VIVA Graduation

     First off, I should apologize for the lack of recent posts. As you will read from this entry, our kindergarten has been preparing for graduation. This means a lot of extra work for us teachers, accompanied by a lot of stress and a lot of post-work beer runs. Regardless, the graduation ceremony took place this past Friday and after all of the work, it was quite enjoyable to watch. 

     True to Korean style, the students have been working very hard on preparing for the big day as they were required to perform in multiple performances, both in English and Korean. Not to mention that the graduation is for 5, 6, and 7 year-olds (it should be noted that in Korea, all people turn a year older on January 1st, not their actual birthdays) so these kids are actually younger than their 'Korean age' in North America. The ceremony included many performances including dance routines to K-pop, ballet, and traditional Korean dances; musical numbers where the children played instruments including recorders, ukuleles, drums, bells, and yodeling; and speeches and plays in both English and Korean. All whilst wearing ridiculous outfits in front of a group of enthusiastic parents wielding every form of technology possible to record the moment. To complement the following photos, my coworker managed to take a video of 6 students from my class performing a dance number to the Korean pop song "Rollie Pollie" (make sure to watch Thomas, the smaller boy performing). ENJOY!

Boys in sequined crop tops performing a song on the recorder.

A gift from one of my student's parents!

Proud parents!

Seryang-je

    Inspired by a recent article published by cnngo.com that features 50 beautiful places to visit in Korea, we decided to brave the cold and go explore the countryside outside of Gwangju. Number 24 on this list is a man made reservoir called Seryang-je, which happens to be only a 40 minute bus ride from our house. The reservoir, a hotspot for photographers, is famous for its "ethereal mist and reflections of colorful blossoms and leaves". Sounds and looks breathtaking right? Well unfortunately for us, our outdoor mission was not as 'ethereal' as we had hoped for. After getting off at the wrong bus stop, we had to double back and walk a good 40 minutes to find the nearby town. As we weren't entirely sure of its exact location, we had to ask a few locals to point us in the right direction. After finding one man, who was at the time tending to his Kimchi pots outside of his house, who spoke a little English, he finally gave us the bad news.

Me: "ah.. Seryang-je? Reservoir?

Him: Surely thinking, 'ah stupid waygooks' (foreigners)

Me: "um... mul? (water) big mul? Seryang-je?", accompanied with a dance of wild hand gestures

Him: "AHHHHH... haha, empty"

Considering we were already almost there, we continued our walk/hike to the reservoir, which after a painful tumble down the side of a mountain, we finally found. And yes it was quite empty. However, when traveling, you learn that there are going to be times when some trips or excursions don't work out. But every experience is just that, an experience, and surely you can always get a few good photos out of it.

Seryang-je reservoir! Maybe not as we expected, but I'm sure it's quite lovely with water in it.

Pondering the meaning of life in front of the majesty of the reservoir 

Itaewon: Seoul's Foreigner district

     Our trip for Soellal also gave us the chance to return to Seoul's foreigner district, Itaewon. On Monday night, we traveled via subway to Itaewon for some late night food and drinks. We started off the evening by dining at Santorini for some Greek souvlaki. Inside, flaky blue and white paint, Mediterranean style frescoes, and dusty fake ivy dripping from the ceilings amount to faint recollections of expensive knock-off Greek restaurants at home. Ahh... you ask why we would travel to Seoul, the capital of one of the most underrated food nations in the world, to have overpriced, average tasting western versions of Greek food? Well the answer is simple, no matter how mediocre the tzatziki is, it's the first taste of tzatziki I've had for over 4 months and as such, it wins by default. It may not have been the best Greek food I've ever had, but in this circumstance, it tasted fantastic. This alteration of perception can be said for most of Itaewon: chalked full with foreign cuisine, foreign fast-food, and foreign clothing that wouldn't be anything special at home. 
     After Santorini, we braved the cold to walk to the Rocky Mountain Tavern, Itaewon's Canadian hangout. Here we caught the end of an American football game, drank some Canadian draft beer, and stuffed ourselves with poutine for dessert. The next day we returned to Itaewon to do some exploring in the daylight. Unfortunately, the daylight does nothing to improve Itaewon's rather dirty and rough exterior. This is the kind of place that benefits dramatically from hazy beer-goggles and as little light as possible. We did find however a few redeeming qualities while exploring. What the Book is an English bookstore that had a great selection of both new and used books and magazines only with a slight markup on Canadian costs. We also found a bakery called Tartine that bakes and sells mini pies with flavours like strawberry rhubarb, pecan, blueberry, and classic apple. Although it doesn't measure up to Horstings, it certainly satisfied my sweet tooth. Our last find of the day in Itaewon was Subway. Again, here we can apply the Itaewon logic. It was just another sub, with all the fixings that I would find at home. But damn did it ever taste good.

Mini strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert!