LETTER TO MY DEAREST TEACHER

Bogota

March 19^th 2015

Dear teacher Carlos,

Thanks for your letter and I’m glad that you´ve been doing so great lately. Actually, I have something to tell you and it´s awesome, by the way. As you might recall, I put a lot of effort in the assignment about comparisons we had for your class. I wrote about cats vs. dogs, do you remember? Well, I thought my text was good, so I used it to take part of a pet magazine contest. The magazine have must thought my text was great too, because I won the contest. It´s so cool because the prize was a free trip for a month to a Korean island named Jeju. 

Two weeks ago the contest sponsors gave me the tickets to the flight, introduced me with the person who is going to be my tourist guide and explained to me some last details. Everything has been crazy since then, I´ve been saying goodbye to friends and relatives and organizing some documents. I also have been planning my schedule there: I’m going to arrive at Incheon Airport next Wednesday by the night. Once I am there, I will travel to Jeju Island on a ferry and since the sponsors suppose I’m going to be very tired I am going to be taken to the hotel right away.

The next day will be very relaxed because I´m going to have planned only two main activities; I´m going to do a guided visit to the Jeju National Museum. The visit will be quite interesting since it has this big exposition about Joseon Dynasty that has been described around the world as authentic and redefining. The other activity is to visit a huge, beautiful building which is like a grand example of traditional Korean architecture, I have seen pictures of it and I can´t wait to see it with my own eyes: it seems gorgeous. I think that day is going to be a little overloaded with information because of all the things I will learn in the museum and all the history that the traditional building might have to offer, that is why I hope to be very energetic and well-prepared. At night I´m planning to relax so I will go to a nice spa near the beach. 

One of the multiple things I am enthusiastic for is the nature day (How I renamed it since I knew which activities were going to be then). In that occasion, my touristic guide and I are going to go hiking, the idea is walk round some particular places in the island which are pretty special, those sites are the living proof of greatness of nature.  We will walk along Yongduam Rock. Yongduam Rock is the name of the place where is located a dragon head-shaped rock which was created as a result of the solidification of flowing lava. You’ll see, Jeju is a volcanic island so it´s filled with a lot of volcanic remains and lava formations; we will try to see as much as we can of those amazing archaeological remains and wonders. The second part of this nature day will be the visit to the Jeju Roe Deer Observation Center, this place is kind of a zoo but only with deer, we will be able to see a great number of deer gathered in one big field, I´m hoping to see them acting naturally and having fun; I have a lot of expectations about it because I have never seen those animals and I think they´re really cute. Our encounter with nature is supposed to be ending in the Jeongbang Waterfall, my tourist guide told me that this place is marvelous. I´m getting happy right now just to think about that waterfalls, here is a picture of them. 

Jeju Roe Deer Observation Center

Well, teacher, I am so glad to tell all these great things I will have the chance to see and do that I could keep writing about them for hours but I know by now you are probably a little jealous and don´t want to continue reading, hehe, so I´m telling you the last and cooler things I´m going to do. For my last week in Jeju Island I have booked visits to three touristic places I considered important: The Chocolate Museum, The Teddy Bear Museum and The Jeju Loveland. Let me explain to you, I´m going to start with the Chocolate Museum, it´s pretty obvious, I mean, is a museum of chocolate, I know there are a lot of museums like this around the world, it´s just that I have never gone to one so I thought this could be a good opportunity. People say the museum explains lots of interesting history of ancient methods for producing chocolate and that it also has a “Christmas room” (which I don´t what it is, but I´m certainly going to find out), the museum is one of the ten best chocolate museums in the world and it has a room with the personal collection of the museum director as well.

Now, The Teddy Bear Museum: is the biggest museum of its kind. It was the largest collection of teddy bears produced in the last 100 years and many famous-international bears representing well-known characters around the world as The Mona Lisa or the giant from the novel Gulliver´s Travels by Jonathan Swift. I was just checking pictures of those teddy bears and I´m quite sure that I will freak out when I see all the cuteness in those soft tiny toys.  :) 

THE CHOCOLATE MUSEUM

THE TEDDY BEAR MUSEUM

Last but not least I will tell what Jeju Loveland is. Well, it is a park dedicated to the art of sexuality. I still think is weird such a theme park is located on an island in South Korea given its tendency to be so closed-minded when we refer to relationships but I think there must have to be a reason for that and I will find it, or perhaps it could happen that I learn more about Korean culture and my point of view of their thoughts and beliefs change.   Anyway, here some pictures from the park I found online.

My dear teacher, I hope you have had fun by reading my letter and I really expect you are happy for me too. I will come by the University to bring you my very fun characteristic present from Jeju Island. Bye. 

Tatiana Becerra R.