When I opened my curtains the sun was strong and it was raining. Confused? Me too. I opened the window and a balmy 50 degrees hit me in the face. All of the snow piled on top of my apartment building was raining down to the parking lot. Apparently the sun was sick of hiding out for the past two months, so today was the day to make up for the frigid temperatures of late. I gladly welcomed the warmer weather, but was careful to let my hopes get too high. After all, it is still February. We have a solid month of winter left, if not more. So, I will not be fooled by this high temperature fluke in mid-winter, because it is a fake-out. There will probably be a snow storm next week.
I spent the morning at the gym doing a little running. The treadmills overlook the pools, the 'serious pool' for lap swimming and the pool with a clown and a dog painted on the bottom that is clearly meant for the fun swimming. As the kids are all on their winter vacation, swimming lessons are in full swing. Before class started, the kids were nuts. There were maybe 30 kids (ages 7-10?) down there, both boys and girls, and no adults. This was the first moment where I just stared at the situation and said, 'What?'. Then, the kids started pushing each other in the water and playing tag on the pool deck. I continued to stare at the situation and say, 'What is happening?'. In my head, it was a really flat, but panicked, 'What is happening.' Perhaps the best part though, was when class actually started and the swimming 'warm-ups' commenced - bent knee circles, superman arm stretches and jumping jacks...on the wet, slippery pool deck. Some of the kids were less than a foot away from the edge of the water and they were doing wet, slippery jumping jacks! This was the third, eye-popping, 'WHAT.' Safety Camp 101: No running, roughhousing or jumping jacks on the pool deck. Come on.
The gym is a special gem of a place. In a lot of ways it is really similar to your local YMCA. There's the swimming pool, the gym area (with the treadmills and some weight machines), an aerobic studio with mirrors, big windows and mats for all kinds of yoga stretching, and an actual gymnasium which is usually occupied with badminton players. When you enter the locker room, you have to take off your shoes, just as you do when entering a restaurant or someone's home here. Outside of the locker room in the hallway is a giant shoe shelf where everyone leaves their shoes when they are finished working out. The magical thing about this is that the shoes are actually there the next time you come back to work out. No one thinks about taking them or moving them. They just stay put. I haven't personally tried out this system yet, but that's mostly because I don't trust myself to return to the gym on a regular basis. My shoes could be stuck there for awhile...
Until last week, I was one of five native English teachers in Taebaek during the month of January. The other four work at Hagwons, or private schools - the place where kids go after regular school hours to learn and practice more English. The rest of our comrades were off on their winter vacations - Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Cambodia, China - I would say that most of southeast Asia was covered by their adventures. While it was somewhat depressing to represent the public school teachers by my lonesome, I had a pretty decent time sleeping in, finishing a few books, working on lesson plans, teaching French to one of my Korean co-workers, and cooking some mighty fine soups. It also made the prospect of going on my vacation next week that much more exciting. Bring on the Bali beaches!
Here are a few pictures from the Taebaek Snow Festival. The festival lasts over a period of two weeks and draws people to Taebaek from all over the country. I never thought Taebaek could be such a traffic-jammed zoo, but alas, it happened. There were snow sculptures, ice slides, igloos equipped with ice tables, chairs, and hot chocolate, K-POP performances, mountain hiking, and a lot of interesting looking street food. It was a freezing good time.
It wouldn't be a snow festival without a mean lookin' Shrek and a giant PSY...
Hiking through the woods with (from left) Quincey, Chris, Evan and Andrea.
Overlooking one cluster of snow sculptures
Quincey and I at the bottom of Taebaek Mountain.
One of the sled dogs with different colored eyes! Neat.
Colorful Koreans walking down the mountain.
Some Taebaekers with the Coal Mining Mascot
(from left) Quincey, Kate, Evan, Andrea, and Chris
Here are a few pictures from my birthday as well. It was pretty low-key with a nice galbi dinner, cake and good friends. Here's to hoping that year 25 brings good things!
No comments:
Post a Comment