Thursday, June 5, 2008
Home is where the heart is.
We have all return home, after about 30 hours of travel time. Except for a lost item of clothing, we all made it back safe and sound.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
Days 8 and 9
We left the English Village on Monday morning and returned to our lovely Metro Hotel. That afternoon we went to the Namdaemun Market, less than a mile from the Hotel. The market is a riot of sights, sounds, and smells, with hundreds of shops, sidewalk vendors, and movable stalls. We purchased a number of things, some of which are gifts for patient parents and siblings.
Tuesday morning we took a tour of the DMZ, which was fascinating. Our tour guide, Kim, regaled us with historical anecdotes and we watched a touching propaganda film. We got to descend 73m below the surface to see Incursion Tunnel #3, an adventure in which Ben and I discovered that being tall is not always an asset, a fact that Taylor reminded us of repeatedly throughout the rest of the day. From there we went to an overlook point, where we could clearly see across the DMZ into North Korea. Nic got reprimanded by the South Korean MP for using the 'miliatry only' set of binoculars (see the photo), but escaped unscathed. The tour finished at the new train station, where a train now runs from the south to the north, and although the station is currently nearly deserted, we all left the tour believing that it will soon be bustling as relations between the two halves of the divided country seem to be improving.
Tonight we're packing up to get ready to leave for the airport at 8am tomorrow. It has been a great trip, but we're pretty tired and looking forward to home.
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Win!
Against all odds, and very good competition, CDO Team 2 (Wesley, Taylor and Nic) emerged victorious, winning the Scholar's Cup World championship. Team 1 finished 4th, with a very small margin separating the top five teams. We have too many trophies to count, so we'll be using a few of those extra suitcases to bring our loot back from South Korea.
The kids did a tremendous job - Ben got to be in the Debate Showcase, Taylor had the best essay of the competition, and everyone else contributed to the victories.
More details later.
The kids did a tremendous job - Ben got to be in the Debate Showcase, Taylor had the best essay of the competition, and everyone else contributed to the victories.
More details later.
Photos for Day "We've lost count"
Sorry that we haven't been able to post any photos, but the competition has consumed all waking hours. Now that it's over, we should be able to resume normal posting on the blog, as well as updation of the scores.
Day "We've lost count"
I'm not really sure what day this is, so I will just try to continue where Mr. Yetman left off.
We arrived at the YBM English Village on Friday afternoon, and proceeded to be incredibly creeped out by it (in a good way, I suppose). Everything here is fake, a simulation. There is a fake hair salon, a fake library, a fake doctor's office, a fake embassy, a fake post office, a fake police station, even a fake italian restaurant! Also, there are fake telephone booths dotted around the beautiful campus. There is a nice fountain and brick pathways, and though the rooms aren't quite as nice as the Metro hotel's, we are quite comfortable here.
Only a few incidents of note have occurred in the last day or two:
The hot water boiler, the central water heater for the entire campus managed to explode (actually it just sprung a leak, but rumor says it violently exploded), leaving us without hot water for almost twelve hours!! The tragedy. Secondly, there was a small competition this saturday called Scholar's Cup. We did the essay in the morning after breakfast, then the individual multiple choice test, followed by the debate(s) in the afternoon, finishing up with the team multiple choice test, Scholars' Quiz, which ended at 11:00. The middle school (junior division) medals are happening right now, with the high school (senior) division awards happening in 2 hours (11:00 our time, 7:00pm your time), followed by the high school debate showcase, where the top two debate teams "duke it out" in front of an audience.
We are planning to go hiking today after the awards, up in the mountains around the village, and tomorrow, we were going to go the large market somewhere near downtown Seoul, after we transport our stuff back to the Metro for the rest of our stay. Finally, we're going to the DMZ on Tuesday, and making sure to slather on lots of bug spray (apparently there are lots of mosquitoes there) while refraining from causing an international incident :)
Then, we will be coming home, and I am sure we are all excited to see our families again, though not so enthused about the 20 hour plane ride.
See you all soon!
Nic
PS We will update scores as soon as possible, most likely later this evening (ie when you are all asleep. Sorry!)
We arrived at the YBM English Village on Friday afternoon, and proceeded to be incredibly creeped out by it (in a good way, I suppose). Everything here is fake, a simulation. There is a fake hair salon, a fake library, a fake doctor's office, a fake embassy, a fake post office, a fake police station, even a fake italian restaurant! Also, there are fake telephone booths dotted around the beautiful campus. There is a nice fountain and brick pathways, and though the rooms aren't quite as nice as the Metro hotel's, we are quite comfortable here.
Only a few incidents of note have occurred in the last day or two:
The hot water boiler, the central water heater for the entire campus managed to explode (actually it just sprung a leak, but rumor says it violently exploded), leaving us without hot water for almost twelve hours!! The tragedy. Secondly, there was a small competition this saturday called Scholar's Cup. We did the essay in the morning after breakfast, then the individual multiple choice test, followed by the debate(s) in the afternoon, finishing up with the team multiple choice test, Scholars' Quiz, which ended at 11:00. The middle school (junior division) medals are happening right now, with the high school (senior) division awards happening in 2 hours (11:00 our time, 7:00pm your time), followed by the high school debate showcase, where the top two debate teams "duke it out" in front of an audience.
We are planning to go hiking today after the awards, up in the mountains around the village, and tomorrow, we were going to go the large market somewhere near downtown Seoul, after we transport our stuff back to the Metro for the rest of our stay. Finally, we're going to the DMZ on Tuesday, and making sure to slather on lots of bug spray (apparently there are lots of mosquitoes there) while refraining from causing an international incident :)
Then, we will be coming home, and I am sure we are all excited to see our families again, though not so enthused about the 20 hour plane ride.
See you all soon!
Nic
PS We will update scores as soon as possible, most likely later this evening (ie when you are all asleep. Sorry!)
Friday, May 30, 2008
Day 4
Some of us went to the Korean War Memorial today, but some stayed at the hotel. At 4pm we all took a bus to the English Village, which is not nearly as elegant as the Metro. The students are attending a debate workshop. The competition starts in the morning. Internet access is limited here - I'm typing this in a computer lab that closes in a few minutes. I will try to update this blog as the competition progresses. Everyone is well, but excited and nervous to compete.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
