The tour continues!

The Korean War Memorial was very moving - it bought me to tears. We laid flowers for our fallen soldiers and then went through the exhibit with a tour guide.

Changdeokgung palace ... more on it later, time for breakfast!!

It's only the beginning....

Here's me on the first morning I was in Seoul. On nearly every lamp post down the street fly two of their flags. This is just one symbol of their pride in their culture and history.

Jelly fish!!!! I ate this on my first day, first lunch. I was a bit wary at first but it was actually quite okay.

Guess what?! I can use chopsticks. Woo hoooooo!!!

One of the lovely ladies who served us lunch on Tuesday. Again it was quite a large meal.

Bibap! The Korean play we saw Tuesday night. It was an entertaining mixture of comedy, singing, cooking, dancing and audience participation. It was a fabulous show, one I would go and see again.

What a day!!

Phew, today was hectic!! We went to Ewha University and had a lesson on how to speak Korean!! Since we wear a name tag, I've been a bit cheeky and written some phrases down phoentically, such as 'hello', 'goodbye', 'my name is', 'I am from Australia', 'I am a teacher' and 'Thank you for inviting me' and if I forget the words, I'll take a sneak peak.

After the first session we had a lunch where the main guests were the lecturers from Ewha who will be giving the conference sessions today, tomorrow and Thursday. Lunch was another big affair. I'm getting quite a taste for '5 taste tea' which is a berry based drink and when you roll it around in your mouth you experience 5 senses - sweet, sour, spicy, salty, bitter. It is really strange but yet it's refreshing.

We then went on a tour around the univeristy and learned the history, which was absolutely inspiring. The university caters for women and in the days when it first opened, it did not espouse the belief that only men should be educated. Our tour leaders were extremely patient about the role of women both in the past and into the future.

We were all boiling hot during the walk and our hosts gave us a fan each. We must have been quite a sight walking around batting our fans!!

Cold drinks awaited us when we went for our second session of the day where we learned about a folk tale which continues to be much revered within the culture as the main character in it is thought to portray Korean people and encourages them to remain true to their one true love - their homeland.

The last event of the day was the Korean performance Bibab. It revolves around two chefs having a 'cook off' with the ultimate dishing being 'bimbab'. It was a blend of beat boxing, singing, dancing, a great deal of humour and audience participation was highly encouraged. One of the other women on the tour with me was dragged up on stage - to her horror and the rest of the Australian and New Zealand teachers amusement.

Time for me to go and practice my Korean so I'll (hopefully!!) be a little more confident when I have to thank each of the three lecturers who will present to us tomorrow.

Wow!!!!

Our first day on the trip was exciting and full of fun. It was lovely to meet everyone at breakfast. I am travelling with a great group of people; we all get along really well - though poor Garry has to put up with 8 women ha ha ha!!

We had a group meeting after breakfast where we went over our itinerary and Sue P, our group leader, answered any questions we had. We then went to the Australian Embassy where Dean Woodgate, the Education Counsellor gave a presentation which gave us an overview of Korean Education. It is very different to Australian Education in that the focus is always on the end goal of university and career, which little attention paid to physical activity or lateral thinking.

Following this, Dean came with us for lunch. Oh my goodness me, I don't think I've ever eaten so much in one meal before. The food just kept on coming. Silly me, who can't use chopsticks had to ask for a fork. Pretty sad hey!! Oh, and one of the things I ate was jelly fish. Sounds gross, but it wasn't too bad at all. It was sort of like calamari.

After lunch most of us went to a local market, the sights, sounds, smells and shopping were great!! I hope to get back there again before I head for home.

In the evening we had a formal welcome dinner where we again had a LOT to eat!!

Three of us then went exploring Seoul and many Korean's stopped to ask us where we were from ... I can now say "Australia" in Korean! One drunk Korean man said "I love Australia. You come home with me". We laughed so hard a that. We all have sore ribs this morning from laughing so had. We were taking photos of an elderly Korean woman outside her cafe and when we went to leave, she ushered us inside and gave us a drink for free. The hospitality of the Korean people is a beautiful thing.

Till  next time!

Not long now!!!!

Well, I spent today making sure I have everything I need for the next two weeks packed and ready to go. I snuck in one pair of heels; I had to!!

I've written up the work for the students to do while I'm away ... I expect them to behave for their sub teacher and to complete the work! They know I won't be happy if I hear otherwise.

In an hour, I'll be leaving for the airport. It's a little scary but exciting at the same time. Hopefully I don't fall asleep before I get on the flight since I've stayed up all day/night with the intention of sleeping on the plane.

One week to go!!

There is only one week to go until I'll be flying to South Korea. I must admit, I'm a bit nervous - it drives me crazy just flying from Melbourne to Brisbane and that's only a short flight!! I think I'll stay up the night before so I'm really tired on the trip and hopefully sleep most of the way. Knowing my luck, I'll fall asleep at the airport though and miss my flight LOL. I'll take the books Ms. Pryor has leant me and knitting on board with me to help while away the time.

I've had to organise a fair bit for this trip - passport, business cards, medical check, immunisations, participant agreement (yes, I'll behave while on the trip!!), and have participated in a webinar where the teachers going introduced ourselves to each other and got to ask questions about the trip, such as what clothes we should take, what gifts are suitable etc.

I still have to buy gifts for the family where I'll have dinner one night and gifts for the two student guides. I also need to buy some little trinkets that represent Australia to pass out to students at the schools we will visit.

It has been fascinating to read about the Korean Culture and am looking forward to being able to immerse myself in this culture for two weeks. I'm also excited to come back and share with everyone all I have learned. This really will be the experience of a life time. Fitzy is convinced I will catch the travel bug ... we shall see!!

Oh, note to self ... must pack FLAT shoes!!!!

Getting started

We were told through work that there was an opportunity to travel to South Korea for two weeks through the KSWP. First, interested teachers had to write a letter of interest to Mr. Rodaughan. He then chose whose application they would support. To my surprise, I was chosen! I then had to fill in an application form and send it to the KSWP. From all the applications they received, 20 teachers from around Australia were selected to go on the trip. I waited nervously to hear back from them and was extremely excited to find out I was one of the 20 lucky ones to go. 


Because I've never been overseas before, I had to get a passport organised. This meant I took a day off work and went to Melbourne. First I had to go to Births, Deaths and Marriages to get a copy of my wedding certificate. Then I went to the Passport Office. On the next day, my husband went back to the Passport Office to pick up my passport.