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!

Seoul Lantern Festival for Buddha's Birthday

The night I returned to Wonju from the USA I immediatly met up with my friend Liz. Liz is an old friend from UCI who was also a campus tour guide. She is currently working as an English teacher in Japan and had come to Korea for her one week of spring vacation. She had been travelling around Korea for the week but wanted to come hang out with me in Wonju. We both arrived in Wonju Thursday night around 8pm via bus so it was very easy to meet at the station. We took a taxi back to my place and talked until I finally decided I had to go to bed because I had work the next day.

School on Friday was Physical Exam day so the students had no classes. Which meant I was free to sit and do whatever the heck I wanted. I told Liz I would walk back to my apartment around 10:30 and bring her over for a tour of the school. She was really eager to see the similarities and differences between a Japanese and Korean school. Right away we met some students in the hallway who squealed "you're beautiful" and "I love you!" to Liz. She said this was very flattering and much more forward than a Japanese student would be. After going to the English Room and talking for about an hour we wandered downstairs to find out what was going on with lunch. We happen to run into two of the women I eat lunch with and Mr. Byeon. They suggested we all go out to eat together (even though I never eat with Mr. B, I think he just wanted to talk to the new foreigner.) We went to a simple restaurant where they tried to suggest pork katsu and tempura to here, to which Liz and I exchanged glances, as this is Japanese food, but Korean's will try to tell you it is Korean. We ended up with a noodle dish and kim bab, which is Korean. They asked her a lot of difficult and nervewraking questions like, how do Japanese and Korean students compare, what do you think of Korea, etc. She managed to field them pretty well although I could see the look her face when they asked certain questions, to us it seems so bold and a little rude but to them they don't see that at all. Lunch was nice though and they did treat us.

After that Mr. Byeon was all too happy to give Liz the master tour of Sangji, just like he gave my parents. Again Liz was a great sport and had a lot of fun. We visited numerous classrooms, she met the VP and lots of other teachers and saw the high school. She was interested in the cafeteria because in Japan they don't have any, the students eat lunch in their classrooms, so we went in and ended up having tea with the super nice lunch ladies! Liz was also given a Pororo bubble blower (a popular animated character in Korea) by one student and gave her a pen in return. Every room we went in Mr. Byeon had her blow bubbles, so odd!

Around 4pm we finally went home. I never get so detailed a tour and introduction to teachers I have never met unless a visitor is here. We were tired after that so we just relaxed around my apartment until 7pm when Amber came over for dinner. We went to a near by galbi place (grilled beef) which they both loved! Amber headed home afterwards but Liz and I went to grab a drink at a local bar called Pub. Where she lives in Japan is really small so she enjoyed getting to go out, even in a casual way, with a friend. We headed home about midnight even though two very shy Korean men tried to get us to stay and drink with them.

The next day we headed back to Seoul with Amber. We wanted to see the famous Lantern Festival held in Seoul for Buddha's Birthday. We left the apartment about 10am but didn't get to our hostel where we would stay the night in Seoul until close to 3pm in the afternoon, after all the bus and subway travel. Then we headed to the Myeongdong area to eat and do a little shopping at Forever 21. We had CPK (California Pizza Kitchen) because we were craving a little western food and it was the only thing I knew for sure where it was. We enjoyed strolling around Myeongdong, it was busy as ever! And I had a very successful shopping trip.

Around 8pm we walked to the City Hall area to see the start of the parade of lanterns. Although it was crowded, it was less so than I thought it would be and we were able to get right up next to the towering 10 feet high + lanterns! They were beautiful, made out of paper and sculpted into perfection. There were huge warriors, fish, mountains, flowers... and they were all light from inside. To move them men grabbed poles on the outside and pushed them along the street. The parade was a little harder to see but it looked beautiful as well, it was huge and filled with group after group of people dressed in traditional Korean outfirst walking or dancing down the street, each carrying a different kind of hand held paper lantern.

The area was starting to get more crowded so we walked down a side street in hopes of finding the buddhist temple we had heard was at the end of the parade route, where all the lanterns would be placed. We didn't find it but ended up walking in a huge circle. It was no matter though, because the night was warm and clear and tons of people were out enjoying it. We ended up seeing the main Gyeongbokgung palace again and the statues out front of it. They were light up in the night and lhanging lanterns lined the main streets. I was all really beautiful, I wish they always stayed up.

Finally we asked some people how to get to the temple and they pointed us in the right direction. Soon we were back in the throng of people, but this time it was filled with the performers from the parade who were rushing to get on the subway and go home. We saw some foreigners with paper lanterns in their hands and asked how we could get our own. They said the performers just gave them to them. Not a minute later, an old women in traditional wear walked up to Amber and gave her a baskeball size and shaped hand made paper lantern, with a lit candle inside. Then one was handed to Liz. We kept walking and an old man gave me one shaped like a lotus flower. We were so pleased! As we kept walking though, people tried to give us more and more! Liz refused a first but she and I ended up with three each! Unfornately with so many it was hard to keep them from getting damaged with all the people bumping into me. Amber had the better idea, only keep one perfect one. It was so hard to refuse though, I could see the old women look at us, hear them utter "waygook" under their breath (foreigner) and next thing I knew they were handing us a lantern! They just wanted us to be happy and included. And we did feel that way.

