When One Year Becomes Two

Hey there!

So, after being in Korea for a year, taking a six week trip through Southeast Asia, and heading back to Canada, I've come full circle. Although living in Korea for a year sounded challenging when I first thought about it, I let go of home comforts to come back for another year.

What I didn't expect was for Korea to feel more like home than anywhere else I've been lately. Jamie and I are working and living in a little residential neighbourhood called Juwol-dong, in the south of Gwangju. Compared to last year, settling in has been a breeze.

Of all the things I've noticed about Korea, my least favourite is that they're very fond of impersonal brick buildings alongside neon-highlighted signs and clothing stores. Our new neighbourhood is in the old block, where houses are snuggled up against one another behind tall brick and wrought iron fences and the main street is far enough away that we can pretend it's not even there. It's really nice to get up in the morning and join the groups of people off to work or school who pass by our building. If it's possible, I feel even more at home here in Gwangju than I did when I left.

Jamie and I are also getting a bit cocky about the tiny bit of Korean we managed to pick up last year. Instead of stumbling through charades, this time I can spit out enough to be basically understood. And the reception hasn't been half bad. I'm not sure if it's our neighbourhood or the fact that we're more comfortable speaking the language. I even got a smile from the ajossi selling vegetables on my way to the cafe. Now, all we have to do is learn some grammar and maybe we'll have a handle on the language before we leave!

Pictures will follow, but for now, we are internet-less until we get moved into our new apartment at the beginning of April. Have no fear, my friends! Blogging all the greatness of this country is a Korean-year resolution this time around.

:o)

A Bend in the Road

Well, it's getting to be that time again. That would be the time when the summer rush of new people is arriving. Which also means that this is the time when you realize that all the friends you make when you're travelling are transitory and will leave you at random moments of the year.

It sucks.

Having to say goodbye to someone who has been a major fixture in your life is akin to cutting an appendage off. In many cases, the people you say goodbye to were here from the moment you got here. They may have shown you around, or helped you settle in, or have just been there when you went through the random moments of awareness that you're in another country and can't speak the language.

The atmosphere around the local hangouts is changing because of this. There's been quite a few people who've left lately who have either been here for a long time or just made the world a better place in general. It's not that the atmosphere is getting worse, it's just becoming much different from when I first got here.

When you first arrive in Korea, it takes about three or four months to get used to your surroundings and find a strong group of friends to connect with. Then you spend the next four months having the time of your life and, somewhere along the way, you begin to realize that Korea is temporary. People start to go back home or onto another great adventure and it feels like parts of the world are crumbling away. But then comes the realization: this is exactly what life's all about.

One thing I love most about travelling is that it causes you to connect to people quickly and firmly. Sure, the foreigner community here is a little fiery every once in a while but it's only because we've become each others' family. Who else can you go to when you're having a rough time of it than the friends you've made who have probably gone through the exact same things as you?

So, although I'll have to say goodbye to some really great people, I'm happy to welcome new friends and experiences in the rest of my time here. Only three and a half more months to go!

A Day in the Life of a Korean Child

I've hit the eight month mark (can you believe it?) and I just realized that I haven't said to much about what actually goes on at school here in Korea. It's a big difference from Canadian schools, I can tell you that much. And not just in what the kids are learning.

Here's the schedule of an average Korean child around 8 years old:
7 AM.....Wake up
8:30 AM....Go to school
9 AM.....School
1 PM.....Finish school (some of the kids end around 3 or 3:30)
2 or 4 PM.....Go to first after school academy
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.
.
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8 PM to 10 PM.....Come home from academy (high school students don't get out of school until this time)
10 PM....Homework
11 to 1 AM.....Bedtime (this changes, depending on the student and the parents)

That means that my average student is coming to me with anywhere from 5 to 8 hours of sleep under their belt. Plus, they've probably been at school for 5 to 7 hours already. Which explains why they're so eager to play games and generally act up for most of my classes. I have a couple who will also randomly take naps during class. Feel a little sad yet?

