Endings Part II

Look at this timely blogging. Today, I tried to respond to a heap of old emails and Facebook messages that I'd been neglecting. Sorry to my friends about that. Sending my phone back tomorrow morning (I rented one for the year, which I hella don't recommend.) I found old videos that my students had taken of my classes, when they stole my phone without my knowing. The videos wouldn't send to my computer, so I had to delete them. It broke my heart because they were some of my favorite students, but this is how it's going to go!


Earlier, I had bogung (catch up/detention class) with one of the sweetest kids. Her mother packed a lunchbox for us to share T_T. What! It had Yubuchobap 유부초밥, which was really yummy (co-teacher says it's really easy to make!)--and it was the first time I'd eaten it. Highly recommended.


While the job has, of course, has had its downsides, I'm only hoping that any job that I have back in the US will include the positives of this one. Coming from thinking that I wasn't a huge fan of children--and was, to be honest, a little scared of them--this has been quite the experience.


Some treasures from my phone:

Pictionary drawing by a student. The word was "wool."

#LifeinKorea

What is this?

Endings

It's nearly 3:30 in the morning, so this can't be a long post. Time has flown by quickly again. It's already September 28th and my plane ticket has been booked for October 18th. I'll head to Japan for a few days before I fly home to LA, then back up to Seattle.
I'm feeling incredibly nostalgic about my time, life, and experiences in Korea, as it comes to a close. There are four more days left for me to teach and I am sad to leave some of these funny little guys behind, but time will go on yet.
I've been thinking, if there were no extraneous circumstances, I would have almost definitely ended up in Korea for another year. It's a strange thing to think about. Little does anyone know these things before they happen.

I made a list in my journal of things I especially want to remember from the past year. A few of them, I have already documented here, but I'll share a few more...

1) Umbrella sharing from strangers. Of course, there are darting and uncomfortable arm-linking situations. But, there was that other time when the older woman shared her umbrella with me as I walked home from work and then tried to lend it to me when we got to her apartment. She told me I could just leave it on her doorstep the next day.

2) Taking time for yourself to do important self-care things, but also taking time for important people in your life.

3) How trusting and kind people are. The community feel. The help given when lost on subways.

4) Friendships and meetings that exist in instants and memories, not lived out until their final notes.

5) It's okay to have unmet potentials and to enjoy things for what they are, momentarily.

6) The song that plays at transfer stations on the Seoul subway.

7) When the angry lady smacked me in the face at the parade, but then everyone laughed and kept on keeping on.

8) Hoamji lake and the little wooden cafe that overlooks it.

9) Busan.

10) On that note, Suanbo, Danyang, Daejeon, Ulleungdo--Ariel and I hunting for Doctor Fish and being unable to find them.

11) The two young men who went out of their way to kindly drive us up to the bathhouse in Suanbo for nothing in return.

12) The art fair on Sundays in Hongdae.

13) Children are people too. Sometimes they're cool, sometimes they're not so cool.

14) Just as a legacy, how the students have picked up some slang from me (LA style.)

15) English grammar discussions and debates.

16) All of the fantastic people I've met here and things I've learned about myself and the world around me.

And on that extremely sentimental note---

The Transformation of a Teacher

Before I came to Korea--and I'll be honest here--despite the interview confidence, I had no idea how I would do with teaching. I remember talking to my friends in Seattle and asking for tips and advice from those who had worked with children extensively, worrying and worrying. I didn't know if I would like it and I didn't know if I would succeed. My biggest concern was being in control of the classroom. I'm not a yeller and, though I do actually have quite a bit of patience (things you learn from being a teacher...) how would that last in a room full of hyper kids?
At first, it was exhausting and rocky. The first term of classes definitely had focus issues and I wasn't entirely sure how to get all of the students engaged. Eight months in, and my confidence and abilities have improved drastically. I'm not going to say that I'm amazing by any means, but I think what's most important is how much I've learned and bettered my techniques. Sure, I still have some problems with discipline sometimes (the hardest thing is getting the kids to focus, since they're in school pretty much all day--especially the middle schoolers, who are basically in class until 10 at night and cry, "I'm hungry. I'm tired!") But I've been surprised at how many of these children make me really (omg) love teaching them. Patience has definitely come in handy, as well as getting to know the students and building rapport with them. They're all so different and it's actually a really fun game for me to try to figure out how they each work, individually, as people. And to hear them express themselves so (sometimes) eloquently in English!
Oh the joys of teaching.

