It's Raining Cats and Dogs

Its been raining hard here in Korea for the past night and day, and its scheduled to continue until Sunday. I've been told this is Korea's rainy season, but I remember it raining a lot in late August and early September when we first arrived in Korea. The rain is really beautiful, it keeps the sky dark and the clouds are continuously swirling above. I read on the weather report that the rain tomorrow will actually be from a tropical storm! The rain does make it a little more difficult to get around quickly and to keep dry, but its a nice change from the super hot and humid temperatures we had last week. Yesterday morning I had to walk to the bus stop to take the one hour ride to my country school. The bus stop is about a ten or 15 minute walk. Yesterday was quite the obstacle course though! I had to dodge hordes of students with umbrellas, puddles, cars and rain! By the time I got to the bus, my shoes and socks were compleatly soaked! Luckily there is a pair of sandals waiting for me at my country school, so I was able to let everything air out during the day. Some of the boy students did notice my less than fashionable shoes (they were lent to me by the school for the year) saying they were men's shoes. We all had a good laugh.

Other than the heat and the rain we've been doing very well lately. We haven't been up to much since Sokcho a few weekends ago, but the last few days of teaching are quickly approaching. We have one more week until final exams and then the majority of the school goes on summer break. I'll be teaching for two weeks of the break, two classes in the morning and one two hour conversation class in the afternoon, the same schedule I had over winter break. I'm pretty positive about the classes and am just planning on having some fun with the kids before I leave. I mean it is their summer break too, so why not make it a little fun? So far I'm planning on watching Shrek, Tangled and an episode of Glee. After each show we'll stop and do worksheets and talk about what we see. I also think I might do a photograph scavenger hunt and then make a slide show to show the kids. I also have a few fun lessons like "How to Survive a Zombie Attack" and how to make a PBJ sandwich, to which we will then make the sandwich in class. I just hope the students are easy to deal with. I know a few of the girls who signed up for the conversation class and they are really sweet.

Anyhow, like I said only a few weeks left of teaching! There are a lot of students I'm really going to miss! Remarkably I've had a few really open up to me, which is I guess what teachers say always keeps them coming back. One girl likes to talk with me about America, another told me she is a lesbian, one boy asked for advice on how to approach a girl he likes... warms my heart and makes me feel so proud of them and happy to be here! Oh course in the end I can say things like that, now that is over! I do think if I were staying a second year things would be much easier, but I also think I'd get more and more bored.

Last weekend Jason and I visited Daegu to see our friend Tim from UCI and Campus Tours. There are just so many of us in Korea! Daegu is a big city, like Busan, so there was a huge variety of shops and restaurants. We didn't do much but eat Mexican food and walk around, but it was a nice time. It would be such a different experience in a big city! Everywhere we went in the popular downtown Tim ran into foreigners he knew, they were just everywhere! Plus we went in two apartments and they were tiny and old, mine is 10x nicer! And while variety would be nice, a few bars and resturants wouldn't even take in foreigners because we would have just overan the place. I could totally understand the Korean's not wanting a loud group of foriegners crowding up their space. The city was really nice but I feel like I get a better "Korean" experience being in Wonju.

Also in Daegu we had our first experience with a taxi driver trying to rip us off. That never happens in Korea! Our friend Tim lives about a 10 minute drive outside of the center of Deegu, he takes taxis back late at night all the time and it always costs 15,000 won. We got in and drove a little and then the driver pointed to his meters saying something like "oh, no meter, its 25,000 won." Tim argued with him right away, "no 15,000," to which the driver replied, "no, 25,000." This went on for about a minute before Tim just had the taxi pull over and we got out to find a new one. By this time the fare had gone up to 3500, not much. But Tim said no way were we going to pay. We jumped out of the taxi and immediatly flagged down another one, quickly got in and told the man to go. But our original taxi had not left, and the driver was out of his car. He came over to the window where Tim was sitting and yelled at him, demanding money, Tim kept saying no and speaking English to him, but I think that helped, he was explaining why we wouldn't pay in an angry tone, even if the guy couldn't understand him. The two taxi drivers said a few words to each other. Tim finally said, "no, your service is bad!" and the guy said "good service!" Tim told the new driver how much the first one was going to charge and he scoffed, obviously knowing it was rip off! The original driver went as far as to open the passenger door where Tim was but then finally just walked away muttering under his breath. I was really proud of Tim for sticking to his guns! I would have given in long ago! Who did this guy think he was though, that was a huge overcharge! The new driver was really nice and agreed we were being overcharged, asked us if we were teachers and then pointed out that he lived near to Tim. Exciting times!

The only other update I have is that in August Amber, Jason and I will be going to Taiwan! We leave on a Saturday and return the following Sunday! Not a super long trip, but I think we can still do and see a lot! The flight is only 2 1/2 hours from Seoul, it will take us longer to get to the airport on the bus from Wonju. Should be really fun and we've got to get planning!

