korea trip - day 3

this morning's breakfast was at a very nice restaurant in the hotel called Rosemary Coffee Shop. the kids were very puzzled why the coffee shop in korea is so atas as compared to our typical coffee shops in sg. hahahahahaha. 

its really damn cool to see one big group of people in pink. 

today is blazer day again because we are going to another korean school - wooshin high school. thank goodness the weather is quite cooling in korea and i wun perspire. in sg if i wear blazer confirm gone case.


after breakfast we went to Andong Hahoe Folk Village. this folk village is very famous in korea and queen elizabeth visited this folk village before. wow~

must take a shuttle bus to the folk village from the tourist bus parking area. pls do not misunderstand that my kids are all inconsiderate who dun offer their seats to the teachers. they did offer to me and i politely declined. :)

so peaceful~ so tranquil~ this place gives me the zen feeling~ and i like the 101 dalmatian umbrella. hahaha.


and then... disaster struck upon us. it started to rain. and it rain heavier and heavier. the rain is so heavy that orchard road will have a flash flood again. thank goodness the folk village got no flash flood which means the folk village has a better drainage system than the well-modernised orchard road. even with our umbrellas we were all wet. including our shoes and socks. the rain was just too strong and powerful. all of us were practically shivering. :(


our next destination was wooshin high school. it will take us 4 hours to reach there. imagine all of us, feeling cold, with wet socks and wet shoes. super gao3 wei4 to the max. 


ok we finally reach the school, which was about 4 pm. the school looks pretty quiet and most of the korean students were gone. most probably lessons have ended and they all went back home to study. the welcome was definitely not as happening compared to weolsan middle school. 


and my 4 special boys were super disappointed because wooshin high school is a boys school. hahahahaha. they cant collect anymore disposable gfs in their digital cameras. 


so the teachers brought us to a tour around their hostel and school compound. 

i am such a poser. hahahahahaha.


after that we proceeded to their band room. our band students join their band for a combined performance. i think its really cool to have such an exchange.

and then it is the typical group photo session. how predictable can it get. hor ms juliana tan? hahahaha.

this is their chin-up bars.


after the group photo session we went back to the band room. its photo frenzy again but not as wild as compared to the frenzy at weolsan middle school. me and my special ones (especially the boys) were kinda bored so we stayed outside the band room. 

my 4 special boys really love the tour guide.

hahahahahahaha~ so sweet~


more sweet photos to show you:

two of them are really cute and adorable. 


after the school visit we proceeded for dinner. dinner was at a gigantic ship! damn cool.

and then we checked in our hotel, which we will be staying there for 2 nights. the hotel room is really small, as compared to diamond hotel and daegu gs plaza. but this is not the smallest i had seen. casa real hotel @ hk was even smaller. :p

they got a kitchen, which i think was quite redundant for us.

after the debrief and reflection writing with the kids, the three adults went to explore the streets. its super shiok to walk the streets of seoul in such a cooling weather. and we stop over at this homely restaurant run by a few ajummas. ordered food to eat and a bottle of soju to drink! my first time drinking soju! :)

sinful ah sinful~

i love korea!

集体拳 video

derek seong uploaded the video already! thank you very muchie~

korea trip - day 2

today i have to be dressed in formal wear. because before the trip joel told me he will be bringing blazer and will be wearing the blazer for the school visits and advise me to bring a blazer too. the last time i wore a blazer was doing the shanghai night dance for fen during the ethereal performance. i personally have no blazer to wear so i have to borrow my dad's. thank goodness i can fit in his blazer perfectly. thought it will be too big. oh no this is not a good sign for me. hahahahaha. 


a good start to the day comes with a good breakfast. breakfast was at the same restaurant where we had dinner in day 1.

home made strawberry jam~ so nice~


the first place we are going is the busan fish market. to be honest i also dunno why we are going to the fish market. this market is the largest seafood market in korea, it represents busan and is famous throughout the country.

formal wear in a fish market leh! the ajumma (middle-aged or married women) will think that both of us are crazy. hahahahaha. 


i brought along my perfume in case i carry the stench of the fish market with me up to the bus and to the korean school but thank goodness the the fish market smell here was quite ok. sg one was more power.


after the fish market we went to Taejongdae Park. this park is designated as one of the monumental sites in busan. we took a tram ride around the park. the tram got 3 carriages and i sat in the same carriage as my special ones. 

this two can be the student version of me and hw. hahahahaha.




first i show you this pic:

and then i show you this:

现在的小男孩... haiz~




and then we proceeded on to the korean school - weolsan middle school. we love the school! and the staff and students! they are so hospitable, and so friendly! they really welcome us with open arms!