______________________________

On an entirely unrelated note (which is why I'm bad at blog posts,) I went to Seoul last weekend and visited the pride parade to see what it was like. Despite there being one, singular woman running through the crowd, screaming, "NO," and waving her arms, there wasn't that much of a difference. My friend asked me what differences I noticed and I told her that there were less naked people than in the U.S. I also learned how to say "Haeundae Beach" in a Busan accent, which gives me Busan cred. I will take this to heart.

Busan, be still my heart

(Two weeks ago? I think? This has been sitting in my queue, unfinished for that long T_T.) Two weeks(ish) ago was Buddha's Birthday as well as Children's Day (not entirely sure what that is still,) so most of us in this 'hood had a four-day weekend! I ventured to Busan, which I raved about in passing before. But in all reality, if I ever taught for another year or just decided to move back to Korea, Busan would be the place. Everyone in Korea has been really nice, but in Busan the culture is friendly, warm, and laid back. I liken Seoul to the New York City of Korea and Busan to the West Coast. Most importantly, there's an ocean (I'm landlocked in Chungju T_T.)

Busan from Igidae area

I stayed at a hostel for two nights where the ladies who run it were seriously welcoming, interested, and helpful. They remembered our names and what we did each day. There is something magical about hostel culture. I've stayed in some pretty terrible places (note: the worst was one in London where there were hairs in the sheets. They advertised a free drink in the bar downstairs, which turned out to be soda. The staff and guests were rude, and though it wasn't their fault, that was the same night I almost got kidnapped by a fake cabbie from the train station at 6 a.m. when I went to drop my friend off out of fear for her safety. You live and you learn.) In any case, when you have a good hostel experience, it can be magical.

I met a guy from Mexico in my hostel on the day I was leaving. He and I ran into each other when we were walking to the subway. We waited for the subway together and then rode it for several stops before parting ways. He is going to school in Seoul and we got along really well for that half hour. We talked about where we were from, the beach, learning languages, and our hometowns. And suddenly, it was my stop to meet with my coworker and our time to go off on our own adventures, likely to never meet again. "It's strange meeting people like this. So temporary. You meet many cool people and then they're suddenly gone," he said. And that's magical.

Of course, there are also annoying (insufferable) people. One of the guests, in discussion, told us all that he spoke Korean and that it was really easy to learn. He then went on to say that he can order at a restaurant and get directions...you know...so he's basically fluent (*sarcasm*.) What more do you need to know when learning a language? Indeed, he asked me how much I knew and I said, "Well, maybe I don't speak as well as you," giving him the benefit of the doubt. I told him what I could do and he said, "We're about the same, then."

In any case, I had a peaceful, sun-filled, perfectly-balanced-isolated/socialized vacation.
I didn't take very many pictures after all, but it'll have to do.

The first night, I wandered around the Jagalchi Fish Market 자갈치시장(http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=264168.)
There were booths upon booths of fresh seafood to buy, but the real kicker (that I wasn't expecting,) were the myriad of places that were frying fish for diners to sit and enjoy. The smell was completely decadent. The following night, I met for dinner with my coworker and her friend, but unfortunately we didn't make it back to Jagalchi for dinner because it was too far away from where we met up.

