Another Harvest, Another Hike

It is fall. Another beautiful transition into the sleepy winter months. The rice is being harvested, the colors are at their best, and the weather is taking a turn for the colder.


Below the rice combine, which runs on tracks, makes laps around the riced patty. They stop periodically to unload the rice into bags. The rice straw which remains is bailed into small square or large round bales. Sometimes if the moisture content of the straw is high enough they will wrap the bales in plastic to make haylage.

The rice goes from the fields to the roads. The farmers take over the rural roads this time of year. One has to be careful when driving because tarps are layed down and the rice is poured out to dry. The ladies occasionally rake/stir the rice throughout the day, and then put it back in bags at night.

The garden crops have changed as the weather gets colder as well. We see more cabbage, lettuce, and spinach.

Spinach for sale in a small town on the south side of the island. Chelsie and I bought a nice bundle from this cute old lady.

Kimchi crops: peppers and cabbage

It is a bit less fun to ride now that it is colder. We still put on the coats and gloves and go though. We have made a couple trips the last two weekends.

Mark teacher and Joe teacher accompanied us on a trip. Joe is a new teacher at our school. He is from New Jersey.The rides throughout the island are always filled with unique scenery. It is nice to be able to stop and enjoy it.

We took two fall hikes and these are a combination of the pictures. One hike was to the top of Mangsan which I have made a previous posting on, and the other is Nojasan. Both fantastic.

Mark and Joe teachers.

The Asian looking pine trees add to the texture of the scenery.

A break at a summit for lunch.

Chelsie Teacher

Fiona Teacher

Joe Teacher (Sweet shades)

The kids call Mark, "Marker Teacher".

And Jesse Teacher

Enjoying the view inland from the summit.

Father and Son passing by. As you may have already noticed, when Koreans smile for pictures, they say kimchi and give you the peace sign. Even the little guy hitching a ride in the backpack is well trained in photo taking.

From atop Nojasan.

One of many cloud like islands floating in the ocean. They call them a "mowendo". A no man's island.

We were glad that we stuck around for the sunset, but the ride home was brutally cold.

All is well. All is normal. We are making plans for Christmas and New Years in Japan. We are very excited as we are looking forward to a brief look into a new culture.

Entertainment in Gohyeon

Hello this posting was a bit late. I was holding out until the last weekend was over. We went to a pottery festival and I was hoping for some killer photos. I will still report, but there weren't too many National Geographic moments. So, for now I will give you all an update on life here in Gohyeon City.

The church held a traditional Korean theme last Sunday. We all had the chance to try on some traditional Hanbok garb. I felt like a Samurai or a Ninja. It was cool. (oh wait, Ninja and Samurai were Japanese. Never mind)
The members of the English Service at Gohyeon Church.

So, when we are not teaching we have found other life enriching things to do.

The men go and play screen golf which I never thought could be so entertaining. I have never been a real golfer. In fact the only times that I had ever hit a golf ball, was at put put courses and when my friend and I hit some balls into the west cow pasture from his back porch. First you choose a real course from a world map, then you can warm up by hitting some balls at the virtual driving range.

Next you choose from a real set of clubs, watch an electric arm place the ball on the tee, and then step up and smack that little white ball like you are outdoors. The high tech sensors read the trajectory and speed and calculate your results: distance, slice, fade, elevation, flight path and so on. When the ball come to a rest, the hitting platform adjusts for the slope on which the ball landed. Putting is always a trick as well. The game is complete with statistics, replays of your swings, birds chirping, and automatic scoring. Nothing like golfing in air conditioning in the summer.

My friends who are seasoned golf connoisseurs claim that it is quite accurate, but at times blame a bad hit on the game. Someday when I play on real greens the truth might tell. I doubt Ill score much better though.

My friend Mark is one of the real gofers (Caddy Shack). He played quite a bit in South Africa, but now that he is here, this is getting him by.
Chelsie has taken up Tae-kwon-do at an academy named Su-namu Han-ke (Fragrance of the Pines, directly translated). Tae-kwon-do is a marshal art which originated in Korea. Chelsie attends five times a week in the evenings.

She enjoys it very much. Growing up, her whole family trained in the States, but she has always wanted to study it here. She says that there alot of similarities in the patterns that she is learning so it is not completely new. They undertake some rigorous exercises and she says that the language barrier has been a challenge to overcome. There is another girl from South Africa which is training as well.

I was able to come and observe the other day. Although I didn't get to see some kung-fu man break a dozen boards with his head, I did get to see Chelsie test and get her yellow belt. She restarted the program when she started here. She had earned her brown belt at home but restarted the program here.

The kiddos that take Tae-kwon-do are some of our students at ECC English school. They think Chelsie is pretty cool since she is learning to punch and kick.

Although these shots were taken a while back, I have been wanting to include them into a blog. It seems like the entertainment blog would be an appropriate place to insert them.

A popular way to party with a group is to go to a Norae-bong, a singing room. It is like a private karaoke room. They are very easy to spot on the busy streets of any nightlife part of town. (Below: NO-RAE-BONG. Norae = music, bong = room. )

Can you spot the music rooms on this bustling street?

You are given a very thick book with a section of English songs to choose from.

The music begins and the time flies. Below is our friend and co-worker Fiona Teacher.

This a Dan, who is now back in Canada sadly, singing his hear out.

A couples song. Dan and Lindsay and us.

Dan and I singing a Simon and Garfunkel classic, "The Boxer".

An once again Dan and I, the crazy boys, throwing down some beat with the disco ball enhancing the club like atmosphere.

Here are a couple videos that I thought would make this posting a little more real.