After almost walking in the opposite direction of the buddhist temple once again we finally found our way after almost throwing in the towel. And we are so glad we didn't! The temple was definitely the best part. As you walked up its front entrance you were sheltered by a floating carpet of lanterns. There were thousands of them, strung together and of all different colors, bright green, red, pink, yellow, orange, all glowing with the warmth of the candle within. Theye led the way to the temple itself, where sat a large golden buddha (wish I had known about this place when my family visited!). Out front was a stage and milling around were visitors and people in traditional costumes, dancing and playing instruments! It was just breathtaking. I would have been happy to sit and stare for hours at the colorful lanters, some which made shapes in the carpet above or spelled a word.

Determined to take our lanterns back to our respective homes we boarded the subway to dump them at our hostel before going to Hongdae for some night life. We got many stares on the subway. We ended the night eating chicken and beer, a must before Liz went back to Japan.

Sunday morning we munched on Dunkin Doughnuts before saying our goodbyes. it was a nice warm, sunny day. (Soon it would rain for the next week!) It was really nice seeing Liz and hearing her talk about Japan. It brought back good memories of UCI that I really enjoyed.

April Fool's Day in Korea

Surprisingly one of the holiday's Korea and the USA share is April Fool's Day. The third grade English textbook even includes a chapter devoted to April Fool's Day Tricks... yes I think its a strange topic for learning English too. Korean's know April Fool's Day as "lie day" or "liar day." Unlike in the USA the pranks people play on each other here are harmless, meant to be silly and funny rather than to dupe or shock. Since April Fool's Day was on Friday we were warned that the students would try to play tricks on the teachers. People said since students study all the time this was one fun day they could have to relax a little. I wanted to recount a few of the "pranks" I saw.

In addition to the holiday Friday was a beautiful spring day so spirits were especially high. I entered my second period classroom to find the students had turned around all 30 desks and were facing the back wall instead of the front of the classroom. They thought it was hilarious, it was pretty cute. Instead of making them turn the desks around we just had them turn around in their seats to work so they could "prank" the next teacher as well. During my fourth period when it hit 12noon all the students slapped their hands on the desk four times and shouted something. During lunch three girls would corner any teacher they could, do a silly dance and sing at the top of their lungs. It was hilariously cute! They would literally circle the teacher, even if they weren't paying them the time of day at first, until the teacher was forced to stop and laugh at them. One of my coteachers also told me that when he arrived to his third period class, the room was empty. He looked outside and all the students were laying on the grass like they were dead. I also saw a large group of girls from the high school holding hands and running around in a huge circle on the playing fields before running into class, hand in hand. Jason said one girl took her desk and set it in the middle of the playing field and just sat there. Haha!

A fun, cute day for the students to let go and for the teachers to give them some slack in the classroom.

Lunar New Year's in Busan

Last week was Korea's Lunar New Year holiday. The Lunar New Year is more important here than is Christmas or the Western January 1st New Year's. Its a holiday that in size is comparable to Chuseok. Both are a time in which Korean families travel to come together, eat food, dress in traditional hanbok fashion and pray to their ancestor's.

Jason, Scott, Brian and I decided to take advantage of our days off from school and travel down south to Busan. We left early on Wednesday morning, catching a bus from Wonju. The ride lasted a little over 4 hours, not as long as we'd expected actually and we only ran into a little traffic. Then it was a long subway ride to our hotel. Busan is a big city on the very southern tip of Korea, right on the beach. It was a lovely, bright city with a simple network of subway transportation. If Seoul is big like New York, think of Busan as Washington DC.

It was easy enough to find our hotel, located near a large Lotte Department store, Busan Tower and the "world famous" Busan fish market. Our hotel was nice and cheap. Actually it was what is known as a "love motel" in Korea. Its primary market is for those couples sneaking around, or men meeting a special "lady friend" for the first time. Don't worry, it was nice and clean, but it had an old feel to it. Love motels are very cheap and sometimes you can get charged by the hour instead of by the night. They have full beds and bathrooms, some even with small saunas or jacuzzi tubs, and they can also help you find an "escort" for the night, if you call one of the ladies whose picture adorns the cards left near the front door in the late evening. There is also a large selection of movies on hand, from PG to NC-17. All in all it was a pretty decent place. I had heard about these kinds of hotels for a long time so I was excited to finally see what one was all about!

