Jeoji House Dinner

This past weekend my house, Jeoji, threw its first ever formal dinner party. We spent Saturday setting up and decorating the atrium for the meal by dragging in tables and chairs and covering tables in black and yellow paper. Everything came together looking very nice.

When we arrived downstairs for the dinner there were invitation place cards at each seat. Unfortunately some of the students think my name is Kristine..... It's alright.

The meal was provided by the dining services, but it was admittedly better than the cafeteria fare. We had three courses, with the main course being chicken. I overate. 

The staff on duty during the dinner party -- Looking dapper ;)

Jeoji Oreum and Beach Day with the House

Today the whole of Jeoji House took a trip to our namesake oreum and the Hyeopjae Beach. Once again the weather was wonderful -- clear and sunny, without a cloud in the sky. There was a slight cool breeze playing around us when we reached the top of the oreum for lunch and a rest.

The beach was also very nice, albeit windier. I went swimming in my clothes since I managed not to bring a bathing suit, but a lot of the students ended up doing the same. We had a recklessly fun time just running around through the water and sand. I felt so free, being off campus. It was nice to bond with some of the girls in the house outside of a boarding/ academic context.

To see more, go to our house blog.

Daily Grind

It's thundering outside and heavy rain clouds are brushing over the oreum visible from my room. The ocean looks misty and distant. It's raining and we're supposed to go hiking in 40 minutes. 

This past week was more of the same thing. We're finally settling into our roles and getting used to the routine. Starting the week after next, I will be teaching a grade 7 science class twice a week on "The Weather," and so I've been prepping for that and observing the classes I'm going to teach.

I've also been helping out around the house, especially with House Competition things. This week was soccer (football), and our house team, both boys and girls, made an incredibly strong showing. The competition is set to continue this Monday, and all the teams will finish facing off.

My favorite day of the week is definitely Thursday, my day off. We had big plans to go into Jeju City this past Thursday and do some shopping then take a cab to a black sand beach. Well that would've been nice if we hadn't taken so long to figure out how to navigate the city. We ended up walking around a whole lot, and then finished up our time out at a korean restaurant. I had bibimbap:

Stoneware bowl full of rice, cut up veggies, and an egg. Bowl comes to the table piping hot. You stir everything together and eat it with a spoon. The heat from the bowl slowly browns the rice on the outside into crispy goodness.

First Week of School

WOOHOOO. We've made it through the first week of school and like all first weeks it's been the longest of my life. It's hard to believe that the students arrived only last Sunday -- It feels like I've been here forever.

Everything has been running smoothly. I'm getting used to cafeteria food, exploring the local running routes, and continuing to get to know the girls in the house.

On a typical day I've been waking up around 7:30, going for breakfast and then a run or zumba, followed by lunch. Work starts in the early afternoon. I'm in the bio department every day and I'll be taking over a couple grade 7 science classes on weather. I'm teaching one boys class and one girls class, since they split up the classes based on gender here.

Following my time prepping or in the classroom, I head to afternoon activities. During the week I'm booked in cross country running, ceramics and cycling club.

So far this week I only had the chance to go to cycling club. It's my first time really getting to cycle off road, and on Friday we went out in the pouring rain, which was still fun. We got soaked within the first two minutes and then spent the rest of the half hour exploring the winding roads behind the school.

In the evenings after dinner I'm in house, tutoring the seventh grade girls and going around helping the tutor on duty put the girls to bed. The students in the house are lively with vibrant and varying personalities. I'm still learning names, though, it it'll probably take me until half term to get everyone sorted out.

Thursday is my day off, and it's dedicated to working out, going to the beach or into town, and getting some much-needed rest. We also have Friday nights off, and this week a few of us went into Jeju City for samgyupsal, or Korean BBQ, where we were given meat to cook at a grill built right into the table.

