First week as a teacher

The first week at school went by so fast. I think it's safe to say that it was a successful first week. The teachers are warming up to me, so every now and again I get a "Hi, how are you?" in the hall ways. The kids are also starting to greet me in the passages which makes you feel a little wanted, so again - so far so good.

On Friday night we had our first unofficial beach party on Haeundae beach which was a blast. We discovered that you can drink in public in Korea! You just buy a beer or two at the corner shop and then you can enjoy it where ever. It was a lot of fun drinking beer on the beach and chilling with our new friends. We've met quite a few new people after orientation. Some of them have been here for some time now. It's awesome chatting to them, cause they are full of tips and recommendations. We missed the last subway home so we were forced to take a taxi. Everyone was warning us about the crazy taxi drivers, but luckily we got a very cautious one. His driving skills were shockingly bad, but at least he drove responsibly. It was a bit of a mission explaining to him where we wanted to go and after showing him on maps and the works, he just drove straight down the road until we spotted our friend, Starbucks. It wasn't very difficult to get there at all! OOPS :)

It was a beautiful day on Saturday so we headed back to Haeundae beach to meet Cyril for lunch and to soak up the sun a little. We walked along the beach and a beautiful little path with a suspension bridge until we came to the APEC house. Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation or something like that. Apparently there was really big political meeting there about 4 years ago. The building is pretty impressive but the view....sjoe it's absolutely amazing! We took the same path back to the beach and soaked up the sun for a few hours. Cyril and I went for a swim which was amazing seeing that the water is like bath water. Ok not that hot, but just nice. We met a few other south africans in the water, which was a little random - but hooked up with them in the KFC later that evening.

After our beach session, we went to the Busan Aquarium. The aquarium itself isn't very big, but definitely worth it. They even had a hedgehog! haha trust the asians to put a hedgehog in an aquarium. After an hour of fish and sharks we did a 3D show scan show. This was very funny - it was a thing about dinosaurs and it felt like they were attacking us and trying to eat us.

On Sunday I went hiking. I nearly died!!! It took me almost 3 hours to hike up Mount Geumjeonsan. We were a whole group hiking up the mountain. Even though it was very hard and we lost a few people along the way - it was definitely worth it in the end. The view from the top was spectacular. Don't think I have every seen anything like it! It's impossible to explain that view and unfortunately none of the pictures came out right but believe me when I say it was amazing! Each of us had a shot of Soju up at the top - just to celebrate that we actually made it. You could see the whole of Busan (which is a huge city) from the top. Naturally, I fell on the way down and injured my knee...not cool! I had to walk to school the next day so I left an hour earlier just so that I can take my time and limp to school. x