What a week. I had thought that packing up our lives in Sydney was one of the hardest things to do. Yes it was hard but nothing like packing our Korean lives up. That was physically and emotionally draining on all levels.

When we left Sydney we thought we were only leaving for one year. We would be back soon and would see all our family and friends again relatively soon. One year turned into over three but we have returned to Sydney multiple times, seen the people and places. Packing up and leaving Korea feels so much more permanent. We won’t come back in a few months to settle back in. We might not see any o our friends , Korean and foreign, again. We won’t be able to visit Seoul for the weekend again. It’s much more permanent a move his time around. And that makes it so much harder to do.

The past week has been a blur of packing and sending some things home. Sending much more to the bin. Selling some things online and some to friends in town. Every night was a farewell dinner of some kind. Teachers dinners, dinners with Korean friends and their families, dinners with the foreigners, generally saying goodbye to everyone. Much more difficult than leaving Sydney ever was. I guess as foreigners finding our place in a small country town we have put down deeper roots than most. Still, I wouldn’t change any of it. Comingto Korea was the best decision we ever made.

Next. Mmmmm. Next. First is frankfurt for a few days. Then on to Istanbul for a few more and then we head west. Wear until west is finished. And then, who knows.

Why did we get a bonus long weekend? Why did we spend it all in Seoul? What is this EPIK thing of which I speak? Lets go backwards.

EPIK is the name for the “English Program in Korea”, similar to Japan’s JET program. Basically they bring foreigners in to teach english to kids within the Korean school system. Here in Korea it gets a bit confusing. While it all sounds like we work for EPIK, we don’t. EPIK acts as a kind of umbrella, bringing us in, training us then passing us out to the provinces. Once out of their hands, we have very little to do with EPIK at a national level, its all provincial. Some provinces are good, some so-so and some pretty terrible. Gangwon-Do where I am? For the most part its good. Like most things it has issues, but what place doesn’t?

Back to the weekend. Having not heard a single thing out of the national EPIK crowd in a few years, it was a surprise to get invited to a reunion for honoured teachers. Seems we’ve been here quite a while and are now classified as veterans, and national EPIK wanted to do something nice. Even nicer was finding out that the reunion was a Friday/Saturday and in Seoul, meaning a bonus long weekend.

Honestly we didn’t expect much. Usually in Korea things get done with the best of intentions but the minimal of organisation. What a surprise we had. They put us up in a reasonable hotel (sure it was a bit 1980′s but it was ok), gave us steak and wine for dinner and then took us out to see a show. The show was a comic martial arts performance called Jump. Mostly non-verbal, it was great until I got dragged on stage to be part of the performance. I’m thinking I was picked because I was sitting on the aisle and had slightly “odd” hair. Oh well, nothing can prepare you for being on stage in front of a few hundred people better than a classroom of crazy students.

We had the obligatory presentation and handshake ceremony, but this time it wasn’t for certificates but for a plaque!

Very nice of them to do something like this. Shame its soooo heavy. Lugging 2 of them through Seoul was a bit of hard work

The Saturday was a small amount of formalities and then back into tourist mode. We had lunch at a fantastic traditional restaurant, then up to Seoul tower for some more touristing. Fun fun fun.

Leaving the EPIK crowd, we had Saturday afternoon and then Sunday morning shopping in Seoul, then back to Taebaek and some sleep.

Overall, really nice to see that the national EPIK people are serious. They tried really really hard to make a great weekend and succeeded. They also spent a huge amount of cash on us. Can’t complain there. Just a shame as it really contrasts the differences between our local education office who really don’t seem interested in us, and the national people who really have put in the effort.

Short version : Went to Seoul, got award, came home.

It all began bizzarely. At 6.30am most people want sleep, or failing that, coffee. Warm beer isn’t high on my list of desirables, but it is what we were given.

While some partook, others tried catching up on sleep.

Eventually we arrived, wasted some time waiting and headed into the village which was to be our next 8 hours.

Here we have a large stone mound covered in ropes with attached paper wishes. You write your wish on the slip of paper and attach it in order for it to come true.

(Just a note, some of these pics are a bit ghostly. I was playing with a new super dark camera filter so that should explain everything)

These totem-poles are decorated and placed in villages to protect the villagers and prevent bad spirits etc from attacking.

A traditional Korean game where the aim is to throw the stick (maybe 60cm long) into the metal rings. I think the centre ring is best.

Next were the performances. The traditional farmers twirling dance with gongs and drums was loud but spectacular. They have ropes or ribbons attached to their heads and spin around and around.

Then on to the tight-rope walker. I didn’t get an explanation of why but it certainly looked painful, bouncing down onto your crotch and then back up again. Oouch.

Believe it or not, but one of the highlights was the “haunted house”. Not a very good one but more giggles than not. Besides, its not everywhere you get a severed head out the front.

More scary things were to come, with Jessica determined to try to scare me after I scared her, making her fall backwards (sorry Jessica).

How can any trip anywhere be complete without cats? We found 3 wild kittens sleeping in the sun. Soooo cute. I think everyone wanted to take them home.

Making a pot the traditional way was also included in our day.

Some however let the warm beer and festivities get to them.

While others just did the more modern traditional Korean things, cutey photo’s

Overall a great place to visit to experience old Korea, but having been there almost 3 years ago (huge hangover an all), it wasn’t worth getting up at 6am for. Still, if you are only visiting Korea, its well worth the trip.

We have Water rockets, sugar based coloured water column building, dropping eggs from the school roof etc etc etc.

Click here for the 99 pics

From Hamtae Science Day April 2009

Luckily for us, the weather was perfect. Unfortunately the kids had classes first thing in the morning, but after that everyone joined in. We should have a video ready to go soonish also.