A week of goodbyes.

I've finally started my last week of teaching.  I see every one of my classes once a week, so that means that every class I have this week will be the last time I spend time with those students.  I knew it would be bittersweet saying goodbye to the students and that some students I would really miss, but I didn't expect to be hit with the wave of emotions that hit me yesterday.  All of a sudden I had the urge to cry and had to fight it back when I was saying goodbye to them at the end of class.  And I wasn't even saying goodbye to a class that I liked that much!  The students have been so sweet, saying the kindest things to me that I will remember forever.

Below are some pictures of a surprise farewell party that my co-teacher, Mrs. Kang, planned for me.  She even made a cake out of cheese bread and had the students bring it out to me!  I think the kids were pretty excited to have a party :)

Here are all the boys hovered over a plate of snacks.

This is Christina.  Whenever I see her in the hallways she always quizzes me by asking "Teacher, my name?"  Now, I'll never be able to forget her name!

From left to right: Villa, Smith Lee, and Cheetos.  Just from the English names they've picked, you can tell that they are major class clowns!  These guys are so fun to have in class. 

This is Castle.  She's really shy but tries so hard in class and is always so focused.  She's such a great student.

Fergusons in Busan.

The last stop of the trip was beautiful Busan.  Busan is the second largest city in South Korea, but has a very different vibe from Seoul.  It is spread out along the coast, so for some reason it doesn't seem so big, and it also has a very beachy vibe.  Doug and I had been once before, but it was during the winter.  So, we were excited to experience it during summer and see the busy beaches.

We arrived late on the first night after a very long bus ride from Boseong.  We checked into our hotels and dropped off our bags.  We were starving by that point, since it was past nine o'clock, so we walked down to the beach to check out the restaurants.  We found a great little Italian bistro on the waterfront that, luckily, was still taking in new customers even though it was approaching ten at that point.  The food was delicious, maybe one of the best places I have eaten in Busan.

The second day was when we did most of our sightseeing.  We went Busan Tower first and looked over the different districts and ports of Busan.  Once we got to the top, Doug and I searched for our "love lock" that we put up there when we were visiting in January.  We looked for awhile with the help of Doug's parents, but couldn't find it.  In hindsight maybe we should have made our lock really unique looking to stand out.

After the tower, we shopped, ate lunch, and then stopped at Jalgachi Fish Market.  You can actually see the market in the picture of the city, above.  It is the longer building with the funny curved roof.  It is towards the right side of the picture and is along the water.  The market is always a cool thing to see.  They've got every type of seafood that you could imagine.  

The outdoor market.

The indoor market.

The last day we went down to the beach by our hotel to dip our feet in the water before we had to get on our train back to Cheonan.  When you go the the beach in Korea, you can rent an umbrella space rather than bringing your own.  So all the spaces are uniformly distributed along the beach with red umbrellas.

When we were walking back to the hotel to get our bags and go to the train station, we ran into a local with two beautiful Jindo dogs.  The owner spoke impeccable English, so it was so fun talking to her about her dogs.  Jindos are often kept her as a guard dog, chained up outside for their entire life - never let off their chain.  Or they are raised for dog meat occasionally.  Rarely do we see them as actually pets.  This girl's Jindos were so incredibly sweet.  The one that is not pictured would just plow her head right into you and try to snuggle on your lap when you crouched down to pet her.  It was so endearing! Now, Doug is totally sold on getting a Jindo someday.  

Boseong.

After Cheonan, we did something that I have been wanting to do probably since after we arrived in Korea.  We went down south to a quaint town called Boseong.  Boseong is a popular place to visit  because there are many picturesque green tea plantations on the mountains there.  We were actually going to go the the green tea plantations on our anniversary, but ran out of town since the bus to get to Boseong is long and doesn't run many times during the day.  I was very glad that we waited though and were able to go with Doug's parents, since every other place we took them featured Korea's urban side.  The countryside is still such an important aspect to most Koreans, since South Korea developed so rapidly these past fifty years. So, experiencing the beauty and tranquility of rural Korea is a must. Hey, they don't call it the "land of the morning calm" for nothing, right?

So we got to Boseong around lunch time and stopped at the cafe there before entering the fields.  The cafe featured green tea bibimbap, green tea noodles, and a green tea breaded pork cutlet.  It was simple food but delicious and really satisfying.  After eating we made our way to the fields. You pass all of the gift shops and cafes and see a really steep staircase.  When you reach the top of the staircase, you immediately see rows upon rows of vibrant green and perfectly manicured green tea bushes.  To say it is breathtaking would be an understatement.  It's something that Doug and I like to call "that's so Korea".

Doug and I also hiked to the top of the mountain that the fields were on.  From the top you can see the ocean, small islands out in the distance, and plots of green tea fields spotted along the mountains all around you.  It was so peaceful, I could have stayed there for hours if it wasn't for the green tea ice cream at the bottom of the mountain calling my name.  And normally I'm not a huge fan of green tea ice cream, but this stuff was the bomb.  I had to refrain myself from going back for seconds!

After taking lots of pictures at the bottom of the field, we started making the steep ascent to the top.  The above picture was taken when we were halfway to the top.

Finally, we can see the ocean!  If you look close enough, there is an island to the very top right of the picture.

After our short but steep climb, we rested our feet in a small stream.  It seemed like the popular thing to do since chairs we ligned up and down the whole stream with visitors quietly soaking their feet.

Take me back to that ice cream.  Seriously.  It was that good.

And finally, the family waiting at the little country bus station for our bus to Busan.

Fergusons in Cheonan.

After spending three hot busy days in bustling Seoul, we headed to Cheonan, which Koreans say is the "slow life".  Even though it still is a good sized city, it does not even come close to jam-packed Seoul that attracts tourists from all over the world.  One thing that Doug and I really wanted to show them was the Big Buddha statue on Mt. Taejosan, which is the mountain that we can see from the view in our apartment.  The area around the statue and temple is so peaceful and serene.  It is definitely a must see when you are in Cheonan. Plus, we could bring Pippa along on this outing, which is always a bonus :)

 Tons of steps to the top didn't stop this pup.

Pippa chilling with Buddha.

 Doug got some great photos of the temple's intricate artwork.  And, of course, he took a picture of a dragon.

Fergusons in Seoul.

Doug and I were so lucky to be visited by his parents last week.  It was a very busy week - we were able travel all the way south and back again with them - but it was so much fun.  We first met  them in Seoul and stayed there three nights.  Here are some highlights from Seoul:

First we visited Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest palace in Seoul.  It was a hot hot day, but the skies were so beautiful and blue.

We also visited a secret garden that the royal families used at Changdeokgung Palace.

One night, we took the tram up Namsan mountain to visit Namsan Tower.  This tower overlooks all of Seoul and lovers come to put their locks around the tower with love notes written on them.  Namsan tower also has three restaurants located in it.  We ate at the Italian restaurant and watched the sun slowly set.  It was amazing to watch the cities lights gradually turn on until the whole city was lit up.