Suncheon Bay

After the weather decided to be kind enough on a Saturday, Andrew and I took a trip to Suncheon Bay. We'd heard about the reed fields and how beautiful they were, so we decided it would be a relaxing adventure after a couple really long days.

We got to the bus station at around 10:30, and buses to Suncheon leave every 15-20 minutes, so it didn't really matter what time we got there. Within minutes we were on the bus and on our way. The ride was only about 1 hour and 20 minutes. However, that's an hour and twenty minutes to the bus terminal. It was only about 50 minutes to where we got off.

For some reason, the buses occasionally stop at local bus stations and drop people off. We almost got off once in Gwangju on our way back from Gwangyang, but decided to stay on, figuring it had to go to the U-Square terminal we know. Since we were in Suncheon, an unfamiliar city, when the bus stopped, we got off with nearly 1/3 of the bus. We were afraid of going all the way to Yeosu, which is another 40 minutes away. After a few minutes, we realized we weren't anywhere near the actual bus terminal. Since I'd read somewhere that Suncheon has a decent bus terminal with no decent food, I knew it existed. And we weren't there.

So we began to walk in the direction of other buses like the one we came on. If we followed in that direction, we would eventually get there, right? Also, I really take for granted the amount of English around Gwangju. The most important bus lines have English translations, and a lot of people on the street will stop you and say "Hi, nice to meet you." Suncheon didn't have that. About 15 minutes later, we passed by a man in a sash who looked like he was running for a political office. When he said "Hello" I jumped on the opportunity to ask him if he spoke English and where the bus terminal was. In no more than one minute of him greeting us with a gigantic smile and upbeat attitude, we were in his smiling wife's car on our way to the terminal. She spoke little English, only enough to ask us where we were going. We thanked her gratuitously and checked out a gigantic tourist map on the outside of the bus terminal. We were directly north of the bay area.

Once we decided against taking another chance of getting lost on the local buses, we took a cab. And I'm so glad we did. Our cab driver was an insanely happy, ex-manager of a hagwon 20 years previous. He offered to tell us about Suncheon as we went. His English was much better than a lot of my students. He put on a Beatles CD and told us all we needed to know as we drove. When he dropped us off right in front of the Eco-museum, he gave us his card and told us we could call him if we needed a ride home between 1:30 and 2:30.




As soon as we started walking into the entrance, another man came running up behind us and dragged us over to a tiny little shop across the street. He gave us tea and rice cakes, all in the hopes that we would buy some tea or little souvenirs from the store. We didn't really like the tea and the products he was selling was something you would buy at Lake Michigan, so we told him we would come back later. (We never did...)

The bay area was gorgeous, just like we'd heard. We walked along the wooden paths throughout the swamps, looking at little, muddy crabs scuttle into their holes.



We then walked up the mountain nearby. It was a beautiful, windy day. We took a rest at the observation platform, then made our way back down. This woman took a moment to take it all in when she reached the top.



Also, I'm still trying to find a good website to host our pictures rather than Facebook and Flickr. Stay tuned.

Diaries

Every week, the elementary school kids have to write diaries about a topic they are given. They can be pretty torturous. However, I found a gem yesterday. For your reading pleasure, I give you "Department Store":

I think department store is hell.

Because department store is too crowded for me to stay there.

I tell that sale is devil's temptation.

My mother fell into temptation for sale.

Deparmet store is like woman's paradise.

But For children is hell.

Children is feel that tired to follow their mother.

Mother's shopping is didn't end.

Weekends in Korea

Last weekend:

After getting paid, Andrew and I decided to go shopping for all the clothes and accessories and guitars we didn't bring to Korea with us. I got lots of clothes, and Andrew got a guitar which he's currently rocking. After shopping, we crossed the downtown river to the Land of Tiny Pets.



There is a street lined with pet stores, and each one looks pretty much the same. There are little glass cubicles lining the front windows with puppies galore. Many were sleeping, some were playing, but all were adorable. The stores themselves inside look like living rooms of homes, where puppies just go wherever they want. The employees inside all looked bored, either sitting on couches or chairs. We didn't go in, since Korean retailers have a propensity to surround you and hawk-eye you until you leave or buy something. There were also cats in big elaborate cages, but they were not next to the windows.

This weekend:

We kicked of Saturday with our academy's Sports Day. All four schools, Kumho Avalon (my school), Langcon English (Andrew's school), Bongsundong Avalon, and Reading Star, competed to win fabulous prizes.

(Unfortunately, there are no pictures, since we just figured out our camera is dual voltage and so the batteries just got charged.)

The day started off by us being shuttled on luscious tour buses which ajummas (old women) use for karaoke, complete with multi colored lights in the mirrored ceiling and a microphone that stretches throughout the bus. We were taken to a train village about 45 minutes away from where we live. It was a gorgeously sunny, but slightly chilly day. There were trains everywhere in the village, and pretty landscaping, and interesting statues. We were taken to an open area, and when we all lined up in our teams, a dancing display of fountain brilliance came out of the ground accompanied by some uplifting music. About 10 minutes later, we were moved to an adjacent open area because apparently, the music wasn't going to stop for another 30 minutes and no one could hear anything. Priceless.

