The Final Countdown: I Don't Want to Leave

Okay so I'm starting to panic. I only have about a month and a half left and I feel like I haven't done enough yet.  I started recapping my experience thus far by going through all of my pictures.  I'll recap with you (excluding the things that I've already talked about, and excluding teaching).

I have pointed at too many cameras to count. (In Cheongju)

I have lost every pair of sunglasses that I've bought so far. The ones I'm wearing here, I had for a whole week. (Seoul)

I'm pointing again, but Yudel knows exactly what I'm pointing at. (Jecheon)

I have made many friends, and we take a lot of pictures. (Daegu)

Sometimes we're too sexy for cameras. (Jecheon)

Sometimes we stand in rivers and look for potential river monsters. (Hwayang Valley)

And then we go in the river to get a better vantage point, despite the "No Swimming" signs posted everywhere.  And then...we spot the beast, and point at it, because I like to point while being photographed. (Hwayang Valley)

Ohh and the friends I've made. (Cheongju)

Many many many friends. All amazing people. Of course, it's obvious that we're all awesome if we all decided to come to South Korea... (Pohang)

Singing with friends. (Daegu)

Sparklers on a beach at night. (Pohang)

Coconuts. Not the biggest fan of coconut milk, but you could put pretty much anything in a coconut and I'd drink it. (Yeongdeok)

The festivals. Can you guess what festival this is? I'll give you a hint. It's the Cr?b Festival... (Yeongdeok)

Aimlessly staring off into the distance. (Yeongdeok)

Finding peace at the top of a waterfall. (Pohang)

Then swimming at the base of that waterfall, despite the "danger. no swimming." sign in the back there.. (Pohang)

Getting ready to be launched in some kind of slingshot thing. (Jecheon)

Wondering why I decided to be slingshotted in this slingshot thing. (Jecheon)

Having a Korean woman dress me up like a king from an old dynasty. (Busan)

Posing with my coteacher, as if we are the leaders of that old dynasty. (Busan)

Dancing with dogs that somehow made their way into the club atmosphere. (Pohang)

Walking with confidence. (Jecheon)

Second guessing that confidence... (Jecheon)

Confirming the confidence and mentally giving myself a high five for jumping. (Jecheon) 

Anyway... I clearly haven't done enough yet. I still have more on the agenda and not a lot of time to do the things that need to be done.  I'm not looking forward to leaving this place and I hate to think about it. Although...I am looking forward to seeing my family and friends.  Ohhh welll I guess that's just how life goes sometimes.  Two paths. You jump or you don't jump. 

"I see it all perfectly; there are two possible situations - one can either do this or that. My honest opinion and my friendly advice is this: do it or do not do it - you will regret both."

-Soren Kierkegaard

City Checklist

I don't normally do a whole lot during the weekday besides study and lesson plan (and catch up on tv shows and movies). It's just really hot now and I barely have enough energy to stand up after I get off work.  Take note that I don't have air conditioning or a fan in my apartment.  It's been in the mid 80s for the last month and very very humid. If I move too quickly I'll start sweating, so I have to be careful.

Anyway... The weekends are much different.

I try to go somewhere every weekend. I think there was only one weekend that I stayed in Boeun actually.  By this point I have visited the following cities:

Seoul/Incheon:

A population of 10.3 million.  This is in an area of a little over 600 square km...making the population density nearly 17 times larger than New York City.  People usually combine Incheon and Seoul since they are right next to each other.  The city of Incheon has a population of around 2 million. Over those to cities and the area in between, the population reaches to a little over 22 million.  So many people... I already posted a bunch of pictures of Seoul, but here is another. This is Gangnam.  I don't know why it's the only picture I took while in Gangnam.. but yea this is the money district in Seoul.

Gwangju:

A population of 1.46 million, making it the sixth largest in South Korea (by population).
I only took one picture when I went here and it was of the motel I was staying at. They have these places called "Love Motels", which are meant for a certain thing... but many people just use them as regular hotels since they're cheap, clean, and convenient.
Gwangju is huge.  Much much bigger than Chicago (downtown wise at least).  It's in the Southwest and takes me about 4 hours to get there by bus with one transfer.
I was only here for one night for a friends birthday gathering.  Just went to some clubs and bars. It was a lot of fun, but we didn't really do anything cultural.  Except we did go to a ping pong club while we were pregaming...I don't know if that counts.

Daegu:

The third largest city in South Korea with a population of 2.5 million.  My jaw drops when I drive by this city on the bus on my way to Pohang.  It seems like a never ending city, and it's just the third largest in this country behind Seoul and Busan.  I'm really impressed with how clean these cities are especially given their size and population.  Then again, all of these places are relatively new, which is just as shocking.  I can't believe how quickly this country is expanding.

