Busan

My last weekend is Korea was spent in Busan with a few of my favorite buddies I have made in Korea. Fortunately it was Buddha's birthday, so it was a long weekend.
I got the bus to Deajeon on Thursday night, spent the night at Claries, then Louise, Claire and I got the KTX to Busan Friday morning.

Busan is supposed to be the Korean equivalent of San Francisco, with really nice beaches and a laid back feel.

Friday was absolutely gorgeous and we spent the day pottering around, shopping and exploring Busan.

In the evening we headed to the uni district where all the bars and clubs were and danced up a storm.

Saturday we headed out to the beach and as we stepped out of the hotel realized it was raining and raining and raining!! So again we spent the bay shopping, sitting in coffee shops, eating and just generally chatting.

Sunday, it was still raining, so we found a really cute coffee shop and had a bargain of a breakfast!

I didn't get to see as much of Busan as I had hoped but I got to spend some wonderful quality time with really good friends, who I don't know when I will see next - so that is the most important thing!!

I think you can see the pictures here!

Last weekend in Gunsan

Well, my last weekend in Gunsan was definitely fun filled!!

Friday night, I went out for dinner and then met up with some other friends and we shared a few beverages!

Saturday, I had a mini garage sale in an attempt to get rid of all of my stuff and then had bbq on Liz's roof top.

I dominated a few games of flip cup, we played some pictionary and then headed out downtown.

All in all, it was great to spend my last weekend with my favourite people from Gunsan!

5 years since Brazil!

Warning these next few blogs are probably going to be pretty mushy. With lots of anniversary type dates and 16 days until I leave, it’s all pretty emotional!!

So…..

This day five years ago, I was on my way to Brazil on my first Cross-Cultural Solutions program. It’s crazy to think how much has happened since then! I remember getting my final expectations talk and really having to stop myself from crying on the phone! It was the first time I had travelled alone to a different country and I had no idea what to expect.

Turns out doing that program was the best thing to ever happen to me. It gave me the confidence to believe that if I could ‘sort of’ control a class of 30 three year olds who didn’t speak a word of English; I could pretty much do anything. I met some amazing and inspiring people in Brazil who I am still in touch with now. Brazil and the people I met captured my heart.

This incredible event led me to move to New York to work for the organisation.
It led me to travel all over the States, again meeting more remarkable people.
It led me to volunteer in Costa Rica, volunteer in Guatemala. And even when I made the hard decision to leave CCS and New York, my astounding journey continued. I volunteered in Ghana for 2 months and realised my passion for teaching, which led to me move to South Korea for a year to teach.

I have said this previously but on each Cross-Cultural Solutions program and each step of my travels I have met wonderful people who have inspired and encouraged me. Every new journey I have embarked on I have always been nervous and apprehensive. But I have the support from family and friends to go and do, it resulting in life changing and unforgettable experiences.

My advice is to go and do. Go and travel. Get out of you comfort zone. Yes it will be scary, yes it will be uncomfortable and there will be awkward situations where you wonder what the heck you are doing. But the positives will definitely outweigh the negatives and who knows what it could lead too….

‘A positive experience causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events and outcomes. It is a catalyst and it sparks extraordinary results.’

Children's Day

Yesterday was Children's Day, which meant we got a day off work mid week - assah!!

Being the caring teachers we are we decide to spend the day at various orphanages. We managed to get some donations together of roughly £100 and bought a mass of sweets, crackers, pencils and other goodies!

We went to 2 orphanages played some games and handed out sweets.

It was good fun but pretty exhausting as we had all been out the night before until about 3am!

We then headed back to mine for Poker night where I won about £4!!

Finally sun in The Goon!

I don't know where the weekend went but it was lots of fun!
Louise came down to The Goon on Friday and we ended up dancing all night at Cheers and not getting to bed til 5.30am.
The Alex came round in the morning for a big English fry up!

We pottered around, played on some swings and saw half my students on the way to Coldstones for icecream and then Lousie headed home.

The sun has finally decided to appear in Gunsan so on Sunday a few of us headed to the park and had a picnic and BBQ.

We were also a huge source of amusment for the rest of the park.