A Sokcho and Seoraksan Weekend

Last weekend was another long weekend, with a national holiday falling on Monday. Jason, Scott, Amber and I decided to head north and up the coast to visit friends in Sokcho. We left early Saturday morning. The bus ride was 2 1/2 hours and unlike when I went to Sokcho with my family, the bus was not excruciatingly hot. Instead the bus driver was ancient and quite possibly the worst driver I've ever ridden with, he was constantly stomping on the brakes at totally random times, so nauseating.

Glad to exit the bus, we grabbed a taxi and headed to our friend Janine's apartment. We met Janine and her husband Ben during our EPIK orientation in Seoul during August. We've only seem them a few times since then but I've kept in touch with her through email. She's Canadian and he's Irish and they are both very laid back, fun, warm people. After chatting with Janine for awhile we walked to the beach (get that, we walked! So awesome!) The weather was much, much warmer than I had anticipated (curse you google weather!) The beach was beautiful and people were swimming in the water and chilling on the beach with drinks and blankets. The water was really cold, worse than the California coast, but that didn't stop Scott from stripping down to his boxers and jumping in. (It took a long time for him to finally decide he was going to jump in, since he hadn't brought his swim trunks.) The rest of us just sat on the beach and in the shade of the boardwalk. We were wearing jeans and no sunscreen, totally unprepared!

After a few hours Janine left us to meet up with a friend and we headed off to get some food. She told us to ask the taxi driver to take us to "Food Town." But what we heard was "Fuu Town." Her Canadian accent had foiled us! We told the taxi driver "Fuu town juseo!" and he looked at us like we were crazy. Luckily Scott had also memorized the name of a popular restaurant in the same area so we made it. When we met up with Janine later we all had a good laugh about our misunderstanding.

After our galbi dinner we hopped back in a taxi to go to Daepo Harbor. The Harbor was mostly under construction, they were adding a new park area, but there was a small sliver of shops lining a curving street that we were able to walk down. There were vendors on both sides selling fish and sea food of all kinds. We enjoyed taking in the sites but didn't buy anything but slushies. We could have bought tempura or squid stuffed with rice and vegetables.

The harbor took less time than we thought it would and soon we were left with nothing to do for an hour until Janine was to meet us again. So we headed to the Family Mart across the street, bought a bottle of wine, and waited. Soon Brian and Shannon joined us, as they were also visiting Sokcho for the day. So basically we ended up hanging out with the same people from Wonju we always hang out with. Too funny! Sitting in front of Family Mart always turns out well though and it’s nice to sit outside in the fresh air, in most restaurants you can't. Quickly enough though we all ended up at Janine's and sat talking until bed time.

The next day we woke up and Amber made us a great scrambled egg breakfast. We had planned to go to Seoraksan mountain that day but unexpectedly Ben came home. He had been doing a long overnight hike at Seoraksan all weekend. He had decided to come home early and told us the road into the base of the mountain where we were going to head was backed up for miles and would take hours to get through on the bus. Sadly we decided we'd better come up with a new plan. We decided to get up early the next morning and hike quickly before going back to Wonju.

With Ben back with the car (they bought a car in Korea and he can drive!) we decided to head further up the coast in search of, supposedly, the old summer home of Kim Jong-Ill, the leader of North Korea. Apparently he went there as a kid before the division. All we knew was that it was located near a lake close to the border. We drove around the lake a few times but never saw where to go! Unfortunately for us! I was beginning to doubt it really existed but I've since looked it up and it does, we just didn't find it. We did find one house though, which we at first thought was the right place, but it turned out to be the old summer house of the first President of Korea, Rhee Syngman. Funny how years apart two famous men had homes near each other! We went in the small museum dedicated to him and although there were only a few sentences here and there in English, I did learn about how democracy came to Korea after the Japanese occupation. Mr. Rhee was educated in the US at GW University, Harvard and Yale. His diplomas were even on display, and written in Latin! He also married a Hawaiian-American wife but apparently she adapted to Korean customs perfectly and became regarded as a true Korean. That doesn't often happen! 

Again the weather was perfect and we stopped to eat in a small town near the lake. Then we headed back towards Sokcho and stopped at a bird watching sanctuary, which included another lake. We took a long walk around the lake because Ben and Janine knew of a really cool working traditional village beyond it. As we rounded a bend in the road there lay a perfect working village, a picturesque site in the lush green hills. It was so cute, the houses had thatched roofs and there were rice paddies surrounding them. But they still had electricity and cars. There was also a huge swing set made of large wood poles, about twice the size of a normal swing set. Jason and I eat took turns on it, Ben pushing Jason and Jason pushing me! Our walk was lovely, warm and sunny and surrounded by farm land and lush landscape. We even saw a snake! There's not much wildlife in Korea so this was pretty cool! (Korea has no large mammals living in its hills, no bears, no tigers, no deer, just small animals and not many at that. Once there really were tigers and bears but they were all killed to extinction when the Japanese occupied Korea. People think everything in North Korea must also be killed by now since people are starving there.) 