After checking in we decided to wander around near the hotel, we were waiting to meet up with a larger group of EPIK teachers that I hadn't seen since orientation, who happened to be staying at our same hotel! Right next to the hotel was a park were Busan Tower was as well as a few fancy statues of dragons. The park was elevated and you could see the port areas of Busan all around. The weather was beautiful, warm, clear and bright. I was in love! After the other EPIK folk arrived we walked down into the nearby shopping area to (finally!) get some food. We found ramen and eagerly ate. Then we went back to Busan Tower as a whole to take the elevator to the top. It was kind of like Seoul Tower, but not as big and not as popular. The view was amazing though! Before us in the glimmery sunlight lay the city. Busan is sprinkled among the mountains and bordered by the sea. With no crowds in the tower we were able to take lots of pictures and sit eating ice cream from the cafe watching the sunset. From the tower we could see not only our hotel, but had clear views of the large port system, fish market, shopping districts, it was a great way to orient one's self!

The rest of the night consisted of us wandering around the downtown shopping area that surrounded the park. We had a "Busan style" dinner aka it had squid in it and then ended the night at a swanky looking bar, followed, of course, but norebang! We finally returned to the hotel around 3am.

The next morning we, not surprisingly, we didn't wake up and get out of the hotel until about 11am. Because it was the actualy the Lunar New Year, when we got into the shopping area of town near our hotel, it was deserted. We finally found an open resturant and had bibimbab. We walked over to the fish market but the major part of it was closed and no boats were unloading, it was a holiday. So I will have to return in the future! Scott said he wanted to go to the beach while the rest of us wanted to go to a museum. We were going ot part but the longer we stood outside in the warm, fresh air, we realized we would rather stay outside too. Scott has been to Busan before so he knew what beach was good to check out. We took the subway and emerged on a street that reminded me so much of Downtown Long Beach, near the convention center! It was lined with shops that led to the sea.

Here the city was much different. Near our hotel was a port area so it was little more grimy and dirty, but not bad. There were also many people who were obviously dock workers. But at the beach it was all posh and tourism! And it was crowded! We spent some time on the sand, looking at the waves, until Scott decided he would take a walk on his own. That left Jason, Brian, Eric and I to find food, we were hungry. Right when we walked up to the beach we noticed these American skater punks trying to do tricks in the small skate park. (I say punks because they had baggy pants, t-shirts and spiker hair, they CLEARLY stood out.) But as we walked by them one of them came up to Jason and I and was super nice, he gave us a promotional card for the bar he works at, a Mexican place with TACOS! We definitely wanted Mexican food but the place didn't open until after 7pm and it was only 2pm. So we had to break down and settle for... TGI Friday's. I said we were in a tourist zone! They had all sorts of a American food and chains. Our group savored our food... nachos, burgers, good drinks... yum!

Afterwards we attempted to visit an aquarium and then a museum. The aquarium was too crowded and we had the wrong directions for the museum. So after a quick subway ride, we arrived back at the beach to meet the larger EPIK group. We decided to go to a casino in one of the hotels because foreigners get free entry (Koreans have to pay.) It was a most depressing and not fun casino. The most funny/most annoying part was when we entered the casino. They looked at our IDs before they let us in. Obviously it was no problem for Jason and I, but for Eric, who is Korean-American, they looked a little closer. And then for Scott, who is Japanese-American, they were really suspicious. They thought he was a Korean trying to sneak in. This rightlfully made Scott upset. The guard tried to speak to Scott in Korea and he didn't understand. Then Eric told the guard Scott was Japanese and the guard got flustered and apologized in Japanese! Jason tried to recover the situation and say, no, Scott is a "mikuk" or American but it was too late. Scott was frustrated at being called Korean and then Japanese instead of just America. Like I said, it was amusing but if I were him, I would have been annoyed.

After the casino we went back to the beach at night, which was beautiful with all the lights of the buildings shining on it, then we had some coffee and split again from the larger group. We ended up at Papa John's for dinner. We just couldn't resist. (Or maybe I couldn't resist.) It was so good, just like pizza at home. The night ended back in our area of town with Cold Stone ice cream, chatting with fellow foreigners down from Seoul, a couple games of pool (we had also played the night before) and a walk through the neon light streets around our hotel. Scott and I walked around alone which was really fun. We saw lots of semi-illicit institutions were you can go have drinks with girl escorts. I'm not sure how far their services extend. We did see a very suspicious building though. We kept walking in front of this dark building, with blacked out windows. Yet the bottom floor was lite and just looked like an empty ballet studio with TVs pushed up againste the wall. Glass doors led inside. Yet out front was a guard, in ordinary enough clothing, yet with a ear peice. And the more times we walked by, the more we noticed other men with ear peieces, stratigically placed around the area, but looking like civilians. I'm convinced it was a prostitutes den. (And I really think I may actually be right!)

