Seaside, Crabs, Teachers...

I have been waiting on this since I came to Korea.... a school teacher trip! I was warned that we would "have to go on many unexpected random trips with our teachers that may be inconvenient." After not having any kind of teacher outing or random sporting events or ANYTHING, I got excited for this one. I was told in advance that on the 26th we would be going to the seaside to eat crab. Nevermind the fact that I had to pay more on top of the normal money they take out of my paycheck for these events. 

My 6th grade co-teachers- Ms. Nam, Me, and Hyuni

We got to leave the school early. At 1:00 all the teachers boarded a chartered bus and headed for the coast. At one time we were going to Yeongdeok, then Pohang, but as our bus pulled into Yeongdeok according to my google maps, I KNEW we were going to Yeongdeok! ahahah

This is how my life goes in Korea. I usually know what I NEED to know, and if it is not completely vital, then it doesn't always make its way to me. Surprisingly though, I am OK with this. Am I mellowing out??? Whaaaaaat? 

We first went to Sunrise Park, which is on the coast outside of Yeongdeok. They had a great crab lighthouse thing that of course I climbed. We also had time to walk down quite a few stairs to the coast. I walked past some fellow teachers standing on some of the giant boulders on the coast and kept walking out to the water. I just kept going until I got to the water. Apparently this isn't normal? I don't know, they starting taking pictures of me. Look at the foreign teacher trying to fall in the sea...hahah! Wasn't even close though. Not even close!

After 30 minutes we moved on...

The Ms. Lees. (my 4th/5th grade co-teacher and P.E. teacher)

As we were going to Sunrise Park, I saw this great sculpture and I really wanted a picture of it. I asked some of the men in charge (one speaks decent English) if were planning on driving back by it, because I thought that if we were, I could walk to it and they could stop of 3 seconds and pick me up. 

They told me that we were going the other way and were not going to be going by it, BUT as we boarded the bus and it started going, I knew this wasn't the case. As we came up on the sculpture the bus stopped and the other teachers were told that the weird foreign girl wanted to get off and take a picture. It turned into a restroom stop- you're welcome Woonam teachers- and an added group photo op. I think in the end the vice principal was happy because they got a good picture out of the deal to show their "workshop".

We drove a bit longer and went into a restaurant on the sea and sat down on the floor with tables set with the following courses...

Then the giant plate of crabs came... 

I had never eaten crab, so I needed to learn fast, because we were diggin' in! Ms. Lee (P.E. teacher) who has special talents with food in general taught us a great trick using scissors that allowed a huge chuck of meat to come out all at once! 

The crab was really good. I, of course could not possibly eat as much of it as my Korean counterparts, but I did get to eat quite a bit. I think that I would have eaten even more it is was a little hotter. Koreans in general are much more okay with food being a cooler/warmer temperature than what I find normal. So for example, they eat things warmer than I would normally (milk), and also things that are colder than I would like (meat). I only at the legs. I didn't get into eating the body. I figured as everyone was diving in that crabs have to have a digestive system, and I didn't want to find it to be honest... ahah

After the crabs, they brought out even more food. We got fish that looked like he had just been plopped on the grill, which makes me think, "awwww poor guy..." We also got soup and some rice that had been infused with the crab juices. It was served in the empty top shell of the crab, which was interesting. I also enjoyed this rice. 

For someone who is not the biggest fan of seafood, I thought that I did really good with this meal. Still didn't try the snail/muscle/shell things. Maybe next time? Well, realistically, probably not...:)