A Workshop Worth Attending

Week before last, the Native Speakers of English Teachers (NSETs) in my district (Seongdong) attended a workshop, otherwise referred to by the S.M.O.E. (Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education) as a “bonding trip.”

We rode a bus about 3 hours west – to the “West Sea” – and were able to see where the sea parts. During low tide, a strip of land is revealed that goes way out into the sea; land that is otherwise covered by sea water. It’s quite an experience to be standing so far out there, knowing that within a few hours, it will once again turn into an underwater world.

People go out there to dig for clams and other shellfish.
That day, we were among those people.

Hand-held rakes helped us expose creatures hiding beneath the sand.
I only found one clam worth keeping, so I carried it around for a while, in my little black plastic bag. After some time exploring the creatures (starfish, crabs – some as small as tiny ticks! – clams, mussels, various urchins and many other interesting sea life that I don’t have a name for), we headed back toward the main beach. We were supposed to pool all our findings together, but last minute, I was thinking, “Oh man, this lil dude is gonna boil, all because I dug him up!” That thought didn’t set well with me, so I whirled my arm back and chunked it as hard as I could, back to the sea.

I probably would have felt good about my random act of kindness toward the li’l creature, had he made it to the water. However, he ricocheted off a rock and his shell busted into two and went flying in separate directions.
So much for trying to save him, huh?
I actually felt pretty bad, for a few moments, envisioning him slowly drying-up into a shriveled mass while the tide crept in closer and closer, sucking him back into its grasp, giving him one last breath of life.
:) Okay, that may be taking it a wee bit far. :)

After that, we walked up to a seaside restaurant where we sat around low tables on flat pillows and shared a traditional Korean meal (the pictures at the link at the bottom of this entry will show you what lunch looked like).

We then hopped back on the bus and ventured out to a reed field; the fourth largest in the country (about 60,000 acres). When they first told us that we’d be visiting a reed field, you could feel it in the air that the general attitude was “Whoop-dee-doo,” but it really was a neat experience.

Here is an excerpt from my journal entry that day:

“…Rugged hillsides, where purple’s drinking green, and the tall feathery necks of the reeds are whispering secrets and shushing the riots inside our souls…
Just listen.”

There were paths throughout the reed field, with reed stalks looming high above our heads. You could hear people’s voices and you could tell that they were near, but the reeds were so thick, you couldn’t see the people lurking within them. It was cool.

(Although I do have my own pictures to share, until I am able to get them uploaded, you can indulge in the ones found here: http://www.noslen.com/trip/ . It is the website of a NSET who works for the same district as I do – he has been working hard to photographically record his sojourn.)