Gyeryongsan National Park

Earlier, I met up with Juli and Pino to go hiking in Gyeryongsan National Park, just outside Daejeon. To get there, take the 108 bus from Yuseong or National Cemetery subway stations. As if to prove that Wales is indeed the centre of the known universe, there was a couple on the bus (he was German, she was Korean) who currently live in Bangor!

Little Buddha nestling in the snow

Juli and I

Pino and Juli

The trail starts off gently and leads to a Buddhist temple in possibly the most beautiful setting particularly with snow and sunshine against a mountainous backdrop.

Buddhist Temple

Then we took a path that would take us to the top of the mountain. Unfortunately, we hadn't realised quite how snowy the paths here still were and the path going uphill was quite treacherous in places. All of the Korean hikers wore proper hiking boots with crampons (spikes) attached; we were not so well equipped, so we gave up about half way up and slithered back to the bottom and onto a restaurant where we ate spicy daktori (pieces of chicken in a spicy, red soup), perfect post-walking food.

It was a pity that we didn't make it to the top this time, but I will return once the weather gets a bit warmer!

Christmas in Korea

Well, this year is the first year ever that I haven't spent Christmas in Wales with my family which was odd! As Christmas Eve ticked over into Christmas Day, I could be found doing some shopping in Homeplus, open 24 hours a day, including Christmas!

I woke up early on Christmas Day and decided to get up and go out for a walk as it was a beautiful day with sunshine and clear blue skies. I walked out towards the edge of Songchondong (also the edge of Daejeon) and walked through a tunnel which ran under the motorway and into the countryside. This area is part of Gyejok mountain, one of the many mountains which ring Daejeon. I scrambled up a bit of hillside and came across some monuments, which are probably tombs. Mountains seem to be important places for Koreans. Mountains are often home to Buddhist temples and statues and these tombs are obviously well tended.

Looking towards Songchondong

Gyejoksan (-san means mountain in Korean)

That evening. I went to a potluck Christmas dinner hosted by Collun (a teacher who lives next door to Juli). The table was groaning with dishes ranging from pecan pie to bulgogi (my contribution) to cheese and crackers to fried chicken.... We played beer pong and a card game called Bullshit, it started to snow, Ken (a Korean guy) gave a speech in Korean (no-one in the room spoke Korean) which seemed to go on for a long, long time, we escaped to Sponge Bar, but were followed by Ken, where me, Juli and Jill remained until closing time (5am!) and then went to a noraebang. It was almost light by the time I got home.

Bullshit and Beer Pong

Gill, Juli and Ken in Sponge

So, a non-traditional Christmas with no turkey, no stuffing, no gravy, but on the plus side, no brussel sprouts. No family or old friends, but some new friends.

Expo Park

On Sunday, Juli and I walked to Expo Park. The park was built to host the Science Exposition in 1993.The Expo bridge leads to the park and looks great when lit up at night.

Expo Bridge

There are lots of quirky little statues along the riverbank, including these swans!

There is an observatory in the park where you can see views over the park and parts of Daejeon.

The Observatory

The park also houses Kumdori Land, a mini theme park. We had a laugh riding the 2 rollercoasters!

Kumdori Land

I suppose the park is nearly 20 years old and it is almost the middle of winter, but it almost had the faded glory type feel of an old British seaside resort. Many attractions were closed down and it wasn't clear whether it was permanent or just for the winter. I'll have to pay Expo Park another visit next year. I noticed an outdoor pool complex which would be great for cooling down on a hot summer's day!

Exploring Daejeon

It's the end of my first week in Daejeon and all is going well so far! Everyone at my school is really nice, although it's a bit strange being the only foreign teacher. I work from 11.00am to 7.00pm every day and teach around 6 hours a day - my classes range from kindergarten to middle school students. I teach some phonics classes - the first time I've taught phonics (as the Korean teachers handled phonics at SLP). It's fairly easy, but fairly boring, although, as the students are in elementary school, they're a lot of fun and enjoy playing silly games!

