After 2 years in this strange and wonderful country, it is time to say goodbye. How do you pack up and leave a place that holds so many memories and friends from around the world? It only occurred to me afterwards that I would never be called 'teacher' again and would probably never eat kimchi again (despite my love/hate relationship with cold fermented cabbage).

All my friends who will be missed in Korea.
I have seen so many weird and equally amazing things in this country, from matching couple outfits (shoes and all) to seeing a neighborhood grandmother take a dump in our local park. There are so many teaching moments that stick with you, from the sweet and innocent little girls who say “I love you teacher” to the extremely chubby 5th grade boy who likes to call me 'Jelly Girl' because I'm more 'jelly fat' than any of the other pin thin Korean teachers. Or maybe even my old high school students who continue to offer me free cigarettes on the street.

Letters from my students saying goodbye.
At the bus station in Yeongju, about to leave.
How do you wrap all those experiences up in a neat little box and go home?
Honestly, I'm not sure but we had a damn good CU crawl anyway.
One of the charms of Korea is that public drinking is completely and 100 percent legal. Sitting at a local convenience store like 7/11, CU or GS25 and downing beer after beer at their picnic tables is totally normal and done. Therefore, because my neighbour, Mark and I, were leaving at the same time, we managed to round up a bunch of our Yeongju friends and went from one convenience store to another drinking. I think we finally all crawled home at about 3am. It was awesome.
On our Yeongju CU crawl!
Most of all I want to dedicate this blog post to some of my closest and dearest friends in Korea who made my experience so special. To Yeongju, a weird, conservative, and apple loving town in the middle of no where – thank you for being so welcoming and loving to a little South African like me.

Saying goodbye to two awesome co-teachers.
To my always comical neighbors, Simon and Mark, I hope Haneuleche-one-room will be as fun for the newbies to live in as it was for me. To Andrea and Sharon – two women who were simultaneously my friends and my mothers overseas, your kindness is always remembered. To people like Frances and Heather, ever level headed and sweet, I will miss eating junk food with you two. To friends like Lauren, Faridah and Karina – your crazy and often hilarious banter will be missed. To the 'new' girls – Irene, Erika and Mel I hope Yeongju becomes your home away from home. To two very sweet co-teachers who made my second year very easy! And lastly, to Marc and Barbara (who I arrived with), I wish noting but the best for that little ball of joy on the way!

Goodbye Korea! I will miss you and thanks for 2 years of adventure and learning.
For anyone who has spent even a limited amount of time in Korea, it is a well known fact that Soju (an alcoholic rice wine) is a household staple and much loved choice of drink for patriotic Koreans everywhere. I personally have spent many a Saturday morning, feeling like the soju shots on Friday night, often in the double digits, weren't really worth my proceeding pounding headache.


I have seen countless park benches with perfectly respectable family men, fast asleep at 3 am, having suffered at the hands of this pretty toxic, vodka like drink. Korea is a country obsessed with Soju dating back as far as the 14th century when the beverage was traditionally made from boiled sweet potatoes. According to CNN Online, upwards of 61.38 million cases of soju were distributed over the last year, making it officially the most commercially sold alcohol in the world.

Yet is it worth all the hype? At  25%  alcohol and $2 a bottle it might be cost effective - but is it worth suffering through the taste? A friend from home described the flavour as "like drinking sweetened carpet cleaner" and honestly I have to agree, the clear liquid has never gone down too easily."Lighter-fluid-ish-taste" was the reality until very recently in April 2015 when producers began to introduce flavoured Soju options onto the Korean market. Currently, everything from Peach and Blueberry through to  Citron  and Pomegranate flavour can be found at any grocery or convenience store nationwide. Hooray for a better taste!

The different Soju flavours. Original, Citron, Pomegranate, Peach and Blueberry.
However, the key question remains -which flavour is the best? I rounded up a couple of foreigners in my town to give all the flavours a try. Here's what these soju judges had to say.

The esteemed Judges: Irene, Andrea, Lauren and Erika.

