Fall 2011

Hello everyone! How are you doing? I hope you're getting in the holiday spirit, especially those back home in MN and WI - bundling up, putting antifreeze in your car, getting overloaded with fake Santas and red decorations...

I'm starting to feel the effects of mid-November over here as well, as this week was the first I've worn my winter coat since March. Also, my most recent Starbucks brew coffee was served to me in a bright red, cheery, snowflaked Starbucks cup - a sure sign of the imminent winter and holiday season. As I begin to spend more nights sitting on my warm floor mat and sleeping with my heater on, the familiar anticipation of the end of the year has begun to settle in.

My friend Sara recently did a photo-a-day blog project for one week, where she chose one picture from each day of the week to most typically depict a week of living in Korea as an English teacher. It was an excellent project, (if you'd like to see it click here,) and it inspired me to do something similar. I thought back to last year when my weekends were packed full of sightseeing, visiting friends, exploring new parts of Korea, and of course, coming home exhausted. I've still been keeping myself busy and have some experiences that I'd like to share with you, but this week I decided to take things a little slower, as that's how I've really been enjoying my Korea life these days: by slowing down. I look forward to my weekends spent at home. I stay in on Friday nights and prefer going to Pilates class than going out for drinks. I hang out at the local coffee shops in my area instead of feeling the need to go downtown all the time. So in the spirit of taking it slow, I'm going to talk about my fall one day at a time, with just one or two pictures instead of a million, and keep the description shorter than usual. You can check back each day if you're interested, or just read them all at once on Thanksgiving if you miss me too much. ;)

First up: The Mokpo Zombie Hash Run.

A week before Halloween the fall weather was in full bloom, with glorious leaves, warm sunshine, and a cool breeze. Picture yourself out enjoying the Saturday afternoon with your family, perhaps sharing a picnic in a park gazebo, or playing with your kids on the playground. Now picture about 30 foreigners dressed as zombies, complete with face paint and ripped up clothing, running past you at full speed. If you happened to be in Mokpo, South Korea on October 23rd, chances are pretty good that's what you saw.

I didn't participate in the run, as my zombie skills weren't quite up to par, but I helped Sara and Jason lay out the 5k running course prior to the run. Basically, a hash run (I had never heard of these before I came to Korea) is when there is a group of runners, usually dressed according to theme, who have a bit of a mystery to solve as they run a predetermined route. The run is just for fun, as the group has to stick together, and the afterparty, once the run is complete, more than makes up for any slight discomfort the runners may have felt during the run. It's up to the hares, the route designers, to lay clues to indicate which way the hashers have to run once they reach certain checkpoints. In the spirit of zombies and Halloween, Jason and Sara decided to lay the trail with bloody handprint clues. Or did zombies really attack? Who knows.

All in all, it was a fun day to enjoy the fall weather, good camaraderie,  and yet another event that proved to Koreans just how strange foreigners are. Success? I think so.

Next up: "Halloween Week"

I don't know if I say enough how lucky I am to have the co-teachers I do, but I am. To prove this to you, whenever there is a western holiday coming up, they allow me to disregard the book lessons for the week and just have a 'fun lesson' day, in honor of my holiday. Of course, it might help teach the kids a little something, but mostly it is just a nice excuse to enjoy English in a different, more fun way. Especially when it involves a holiday that circulates around candy.

For Halloween this year, each class of mine consisted of an overview of the holiday on the board:

Q: "Okay you guys, so what do we do for Halloween in America?" A: "Candy!"

Q: "Very good. Now, what do we say to get candy?" A: "Give me candy?"

"No, if you say 'Give me candy' on Halloween you get punched in the face."

"Really?"

"No. But that's not what we say."

Following the Q and A, we watched a prank video, I taught them a bit about the origins of Dracula and Frankenstein (and may I point out that a couple of my high level students knew that Frankenstein is actually the name of the doctor and not the monster - impressive) and then we played the annual Halloween PowerPoint game that of course resulted in candy.

In my after school classes, which involve just a small group of kids and me - no co teacher - I tried to recreate a typical school Halloween party, minus the costumes. We colored pictures, played pin the wart on the witch, watched 'Thriller' and listened to the 'Monster Mash,' did some word activities  and then I brought out the finale: plain sugar cookies, accompanied with icing in different fall colors to use to help decorate them. One student told me: "I wish every day was Halloween!" 