I spent the weekend exploring Songchondong and some of Daejeon. Even though it's the middle of October, the weather is still warm and sunny. There are some shrines in my neigbourhood, the largest of which is called Dongchundang. The park is a tribute to a Confucian scholar Dongchundang who lived here.

Dongchundang Park

Songchondong is on the outskirts of the city with countryside and mountains just the other side of the motorway. The nearest mountain (visible from my apartment) is called Gyejoksan and apparently there is some kind of fortress at the top, so I'll definitely be hiking up there sometime!

The city centre is a little spread out. The old downtown area (Eunhangdong) is between Daejeon station and Jungangno. There is a large outdoor market near the station and then a mostly pedestrianised shopping district over the river with clothes/shoe shops, coffee shops etc. There is also a large underground shopping mall which runs from Daejeon station.

The bridge which leads into Eunhangdong looks a bit like a giant Croc shoe!

Then there is new downtown near City Hall in Dunsan-dong which is centred around the Timeworld/Galleria department store. There are less shops here, but lots of restaurants, bars and clubs. The main foreigner bars seem to be Yellow Taxi and Sponge. Then there are a couple of large department stores elsewhere. Say is in Seodaejeon and is a pretty big department store with lots of concessions including Uniqlo, Artbox and Kosney. There is a Lotte Department Store somewhere, but I've not found it yet!

Arriving in Daejeon

I landed at Incheon late afternoon and was met at the airport by someone from the recruitment agency who put me on a bus to Daejeon. The bus ride was about 2 and a half hours (I think) and we drove over the new bridge which Lisa and I had gone under on the ferry to Deokjeokdo last summer.

I arrived safely in Daejeon and was met at the bus terminal by Jessica, my new principal and two other members of staff (HJ, who had interviewed me, and the receptionist Sarah). They are all Korean, but have adopted English names which is common here for staff at English language hagwons.

They took me to my apartment, which is in an area of Daejeon called Songchondong. Its on the top floor of a 3 storey apartment building and is more cosy than my last apartment. There are three sets of windows, so I can have a fairly panoramic view and I can actually see countryside from the side windows! It was about 11pm by the time we got to the apartment, so they left me to get some sleep. It was nice because they provided me with a mobile phone and had bought some groceries for me, so it felt very welcoming. I slept very late the next day and was woken by the door bell about 5pm; the principal came round to drop off a pizza, which again made me feel welcomed.

I spent the whole weekend sleeping off my jetlag, so haven't had the chance to do much exploring. My neighbourhood, Songhondong, is on the eastern edge of Daejeon and there is a small shopping area with Homeplus Express, some coffee shops and restaurants etc. It is much more of a low rise area than Bucheon.

Tomorrow, HJ is coming to pick me up at 1pm to take me to the school and introduce me to the staff and students. Better get some sleep, so I can hopefully feel a bit less groggy tomorrow!

Return to Korea!

Ever since I finished the CELTA course in May, I had been pondering what to do and where to go in the autumn. I was offered 2 jobs in Europe - one in Bratislava in Slovakia and one in the Czech Republic. Both jobs looked great and I would be teaching teenagers and adults rather than young learners, but sadly the salaries offered (and those throughout Europe) seemed close to subsistence level. I was really keen on the Bratislava job, but after spending a weekend there, it was clear that my net salary would barely see me through the month.

Soooooo, I decided to come back to Korea! I was hoping to get a job in Seoul, but the huge influx of young American grads due to the recession meant that jobs were not so easy to come by for a 30-something Brit! I had three phone interviews and was offered two jobs - one was with an English village in the middle of nowhere which had shorter hours and more vacation time, but was in the middle of nowhere and one with a hagwon in Daejeon. The woman I spoke to in Daejeon seemed really nice and friendly on the phone and they were willing to give me an extra 2 days vacation as they really wanted me, so I accepted and a few weeks later was on a flight to Seoul! I flew with Emirates - nice food, lots of legrooms and a widescreen video screen with tons to watch! I had a whole set of films I wanted to watch on the second leg of my flight from Dubai to Incheon, but fell asleep immediately after finishing my meal and didn't wake up until the next meal service came round, about an hour before landing! Nice to get such a good sleep on a plane though!