The next day was our day of travel home. Before that we tried the fish market one more time but it was still pretty much shut down. Eric bought some raw fish but I think we overpaid. We also made it to the museum that day. It was an exhibit on "Trick Art" -- basically a place to take tons of really funny pictures! They take famous works of art and then paint them to look like the are popping out at you, etc. You can "hold hands" with people in pictures, etc. and it all looks real! It was mindless silly fun that took us quite some time to find. A quick Starbucks later we hopped on the subway towards the crowded and busy bus station.

Busan was a great trip and a great city. It was more fun than I expected to just wander around without a plan or sense of time. We laughed a lot and just let our whims take us, a nice way to travel that I am definitely not used to! And if you can tell, we ate A LOT of junk!

Next on the agenda... Thailand and Cambodia for two weeks!

New Year's and Basketball and Winter Camp

New Year's 2011

For New Year's this year I really wanted to do something "big." I decided going to Seoul was what I was looking for. Thus Jason, Scott, Amber, Brian and I hopped on the bus to Seoul Friday night, New Year's Eve, and headed for the Downtown City Hall district. Jason and I had only returned from Seoul to Wonju the day before. We were tired. But, I was determined to make it to the big city! When we got off the bus we decided dinner was a must, Mexican food was suggested and enthusiastically agreed upon. Brian new of an On the Border near Yonsei University so we headed that way.

After a few subway changes we emerged from underground, only to wander around for 15 minutes or so, until finally using an iphone to locate exactly where the restaurant was. It was already 10pm by then and they just barely squeezed us in, they closed at 10:30! We ate delicious Mexican food, tacos and enchiladas, mmmhh so good! We also got margaritas and good beer! No soju or cheap beer for us! It was great! The drinks were weak though, and left me wanting more, but alas were kicked out. We also needed to get to our final destination. That required a quick ride on the subway and we emerged in Downtown, right near the skating ring Jason and I had walked by numerous times recently with my family just days before. I knew right were we were! The crowds were huge and before we entered them we stopped at a convenience store to buy some cheap beer. Amber said she needed so liquid courage if we were going to stand in a huge mob in the freezing cold. We pushed our way in and only had to wait about 15 minutes before midnight. We were on the edge of a crowd filled with thousands and could barely see a glimpse of the stage show and hear the music that occupied the main festivities for the day. At midnight we cheered and could hear people shooting roman candle fireworks around us. On the outskirts only a few went off next to us, but some ash managed to get in our eyes to which I screamed "oww! my eye!" Although Amber tried to get us to leave right away, fearing the mob would move, we didn't want to. But then suddenly we were forced to move along. The mob was lurching forward, a mass wave of people moving as one, without the ability to stop or change direction. Our little group was pushed along, with Amber and Brian in the front, we all tried to hold on to each other and not get lost. If you were to fall, you would have been trampled! Amber was getting pretty freaked out at this, squeaking out "I told you we were gonna die! I told you to leave! I told you this was a bad idea!" For the rest of us, while a tiny bit scary, the mob wave was more fun than anything! And we managed not to spill our beers. We did see some little kids in strollers, their parents standing around them to guard them from the wave, and wondered why there were out there, as it was definitely dangerous for small ones. The rest of the night Brian couldn't let Amber live down her quasi-hysterical cries, or my "my eye!" He poked fun at how we were being big babies!

After that our group split up a bit and Jason and I ended up in a sit down pub with Brian. I really didn't want to go to sleep that night. We had no hotel, but were planning to stay in a jimjilbang. Although jimjilbang's are nice, I hate sleeping in them and get really hot and uncomfortable. Brian agreed but was contemplating sleeping because he had planned to stay in Seoul for the day. Jason was just tired. But I decided I would make it all night and be on the first subway at 5:30am headed towards the bus terminal, then on the 6am bus to Wonju! That's when things started running again. And you know what? We did it! We made it all night! We stayed at the first bar for a long time, just chatting and having a few drinks, it was really nice and relaxing. Then we headed to a hooka bar where we payed way too much for some "nachos" and cheap beer. But the hooka tasted good and the atmosphere was pretty hippy and relaxed. Somehow we made it all last until 5am when we tugged back out into the cold to find the subway. Slipping and with teeth chattering, we made it on a second wind! The second we were on the bus to Wonju, we all slept. We woke up briefly to say bye to Brian, got home and crawled into bed to sleep the day away. Was it worth it? For sure! Were my sleep patterns screwed up for days, of course.