My classes are pretty easy though. I usually teach for about 45 minutes. Class starts with hellos and some general discussion and then we move on to reading from their books. They also have workbooks to practice their writing and reading skills. For the most part, they have it pretty easy in the class and they generally get their homework from the Korean teachers.

My classroom has a table with the students sitting in a U-shape around it. I have a whiteboard and that's it. It looks like any other small meeting room from back home, with my personal additions of posters and signs.

On a side note, I've been asked to write a series of articles for that newsletter I was telling you about. I have ideas for two of them, but I need a third one. What is something in Korea that you'd be interested in hearing about?

If you have any questions about anything, feel free to leave some!

A month later...

There hasn't been too much excitement in Gwangju since my last post. I know it's been a month, but life here is so cruz-y that I don't really think I'm doing anything out of the ordinary if I go anywhere out of town.

Every weekend usually has a road trip, a party, or both. Things are starting to get crazy lately, though, since most of the people in my neighbourhood are starting to leave on their next adventures. My coworker Liz leaves at the end of the month and, once she's gone, I'll be the only person left in Cheomdan (my area) who was here before November. It's going to be weird, but I'm enjoying meeting a ton of new people as they fill the vacancies my friends are leaving behind.

Plus, the countdown is on: 23 days until China.

I'll post again soon, since it's already late and I've gotta hit the hay for early tennis tomorrow morning.

Talk to ya later!

Seoul...3rd Time's a Charm

Seoul is one of those cities that surprises you every single time you visit it. The fact that this metropolis is the largest city in Korea probably helps that fact along, as well as the internationality of the place, but I'm still surprised at all the nooks and crannies that this city holds.

Take where I ate for breakfast this morning. My friend, Kenzie, met me in an area called Gangnam where "the best pancakes in Seoul" were located. We had to wait for a table and the menu was huge: a full-on, Western breakfast menu (and I don't mean Texas Western). Six different kinds of pancakes, egg breakfasts, waffles, french toast, you name it, it was there. And I'd never heard of the place before. My gingerbread pecan cakes were to die for and the drip coffee with milk and sugar on the side (a request that usually draws a look of confusion...milk? Do you want a latte?) made it feel almost like home.

But the jewel of the day was when Kenzie and I walked into Changdeokgung Palace. Granted, we didn't really "stumble" on it...more like we read about it and decided to give it a try. The main gate to the palace overlooks what is now Insa-dong, a shopping district with an artistic flair. The palace seemed to fit right in with its surroundings. For about three dollars Canadian, we joined an English tour that took us through the grounds and all around the back garden, known as the Secret Garden. We'd read that the palace was a UNESCO site, which added to the appeal, but the history of the place was incredibly interesting. Parts of it had been burned down, relocated, rebuilt, and restored since it was first built in 1405. It housed members of the royal family from that year until as late as 1989, when the last prince died there. Stepping onto the grounds was like stepping back in time. It is known as one of the most unique palaces left in Korea. Here's a bit of the intro from the palace guidebook:

Unlike Gyeongbokgung (at that time, the main palace in Seoul), where major buildings are arranged along a main axis, Changdeokgung is laid out in harmony with the area's topography. The palace architecture has an asymmetric beauty that is unique to Korea. The layout is welcoming and was very comfortable for the royal family. Originally there was no boundary between Chandeokgung and Changgyeonggung (another secondary palace), and the two were collectively known as the "East Palace" as they are both located to the east of Gyeongbokgung. Together with Jongmyo Shrine (to the royal ancestors) to the south and the royal garden to the north, this area formed the largest royal residential complex of the Joseon Dynasty (one of the longest reigning dynasties in Korean history).

After all of this treasure finding, I then had the opportunity to watch part of my boyfriend, Jamie's, movie shoot. He's starring in a short film that is being entered into one of the film festivals here and he's been working on it for a while. The shoot took place at a cafe that was decorated and is owned by the producer's uncle. It's a charm to see: huge rooms with trinkets everywhere, including an original Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band LP. I had fun informing the producer that that was the Beatle's original name...his answer: "This must be worth a fortune!"