As for me, I didn't partake in any Halloween activities this year, as I wasn't feeling the greatest that day and decided not to make the trip to Mokpo. However, I got my share of Halloween the whole week with my kids, and enjoyed showing pictures of jack-o-lantern contests, scaring them with a prank Halloween video, and even recieving a Halloween scare from one of my students who snuck up behind me while I was showing a clip from Dracula - he got me good. I even gave him a high five for it, realizing I shouldn't have let them find out how easily startled I am. Perhaps some Koreans think Halloween is a silly holiday, but I definitely had fun bringing a little holiday spirit to the classroom.

Continuing on: My co-worker got married.

And luckily, I was invited to the wedding. The secretary at our school, who, prior to October 29th, was part of our little group of under-30-unmarried-girl teachers (pictured,) married her longtime boyfriend in a modern Korean wedding ceremony.

This was a very interesting experience for me, as it combined many elements of Western weddings, yet retained a definite Korean feel.

The event took place at a 'wedding hall,' which is basically the most efficient way to get Korean couples in and out within a couple of hours. Yes, that's right. Hours. Fastest wedding in the East - I arrived at 1 PM, ate the lunch buffet, watched the ceremony, took some pictures, and left at 3 PM.

Sounds pretty standard, right? Well it was actually quite different than you might expect. Let's start with the wedding hall. I met my teachers outside and walked into a giant room filled with people mulling about. Look to your right, you see lots of people hanging out, chatting, etc. Look to your left, you see a wedding ceremony going on. There is no door, there is no sound blocking system, and there is no guest control - anyone can just walk in and hang out, if they're feeling particulary sentimental and want to watch the happy festivities of people they don't know.

After we entered, we found the sign announcing the bride and groom's name, then walked in to see Miss Jeong sitting like a princess in her pretty, fluffy, white dress. She reminded me of a life size doll for show and tell - the purpose of her in the room was to take pictures with her family and friends, so there was a photographer on hand for anyone who wanted to run up there and congratulate her (the picture I included of the four of us was in this room.)

Next, the guests all ate lunch together. Sure, that's to be expected, right? Nope - when I say guests, I mean all the guests who come to the wedding hall that day - as in four or five sets of wedding guests. Traditionally Koreans don't give actual wedding gifts, just gifts of money, so when the teachers went to present their envelope of money to the wedding hall people, we recieved meal coupons in return, and were then ushered upstairs to the buffet hall. The buffet was interesting - an assortment of raw meat and fish, seafood, dozens of kimchis, lots of noodle and rice dishes, sushi, fruits, vegetables, and soups. And dessert? Rice cake. A delicious meal, but a little rushed, as we only had 20 minutes to eat before the allotted ceremony time. Who did we sit by? It didn't matter - other teachers were sitting across the room at different tables!

Or so I thought - when I checked my watch and questioned the start time, the response was "oh yes, it is time, but we will wait for Miss Yoo - she is still hungry and is getting more food." So ten minutes later, when all of our stomachs were satisfied, we tromped back downstairs for the ceremony.

As it turned out, it was a good thing I'm not very good at understanding Korean, because I could barely hear what was going on. The official - a monk, as both the bride and groom are Korean Buddhist - spoke in a microphone the whole time, which helped for the people up front...but not so much for the people in back who were chatting, controlling kids, and - yes, I witnessed it - answering their cell phones. However, this was the perfect opportunity for me to ask my co-teachers to explain what was going on. Basically at a wedding hall everything is taken care of - you just provide the people, the official, and the dress. After the two stood at the altar for about twenty minutes, they turned and walked together to the pews. Then there was a series of bowing, first to his parents, then to her parents, to recieve a blessing. After that, two of the guests sang to the new couple while the photographer went nuts, and then the couple walked down the aisle together. Oh, and they wheeled in a cake to cut together, take a picture with, then wheeled back out.