Winter Camp 

For the first week of January I was teaching at an Immersion Winter Camp at a different school than Sangji. The camp was for middle school and elementry students from all over Wonju. I was one of 12 English teachers located in Wonju chosen to teach at it. There were six classes of each grade and I was with the second highest level of middle schoolers. Although I was dreading camp originally, I enjoyed it. At first I was super nervous because I'd had to turn in lesson plans and supply lists just the week before my parents arrived to visit. I was given no warning and had to created 12 lessons from scratch in just a few days. With help and advise from friends, and luckily no teaching in December, just sitting at my desk, I somehow finished them all. Yet when the camp started I was really able to get a sense of my students abilities, which was super high, and their enthusiasim for English, which was also high. I lucked out majorly and got a class of 11 students, boys and girls, with high ability and the strong ability to try and speak. They were perhaps too loud and talkative at sometimes, but I am getting better at controlling them. They were an extremely fun class to teach! As the week went on they became more outgoing and I was able to challenge them more and more. I'm not sure how much they really "learned" that could be measured on a test, but I hope the English immersion gave them some confidence and the time to practice speaking, something Korean kids NEVER get to do in class, unless it is with a foreign English teacher. In their English classes with their Korean teachers, all they do is bookwork and test prep. I was happy at the end of the week when one student remarked "wow its weird to see Korean writing again!" as he was handed an evaluation sheet. All week he read in English, which is an accomplishment in itself for teaching in Korea. Many students, perhaps just flattering me, perhaps sincere, said they were so sad English camp was over, that they would miss me, that I was the best teacher they'd ever had, that they wanted me to come teach at their schools! I just laughed and said thank you. I gave the students my email address in case they wanted to keep talking to me, and one boy, my favorite, has been emailing me since then! He is so cute and sends super sweet messages about playing with his neieces, or what movies he's seen, I hope we continue to be in contact! I think its harmless good practice for him.

I really enjoyed the English camp in the end. It was such a huge change from my usual school where the classes are huge, I only see kids for 45 minutes each week, I have no supplies, very little support... at camp I could request any supplies I needed for craft time, science time... every teacher also was assigned a Teaching Assistant. The Assistant's were all Korean university students who are studying to become English teachers. My Assistant was awesome! She obviously spoke Korean, but also English, fluently! And she's only 22! She was way more help than any of my usual teachers. She also was awesome in that she would only speak English to the students, when they would ask her something in Korean, she would say, speak to me in English. I could always rely on  her and felt I had the backup I needed and thought I would get when I first came here. Camp was also great because all the native English teachers could talk and bounce ideas off of each other. Every day also included an awesome snack for teachers and students, from pizza to hamburgers to kimbab! We also got done at 1pm everyday and got to go home! We taught four hours in the morning and were finished. It was so nice to have a slow lunch afterward, I'd either go home and take a nap or eat out with Brian and Amber and still be home by 3pm to relax and plan for the next day. I enjoyed making difficult lessons that I knew the kids would listen to. That week Jason was also at a winter camp, but at an elementry school that doesn't usually have any native teachers, he had a really similiar experience. We were so down in the dumps after everyone leaving after the holidays that our camps were an awesome pick me up and reminder that teaching can be fun and rewarding and challenging all in one, you just need the proper support and motivation!


Basketball

The orginizers of the English camp also paid for all the teachers to go out to dinner twice, norebang, and go to a basketball game. Wonju has a team that plays for them in the national leauge. They have a nice basketball stadium in Wonju too. Basketball here is played exactly the same as in the US. So we got to go to a game one Wednesday night! We had front row seats and enjoyed watching Wonju beat Seoul! Both centors, for Seoul and Wonju, were big black guys, probably from the US, while the rest of the team was Korean. They were pretty good! (I didn't think the centers were that great though.) The Wonju coach even got a technical during the game and was kicked out! Unlike in the US though, he didn't kick and scream, he just quietly left after arguing over a call. It is not right to show those kinds of emotions in Korea, you would be shamed and loose face, so he kept them in.

The highlight of the game was the halftime show. Earlier they had told us that one of us might be choosen to paly the game at the half time show and win a prize. I had casually mentioned to one of the organizers that I played basketball in high school. Thus when I arrived at the game she handed me my ticket and said "you are playing the halftime show!!" I was so shocked and just started laughing! Should have kept my mouth shut. I had told Amber earlier too, I would never volunteer for something like that!" Karma got me. Never say never! I was nervous and a little worried I would have any idea what to do because I can't understand Korean. Luckily when it was time to go down to the court for the competition, the Korean girl, Ashley, was there to translate! I was against two super not athletic Korean high school girls, haha! We had to run from the base line to half court, put on a wig, place a rubber ball between our legs, jump with it between our legs to the basket and then shoot. So that's what I did! It was great! I shot the ball twice and then made it! I won!! Yay! For my prize I got two tickets to a shabu shabu buffet resturant, not too shabby! I also got interviewed and broadcast on the giant TVs! They warned me this would happen! After I said my name and that I was from the US they asked who my favorite player was, luckily Ashely had told me a name to say, otherwise I would have been clueless! The interview was a little rushed so I don't know quite what I did or said but it was a silly and fun experience! How lucky am I. Later that night Jason also won a free pizza from dominos, delieverd on the spot to our seats. He did this by dancing well during the cheering time, we were copying the cheerleaders moves and she picked up out of the crowd to win. I've decided we need to go to more basketball games.

