Yeouido Flower Festival

Saturday the 16th I day-tripped to Seoul. I went to the Yeouido flower festival and saw the cherry blossoms in full bloom. along with some amazing displays of experimental flower art. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the mid sixties, and it was fantastic to walk through all the wonderful flowers. I started my day in the Yeouido Park, where I enjoyed a picnic lunch of takoyaki (the delicious octopus batter-balls I tried in Japan). They weren't as good as the ones I ate in Japan, but still tasty. I walked along the park before walking through the canopy of cherry trees that line the Han river, before finally finding the REAL flower festival and working my way backwards through it.

I was at the flower festival from about noon until 3 just wandering about, and then I decided that to make my trip to Seoul worthwhile I would go to the National Museum and cross something off my "to-see" list! It was a bit of a haul on the subway and I got a little bit turned around, but made it safely to the museum around 445. Luckily the museum was open until nine, so I was able to walk through and see the entire thing before walking around the gardens on the grounds at sunset. Then I headed back to the subway, then to the bus terminal, and then back to Gwangju. It was a busy day, but amazingly relaxing and I am so glad that I went!

Sunday I went into Damyang, which is on the other side of Mudeong Mountain with a group of friends. We took the bus up and around the mountain and then went to a beautiful little tea house where we relaxed and enjoyed a traditional Korean tea. We also walked partially down the mountain until we came to a bus stop and enjoyed walking through the cherry blossoms! We took the bus partially back but stopped at a restaurant up on the mountain with an observation deck and we were able to snack while over looking the whole city of Gwangju. Then, being the adventurous folk we are, we hiked the rest of the way down and into the city before taking taxis back to our apartments. Another beautiful day!

In other news, I'll be flying back into the states on June 2nd. I'll arrive in Syracuse around 1130pm on the second and will be spending some time with Josh before heading to Elmira and then back to New Hampshire. It will be a lot of traveling, but I'm excited to be coming home!

~Hannah

Giraffe-Teacher and the Battle of the Hippo

One of my students may or may not be short an eye...
He came into class the other day with his right eye covered in bandages. When I asked what happened I was told "I fell and hit the corner of a desk. Now it's gone." It wasn't an April fool's joke as he was clearly drugged up on something. I'm hoping that "it's gone" is just an exaggeration/over-reaction. I guess we'll find out the answer in a couple of weeks. This past week was alarmingly full of children with injuries... mostly just bleeding, but yeah.

I'm involved in an ongoing battle between my B-week third grade class, well, with one boy in my b-week third grade class. He made the 'H' association between Hannah and hippo, and has begun calling me hippo teacher. Now, I find nothing insulting about being called a hippo. They're adorable creatures that are also very capable of putting you in your place. But I am not a hippo, I am a giraffe. In fact, most of the students in the school "believe" that my mother is a giraffe. After a week of us arguing (the girls were on my side) I wore my giraffe-ears headband to class. Hopefully I won. We'll see.

I really enjoy the B-week third-graders, as they are making clear progress. The A-week third graders aren't doing quite so well. Part of that is because they have a very short attention span. They're not even at the point where we can play games together yet though, as their English is so limited.

Not much else is happening. I'll be leaving sometime in June, but I don't know when. I have found my replacement, which is nice. I've started packing (winter clothes only) and trying to organize my next two months as much as possible so that I'll be able to get everything done that I want to without feeling too stressed right at the end.

It's already nice and springy here, hopefully the weather holds! If there's one thing I can say about Korea, it's that I really do enjoy the weather (except the thunderstorms). Sorry for all of you stuck in the snowy northeast! I hope spring comes to you soon.

~Hannah