Some highlights of the day:
Andrew and I and six other unlucky souls were made to drink vinegar to win points for our team. (No one felt quite so good in their stomachs after that).
Women's soccer proved that no one had any idea of what was going on save for maybe 2 people.
Andrew was one of only three out of about 50 people to kick a shoe into a bucket in a backpack on his back.
We were given a great Korean barbecue (which is only barbecued meat, without sauce).

By the end of the day, we were exhausted and passed out at around 10 pm.

Yesterday, we cleaned the apartment, did laundry, and went on a long hike to find Angel-in-Us iced tea. After we enjoyed our deliciously sweet tea, we took a walk around Pugnam reservoir.



It was such a beautiful day out. We then caught a bus to go to U-Square (the bus terminal and shopping area) on a mission to find me a new iShuffle or iPod, since I forgot the dock to my shuffle back in the states. We didn't get one, but I did get myself some fancy new shoes. We then explored E-Mart, eating all the samples in the food area. Yum! As it was at Target back home, we left with more than we intended to, so we got a fancy E-Mart tote to carry it all in.



We dropped our stuff of and checked the Internet for an English menu of a chain restaurant nearby: http://maryeats.com/2006/11/16/kimbap-nara-menu/

Finding this extremely useful, we went to try something new, and I found my new favorite food: DUMPLINGS! Mmmm... gogi mandu is what it is, and it's served with soy sauce, which makes everything taste delicious.

In conclusion, we had a great couple of weekends, and hopefully in 5 more days, we'll have another!

9/11

I have never felt as old as I did today.

In one of my more advanced classes, we were reading an article about face-recognition technology being put into airports and public places to stop crimes before they happen. The beginning of the article mentioned the terrorists who hijacked the planes on September 11, 2001, and if that technology would have done anything to stop them. Just off-hand I asked if they knew what happened on 9/11, not thinking for a minute I would get so many blank looks.

I spent the next 15 minutes explaining to them what happened on that day. I told them about how I was in my Freshman high school taking a biology test when I watched the second plane hit the towers.



I realized that when this happened, they were only 3 years old. I had one ask me why they would even know about it if it happened in America. They were completely unaware of the shockwaves it sent across the globe.

Blossom Festival

The Gwangyang blossom festival takes place in the Maehwa village every March. The village has the largest concentration of apricot trees in South Korea, and the village is very proud of this reputation, so they hold a festival when the trees start blossoming. The festival originally began to bring in revenue to the village, and now it’s a huge tourist attraction. People come from all over Korea to see the trees.

Knowing all this, Andrew and I decided to take our first journey out of Gwangju to see the blossoms. We went to the Gwangju bus terminal and got a ticket straight to the Maehwa village. We had to wait about an hour for a bus, and almost got on the wrong one, but we made it. It took the bus about half an hour to work it’s way into the village because there were so many people there.

I thought it would be a little festival in someone’s apricot orchard, but that’s not what it was like at all. The streets were lined with vendors pretty much selling the exact same foods and products. There were stages set up for music and performances. We saw a drum circle, a string quartet, Korean rock music, a man singing with 10 guys in chef uniforms behind him, and an over-acting pseudo male stripper.



We hiked up the streets on the sides of the mountains and up numerous paths throughout the village where the blossom trees were. Unfortunately, because it’s been unusually cold this Spring, a lot of the trees had just started to bud. There were a several that were in full blossom, but not as many as I had hoped. That being said, no one seemed to care much about the lack of blossoming trees. The Koreans scoped out the fullest ones for the photo ops, and the festival was still packed.




There was a building set up to buy little trees and plants, pictures, and other goodies. I wanted a plant, but I tend to kill them all so I passed. I went near a table eyeing some artwork that I considered buying, and two or three Korean women took my arm and pulled me over to an area where children were playing with a canvas. They were all smiling and laughing and pointing to the steps showing me how to draw a flower with a big brush. It was a beautiful flower, if I do say so myself, and they all clapped and smiled when I completed it.

So we had been there for a couple of hours, and though we had apricot ice cream, we were starving. We went near one of the many festival tents where we saw a large pig roasting on a spit. Two of the women came over and pointed and said “barbecue” so we agreed to have some. It was absolutely fantastic. Beyond fantastic. Happy with our purchase, we go to pay, and end up paying an OBSCENE amount of money for a plate of pork and some spices. 31,000 won. 31,000 won for one plate of food. That’s about $26. Now that it’s written, we never want to think about that again.

When we got back, after being helped by multiple Koreans, one whom we’d heard speaking English to her son fluently, we went downtown to meet some friends. We went to their favorite restaurant, First Nepal, and had absolutely incredible Indian food. Beyond incredible. Then we went out to some foreigner bars and had a great time.

