Back To School

 

As friends and family back home are starting up school once again, we figured it would be nice to give our readers an update on our World Schooling, as Michele refers to it. As you can infer by the pictures above, it has its ups and downs.
Mom has the role of Principal, Math Teacher, History Teacher, Social Studies Teacher, Language Arts Teacher, and everything in between. She works hard to get all of our curriculum accessible and helps explain and answer questions. Dad helps out when we need extra challenges or when Mom is busy with the other kid. It feels like all of our work is math. I work on math topics that my teachers in Vermont have emailed to us, use my mom’s district resources, Kahn Academy as well as problems from Singapore Math. Nick works on math facts and 5th grade lessons from Michele’s resources.
Nick does journal writes and prompts pretty much daily while, my literacy at the moment is exercises from a travel writing book.
We both have assigned reading from Head Master Michele, usually on the area or culture we are experiencing. Yesterday we read a book on the Korean War because we will be going to the Demilitarized Zone in the next few days.
That’s about all we are up to at the moment. We both read independent e-books and Nick has weekly spelling lists.
By far, the most challenging aspect of World Schooling is not the material, but trying to learn from your parents. I don’t know, but there is something about it that makes a “little mess” up seem like a huge deal in my mind.  It’s kinda hard to explain. There has definitely been some moments when I’ve just had to stop and just take a drawing or listening to music break before I resume my lesson.

First Day of School! Today’s classroom, train from Mokpo to Seoul

So Now We Are In Mokpo

Mokpo is a relatively small fishing town on the west coast of the country. We left the hotel in Busan after a breakfast with a family from New Zealand who had been traveling around Asia for about 15 months and hoped to be on the road for over 2 years. Crazy! It was cool to get their insight on what it was like to travel around this continent with their kids.
4 hours of bus travel later, we were where we are now.
Yesterday we just took the day off, only stopping our homeschooling and relaxing to go in a brief walk around our neighborhood.
Today was a bit more eventful as we hiked up in the hills in the center of the city. The views were great and we got some good exercise. There were some very convenient wind blowers (think opposite of vaacums) that as you can see you the last pictures Nick and Dad took advantage of.
At the very highest peak there where these Kestrels that just kept swooping and diving around the rocky outcroppings. It was amazing and we rested aand just enjoyed watching them for a few minutes. They were so fast I couldn’t get any good pictures, believe me, I tried. At one point one of the birds of prey shot probably no more than 15 feet from Nick and I.
We hope to stay here in this mellow little city for a while before heading back to Seoul. Michele booked tickets for a DMZ tour! In a short time our family will be getting as close to North Korea as we will probably ever get! Stay tuned!

A Train Trip And A Beach Day

The morning after the Trickeye Museum we set out for Busan, the second largest city in Korea located at the southern tip of the peninsula. Out of sheer luck we got tickets for a 5 hour ride departing in 7 minutes. We came just within missing the train after Justin decided to take a last minute stop for snacks to keep us going through the hours.
I’ve gotta say, leaving Seoul, the city seemed to never end. We traveled hours past high rises and high ways before any signs of the country were visible. It goes without saying the capital of Korea was a little different than the capital I grew up in.
Nick and I spent a good 45 minutes of the journey playing Battleship on hand drawn boards. The game degraded after awhile when Nick admitted he had some creative winning strategies that involved his ships being docked for matinence partly off the board.
The morning after we arrived we had a bit of a late start, but eventually we got up and took the metro to the beach. The lifeguards were making it very clear no one was aloud in the water by riding their 4-wheelers, sirens blaring. The waves were pretty rough, egged on by Typhoon Soulik, but when we put our toes in, the water was warm.
We climbed on the big boulders that breached the waves and did a short hike on the umber boardwalks along the sea cliffs.
We had a great octopus tentacle feast in store for the evening, or so we thought. Apparently there was this place in the guide book that served raw, still wiggling octopus limbs to it’s patrons. We were sure we were in the right neighborhood, but there was no restaurant that fit the discription in sight. After awhile we sought directions from some helpful teenagers in the area, who unearthed the fact that the place we were looking for no longer existed. Oops, guess the guide book was a little old. We settled for a dinner of Korean BBQ pork which was amazing. There were lots and small but mighty green chilies in all the dishes we got that meal, which only Nick and I could stomach. It was an excellent substitute for our original planned last meal in Busan.

