"The March 1st Movement, or Samil Movement, was one of the earliest public displays of Korean resistance during the occupation of the Korean Empire by Japan. The name refers to an event that occurred on March 1, 1919, hence the movement's name, literally meaning "Three-One Movement" or "March First Movement" in Korean"
Luckily, for us, March 1st was a Thursday and since the new school semester starts in March, they decided to give us Friday, March 2nd off too and just wait until Monday to start the new school year. Rachel, Christine and I took advantage of this 4 day weekend and decided to go to Jeju Island off the south coast of Korea. Jeju is known as the island of peace and was voted one of the new seven wonders of the world.
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/11/14/2011111400842.html
http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2011/11/14/2011111400842.html
We flew to Jeju Thursday night, and got there about 9:30. We were "couch surfing" for the weekend so we stayed at another English teacher's apartment named Nick. He was from England and had been teaching on Jeju for about 4 months. The island was just as entertaining as hearing him use words like "wicked" and "flat".
We stayed in a city called Seogwipo which is on the South end of the island.
Friday, Nick had to work, but he had set up one of his friends to show us around the island that day which was really nice of both of them. We saw a couple of waterfalls, and then a giant buddhist temple and called it a day. It had been super warm in Seoul before we left, and that warm weather got to our brains and none of us decided to bring our winter coats with us... A bad idea. It wasn't TOO cold, but it would have been a lot better wearing a coat! Friday night we went out to eat with Nick and some more of his friends. A lot of them were from England or Ireland who had gone through EPIK, the public school programs in Korea. They were really nice and it was interesting to see how different it was living on Jeju compared to living in Seoul. I'm definitely happy that I'm on the mainland and not an island. I don't necessarily need to be close to Seoul, but if you lived on Jeju and wanted to see any other city, you'd always have to fly or take a ferry which would waste time and money!
We stayed in a city called Seogwipo which is on the South end of the island.
Friday, Nick had to work, but he had set up one of his friends to show us around the island that day which was really nice of both of them. We saw a couple of waterfalls, and then a giant buddhist temple and called it a day. It had been super warm in Seoul before we left, and that warm weather got to our brains and none of us decided to bring our winter coats with us... A bad idea. It wasn't TOO cold, but it would have been a lot better wearing a coat! Friday night we went out to eat with Nick and some more of his friends. A lot of them were from England or Ireland who had gone through EPIK, the public school programs in Korea. They were really nice and it was interesting to see how different it was living on Jeju compared to living in Seoul. I'm definitely happy that I'm on the mainland and not an island. I don't necessarily need to be close to Seoul, but if you lived on Jeju and wanted to see any other city, you'd always have to fly or take a ferry which would waste time and money!
Anyways, Saturday we headed off to the north side of the island which was about a 2 hour bus ride, riding along the east coast. We stopped to see some lava tubes and then went into Jeju-si, or Jeju city. When we got there, we went to see Loveland, a park full of statues about sex and love and what not. To sum it up as Wikipedia puts it...
"After the Korean War, the island became a popular honeymoon destination for Korean couples, due to the island's warm climate. Many of the couples had wed because of arranged marriages, and the island also became known for being a center of sex education. According to an article in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, in the late 1980s journalist and travel writer Simon Winchester reported that some hotel employees on the island performed as "professional icebreakers." In the evenings, the hotel would offer an entertainment program featuring erotic elements, to help newlyweds relax. In 2002, graduates of Seoul's Hongik University began creating sculptures for the park, which opened on November 16, 2004. Encompassing an area the size of "two soccer fields", all of the sculptures can be viewed in approximately one hour, and there is an additional monthly rotating exhibit featuring works by different Korean artists."
"After the Korean War, the island became a popular honeymoon destination for Korean couples, due to the island's warm climate. Many of the couples had wed because of arranged marriages, and the island also became known for being a center of sex education. According to an article in Germany's Der Spiegel magazine, in the late 1980s journalist and travel writer Simon Winchester reported that some hotel employees on the island performed as "professional icebreakers." In the evenings, the hotel would offer an entertainment program featuring erotic elements, to help newlyweds relax. In 2002, graduates of Seoul's Hongik University began creating sculptures for the park, which opened on November 16, 2004. Encompassing an area the size of "two soccer fields", all of the sculptures can be viewed in approximately one hour, and there is an additional monthly rotating exhibit featuring works by different Korean artists."
So that was that...
Saturday night, we stayed in a jimjilbang. Not only do they have the spa rooms with hot tubs, showers and saunas, there are also big sleeping rooms with mats, pillows and blankets. They also give you pajamas! They had heated sleeping rooms too which was really nice. They were too hot to actually sleep in but it was nice to sit in for a while. It only cost 9,000 won (about 9 dollars) for the spa and to sleep there so it was cheaper than staying in a hostel and it was 5 minutes away from the airport.
Sunday morning, we got up and went to the airport around 7 and made our way back into Seoul about 9. It was only a one hour flight so that was nice. It was nice to have all of Sunday to get ready for the week with all our new classes!
I'll write about my classes soon (I'm sure the anticipation is killing everyone...) but that's for another day!
I heard it's 70 degrees at home, not cool. It's still a steady mid 40's here and I'm very anxious for spring so I can get out and see more!
Enjoy the warmth! I hope you get a huge snow fall soon :)
Love, Meghan
Oh, and updated pictures too...
http://s1068.photobucket.com/albums/u451/mfaricy2/
http://s1068.photobucket.com/albums/u451/mfaricy2/
