Yes, I’m still here. It’s been busy the past few weeks for so. In addition to going to school on Saturday until noon to make up for those days at the beginning of the year, I’ve also taken a lifeguard and WSI (water safety instructor) course. Those courses were held on Sunday’s so there were some weeks that I was going to school for seven days straight. But today was my last WSI course so I am done, free and feel like I have my life back a bit. The courses were good PD for me to have but I’m glad that they are over.
What has been happening here? Well, lots of things…
Lunar Break –
Lunar Break was the middle of February and by this time I was sick of the cold and wanted some warmth. This is also the time that I was missing winter in the ME. I headed to Cebu, Philippines to celebrate L’s 40th birthday. Since it was a big birthday we went all out and rented a villa with its own pool. This was amazing on so many levels. The best reason is that we could lay out by our own personal pool and not be around any people – perfect. I wanted to go and relax somewhere and this was perfect. All I wanted to do was workout, relax and go to the spa. I accomplished all three of those things every day, it was perfect.
Fire Festival –
The Jeju Fire Festival was the first weekend of March. It is held to pray for a good harvest and good health in the new year. There were a lot of different vendors and performers at the festival. It was very similar to a fair in the states. Basically, they set a hill on fire and it was pretty cool.
Getting home after the fire festival was a bit of an adventure. We stood in line for about 45 minutes hoping to get on the right bus to head in the direction of home. Luckily, there was an elementary kid from one of the other international schools that translated for us of what bus to get on. It was complete chaos with people waiting for buses, there not being enough room on the buses and everyone getting angry. At one point a bus passed and people were banging on the side of the bus to stop as the whole crowd we were in was being pushed toward the bus. It was crazy. In the end, we all got a bus even our new elementary friend we made along with his parents. We had to stand on the bus but it was fine as long as we were headed in the direction of where we lived.
We decided to get off the crazy train of public transportation and grab a drink to complete our night. A new shopping center of restaurants, shops, and bars recently opened near us and I’ve been wanting to go to a bar called the Devil’s Door so this was perfect timing.
Canola Flower Fields –
Spring is here so that means flowers and lots of them on Jeju. This is a welcome change from the ME for sure. There are many different fields or patches of the canola flowers that you can go to. You just drive around until you see one, pull over, pay 1,000 KW which is less than a US dollar and then walk around and take some pictures. My first question was how does everyone walk around and not ruin the field? Answer – paths (see bottom picture), genius.
Later skaters,
-B