1. Peach flavour:

Overall 7/10

Both Irene and Erika said they liked it and that it reminded them of 'My Chew' (a sugary Korean candy that students seem to go crazy over). They thought it was both a great pity and huge relief that their students were not allowed to get their hands on Peach soju. Ultimately they said the flavoured stuff was a hundred times better than the original.

Irene and Erika trying the Peach flavour.

2. Pomegranate flavour:

Overall 6/10 
(a slight disagreement among the judges)

Although Lauren though it was "delicious" and preceded to pour herself another glass, Irene thought the flavour reminded her of kids cough syrup and said it wasn't exactly her scene (giving it a 5 out of 10). Lauren told Irene not to be a hater and took the bottle away from her, apologizing to it for Irene's harsh words. A very mixed bag of opinions. 

3. Citron flavour:

Overall 8/10

Lets just say that Erika saw the light when she first tried the Citron flavour. Watch this for full details.


4. Blueberry flavour: 

Overall 10/10

A unanimous agreement that blueberry was the best. Everyone drank more than one shot. Andrea said,"At first there's the alcohol taste and then the blueberry flavour kicks in and tells you that everything is going to be just fiinnnnnnne."

5. The unflavoured Soju (Original):

Overall 3/10 
(They were highly unimpressed) Watch for more details.


So which is your favourite flavour?  Thank you to Irene, Erika, Andrea and Lauren for your help.

In the days leading up to leaving, I have spent my mini vacation eating my way through all that Korea has to offer. Here's a look at some of the delicious food Ive managed to shovel down with delight.

Lamb skewers (Yang-gogi) on a open coal rotisserie. Lamb is very hard to come by in Korea, so when we heard of a restaurant in my town that serves it, we jumped straight in a taxi and went in search of this mystical restaurant. We were definitely not disappointed. The metal stars found at the end of the skewers help the meat to rotate automatically while cooking. All that is needed, is to sit back and enjoy the aroma of cooking meat while drinking a beer. The meal comes with a number of side spices that you can dip the lamb into.

Not quite Korean - rather a  Japanese inspired side dish. Tempura fried shrimp with a little side salad. They were delicious and surprisingly ungreasy.

Sushi platter. Another Japanese dish- The salmon was so fresh and well prepared.

After a week of McDonalds fries and pizza, I really looked forward to this salad. In a land where salad often consists of apple and strawberry yogurt mixed in with lettuce and tomato, this particular salad was a pleasant surprise. Although one would not automatically associate Thursday Party (A franchise club/bar) with good food - it definitely delivered and for a fairly good price. We sat overlooking the beach front in Gwangwali, Busan while I devoured a grilled chicken salad with sun dried tomatoes and Parmesan shavings.

One of my old favourites - Dak Galbi. A dish comprised of chicken, cabbage, potatoes, rice cakes (dok), and a sweet spicy sauce. The dish is cooked over a large hot surface in the middle of your table. It can be eaten with a number of side dishes and wrapped in lettuce leaves.
A cupcake from the Shinsegae Department Store in Busan (The largest department store in the world). This is genuinely one of the nicest cupcakes I have ever eaten. The cake was moist and the icing, although very creamy, wasn't overpoweringly sweet.  The whole cupcake melting in your mouth as you ate it. At Approximately 5000won ($5/R50) it was exactly cheap, but well worth the money spent.

Last but not least, what to do when you have a bit of a hangover? Get a bloody Mary from Thursdays Party the next day. It was exactly what the doctor ordered.

Ladies and Gentlemen, 'Desk Warming' season is upon us.  It is that very special time of year for teachers in Korea, where we sit.. often bored to tears.. at our desks during the summer vacation hitting the refresh button on our Facebook news feeds (all just in case something interesting has happened since our last refresh 30 seconds ago). It is the time of the year where a bathroom break seems like a nice outing and distraction. Where your eyes glance, every 20 seconds or so at the right hand corner of your screen to see if time has passed...even just a little bit. Normally it hasn't.