weolsan middle school is famous for their choir. the guy above is the choir teacher-in-charge. he also teaches music in the school. and he taught us the song arirang, which our students will sing this song together with the korean choir. he is super animated and my students call him the korean version of harry potter. 会像 meh?

pretty flutist who plays the music of the song arirang. fen you should listen to her play. hahahahaha.


after learning the song is a visit around the sch compound, and then lunch. during the walk around the school, we were greeted enthusiastically by the korean students. the korean female students are very daring. they went ga ga over our boys, and some of them came up to me and say that i am very handsome. :p


our lunch:

after lunch we make one last preparation for the performance. we are performing during their assembly slot, where all the students will be coming to the auditorium! wah biang super stressed. but thank goodness the performance went quite well and the korean students loved our performance. they cheered super loudly during the b-boy item and they danced together with the yog oh yeh oh yeh song. :)


after the performance the boys and girls from both sg and korea went into a frenzy!!! photo taking time!!! some of the boys even received hugs from the korean female students. aiyohhhhh~

i only managed to get hold of this three photos from my students' facebook. there is definitely alot more.

group photo with everyone:

and then they send us off. some of them even cried. -.-'''

 

really feel like we are GOH or VVIP.

one of my boys came to tell me that he found his gf in korea. and his gf hugged him two times. and he call his new found korean gf a disposable gf. seriously wassup...

all of us loved this school visit. it was the dynamism and the vibrancy of everybody in the school that make us feel so welcomed and so happy. :)

and then its dinner time! seafood shabu shabu!

and our hotel room for the second night - daegu gs plaza.

joel let me have the bigger bed. hahahahaha.

korea trip - day 0 & 1

the day has come!


reached airport at 1030 pm and was a bit shocked to see so many people. one big group of 32 students dressed in pink. and the students' family members + friends. 


so we checked in our luggage and got our boarding passes. took a group photo before we went into the departure transit area.

total number of students travelling is 32. total number of teachers is 4. so it is a 1:8 teacher to student ratio.


the 4 teachers are:
joel - my pe/cca hod
liyana - teaches mother tongue, and band teacher in-charge
eudora - teaches music, and choir teacher in-charge
myself - teaches pe and chemistry, performing arts coordinator


the 32 students are:
- 8 from band
- 12 from choir
- 12 from others, and we call them the 'special' ones


basically the criteria for selecting the students to go for this trip are based on two aspects: they are on FAS (financial assistance scheme) and they are from performing arts. performing arts we are looking at band and choir as the majority because the two different korean schools that we are going to has a strong niche in this two areas. 


and hor, out of the 32 students, there are 26 girls and only 6 boys. hahahaha. 1 boy in band. 1 boy in choir. and 4 boys in the 'special' ones. 

from left to right: 
- desmond from my wushu team. the one who can do a back flip. he can do b-boy too.
- dzulhairi. he does b-boy and has his own b-boy crew. got take part in competitions.
- zulfikar. very daring and has the strong desire to perform.
- asyraf. also very daring and loves to perform. 

we are taking korean air. the movies that they show on the in-flight entertainment system are quite recent. the students were very thrilled about the in-flight entertain system because this was their first time sitting on the plane.


the breakfast on the plane:

to be honest it doesn't look appetising. the taste is so so only. but i shall not complain cos i tasted worse meals before. :p


ok we reached incheon airport! the tour guide was already at the airport waiting for us. the tour bus was already there too.

and we took a 5 hour ride to busan. zzzzzzzzzzz. on the way got toilet stops and a lunch stop for us. for our first lunch in korea, we were given 8000 won per pax to buy food at a food court. 

this is what i bought:

kimchi fried rice! yum yum! taste very good! :)


the first attraction that we visited for the day is APEC House. it is the place where world leaders gathered and held the APEC leaders' meeting. 

the round table for the meeting.

can see lee hsien long?

eudora, liyana, joel and myself.

the special ones. :)

after APEC house we went to check in at our hotel - diamond hotel. if you remembered, the diamond hotel has the largest night club in asia. hahahaha.

after 8 pm there will be a few bouncers standing in front of this entrance. 

we had our dinner at a restaurant just outside the hotel. traditional korean restaurant where we sit on the floor to eat dinner. with the usual dosage of kimchi and a large steamboat of mushrooms and pork slices. i like!!! :)

after dinner we practised for the performance which we will be showcasing to the students of weolsan middle sch on day 2. after the practise we brought the students to a nearby convenience stall to buy groceries. the muslim students were quite hungry and they bought cup noodles and had their cup noodle party in the room. -.-'''


ok this is our room! the rooms were really big!