Today, we’re focusing on being lazy and doing laundry. We should be set up for actual Internet tomorrow and posts will become more frequent, with more picures.

Written a week from today's posting.

THREEDAYWEEKEND!
THREEDAYWEEKEND!
THREEDAYWEEKEND!

We still don’t have Internet or a cell phone, but we just our alien registration cards so those should come soon. We’re still living in the temporary apartment, but should move this Thursday. It’s getting a little chaotic living in a 20x10 foot room with three suitcases we can’t unpack, but we make due. All the junk food we are buying helps! (I’m currently eating a Cheeto that shares nothing in common with the American Cheeto besides the name, btw. Oh how badly I want a bright orange Cheeto now that I can’t have one.)

Without boring you with details of our week, let me just outline a few things:

On Tuesday we were taken to downtown Gwangju to the sprawling Chosan University Hospital for a battery of tests for our alien registration cards. Hearing test, eye test, dental check-up, chest x-ray, urine test, and last but not least, the blood test. From which I almost passed out. The two Korean guys who work at the front desks of two of our schools looked so worried. I felt so embarrassed.

I started teaching on Thursday for Katherine, who I am replacing. The new semester starts Tuesday. I teach a lot of elementary classes and two middle school classes. The kids are pretty awesome. Some are little brats, but most of them are so adorable. And funny. While discussing why they might become wax figures in Madame Tussaud’s museum, one little girl said she will solve World War 3. “Oh really? How will you do that?” I ask. “I kill everyone” she says and proceeds to giggle her head off. Another boy becomes a wax figure for becoming leader of the world. And stealing all the money of the world. It’s difficult not to laugh at some of the things they say.

We also figured out that when we’re hungry, we can’t go that wrong with just pointing at something on the menu and eating whatever comes out. Just standing around and observing what everyone else does helps us figure out what to do, too.

And speaking of food, there is a pizza place on the corner near our schools (which are directly across the street from one another) called Nanta pizza that is just fantastic. If the rain doesn’t get any worse we’ve got to get some tonight. If I could get garlic dipping sauce with it, I would say it’s as delicious as Papa John’s.

It’s now Saturday. Monday is a holiday that the Koreans aren’t even really sure of. Something that has to do with something that happened in the 50’s when Japan invaded. Or so we were told. Moral of the story, the kids don’t have school and we don’t have work.

Today we took a journey to E-Mart in Sangmu, which is just another district in Gwangju. E-Mart is a 4 story department store which stands out due to it’s gigantic orange sign with a Greek-looking ‘E’ on it. Right across the highway was a hiking path up a little mountain with a three-story pagoda thing on it. It was a very beautiful view at the top. The whole city of Gwangju is surrounded by mountains. Not Everest-sized by any means, but still lends a great vista.



We also visited a memorial to the May 18th Student Uprising that occurred in 1999, I believe. It was pretty impressive, if you take away the 4 or 5 teens dressed up as Japanese Anime characters posing for pictures within the tall metal poles.

The city is MUCH bigger than I thought it was. We haven’t even scratched the surface. Katherine left me a tourist map of the city and there are many cultural places to visit in just this one city. I can’t wait until we’re more settled so we can begin traveling more.


Next weekend:

Andrew and I went out bowling Friday night with some other ex-pats from the neighborhood. One of them was telling us about a place downtown called The Underground Grocer (as in the London underground, we discovered!). It's a store run by a Canadian who came here 15 years ago to teach. Now he has a Korean wife and daughter. There are a lot of American products that are super expensive, about $19 for a big box of Cheerios, but they have stuff to make tacos! And speaking of tacos, he just opened up a restaurant next door with a small menu of comfort food for all the foreign teachers from the UK, US, and Canada in the area. There are tacos, chicken and dumplings, a burrito, and some other things on the menu for now. It was a soft open, so he asked us to make some suggestions on his Facebook page. Right across the back alley is a restaurant just opened by a Chinese guy with real Chinese food, not Korean-Chinese, which we have heard is terrible. So now we know where to get what we need to be able to survive those hard times. The tacos were really good, but at about $3 a taco, we won't be eating there every weekend.

PC Rooms

I have a post all ready to go on the laptop back at the apartment about the previous week which I will post as soon as I can, but I'm currently at a PC Room down the street. They're gaming rooms that you will find all over the place. Computer games are huge over here, (Starcraft even has it's own channel dedicated to it, like an ESPN kinda thing) so we asked to use a computer for Internet instead. The guy at the counter spoke enough English to get what we were wanting, but put us at the back of the room at the very last computers with big monster monitors and cigarette burns on the tables. The other 54 computers have nice new flat screen monitors. I know those babies must be connected to the Internet too. :-I.

Today is the very first day that I have been on the verge of selling all my possesions for some tacos and guacamole. I have 365 days to go. How will I make it without? Maybe I will start up my own taco stand in Korea and be famous for bringing them their new favorite food...