Last time I went to Ilsan Beach and the Pine Forest, I loved it so much that I knew I would return soon.  Also, there was a portion that we didn't get to see so I was eager to get back there.  Today we started at the pine forest, looked at the light house, then went over a bridge to a small island.  After looking around a bit, we went down to the shore where some ajumma's were selling fresh seafood. (See note below the video to learn about Ajumma's). 

These women were wearing their wetsuits so they could hop in the ocean, get the seafood, then sell it to us.  I am not a fan of seafood, but my friend insisted that we try some.  She picked out the raw oysters and the raw seasquirt.  I agreed to try them, but made no promise of liking them.  The seasquirt was better than the oyster, but I will not be eating either of them again...slimy, sandy, chewy grossness!!  You can see my reaction to the seasquirt in the video below.   Enjoy...

A note about ajumma's:  Ajummas are stereotypically described as short, stocky, tough women with short curly permed hair, or 'ajumma pama'.  She is likely to wear a floral shirt, pants that come below the breasts, and a type of sun visor. Ajummas are women who are self-reliant, devoted to their families, outspoken, and self-centered (for herself and her children).  Ajummas don't take any nonsense - they are fierce and fearsome. If an ajumma is waiting to get on the bus or subway train, she will walk into you or over you to get an empty seat. (been there!!)   Even though she elbows you and steps on you, you are to respect the ajumma.  Ajummas have a very clear and strict sense of "How Things Should Be". If you do something they deem to be inappropriate, you will feel the stare and it will burn.

One of my friends ( & colleague) is also keeping a blog of her adventures in Korea.  I read her posting today and thought it was quite interesting.  Take a peek at her information regarding the university entrance exams...

Too much pressure?
Posted on November 10, 2011 by Carrie K
 
Today was day when high school students across Korea wrote the nationwide University Entrance exams.  According to the newspaper, nearly 700,000 students were scheduled to write the exam.  That’s more people than in most Canadian cities!

The poor students are under an unbelievable amount of pressure.  My co-teacher said that high school students spend 3 years preparing for this one test.  It starts at 8:30 am and runs until around 6pm.  Korean universities are ranked and the results of this one day of testing will decide which university the student can attend.  In a tiny nation of almost 50 million people, competition for jobs must be fierce!

The Korean government and public show an astounding amount of support and understanding for these poor high school students.  Most businesses and schools (mine included) didn’t open today until 10am, decreasing the amount of traffic at rush hour and allowing the students to arrive on time.  Many taxi companies dedicated a large number of taxis to driving students to their test.  People were forbidden from honking their horns within 200 metres of high schools all day, and police were out to enforce it.  Koreans love to honk; this must have been an interesting law to pass!

The listening section of the exam was from 8:30 to 9:00am.  I was eating my breakfast and checking my email when suddenly I felt like I was on the set of a zombie movie.  The sounds in my neighbourhood went from the normal hustle and bustle of morning to eerie quiet.  No cars, no people, no ambulances (I live near a hospital); I don’t even the birds had the nerve to chirp!  Then at 9 am, it was as if a button was pressed: everything returned to normal.

This article in the newspaper amazed me.  I just can’t imagine this happening in Canada!

“The national college entrance exam in Korea is coming up this Thursday, on November 10th. And to help students pay undivided attention during the listening portion of the test, all aircrafts, both civilian and military, will be prohibited from landing or taking off, from 8:35 to 8:58 a.m. and from 1:05 to 1:35 p.m., for a total of 53 minutes.  Planes in flight will have to maintain an altitude of over three kilometers during the designated times, and wait for confirmation from a control tower BEFORE descending.  The requirement, will apply to all planes flying over some 12-hundred test sites nationwide. This means, flight schedules can change as well, so passengers are strongly recommended to confirm their flights with their airlines in advance.”

If you are interested in reading about another persons perspective on Korean culture, schooling and more, visit Carrie's blog...http://ihatecockroaches.wordpress.com/  She's in a public elementary school, so she definitely gets some different school experiences than I do.

Last weekend I went to Busan to see the fireworks festival.  The day started with a walk along Heundae beach then 5 of us met up to grab a late lunch.  We read about a Mexican place that was given some good reviews, so we decided to check it out.  Even though the place was called "Hello Kimchi", the food was pretty good.  (And no, kimchi was not served!)

After lunch we walked around a bit then headed to the festival.  The moment we got off the subway, I knew it was going to be chaos.  There were tons of people so military personnel were called in to help with the traffic.   Upon stepping out of the subway station, we saw that it had begun to rain...hard.  Fabulous.  We followed the masses to the beach.  By the time we got there, the show was already underway. 

The fireworks were nice, but nothing spectacular.  Perhaps I'd feel differently if I could have gotten a view that wasn't obstructed by umbrellas.  I think we caught about 20 minutes of the show.  We decided to stick around a bit after it ended, as we knew the subway would be a nightmare.  As the crowd left, I was appalled by the amount of trash that people left behind.  Who gets the fun job of cleaning up that mess?

Anyways, we finally made it back to the crowded subway station.  After the subway ride, we had about 45 minutes before our train back to Ulsan.  We stumbled out of the rain and into a Korean restaurant for some dinner.  I had a delicious eggroll filled with crab while my friends enjoyed some fish soup...complete with eyeballs.  I'm not a fan of eating anything that is looking back at me.  Gross.

Last Saturday, I went with my friend Carrie and her Korean co-teacher, Sunny, to check out some temples.  All the temples I have seen are amazing and have such intricate detail on the buildings...everytime I see a different temple I am still amazed.

The first temple, Unmunsa Temple, was about an hour away and was located in some mountains.  It was absolutely beautiful here and the fall colors were stunning.  (Living in southern CA my whole life, I've really missed out when it comes to autumn.)  This temple is a training center for female Buddhist monks.

After touring the temple in the rain, we went back to the car for a "picnic" that Sunny had packed for us.  We had sushi, bread, pears and green tea.  An interesting experience all around...sitting in a small car, eating lunch in the pouring rain, and sipping tea.

We headed to the Seoknamsa Temple after lunch.  The walk to this temple was very nice as it followed a river.   The fall colors were also nice here, but not as brilliant as the ones at Unmunsa Temple.  To get to the temple, you had to cross a beautiful stone bridge...an excellent kodak moment.  Again, another amazing temple to look at.

Here are some pictures from the day:

It appears to be common practice in Korean schools to take staff trips...day trips, weekend trips (at least once a year), or an evening trip for Soju and noribong (Karaoke).  My undersatnding is that you will attend unless you have a very good reason not to.  Last week, we were informed that we would be taking a trip today.

The trip was quite nice.  The first stop was the Gyeongju Bulguksa temple.  It was beautiful...the temple itself and the amazing fall colors surrounding it.  Apparently all the schools wanted to take a field trip to this temple today as there will tons of kiddos around.  The next stop was the Seokguram Grotto.  I loved the Buddha statue that was housed here...it was carved from stone.  After visiting  both places, we headed back to Samsan-dong to enjoy a feast at the D'Maris buffet.

A very nice day...it was too bad that I had to return to work and teach until 10:00pm that night.  Here are some pictures of the day.