Spring 2012

This is to finish off my posting about the past couple of months - Luckily, despite ‘the sloth,’ (see previous post) I’ve had bouts of healthiness here and there, during which I was able to enjoy some fun events with my friends. First, just prior to getting sick, I hopped on the Gwangju foreigner bandwagon to check out the opening home game of FC Gwangju, our semi-pro soccer team. Though the game was freezing, we cheered on the players in our yellow attire (covered by our coats) and enjoyed the camaraderie in the slightly warm sunshine.

The next event up for celebration was March 17^th, St. Patrick’s Day. I told my kids to be on the lookout for any foreigners wearing green on that Saturday, but other than that I’m afraid I didn’t really have much to explain about it. (Like…why do we celebrate this day?) Are you wondering how I celebrated? To answer your questions: Yes, by wearing green, yes, by drinking green beer, and of course, by making…green pancakes?

Yup, green pancakes to start off the day - I spent the afternoon hanging out in Gwangju at a pancake party with some friends, where my imported food coloring went to good use. Towards the evening, I met up with a different friend and hopped on a bus for a ride about an hour west, where many of my other orientation friends were gathering. A good time was had by all at each event. We played games, caught up on each other’s trips and vacations, all in our finest green apparel.

After St. Patrick’s Day I was pretty much down for the count for a couple of weeks, but luckily, I was feeling better right before I got injured, and had the unique opportunity to get out on a Saturday afternoon with some of my friends to visit Jindo, a small town about two hours south of my city, right along the coast. I joined the flock of hundreds of people for a singular, hour long event, before turning right around again and heading back. What could have been worth a two hour trip, you wonder? This.

This is a slightly inexplicable phenomenon that happens just once a year. It’s called the Jindo Sea Parting Event, though logically speaking it’s actually just the tide going out, revealing an actual path that you can walk on to reach a nearby island. You shuttle yourself down to the beach, stock up on your thigh-high rainboots, then wait for the tide to go out so you can join the hordes and literally walk on the ocean floor for the hour long window you have before the tide comes back in. 

It was really cool! I used to wish that the ocean would drain itself for a day or two, just so that I could explore what was actually out there – I figure this was the closest I would ever get to that dream. Walking around (and delicately sidestepping) live starfish, crabs, and even little octopi in my boots was a pretty exciting event for me. Though it is a big foreigner draw, the majority of people were Koreans, who took advantage of the newly revealed sand to dig for oysters, ready to cook up and eat as fresh as possible. It’s always nice to share festivals with Koreans instead of just feeling like a tourist.

Heading out to the deep, blue, sea with the hordes.

Yup, Moses paid Jindo a visit too - how else do you think it happens?

The day after Jindo was Easter Sunday. Of course, Easter isn’t a big holiday in Korea at all – they don’t even decorate for Easter here like they do for Christmas. I spent most of the week teaching my classes about the Easter Bunny, explaining how to decorate eggs, and even hosting a few Easter egg hunts during my classes. It was so much fun to see their eyes get really big and wide as I waited until the end of class to tell them there were eggs hidden around the room, then watch them bolt from their seats to find the (paper laminated) eggs and candy.

There was one priceless moment during my Easter classes that I’d like to share – most of you probably read it on Facebook, but it’s worth a second chuckle. Straight from my second grade (eighth grade) English class:

Me: Hey guys, do you know what holiday it is on Sunday?
Kid 1: Jesus?
Me: Yes! It's about Jesus. What happened to Jesus?
Kid 1: He die.
Me: Yes, on Friday, then on Sunday he came back to life, so we have a celebration!
Kid 2: OH! Halloween Day!

Thankfully, these days, our celebration of the return of the Savior doesn’t involve pumpkins and ghosts, but instead it involves family and friends. I missed being with my family, of course, but the good news is that I was still able to enjoy a fun day with my friends…going paintballing! Yes. Instead of an Easter egg hunt…I had a people hunt. Paintballing, which basically involves shooting small pellets filled with paint, so that they burst and splat open upon contact, is something I’ve wanted to try for a long time just for the experience. A group of about twelve of us went for a birthday event on a bright, sunny Easter Sunday afternoon, and we ended up having a blast. I was terrified at first, because the game is based upon spreading out among the trees, hide behind boards, and try not to get shot, while trying to shoot people on the opposing team. You wear protective gear and coveralls, but if a paintball nails you head on, you can get a pretty good welt that will last a couple of days.

I’m pretty terrified of all forms of violence, but after the initial two minutes, I began to enjoy myself. If you get hit twice or run out of bullets, you have to hold your gun above your head and shout “out!” while making your way over to the safety zone. By the second round, my friend Krista (third in from the left) employed this strategy: “Well, I’m not going to be the hero of the game, so I just figure I should shoot as much as I can to get rid of the paintballs, hoping I hit someone from the other team, and then I’ll just be out for the round.” It was a pretty good strategy – I’m afraid I went a little trigger happy when I would see someone in my line of fire.

I’d love to tell you that I valiantly captured the flag and won the game for my team, but actually Krista gets all that glory – because she did! Instead, all I came away with was a sprained knee. Yes, that’s how I hurt myself. However, I’d like to think that I get a few extra points for saying I sprained my knee while paintballing, instead of ‘I fell down the stairs,’ or ‘I tripped.’ At least I went out doing something cool.

I think that about catches me up to the present – I spent this past weekend in Seoul, and this week I’ve just been enjoying the lovely weather, cracking my GRE books open again, and gingerly testing out my knee to see when I can run again - hopefully next week. This weekend I’m looking forward to an adventure with Sara and our friend Cassie, as we will get our Buddha on at a nearby temple Korean Buddhist templestay. We will stay overnight, then wake up at the crack of dawn to spend the day being Buddhist monks – helping out with the cleaning, falling into the daily routine, and learning more about life at a Buddhist temple. I’ll keep you updated, but will probably have to delay posting for a while, once again due to my last round of GRE studying. Test day is May 27th - much celebration will commence.

One final note to end on: today marks my 20^th month in Korea, which means that I only have four months left, and will be on my way home seven months from now. I want these next four months to fly by yet I never want them to come at the same time. I’m not sure if I’m ready yet for the emotions, but I suppose I’d better prepare myself because the time is going to FLY, as always! For those of you back home – see you in seven months!!! Take care – love and miss you all.