Wild Makes A Guest Appearance...

Dad buying snacks, is anybody surprised?

Hiking To Seoul Tower

Sorry, we’re a bit out of order.
The day before the Trickeye we went on a hike in a park rising up from the very heart of Seoul.
We left early in the morning, hoping to avoid the heat of the day.
After a quick breakfast of bread we’d picked up the day before and a metro ride to the nearest station, we were at our trail head. Mom had mapped out a multi kilometer walk that would take us around the perimeter of the park but we later realized we had early on taken a wrong turn, diverting us onto a much shorter and more direct path.
Dad opted for the slow and steady strategy, not stopping at the public exercise stations like the rest of us and consistently trudging along up the steep, paved foot path.
After a few panoramic overlooks of the capital and a few too many stairs for my liking, we arrived at the base of the tower. Where the gondola ended was a boardwalk with views in a league of their own, but perhaps the most beautiful thing about the overlook was the thousands upon thousands of padlocks secured to the railings.
We soaked up the views while we rested for awhile before setting off back down through the park.

More Trickeye Pictures (Read the post below)

Don’t Believe Everything You See at the Trickeye Museum

Anything you can imagine no matter how illogical can be captured in a picture at the Trickeye Museum. Before we even left the US, this was on my list as an attraction in Seoul.
Dad was a little hesitant has we tromped down the flights of stairs towards the large lobby that both our museam of choice as well as the Ice Museam shared. I can’t say the statues of people defecating on the floor and the fact you had to download an app really eased his uncertainty.
10 minutes later we were surrounded by murals so well painted it seemed they could walk right out of their painted frames, in fact some of them did! We had a good time posing for some hilarious and life like pictures.
The Trickeye App also actually implanted augmented reality into your picture or video as you took it.  It was really interesting and often funny but we found the digital characters and effects were not completely realistic and some of the shots were better without them.
After going through the estimated 50 or so scenes that make up the museum, we decided to go back through once more and take a few more pictures with some of our favorites. Dad was rarely a subject of the camera roll as he preferred to be the photographer, helping us pose just right for the best effect.
Our tickets also included a visit to the ice museum, with a chilly temperature of -2 degrees Celsius. Brrrr, sounds like Vermont in the Winter! We each took a ride down the ice slide before checking out the igloo, train, giant high heel, bedroom and living room constructed just out of h20. That was about all we had in us and everyone’s getting a little cold.
For our last night in the city we had a filling meal of Traditional Korean Pancakes at a restaurant just down from our hotel. We’d been curious about it ever since we’d noticed the 2 resident chipmunks that greeted us on the street whenever we passed by. Those two served as pets and mascots of the establishment.

 

Samsung D’Light

The next day we headed for Gangnam District . Yes as in Gangnam Style but no we weren’t quite ready to visit the giant Gangnam sign were the popular song plays 24/7.

In the Samsung showroom Mom and Dad stuck their heads out from under their technologic rock for the first time in a long time. We explored the capabilities of the latest Samsung smartphones, speakers, laptops, tablets and, our family’s personal favorite, Virtual Reality. After dawning headsets and snatching up some batons we played drums to blasting music, mini golfed, slayed zombie sour patch kids and rode pigs, all without taking more than a step. 

The last activity was oddest feeling. Attendants gave us headsets and strapped us into chairs that would vibrate and tilt once our swine steeps lept into action. We rode our pigs through a battle of some kind and dodged fire balls. Like I said, weird. And it got stranger. At one point our pigs were in the sky, and we all know what goes up must come down. As we plummeted towards the ground I could swear I could feel the wind tugging at my face. It was a wild ride for sure. Michele and Justin were the only adults is line for the experience but they were definitely glad they tried it. Honestly I think Dad was the most enthusiastic about all the capabilities of technology that can transform a well lit, spacious show room into a cartoon world. 

On the next floor we learned how computers can help us discover who we are as a person. After getting special bracelets we went through a series of rooms and tests that gave us adjectives to summarize us as people. It was really cool to see that just a few choices could select a few words that fit our personalities like gloves.