Deskwarming
If you've ever worked in Korea as a public school teacher the term "deskwarming" will be something  all too familiar to you. No classes for the next two weeks? No curriculum or lessons to plan? No problem...you'll need to sit at your desk and look extremely busy from 8-4 all vacation long. As public school teachers our job stipulates that we must work an 8 hour day regardless of summer holidays or winter vacation.. even if there is nothing to do and no students for miles and miles. This leaves rather a lot of time on our hands. So what to do when your bored silly? Ultimately, you have access to some of the fastest internet in the world and nothing but time... so what could go wrong? From my long and versatile desk warming experience, here are a couple of things to keep your waning interest.

1. GeoGuesser. 

Bored? Need to get outside without actually moving an inch? Geo-guesser will dump you on google maps street view pretty much anywhere around the world. You simply need to 'walk around' in it and figure out where you have been place. I have spent many an hour trying to figure out if a street sign is written in Portuguese or Spanish and if this will help me to figure out where the hell I am. Normally I am good continent off.

Geo Guesser. Where in the world are you?

2. The wonderful world of Youtube vloggers.

I have spent endless afternoons watching an laughing at some of my favorite daily vloggers, often doing something as simple as grocery shopping. I feel like I get to go on an outing... while still being stuck at my desk drinking coffee. One of my favorites being 'Thatcher Joe', who spends half his days pranking his roommate (filling their apartment with hundreds of boxes and hiding his room mates keys in one of them) or traveling to fantastic places like the Philippines and Croatia. His sister Zoella is a pretty awesome vlogger too. Here are a couple of vloggers to check out over your many hours at the computer.

                            -ThatcherJoe    Zoella    Pointlessblog   The Saccone Jolys-

Vloggers Jim Chapman (left) and Thatcher Joe (right).

3. Code Academy. 

Got spare hours on your hands? Why not nerd up and try to learn scripting languages for free. The site talks you through the basics of API's, Javascript and even Python or PHP in an easy to understand and unique way. Who knows.. you could invent something cooler than the internet while you sit at your desk.

Learning to code in Code Academy. 

4. The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. 

Are you someone whole likes Jane Austen classics? If so, the Lizzie Bennett Diaries are for you. Set as a modern day vlog adaptation of Pride and Prejudice told from 24 year old literature graduate Lizzie. Follow her as she works for 'Pemberly' digital. The vlog series won multiple youtube awards and continues to rack up views. Check it out here.


Lizzie (middle) and her two sisters Jane (right) and Lydia (above). not to forget her best buddy Charlotte (far right).


5. Sporcle. 

 The site contains hundreds of quizzes to keep your interest on anything from naming countries to Harry Potter trivia. If your bored, why not take a quiz like "Don't say the F word" or "Movie Subtitle Madness". Visit Sporcle here.

Take a quiz on Sporcle.

6. Food Gwaker. 

The sites logo sums up this culinary viewing (or 'food porn') experience perfectly as "Feed your eyes". I have spent countless afternoons looking through photos of  Sirloin sliders or red velvet cream cheese frosted fairy cakes. Realistically, a site like this will only make you more hungry than you already are. However, if your spending your 8 hours thinking of what to cook for dinner -'Food Gwaker' is the place to start. You will simultaneously fall in love with the idea of Grilled Berry and Nutella Crostini's while also realizing that your culinary skills are really not what they could be. For delicious food click here.

All the delicious food on Foodgwaker.com

My your deskwarming season be swift and may your 8 or 10 days off come quickly!
A couple of weeks ago the Yeongju girls headed down to Busan to celebrare Mel and I's birthday.
It was a pretty great girls birthday full of 1000 won vodka shots, Mexican food and wasting money at H & M.

Here are a couple of pics from our girls weekend away:


Busan is incomplete without a trip to the beach - or in Korea, beers on the beach (its legal here, ok!). Even though the weather wasn't brilliant it was still nice to splash my toes in the water and wonder around Gwangwali.

Sharon chillin' in her bunk. We stayed at Calli Hosetl in Seomeyon, Busan. It is definitely one of the nicest hostel I have ever stayed in. Each bunk has clean white sheets, a plug point and a reading light. The bathrooms were also very clean. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Busan. This image makes Sharon sorta look like her legs are disconnected from her body. She still pulls it off though :)

Diamond Bridge on Gwangwali beach. This connecting bridge lights up at night between Namcheon-dong and Centum City and is over 7 kms long. Between the bright lights are my equally bright and pale legs.

