A Happy New Year with Korea's Sunrise/Sunset Festivals

Hope your holidays are cool...  Ah, I have a better one this year.  Of course, it was only natural for me to be really homesick (and lament) last year because it was my first time to celebrate Christmas away (really away) from home.  But this year, I made it a point to make it happier and more enjoyable for everyone around me...

A good friend gave me a December 2009 issue of the "10 Magazine-Korea Awaits!" Browsing through it, I promised myself to feature some info for those who would like to visit Korea for the holidays... But due to my bad time management (haay inayan!!!), I completely forgot about it and just remembered yesterday about the Sunset/Sunrise Festivals... For New Year's Eve, I'd love to be somewhere else. However it's my last day of work and I have to finish some things so I won't be coming back for them next year...

Growing up and living in a valley (with a floor elevation of 1300 meters above sea level), I loved to wait for and capture the first sunrise of each New Year.  For 2009's first sunrise though, I was kinda late and just viewed it from our bedroom window (chatted with family back home till the wee hours of the morning and it was really cold).

We can still celebrate the remaining holiday seasons the Korean way... The metro and nearby provinces have a lot to offer so why not join the lot?

Seoul boasts of its Heaven Park and Acha Mountain Sunrise Festivals.  You can join the crowds at Mapo-gu's Heaven Park near the World Cup Stadium or wind up your way to the Sunrise Plaza (about 15 minutes climb when you exit at Gwangnaru Sta., line 5, exit1) of the Acha Mountain.

For those in Gyeonggi-do though, they can go see the sun go down tomorrow at the meeting place of the Imjin and Han Rivers, Simhak Mountain in Paju between 4 to 7 p.m. (tour.paju.go.kr)

For those who want great scenery, exciting concerts and loads of fireworks, Gangwon offers options for the New Year.... So you can visit Gyeongpo and Jeongdongjin beaches in Gangneung, Donghae for Chuam and Mangsang beaches, Taebaek Mountain, Okkye rest stop at Gangneung (we definitely dropped by here on our way home from our summer trip) and Yangyang.  It is said that if you make a wish as you watch the sun go down at Naksan Beach of Yangyang, it will come true....

Daecheon Beach of Chungcheong also has its Sunset Festival. As the sun sets at Boryeong, you can enjoy a samulnori performance, choir concert and candle procession.

No reason for foreigners at Gyeongsang to be lonely either... Busan New Year's Sunset and Sunrise Festival will surely lighten up your spirits... A lot of activities and games will keep you busy from 11 pm til the first daylight of 2010. Join the crowd for the sunset fest at Dadaepo Beach, the bell tolling ceremony at Yongdusan Park and the sunrise fest at Haeundae Beach... Other locations include: Gandong Coast and  Ganjeolgot in Ulsan, Homigot in Pohang, Uljin-gun of northeastern Gyongsang province, Geoje Island and Imnang Beach at Gijang-gun just outside of Busan.

Jeolla, the province I would really like to visit, also boasts of 3 sunset/sunrise events.  Hyangilam, which means "temple facing the sun," is regarded as one of themost scenic places to view the sunset in Korea.  The Baeksu Coastal Road Sunset Event would be a nice treat too (Gwangju).  At the Yeongam Lake Sunrise Festival (Gwangju), you can watch the military bands perform, join the people release balloons and share the lucky rice cake and write New Year's postcards...

So enjoy the rest of the holiday, dear friends.. Me? I'll try to go to Mapo. I can take the rapid train till Singil Sta. and transfer to line 5 (sana andito sina ate Wendy...hehe!).  If I can't make it, maybe I'll just walk to the hill we frequent near our place...

Have a Happy and Blessed New Year!!!

Insan and kakabsat, this is our day (or night? haha).. I terribly miss you all...

  (picture taken on Jan.1, 2006 just past 12a.m., after watching the fireworks display from the Capitol Bldg, and taking our pictures lying down in the middle of the highway, we chased and showered one another with beer....)

Merry Christmas...

[Nope, this blog isn't abandoned yet... Pardon me for the lack of articles lately...]



It's that time of year again... and I just want to greet you all with one of my favorite Christmas songs...



This song has been covered by a number of artists but I still prefer Nat King Cole's...


....

Merry Christmas everyone....

The 6th Annual Fall Symposium (& Thanksgiving Dinner) at Cheonan City...

The Symposium had barely started when Anne and I arrived at the venue. It took us almost 3 hours to get there. This included our travel time from home, waiting for the trains to arrive and leave, looking for the taxi stand and walking just a bit to the building. Again, the student volunteers were really helpful although a bit shy to interact with us, foreigners.