The eerie thing about driving up the coast was that we were only about 5 miles from the border and the DMZ. We considered driving to the DMZ but we had four people in the back seat of the car and were worried they would frown at that since they do car inspections when you drive in. We saw signs that we were entering the tense border region anyhow. On the two lane road we drove up every so often there were spots were overpasses covered the road packed tight with boxes of charges. So if the North invaded, someone would light the charges, they would explode and tumble down on the road, blocking it. But in contrast, Ben also told us about the Trans-Korea road that is still being built. It’s a highway that connects the north of Korea all the way down to Busan. It’s also advertised that when it’s finished you can drive through to China and Russia! But it will never be finished. Unless North and South Korea unify. Yet the road it still being built on the South Korean side, so when reunification happens they will be ready. We remarked that if the North invaded, all it would have to do is drive down that road. Bizarre. Amber and Scott thought it was a hopeful sign but Jason and I just found it eerie and naive. Janine told us it is in the national curriculum that students learn in elementary school that South Korea does want to reunify with the North and that the day will come. Yet she said some of her teachers actually don't want that to happen, but they must teach it and they must tell their student's that is what they believe. Instead she said some teachers, logically and expectantly I think, believe reunification would destroy the South Korean economy and everyone's current way of life. I think it would too. 

Finally it was time for dinner, and a big dinner it was! We had been waiting all weekend to have a special dinner Janine reserved for us. It was roast pumpkin filled with roasted duck inside. They roast it for 4-5 hours to perfection. It was a glorious, glorious meal. The pumpkin was simply delicious. One of the most delicious tastes I have ever experienced! And there was also a pumpkin puree that was to die for. I wanted to bottle it up and take it home with me to eat every day. I chowed down to the extreme. Pumpkin duck is quite expensive at 50,000 won, but it was well worth it. I could eat it every week! 

We ended our day with a relaxing soak at a jimjilbang. This one was awesome because it had a coed part with outdoor hot tubs of various temperatures. And you got to wear a bathing suit instead of going nude. We spent a few hours soaking and dripping sweat in the sauna rooms before heading back to Janine and Ben's. It was great sitting outside in the warm evening air looking at the mountains and watching the lights of the town come on. 

The next day we woke up at 6am to go hiking at Seoraksan. We wanted to beat the traffic and the heat, plus we didn't want to get home too late. Janine and Ben stayed home but the four of us headed up the mountain. I tried to convince everyone to ride the cable car and do the easy, shorter hike, but I was out numbered and we decided on the 4 hour round trip hike up to Ulsan peak. The hike started out easy but Scott and Amber were much quicker than the out of shape Jason and I. Scott even carried a whole watermelon up in his backpack so we could snack on it at the top! Half way through the hike there is a small restaurant. We saw old man carrying huge packs filled with boxes and bags up the trail to deliver goods to the restaurant, it was majorly impressive. There was also a Buddhist temple half way up carved right into the side of the mountain. I didn't get to look long but inside there were miniature Buddha’s carved right into the mountain! The hike got really difficult at the end though!! Like, horribly difficult! Like I wanted to die and give up difficult. There were 800 stairs for us to climb... straight up the rock!! It was simply awful. When I got to the top I grumpily proclaimed "I have determined I get absolutely no enjoyment from physical exertion, like hiking." I'm so dramatic. The view was beautiful from the top but that was about it. We had some great watermelon and then headed down, which was much easier. The whole thing took about 3 1/2 hours. We quickly saw the huge Buddha at the entrance to the mountain and then were back on the bus to Janine and Ben's. 

We said goodbye to them and were on our way back to Wonju. Janine had made cookies so that was a plus. Ben dropped us at the bus station and we saw the Wonju bus just pulling out onto the road. We groaned because we had just missed it! But Jason gestured to the bus driver, which was now sitting at a stop light, if we could get on, and the guy gestured back, yes! So we ran across the street, quickly yelling goodbye to Ben, and jumped on the bus! We were so lucky! Otherwise we would have had to wait over another hour and it was already 1pm. We were also lucky we got on that bus because our driver was a champ. Although I slept pretty much the entire ride, I did wake up from time to time to see the intense, stopped traffic on the highway. Yet instead of getting us stuck on it, our driver knew how to take the tiny, one lane parallel roads that were off to the side of the highway. I woke up wondering why we were going over so many bumps only to look out my window and see countryside and country houses. I wondered why they were next to the highway until I realized we weren't on the highway. I could see the highway to my left and saw stopped cars and buses. If it wasn't for our driver we would have been one of them! 