On Sunday, I ventured to the supposedly hidden-away Seokbulsa Temple (석불사), which was nestled in the hills of Geumgang Park. I read many blogs about it beforehand that claimed it was a huge, out-of-the-way hiking adventure that took hours. Maybe it's my Seattle mentality, but the hike was maybe an hour and a half to two hours, since I took the cable car up. Granted, there was a huge, steep hill up to the temple at the very end--during that final ascent, I thought I might die (there's a selfie video from this time that I considered putting up, but let's save me the shame)--but overall, it wasn't that deathly and completely worth the trek if you are able-bodied and like the exercise (and bring lots of water.)

the cable car--albeit cool--was scarier than the rest of it

It was a bit of a complicated journey. I got directions online first, which included "following the dirt path" and "turning at the bridge." Truth be told, if I wasn't able to read and speak the tiniest bit of Korean, I would have gone the wrong way entirely. There was plenty of signage, but much of it was in Korean, so it was my lucky day that I could figure out which word meant "east" and therefore figure out which direction I was supposed to go in based on that. Not to mention, when I got to the little town, there was construction and absolutely no indication of where to go. Luckily again, a helpful older woman asked me where I was going--in Korean--and pointed me in the direction of the temple when I indicated my goal. I can't imagine trying to figure it all out otherwise, but people are usually helpful and friendly, so there's that.

Seokbulsa Temple

The temple was pretty incredible. It was shaded and breezy from being on top of and cut into a mountain. There were private, cavernous nooks and crannies, where they were burning incense that lightly scented the whole air. During the hike up, there were many other adventurers braving the park, but once I got to the temple, it was quiet and peaceful. There were a few other visitors, but considering it was the day before Buddha's birthday, I almost had the place to myself.


That night, my coworker and her friend and I met up for dinner. We explored a "used book store" that they kicked us out of after five minutes. We also found the "Mystery Ship Bar," we think, though the place we went to had no name. I visited Haeundae Beach, which was understandably more crowded with tourists than it was when I visited in January and therefore not the most pleasant environment. Igidae--which I visited on Monday before my train left--was more enjoyable. I didn't get to complete the walk up Igidae Beach and there were plenty of people on that path, but I was able to find a quiet dock and watch people fish in front of a beautiful cityscape.

Busan

Overall, it was an incredibly relaxing and re-enlightening weekend. I know a lot of people come to Korea for Seoul, but I'm going to argue for Busan all the way.

Anyway, I took a break from writing my end-of-the-term student comments to finish this post and now I'm tired. Naughty.

Food

I have another post in the works (meaning halfway finished) from last weekend in Busan, but it awaits photos (that I still need to upload from my camera.) Until that laziness is overcome, this is something that I've been thinking about now that I'm just past the halfway point of my contract.

A few things I thought I probably wouldn't eat before I came here, but then did:


1) Sundae 순대

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundae_(Korean_food)

image credit: http://www.buhaykorea.com

This was the only thing that I had predetermined I would absolutely not touch before my plane landed in Incheon Airport (well, never say never.) Open minded or not, as a recent non-vegetarian, it was too much to think about.

it's less appealing in this format
image credit: http://roadsandkingdoms.com/2012/sundae/ 

Sundae is a blood sausage stuffed inside of a pig's intestine. The first time I tried it was at a dak galbi 닭갈비 restaurant and my coworker wouldn't tell me what it was. And you know, it wasn't half bad, but as soon as it was in my mouth, I remembered my conviction and that I had chanted, "Sundae, sundae," in my head before I came so that I'd remember what it was. Anticlimactic ending; the texture is a little bit chewy, due to the noodles inside, but it's pretty innocuous if you don't think about it. My favorite tteokbokki 떡볶이 place serves their curry tteokbokki with sundae chopped up in it. The first couple of times, I just went for it and consumed the whole thing. The power of the mind is strong, though, and I can't not think about the bloody flavor. So I've learned how to say "without sundae" (anyone speak korean: bego? I can't find the word I'm looking for in the dictionary, it keeps telling me to use "없이." In any case...) The woman who works there also knows me by now, so she tends to omit the sundae without my asking. I did eat a piece again last night at dak galbi, and in comparison to the following entry, it was grand!