Looking around, there were only a few attendees such that the atmosphere was more conducive for learning, compared to that of the conference last October. There was more interaction between the presenters and the "learners." We actively participated in the discussions. A lot of questions were entertained or answered. It was also easier to pick up a conversation with the others. And if we're not mistaken, we were the only Pinays there...

Of the 15 featured lecture sessions, Anne and I attended 2 of Rafael Sabio's: "Reinvigorating Teachers of Young Learners and Teens" and "Using Videos in the Teen Classroom," and one of David Deubelbeiss' entitled "Teaching Teenagers: It's All About Them!" We were just in time for the Plenary Presentation of Devon Thagard's "Bringing It All Together With Music: Skills Integration Through Songs."

All the lectures were very helpful. I do my best to remember a lot of them and slowly practice in my day to day classes.

It was a bit sad not being able to go around Hoseo University and take pictures of Cheonan City at daylight but I'll always remember it for this good learning experience.

Pictures... pictures...

Skills Integration Through Songs by Devon Thagard...

Closing panel discussion...
With David Deubelbeiss who talked about Teaching Teenagers... This session by Rafael Sabio was full of presenter-attendees interaction...
Also in the above picture is Mr. Michael Handziuk, an English Instructor from DIMA (Dong-ah Institute of Media and Arts), a fellow attendee who was so friendly to us. He won one of the 3 gift certificates worth KRW100,000 each at the raffle draw at the end of the panel discussion. I even asked his permission I'd be posting here our pictures together and I was so disappointed that it wasn't my camera I was using afterall, haha! (Anne, please email me our picture(s) together...)

I admit that I have a lot of shortcomings as an English Teacher. Nobody's born a teacher (like what Anne always tells me). We can improve ourselves, study/learn teaching, love it and do it (more) passionately.

When they offered me this teaching job, my only qualification was my English comprehension skills/ability (and errr... "lovely" handwriting like what the wonjangnim said, kkkk, and I told her "Wait till you see my brothers' handwritings." [as if she'd care,LOL]). So I made it a point to learn on and offline...

Lent by one of the NETs at the academy... Just read lessons that interested me...
Came in the mail a week after the October conference...
Remember me lamenting about how I wasn't able to go to the Reading Symposium last November? I gave the symposium's leaflet to my American companion, encouraging him to go and told him I couldn't go... He suddenly reached out for something from his file and gave me this, saying he'd read the activities in it and find them helpful but quite difficult to explain to the students... It's by Longman and the photocopiable materials are really helpful. I don't know if it's just me but I find it easy to explain some activities to Korean students, even to the young learners...

So should I get a teaching offer in my next job search, at least I'm now more "loaded" or "skilled." Should I get a non-teaching job, that means another learning and more meaningful experiences to savor...

They're Out: Gong Yoo and Chun Jung Myung

Who didn't fall in love with these guys?

Yes ladies... They're already discharged from the two-year mandatory military service...

Just a few nights ago, Chun Jung Myung (What's Up Fox/ My Foxy Lady) was spotted at the Blue Dragon Film Awards. Haven't seen the drama Fashion 70's yet? Better get yourself a copy of its dvd now.. or better watch it online...

Just this Tuesday, Gong Yoo (Coffee Prince) was welcomed back by his adoring fans at the defense ministry in Seoul...


Oh, hope to see them on and off screen, kkk...

TGIF or NO TGIF?

It's my last month of teaching. I actually originally planned to enroll for an online TESOL course last November but it didn't materialize. I somehow felt lazy and thought to start this December or January instead.

Anyway, the hagwon owner decided last October to have me at their other branch every Fridays of November and December. I was the solution for their lack of NETs. So far, I heard of good (if not great) feedback from the students and KETs from the bigger [and now no. 1 GnB(?)] branch so I just don't know if a renewing of contract or negotiation is in the works. If ever, there would be a lot of things to reconsider...

I took pictures of the neighborhood where the smaller branch [which they said is the no.1 GnB branch 2-3 years ago(?)] is located. I've been working here for 11 months already. Would you believe that? When ever since I started working here, I lamented to my husband, month after month, of my desire to leave the academy. I first took the teaching offer as a "job." Then it later on turned into a "calling" for me, believe it or not,. I wanted to just prove something to myself, the students and their parents, the KETS, and the hagwon owner at first: that I can do the job.. But I stayed because I wanted to see how some of the students who wanted to study under me progressed through the months...

I just love the peace and quiet of the place. Although you'll never know when parents or students watch you from their apartment windows...
View of the not so tall apartment buildings from the sidewalk... (The grassy small lot you can see was planted with a variety of vegetables but was abandoned after the strong rains...)
View to my left (before crossing the street)
View to my right... (This community, I heard, is just a newly developed area, about 3-5 years old. From the bus, I can still see the vast farm lands nearby. The farmers also dry their goods, like the long red pepper, along this wide sidewalk...)
I also took a picture of my homeroom classroom, witness to my hardwork for the months that followed after my first disastrous class with the young learners/beginner students..
I'll definitely miss these hard working boys...

