Soju Bombs

The highlight of Jeju-do (ok, maybe the low light)

We did a lot of fun stuff during our recent trip to Jeju Island. We saw waterfalls, hiked up a volcano, watched an acrobat performance, drank, ate, the list goes on. But by far the worst thing we did was visit the chocolate museum. The sign said it was in the top 10 chocolate museums in the world, after seeing it we concluded that there must only be 10 chocolate museums in the world. Even the free chocolate sample at the end didn't justify the 30 minutes we wasted in this place.

Amy was nice enough to put together this movie so you can really get a feel for the fun that is the chocolate museum:

Google translate fail

Couple's outfits

Korean fashion is a bit different to back home. Clothes have English slogans on them that range from slightly strange to down right hilarious (e.g. an old chubby grandma wearing a t-shirt that says "skinny bitch") or that just make no sense at all. The women wear gigantic heels everywhere (including hiking), mismatched is in style in a big way (cute spotted pink dress with a red stripy backpack), there is a lot of glitter and rhinestones, and men's outfits could often be mistaken for women's.

One of the biggest differences is couples outfits. You see them everywhere. They range from matching T-shirts/jumpers to an entire matching outfit (right down to the shoes, socks and underwear). Shops downtown sell matching watches, rings, glasses, underwear, shoes, jumpers, hats, bags. Basically anything you wear you can buy to match your partner. I cannot imagine Kate and Steve, Jac and Will, Taryn and Dale, Nikita and Matt, Fraser and Ange or any other couples I know rocking up in a matching outfit but here in Korea that is normal.

We have managed to snap a few photos of couples outfit while we have been here and I will add more to this post as we get them:

Just a t-shirt

colour coordination

Again another t-shirt

just the jumper

An entire matching family!

Brenton and I testing it out. Don't worry I wouldn't let Brenton buy it!

School Functions

Like most workplaces Korean schools have a variety of staff functions. Unlike most (Australian) workplaces staff (or maybe just the non-Korean speaking staff) are not told about these till the last minute.This week we had a going away function for my vice-principle who is retiring. It was mentioned briefly to me last week and then confirmed on Monday afternoon that there would in fact be a going away function tonight at 5pm. Too bad if you have made other plans!

The school functions are a good opportunity to spend some time with the other teachers and try all sorts of different foods (Brenton tried octopus that was so recently killed that it still had muscle spasms earlier this year at a teacher dinner). They are also a good opportunity to spend a few hours sitting around while everyone else is speaking in Korean. Luckily at my school there are 2 native English teachers so I have someone to talk to.

The vice-principles going away function was held in a Korean wedding reception venue. It looked classy and nice from afar, but up close was another story. Korea does tacky pretty well and this place was probably 20% nice and 80% tacky. The nice looking chairs were actually plastic, the glasses were mismatched beer glasses and there were plastic napkin holders on the tables. First up was an hour of speeches in Korean (it may have been shorted, but when you can't understand any of it it feels like a life time). During the vice-principles extremely long speech my co-teacher kept me updated on the topics. It started out pretty normal: the schools he had worked at during his career, then moved to religion (fair enough because he is apparently really religious) at about the 15 minute mark it some how moved to organ donation (including his eyes!). Finally once he wrapped up we could stuff ourselves with the buffet.

At my first teachers dinner we went out to a Nori-bang (Karaoke) after dinner and I was forced to sing a song in front of the principle, VP and all the teachers. Very embarrassing! Monday night there was of course Karaoke. This time no nori-bang, we just sang in the function room. Every year level had to get up and belt out a song. I thought I had escaped the worse of it, but the principle made Ashley and I get up with him and the VP. Luckily I didn't have to sing, but I still had to dance. All of this was caught on video camera too! After the Karaoke we all stood in a circle and sang together and then did a strange hand shake train thing. Interesting night ... :-)