Seowipo- School

Here are pictures from my school I worked at in Seogwipo, South Korea.

View from the teachers' office in summer. 

This is the team of teachers I worked with for my year long stay.  The gentleman on the right is one of the owners of the school.  

The teacher I replaced, Seth, poses with a handful of the students.  He is a good friend, but when he left, he was greatly missed on the island.  Now, we're both living in Japan!

The eraser Seth cut up, & gifted me. 

Teachers' room with my desk on the right.

We used the computers a lot to aid with our teachings. 

The youngest class, at this moment, questioning if I really needed to take a picture. 

While the others appear to be working, these girls preferred chatting. 

Waiting for class to start.  They were singing while captured in this video still.  

This group loved to have their picture taken.

This group could care less that I snapped a photo.

Bunny ears, cute. 

Here is one class before the lesson began.  

Here's the same class, a different day, after the lesson began. 

A more advanced class.

This group was even more advanced.  I could usually understand the point they were trying to make. 

"Teacher look, my new cell phone!"

I reply, "That's great, can I see it?"

I add, "Hah, hah!!!  No cell phones in class.  Thank you, now it's my cell phone."  At least one boy in the back thought it was funny.  Of course I returned it after class...  

A higher level class.

Same class, giving me the "Not Cool" sign.  I think... 

My junior high school students were very studious & did quite well.

Hanbok, the traditional Korean dress.  Of course, a complimentary peace sign. 

No peace sign here, but she struck her own stylish pose.

I don't remember why she was carrying the rose around, but she was really happy with it. 

Even at this age, cell phones are common in Korea. 

Peace lives...

These two friends were happy to pose for the camera. 

When a new store opens, a large flower display is placed next to, or over the door.  If people take the flowers, apparently the business will have better luck.  So, the owner of the new establishment downstairs gave away many flowers to the students who passed by.  

A nice flower arrangement.

Wait!  How did they get this nice assortment of flowers? 

A rare moment to pose with one of my classes.

Halloween!!!

The bunny ears found their way to Halloween.

More bunnies!  The face painting was done by the receptionist at the school.

I love the student's mustache on the right!  I don't think he's seen it yet.  Oh, & more bunny ears, floppy ones at that.

Halloween isn't very big in Korea, but it's slowly becoming more popular.  

With that in mind, some students don't really dress up.  

Others just throw on a mask.  Is that a Jimmy Z t-shirt?  Maybe not exactly, but I love the 'Z'!  

For those who didn't have a costume, face painting was available. 

Even face painting for the teachers.

Despite the lack of costumes, they still had a good time at the Halloween party!

All the students received some candy, so their energy level was higher than normal.

Maybe this class was coming down from their sugar rush. 

Yes, that's me in the white painter jump suit.  At first I dressed up as a serious mountain biker, but that's not really a Halloween costume for Korea.  They're more about the goblins, witches, pirates & bunny costumes right now.  So, I went home to change into this white jumper outfit.  Not sure why I picked this out, but it went well when I had a mask on!  

Some students became creative with my hand.  There's a sun, a butterfly, a tree & I can't recall the rest.

See, my white jumper went great with a mask!

They made this great Christmas display for the winter holiday season!

Alas, I finished the pig eraser puzzle.  Looks like it's time for me to move on...

Seogwipo, South Korea -Around Town

These next photos are from different areas around town, not within a short walking distance.

The North Korean soccer team came to play South Korea.  It was played at the World Cup Stadium in Shinshigaji, or new town Seogwipo. 

My friend & his wife's house in Shinshigaji.  Nice deck with a view of the ocean! 

Geumgansan, or Mt. Geumgan made for a quick hike to the top.  It too is in this new town area.  Along the way were some exercise machines. 

Fun trails! 

At the top, you get a great view of Hallasan, Mt. Halla.  You can walk/jog around the top of this small mountain, circling it crater. 

You can see Seogwipo to the left below, and some of the islets. 

The newer style exercise machines. 

At a coffee shop/museum of sorts, this was apparently one of Thomas Edison's inventions, the cylindrical record player.  This record played for about one minute. 

A fun restaurant place, overlooking the ocean.

While a little creepy, I had to show this picture. 

Jeju Island claims to have an abundance of three things:  rocks, wind & women.  So, I believe here, one character is a rock, the other wind.

Jeongbang Falls.  But where is the third of the three things on Jeju Island, the women you ask?  Well, it's the haenyo, or the women divers that used to be more common.  You can see they're set up in the picture, among the rocks, where they sell fresh seafood.  However, the women themselves appear to be taking a break & are not in the photo.  Please read about them by clicking on the link, as they are quite interesting!

A cave past Jeonbang Falls.  Most locals have no clue about this cave, which hides an old weathered Buddha statue carved out of the rock walls.  

Above Jeongbang Falls.

A restaurant entrance that was claimed back by the government while I was living on the island.  A park has now been built here.  The restaurant owner apparently disobeyed the government long ago & built his structure directly on the cliff of the ocean.  Building this close to the ocean is no longer allowed.    

Slightly below the old restaurant, you see Sojeongbang Falls. 

It's common to see people standing or sitting under the falls during the summer.  It's nature's massage!

After I lived in the concrete jungles of Busan, South Korea, Jeju Island was so green!  I loved KAL hotel's lawn!  

This too was a part of KAL hotel's beautiful landscape. 

Interesting contract, only being separated by a rock. 

I tried to mountain bike often, but with out a car, it took some time to get to the trail. 

Some statues among the tangerine groves. 

Eongtto Falls that only flows with a rainfall of 70 mm or more.  I drove my scooter up here on a rainy day to finally see the falls.  Well worth the wet ride!

This view was on my mountain biking route, prior to the trail.  

Taken from a mountain bike trip, almost on the trail. 

Not my normal mountain biking trail, but it was fun to explore different areas. 

Snack break...  I didn't know this was inside my surprise snack pack. 

Some wild plant starting to decompose. 

Sometimes I just wasn't able to ride through.  There were no "real" mountain bike trails.  I had to find my own.

Autumn mountain biking.

Always interesting what I'd find, way out away from everyone. 

Coming back down the mountain, after a ride. 

Gravesights

Many different styles of graves. 

This area just kept going, & going, & going...  Graves, everywhere...

I believe this area was used by the military, but I could enjoy it with my mountain biking gear on.

Look how much fun it is!

Yes, I sometimes rode my bike here for a quick adrenaline fix.  I looked like an overgrown kid on the ramps, but the children watching got a kick out of it! 

A typhoon coming!  Look how dirty the water is. 

The typhoon is almost here.  The boats are packed in formation.

In hindsight, it wasn't the smartest thing to do, venture out in the middle of a typhoon.  

It continued to get worse. 

Debris was being torn around, but luckily it wasn't too strong on the south side of the island where I lived. 

Trees were being snapped under the typhoon wind.  These photos are from the south side of the island.  The north side was even worse, & unfortunately deaths were involved.  

Down in the harbor, the weather was slowly starting to let up. 

Although, the palm trees still took a beating. 

The next day, I went exploring.  This was a green house for Hallabongs, or Jeju Oranges. 

This small bridge took a beating & you can see an outhouse in the back that was turned aside.  I feel sorry for the person who has to clean that.