Being on a movie shoot was interesting. I can see now that being an actor (or anyone else, for that matter) involved in movies is tough work. Shooting around the city started at 9 AM and all of them were worn out by the time they wrapped for the cafe location at 1:00 AM...and then they all headed on to the next spot while I went back to the hotel. Guess I'm not cut out to be an actor!

We've got one more day in Seoul and I hope that it'll be as fun-filled as today was. I'll upload some pictures soon.

Take care!
M

So I'm a Writer Now...

Hey everyone,

I've been spending a ton of time running around most of Gwangju and Korea for the last month. There's some great stories to tell, but I'll save those until I have a bit more time later on. For now, I thought I'd let you in on a little bit of news: I got offered a monthly column in a foreigner newsletter! It's for a recruiting company that's just starting up and the girl who will be heading it up also edits a newsletter for the site. I'll be writing one article a month about all things kooky and Korean. Check out the first one:
http://saykimchirecruiting.com/newsletter/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/say-kimchi-news-june-09.pdf

Hope you like it!

It's Been a Long Time Coming...

Wow, I am so incredibly bad at keeping this thing up-to-date. To all my fans back home who read this, I apologize. To be honest, there's just so much happening here all the time that I can't seem to find a spare second to get on and write. Between work, friends, weekends away, and adventures around the city, there's not much time to sit down. Not that I'm complaining....

The last month and a bit has been a whirlwind. About halfway through March, I went away to a beautiful city called Busan. Busan is a port city, which means that the locals tend to be a little less freaked out by foreigners (I still have kids everyday in Gwangju who either are awed by seeing a foreigner (waygook) or are too scared to say anything). A few of my friends took advantage of a diving course you can do at the Busan aquarium and did a dive into the shark tank. I didn't get a spot (I'd waited too long) or I would have joined them. It was really freaky to see my friends swimming with sharks circling them and the fear became even more real when I rode in a glass-bottomed boat over the same pool. The sharks are not afraid of the boat and came up and bumped us a few times. After that experience, I don't know if I would have been able to handle being underwater with them. A few of us spent the rest of the weekend exploring the city, from the huge fish market to the harbor to the beautiful beach. One of my favorite moments of the trip was seeing a kite-seller's dragon kite. This is a huge chain of 50-some kites that he anchors to the ground in order to attract attention to his stand. It was pretty cool to see a huge chain just floating on the air like that. I have no idea how he got them flying in the first place!

The next few weekends were a bit more laid-back. I hiked up Mudeung Mountain just outside the city again with some friends and managed to get up and over one of the higher peaks in about two hours. It was a great time of year to do it, as the cherry blossoms were everywhere. At one point, we stopped for a group photo and you could smell the flowers as the wind wafted over the hills. By the time we got to the peak, however it was incredibly windy. The hike up was incredibly steep, since the mountains here tend to be a little craggy, and at the top we were met by an ice cream stand. After stocking up on some ice-cold treats to beat the sweat we'd worked up on the way to the top, we hit the peak and were nearly knocked off of our feet by the winds. The ice cream guy had the greatest spot: he was in a pool of sunshine just downhill from the top so that you couldn't see the people struggling to stand above you. Salespeople here are briliant.

There was also a couple of incredible temples on the mountain. The photo below is of the ceiling of the bell tower at the temple near the start of our hike. The fierce-looking guy is a Buddha guardian that we found at the temple on the other side. One cool fact that I learned on this trip is that these temple roofs have absolutely no nails in them. Each piece is specially carved and inserted in the proper position. Some of the temples in this country are hundreds of years old. Puzzle-piece construction works wonders! Also, notice in the dragon's mouth there's a ball. If you've ever heard of the cartoon Dragon Ball Z, this is the dragon ball that the name is referring to.

Now, if there's anything that I love about travelling it's the random opportunities that you get to travel the countryside. Korea has not let me down yet. Just a few weeks ago, my friend mentioned that her boss's friend had offered to take 45 foreigners (read: white people) on a bus to the first annual Slow-Walking Festival. The trip would be free and lunch would be provided. All that we would need to do would allow the festival photographers to shoot a few photos, take a couple of interviews and videos, and we'd have the rest of our day free. Since many of us are fresh out of university, as well as trying to save up money to send home on a regular basis, the 45 spots were filled up pretty quickly. The bonus part (besides the free-ness of it) was that the festival was taking place at Wando, an island off the southwest coast of Korea, three hours away.

