Jeju - Paradise on Earth

From a previous post, I returned from Jeju-do yesterday (that in itself is a story for another time) after spending one week at the English Village. Being a clueless foreigner, I had no idea that there are many of these villages on Jeju and that the competition between them is great. This I only found out at the airport when we were to welcome the students to camp and the occassional visitor to the camp arguing with management.

We arrived at the camp on New Year's Day, flying a propeller plane with attendants that do magic tricks and take photos.



After the orientation we did the usual preparation stuff like making the beds in the dorm and lesson plans. Unbelievably, only the teacher I was paired with made daily lesson plans (As far as I know. Now, if every person I know has red hair then I will assume every person has red hair.) and shared them with me. Really impressed!!

[Just saw a commercial for Hana Bank filmed in Sydney! King St!]

The dorm rooms had between 8-10 students each, though I might be wrong as math was never my strong suit. Hence I picked Science and Art as my subject. Before you jump on me, calculation always sank me in Science. It was the theory behind all the calculation that I loved.



Here is my room, though this isn't my bed.



Anyway, after all the menial tasks were finished all the native speakers went to the airport to welcome the students to the camp (some of us looked like death warmed up from the previous night), holding placards and banners etc. Strangely, every group of students that went passed would talk to us so we assumed they were for our camp. One teacher even tried to persuade them they were going to the wrong way. She also pointed out the distinctive design on the gates to the airport.








The food was not what I expected. Even some of the Korean students in their testimonials (which were hanging in the office) pointed out that the food was pretty bad. The main cook got sick on Thursday so breakfast was delayed but the meals improved considerably when her replacement arrived. Up until then, as one native speaker pointed out, the food had been side-dishes with huge amounts of rice.
On the plus side, there was a BBQ planned for the students (and us) but due to inclement weather we had to have the pig roasted offsite. It will always bring a snile to my face when I think about the New Zealanders seeing us have our pictures taken with what was going to be dinner. The meat I got was fantastic as it had a nice smoked flavour, no crackling though. I heard it's not really eaten here in the same way we would back home. Just to show I wasn't kidding about the weather take a look at the palm tree.



It's a very strange thing how everything worked out in the end. I want to open a school very similar to this camp except for the miscommunication between management and staff. I still find it amusing that I was woken up at 9am to be told that my (fictional) 9am flight to Seoul had been cancelled due to snow. On arrival at the airport there was no flight booked for us which honestly did not surprise me after the other things that had happened. And I wasn't really surprised by the suggestion that we take the ferry to Busan then take a train to Seoul (about 12 hours travelling). Still, my Chinese teacher always said that one doesn't travel for comfort, but for experience.



I was assigned to the 'A' Team (beginner elementary) which is the BEST team. This is what they came up with for their team flag and banner while the native speakers were on a field trip (My theory is that a rather negative article was found on the computers about the camp so we were taken on a trip. Photos of the trip later). They all had these really cool electronic talking dictionaries with the YBM logo too (wink).



Honestly, I am really happy they didn't choose "angel" or "apple" as their name and went with "CLOUD" because from that word they came up with this chant:

"White, grey, blue and black!
Lightning, rain and snow!
Rainbow, pot of gold!
With dreams, we fly high!"

All I did was start them thinking about what clouds are and what they do. Though I did set the beat (1--2----3,4,5). But it was a pity I didn't think to take those props away so they could perform the actions we had rehearsed. We also came up with a hand gesture that really annoyed all the other teams, especially when I made the 'A' symbol in all the photos with the roast pig.

Here is a photo of The A team in my science room. We had to separate oil from water and they guessed the method I was going to use much faster than the other groups. Most of the advanced groups suggested evaporation or distillation but forgot that I had mentioned I needed the water because I was thirsty.



It's a pity I didn't get to do the face painting with my team though. Here are some pics of the older students. I was surprised they really got into it though by the end of the class they were playing RPS with the winner getting to add a mark to the loser's face.

The dreaded "E Team". For face painting they were my favourite.



D Team, who didn't really get into the presentations but went nuts over my classes.



And C Team, AKA "Jade". This was the first group to do the Art class so I am glad they didn't lose an eye doing this. This was also the group that was very vocal about which team was the best. I had an argument the kid in the middle (black nose) about which team was the best.

Kid: Why you keep making "A"?
Me: Because the "A Team" is the best team!
Kid: No! C Team is the best!
Me: That's a matter of opinion.
Kid: No! It's the truth.
Me: (Thinking that this kid just burnt me)

Best thing about teaching children is never knowing when they will surprise you.



The rooms I was teaching in were termed domes though we referred to them as igloos. I was impressed that they had the Korean floor heating (ondo) in them as they were detached from the main buildings and didn't seem to any form of insulation.



Anyway, we did have some 'unexpected' free time to explore some of the island. First stop was an orange orchard close to the village. Some of the oranges here are fake since visitors use this for photos I guess. In the foreground you can see a 'Dol Hareubang' or stone grandfather. These guys are literally everywhere on Jeju. I picked up some souvenirs of them too.




Leaving the orchard I thought our trip was over but we went to Seong-san (Sunrise Peak) a volcanic cone rising 182m. It was very windy but definetely worth it for the view from the top and the giant pencil I bought.

View of the peak from the bottom.


This is the rock called "General Rock", as in Army rank. We thought it was the other meaning of rock though I knew better as I could read the Chinese name as well.


The town we started from and also a shot of the crater at the top. The crater covers 1299 spuare metres. I have seen some photographs with water in it though all we got on that day were some trees.



They also had a listing of sunrise times for the whole year as I have heard it looks amazing. I do plan to return to Jeju as a tourist during summer. But while men make plans, it is heaven that commands.

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