Hwacheon Sancheoneo Festival

The past couple weeks in Hwacheon have been fun-filled and action packed. The annual Sancheoneo Festival has started!!! This is festival that takes place in our small town and attracts over 1 million people annually. Here is how it works: They block the river off, so it stops flowing. Then naturally, it freezes (it helps that the temperature is around 15 degrees F. every day). The festival takes place on the frozen river. There is ice fishing, ice skating, ice sledding, ice slides, ice sculptures, snow sculptures, ice 4-wheelers, ice go-carts, and my favorite bare-handed fishing. This is where people stand in a pool of non-heated water, and try to catch fish with their bare hands! The name of the festival is Sancheoneo (which is the Korean word for the type of trout that is famous here). I have participated in the ice fishing, ice sledding, and ice slides, and looked at the ice sculptures, snow sculptures, and bare-handed fishing. It is so amazing to see how many people come to this festival. I walked into town from my apartment, and the traffic was so bad, I was faster walking than the people driving! It has been a really fun festival, that I have gotten to share with great friends :)

This is also my second week of teaching my winter English class. Each day, my students are learning about a different city in the U.S. After they take notes about the city, we then do a cultural enrichment activity. For example, today we studied Houston, and I taught my students to line dance! Then, at the end of the day, they research on the internet, and are making their very own travel guide. Overall, the students are doing a really good job with this (considering that none of them want to be there).

I leave in a week to go to Singapore/Indonesia/Thailand/Vietnam. I can't wait to lay on the beach/explore/learn history and culture of these places! I hope it is a relaxing experience and that I come back refreshed for 4 months of English teaching.

Miss and love you all

Jacque