It was a fabulous day. We had to sit through the opening ceremonies, which included a traditional calligraphist who wrote out a giant banner for the festival with an over-sized brush pen and pails of ink, and after that, we hit the beach. A few of us waded into the ocean and one friend even tried to swim, until he was kicked out of the water by the coastal authority. When I asked my students why this happened, they explained that in Korea, there are designated fishing and swimming beaches. Judging by the amount of fish we saw leaping out of the water, my friend had been trying to swim at a fishing beach. Oh well. The day was summed up well by a good friend who toasted, "To being thousands of miles from home and still amongst friends."

And that wasn't all...

The trip home was almost as, if not more, fun than the day had been. You see, in Korea, there are many opportunities to sing karaoke (or, as they call it here, norae...which literally means sing). Not much space is wasted in this country and they love to have fun here, so they've managed to come up with an ingenious thing: the Norae Bus. Imagine, if you will, a regular run-of-the-mill coach outfitted with disco lights, speakers, a wireless microphone and a large plasma screen over the driver's head that shows the words to all of your favorite songs. Now imagine a bus full of 20-somethings who have been enjoying a nice summer day on the beach with a few drinks in hand hurtling down the highway in one of these. It was insane! We made it back safely and didn't drive our driver too crazy...or so we hope. Unfortunately, I didn't capture the moment, but I think leaving it to the imagination will sum it up quite nicely. :)

Last weekend was almost as much fun as the weekend in Wando. During the spring and summer months, there's a plentitude of festivals happening all over the country and the one we chose last week was the "Miracle Sea Road" or "Parting of the Seas" Festival at Jindo (another island off the south coast....for those of you keeping track, the ending "-do" means "island). The festival takes place at a site where, a few hundred years ago, an incredible thing took place. You see, a village of people had been fending off tigers for generations and were getting pretty sick of losing a large chunk of the population to the hungry cats. In an effort to get away, they built a raft and went out to a smaller island just off-shore. Unfortunately, however, they left behind Grandma Pong. The little lady prayed and prayed to escape her sad plight and eventually, according to the legend, the Dragon King of the Sea opened a rainbow in the ocean that led to the island where her family was waiting for her. Grandma Pong made it most of the way across, where her family was heading toward her from the other side. When they met, Grandma Pong died from exhaustion, but happily, since she'd managed to see her family one last time. The festival is to celebrate family and to mourn the loss of Grandma Pong. The coolest part: the sea road really exists and you can try to cross it in the short hour or so that the sea parts to the island. Apparently, the sea parting is caused by the high and low tides meeting and crossing one another. In some parts, there's actually dry beach to walk on. The best sight of the whole thing is to see the huge amount of people trying to make their way across all at once. It actually looks like they're walking on the water.

We ended up camping at the festival and had a blast. The festival tents were great and we got to try our hands at everything from traditional drumming to calligraphy to lava bread (seaweed sheet) making. There was even face-painting, which provided more entertainment than we thought it would. A good friend, Art, was getting his face painted while my friend Joanne and I were taking pictures of him. Art was laughing so much that the man painting his face got frustrated, grabbed Art by the chin to hold him still and proceeded to write a long message in Korean down Art's face. Since Joanne and I both had 'love' and 'beauty' written on our hands, respectively, we figured that Art's was a nice message as well. Turns out, this face-painter had a sense of humour. When we asked an older Korean man who was laughing at Art what the words meant, he said that they translated to "I'm a foolish boy". It's good to know that humor translates well.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy playing tennis and wandering around the city. Now that it's warmer, I feel more inclined to get out and see what's in my neighborhood. I've mastered the bus system and reading Korean, so I feel like Gwangju is starting to become a little bit more of a home. I'm headed to Shanghai tomorrow for the long weekend and I promise that there'll be more updates coming soon.

Take care!
Peace and love,
M