and performing acrobats.  (We think we might have even seen E.T.)  It was the one of the most bizarre things I have ever seen.

After those interesting couple of hours, we headed to our last stop:  the Ulsan Whale Museum, exhibit hall, and aquarium.   We watched a dolphin show from a tube below the water, then watched it again from above the water.  Afterwards, we toured the exhibits, had a snack, then headed for home.  Enjoy the following video...

Friday was the last night of a training class for middle and high school English teachers.  I was to teach 3 one-hour classes to 3 different groups of teachers.  Just after my second group of students started working, 2 teachers from the previous class came to my door and asked to speak with me.  As soon as I stepped out, they handed me a beer, grabbed me by the wrist, then led me to a different classroom.  This group decided to celebrate the last day of class by having a chicken and beer party....in a classroom...at school...LOVE IT!

Knowing that it would be rude to decline food and drink, I sat down and enjoyed the feast.  After 10 minutes, I felt bad that my students were working on a project while I wasn't even in the room.  I tried to excuse myself, but I was told that I needed to stay...AND...that the students (teachers) in my class didn't want me there anyway.  I had to laugh at this as I know it's absolutely true...8:30pm, Friday night, 5th day in a row, 3 hour training session after you have already taught all day.  Been there, done that...she's right!!  It's not personal, it's the truth.   Class number 2 gets a break and Katie gets another piece of chicken!  Gotta love Korea!