Instead we arrived in Wonju around 4pm. Jason I ate some kimbab, lesson planned and watched TV the rest of the night. Another good weekend under wrap!

Teacher's Sports Day

Following on the heels of the student's sports day was teacher's sports day. Last Friday three bus loads full of Sangji Girls Middle and High School teachers made the hour long journey to Chuncheon. This day was only for private schools, not public schools, so instead of hundreds of schools participating from Gangwon province there were about 20 schools in total. In addition to Jason and I, our friend Scott also attended, as did an old friend from UCI named Ben who I had not yet previously met up with in Korea. 

Arriving at school at 7:30 we promptly left and were given kimbab to eat on the bus. Although the ride was only an hour, we stopped at a road side snack shop. I think it was just for the teachers to have some fun and buy coffee because we didn't need to stop. They even bought me some coffee and tried to convince to me to run the relay race. "Relay? You run?" I laughed and shook my head, not wanting to be signed up for any more events. I was already slated to play women's kickball and team jump rope. Back on the bus we went and within 20 minutes we had passed through Chuncheon to the beautiful forested outskirts of the town where the sports complex is. It was a huge place, with three or four different stadiums devoted to baseball, soccer and tennis (I think.) Inside the soccer stadium tents were sent out lining the court for the different schools to park their stuff under and relax. 

Sangji found our spot and the teachers quickly put down some shiny aluminum like material that they had brought in a large roll for us to sit on. They also immediately opened the two large coolers that had been carried in. They were filled with food and drink! And when I saw drink I mean not just water, soda and Gatorade, but beer, soju and mackeolli! This was to be more of a drinking and eating day than a time for playing sports. Before it was even 10:00 the women teachers had opened some beers and were chowing down on strips of pork with spicy dipping sauce. Unfortunately the festivities were cut short when we all had to stand up and go to the lawn for the long and boring opening ceremony. 

And then bam, it was time to play kickball! All us women teachers had matching soccer jersey's on that we'd borrowed from the students, so we looked like a unified team. I'm not sure how athletic we really were. Most of the women were over 40 on our team although a few were surprisingly competitive. It seemed like most of the other schools had teams composed of really young teachers. Whatever. While Scott said his schools team wanted to lose right away so they wouldn't have to play, our team captain wanted to WIN! So thus started our first game. Each game only lasted three innings. At the end of the three, we were tied. Rather than have us keep playing, the officials decided rock, paper, scissors was the fairest way to decide who would advance. (I was stunned thinking, are you kidding me?!) By some twist of luck, our VP won and we advanced! 

And so the day went on, we played 5 matches in total. We did so well we were in the semi-final match, our 5th match of the day, around 2pm. After we finished was the final men's soccer match and then the day would be over. This game was intense. The team we played had strong kickers and obviously knew the technical rules of the game, something our teachers lacked knowledge of. There were plenty of times we could have had an out but they just wouldn't throw the ball to the right base, or the other team would score a run because we wouldn't throw it back to the pitcher to stop the play! I tried to frantically convey to my teammates what to do many times but no one listened or understood when I would yell "second! The ball to second!!" Too bad. In the end we lost, 6-7. But our super competitive team captain couldn't let it go and she argued with the referees for over 20 minutes. In a very unfriendly like manner and a show of poor sportsman ship, we didn't even bow and shake hands with the other team, everyone just walked away! Basically our team thought we should have won because we got a player out at the last second thus her run shouldn't have counted. Yet she wasn't forced to run, so we needed to have tagged her rather than just simply stood on the base. No one understood this on our team and while I did, I couldn't convey my understanding to anyone. Language barrier to the max. So I just smiled and wandered away.

All the teachers were super impressed by me because I was practically the only one that could strongly kick the ball. Every time I would kick it over the outfield's head and gain two bases. I could also catch the ball when it came my way. Like I said, our team wasn't very athletic. This was the most athletic exercise I'd had in months, maybe even years! On the side line the teachers kept yelling to me "I love you! You are genius! Wow, big kick! My friend!" or in the end "MVP!!" Made me feel good and it was actually really fun to play. (Pathetically, I was swore for two days afterwards, so out of shape I am!!)

Besides playing so much kickball all I did was eat all day! Truly the main event for every teacher was eating and drinking! Before the day was done all the soju, watermelon, grapes, pork and other various snacks had been consumed. It was a horrible mess. Koreans are so funny sometimes! I would have eaten more if I had more time. Scott didn't play any games so he was stuffed. Jason managed to get on the soccer team and had lots of fun playing two games. I was impressed by his skills, I had no idea he was so athletic! He got super sunburned and was bright red at the end of the game. One teacher told him he looked like an apple.