It's a birthday right? Time to party. We all headed over to KSU for a night out on the town.

One of the goals of the evening was to use the two chat up line cards that we had handed out. A thank you to Lauren who wrote all the lines out on individual cards. Some of the worst were:
"Are you a garbage collector? Because I want you to come grab my junk" and
"Are you a marine biologist? Because you free my willy"

The significance of an assembly line is hugely important to ensure that everyone gets their drinks in a swift and orderly manner from the 7/11. Organisation is key. We are all drinking Andrea's cocktail concoction: Blue bag drink, soju and Sprite/Chilsung. It might make your tongue neon blue but it works.

Have a hangover? A trip to Subway is in order to deal with the after effects of tequila and being awake till 5 am. The subway cookies also help you to deal with the  reality of teaching grade 3's the following morning (I had 2 cookies).

What would going out partying be, without a 2 hour hair straightening and make up dabbing session. Here is a hair-straightening train. I was extremely proud that I straightened Lauren./ freakin' Rapunzel's hair.

And lastley.. Just a lovely weekend at the beach with all the girls.


That crazy lady Sharon outside the Fuzzy Navel on Gwangwali beach.

On the Subway to KSU.
Have you ever wondered what Korean snacks taste like?  Ever tried 'Sweet Cheese and Melon' filled crackers? I have.  Recently Heather, Frances and I tried a bunch of weird and wonderful snacks found in our local supermarket (HomePlus). Many we will never touch again, while others pleasantly surprised us.


The only rule of our snack eating was that it had to be bitten into at least once and swallowed. There wasn't necessarily any need to finish every single shrimp chip in the packet - but rather to simply try it. Although, in truth I needed some convincing before I took on the fire noodles.  Here's a look at some of the unique things we ate.

1. Kinoko Mushroom Cookies

Although the name makes it sound like a delightfully home baked drug, these are in fact some pretty delicious kid friendly snacks. These little cookies are made in the shape of mushrooms with a milk chocolate cap and biscuit stem. They are incredibly 'more-ish'.
Overall score: 8.5/10 Price: 800 won (80c)

2. Shrimp Chips 

Second to taste was the shrimp chips. I very much dislike any form of seafood, shrimp snacks being no exception. To me it sort of tastes like somebody took a perfectly decent chip and rubbed a freshly gutted prawn over it, covering it in 'seafood-ie' juices. I gave it a 1/10 (the one being for the packaging), Heather on the other hand said it was alright but lacked a little flavor at 5/10.
Frances said it was the type of snack she would eat, if it came for free at a bar - a stretch for someone who doesn't drink any alcohol.
Overall score: 3.5/10 Price: 950 won (90 c)










  3. Ddeokbokki Chips

The Ddeokbokki chips were much improved at 1200 won. Ddeokbokki basically translates to a solid gelatinous rice cake that is cooked up in sauce and is a national Korean favourite. Although the chips resembled something closer to spiced dry penne pasta - the result was still pretty good. Frances admitted that she would happily buy them again. Overall, they were a pretty decent surprise. I never thought I'd like spicy dry pasta.
Overall Score: 7.5/10 Price: 1200 w ($1.20)






4. My Chew Fruit Candy

Any native teacher in the KOR will know that My Chew is the route to Korean children's hearts. I have had even the most difficult little rat become a willing and docile participant once 'My Chew' was introduced. The three of us polished off a full packet in about 20 mins. I had to go and buy more for my students the next morning.
Overall Score: 9/10 Price: 2,500 w ($2.50)









 5. Fire Noodles

 Burnt tongues, wincing, coughing and fully grown men crying, can been seen all over the internet thanks to these infamous ready noodles (or 'Booldalkbokkeummyun') .We had no choice but to give them a try. Take a look at my reaction- I feel that I held it together fairly gracefully.
Overall Score: 4/10 Price: 2,300 won ($2.30)


6. Melon-Cheese Crackers

As awful as sprayed cheese and melon stuffed between two savory crackers may sound, it really wasn't half bad. Heather described it as "a nice free gift kind of food" - meaning something that you would eat if you had gotten it for free but probably not a snack you would waste any bus change on. My assessment? If you get it for free... try a couple and pawn the rest off on your students.
Overall Score: 7/10 Price: 3000 won ($3)



Verdict?

