The weekend following my visit to Seoul I went to Ilsan Beach and Daewangam Forest - Ulsan is a port city based on the east coast of South Korea. It has a variety of beaches but the only one I have so far been to is Ilsan beach, the complete opposite side of the city from me, so a nice two-bus, 1.5 hour ride away. First we went and walked along the beach then up to the Daewangam Pine forest. It was beautiful and we got great views out to sea. After about an hours walk we came across a special rock said to be where a queen of Korea turned into a dragon and sleeps under to protect the Korean peninsula from danger. We walked further and saw some lighthouses, military ruins and more beaches. A lovely afternoon.

That Friday was Teacher's Day. Yes, another day we ought to add to the British calendar. I got to school on Friday and was greeted with "oh you wore a suit for today" by a student. I wasn't wearing a suit, just shirt, tie and trousers which I always wear so I was slightly surprised. Things became clear when I saw my co-teacher who advised we were having a school trip to the Hyundai factory. But first, as it was teacher's day, all the kids lined up before the teachers and bowed down fully to the floor in front of us before saying thanks (Kamsamnida). Then they gave us a gift of carnations to wear. After that we took a trip to the Hyundai factory complex. An entire area in Ulsan is nicknamed "Kingdom of Hyundai" because they are a massive part of the Ulsan economy and their complex stretches along a large portion of the river. We got a tour of one factory where we saw the cars being made and then a bus ride round the other areas before they provided us with lunch. It was great. Then we went to Daewangam Forest again, and finally on to an Ice Skating rink. That was a lot of fun. It took a while to get used to the ice but once I got the hang of it, I was able to help a few of my students to skate without holding the side.

I decided I wanted to go explore a different city that weekend and so went to Gyeongju with a friend. We saw ancient tombs, the Cheomseongdae observatory (the oldest astronomical observatory in Asia), the Donggung palace and the Anapji pond. We then got a bus to Bulguksa which was apparently one of the most spectacular Korean temples. Personally I wasn't particularly impressed but that might be because I have been to quite a few in the short time I've been here. Afterwards we went to Seokgoram, Grotto, a big statue of the Buddha had been built into a cave in the rocks and is now carefully preserved. It was quite impressive to see.

The next weekend was a three day weekend due to Buddha's birthday being on the Monday. I couldn't make up my mind where to go (as I couldn't afford to go to Seoul for the lantern parade) and only finally decided on Sunday morning to try and find Pareso Falls, another scenic sight of Ulsan - The journey started out quite badly as I couldn't find the right stop - except I actually could, its just the sign didnt have the bus number on at first which confused me. After I checked with the office who assured me that was the right stop, I went back and there it was on the monitor after all. I took the bus which went through a very beautiful valley, in fact most of Korea is stunning - probably even more so than Devon. About a 45 minute walk from the bus stop at Baenaegol was the Pareso falls - a 15m waterfall cascading down into a lovely pool. It must have been quite pure water as dragon flies were there. It felt like a very spiritual place - what the Japanese call "Kami." Then I went back to bus stop and there was an hour and a half wait (I was in middle of nowhere) till the next bus. I decided to get some food at a nearby restaurant. This turned out to be an interesting learning experience. I ordered DubuKimchi - Tofu and Kimchi). I assumed at the expensive price of 8000 won it would be some speciality - but no, it was literally just a plate of tofu and a plate of Kimchi. LOL! (Kimchi is the Korean's national dish which they eat with everything - it is spicy fermented cabbage). When I finished, I still had about an hour wait for bus so decided to try hitch-hiking and someone kindly picked me up after 10 minutes and took me much closer to Eonyang. It was very kind and a great first experience hitch-hiking.

Monday was Buddha's Birthday. I first went Tongdosa, a temple I had been too before but was one of the nicest ive seen in Korea. It was beautifully decorated with flowers and lanterns and they were giving away free Bibimbap (rice, vegetables and spicy sauce) for lunch. Afterwards I came home and read about another temple in Ulsan that looked lovely so I went there in evenin. The temple is called Junggwansa. It is 4 stories and very beautiful, with lit up lanterns and a dragon for Buddha's birthday. The art work inside was stunning and I got to watch the sunset over Ulsan from the roof.A truly spectacular sight.