On the top floor we saw Samsung’s prediction of the future, and it was a bit unnerving. We were educated on the Smart House, interconnected computers that would be so helpful they bordered living your life for you. Counter tops that identified ingredients for you, mirrors/screens that would pick out your outfit and vacuums that cleaned up messes before you were aware of it. (That I could get used to...) Full models of a smart kitchen, gym, bedroom, living room and bathroom were all on display. I think the bedroom was one of the most advanced rooms, three dimensional projectors took bed time stories to a whole other level! It was a really cool day trip and it was fun to mix old Seoul (Gyeongbokgung Palace) with the future Seoul.
By then we had seen what we had came to see and we decided it was time to say goodbye to Gangnam and to head back to our hotel for the evening.

The Hunt For Kinkos

Where we left you last, we had hoped to visit the well known Namdamun Market. This we did the next day.
Unfortunately there was one very boring but important stop before the highlight of our day. That was applying for our Chinese visas. To do that we required some last minute paperwork that needed to be printed out. Before departing the hotel Mom had looked up directions to a copy shop called Kinkos, apparently just passed the 711. We should have known that using these common-as-dirt convenience stores as landmarks was a terrible idea but I guess we’re slow learners. We were unsuccessful in our search. We don’t have a phone and couldn’t get WiFi on our IPad so we had to look for other ways to get directions. I don’t recommend trying to find a tiny copy shop you only know the name of in a black hole of a city where you don’t speak the language. After 15 minutes of wandering the street in the neighborhood we hoped the establishment was located and tapping random passers by on the shoulder and just saying “Kinkos? Kinkos?” over and over again, making the word rise up at the end like a question, we admitted we needed to go back to our hotel to download the directions. On the way back, Dad stopped us. A small print and copy shop had caught his eye. It wasn’t Kinkos but we ere all thrilled to see it. Without those documents we would be in trouble. The old man running the shop didn’t speak any English but that was a ok with dad. He was looking for any excuse to put his recently acquired Google Translate app into use. Justin jumped right in with a montauge of charades demonstrations and hand motions in hopes to help teach the old timer how to use the app. It didn’t work too well, which so far seems to be the theme of the day. Mom had trouble figuring out how to log into her gmail because Dad couldn’t get the guy to understand the translator and everything on the screen was in Korean. We might have struck out again if it hadn’t   With12 dollars apiece, we were unleashed upon endless stalls dealing in everything from clothing to cutlery. We satisfied our dumpling cravings with an excellent little place called King Dumplings. After a few meat and kimchi delicacies we set out to shop once again to find somewhere out of the sun. The indoor shopping center started underground and continued up at least 6 stories. I bought a few gifts to send to the States, Mom and Dad purchased a Christmas Ornament to continue the travel tradition while Nick bought a cuddly little panda to add to his growing collection of nomadic friends. Later we retired to our hotel room for relaxation (Dad) and homeschool (Everybody Else). I ended up getting a really bad headache and felt really sick so Dad stayed with me while I slept in the hotel room and Mom and Nick went for a walk.

A Day In Korean Culture, Gyeongbokgung Palace

This morning we had the pleasure of experiencing the exquisite Gyeonnokgung Palace after a short visit at a museam focusing on the history of the Korean writen language. Just as we arrived at the wall surrounding the primary residence of the Joseon Dynasty, the palace guards were doing some sort of a ceremony. The head guard called upon some of the other soldiers and they yelled all kinds of stuff in Korean. It was a pretty impressive display.
Just as we got in line to buy entry tickets, we all decided we’d rather have lunch first. Now all day Nick had been craving dumplings, earning him the esteemed title “Dumpling Dictator.” We set out in search of these Chinese treats but couldn’t find a restaurant specializing in just what we wanted. The family settled on a little place on a side street near the palace. The meal was filling and we were all full on our walk back to Gyeongbokgung.
By noon the sun was beating down as we crossed the large court yards boarding the decorated structures. It was a little hard to concentrate on anything just because it was so hot. After peeking our heads into everything and walking up and down the dusty paths we unanimously agreed to retreat to air conditioning.
The National Folk Museam of Korea had all the AC we needed. We spent a good few hours learning about about salt mining (“All this information is a-salting”- Dad), ancient Korean lifestyle, Kimchi, old style housing, ceremonies and more.
On the way back to the hotel we found the much anticipated dumplings. There was a little place off of the in-sadong and we took 2 orders to go.
We’ve learned a lot today and after a good rest hope to explore Namdaemun Market, the oldest and largest market in Korea tomorrow.

Does Anyone Know What This Is?