JimJilBang it up! Daejeon style!

A jimjilbang is a Korean bathhouse that has numerous baths - much like hot tubs and cold tubs all at different temperatures and different features. Some are massage baths some are mineral baths and some are natural hot springs. A word of caution though if you do decide to go to one - before getting in any bath, it is repectable and well expected for you to shower and wash for 20-30 minutes. . . Or else the ajoomas will attack you. haha Not really but they will give you dirty looks and not just the stares you get from being white.

Afterwards you are free to roam the rest of the building which will always have some sort of sauna. My definite favorite sauna was this really awesome salt sauna in the second jimjilbang we stayed in, there were also your usual saunas at varying temps. Another that was present in both that we stayed in was an amethyst sauna - where the power of the crystals ummm helps your chi? As well as an ice room where you kinda just sat in there and froze. But one of the things I would certainly recommend is the Dr. Fish Cafe if you ever happen to go to a bathhouse that has them. They are these sweet feet eating fish that eat off the dead skin your feet possess. These fish do not normally do this in the wild but have more or less been trained to do so. Simply if you give them less appealing food, they will prefer the feet but if there is a lack of customers they can always revert the the feed.

Our first jimjilbang we stayed in is located near the Government complex in Daejeon. It was highly recommended by our co teacher. This one was clearly the larger and nicer of the two, it also had a swimming pool with a side as well as a gym on the upper floors. I am sad I never had the opportunity to go check them out but perhaps there will be a next time. There was also another whole floor of saunas we missed too. However what we experienced was still amazing and I cold probably spend a whole weekend there and not tire from it.



Here our second jimjilbang is located in the Yuseong Spa district in Daejeon and is quite the smaller of the two; however they provided us actual mats to sleep on which is nice if you are not immune to the hard floor. Also they had the essential Dr. Fish Cafe that I was talking about, which was a must as far as new experiences go. They also had my favorite sauna, the salt sauna as well as these amazing kiwi slushies that were simply out of this world!

Sports Day!

Spelunking in Gossi Cave

Here is some of the better footage I was able to take in Gossi Cave.

My Afterschool Kids

There are these flute lessons in the classroom right beside my office and all the kids are really interested in showing off. Actually it seems the teacher might like it when I come in bc then the kids practice more and are more interested in playing haha.


Here is a crazy Korean game that even after watching for about 15 minutes I still cant begin to comprehend haha.


My older Crew.

Chungju NOT Cheongju

This weekend I went to visit my friend Ilya in Chungju. Allow me to stress how important that 'u' in Chungju is - if you do you pronounce it as an 'uh' instead of more like 'you' you end up in Cheongju which is an hour away. Now this must happen often enough such that there is a train heading back to Chungju only 15 minutes after your arrival in Cheongju. Needless to say this happened haha. However I eventually found my way and ended up where I was supposed to be. Here are a few videos of our adventures.

Ilya's apartment


Pet lockers at E-Mart




Korean BBQ


Happy Birthday!


Cutting of the Cake


Ilya puts Kimchi on everything...here let me show you

(at least in the morning he knows - and remembers to - regret it)

The fanciest Noribang I have ever seen


Those deceptive barber shops!


Our last view off the 9th story overlooking Chungju

Bongrae Elementary Outdoor Tour

Here is the outside of my school! It is actually really nice with really good facilities ( I don't think my elementary ever even thought about giving us tennis rackets!) Sorry the camera is a bit shaky! I was on my way to work. I will perhaps get an inside tour up later. ^^

Yeongwol City at Night

Isn't it Beautiful!!?! This was taken from the top of Bongrae Mountain just outside of the observatory.

Typhooooooon

So Silly Me

got caught in the middle of a typhoon outside of Gossi Cave. I met this really nice couple coming out and they took me out for dinner. They really wanted to hear about me and my travels and America as well as practice their English. Mom calls them English Bandits lol. But we stayed at the restaurant a little too long and a typhoon snuck up on us. So what do I do? video tape it - Duh.

