Middle school field trip- Part 2

Day two/three

We woke up early and bussed to Mt. Seorak. I was under the impression we would be hiking to the top (about a 4 hour hike), but apparently I misunderstood whoever told me that. No one was to hike to the top. While the students went on a shorter hike, my co-teacher and I accompanied the principal and founder on a gondola ride to the summit. It was a pleasant ride and there was a great view at the top, but I couldn't help feeling lazy.

After we got back, we walked around the nearby temple. I kept seeing tiny spiral seashells in the dirt, which was very puzzling to me since we were up in the mountains. I finally asked my co-teacher what they were and she showed my the pot of water full of the shells at a snack stand. I guess you suck the goo out of them then toss the shells on the ground. Sounds delicious. Almost as delicious as the dried squid I'd tried the night before at the teachers' get together. While not totally disgusting, it was definitely not pleasant. It has the texture of shoe leather and tastes like fishy beef jerky and feet. I gave it a try and passed on seconds. When some of the other teachers went out to stock up on more later in the day, I politely declined. But I ended up with a big bag of it anyway because the school founder bought some for each of the teachers. It's still sitting on my screened porch, waiting to be re-gifted.

That night, the other teachers were concerned about me having to sit through another late night social hour with the principal and company so they insisted I attend the student's rally instead. I got to see my students sing and dance to their favorite pop songs and relax for a couple hours. But, I wasn't completely off the hook. We met for another teacher's gathering after the rally. This time, one of the teachers insisted we go do karaoke and as this is a common Korean pastime, no one objected but me (silently). I was extremely cofused about how we were going to get to a norebahng (karaoke studio), but I should have known. Naturally there was one in the basement of the hotel. I manned the tambourine for a couple songs then tried to make a polite getaway.

If you thought it convenient that there was a karaoke room at the hotel, then you'll be as impressed as I was to find there was also karaoke on the bus. I was just thrilled to learn this the next day on the ride home and so were the students. They sang the entire 3.5 hours back to Daejeon.