One of the cruise boats heading off. They were built by Hyundai Yachts, and from what I saw they still have a bit of learning to do. The boats themselves were very noisy and vibrated a lot for their size, and the men operating them were pretty poor at berthing, two deckhands on the pier had to pull and shove the boat into position rather than the skipper using the engines. Still, it was nice to get out on the water!
For more photos go to http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=345487&id=777495416&l=0e0f503bc
Also in the above album are some pictures from GnB's 'Halloween Party'. I use inverted commas here because the party was actually at the end of November. Concern over Swine Flu in Korea meant that the party had to be rescheduled twice. I made minimal effort on the costume and went as..........a Scotsman. Most of the kids wondered why I had a 'skirt' on, and didn't really understand when I told them it was Scotland's national dress, but it was still a good day. Myself and Johanna took shifts playing games with the children, and after it was all over the staff went out for dinner, something which rarely happens at the GnB's I work at now....in my first year we did it quite a lot...how times change!
The teachers
St. Andrews day came and went, like last year I hung a Scotland flag out the window to do my bit at being patriotic, but that was about it. Maybe one day St. Andrew will get the same amount of recognition as his fellow Saint Patrick, but somehow I doubt it!
Last weekend, I joined Conor and Steph, Craig and Sophie and Joynal (who used to work for my 1st year boss and is now teaching in Seoul) for an action weekend in Gangchon, to the East of Seoul. Those of you who read my last post about the weekend in Gapyeong may be interested to know (though I doubt it!) that Gangchon is the next stop after Gapyeong. This time we didn't take the train though, we were able to catch a bus directly from Incheon which was good. Upon arrival in a snowy Gangchon we checked into a motel and then went to a nearby shop to get ourselves kitted out for.......SNOWBOARDING!!! It was my 1st time ever, so I was filled with a mixture of excitement and fear, but everyone was in the same boat (Craig and Sophie had skied a bit but the rest of us were 1st timers or beginners) so that made me feel better.
Ready to go!
We hired the boards and all clothing from the shop and then they gave us a lift up to the slopes. As it is only the beginning of the season only 3 slopes were open but that was plenty for me. We started off on the sledging area which was pretty flat. I was quite surprised how quickly I got the hang of it. After managing to stay up for a while, and then learning how to stop (falling over!) and then starting to learn how to turn a bit, we moved over onto the 1st slope, which posed a new challenge of having to use a chair lift to get up to the top. After a good few runs of this I moved onto the ultimate challenge, the 'Beginner 2' slope. This was a bit longer than the 1st and quite a lot steeper and busier, but had the advantage of having better quality snow. I had a good few goes at that, but towards the end was finding it very tough to get up after falling over (my stomach muscles aren't the best!). I never made it all the way down without falling over, but I enjoyed it a lot and will def try and go again before I leave Korea. Here's a few photos from the afternoon. More are at: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=351450&id=777495416&l=6889a2ecf0
The 1st Beginner slope.
The 2nd beginner slope. An 'Intermediate' slope continued on up out of sight to the right. I never went up there. Too scary!
oh...........
Unfortunately, Conor had a bad fall and had to be taken to hospital towards the end of the afternoon. Luckily, his wrist was not broken but he had to have it in a sling, and he said it was pretty sore, so that was a real shame. Now I understand why Winter Sports insurance costs so much! Apart from some stiff muscles and a tender bottom from all the falling, I was a lot luckier.
After we'd got a lift back into town and freshened up, we headed out for a Dakgalbi dinner and then hit a few bars, including one with a live band/karaoke event which I had a go at!
The next morning, Joynal, Craig, Sophie and I went and hired some quad bikes. They were not as powerful as the 'Big Red's' that we have on Iona, but they were nippy enough. We headed up some very snowy and icy mountain roads, and played around on a dry river bed for a while, it was great fun, although very cold.
Me and my bike
Fording the stream.
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