Monday afternoons are for house competitions, and the sum total of the house competition rankings contributes to the overall house competition prize, which Jeoji house has won both years running. So far we're in third this year, but I'm sure the soccer competition on Monday will make up some lost points.

Jeoji Oreum

On the island of Jeju there are over a hundred oreums, or parasitic volcanos, that surround the base of Hallasan, the large dormant volcano located in the middle of the island. Many of these oreums are opened throughout the year and are laid with hiking trails.

Today I climbed Jeoji oreum, my dorm's namesake. This oreum is a little different because the middle contains a giant crater where the top must have blown off when it erupted at some point in history. The crater is now filled in with dense foliage and there is a set of around 1000 stairs from the top of the oreum to about halfway down into the crater.

Many other groups of people and couples were hiking Jeoji today. Most of the women were covered from head to toe in swish pants and windbreakers, with hats, sunglasses, and gloves. I wore a tank and shorts and even then the heat was uncomfortable.

I didn't see much wildlife on the oreum, which is fine with me. There were some large blue butterflies and what looked like moths. No surprises there. Yesterday on my run I came across some wild dogs (/farm dogs?) and farther along was a baby deer carcass, which was a little gross.

My goal during these five months is to climb many different oreums and eventually I want to climb giant Hallasan.

Farms at the base of the oreum

Other side of the crater, across the oreum

View from the top, facing Eastward. You can see Hallasan in the distance

View of the ocean and farms,  facing North-West

There are another couple of oreums in the distance. The big one in the center is also visible from my room at school.

View across the crater

Arrived!

I've arrived on Jeju Island and the school where I will be spending the next 5 months in the Gap Year Program, NLCS Jeju. The trip over took more than a day from NYC to Jeju, and I was awake for more than two days straight, but I am here.

I have been assigned to live in Jeoji House, one of the dorms on campus. Some of the other dorms include Sarah, Mulchat, and Noro, which are all oreums found on Jeju Island. It turns out that Jeoji  is the closest oreum to the school.

My room is nice and large, and it contains a small kitchenette, bathroom, and large bedroom with a wall of windows. It's on the fourth floor and the view is unbeatable. On a clear day I can see the ocean, and there are several visible oreums in the distance.

The rest of the school is also very nice. Since it is only in its fourth year, everything is new and clean and up to date. The main school building is a large and confusing maze, but it's full of computers, student artwork, practice rooms, and science laboratories.

Unfortunately there is no track, which is so unbelievable to me. The only outdoor sports area here is a large turf field in front of my dorm that can only accommodate soccer and maybe hockey games. Since this is a Brittish school, rugby is a really big deal, but they can't even play rugby on the turf since the ground underneath is too hard and unforgiving and the turf would leave friction burns when the players tackle each other.

Surrounding the school are a couple western restaurants and a very small convenience store, but that's it. We are in the middle of nowhere. I've been here five days already and I have yet to try any Korean food. I think tonight I'll get some Korean instant noodles or something to at least pretend I'm in Korea. Unfortunately I haven't had enough time to go into town (40 minutes away by car, infinitely far away by bus), but once I have a full free day off that'll be my go-to plan of escape.

Besides the area directly around the school, everything else is unfinished and under construction. All of the roads are covered in orange traffic cones and there aren't very many traffic lights. In fact, to get to the school there is a six-way intersection that has absolutely no traffic lights or stop signs or any kind of direction that indicates right of way. You just kind of have to go for it and avoid getting in the way of buses.

I've done some running in the area since there are a lot of sidewalks. It's bad for my legs to run on roads all the time, but the sidewalks here are so poorly maintained that vegetation has sprouted up in between the bricks and in some areas it's almost like running on grass. The house mistress in my dorm says that since South Korea, and especially Jeju Island has so recently acquired money and first world status they will show off that money by spending it in development, but as many up and coming countries do, they fail to maintain what they've built. Apparently once a year the government will send someone around to take care of the sidewalks, but until then I'll have some cushion while I run.