Take Me Back To Bali

I suppose I should write about my trip to Bali before I board another plane tomorrow heading to Tokyo! 

At this time last year, I was just beginning the EPIK application process and really didn’t have a clue what I was doing.  I was just going through the motions, not even sure how much I actually stopped to think about what I was applying for (a.k.a. how much courage it takes to go through with this and leave the comfort of home).  I never would have guessed that one year later, I would have been given all of these amazing opportunities; I am so thankful.

I went to Bali for a week in August with my friend Jen.  She’s so smart and booked her trip to be quite a bit longer than I booked mine.  I wish I could go back and do the same!  I liked the idea of having some time between vacation and going back to work instead of getting back the night before, but once I was in Bali, I did not want to leave.

I’ll let my pictures do most of the talking.

Around Kuta:

Tanaya in Kuta (My favorite place we stayed.)

Kuta Beach

Yummy dinner.

Neighbors in Korea!

Tour Day with Wayan:

Entrance to a traditional house.

Rice Terraces

Walking through the rice terraces.

Coffee Planation.  Samples of coffee and tea, along with a cup of luwak coffee.

Mt. Batur.  Active volcano where I was going to do a sunrise hike, but getting picked up at 2 a.m. didn't sound so great anymore.  Wish I would have done it anyway!

Tour Day with Ketut:

Monkey Forest

My favorite!

Tanah Lot - Temple in the water.

Ulun Danu Temple

Ketut, our driver/tour guide for the day!  They had a deer at this place and when the three of us were by the fence, Ketut asked us what we call a deer with one eye.  It sounded like he genuinely wanted to know the English word, so Jen and I looked at each other kind of confused not realizing he was telling us a joke.  A few seconds later, Ketut said no eyed deer and he started cracking up.  It was the funniest thing.

Nick's Homestay in Ubud.

Around Ubud:

Nirwa Homestay in Ubud.

Walking around.

Stray dogs everywhere.  He was my favorite.

It is so pretty anywhere you eat.

Women Kecak & Fire Dance

Last day:

Seminyak Beach

A few more hours on the beach before boarding the plane!

When I think about my trip to Bali, I remember how relaxing and beautiful it was.  It was so easy to just sit and not worry about the time, and I took note of the little things happening around me.  Here's a list of what I noticed:

1. There are motorbikes everywhere and I saw everything from entire families (both parents and two kids) riding on one to young kids driving to foreigners driving.

2. Many women carry things around on their heads.  It was very impressive, especially the woman carrying the giant water jug.

3. Beeping the horn when driving didn't seem to be out of anger but more of a warning that they're coming around the corner, etc.  There's a lot of beeping.

4. Their English is very good.

5. The food is colorful and delicious.

6. Everything is open concept, very pretty (like the picture of the restaurant above).

7. There are stray dogs everywhere.  I noticed this right away during my taxi ride from the airport to the hotel.  They are smart though and don't get in the way of the cars/motorbikes. They seem friendly.

8. A tradition:  Independence Day in Indonesia is August 17, so Wayan and Ketut both told us a little bit about what their village does to celebrate.  Someone puts a treasure or prize at the top of a palm tree, they put oil on the tree, and everyone tries to climb it to win the treasure.

9. No one seemed to be worried about time.  I love that.

10. Things seemed simple, not stressful.

11. The people there were always smiling and very kind.

I'm so thankful for the chance I had to go to Bali, to experience everything that we did there, and to meet such great people.  I want to go back and maybe one day I will!

English Camp

It's the end of summer break as second semester starts tomorrow.  I’m not ready to go back so soon, but it is nice that it’s already second semester in August!  Summer break in Korea is only one month long and unfortunately for us EPIK teachers, we can only take about eight days off of work.  For two weeks of the month long break, we have to run an English camp.  We’ll do this for winter break as well.  It took me a while to think of a theme for my camp, but once I got the idea going, I was really excited for it.  The theme being “American Summer Camp.” The point of camp is for the kids to learn / practice English, but I think it’s also important to change it up from regular class to give them a bit of a break.  Even though they are on summer break, many of the students attend camps of some sort and still go to their academies.  I just want them to have some fun once in a while!

I was a counselor at a summer camp a few years ago, so I was excited to take some of those activities and adapt them to this English camp.  As long as they were learning English or using English in one way or another while enjoying what they were doing, that’s all that mattered.

Here are some pictures showing the main activities of what we did each day.  We also watched bits of Finding Nemo, along with writing in their journals every day before it was time to leave.

Day 1:  Introduction

Cabin Fantastic

Cabin Insect

Cabin Freedom

Cabin 38 Line (Dividing North & South Korea)

Day 2:  Arts & Crafts

Journals!

Day 3:  Scary Stories

I don't have any pictures from this day, but we did some activities after watching a clip from Full House when Steve tells a scary story to the girls at camp and an episode of Are You Afraid of the Dark.  Almost forgot about that show!