The following picture was taken at 10am. Probably the only time you'll see them empty.  This is a bar/restaurant/club area. These types of streets look the same no matter what city you're in.

Daejeon:

Another massive city with a population of 1.52 million, making it the fifth largest.  I live only an hour away from Daejeon and I really only go there when I transfer buses. I have more friends in Cheongju, which is another city that's only an hour away, so I go there more often.  Daejeon is bigger though.
The only time I really hung out in Daejeon was when I was on my way back from Daegu. I took the KTX (fast train) and apparently it's not by the bus station. I wandered around Daejeon for a very long time before finding it. Normally I would hop in a taxi, but I was low on cash.  But yea... to anyone who wants to walk from the KTX terminal to the bus terminal in Daejeon, they aren't anywhere near each other.  And the city is 540 square kilometers so that means a lot (I'm not saying they're 500 kilometers apart, but probably like 6 maybe...).

I didn't take a lot of photos...I was panicking that I wouldn't make it to the bus terminal before the last bus to Boeun left..

And finallyyyyyy...  THE GRAND FINALE!!

Busan:

Second largest city in South Korea with a population of 3.5 million.  My best description of this place "Seoul on a Beach".  I had been in Seoul 3 times before going here and I always told myself "this is the best city in the world"...and then I went to Busan.  How do you make the best city in the world better? Well...you just put on the coast and have awesome beaches everywhere. And put towns on hills and cliffs over looking the water.

They have water shows in their malls.

They have a casino! I only went because my cousin collects casino chips, and it's also cool to gamble in South Korea since it's illegal for South Koreans to gamble.  There were a lot of Japanese men though. High rollers I'm assuming.

When I say "Seoul on a Beach", I don't mean that literally. It is noticeably different. As you can see here, there are trees and bushes throughout the city.  It's more of a laid back feel.  Which makes sense...since it's on the beach.

Okay I keep talking about these beaches...

This is Gwangali beach.  There is a huge bridge that Stretches across the bay.  I saw it from the 14th story of this building at night (a bar on the 14th story of a building) and it looks amazing.  It's like a light show.  Korean's are really good at making things look cool with lights.  Sorry I don't have a photo of the night bridge, my iPhone can't take pictures from far away.

And the party beach of Haeundae.  The scene here was awesome, except for the huge amount of foreigners.  I've never seen so many in one place since I've been here. But...it is awesome, so I understand.

I would definitely like to return to this city before I leave.

So there you have it. The top 6, and I have checked them off on my checklist. 

1. Seoul

2. Busan

3. Incheon (technically I flew into Incheon, so I'm counting that I've been there)

4. Daegu

5. Daejeon

6. Gwangju

And a few other honorable mentions.

Cheongju (I go here all the time. My home city and biggest in my province)

Pohang (I've been here way too many times considering it takes me 5.5 hrs to get there. But it's another beach city and I have close friends that live there)

Jecheon (I've only been there once for bungee jumping (I'll get to the bungee jumping in another blog) but it's a nice little city and I'm going back tomorrow to visit some friends and BBQ on a roof. Always fun)

Sports Day

We call it Field Day where I come from.  A day where the students get to show the other students and staff how athletic and awesome you are.  This happened on May 1st (sorry I'm way behind on my blog updates).

They take it a little more seriously here.  The principals from other schools and the department heads all come to watch as Tanbu Elementary school competes with itself.  The opening ceremony consists of stretching, speeches that I couldn't really understand, the Korean national anthem, and some flag waving.

The cool thing about these events, is that after the kids compete, the parents compete.  One of the first grader's parents couldn't make it this day, so I stood in as her substitute dad.  I have videos of some of the games we played, but my iMovie is not working right now so you'll have to wait to see them.

In the adult tug-of-war, my team won.  Our award was toothpaste.
In the relay race, we had a huge lead and lost :(
I was one of the first to run and everyone was utterly shocked that I could run fast, even though they know I played soccer. We were ahead by a quarter lap and my mentor teacher was the last to run on the other team. He is also fast... and caught up to my teammate, and passed him at the last second. His team won toilet paper.

It was all fun though. Following sports day all of the children and families went home. The teachers stayed and do what we do best (besides teaching).  We had a BBQ behind the school and drank. It was a beautiful day for it.

The man sitting down at the table in the back is my principal.  I got to sit at his table, which was cool because his friend brought whiskey and shared it with me. I'm not a big fan of whiskey, but it was nice to taste something other than light beer and soju for a change.

Ah and here is my teachers lounge.

I spend a good amount of time in here having short conversations that last a very very long time due to the never ending language barrier.