Hello all! Sorry it has been so long since I've written, but things have not slowed down. This past week of school flew by, and before I knew it I was on a charter bus (1 of 18!) to Gyeongju for the faculty/staff retreat. We took so many buses because it was all faculty, staff, and families from TCIS as well as GSIS, our sister school in Suwon. I really enjoyed meeting the staff from GSIS, including the Spanish teacher. She is from Brazil, but her dad is from Malaga. She taught for 3 months in Morocco and 6 months in Israel before coming to Korea. Talk about some cool stories! I think she is going to come visit us at TCIS in September. Anyway, Gyeongju is one of the most historic cities in Korea. It kinda reminded me of an Asian version of Pella because all the buildings were of the traditional style: gas stations, shops, restaurants, etc. There were no high-rise apartment complexes like in every other Korean city. And there was so much green! We stayed in a very nice hotel, ate great food, and had ample free time to explore the city. I hiked a mountain from base to peak on Saturday AM. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done, but I was so tired after. There was an awesome view from the top (you could see to the ocean) which made it well worth the muscle pain. From the top we looked down and saw our hotel, where we left from, and it was such an amazing feeling. In the PM I took a cultural tour. We visited a Buddist temple, a museum, and some tombs. The tombs are mounds of grass which just look like big hills. Inside, all the kings and queens of the silla dynasty are buried. One has been excavated and you can go inside. It is pretty cool. Then for dinner we had bulgogi and watched a cultural show, complete with dances and drumming (see video below). The nights of the retreat were a lot of fun, too. On Friday we found a no rae bang and about 42 TCIS and GSIS people all squeezed into a room meant to hold about 15. Then, on Saturday, we played games until way later than I wanted to be up, but it was a lot of fun. I feel like I know the returning staff a lot better now. So now it's Monday and it was back to normal! At least for another couple weeks until our next break
to see more pictures from Gyeongju, use this link:
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment