(see full image)

Sent from my iPhone

(see full image)

Sent from my iPhone

Year One 한국

My first year living in Korea is officially complete. The year started out with a few obstacles, but ended up being a great success. I've learned a lot about the Korean culture and language. I've also made from great friendships with both Koreans and other foreigners. At the beginning of the year, I wasn't sure how well I would do as a teacher at a middle school. Early teens are supposed to be the most difficult to teach, and I struggled at the start, even with help from the Korean teachers. Once I adjusted to everything, 

Winter English Camp

While the winter camp didn't have as many students as the summer one,  we still had a lot of fun. This time I focused more on interactive activities. Since the students were excited for winter vacation, I didn't want to overwhelm them with so much new English material. Some of the activities included Jenga, cooking, survival skills, and a talent show. This turned out to be a great decision because I was teaching alone half of the time. This encouraged the students to use their own speaking skills and not rely on a Korean teacher so much :) I was pleasantly surprised since some of the students actually spoke English very well. Most of the students were comfortable with talking to me, which made the camp even more enjoyable.

One of the students is putting the finish touches for the crepes.

What do you think about these crepes? There are bananas, strawberries, and whip cream inside, and then topped off with corn flakes and chocolate syrup.

Ringing in the New Year

It's hard to believe that 2011 has ended. For the last seven years, I have celebrated New Year's in a different city, so it was cool to continue this trend. Some of my friends and I went up to Seoul to celebrate the new year. We had a few drinks, walked around the city, and went to one of the largest gatherings in Korea. Many events were going on that night. There were 3 main events going on that night: the Highlight Countdown Party, the DJs Ministry of Sound, and the Bosingak Bell Ceremony. Since it was still early in the day when arrived in Seoul, we decided to checked out all three events. The Highlight and DJ party featured American and European acts, but it cost $80 minimum for the featured performers! We didn't stay very long since the steep cost was for mediocre talent at best. Later on that night we went to Bosingak Bell Ceremony. 

We were shocked by the huge crowd that was present. Last year several people were injured during and after the event, so the city brought in a massive amount of law enforcement this year. We had to stand outside for almost two hours for the official ringing of the bell, but the large crowd kept us from getting cold! It was an interesting cultural experience for sure. 

There were a few K-pop artists performing and some other local entertainment, which was decent. The music performances continued after the bell ceremony, but we wanted to avoid the "pedestrian jam" by leaving early. Unfortunately, many people were thinking the same thing (haha). We had to also walk much farther to take the subway since all of the nearby stops were closed off and barricaded by the police. It was entertaining to see some of the people try to sneak behind the police by jumping over the barricades to the closet subway stops (which they failed to do). The wait time was long, the temperature was cold, all of the stores and bars near the bell were closed, and the walk back to our hostels took over two hours. We eventually went into a bar in the hostel area. Even though some things didn't work out as planned, I had a good time.  Here a short video of the countdown and ring of the Bosingak Bell.