The faculty is invited every year to participate in the fellowship weekend and it always takes place at Taechon Beach since the school owns several cabin-like living quarters, as well as other multi-purpose rooms for dining and recreation. Aside from these accommodations, the Yellow Sea is a mere 5-minute walk and the views are breathtaking!
Despite the rain Friday night, we arrived and enjoyed a decent dinner followed by an hour lecture session given by Libby Stevens. Libby had lived and taught in Germany for the last 17 years and most recently has toured around the world speaking to other international teachers about what it means to "be an alien in a foreign land" and "how to survive as a foreigner" - her talk both Friday night and again Saturday night was a real wake-up call: she asked us to think about "why we're here" - "what is our purpose"....some of her other thoughts discussed the different phases one goes through living overseas. Everyone starts in the "honeymoon" phase, which lasts a month or so before you finally realize you're actually LIVING in this foreign country....you're not just a tourist!
Some of these thoughts resinated in my head in the sense I realized that perhaps I've only been in the "honeymoon phase" thus far....what else is to come? What other crazy emotions will I go through? Can I handle the difficulty and struggle that very possibly still lays ahead??
Libby's lectures made me think, but at the same time, I couldn't help but be grateful for the other staff members that were there with me. It was so wonderful to spend more time with some of my fellow teachers and enjoy each other's company for the weekend!
After Libby's final talk on Saturday morning, we had the afternoon free and so several of us walked to the beach to go in for a swim! With Taechon Beach being located in Boreyong (Boreyong is known for it's "Mud Festival" each spring!), the city's "beach-mud" is widely praised for its entertaining abilities and pleasure! Once we got down to the beach, we had a blast trying to push our bodies all the way into the mud! Here is a fellow teacher friend, Brad, and his daughter Maddie sinking and swerving into the "beach-mud":
As for myself, I had a blast riding the waves and finding both shells and starfish on the shoreline:
Aside from riding the waves and catching starfish, I caught some "actual footage" of my beach time - you can check out the video below: (*note-it might be hard to hear on the video because the wind was so strong that day....hopefully you'll be able to understand enough of what's being said tho ;-)
And so, I bid you all farewell! Hope all is well with everyone and keep ridin' the waves ;-)
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