cheongju and a real cup of coffee

The Korean language final exams are this week and I am about to go crazy from all the studying. So, to relieve some stress and study in a new environment, on Saturday I boarded a bus headed to Cheongju with four of my friends. Our first stop was The New Yorker, a coffee shop that looked enticing. This was one of the best coffee shops I have seen. The atmosphere was relaxed, with classical music playing in the background and a rooftop garden. I casually sipped my cafe americano on the second floor, studying from my table that overlooked the streets below. In the small town of Goesan, it is difficult to find strong coffee and I have succumbed to drinking instant coffee in the morning for my caffeine fix. This was my first taste of a true cafe americano in Korea. After some intense productivity (at least that was the intent...), my friends and I headed into the town for lunch and shopping. We found a hole-in-the-wall restaurant that served bibinbap, one of my favourite Korean dishes. Bibinbap consists of vegetables served over rice in a hot stone bowl. The stone bowl crisps the rice a little and there is a spicy sauce that can be added. Satisfied with our meal, we headed out onto to the streets, mostly to window shop. I did purchase a very stylish green and brown plaid umbrella to fend against the rain. The crowning event of the day was the trek through Lotte Mart, a store similar to Target. I found a coffee dripper (I have used them before when camping, all they require is hot water) and ground coffee at a reasonable price. Finally, I can say no to instant! On the whole, the day was a grand success.

photography 101

Today I had the opportunity to visit Cheongju (again) for a street photography workshop. After learning about aperture settings, shutter speeds, ISO, exposure compensation and flash tricks (and practicing them on our fellow photographers), we received the assignment of taking five pictures of people doing something interesting. It was kind of awkward for me to take pictures of strangers at first, but here are the five pictures I think turned out the best!

site visit

Today, the elementary ETAs got to visit a school classroom in the city of Cheongju! It was encouraging to see an example of what I will be doing this next year. Sixteen of us loaded onto a bus and drove an hour from Goesan. We then observed a third grade English class, observed a fifth grade English class, took a tour of the school and went out to dinner with the principal of the school. The students were extremely cute. The would stare at us as we walked by, run up and greet us with a quick hello, or peek around door corners as though they were afraid of being spotted. One of my favourite moments was when two girls stepped into the classroom during the passing period. They looked at all the "foreigners" with big eyes and started to count how many there were. Starting in English, they reached seven before exhausting their supply of English numbers and began again in Korean. Then they just giggled back and forth at the large number of people.

After seeing the school we went to a Japanese shabu-shabu restaurant. We took off our shoes to enter and sat at a table that was placed into the ground (we were sitting using the floor as a chair with our legs hanging over a ledge to be under the table). In the middle of the table was a boiling pot of water with herbs in it. Everyone received a plate with thinly sliced raw meat and little wraps of lettuce and rice. The meat was placed in the water to cook (one piece at a time) and then eaten with the wrap. There were also various side dishes to sample. Next, the waiter brought noodles and cooked them in the broth we had created, and the meal concluded with a sweet fruit drink. It was all delicious and something I would love to try again in the future.

Today finished with a workshop based on pictures of Korea and some chill time. I am ready for it to be the weekend!