Chudja

Last weekend I was asked by a friend to take his place for an outreach program run by the Foreign Language Center. It was going to the island of Chudja, a bit north from Jeju, but still part of Jeju. We took a cargo ship out there and it took about 3 hours before we arrived. It was myself and 5 other foreign teachers, going to the island to promote the center and English education. We left Sunday and came back on Monday.

We arrived at the port, beautiful place. Really really nice. It is a small chain of islands. The largest 2 are inhabited, and connected by a small bridge. It was a bit more than a fishing village, but not much more. The islands hold about 2500 people and there is a middle school and 2 elementary schools. Once out of middle school, the students either need to go to the mainland or Jeju to finish their education or get employment on one of the boats.

We checked into our hotel, which caused some problems as there was not enough room available. Apparently some people checked in and then decided to stay longer than expected. But we got that taken care of and decided to go for a little walk before dinner. We ended up sitting outside a store and drinking some beers before the dinner with the school people and high-ups in the town. The meal was of raw fish and some cooked fish. Not bad. There were the obligatory toast. A few more than usual. Koreans tend to toast and thank each other a lot for the things that they do. So a few shots of Soju were downed that night. Following the dinner we went back to the shop and continued to play cards and have a couple of beers. Something we kept noticing as the trip went along. All the women on the island are hot!!! Beautiful women everywhere. There is one lucky foreigner living on the island and he is loving it. They have taken him under their wings and have included him in the community. They are teaching him Scuba diving and taking him fishing. He seems to be enjoying it quite a bit.

Monday we get up and head to the Middle school to do our little lesson. I am paired up with Neil, an English fella. We have a simple lesson set up about clothing. We introduce it and then play some games with it. Next comes the t-shirts. The Center has brought in a bunch of t-shirts as souvenirs for the kids. They get to design and draw their own. They all have fun. Some are better than others and some are just plain bad. But they love them and that is all that counts.

Following the t-shirt making session, we take the kids outside for a little game of cricket. Our kids loved it. Most if not all were participating and enjoying the sport. It was new to me as I have also never played the game. Following the game, we had lunch before moving on the the Elementary school. The smaller school was bused in to the larger of the two. So combined classes. We took the older students, 6th grade and taught the same lessons. Our kids were not that talented at making the t-shirts, but oh well. There were a few in the class who did get a bit out of control. There was one kid who was a class clown and was rather disruptive, but smart and did participate. That was until it came to Cricket. We took them outside and showed them the game. These kids were more interested in pushing each other around and throwing rocks at each other. We had to stop the game for a minute, when several of them took the wicket and were running around with it, being followed by a kid with the bat, who proceeded to hit them with said bat. We stopped the game and had them sit down for a minute while we talked to them and got it back on track. The class clown decided to flick Neil off whilst returning to the game and was given a talking to by Neil and he sat in the dirt for the rest of the game. Our poor students didn't' get the prices the others did for playing the game. But they enjoyed themselves nonetheless.

Following Cricket it was time to head back home. This time by a fast boat. It took about 1:10 to get back to Jeju. The sea was a bit rougher, but we were outside and enjoying the waves and the fresh air. Moving around was a bit difficult, but sitting and having congratulatory beers was not. Good trip over all.