The Family and the holidays have come and gone, now its back to teaching...

It's already been a week since my family left Korea to go back to CA, which means its already been two weeks since they arrived for their visit! And since they left I've celebrated New Years and started teaching an English Immersion Winter Camp!

The visit by Mom, Dad and Scott was much anticipated, needed and enjoyed. I miss everyone already, mostly because it was so much fun to have everyone here! It was great to be able to show visitors Korea, eat at our favorite restaurants, take in the culture and to explore more of Seoul together. And of course it was amazingly wonderful to have everyone together for Christmas. It hadn't felt much like Christmas before they got here, even though Jason and I decorated and had been listening to Christmas music, which we were kind of sad about, but once the three of them arrived, decorations and presents in hand, it felt a little more right. Jason and I were also very glad to have a weeks break from teaching and/or "desk warming" (we hadn't really taught in over a month, really we had just been sitting at our desks because we were required to be at school while students took tests, went on field trips and basically partied for the last few weeks of school. Why there are two weeks of school left after final exams beats me.) I do feel somewhat more renewed now. It was so nice to have familiar faces around, to be able to talk and relax. I just wish I had even more time with them! There is still so much to see of Korea and there is still so much to catch up on!

To tell a little of what happened over the course of the week, here are the highlights.

The Wednesday they arrived I went to Incheon Airport from Wonju to meet them. It was a three hour bus ride. They were supposed to arrive around 7:30pm and the last bus to Wonju for the night was at 9:10pm. Close but enough time. Except, when I woke up on Wednesday I saw that Mom had texted me right before they had boarded the plane at LAX to say there were already delayed by two hours! Thus their plane didn't arrive and unload until about 8:45pm. I was watching the flight time travel updates all day in hopes this would miraculously change but alas it did not! So as I stood at the gate anxiously awaiting their arrival I also watched the clock tick past 9:10. Finally they emerged and to my surprise I wasn't upset at all about having missed the bus, I was just so happy to see them! I wish I could watch them emerge from the terminal at Incheon every month! I just love the excitement and anticipation and eventual rush of happiness! The three were a little tired but in good spirits. I told them we'd have to find somewhere to stay for the night. Mom went over and talked to the Korean Air people because that's who they'd flown through and told them what happened. Good idea she did because they gave us a free stay in the airport Hyatt! We got a room with four beds in a beautiful hotel that operated a private airport shuttle! It worked out nicely because everyone got to sleep comfortably and shower. I was a little worried because it meant I'd have to miss work on Thursday morning, which meant I had to call my coteacher and explain to him what happened, but he was understanding and I wasn't disappointed at all that I got to hang out with my family instead of desk warm!

We chatted and looked out the window during our bus ride to Wonju the next day. I threw Mom and Scott in a taxi and told the driver to take them to my school "Sangji yogo," which luckily he did and luckily it was the right place, while Dad and I took a different taxi. There was too much luggage for one. We got to my apartment and then immediatly left for my school. I was expected and I told my coteacher I would bring my family over to see everything and meet him. From noon until four pm we were on a whirlwind tour of Sangji, its students and its teachers! I first took them to the English Zone where they met one of my favorite students (who made me cookies for Christmas!!) and were mobbed by a random group of first graders. They were so curious, they asked a lot of questions, tried to touch Scott's hair, and were just crazy! I tried to warm my family they were energetic! Then we met my coteacher Mr. Byeon who gave us some snacks and then told us we would go meet the Principal. I made sure my family knew to accept everything given to them. We had a really long tea time with the Principal, Mr. Byeon translated and we expressed our thanks, he talked about wanting a sister school in the US, etc. The meeting ended with the Principal asking where they would stay in Wonju. I said with me. He then insisted on giving us a free nights stay at a "four star" hotel in Wonju. I tried to say no. Mr. Byeon got quiet and looked at me, then looked at the Principal. "It would be a good experience..." he went on. I got the hint. I had to accept. It was true Korean style, subtly pressuring me into saying yes. So I agreed, he called the hotel, told them to expect us and gave me the vouchers. My parents felt like celebrities! Then it was time to meet all the teachers in the school, at the teachers after school meeting! Gulp! My parents had to stand up in front of all the teachers and say something. Then Mr. Byeon took us on a tremendous tour of the school. We visited classroom after classroom, office after office, he dragged us over to the high school where we met the nurse, the office manager, the tech guy, the VP. Mind you I've never had a tour of the high school, I've never met these people, I was shown things at Sangji I didn't even know existed! Where was my tour and introduction when I first got here? Apparently forgotten. At the end of it all Jason finally met up with us, he'd been at English camp all day. We were exhausted. It was true Mr. Byeon, true Korean style! Frustrating and amusing all at once. That night we were basically forced to stay at the hotel, which was definintely not a "four star" hotel because they made my coteacher drive us there, so we couldn't escape. It was a little sad because everyone wanted to stay at my place because we'd finally arrived and it was cute and snug for Christmas. We did have an excellent tofu dinner at my favorite place and from then on moved to my apartment.

