Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Summertime in Busan

I was recently asked a great question from my friend, Jessica.  She wanted to know what we did in the summer when there was no school.

There is one thing that you need to realize about the school year here in Korea.  The school year starts in March and ends in January.  The first semester ends in mid-July and the second semester starts just a few short weeks later in mid-August.  That means that I still have another 4 1/2 weeks of school left.

Once school lets out, summer camps begin.  It's different for every school, but I have summer camp for 10 days, 3 hours each day.  But, that doesn't mean that I go into school for 3 hours then leave.  Nope!  I have to do a little thing called desk-warming.  Last year, I didn't have to desk-warm because my co-teacher was awesome!  However, this summer, I will spend the remaining 5 hours at my desk doing who-knows-what!  We don't get "summers off" like teachers do back home.

But, don't you get vacation?!?!?!  Yes!  According to our contracts, we get 8 days of vacation during the summer break and 10 days of vacation during the much longer winter break.  So yes, I will be taking my 8 vacation days this summer.  However, Zach has no more vacation days left.  We actually have 13-month contracts which is a little unusual.  That means that our contracts covered 2 summer breaks and 1 winter break with the same amount of vacation time as the people with 1 summer break and 1 winter break.  (A little confusing?  I agree!)  Anyway, remember how I said my co-teacher was awesome?  Well, she didn't require me to take my vacation.  She just let me leave.  Zach's co-teacher wasn't quite as awesome.  So, long story short, we will not be going anywhere for vacation.  :(

However, there are plenty of things to do around Busan.  We are a coastal city, so we can always go to the beach!  My favorite beach to go to is Gwangalli.




Cafes, restaurants, convenience stores, and bars line the beach.  It is not illegal to drink/be drunk on the beach.  It's even quite acceptable to launch (small) fireworks towards the water.

There are all kinds of outdoor markets to explore.  There are tons of temples.  Hiking is a huge deal here and there are plenty of mountains to hike.  There also plenty of festivals to attend.

However, rainy season starts at the end of June and usually lasts until mid- to late-July.

So, there you have it - summertime for a public school teacher in Busan!

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