After they tromped down the aisle, they had to head back to the front to take pictures with the guests - first the family (pictured, most of the immediate family members are wearing hanbok, the traditional Korean clothing,) and then the friends. And that was it! In and out, over and done. I found out later that there is actually a separate traditional Korean ceremony that is done with just the family members - sort of an elaborate tea ceremony complete with wearing traditional clothing and special blessings. However, it takes place in a small little room with no guests to share the moment with. So, in conclusion, the 'white wedding' idea has been adapted from the West and is mostly for show, pictures, and to celebrate the occasion. But hey, the lunch buffet was fantastic, it was a new experience, and it was fun to be there for Miss (now Mrs.) Jeong's special day. Oh, fun fact: when Korean women marry they don't change their last name, but her children will have her husband's last name.

Next Up: 11 K Run

Nope, not a typo. It was only supposed to be a 10 K run...but we all know how much of an overachiever I can be. And how easily I can get lost. 

On a warm, sunny Saturday in early November, some friends and I took a delightful train trip about two hours north of Gwangju to Daejeon, one of the biggest cities in Korea. Our destination was the Gapcheon River, the site of the second annual Gapcheon 10K/5K Run for MS. Some forigner friends of our were the organizers, so we decided to make a weekend of it. I had never done a 10K before, but after returning from the Philippines I decided to make it a goal to finish it in under an hour.

My training plan consisted of a couple of long runs each week, and since I could barely stand the thought of doing that much on a treadmill at the gym, I ventured outside to the neighborhood across the street, and found it delightful to run around in. I looked forward to my long runs after school in the cool fall air - it was a nice change from swimming, and I gradually built up my endurance to more than I ever expected. I was ready.

The first two thirds of the run went well, and with my K-Pop keeping me company I rather enjoyed it. It hurt, of course, but I was keeping a steady pace and wasn't dying. Then disaster struck. The course of the race was down the left side of the river, then across a bridge to the other side, circling around a little island thing, and then one more bridge across to circle back to the finish line. Sounds simple, right? Well it sure would have been if the turns had been marked properly. Though I knew I had to turn off at a bridge after the looming HomePlus on the other side of the river, the organizers failed to mention that it wouldn't be marked, nor that there wouldn't be someone posted there to announce the turn. At this point, I was far enough ahead and far enough behind to be out of sight of anyone...and I missed the turn to cross the bridge, instead proceeding towards the next bridge. It was only after about two minutes that I realized there was no plausible way to cross the bridge ahead of me, so I started looking around and pulling out my earphones, hoping to hear somebody yelling at me. Nope, no luck.

Finally someone on a bike came by and pointed me back towards the first bridge - I assumed he had seen all the other runners behind me at that point - so I turned around and made it to the bridge, then finished the course. Though angry at myself, I was cheered up by a friend of mine who saw me run and guessed at my pace - if I had finished the race without missing the turn I would have reached my goal time. All in all, it was a great experience - and hey, now I know that it'll be easier the next time around. I was still fuming about two hours after the race though. 

Also, that night in Daejeon we had an afterparty/awards ceremony at a fantastic Mexican restaurant ran by Americans. Then I met up with my old Mankato East high school diver/fellow lifeguard friend Rachel, who had just arrived in Daejeon this past August. It was a fun blast from the past, and we enjoyed catching up.

Fall is in the Air...

Hello all,
I hope you all had a great weekend! Mine was crazy, as usual, and also went by way too fast, as usual. I ended up zipping all around Jeollanamdo (my province) but I had a great time visiting with friends and visiting new places. Fall is definitely in the air - it has been beautiful here, with dry, crisp air, mild to cool temperatures, and a beautiful array of fall colors in the trees and mountains. Simple tasks like walking to the bank or the store evoke a sense of wonder at the beautiful nature here, especially if the sun is shining and the light hits the trees just right. I don't want fall to end, and I wish I had so many more free days to go explore all of the fall colors. But, I'm glad I've gotten to experience a taste of fall in Korea - it truly is spectacular.

