by bbeckel | Nov 19, 2013 | Korea
Winter is coming to Jeju. Since last night, we’ve had start and stop rain, hail and general slush. It isn’t that cold (high 40s?), but the north winds and strong and ever-present. So it’s starting to feel like winter! We also just said good-bye to my...
by vfitzjarrald | Nov 7, 2013 | Korea
What a day! We travelled for quite a long time, just to go a distance equivalent to traveling from Colorado to Minnesota. Beth and I left Our apartment on Jeju at about 9:00am for our 10:40am flight to Seoul. Last week, my coworkers, William and Matthew, told us about...
by bbeckel | Oct 28, 2013 | Korea
This will be mostly a photo-post! I was trying to think of a way to share some of the silly, unusual, unexpected and just interesting things around us. So enjoy these little things. They make me smile almost every day around here! I know there are many more...
by vfitzjarrald | Oct 27, 2013 | Korea
Yes, the little “i” is correct, it’s the way we do things here in SK… Over the past few months, I have had coworkers, family, and friends all ask what I do everyday. That is one of the hardest questions for me to answer. During my work day, I...
by bbeckel | Oct 26, 2013 | Korea
It’s the end of a quarter and almost time for a 10-day break, so the students and teachers are all pretty frazzled. Patrick manages the gradebook system, which keeps crashing; students are freaking out about their grades; parents weekend and conferences are this...
by bbeckel | Oct 20, 2013 | Korea
Here’s the end of last weekend’s story, which I have to get posted so I can tell you about this weekend! After hiking Hallasan on Saturday, we were back up early on Sunday for “pastoral care”. Each faculty member is required to spend some time...
by bbeckel | Oct 19, 2013 | Korea
We had a very adventurous weekend last weekend. People here have commented about us being “doers”. Go figure. 🙂 Saturday, we got up very early to try to climb to the top of Mt. Halla – the tallest mountain in South Korea. We live at about 30 meters...
by bbeckel | Oct 11, 2013 | Korea
After leaving the Temple Stay at Beomeosa in northern Busan, we headed off to find a place to stay close to our ferry for the next day. We didn’t have any suggestions, so just wandered. The options were thin, and we ended up with a pretty dingy place. Thankfully...
by bbeckel | Oct 10, 2013 | Korea
When I think of Buddhist life, I think of quiet meditation, slow walks, appreciating nature, and vegetarian cooking. Sounds, relaxing, easy, perfect for a vacation! Boy did I learn. Patrick and I signed up for one of Korea’s 100+ Temple Stay programs. In 2002,...
by bbeckel | Oct 9, 2013 | Korea
One of my favorite parts of our travel was spending a day and night in a traditional Korean folk village in Nagan. There are several of these villages around the country, where the residents have agreed to continue maintaining traditional lifestyles in order to...