And the other branch is located at a more developed area. Your ears would bleed from the ear-splitting high pitched tone of the ladies emceeing for promos or sale or opening of a new shop nearby... Nothing against them, I just don't like the way they do it... Afterall, we are all just doing our jobs...

I felt claustrophobic while focusing my camera...
The bigger branch is located at the 7th floor of this 10-floor building...
Realy big...

So before my contract ends, I was given the opportunity to feel and see how a hagwon having +/- 400 students operates. The KETs here are so nice. The students are so warm too. However, it takes me 2 bus rides to get there and back home. I have 2 options but still, there is no better way. You see, there's a big fish market in the area. When I take the bus that arrives every 5 minutes, I have to endure the strong fish smell inside the bus for at least 20 minutes, get off from the bus, walk for about less than 10 minutes and ride another bus going home. The other bus from the hagwon arrives almost every 10-15 minutes and I still have to transfer to another bus that has a station about 1-2 minutes walk to our house... Including waiting time? Both take me 40 to 50 minutes travel time...

The other branch has about only 130 students. The KETs always tell me it's for my own good (going to the big branch)... Yeah, okay... But to claim I learned everything from them? No... I learned most on my own... Oh, it really irked me when one teacher said "You learned a lot from checking the diaries, didn't you? It's a good working experience. You can tell future hagwon owners you've been checking the write ups of our students." (What the heck! That's why it pays not to talk like you're all knowing. I slammed her right there and then... Grr... But in a calmed manner, of course, and watched her face turn red...) Oh, and it takes me 30-35 minutes to get to the academy and back, in one bus ride only.


Anyway, the 1st Friday of the month is over and ain't it sweet that the 25th and January 1st are Fridays? Ah...

Of Friendship and Friends...

Do you have favorite friendship quotes?

I have some and I like this one the most:


"the road is always shorter when two people walk it..." --anonymous


--Reminds me of how my friends (Junie Rey, Gerald, Allan, Cris, April, Berly) back then walk from one place to another, just enjoying the time. And before we knew it, time had flown so fast that we even almost don't like to part ways... Especially for the guys, I miss how they take care of me or the other girls when we get invited to sing or play at weddings even in far flung places... I appreciate the most when they accompanied me and my family in our darkest hours...

--Reminds me of how my classmates, friends and groupmates from the university walk or travel together from one place to another or from one company to another to get their approval for our project studies and methods engineering research and studies too...

--Reminds me of how life can be well lived with my husband no matter how long or rough the road maybe ahead of us...

--Reminds me of my shopping buddies from back home and here in Korea, hahaha....

--Reminds me of a whole lot more....


I am amazed how my remaining special class students (took a picture before any of them decides to follow the others who transferred already)

have formed a strong bond after 4 of their classmates moved to another academy. I brought this boardgame my friend bought me from Yongsan Garrison and allowed them to play for a whole 50-minute class period. They were ecstatic to learn this challenging game and somehow bugged me later on to always bring it with me. They agreed to either go to the academy earlier or stay for half an hour more after their last class just to play scrabble.

Their friendship reminds me of how we, aherm... older people, can learn from the unconditional faith, love and trust of the young ones.

I love it when they look at me from time to time for my approval of their moves, how one would initiate to restart the game when one couldn't make a move, or when they all agree it's time to call it quits and come earlier the next time for more time to play. I love how they call one of their previous classmates and tell them they wish they were there right now, learning the new game they were enjoying.

Or how they open up important things (for children their age) to me like about the girl they like, how terrible they feel that particular day because of a happening at school or at home, what they think of the academy, of the teachers, how the music from the music school nearby irritates them, how they think of their English comprehension skills, etc...

I love it when one would turn to the other for clarifications, listen attentively, agree when he's wrong and ask for more corrections or ask the other if he's doing his work correctly that time around. Sometimes, we fail to do that---listen, when a friend speaks to us, and openly admit our mistake or acknowledge what the friend speaks of or tells us what to do... (and I just smiled to myself when I realized this and they kept on bugging me to share my thoughts and even teased maybe I remembered my husband suddenly when I kept on saying "Nothing.")

A friend would stab you in front. A friend would tell you your flaws, bring out the best in you and love your worst, (anything else?) kkkk....

