Assah!

It's nearly time for official vacation, although you could say that I've been on "vacation" for a couple weeks now. Haven't taught much, basically I've just been something pretty to look at around school I suppose. I've spent most of this morning watching a movie, reading a book and standing outside with students watching the partial solar eclipse. We all had our makeshift viewers, and I am sure at least half of the students severely damaged their retinas. It was cool, but still not as cool as a total eclipse would be. There was none of the corona to be seen, unfortunately.
But still a great way to spend the morning.

I'm really excited for our Korean Vacation, and a proper Korean Vacation it is at that. Everything has been booked at the last minute, and we don't really have a concrete plan. The plans we do have are changed on a daily basis; maybe we will do this or maybe we will do that. There is a lesson learned quickly when living in Korea: "Go With The Flow"* and I am wholeheartedly embracing that concept. I think it will be great, no matter where we end up. Not much can go wrong with a car, a tent and miles of sandy beach! (knock on wood, I just thought of some things that could go terribly wrong... o_0!)

More posts of our vacation soon to follow,
Peace,
Kat

* or maybe it's "Why plan now, when you can cram it in at the last minute?" or perhaps, "Think ahead? Please explain..."

case in point: My "Summer" English Camp. We had known about the summer camp since May, plenty of time to get it all in order. We had even settled on a weekend that was good for all of us. About two weeks before the summer camp was to happen, I asked my co-teacher if the facilities had been booked. He said, "Oh yeah, I'll phone". He came back a few days later with the unfortunate news that all the facilities were booked for the summer months. Okay, fine sure, I didn't really care, as I honestly really didn't care. But I know for a fact that these camps are mandatory, so my concern is when exactly is the camp going to happen, crammed in at the end of my contract? But wait, isn't there a winter camp too? So I politely suggested that he phone them back immediately and book a time for September. He still hasn't done it. Sigh. His reason? When he phoned (in June) there were still open rooms for September. Maybe he's right, maybe they still won't be booked closer to September... but why take the chance when you have the money sitting there waiting? I don't really understand the logic.

Cultural exchanges, cultural near exchanges of fists, wishing i could exchange cultures

Well, it's been a whirlwind roller coaster tornado of hurricane-like emotions in the last few weeks. We are only days away from vacation which will hopefully bring back some of the joy of being here. I joke sometimes that the kids are the only reason I'm sticking around (and the $$$)...korea and I are like a dysfunctional relationship, we're sticking together for the kids. Already, it is summer, and I must remind myself that we only have 7 months left, and in that 7 months, only 4 more months of actual work. However, there are things that have tided us over, two weeks ago, we were given an opportunity to travel to Yeongin, near Seoul, to explore a traditional folk village. Check out the pictures HERE. It was a good experience, and I think since we've decided to buckle down and put more significant payments on our loans, we've stopped doing these sorts of excursions. I think that's what made the first year fun enough to convince us to do a second year here. Now it seems like we're only living for the next vacation, and the rest of the time is just walking in place, passing time and not making use of it.

Stupid money and responsibility...wish I could shrug it off and just travel every weekend :). At least we've found a bit of a new hobby. We invested in some cheap snorkeling gear, and have been hitting up the East Sea when we can. Our vacation will have plenty of opportunities to snorkel in some tropical-ish ocean on Jeju-do.

And although we haven't even begun this vacation yet, I'm already counting the days to the next one.

Another succesful English camp

Yes, Hwangji Boys English Camp was a smashing success despite our little toilet paper pillow man here. Despite some expected snags, it was much smoother than last year, which we had in a love motel.

Other than that, we haven't been up to much, vegging and waiting for vacation time to hit. Things are starting to smooth out, so after one more English camp for Kat's school and three more weeks of half-assed classes, we will embark upon a Korean takeover. Expect a greater frequency of posting come August when we actually have something interesting to talk about.

Until then, peace!

OOO! a new post from WORK!

I can finally blog at school! Previous to this day, they (whoever they are) had been blocking this site. It was a sad state of affairs indeed.

now... what to blog about... hmmm.

This past weekend, Rob and myself went to the city of Daegu. I had some artwork up in a competition, so we went to go check it out the final day/closing party shindig. It was a lot of fun.

We met a couple of nice people, Reyna and Ahn Do. After the award ceremony (Ahn Do won first place in his category!) we went and chilled with them at

Reyna's hangout/coffeeshop/bar/guitarlesson place. We listened to some guitar playing and fabulous singing and talked about Canada.

This week is going okay so far... I'm preparing my students for their speaking test in two weeks. We'll see how that goes.

On Wednesday there is a meeting about Korean language classes. I'm glad that they are (finally) offering language classes here, but I am worried about the extra responsibilities that come with it. Rumour has it that if you take the class you must participate in a speaking competition. Last year some of the native english teachers (NET) took part in a speaking competition. For some of them it wasn't optional. Unfortunately, there was a TV crew there filming the event, and what ended up on TV afterwards was a little insulting to the poor NETs. If you've ever seen Korean TV they really like to make fun of people's mistakes. There was no sympathy at all, even though none of the NETs had been taking classes. So, a lot of the people here are burned and aren't at all interested. The other funny thing is that many of the NETs are taking part in the Dano Festival (something else that wasn't optional to some people). Leave it to the board of education to create two mandatory events, on the same day. sigh.

