Christmas, New Years and Holidays... What do you do in a foreign country?

Well I have received and been asked many questions about what I have done and am doing over "winter break" and for Christmas & New Years. As one would guess there are many differences in the schooling systems between Korea and North America. One huge difference is that during winter and summer vacation, many students attend school. They do not attend regular classes though. Some students attend English camp (which is what I am currently teaching), while others who have been identified as students that need more help, attend intensive classes for Math and Korean. For this very reason I have had the joys of teaching during the North American "winter break" time.  When I haven't been teaching or at Taekwondo (believe it or not it is getting far more intense with another grading at the end of the month) I have been exploring.

Some things I have seen & done along the way...

 Practice Taekwondo with my yellow belt (soon to be green hopefully)!

Attend Christmas Supper at a Korean restaurant with some awesome friends

 & Seoul Hiking Group

Check out Insadong (a traditional area in Seoul) where we watched how to make some traditional honey, cornstarch and nut "desert" that none of us enjoyed. 

Enjoyed the City of Seoul. ^ The founding King of the Josean Dynasty King Taejo (key belief structure was Confucianism, which still influences peoples beliefs and actions today).

Checked out one of the Palaces. Happened to have the opportunity to watch the changing of the guards. 

Oh Hello Seoul History Museum! There was a whole section on the history of Robots. Too bad I can't read Korean. What I got from this exhibit is that Korea is still on the leading edge of technology & is spending lots of money towards the development of the most efficient Robot. There may potentially be another "industrial revolution" as technology continues to progress. (This is a complete hypothesis BUT I figure its probable considering that some schools in Korea are replacing teachers with Robots. If you don't believe me google it)!

An exhibit of the current state of Seoul, at the Seoul History Museum. In this room you can walk all over and observe Seoul from an arial view. You can even interact with the map and highlight and light up different parts of the city. REALLY cool! 

Another palace & changing of the guards. (Each palace had guards to protect it).

I visited the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA). One of the exhibits on display is a natural photography display. All photos were taken from a helicopter & each photo embraced a different aspect of life and our world today. We are all so lucky to live in such a wonderful world.

Oh Hello 2012!

After "ringing" in the new year, some friends and I headed to the East Sea to watch the first sunrise of the year. This is a tradition here in Korea. Some people wrote on hearts and sent them off. I can only guess but I reckon they wrote their resolutions, loves and hopes for 2012. Cool idea but igniting coal briquets and sending them off into the East Sea does not sound too environmentally friendly. :( 

After little - no sleep we are still smiling! It was approximately -10 degrees Celsius and with the sea breeze it was chilly! We were all still excited to see & participate in the event!  

Photo credit: Pandios Manias

The sun is starting to rise and people have made it out to one of the rocks to watch the Sun rise. 

Photo credit: Pandios Manias

Some people set off roman candles in celebration of the Sun rising.

Photo credit: Pandios Manias

Photo credit: Pandios Manias

The Sun is Rising! The "boat" on top of the hill is a Hotel in the shape of a ship.

Photo credit: Pandios Manias

Hello 2012. What a great start to the Year! 

After spending the morning watching the sunrise some of us (Seoul Hiking Group members) went hiking.  If you didn't know already, I love jumping photos. 

The 6 of us who went hiking. If you walked off the trail the snow was knee deep.

What a great way to start off 2012!

I hope you all had a memorable and enjoyable New Year as well. Hope it is off to a great start!