My First Korean School Trip!!!

 안녕하세요!! Today I'm back with another update, shorter this time but just as sweet. It'll cover the span of a day and a part of another.

Today I got home at 12ish mid-day after I had spent part of the morning and the entire previous day at a school camp event (More on that later). It was basically two days where we played, hiked, and did all sorts of things. It wasn't camping in the way I originally thought it would be (Tents, sleeping bags, and insect repellant, etc.), instead we slept indoors in a large dormitory like facility on school owned property located in the forest outside of Yeoju. I digress. 

Wednesday:

I took the school bus in the morning to group up with the other first year students at Daeshin Highschool. Then after a little while had passed and we were ready, we all hoped on the buses and drove 15 minutes to the school site outside of Yeoju. Then we unpacked, made ourselves lunch and headed for the auditorium building. 

In Korea, students often participate in a synchronized stretching (Warm up) routine at the start of events to loosen up muscles and such. After that was done we played handful of games like Limbo, floor curling, and few more, all of which were fun of course (I did pretty good at limbo surprisingly...failed at curling *Sad Canadian noises)

After the games concluded, we gathered in the courtyard and prepared for the long walk ahead. Mountains dominate much of the Korean landscape, especially the further east you go, and in Korea they are absolutely covered in forests with thick canopies. This mountain was no different and it was fairly steep as well, to my chagrin, low endurance and all hehe. The climb was difficult, I had to stop many times, my classmates did as well, however once we reached the top it was well worth the trouble. A traditional Korean viewing platform sat at the peak, and the 360 degree view from it was absolutely stunning. We could see the camp, the colorful fall canopy, as well as the Han river going through Yeoju, it was absolutely breathtaking. The descent down wasn't as wonderful as the view was (pain) but I really couldn't complain at that point. The hike back was peaceful, calm, and somewhat nostalgic because it remined me of the area North of Sault Ste. Marie near where I live.

(P.S. I may look haldf dead in the next photo, however I can assure you that most certainly was the case, I was sweating buckets😁)

The day was not over yet, no, there was more to come, Once back from the walk, we were given sometime to rest after which we were to eat. The menu included Ramen noodles, some convenience store sausage, cider (Non-alcoholic, don't sweat it Rotary), and finally the big ticket item 삼겹살구이 Samkyeopsal Korean pork barbecue, it was yum yum. There are two ways I know of eating it, #1Grab a piece of pork and a chunk of garlic and eat them both at once, #2 Grab a letus leaf, a piece of pork, garlic, and a dab of the samkeopsal sauce, and then fold it closed and eat it in one bite 😋.

I only had the one picture and we were basically finished in it, so.... I'll google an example. 🙇

After eating and cleaning up, it was time to return to the auditorium again. This time we watched as our friends performed songs and dances, rap, kpop, guitar, and much more. I even participated in a game where we had to guess the capitals of countries (I failed at Australia, who knew Canberra was the capital hehe my b 😅).

Performances lasted for quite a while, so naturally some people left to get a break form the loud atmosphere.....I joined them. One of them brought a guitar out and played for us. The air was crisp/cool, just the way I like it 'Canadian eh!' 😤😆😆. Snow hasn't arrived yet, but it will eventually, of course not in the Canadian quantity heh. Anyways, we waited out there for a while, until the show was over. I was excited because I knew that next on the itinerary was a great bonfire, the thing I looked forward to the most. Bonfires at the end of school camps seem to be a common occurrence in asian high schools, something I wish we had back home. These aren't little campfire, just so you know, I'm talking BONFIRES Yaa! We danced around it, while watching it's golden light illuminate our surroundings.

Being that it was the final event of the night, unfortunately that meant we had to go to sleep, although we were fairly excited for sleep after the long day we had.

Thursday:

Breakfast was a cheese, sausage, pasta sauce toast abomination that was scrumptious. Not the healthiest thing in the world, but it was breakfast nonetheless.

After breakfast, we had one final gathering in the auditorium, this time for dance lessons. Two thirds of the student body were out cold on the floor, including me (Teenagers + early morning), but some strong students muscled through.

Finally, we gathered in the courtyard and made for home.

I'm happy I could go on this trip, and I'm proud of myself for having the courage to say "Yes".

Thank you for reading another one of my busy blog posts, I hope you enjoyed it. Remember, I will be posting videos and a few more pictures on my Instagram 'Kindly.sir.chong' if you'd like to see more, and feel free to show this blog to anyone you think might be interest.

Be well,

M.S.C