2) Dried bug guys. Silkworm Pupae 번데기

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beondegi

image credit: http://upinthecloudsisay.wordpress.com/2012/07/07/spiced-beondegi/ 

This wasn't even my first venture into bug eating, but I can't force bravado here. I've tried these little guys twice and I think that's the limit. When you bite into them, their insides squirt juicily into your mouth. Not to mention the aftertaste is very strong, and to me tastes distinctly buggy. I don't think my stomach loves them, because both times I ate merely one bug and was burping up bug flavor for hours afterwards. I also tried these for the first time at a dak galbi restaurant. The woman was standing over us, cutting up the meat, and for some reason I thought this was a perfect time to try it.

"Not delicious?" she said, laughing at whatever face I made.

I tried it again last night. I just can't get over how particular the taste is. Give me sundae any day. Still, worth the venture.


3) Chicken off the side of the road

Maybe this shouldn't be an entry in and of itself, but I ate chicken on a stick from a food truck on the side of the road. Ya know? My L.A. instincts were fighting me, but it was pretty good and I'm still here to tell the tale.




I tried to think of one more entry, but to be honest, everything else is very palatable; I like seafood and I eat meat now. Today, I was invited to attend my coworker's wedding, where I tried a myriad of new treats that had no names attached to them. One thing I recognized but hadn't tried until today was dessert tteok (which had a sweet sauce, sesame seeds, and sesame oil inside, I think.) It was very nice. Every day is a new adventure.


Sort of. That's a fib, let me be real; for dinner I ate a cheddar cheese sandwich from the block of cheese my coworker brought me from Costco. It was delicious.

new discoveries

my neutral-colored laundry, or how we dry clothes

The northern permeation of my being isn't clear to me until I look at the color palette of my current wardrobe.
When did I replace the bright colors of L.A. with greys and browns? It has been a process.

I've reached the point in my "post-vegetarian" life when I eat unknown kebab-like chicken on a stick from a cart on the side of the road. I'm not too sure this is where I want to be in my life, but when in Rome....

I was chatting with the cart-owner and was actually impressed with the amount we were able to communicate. With a combination of his barely-English and my barely-Korean, some body gestures, and me saying 맛잇서요 (it's delicious!) several times, we had a decent conversation.

Not to mention, the lady at the rice shop that we go to (a lot apparently) asked me if I wanted "tteok stick," as I lovingly call it, when she told me they weren't serving 참치(chamchi=tuna) gimbap that night. Tteok stick is a deliciously fried treat with garlic pepper sauce spread on it that is...perhaps intended as a treat for young children (I can't find a picture, so I'll take one next time I dine) that I eat often enough for her to remember. Anyway, we had a perfectly normal conversation, in which she told me that they didn't have any gimbap, pointed to the fried foods and said she'd make me a tteok stick in Korean, and I kinda understood her. We laughed together at which point I politely said, 괜찮아요 or "I'm okay." Communication is fascinating.

tiptoeing through the tulips (so to speak,
 since they're not tulips and nobody tiptoed)

Today, my coworker and I walked down the reservoir/pond/lake. Spring is in full session now. All of the cherry blossoms seem to have flown into the sky somewhere, to be replaced with dark green leaves. BUT look at how beautifully pink everything still is. I drank a latte (with heart-shaped latte art) and considered not wearing leggings under my shorts. Let us enjoy this peace, because summers in Korea are known to be terribly humid and uncomfortable.

someone explain this to me

Like I think I mentioned before, there are farms in the most random places. We walked past one on our loop around the lake that had dead, dried out, old, decrepit fish tied to the fence? I am sure this has some sort of meaning, since they also have dried fish in the doorways of some restaurants that I've seen, but I can't find any further information at the moment.




All in all, it was a successful day in Chungju. I hope the spring lasts longer than I think it will.

springtime

Okay, this time I'll just admit that I've been pretty terrible at blogging. And seeing as it's 1:30 in the morning (though I don't work until 2 p.m.,) this will be short and sweet.

