School Trip to Incheon and Seoul

Last week I had the good fortune of participating in the school trip with Hacheong Middle School to Incheon and Seoul. From Geoje, it was a 4 and 1/2 hours bus ride. Along the way we made a few stop for snacks, lunch and washroom breaks. Unlike in Canada, the buses do not have toilets, yet they have something much better. They have noribangs systems (Karaoke machines) built right into the bus. There is a switch that makes disco type lights flash on and off in a multiple array of colours. The students went wild when one of the teachers set it up for them. Students took turns singing songs until I was asked to sing a song. I was more than willing and decided to sing Neil Young’s song Heart of Gold. I got a warm reception from the students after I finished my song. They told me I was a good singer even though they were probably simply being polite.

I thought it was a bit strange that our first destination was the Incheon International Airport and so did some of the other teachers. It is one of the biggest airports in the world and I suppose the organizers of the trip wanted to show the students the architecture and other things that the airport offered. I personally thought the airport was much like the rest of them that I had been too. Koreans don't seem to travel that often so it was probably something very few students have had a chance to do. After walking around the airport for a while, we were waiting for our bus to arrive when the students noticed a popular K-pop (Korean Pop) band getting out of their van. The students went wild and the band was rushed into the airport. Girl and boy students were screaming in excitement. It all happened randomly and was a nice surprise for the students. Two minutes later, our bus arrived and we were off to the next location.

This next place we visited in Incheon is famous because it was the place where the first Americans arrived to help South Koreans fight the North during the Korean War. There was a lot of history that was discussed and exhibited, but I could not read most of the displays because of the language barriers. Some of the displays had English writing, but few and far between. Luckily, I spent most of my time with the physical education teacher who explained many things to me about the history and culture of the time. For instance, I thought it was interesting that before the Korean War, most people did not actually cut their hair. Cutting one’s hair is a western cultural adoption. Even up to fifty years ago, Korean traditional attire was worn. Now one might only see that in a museum, parade or within a play. Things have changed so rapidly in Korea once development started.

After spending time at these exhibitions, we took a boat ride from that port to Korea’s biggest port in Incheon. The boat ride was beautiful with the many seagulls, islands and sunset. The ride lasted a little under an hour. Once at the port, it was a short walk to our hotel where we drop off our bags before going for supper at a restaurant near by. The food was great but it was almost exactly the same thing that was served for breakfast the next morning. Fortunately for me, I did not mind at all since I really like the food, but it is a common complaint that many foreign people make. Soup, rice, and kimchi can all be served during breakfast, lunch or dinner.

My room was small and I had to share it with 4 other teachers. We each had a single bed (note that single beds in Korea are about half the size of those in Canada) that lay on the floor. Korean beds are simply a little piece of foam laid on the floor. The room was so small that each bed was touching the next. This gives one an idea how close I had to sleep to the next person. This did not bother me either since it seems to be the way Koreans do things. At the same time, I only paid 120$ for a three day trip which included 3 meals a day and entrance fees for multiple locations. That night, the vice-principle and a few other teachers wanted to go out for some drinks. I always enjoy going out with the teachers and having a few beers or sojus. This led to the noribang (Karaoke room) where I and three others sang a few songs. One teacher decided not to come. It seems that if I go out with Koreans, the odds are high that we will eventually end up at the noribang. We all had to get up early, so we only got around 3-4 hours of sleep before we had to get up for 6AM.

The next day was the day that most students were looking forward too. This day we went to Everland (the biggest amusement park in Korea). However, before going to Everland, we visited an all girl’s University in Seoul where students had a chance to watch a musical called "Lunatic". They laughed their asses off and even I had a laugh every once in a while (even though I did not understand most of what they were saying). The gestures and mannerisms were enough at time to give me a giggle. The musical was famous in Korea and starred by a famous comedian from Seoul.

Next we went to the amusement park where students were left to their own devices and roam the park freely. I personally have not been to an amusement park in probably 15 years but was looking forward to renewing my youth with heart pounding roller coaster excitement. It was an exciting day and I did manage to ride the 3 biggest and fastest rides within the park. The T-Express was by far the best roller coaster that I have ever been on, but it also took an hour wait for the 3 minute ride. Afterwards, my heart was pounding and I did not feel any remnants of the tiredness that I was feeling from my lack of sleep.

The park had an amazing tulip garden with thousands of tulips and other beautiful flowers. There was also a rose garden, but unfortunately the roses were not in bloom yet. The last part of my time at Everland was watching the light show followed by fireworks. When I heard that we would be watching this, I was not overly excited. However, it turned out too be amazing! The light show was great and the fireworks display might have been the best I have ever seen. We left Everland at around 10PM and made it back to our hotel for around 11:15. I thought that the night would end early, but a teachers meeting was called and we all meet at 12:30 in the morning in one of the rooms. I thought it would be a quick affair, but then beers showed up. We started drinking and after 30 minutes, fried chicken also arrived. Half the teachers did not want to be there because they were exhausted. It must be something about Korea culture that prevented them from saying that they were tired and had to go to bed. Finally, after all the beers and fired chicken was finished, the meeting was over and we could finally go to bed.

The next day we returned and I was able to get a great night sleep. I had two days left in the work week which made the week feel unusually fast.