More views from the education location

It is amazing how quickly the the view can change within a season. Only a couple of weeks ago we had a seven whole days of cherry blossoms, and now we have purple flowers everywhere. From what I’ve seen it would seem that Gunpo promotes itself as a flowery city, with these flowers taking center stage. They are in every park. They are on ever bank. They are in ever garden. They are EVERYWHERE.

The last photo in this set is of the view at the back of the school. The apartments still being built is the reason the school population is still as low it is.

Rolling in the road

This happens in South Africa as well, but not really in this particular way, and not nearly as often as in Korea.

Sometimes I stop at a traffic light and I’m at the front of the pack. Usually there will be more than one lane, so there will be a car next to me. This car will then be my short term entertainment/mystery as it either slowly creeps forward (learn some muscle control, dude) or does what I can only call “little hops”, almost as if the driver is trying to anticipate the changing of the light.

I have seen people do these hops until they are almost in the middle of the intersection. I have even see people basically cross the intersection and for no apparent reason just stand and wait on the other side for the light to change.

I always wonder what goes through these people’s minds when they are doing this. All I can imagine is…

Surprisingly often you will see these very same people effectively forget to drive when the light does eventually change. They creep forward, leaving me a full car length behind, but then, when the light changes, I start moving, and soon I will be looking at them in my mirror, still standing. I wonder if the music on their radio changes when the light changes. Maybe to something like this?

I suppose we should not ask questions about the actions of stupid drivers.

Dizzy Tumbles

As always the first graders provide me with great entertainment. This time it was with their abilities to do simple rolls. To be fair, as easy as it can be to just roll forward, when you have to do it at speed and with enthusiasm like they did, it does turn slightly dangerous. When I did hapkido I hit the ground hard a few times because I didn’t land and roll properly. Some are just plain “stupid” though :)

It is time for Dizzy to try a roll.

1. Run up to the mat.
2. Stop dead and carefully place your head on the mat.
3. Move forward, but not to much.
4. Do a slow-motion crash.
5. Get up and pretend you did your roll.

Schools with a view

The view from my school is a bit strange. On the one side you have a bunch of brand new apartments being built. They are just across the road and their proximity makes any kind of view past them pretty much impossible. On the opposite side there seems to be nearly nothing. I will go out and get photos of the apartments soon, but for now I will only show the more scenic side.

From the school’s empty top floor you can see quite far over the Dangjeong neighbourhood. Dangjeong is divided into an original and  an extension. Most of the extension out of view in these photos and what you get is this oddly unbuilt area of Gyeonggi.

In reality what you are looking at it a golf course just behind the front buildings and then the more industrial original Danjeong behind that. Most of the original area is filled with building lower than 5 floors and what appears to be storage and distribution companies. The other areas of Gunpo are the standard fare with crowded apartment buildings a lack of an horizon.

Just photos

I love how some of my nicest photos are not taken with my SLR, but with my phone. One of the reasons I took almost no photos with my large camera for a long time was because my phone kind of filled the gap as the documenting device. The main reason I got into photography, after all, was to document what I saw and share it over the internet.

The first photo was taken at Jindo in the far South of Korea. This woman, for whatever reason, was standing apart from the hoard that was attending the Jindo Miracle Sea Festival (진도 신비의바닷길축제), digging for clams, I think.

After putting it through a few of the new presets I found on the internet and then tweaking it a bit to get what I wanted, I ended up with this photo.

My favourite phone photo came from Mokpo and the waterfront at Sang-dong. I have a similar image taken with the SLR, but the inclusion of a father with his two children was what made this photo my other top shot from the weekend away

*Thank you to Jo for the editing and making my terrible writing be a bit more presentable.

The Great Crossing

A few weekends ago was the annual Jindo Miracle Sea Festival (진도 신비의바닷길축제). I can confidently say that it is no miracle, since we know not just how it happens, but also when it happens. I also have my doubts as to how often it happens. Surely the sea is not that low just one a year at almost exactly the same time? Whatever, I was here to get my photo and play Moses. 

 

As the crowd achieved full motion, my friend asked: “I wonder who is leading?”. I believe my response was: “Nobody is really leading. Someone is just crazy enough to be first.”   Needless to say, I was not the only one taking photos and that meant people getting in each other’s photo space. This woman seemed determined to be in my way, so I decided to make her the subject of my photo. Winning like a Baws! (Like a boss, for those who don’t speak Modern Geek.)   This being Korea, you are bound to see people who have the most expensive boots money can buy. Most of us normal people though, went with the sun 10,000 won near disposable Silly Boots.   We were not the only people crossing though. The event’s full band also made it’s way over and back, complete with flying flags and all.

*Thanks to Jo for the editing and making my terrible writing be a bit more presentable.

Sports Day 2013

It was the first of May and time for my little school’s Sports Day. Contractually I was supposed to have the day off with it being Workers’ Day and all, but the school asked me to come in because all the other teachers had. Worker’s Day is not a public holiday in South Korea. In return for working I would get paid overtime. Pay or no pay, I was not going to miss the chance to take photos of this lot, especially the incompetently funny first graders.

The school population being as small as it is, we were able to start and spend most of the day in the gym. Like with most gatherings in Korea official duties HAD to be observed before any fun could be had. Anyone who knows me knows how much I hate this. I count official traditions at the number one reason I left the Boy Scouts. Why would I want to stand and raise a flag, say an oath, watch others get awards (get one myself when I don’t care what it is) and generally waste time when there is fun to be had elsewhere? At least here I get to walk around and take photos.

I was supposed to help with the events, but no one ever really told me what to do and somehow I ended up doing nothing. That was just fine by me, because I could just have fun snapping photos.

Shooting indoors can be tricky. Light changes rapidly when you change angles and often the shutter speed is too slow without me realising it.There are so many photos that are just too blurry to be any good. Despite that I got a fair amount of OK shots.

The action started off with the first graders. They are old enough to understand what competition means and too young to be good at it. They generally try very hard, but all too often they just plain suck. That is exactly how I like it because it guarantees that I will be rolling on the floor with laughter at some point.

The kindergarteners were also in on the action. They are even more incompetent than the first graders, but their lack of understanding and urgency do not make them nearly as funny as their slightly older fellow students.

One of the more unusual events of the day was the card flipping contest. A collection of two sided coloured cards were place on the floor and the fifth and sixth graders were arranged around it. Some cards were blue side up and some white side up. When the referee blew the whistle everyone rushed in to turn cards over and show their team’s colour. It starts off rather orderly but quickly spirals into controlled chaos. My favourite parts were when one student would turn cards over with another student just following behind undoing the first student’s hard word. There were also the annoying yet funny moments where two students would “fight” over two cards. They would spend a good few seconds just turning over each other’s last card. Blue-White, White-Blue, Blue-White…

No sports day would be complete without short sprints…

…and a super all-in relay.

Of course, at the end of the day there had to be a loser. Crying Cathy here took a spill earlier and came last in her sprint. She would likely have lost anyway, but I think the fact that she was not able to at least give it a good old college try upset her. As she got closer to the finish line she came closer and closer to tears.

Already sad, she was then in the losing team for the relay. At least she was still gracious enough to put her hands together for the other team.