It's becoming spring in Korea! ^_^ Most flowers have bloomed and some have already begun to die. Cherry blossom festivals all across Korea that are due to start next week are mourning the early spring. The sun makes me tell myself several times a day to go buy sunscreen.

At that Chungju reservoir thing near E-Mart.

Of course, when I ventured into Seoul this weekend to see the cherry blossom trees in the beautiful sun, it rained on me, but that's neither here nor there since I like the rain.

Namsan Tower

I took a (long and harrowing, but good for me in the end) walk up to Namsan Tower on Saturday. The winding path up to it is lined with cherry blossoms and azaleas. There are staircases through the hills that you can take (which I took, indeed indeed!) that are lined with flowers as well.

gloom and doom

                                      

adoration

Well, that'll do it. I'm listening to "Country Roads" on repeat while I write this, so I think it's time to call it a night.

Not that there will ever be anything wrong with listening to John Denver on repeat. 

For good measure.

Happy Seollal (설날!!!!)

There could be some sort of apology or excuse-making about why I haven't written in so long, but I'll just skip that and cut to the chase.

Happy Seollal (설날!!!!) It's the lunar new year! We're entering the "Year of the Horse"--or Gaponyeon (갑오년.) If you were born in 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, or...uh...2014, this is your year. As a dragon, I'm like, "psh," but horses are pretty rad too.

There were several children running around E-mart tonight wearing Hanbok (한복), the traditional Korean dress. Apparently some adults also wear this attire on Seollal, but children especially are expected to don the traditional outfit, show respect to their elders, and maybe even receive a monetary present! THEY WERE SO CUTE.
For further inquiry, there's always Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok.

In celebration of the New Year, a few of my coworkers and I had a day of bowling and screen golfing (http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2011/09/screen-golf-korea.) Our original intention was to hit up the (SUPER WICKED) bike paths that loop all around the country, but a little bit of rain and a four-hour-late-to-a-reservation deterred us from this treasure.
This was the weekend that I chose to do a temple stay, but unfortunately I'm getting over a ridiculous cold (AI!?,) so I thought this might be a...rude thing to bring into a place of worship. Instead, I'm joining a troop of coworkers and hitting up the mass-exodus scene of Seoul on Saturday (where everyone will have abandoned in order to visit their families in outer provinces for SEOLLAL.)

I am officially 27 years old in Korea now (oh god,) though I am still 25 for another month by U.S. standards. The children gasp when I tell them how old I am and are very cute about it, unless they choose that moment to also reassert that my nose and mouth and eyes are huge. Then it's less cute.

I have finally gotten to do some traveling! Ariel came to visit and we explored more of Seoul, Busan, Gyeongju, Gwanju (by accident...), and Suanbo. Since I'm behind the times, maybe I'll set aside separate posts for these places in order to tempt myself to the blog with fodder.

The short but sweet version: I <3 Busan (more in a future post I'M SURE because it warmed my soul to be there,) traveling by bus in Korea is fun because they have rest stops with fried food, coffee, and music, aaaand I love pretty temples.

Suanbo is a sort of neighborhood in Chungju, but it's a bit of a bus ride through hills and farmland. To be honest, I'm not sure what it's considered, but its address says, "Chungju-si*" and it's on the Chungju map. There are many hot springs and they are famous for their rabbit and (DELICIOUS) quail. We arrived on a very snowily romantic day--huge snowflakes, the kind you never get to see in Seattle--and wandered around for a bit, trying to orient ourselves. Well, let's be honest, I left the true orienting up to Ariel and stuck to an "intuitive" direction hunting. This technique DOES work under the right conditions. For some reason, I have very few photos from the Suanbo experience, but I'll do my best here.

