We had a 'whale' of a time!

This was our last day in Ulsan at Sungkwang Girls' School so we are all very sad. In the morning our wonderful teachers (Kun yup and Min Jeong) took us to the whale museum. What an experience! We arrived in time for a dolphin show! 4 dolphins did some incredibly cool tricks for us, led by their keepers. We were all incredibly impressed! 

We saw a 4D whale film which sprayed water in our face and wind in our hair. The chair moved too! We also saw a Dory fish! (You know, Finding Nemo!) 

We then met the principal and vice principal at the D'Maris world buffet. I can only describe this as Red Hot buffet but ten times bigger and better!! We ate very well indeed; sushi, pasta, dim sum, cake, and fruit. Miss Morton and Ikea had crab legs which involved using scissors to  get through the shell. 

In the afternoon Miss Morton learned some more Korean with the principal. Korean is a really interesting language to learn. The words are all in a different order with the verb at the end. I imagined it would be a little like Japanese which has very few irregular verbs (the students will know how frustrating they are!) But actually it was full irregulars! 

The evening was one of the nicest parts of the whole week. The Sungkwang Girls' High School put on a huge show especially for us! We were asked to present about the UK, Nottingham and our school. Nicole, Paige, Ikea and Gaja had to stand on stage in front of 1000 people and they really did themselves and the academy proud! We also performed the cha cha slide and made the whole audience join in too... They loved it!

Our presentation was followed by a number of impressive performances including dances that could even rival G-13 (Although I think we still have the edge!) There were dance performances to American music and also K-pop, which I'm certain many of our students would have enjoyed. Anyone know Girls Generation?! 

We were treated to incredible singing  of both Korean and English songs including lovebird by Leona Lewis and listen by Beyoncé! Some of those students would definitely do well on the X factor! 

As the show drew to a close we were pulled back on stage to take millions of selfies with random students... It felt just like being a celebrity! Many tears followed as we said goodbye to the teachers who have made us feel so welcome all week.

Off to Lotte World tomorrow in Seoul before setting off back home :-( we're all secretly hoping we can find a way to stay but it's not proving successful so far!

Wednesday's eventful day!

Apologies for the lateness, it's been a busy couple of days! Yesterday we did a bus city tour together with Nottingham Academy. We were first taken to the Hyundai area of the city. Ulsan is the city where Hyundai was founded and where the vast majority of its products are built. It began as a car workshop in 1935 and has now become one of the biggest engineering companies in the world. 

We saw both the heavy industry (shipping) and the car side of the company. It was fascinating! We drove through the ship production yard and saw the different processes. They have cranes that hold 1290 tons! The scale of the place was incredibly impressive.

We then went to the car side of the business. We went to a museum to see the development of Hyundai cars since the first in 1975. It was interesting to see the development of safety features over time! More excitingly, we were taken to the actual assembly factory where we watched the workers putting together the cars bit by bit! We were told not to take photos but a bit of swift stealth work by Miss Morton produced some good results! We were told that a new car is completed every 10 seconds at the factory! 

Now comes the dramatic part of the day (and of the whole trip come to that!) So we got off the bus to look around a park... But just as we were ready to set off, Ikea walked nose first into the boot door of a bus 😫! As her mum put it, 'it's all part of the experience'!! 8 stitches later and a group venture to experience a Korean hospital, we are all safe and well again! 

Here are our observations about Korean hospitals. They have...

1) amazing chairs

2) a grand piano in the lobby

3) a fish tank

4) a glass case full of bones (who's bones I do not know!)

5) pictures of operations in the lift!

Crazy place! They were, however, very quick and incredibly friendly, not to mention putting Ikea back together very well!! 

We were joined by our Korean partners this evening for dinner before having a relaxing evening after an eventful day!