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!

Lotte Giants Baseball Game

This Friday, we went to a Lotte Giants baseball game with a few friends.

We went to a few games last year but this was our first game of the 2013 season.  I almost forgot how much fun they were.  Baseball games in Korea are a little different than games in the States.  One of the big differences is that you can bring food and drinks into the stadium (just no glass bottles).

This group of middle school boys brought their meals in giant boxes.

Food and drinks are much cheaper at a Korean baseball game.  The thing to eat at a Lotte Giants game is fried chicken.  Fried chicken is sold by the box at the games  Beer and friend chicken - doesn't get any better than that!

The cheering is way more organized at a Lotte Giants baseball game.

They even have cheerleaders.

The middle school boys were really enjoying the cheerleaders!  Haha!

We had so much fun and the best part is that the Giants won the game!!!!  If you ever have a chance to go to a Lotte Giants baseball game, I suggest you do it.  Besides, it's super cheap.  Tickets run from 7,000 Won (~$6.20) to about 25,000 Won (~$22.00).  You can't beat that!

Renewal

"CONGRATULATIONS!  We welcome you all for a second (or another) year of teaching in Busan!!"

That's right.  You've read it correctly.  We have renewed for another year of teaching English in Busan, South Korea.  The quote above is from an e-mail we got from the Office of Education saying that our applications for renewal have been approved.  So, our current contracts will end on August 25, 2013 and the new contracts will begin on August 26, 2013.  The new contracts will then end on August 25, 2014.  At that time, we will immediately catch a plane to the States to start the celebration of my sister, Rachel's, wedding on August 30, 2014.

Though we are renewing with the Office of Education, there will be some changes when we sign our contracts.  The first change will be with our schools.  There will no longer be foreign English teachers in middle schools so we will be transferring to elementary schools.  We are both excited about the change but also a little nervous.

The second change is really exciting for us.  Instead of being provided with housing, we have chosen to get a housing stipend.  That means that we are going to be looking for an apartment on our own.  We will choose the location and amenities that we want.  We will be moving sometime later this summer.  Once we know our address, we will send out e-mails.  Once we get started on the apartment hunting process, I will write a post about it.  (I can't wait!)

So, we will be in Korea for another 14 months.  If anyone is interested in coming to visit, we would be happy to house you and show you around Busan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Just let us know!  :)

Zach Paragliding (taking off, in the air, and landing)

We didn't have to wait as long as we thought for Zach's video to be uploaded!!!!!!!  His is definitely better than mine because you can watch him land!  The take-off and the last couple of minutes of his video are the best - in my opinion!

Sam Paragliding (taking off and in the air)

Here is the video I promised of me taking off and in the air while paragliding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Zach's will be up within 7 days.

Buddha's Birthday 5/17/2013

This past Friday, Korea celebrated Buddha's birthday so we all got the day off work.  Zach and I, along with a few friends, decided to visit Samkwang Temple (or Samgwangsa).

Below is a video I put together.




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chR1ZzNlCKI

Paragliding

This weekend, Zach and I went paragliding!  We signed up with a group who took care of all our weekend plans.  (http://daegucompass.com/)

At 8:00 am on Saturday, we met up with about 45 other people from Busan, including 3 of our Soju Family members, and got on a charter bus which took us to Ulsan.  It only took about an hour.  Another bus from Daejeon was also joining us.  Since there were so many people, we were split up by city.  The Busan people were to go paragliding first.  That made us super happy!  When we got to the paragliding site, we had to get into smaller buses to take us up the mountain.  We were in the first group to go.  Let me tell you, it was pretty incredible.  I was able to get pictures/video of Doug and Rob because they went ahead of us.  Once Zach, Fran, and I were at the front of the line, I put my camera away because things starting happening super fast at that point.  Don't worry though!  Each of us were given cameras on poles attached to us to record/take pictures while we were in the air.  When we get those pictures/videos, I will be sure to post them for you to view.

Our tickets.  It also has the contact information of the paragliding company.

On the minibus going up the mountain to our paragliding spot.

Me and Zach at the take-off spot.

The "runway"

The four of us were left after Doug took off way ahead of us.

Doug didn't quite make it off the mountain the first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uNX-YTLHtg

But, he finally did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10ybdwRVn0c

Rob made it off without a hitch the very first time: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uNX-YTLHtg

Paragliding was so much fun!  I would do it again in a heartbeat.  I had a smooth takeoff and the view was awesome!  We couldn't have asked for a better day in terms of weather.  The sky was clear and the sun was shining!  We were in the sky for about 5-10 minutes.  We landed on our butts in the rocks near a small river (landing any other way could have caused broken bones).

Once all the Busan people were finished, the Daejeon people had their turn.  While waiting for them, we went to a castle that wasn't really a castle.  I guess it used to be, but there is no sign of it now.  However, we were able to sit around and "shoot the shit" with some of the other people on the trip whom we just met.

Some new friends.

Me and Zach

Later that evening, we went to a pension.  It's basically like renting cabins in the mountains.  There were about 90 of us in several separate cabins.  We all converged in front of our cabin and had a bonfire with hamburgers, hot dogs, a bunch of free alcohol, and music.  The party went strong until about 3 am.  Zach and I went to bed around 10 pm.  We were both fighting colds and didn't want to be miserable the next day.

On Sunday, we left at 8 am and headed to Gyeongju.  There were several stops planned for Sunday, but the 5 of us decided to stay in Gyeongju and catch the KTX back to Busan.  We got home much earlier than we would have if we had stayed with the tour which made us all very thankful!

In the flower garden.

Flying kites.

Flying kites.

New friends.

Me and Zach

Soju Family photo.

We had a really great weekend!!