It wasn't long ago that I was writing about my winter break in Thailand, and here we are already reliving winter break part 2. When I came back to Korea this time around, it wasn't the job or pay that sold me on this gig, but rather the extensive amount of time off. Our school has thus far been off for Chuseok, late fall, winter/holiday break, Seollal, and next week is our first of two spring breaks. For anyone currently living in Korea under the hagwon schedule, my deepest condolences. I once lived that life, fighting for my 10 days of vacation, but no more of that, I'm growing very accustomed to my nearly 50/50 work to vacation mode. This is the lifestyle I'm accustomed to after all, in the past it was more like one year on, 6 months off, but I'll take these interspersed holidays with glee. None of what I've said so far should come as a surprise, but the plans I chose to make with my second winter holiday may shock some. Instead of running off to some tropical island, remember SE Asia is at my fingertips, I chose a stay-cation followed by a long weekend in Seoul. Winter in Jeju is a mixed bag of surprises, we went from ice rain to warm sunny skies, soon followed by normal rain and of course the bitterly cold wind. Through all of this I forgot that Seoul experiences a pretty standard winter, with most days hovering in the just above or below freezing range, and somehow I decided that was what I wanted for my winter break.
0 Comments
Last week I was lucky enough to have my first visitor in Korea. Despite never having been out of the country (road trips to Canada 30+ years ago don't count), I talked my dad into flying halfway around the world to an extremely foreign land. With the luck I have at my school I was able to leave early on Friday meaning I could meet him at the airport, a 3.5 hour bus ride from my home. It was long, but well worth it, I was all smiles once I finally met him in the arrivals hall. He had survived his 15 hour flight, but unfortunately the travel wasn't quite yet finished. We still had an hour subway ride into Seoul, and then a hunt for our hostel.
This past weekend I took up to Seoul for the Lotus Lantern Festival. There were a number of people going, but I'm never one to rely on or wait for a group so I booked accommodation and said I'd meet them there. Once in Seoul, I ran into Beth and Katie only to find out they were staying at the same hostel as me. I then found Stephen at the subway station and we made our way to the hostel, dumped our bags and proceeded into the nightlife of Hongdae. This was my second weekend spent on the streets of Hongdae and I can say I've not been disappointed. There's a university nearby so there is plenty of bars, clubs, restaurants and street food. It was one of Stephen's friends birthdays so we started by getting burgers, beer and some unnecessary shots at one o the restaurants. After that, we made our way to a few different bars before calling it a night somewhere around 3am.
|
AsiaKoreaWhere to start. After living on and off in this country for nearly 10 years I have memories, experiences and stories galore. I'll now always be a bit partial to the Land of the Morning Calm. Filled with delicious foods, beautiful nature and friendly people, I'm always happy to return. Archives
June 2023
Categories
All
|