Anyway, It's finally HOT here and I am loving the weather. There are only about 5 weeks of actually teaching time until finals. Somewhere in there I will also teach 2 English camps. The, FINALLY I will go on VACATION!!!!! This summer's plans are to travel to the southern provinces of Korea, and visit Busan and Che-ju, then take the ferry over to Japan for a few days. Hopefully it will be a relaxed, go with da flow kind of vacation. I really dislike the visit 2 countries in a long weekend kind of travel like we did with Cambodia and Vietnam. It was way too fast, with too many bumpy/rickety modes of transportation.

that's it for now, I should probably get back to work. I have a whole TWO classes today. Yowza, my life is tough.

xo, Kat

p.s. just found out North Korea tested a nuclear bomb underground. awesome. and all the American NETs are freaking out.

Sang you berry kam sa

Sorry for not posting for awhile. I'm trying to shake off some lethargy that's come over me.
It seems I've hit a wall again here in Korea. I don't think realistically that me teaching 30 students in a class is at all helpful. Some students just don't care about what I'm trying to teach, some students just can't understand and most teachers think it's a waste of time. I'm contemplating asking if I can just teach the students who really want to learn, and teach smaller classes.

There are a lot of problems with this situation that I am in and I am powerless to change it, short of going home. I ask myself, "Why am I here?" and the answer is "Money". Which makes me more or less sick.

But on the other hand, I have had some good situations. I've been going away on weekends and seeing some cool stuff. A few weekends ago I went to Gangnueng and stayed in a traditional house for a night. We had a great tour guide who was really sweet! I learned how to play a really fun traditional Korean game, but I didn't buy the sticks, and now I have not been able to find them since. Luckily, if all else fails I can recreate the game on my own. It's pretty simple.

I've been to Seoul and partook in some Lotus Lantern festivities. I did some "wish" paintings and made lotus flowers from rice paper.

Yesterday I climbed a really steep mountain and overcame my fear of falling (for the moment anyway). Here is Shannon's tale of the climb:

Four Hours on all Fours in a Forest
It is May and the mood, weather and people are lovely again. I am more than 99% a spring person...just in my nature and everything seems to be tainted with a hippy-like love aura.

The azaleas are in bloom. The cherries are in bloom. The pines started producing little needles...the apples are even starting to blossom. Everywhere are bursts of color after a long brown winter. Green, white, pink, and blue sky everywhere.

In that spirit and with our elevated moods four of us girls planned a lovely "moderate" hike up a hill we had each visited but hadn't really gotten to know...without much thought we randomly made twists and turns into unknown territory. Four hours later, in the middle of a downpour we emerged several miles down road and almost out of the city...soaking wet and covered in mud and leaves. The ropes we had clung to (where there were ropes) had shredded our hands and the bruises from falling had begun to take on a purple/blue hue to add to the springtime color.

After emerging from that forest of unknown...we reflected on the numerous hours spent on all fours...trying to cling to small trees for a breather on our way up and then using similar trees to slow our downhill falls. Food and beer was on our mind and we quickly hailed a cab (after the first one gave us one look and sped away)...to the cheapest and closest food spot in town where most could gorge on BBQ style Korean meat and Kat and I could delve into our veggie dinners. We ate, we ate more and drank until the pain stopped. Delicious!

I have to say, for me, it wasn't that painful or random. I knew that we had to go up, so up we went.

I've read a couple of really good books about people living in different cultures. And I've had some conversations with people about their own difficulties living here.

I've had a short burst of creative energy. I'm working on some drawings and hope to get them into an art competition in Daegu.

But, today I seem to have wasted the day watching Battlestar Gallactica and Law and Order. What a waste, but an entertaining waste.

tomorrow I gotta get out of this house and DO SOMETHING!

A Beautiful Temple, Mountain Makoeli, Awkward Ramyon and Jell-0 Legs.

Saturday March 21st 2009

A group of fellow EPIK teachers and I went to find a beautiful temple in the mountains. The temple, Chongyeong Sa, is about a 2 hour drive south of Taebaek in North Gyeongboksang Province. The day started out at 8:45 when the bus left for a small town by the name of Bongwha. At Bongwha the bus driver dropped us off in an alley, which after some confusion, we realized was the back entrance to the bus terminal. There was not another bus leaving for the mountain for another 3 hours, so we decided to grab a bite to eat and grab some snacks for a picnic later on. We decided to take a taxi to the mountain, which was a lot faster and cost us around 30,000 won (or ~$30 Canadian).