Tofu dinner on the way. Did I mention we always sit on the floor in Wonju?

Friday I had to "work" during the morning so Mom, Dad and Scott explored a little on their own. Dad really enjoyed seeing the numerous driving ranges around town so he checked one out, and they had fun walking the streets around my apartment. Its nice I have a key code to get in because they could come and go as they pleased. In the afternoon I took them to the Wonju Central Market to see the shopping mixed in with traditional food vendors. It was super cold so not as many little old ladies selling veggies on the street were out as usual, but it was still fun to see. That night was Christmas Eve so Jason and I wanted to take them to a really nice dinner. We invited our friend Scott and the six of us went to a nice duck restaurant. There you grill the duck yourself on a burner, both smoked and normal, and you make a wrap with lettuce, onion, veggies and bean paste. The food was fabulous! Mom wanted to try soju so she, Jason and I shared a bottle. She thought it was really good! (BTW, she LOVED the instant coffee!! Maybe she's Korean?) After dinner we went for gelato in Scott's area of town. I was hoping to karaoke or go to the sauna, but everyone was so tired after days of travel and socializing we decided to go home.

Central Market

Duck dinner here I come! Merry Christmas Eve! Scott and Dad

So yummy. Grilling our dinner. 

Saturday brought Christmas morning! Mom was so great she brought us all stockings to hang and even put our names on them! She filled them with candy and toys and we got to open them at morning! Mmmm American chocolate! She also brought presents for us, some from other family members too, and we had a lot of fun sitting in the living room opening them together. (I got all great things!) (I also now refuse to take down the Christmas decorations because they make me happy.) Jason made pumpkin pancakes (courtesy of his grandma's care package). The rest of the day we just took some small walks around Wonju, saw Jason's apartment, had some coffee on the side of Chiaksan mountain (it wasn't pretty like we remembered because everything was dead and cold, haha) and had shabu shabu for dinner. Jason went crazy and ordered a huge meal, which he and Scott devoured. We settled in to watch Toy Story 3 together but didn't make it very far before everyone fell asleep! It was a nice, slow Christmas day.

Dad, Me, Mom and Scott in Wonju

Shabu shabu dinner. Mom and I

Sunday was a long day and perhaps we traveled too far but... we made it to the Eastern Sea to see Naksam Temple. It is a beautiful place right on the edge of the water. We also saw a bit of Sokcho by bus, it looks like a cute place. We had a simple lunch with some great fish as the centerpeice. No one was brave and got any crazy seafood dishes though, even though we were surrounded be fish and sea life of all kinds! Mom wanted to try more soju that night but for some reason it didn't taste nearly as good. Jason cooked a simple dinner and we watched Indiana Jones, well half of it, before falling asleep. 

Cute Yang-Yang mascot. Cute Korea! 

Drinking the sacred water at the buddhist temple. 

Eastern Sea

Lunch. Yummy fish!

Naksan Temple Gate

 Monday it was time to change location and head to Seoul. Dad and Jason checked out the sauna right next to our place (aka they got naked together and bathed!) Otherwise we started the day slowly, Dad and Mom took a last walk around the neighborhood and by the time we go the bus it was after 12. On our way to Seoul it started snowing! This caused some traffic but it was beautiful to see the snowflakes falling outside. Almost a white Christmas! From the bus station in Seoul we took the subway to our Lotte City Hotel. The subway stops right underneath it so it was super convenient to travel anywhere in the city. Jason bought us all reloadable "T-Money Cards" so we could just swipe them every time we road the subway instead of having to pay each time. Its only 900 won a ride that way. Our hotel was pretty cool. It was nice and clean, but only had one bed per room, so three of us had to share. The cool thing was that the hotel was only the first 10 stories, after that the other 30 or more were apartments! True Korea once again, high rise apartments everywhere. This also meant that the bottom two floors of the hotel/apartments were full of stores; a supermarket, restaurants, nail salon, coffee shop, etc. It was easy to get dinner that night and breakfast in the morning. Plus the supermarket had all the snacks and drinks you could need. Earlier Dad had picked up a brochure about a skating ring in the downtown area of Seoul. We decided to go check it out. We emerged from the subway in one of the nicest and most hip areas of Seoul, near City Hall and its most famous temples and shopping areas. There were thousands of Christmas lights in the trees and on the buildings lining the streets. It was beautiful and definitely reminded us that it was Christmas time! Everything was gorgeous. We easily found the skating ring and bought tickets for the next round. It was an amazing deal, only 1000 won (less than $1) to skate for 1 1/2 hours, including skate rentals! And the ring was nice and clean, with a warm locker room and a giant Christmas tree. We were a little apprehensive at first but Dad edged us on. Once we got on the ring Mom and Jason took off! Scott soon gained his ground and followed. Dad was doing well too but took a tumble at one point, hurting his wrist. I was a scardy cat at first and clung to Jason or the side wall whimpering but even I got over it! We skated the entire time and had to drag Scott off at the end. Before calling it quits we walked down some more beautifully lit streets and found the newly renovated stream that runs through central Seoul. It was a great night.