Day 4:  Creative Writing

Six Word Memoirs

I really liked this one and asked Soo bin if that was her trying to make a decision.  This was before she had the angel and devil on there.  She said she wants to be a radio DJ, but she can't because her mom wants her to be a lawyer.  Makes me sad. :(

Day 5:  Miscellaneous

There wasn't a specific theme for this day.  It gave us time to finish other activities and have a laid back Friday.

Day 6:  Rainy Day

If it's raining at summer camp, sometimes you need to stay inside, right? Basically this was just my excuse to play games all day and watch some more Finding Nemo!

Charades

Scattergories (They all ran to the map for some help.)

Day 7:  Skits

We watched some camp skits on YouTube and then it was their turn to perform a skit for us.  I typed out two scripts and gave one to each group.  The group sitting on the floor was super into it.  The other group, not so much.  You can kind of tell by their faces!

Day 8:  Postcard Writing

They wrote postcards to their parents telling them about camp.  I wish I would have actually sent these in the mail.

Day 9:  Water Day

By far my favorite day!  We got together with the English camp at Myeongjin Middle School and had one giant water fight.  Basically we went on a field trip and I walked the students there by myself.  There weren't any papers that needed signed or anything.  It was only about a 10-15 minute walk, but I was constantly counting to make sure they were all there. It was strange being able to just leave like that.

About 400 water balloons!

Balloon Toss

All getting ready to hit their target!

Dodgeball with water balloons.

Free for all!

Day 10:  Party

The last day of camp we ordered pizza and watched a movie.  We were going to watch Camp Rock to go along with the camp theme, but it wasn't working so we watched Bolt instead.

I really enjoyed camp because it gave me a chance to get to know my students.  It was a nice change from the regular semester because it's much harder to do that when I only see each class once a week.  That's one thing I miss about teaching at home.  I also didn't have to worry about co-teachers and had freedom to plan what I wanted.  I did have a co-teacher at camp with me, but she was there just to help if it was needed.  I'm not at all sure what the theme will be for winter camp, but I know I'll be looking forward to it.  As for second semester that starts tomorrow, I still don't have my schedule.  Oh Korea.

Day Trip to Gyeongju and Other Things

Long time no post, I know.  I think I've been having too much fun the past month to think about writing on here.  Really it was a combination of that and taking too many naps on accident.  I've never been so ready for a vacation and it's finally just around the corner!

July started off with three days of finals at school.  Note that there were still two weeks left of the semester after finals.  Someone please explain the logic behind that one to me because I still don't get it.  This would probably be why I was taking so many naps.  The kids of course didn't want to be doing anything after they took their tests, so that was exhausting.  The first day of tests, though, I was off work early and already had my beach bag packed to meet Nikki and Laura at the beach.  I hoped right on the subway and they had Quiznos ready and waiting for me!

I actually haven't been to the beach much at all and I have monsoon season to thank for most of that.  It was very rainy here the end of June/beginning of July, so that got in the way of beach time and some baseball time too.  On the Fourth of July, there was a group of us who went to see the Lotte Giants.  We made it to the stadium and that's when the game was canceled.  Laura and I figured that was the most American thing we could do here to celebrate the 4th, so we were a bit bummed!

With the rain and the insane humidity here, I gave in and got magic straight.  I got a straight perm and it was the best thing I could have done to my hair.  Before this, I hadn't worn my hair down since the beginning of May.  Now my hair dries straight and the best thing is that it does not frizz whatsoever in this crazy weather!  Magic straight is very popular here and the cost is much better than at home from what I hear.  I went to a hair salon quite far from me, but it was worth it because the hair stylist can speak English very well from having lived in Canada before and she really seemed to know what she was doing.  Check out Soo Casa if you're here and need a new salon.

This brings me to the day trip to Gyeongju.  A group of friends and I spent a Saturday in Gyeongju, which is about an hour bus ride away from Busan.  It's also one of the more historical places in Korea.  I really enjoyed this trip because it was nice to escape from a big city and actually see green and some countryside.  I really miss that.  We spent the first part of the day walking around and exploring.  After feeling a bit exhausted from the heat, we stopped for lunch and then headed back towards the bus station where the motorbikes caught our eyes when we first arrived.  We were going to rent three with two people on each (which we did at first but only four of us ended up going).  The first place we stopped said we needed to have international drivers licenses, so that wasn't going to work out.  Instead of giving up, we headed across the street and this guy didn't mind as long as we had a license!  We were on our way and rented them for three hours. Amazing. I didn't drive, but it was awesome to ride around and not have anywhere we needed to be.

Mounds where they buried past kings.

To wrap up the month of July, I've been running English Camp at work for the past two weeks.  I've really been enjoying this because I got to plan whatever I wanted and I didn't have to worry about co-teachers or textbooks, which was a nice little break.  Check back soon to see what that was all about!

Finally, throughout the past month or so, I've been planning my summer vacation to Bali, Indonesia! Before coming to Korea, the two places I said I want to visit are Bali and Thailand.  I cannot wait to go.  I'll be there for a week with my friend Jen and will also have a couple days off before then to rest up and relax (hopefully a bit on the beach!) in Busan. It will be the shortest summer break ever (for a teacher at least) as second semester starts August 19, but I'll take it!