Back In Session

So my week of no school has come to a close. I must say, it was quite nice to have a week off. It actually started as a lazy week and I didn't get out as much as I would have liked. The last few days were quite active though. It appears that the Swine Flu outbreak won't have any ill effects in the long-term. There were a few kids missing the first day back and some may have dropped the school entirely, but so far everyone seems fine. More kids are wearing masks and the parents are still worried about it spreading more so we can't have a Halloween party. We were going to make a haunted house out of one of the rooms, but now we just have to teach a regular day. Sad.

Halloween here isn't really a nationally recognized "Holiday." Most of the kids know about it but there isn't any formal practice of trick-or-treating as I understand it. However, the foreign community makes sure to celebrate. There will be a big costume party downtown on Saturday, which should be fun. I have no costume yet, but hopefully I can piece one together before Saturday...

On Sunday I went on a hike at Apsan Mountain with some of my co-workers. It is the beginning of Fall and the leaves are just starting to turn. Lots of bright yellows and reds, but much of it is still green. It's very beautiful up in the mountains and the view is pretty spectacular.  Daegu is in a huge valley, so the entire city is pretty much completely flat.  We hopped in a taxi and drove about 10 minutes to the mountain.  And it isn't a gradual climb to the base of the mountain, you just arrive and it juts up quite steeply.  Apsan is a very popular place because of how close it is and there are tons of trails that are pretty well developed.  We walked up a ways to the cable car and took that up to the top, then hiked down.  There are electric cables going up the mountain so at the top there are some restaurants and some other random buildings.  Very strange to see.  The hike we did was pretty up and down, and it was no easy feat.  There were lots of middle-aged hikers with their fancy gear and hiking poles.  If there's one thing to say about the older people in Korea, they are very active and fit.  Lots of walking, hiking, and exercising.  Many public parks have free exercise equipment you can use.  We even ran into two outdoor gyms on the hike.

Timber, Danni, and Alison hiking Apsan.

To see some more pictures check out my album: http://picasaweb.google.com/evan.richards/EvanInKorea

Don't forget to also check out my youtube page for videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/erichards719#p/u