I had been to this temple before, last summer, on a group outing with some teachers. The first time we took a beautiful path that had you walking on the edge of the mountain face. It was really beautiful and gave teasing glimpses of the temple as you walked up the shaded path. This time we were dropped off at a different entrance which was just a very steep road - not nearly as beautiful. No matter, we climbed the road to the temple. Along the way I caught a little brown lizard. Now is the time that these tiny brown lizards come out and only for a few weeks it seems.

After a hot walk we finally made it to the temple. This temple is in one of the most beautiful locations I've ever seen. This temple has a wonderful meditation platform that has an unobstructed view of the valley. I bet that if you were allowed to go onto the platform, the end of it would be at the edge of a cliff.

After looking at the temple we decided to continue climbing up the mountain. It was a very steep climb but reasonably short, about 45 minutes. At the top of the steep steps a woman was handing out kumquats (tiny little oranges). From there, after a short snack/beer break, we continued on to the Sky Bridge. I thought that I'd be scared to cross it, but happily I felt no fear. I think that I am slowly conquering my fear of heights. After crossing the Sky Bridge we took a group picture. A Korean man was nice enough to take a picture for us, and a few other Koreans took their own picture of us too. We then decided to have our picnic and as we were doing that a couple of Japanese tourists took our picture as they went by. It's the celebrity life of Wayguks, I'm used to it now.

Finally it was time to descend. This is where things started going downhill, literally and figuratively. It was painfully steep going down. A combination of rickety stairs (completely too small for human feet) and no stairs (with dangers of slipping on loose rocks or tripping on tree roots) was our steep path going down. Halfway down, with legs already like jello jigglers we came across a traditional Korean house on the side of the mountain. There was a woman that lives inside this house. We heard her call to a group of Koreans that she was selling Makoeli, my favourite fermented drink. It was a unanimous decision among us Wayguks to sit down and partake in a drink. So, she sat us down in this makeshift tent and brought us some young garlic shoots and weird root thing in hot pepper paste. A vile concoction. Then she brought us her home-brew makoeli. It was terrible. I'm pretty sure she gave us a bad batch of makoeli. The root garlic dish was helpful in masking the bitter taste of the murderous Makoeli. When the horror finally ended we continued to make out way down the steep slopes.

At the bottom of the mountain, we wasted some time playing around in a river. There was supposed to be a waterfall there, but God hadn't turned it on yet. It was more of a water trickle. In the river we found some frogs' eggs, which is always cool to see.

After awhile we decided that it was probably time to head home. The only problem was, which way was home? After consulting a very crude map we agreed that home was "that way". So, we went that way. As we were walking in the general direction towards home, we decided to try catching a ride to Bongwha. Now mothers and overprotective brothers, don't freak out. I know that hitchhiking can be dangerous, and it is dangerous in Korea, but not in the way that you think. The dangerous part of hitchhiking in Korea is that you will probably be taken to someone's home where they will feed you before sending you on your way. Yes, there is a distinct danger of awkward conversations.

We were successfully picked up on our first try by a happy bubbly gnomish kind of man. He drove us the rest of the way down the mountain (about a five minute drive) and stopped at the main gate. He turned off the car and said something about coffee... Oh sure, let's go have some coffee with the man. No harm right? It's good to be polite. So, he led us to the little office by the gate and brought us inside. We were asked to sit down. Some fast Korean talking was going on with some definite comments about how handsome Andrew was. (Korean men really like Andrew). Anyway, without asking us if we wanted any, they proceeded to make us some ramyon. While we waited Soju was brought out. After we finished the awkward ramyon we were told that the bus would pick us up across the road in 20 minutes. We said our Kamsamnidas and left. As we were walking towards the bus the gnomish man drove past in his truck, swerving on the road as he waved goodbye.

The rest of the trip was pleasantly uneventful because I slept the whole way. Strangely enough I managed to wake up when we were entering Taebaek. I must be developing a public transit sixth sense.

This weekend was uneventful. I'm trying to fight off a cold. Next week Rob and I are going to go to a snow crab festival in Uljin... Depending on how it looks I may just try a crab. Once in my life I should try it, and this is probably the place to do it. But if they are all crammed in a cage I won't.

Click HERE to see the photos of Seongyeong Sa

Andong Away!

This past weekend Rob and myself found our way two hours south of Taebaek in a city by the name of Andong. There is a lot to see in Andong, if you ever get the chance to go, and one weekend is just not enough time.

We chose to go to HaHoe Mask Museum and Village. Hahoe Village is a village with traditional thatched and tile roof houses that people still live in. The people are generous enough to let tourists through, though I'm sure they make a pretty penny in souvenir shops and bed and breakfasts. According to my visitors pamphlet the word Ha means river and the word Hoe means turning around. Indeed, the Nakdong river holds this village in the crook of it's arm. There is also a beautiful cliff nearby called Byongdae Cliff that overlooks a sand beach across the blue-green river.

Some other interesting things we saw were a playground with traditional games, and a 600 year old tree that is home for the Goddess Samsin.

Andong is also famous for it's 40% Soju and a chicken dish called Jim Dalk.
Both delicious.

Check out our photos HERE