Would I tell family and friends at home to eat all Korean snacks? Maybe not - but I'd certainly send them My Chew candy and Mushroom Cookies in the post. Who am I kidding? I'd probably send them Fire Noodles as an experiment as well.

 A big thank you to Frances and Heather for trying all the snacks! 

Here's a laugh at Frances slating 'Crunky Chocoloate' for its lack of substance. She calls it 'the sort of chocolate you'd eat last on Christmas day...worse even than chocolate gold  coins'.




Recently while visiting the island of Ulleong-do, I had the opportunity to visit Nari Basin, a beautiful valley hidden away high up in the mountains.

Getting off the bus at Nari Basin
But what exactly is Nari Basin? The name roughly translates to ‘flat crater area’ and is the result of a giant volcanic eruption over 9000 years ago which caused a ‘caldera’ (or unusual flat area for everyone without a Geography degree).

A view of the mountains in Nari Basin, Ulleong-do Island.
We were told on our tour that we were being taken to a traditional village over an hour away. In all honesty, I rolled my eyes at the thought – I have been in Korea going on two years and have seen my fair share of traditional temples. Was it really necessary to drive for an hour to see yet another one? My slightly jaded view was that once you have seen one temple in Korea, you have seen them all. (I realize this was quite a spoiled outlook). Despite my rolling eyes, the entire bus did not of course stop and turn around for me and I was left pleasantly surprised with what I eventually got to see.

Walking around Nari Basin on Ulleong-do Island.
Nari Basin, which is located on the North side of the island, is extremely hard to get too. It requires an incredibly sturdy bus or car (little Chevy Sparks like mine need not apply). There were times on the bus where we were driving up hill at an almost 90 degree angle. Occasionally we would idly round a sharp corner, and all 50 passengers would hold their breaths and exhale and cheer in delight when we came out ok on the other side. The bus driver received a full round of applause once we made back down the mountain. I heard a girl cheer “land!!” as we got out of the bus.

The view coming into the valley from the bus. Its a little shaky - from the bumpy ride down and possibly from my nerves as well. 
 Once we finally arrived, the valley was absolutely beautiful. It was an unusually completely flat area nestled between some fairly high peaks. Our tour guide told us that a grand total of 30 people lived in this area and used the volcanic soil to farm. The school, which is at the bottom of the mountain, has only 2 students and 5 teachers - quite the morning commute. I saw possibly two inhabitants beyond our tour group the entire time I was there. Compared to bustling cities like Busan or Daegu, this little piece of Eden was quiet and untouched.

A map of Nari Basin.
One of the more interesting things we got to see was the ‘Tumakjip’ ( or traditional houses). These are homes that Korean people lived in over 250 years ago before things like plumbing and electricity. The houses which are made of beach tree and soil, help to self-control temperature, keeping the interior cold in summer and warm in winter.  One thing that I will say, is that I felt that the bathroom, which clearly had no plumbing or even a lid to cover the contents, was entirely too close to the main house.  Although I can see the convenience of a long drop about 3 steps from the room you sleep in, I also feel that it might be an extremely bad idea from a smell point of view. I assume that the entire family would have known about it if one of its members had gotten a stomach bug. However, I suppose the alternative would have been to dig a hole next to a bush, so maybe beggars can’t be choosers.

The toilet
The 3 steps between the bathroom and bedrooms.
 Traditional homes in Nari Basin.
Traditional homes or 'Tumakjip'.
The kitchen area made of a dug out soil and clay pots
Taking photos around the traditional village. A church in the distance -set up for 30 people. I figure with such a small congregation they must really notice if you skip a Sunday.
Although the area is really difficult to reach, I would recommend Nari Basin as a stop for anyone visiting Ulleong-do Island. If you’re looking for a serene and quiet place to drink pumpkin Makkoli (pumpkin rice wine) – Nari Basin is your place!

Once in the valley - we got to try the local home made Pumpkin flavoured makkoli ( rice wine).