So, back to my weekend. Friday night was a crazy busy 'I hate people right now' couple of hours as I tried to make my way home from school to the bus terminal. First of all, I shared the bus ride home from school with what seemed like half of the entire Korean Army (there is a base nearby my school, so there is usually a handful of guys in uniform heading home with me, but Friday was more than ever before.) I counted over 30 people and soldiers crammed in the front half of the bus, since I couldn't even see past all of the people to count the back. The highlight of that hot, crowded bus ride, however, was watching an adjumma (remember the old Korean grandmas?) climb onto the bus, barge her way through the soldiers, and singlehandedly yank one of the soldiers off of a seat so that she could sit, all the while scolding, slapping, and yapping in Korean. It was a beautiful moment. Once I burst out of the doors for some fresh air, I ran back to my apartment to grab my stuff, and then ended up waiting over 20 minutes for my bus to the terminal. This bus, though less crowded on the inside, was stuck in traffic at what seemed like every single intersection. A two mile trip took over 45 minutes, and that was good time for a Friday evening. It's hard getting used to living in a city.
However, once I got the bus terminal I made it straight on a bus to Mokpo, my destination for the night. You might remember that I headed to Mokpo the weekend before - this time I was returning for a surprise birthday party. The party had been organized via Facebook, and we were all able to keep it a secret. There ended up being about 15 other teachers from orientation for the festivities, which consisted of dinner at a burger restaurant, cake, singing, presents, and then out for some drinks. It was a fun evening and great to see some teacher friends from orientation again.

The next day my friend and I got up bright and early to head back to the station, where we hopped on a bus back to Gwangju. Unfortunately, the first day of Korean class was that morning, and we had committed to both the party the night before and the class the next morning. But no worries, we sacrificed missing our bus to grab some coffee to ensure that we were properly caffienated, and then we were good to go. We even made it on the bus with a few minutes to spare. Korean class went well, and I can already understand more of what my co workers are saying this morning. I'll write more about the Korean language later, but basically the alphabet and grammar are entirely different than English. It takes some getting used to, but I'm glad I will have proper classes and a book to keep me studying. It feels good to get back in the learning groove again.

After Korean class we hung out in Gwangju for a bit, enjoying the weather, (the picture to the left is of my library park with the fall colors) running some errands, and munching on my new favorite fruit, sweet persimmons. Their consistency is like an apple, but their flavor is very sweet and almost cinnamon-y. Yum. By late afternoon it was time to head back to the bus terminal (my third time in 24 hours) to catch another bus, this time to the city of Suncheon. We were headed to Suncheon with two objectives: eat Mexican food and see some friends of ours who teach there. Both were accomplished with great success (we actually ate the Mexican food while seeing said friends, so bonus points for multitasking) and we all had a lot of fun catching up and swapping teacher stories. We met up with some other teacher friends who live in Suncheon later that night also.

Since we had arrived in Suncheon at night on Saturday, we decided to spend a bit of Sunday exploring in the daytime. Our friends turned out to live right at the base of a small mountain, which was covered in pretty fall trees, and around 10 AM four of us set out to go hiking up the mountain. We were led by a teacher who had lived in Suncheon for a couple of years, so she expertly navigated us up the side of the mountain to the top and then we followed some of the trails around, catching breathtaking views of the city spread out below us while walking in between the trees. The views were wonderful, the weather was absolutely perfect, and we had a great time chatting, taking pictures, and talking about one of our favorite topics: travel. It was the highlight of my weekend, and I was so glad I had the chance to enjoy the beautiful fall weather.

When we returned from the hike, we grabbed our stuff and went out for lunch at a delicious Western style restaurant (every foreigner knows all the Western restaurants in their city) before heading back to our respective homes. I spent the hour and a half bus ride back reading and enjoying the scenery. (Ok, I napped for a bit also, I'll admit.) As I looked back on the weekend, I thought again about where I was at this time last year, which was frantically working on all of my crazy history papers and projects, swimming, doing my ESL internship, and counting down the days until I could go home for Thanksgiving. How much my life has changed since then! I count my blessings every day for having the amazing opportunity to be here, and this weekend really reinforced how lucky I am to have made such good friends so quickly here, and how lucky we all are to have such a beautiful country to explore.

I topped off my Sunday evening by taking care of things at home (after my friend and I tried out the brand new gelato shop that just opened down the street...very very dangerous) by doing some laundry, tidying the room, and then testing out my oven with a loaf of banana bread. I woke up this morning to the smell of fresh baked bread, which I brought in to share with the teachers this morning - it seems to be going over well so far, though they seem to be curiously poking at it at the moment... With that, I should close out and get back to my lesson plans for the week. I wish you all a great week and hope you had a great fall weekend - enjoy the weather before it gets too cold. Take care, let me know how things are if you have the chance!