Thursday was Pepero Day. This is a slimmed down version of Cadbury's Fingers, or a pencil shaped biscuit dipped 3/4 in chocolate. I started noticing big boxes in the stores made up like valentines candy. A normal sized box just smaller than a DVD is .75 cents and has about a dozen sticks. So in anticipation, a 'special announcement' was made at the school that there is to be 'no pepero' on pepero day or the school would be littered with empty wrappers. However, kids have been coming up to me saying 'give me pepero', telling me thursday is pepero day and that they want pepero. It also comes in different styles like chocolate almond, chocolate walnut, or chocolate filled centres.

I had already bought a giant sized box with 18 cartons but I happened to be in Homeplus wednesday, the nite before. The aisle with pepero was like christmas eve, it was so crowded with kids you couldnt get to the shelves. It is tradition to give it to your sweetheart or your friends, so like valentines cards they will be exchanged with everyone. Many students from my school were at homeplus with baskets full of pepero. I bought another box with 24 more cartons and decided to make some games on pepero day.

First, I taped three underneath three chairs for each class on thursday and did a scramble game where they have to look for the three boxes. All you hear are screams, chairs thrown, and small skirmishes trying to grab the box. Then I gave students a number each and use a random number generator off the internet to draw three numbers like calling bingo numbers, and the lucky winners each get a box each. Everyone that didnt win swarms me at the end of class demanding their box. On friday, people are still demaning pepero. So like halloween, I had to keep reminding them the day has passed as they still want halloween candy and scary movies.

Saturday went back to Gyeongju. This was the capital of the Silla kingdom for 1000 years and just an hour outside Deagu. Three of us went and continued from where we left off on our last trip to Gyeongju. First we went to the Gyeongju National Museum. It had jewels, gold crowns, pottery, ceramics, glassware, clay figures. The museum wasnt as big as I expected and didnt have as much stuff as I had seen in the Korean National Museum in Seoul or the Daegu National Museum, but was still a worthwhile visit. Admission was free for 'friendly people' but not sure how they determine who is and who isnt??

Then we went to Bulguksa Temple which is 15kms from the town centre. The city bus would have been a 40 min ride after waiting for the bus so we decided to take a cab. It cost us $18 which we were able to split three ways. Bulguksa is one of the most important temples in Korean like Haeinsa which I visited a two weeks earlier but wasnt as grand as Haeinsa. It had more wear and tear and they were more strict about photography of the monuments. There were also some ponds and bridges around the temple which were very scenic with the red fall colours.

Then there was a bus which goes to Seokguram Grotto which we wanted to take instead of a cab again. There is one bus every hour or you can hike for an hour. We decided to take the bus to save time and make the most of the afternoon sun outdoor before it gets chilly. Gyeongju is called Korea's open air museum so there is not much development, retail, restaurants, or places to get food. We were all hungry but we had five minutes to get the bus or we would have to wait another hour, hike, or take a cab. So we all bolted downhill to the base where the bus was passing all the food stalls. Luckily we just made the bus as it was leaving.

Good job we took the bus. It was a twenty minute bus ride further up the mountain. It was a long, steep, round, curvy road, circling round the side of mountain, almost dangerous at times. There is no way I would have hiked that steep a trek even if we had time to spare. Finally we see a food vendor at the entrance so we descend like a pack of hungry wolves! So to get to Seokguram Grotto you have to hike about another ten minutes but an easy walk. From the outside you see a temple like structure and a huge grass hill behind. Inside no photography is allowed. There is a glass wall seperating the interior of the dome structure. There is a passage with many large stone engravings on the wall. This leads to a circular chamber where there is a large stone bhudda statue.

Back outside, in the distance you can see the mountains all around, and the ocean since we were now near the coast. Supposedly you can even see Japan and offshore Korean islands but we did not have a clear blue sky and could not even make out the water behind the mountains which was the same colour as the sky. People can also engrave a message on a rooftile which are used in renovations. We took the forty minute bus ride all the way back downtown instead of blowing money on a cab again as we werent in a hurry anymore.

Overall it was a worthwhile trip. This was my second trip to Gyeongju so over the two trips I've covered the main tourist items, although there are still much more sites that we havent even been to yet. I found out there is an outdoor theme park where they have horseback performers and archery but i'll leave that to next spring when its warmer. Next on the to do list is Gatbawi which is a giant stone bhudda statue on Palgonson mountain in the northern daegu suburb. We avoided it this weekend as we heard it would be crowded for exam week with mothers praying for their childrens exam results.

Monday at school was very odd. Aside from changing the classtimes and switching classes around, which is very common, at 2pm their was an air raid siren and announcements on speakers. I wasnt sure if this was like a firedrill and we were supposed to go outside? I was in the teachers room at the time and asked if we were supposed to go somewhere? They said it was a bi-annual defence drill and not to worry, but that it was nationwide for 15 minutes and everything was supposed to stop. Sure enough, outside there were no cars on the road, or pulled over. Kinda sounded like a scene from WWII with the sirens and the kids in the classes had to practice going under desks till the all clear. Not sure if that helps, I asked where the shelters were, and nobody told me what to do so I guess the foreign teacher is left to fend for themselves when the missiles come raining down! :-)

School is ice cold. Temperature is still in double digits but there is no heating in the school. The teachers room is warm as it gets sun from the windows on both sides. My room gets some sun for a few hours but otherwise very cold. Only the teachers washroom has hot water. Ironic that I didnt goto China as the schools there had no heating, yet here I am teaching in my winter coat! You have to layer up and even some teachers are wearing gloves. Clothes are really cheap, sweaters for $12, winter coat with hood for $20, so not too expensive to buy extra layers. Shoes are $140 for some reason though??