Hwajangshil

Hwajangshil in Korean means toilet. There is no better way to ask how to get to the bathroom. It is not like English where there is like 20 different was with little girls room and ladies room and powder room or rest room and everything, it is just one word for both men and women. For those of you who have seen my apartment video you know I have a pretty average toilet. Same with the work restrooms. It wasn't until I went to the Gossi Caves that I witnessed this and since then I have been informed it is not uncommon to see this.
This first video is rather tame and then I was afraid of someone coming in so the second video is separate and without commentary ( I mean how weird would it be if you walked in and see someone discussing the toilet on a video camera??)




So to specify how you use this is you kind of do a super serious squat and crouch over it. The toilet paper is placed so that there is no complication in retrieving it ( it is at an appropriate placement and height). And then you stand up and press the pedal with your foot. When I saw this I laughed myself silly until someone noticed and I had to pretend my little flip travel alarm clock was a phone and I was replying to a text ;;

Edit - apparently men's bathrooms are very much the same to quote my fellow EPIK teacher " squattie potties are against my religious beliefs"

A Crazy Happen Stance

After going to see the Kings Tomb, we all separated for dinner and recommenced at this pretty awesome bar. We had a booth at first but more and more people kept coming so eventually they stuck us in our own private booth in the back. That night I found out that Peach Soju is super tasty. As we were leaving, a group waved at us and tried to talk some English. This is SUPER typical every Korean really wants to practice their English. So then we got to the entrance and realized one of our crowd got sucked into conversation. Oddly Enough we all trickled back in and got sucked into conversation and more drinks. These people are the Korean National Rugby Team. A really lively but awesome bunch. ^^

allow me to introduce:


Here the English speakers are arranging to play with them on the next scrimmage and they are possibly poking fun at one another based on jersey number?

Trip to the Kings Tomb

This past weekend thanks to the efforts of Jen Wilder I was able to meet up with a bunch of the other native English teachers and go hiking. Also Hiking up a mountain is NOTHING LIKE NORTH CAROLINA! Haha I had a great sweaty time. We also managed to pick the hottest sunniest day that there has been in the last 2 weeks to go! So after we scaled the mountain We find all sorts of playgrounds. In the middle of nowhere. At the top of a mountain. Pretty silly and I am sure if I had more breath I would have laughed more. But here is one of the videos I took of these crazy playgrounds.


This is totally the best way to tire a kid out - make them scale a mountain and then play on what essentially is exercise equipment!

So after our mountain expedition we end up at this awesome park called Deer Park ( though why it is called that I would never be able to tell you. I have never seen a deer here and I am not so sure the locals have either) But the park is beautiful and really quite serene.




We then made the much needed stop at a little mart that was just across from the Kings Tomb I think that lady made her monthly living off of us with how thirsty we were!

So here is a bit about the story behind the Kings Tomb. The tomb is of a 17 year old king named Danjong Jangneung who ascended the throne when he was 14, however he was too young ans weak to rule therefore always had advisors. Eventually His uncle, Suyangdaegun got sick of this and overthrew him and sent him into exile. 3 years later there was talk of an uprising in the rightful king's favor, and hearing such his uncle forced him to commit suicide by poisoning ( I am not so certain how that worked) But he is a bit of the town's proud history and many people go to visit his grave for good luck. There is also a festival in April in his honor.





This is the waterfall infront of the Museum of Photography in my town. And  realized this after but there are light embedded in the wall behind the water that turn on a dusk and are a representation of the constellations. We didn't stick around to see them in their full glory but it is pretty neat that they are there in the first place.

Meet my Principal!

This first one is my new principal he started on Wed. and we went out to Korean BBQ in celebration and afterwards a noribang! Who knows even principals and teachers are into that!!!



This second one is my new vice principal. I cannot remember the name of the guy in the blue shirt ( lol probably mister Kim, as we have 3 of those in our chool - and 3 miss's Kim's!!! all unrelated!)

Yeongwol Appartment

Here is an inside look at my apartment. Pretty cozy but over all not bad. I wonder who ran off with my sink and where to put my bed. Right now its just awkward...

School time!

Here is a look at my school. This is the Bongrae English Education Center (BREEC) and it is a separate building from the main building bc it was only built 2 years ago. Under us is the Cafeteria and other classrooms ( we are on the 2nd floor) and across the courtyard is the main building for science and Korean classes and other education as well as other teachers offices. Sometime later I will be sure to get some of the other building as well as the outside courtyards.