"Retreat"ing to the Beach

As the second week of school wrapped up, I packed my bags for an overnight retreat with the Junior class (all 120 of them) to Taechon Beach. Knowing that the buses were leaving at 4:30, I dashed out of my classroom just after 3:30 to throw in a few last minute items, change clothes, and grab a snack for the road. I knew I would be walking into a newly cleaned apartment as Thursday happens to be the day my adjuma works, however I was not planning on encountering two not so fun surprises. When I walked into my bedroom I saw that the bed was changed and neatly made-yay! I also noticed that there were clothes hanging to dry on the rack including items from my "Dry Clean" (yes, the basket came labeled that way) basket and a few needing to be hand washed. At that moment my reaction was, "Oh my God, she did not." Yup, she did. I thought I had made it clear to my adjuma that I DID NOT want her to wash ANY clothes EVER. Apparently not, so today I am saying good-bye to a 100% silk blouse that went through the wash and hoping that the two pairs of pants in the pile didn't shrink beyond the point of being wearable. Stress.... Surprise two hit when I went to the fridge to grab some bread and jelly to make a sandwich only to realize that the fridge door had been left open for the last several hours (long enough that the butter in the door had turned to liquid). I guess that means I'll be cleaning out the fridge today. Nice.

Trying my best not to let these two "surprises" bother me, I grabbed my bags and headed for the bus. Trips like this, especially ones where a long bus ride is involved, usually cause me a bit of anxiety because of my sensitive digestive system. Thankfully, I was able to survive more than three hours on the bus without a major incident. Halfway through we stopped at a rest-stop and I couldn't help taking a few photos of what I saw in the bathroom and vicinity.

Inside the ladies room.

Science is everywhere...even at a rest stop.

Snacks, Yes!!

We arrived at Taechon Beach around 7:30 and the students spilled off the bus, grabbed their luggage, and raced to the cabins. Pizza came after we had spent some time getting to know each other through ice-breaker games (yay for me, I was the only staff member who played)--it is amazing how quickly a group of high school kids can plow through pizza and soda! The rest of the night was reserved for a bonfire (with s'more fixings but no sticks to roast the marshmallows) and time to play on the beach. Since it was a very warm and sticky night, I dropped by the fire pit to grab a treat, then walked down to the beach to explore in the dark.

Toasty warm here.

Playtime at the beach.

The next morning the students were up bright and early...before most of the teachers! We chowed down on a breakfast of cereal, fruit, and waffles, then gathered as a group to watch The Blind Side. After the movie, the next two hours were free time to play on the beach! I decided to go walking and exploring with my new friend Erin who teaches high school math (and reminds me a lot of my friend Erin back home). Here's what we saw...

The cutest Korean girl who followed us on our walk!

Looks a lot like the Oregon coast, doesn't it?

The outside of this shell was cooler than the one I picked up earlier...but unfortunately it was inhabited by this little guy!

New friends!

You couldn't stand in one place very long or this started to happen!

Well, that looks a bit uncomfortable!

Playing around on the beach!

Woohoo!

The ride home was uneventful, but rather loud in the bus. Before we left Taechon it poured down rain, stopping just before we were ready to trek back to the buses, and upon our arrival in Seoul the rain began again. Torrential downpour is the only way I can describe the amount of precipitation that fell in such a short time. As the bus entered an onramp, we created a cascade of water over the edge of the ramp onto the unsuspecting drivers below and we could see the streets beginning to flood. Thankfully, the rain took a short break just in time for us to unload the students and luggage back at the school. As soon as I arrived back at my apartment I fixed a quick dinner and then crashed until this morning--what a trip!