I also had my first experience of attempting to get a hair cut this month, and of going to the dentist. My hair was getting too long so after procrastinating for weeks, I eventually asked my co-teacher for some help with a few phrases (I can now say front, back, top and sides in Korean) I made my way tentatively to the hair dressers that had been recommended by a friend. I had previously attempted to go here but was told it was closed. This time there wasn't anyone in there. Damn! Stopped at the first hurdle. I decided to see if I could find somewhere else open and just across the road a new one had opened up. I went in and sat down. I tried to use a few words to explain what I wanted and she actually seemed to understand. 15 minutes and a hair wash later, I came out with very short hair (which is exactly what I'd asked for). I declared myself victorious. The kids at school were all shocked the next day which was quite funny. My luck was not to last as within a few days, when biting into a toffee, a tooth broke in half. There was thankfully no pain but I was very worried about an infection. My co-teacher helped me find a dentist but was unable to come with me. The next evening after work I went to the dentist with a note explaining the situation. I expected that I would need a new tooth at a cost of hundreds of pounds. We have health insurance here but it doesn't cover dental treatment. For some reason the dentist just removed the remainder of the filling from my tooth and patched it up. I am now walking around with half a tooth missing, but at least the cost was only 10,000 won (about £6).

One of the downsides of living in Eonyang (about 30 minutes from the city) is the lack of nightlife and all buses back from the city finish at 10.30pm so staying out any later means an expensive taxi ride home. There aren't any clubs here and the bars I knew of were limited in options (and quite expensive). That was about to change when we wandered down a small road and found a bar called "The Dog House". It was a nice cheap bar with beer for only 2500 won (£1.50ish) and they have flavoured beers like peach flavoured beer or blueberry flavoured beer. I don't like the taste of normal beers but these ones are quite sweet and pleasant. Most of the drinks there are much cheaper than down town and so we will be going there a lot more often now.

The next day I went to Gyeongju again and walked around it for six hours. The city is nicknamed the "museum without walls" because literally everywhere you go you can see something historical. It was once the capital of Korea under the Silla dynasty. They ruled in the first millenium AD and the kingdom lasted almost 1000 years. I saw many of the tombs of the Silla kings. They are literally big mounds. Similar to the barrow mounds in Britain but much bigger. I also saw a couple of Confucian academies, a pagoda (tower), a Hanok house village (old style Korean houses), a famous bridge called Woljeongyo bridge and the house of a famous aristocrat Cheo who helped fund the Korean resistance against the Japanese occupation.

There is a reasonably big mountain overlooking Eonyang which has a signal station on top. A couple of times I have tried to walked up there on evenings with a friend but not managed to reach the top due to day light so this time we decided to go during the day. So, the day after doing my feet in walking six hours in Gyeongju, we decided to try and get to the top of this mountain. I'm glad to say we managed it. And at the top not only was there a signal station, but the remains of an historic one too - definitely worth the climb. But boy I am unfit and it was a struggle going almost constantly uphill for over an hour.

Last weekend I went to see another scenic sight on Saturday - the Seonbawi rock and bamboo forest. The rock was really good but the forest was pitiful. It is supposed to be an 11km long Bamboo first but seemed more like a bamboo fence. I will visit other areas on the river at a later date to see if it's any better. Then we went to a Language Exchange in the university district of Ulsan (Mugeodong). This involves Koreans and foreigners meeting and the first hour the Koreans teach us Korean and the second hour, we teach them English. It was good fun and I made some Korean friends. Then I went out to a party at a local bar with the theme "Prom Night" which was good. The next day I went to see the new Jurassic Park movie - which is awesome.

As for teaching over the past few months - it's still a struggle, I still have issues with class discipline but I'm slowly learning what works - like keeping the kids behind at the end for 5 minutes so they miss part of their break is much more effective than sending them out of class. I have incorporated more games into my grade 3 and 4 elementary school classes and they are finding it fun and learning lots of new vocabulary at the same time. I had been teaching my middle school classes the science of happiness using www.eltandhappiness.com which seemed to work OK for the oldest students but in hindsight it seems to have failed with the younger ones and went right over their head. So for the final few classes I am going to teach my middle school students about computer game vocabulary (as that seems to be the main hobby of most of them), and my elementary grades will do a project where they create their own country. Hopefully they will find these things more exciting.