Skating with the Seoul mascot

Scott's on the move!

Watch out for this stud!

Who do you think is faster? Or enjoying this more? LOL. 

Holiday Lights! So great!

Tuesday morning brought clouds and the chance of snow. (It had snowed through the night!) In the morning we headed to Gyeonbok Palace. It was closed so we walked through the cute area of town known as Samcheondong to a different, more famous palace that was open. We also passed through the Hanok Village area of town which contains some of the renovated and thus now chic vintage Korean homes. When we entered the palace it started to snow!! It was beautiful and we had a great time prancing through it! It was a real solid snowfall and just kept coming down. It made everything hushed and clean looking. I was glad my family got to experience such a nice snow. But by the time we were done at the palace it had stopped and was clearing up! We walked on to Insadong, finally grabbed lunch, and sloshed through the now slushy streets. After a break at the hotel for some much needed R&R we headed to Myeongdong to take in the night life! Myeongdong was busy and bustling as ever, filled with high end shopping, vendors, food and neon. We had a delicious ramen dinner (Scott ate everything, he loves ramen!) we quickly stopped in a photobooth before finding a karaoke room. I luckily read a sign (in Korean!) for the "norebang" and we went in. After a five minute wait we were ushered into our private room for an hour of singing! Everyone, even Dad, had a great time singing! The room is fun because its loud, you can choose from hundreds of songs, you get two microphones, a disco ball and a tambourine! You can't help but have a good time! We left the room super pumped and happy, not even realizing it was almost 11pm!

Trying to catch snowflakes on our tongues

Snow!

Oh Jason and his face mask. (He put the flap up so we could see his smile.) Nice picture everyone else. 

Myeongdong

Karaoke!

Tired on the subway

Wednesday was our last full day together. The day started with a trip to the huge Seoul fish market, for Dad, it was gigantic and filled with raw fish, dead fish, live fish, people were trying to sell us sashimi right and left. "Second floor restaurant! Sashimi!" they would say. Scott received many compliments on his hair. Dad took many pictures and almost got sold a huge tuna (probably hundreds of dollars!) Then we visited the Korean War Memorial and the War Museum of Korea. We saw lots of huge statues, tanks, guns and planes, covered in snow. The war museum was interesting and as Mom and Dad pointed out, is the only museum they've been to dedicated to displaying the history of solely a war. The Korean War is very present in the minds of Koreans, even today, so the museum is very important to them. From there we walked to Itaewon and got burgers before heading back to Myeondong to find the entrance to the cable car ride up to North Seoul Tower. N Seoul Tower is on top of a large hill in the middle of Seoul, giving it a great height advantage and making it the best place in Seoul to see the view (also they dubbed themselves the "most romantic view in Seoul" for all those couples out there.) Rather than walk or take a bus we took a fun suspended cable car ride up the mountain. Then it was an elevator the viewing platform of the tower. The whole experience was really great and fun! The viewing platform offered a 360 view of Seoul. It was beautiful! We enjoyed picking out the landmarks we knew, our hotel, the train station, the skating ring (that's right, we really could see it!) the Olympic Stadium, the many bridges over the river. We stayed up there during dusk until the lights turned on in town. Then you could see all the cars, buildings, Christmas decorations, it was breathtaking! We stopped for dumplings in Myeongdong before checking out the expensive merchandise in the huge Lotte Department store. We road the escalator up all 12 stories! I was glad Mom was able to see some of the Korean shopping we'd been talking about! With no breaks all day the night came to an end. We lounged in the hotel and went through the pictures we'd taken all week.

Seoul Fish Market

War Memorial. I'm not PC at all and am shooting a gun! 

N Seoul Tower

Far from home. Indiana Jones style. 

Seoul

Thursday was time to say goodbye. Jason and I stood on the street as Mom, Dad and Scott pulled away in a bus headed to the airport. There were tears on both sides. We waved through the tinted windows. After that Jason and I were down in the dumps as we caught the subway, then the bus back to Wonju. We are okay now but when we first got home the apartment seemed too empty all of a sudden. It was a great trip with lots of fun times and memories! Like I said, I wish I had more time just to sit and talk, go shopping with Mom, joke around with Dad, catch up with Scott. I hope they enjoyed it all too. I know we didn't get to see everything on the list but we made one heck of a dent!

My Favorite

Miss you and love you but am doing well, back in the swing of teaching and (shockingly) enjoying it! (Just a little.)