I'm not the perfect kind of friend but I do my best to somehow be the good (if not the best) friend that I can be (not just the one I want to be). I'm not without faults. That's what's good about being human: falling down, getting/standing up, learning and moving on... And I do look back, reflect and listen... And they said an intelligent woman knows what to conceal. Well, I'm far from intelligent when I'm with my friends, wahahaha... not really...

Have you met some people who made great impacts on your life? Yet, no matter how hard you want to wish for them to stay, you have to let go and just be thankful for the swift moment you shared and lasting friendship, you hope to have with them? It would be selfish, afterall, to wish they stay more when they should be where they are... (Thank you very much Ate Arcie. I may not have pictures of us of that one fine day at the Yongsan Garrison (but I have some of the goodies you gave me.. joke...) but you've made it a wonderful learning experience for me... )

Have you experienced meeting someone for the first time but it felt like you've known each other for a long time already? Or have you recently met up with your long-time-no-see friends and felt and talked like you only saw each other yesterday? (Thanks Berly for visiting my mother once in a while...)

Do you have a friend who understands you more than your family does? (Thank you Arman.. I don't deserve it, really...)

Do you have a friend who replies to you eventhough you only remember her when you have questions about Korea? haha... I always remember you ate Betchay... Thank you very much...

To all of my friends out there... Thank you...

Burn With Missha's Hot Burning Body Patch

Overindulged last Thanksgiving? Or thinking already on how to shape up before and after the Holidays? Here's a product you might want to try just in case the cold season makes you too lazy to go hit the gym or do your supposed daily home exercise...

By the way, sorry for the lack of posts lately. It's not that I don't have the time. God knows how I like to talk about a lot of things here too but I just contented myself blog hopping on my freetime and reading/checking some of the books I got from the conference. And it was the last week of the month--meaning I did a lot of writing of comments or progress report, checking of books, essays and other writing stuffs the students do...

Anyway, I just want to share with you MY latest find from Missha. I read about this one a month ago from an American Teacher's blog who made great reviews of Missha products. But I only got the chance to buy and try it about two weeks ago.

Although I'm not a fan of Missha's make up, I do buy their hair care and body care products. Remember me posting about finding a HAND SANITIZER from Missha after months of searching (and that was almost a year ago and now hand sanitizers come free anywhere you go)?
So here's the product: called Missha Hot Burning Body Patch (KRW3,000 per pouch)

A set consists of the red pouch containing two burning patches and two backing white sheets. This pouch contains 2 patches. The backing sheets you place over the patches.
Directions:
Open the pouch and remove the protective films from the patches. Apply them to dry areas. Remove protective films from backing sheets too and apply them over the patches. It's recommended you leave the patches on for 8 hours. Avoid getting the areas wet within 1 hour after using.

Ingredients:
Bitter orange extracts, caffeine, peppermint oil and capsaicin.

The patch helps design your body line/parts such as the thighs, abdomen, and hips. The cooling effect from the peppermint tightens your body and the heating effect derived from the capsaicin delivers effective ingredients to your skin.

Tips:
USE 2-3 TIMES A WEEK. The cooling effect (and it's already winter) didn't bother me at all...

If you have severe allergy to advesive tapes or wet compress, then this product is not for you.

This is actually the last of the recommended three steps. The patches are for areas with high cellulite or fat concentration.

Just in case you wouldn't want to walk around with patches on, here are the first 2 of the three steps or products you might want to try:

1) Missha Hot Burning Salt Body Scrub (about KRW12,000 can't really remember but not more than that). I should have bought this instead. From the product description/directions, you can just scrub or massage appropriate amount of the product on your wet skin. Leave on for 10 minutes and rinse. Recommended use: 2-3 times a week.

2) Missha Hot Burning Body Gel (about KRW9,000). You apply this like 10-15 minutes after taking a bath/shower. You can use this morning and night and it was even recommended you exercise after application...kkk...

I actually almost forgot about these patches last week. I bought 4 pouches about 2 weeks ago but got so busy that I forgot where I placed the other 3 after taking their pictures. Yes, I immediately tried one on.

The blogger raved about these products and rated them 5/5 (she was using the complete set so that really helped a lot). As for me, I also liked the cooling and heating effect I felt while using the patches. So far, I've just consumed 2 pouches and a week in between them. I have 2 more and would definitely make an update or update this entry instead should I really notice "significant" reduction where I apply them (hahaha). But I might drop by Missha later today to buy the scrub or gel...

It's December... and yes, buying the whole set is definitely a perfect Christmas gift idea...

P.S.: I also got a membership card from Missha. The owner (an elder man) from Bupyeong branch offered me this one before when I was just trying their mineral foundations. Because of this, I get updates about their promos or sale.. I just don't understand them. And whenever I get the chance to visit their store, I also don't have this card for my points.. Arrgh...