After wandering for a while, we ran into a very nice and generous young Korean man who spoke perfect English and thought we looked lost. He and his friend stopped to give us directions and instead offered us a ride up the hill to the hotel where the hot springs were located. Not only was the hotel on a steep and icy hill, but the two walked us into the hotel, talked with the lady at the desk, and helped us get our tickets for no reason except to be nice. "Goodbye. Enjoy! It was nice to meet you." How often does that happen in the U.S.? I'm sure it happens, but it's certainly never happened to me.

We ended up at Suanbo Park Hotel. The staff was very nice to us and tolerant of my gesturing/Korean-sprinkling attempt to communicate. It was soothing and amazing and I'd love to do it again soon. It was a fully nude bath, but honestly, there was nothing to it. Everyone else is used to it and despite people telling me that there will be stares because you're a foreigner, there was barely a glance to spare (even with our --albeit small and innocuous--tattoos/some people's purple hair.) So I would recommend this experience to a curious-but-wary person and am judging whether or not I have the guts to do it again on my own.

Obviously, there are no pictures from the hot tubs, but the hottest one was outside. We sat in it while it SNOWED on us and I can't really describe it any better than that. The flakes touched your skin and shriveled up immediately because of how toasty your skin was.

After leaving the hot springs (I only almost passed out at the end and had to chug two cans of Gatorade,) we left the hotel and headed down some random stairs hoping to find the surface streets again. We found this:

At the bottom of the snowy staircase lay a church. It was covered in snow and framed by two Christmas trees (twas the season.) It was the kind of silent that only snow settles on an area. We made friends with two, traveling Korean ladies, traded photo opps, and said a fond goodnight to each other.

After exploring the church grounds, we made it back to the surface streets and found our way into a quail restaurant.

I'd like to interrupt myself for a moment to make a point about my life in Korea. We had no idea what this restaurant was. In fact, the only reason we sort of had an idea was because we learned from the internet that Suanbo is famous for quail and rabbit, and many of the restaurants had huge, painted quail statues outside**. My reading of Korean has vastly improved over the past month or so, to the point where I can find the type of restaurant that I want and order my own food (this is a step up,) but overall--and especially with the trips we did over December--I accomplish most things here with a very "what-comes-will-come" mindset. You have to. Harry Potter has taught us many things.
In the case of this restaurant, we figured that it was either going to be quail or rabbit, so we psyched ourselves up for either. We also based our decision on the "best voted" sign and the fact that it looked cozy. After some help from the poor young man who worked there and whose mother made him talk to us because he spoke more English than her, we ordered a huge platter (decided to go all out) and ended up with a multi-course quail feast.
It was one of the most delicious meals of my life.

One of the my less flattering photos, but I'll take it for the shot of the feast. 

The winner by popular vote (untrue, since I consumed the whole plate myself. Ariel wouldn't touch it.) Raw quail on a bed of pear topped with some sort of sweet pear sauce. I kid you not, it was heaven.

There was raw quail, which concerned me at first since--should you eat quail raw?--but was literally one of the most delicious things I've ever had the chance to eat. We also had a fried quail and vegetables dish (which I'm pretty sure he referred to as a "galbi" style dish, so I'll take it,) a boiled quail and vegetables soup, a fried chicken/quail dish (the first picture. Nobody was sure what kind of meat it was,) and a slew of side dishes.

After the meal, we planned on going sledding at the ski resort, but a tired, fed, and comfortable me rallied for a bus ride home instead.
There was something quiet and soothing about Suanbo. I don't know if it was the snow, Christmas in the air, the hot springs, or the town itself, but I plan to go back at least once during my stay here. The bus ticket was less than 2,000 won because it's still a city bus!

And there's a cat squealing outside. This happens nightly. I was concerned at first, but it sounds like the cat is still kickin', so I think it's okay.

*Fun fact: -si means "city" in Korea, -dong means "neighborhood," and -do means "province/area."
**Fun fact: In Korea, restaurants tend to specialize in one type of food or type of dish. You can often tell what kind of food they serve because they will have a picture of real-life pigs, chickens, and other animals on their signs. I'll take a picture sometime.