Today marks our eighth month in the Republic of Korea. That's two-thirds of our contract time. What follows is a description of what's currently on our minds, and a description of what we will be doing before our return to the PNW.
This second semester has gone by quite quickly so far, it's already halfway over, and I'm sure that the rest of our time will go by quickly too. Next week students take their mid-term exams, which for us means three days or so of sitting at our desks with no work to do. Not bad, but boring at times. After mid-terms we have eight weeks until the students take their final exams during the first week of July, and the term ends on July 18th. Between the 18th and when we leave, we have to do a three week English camp. This is the most variable factor in our remaining time, we probably won't know much about the camp until late June. Other than that, we might take a weekend our two out of Seoul, and possibly a three day trip to Japan, though that might be to much of a hassle.
We have our departure date set, we'll be leaving Korea on August 15th, a little more than a week before our contract officially finishes on the 24th because of our remaining vacation time. We also know the date we'll be home, on October 9th, as we've already purchased those tickets. The intervening weeks will be spent on a trek westward around the northern hemisphere across Eurasia.
Our tentative plan is to take a ferry from Seoul to China, where we will spend a few days in Beijing. Unfortunately, this coincides with the 2008 Summer Olympics, which probably means we've chosen the absolute worst time imaginable to visit that city since the Tianemen Square Protests of 1989. We've already run into trouble simply trying to find information about trains from Beijing, reservations have been blocked by the Chinese government for some reason, and you can only get tickets three days in advance. Nevertheless, we've booked rooms (at about 5 times the normal rate) and we plan to buy tickets onward to Ulan Bator, Mongolia when we arrive.
We will be taking the Trans-Mongolian branch of the Trans-Siberian railway, the longest railway in the world. From Beijing we will go to Ulan Bator, Mongolia, spending a few days there. Then on to Irkutsk, Russia, near Lake Baikal, the worlds deepest lake, and the largest by volume of water. From Irkutsk, we will likely stop somewhere on the way to Moscow, or else spend the three-and-a-half days on the train. From Moscow we'll head north to St. Petersburg, then cross over into Finland visiting Helsinki. Then a boat to Stockholm, Sweden, and the train again, south into mainland Europe by way of Denmark, spending some time in Copenhagen.
By the second week of September we'll meet Katie's sister Kim somewhere in western Europe, travel around a bit, and finish up in Munich in time for Oktoberfest. Unfortunately, this means starting and ending our journey during some of the biggest festivals in the world, so we're not exactly planning the most cost-efficient route. In any case, we will be leaving from Düsseldorf, Germany on October 8th and flying into Vancouver, B.C. this route saves us some money, but we'll have to take a bus south into the States.
So, between now and August we'll be pretty busy just trying to figure out all of the details for this trip, if nothing else. Researching, arranging visas, purchasing tickets, reserving rooms, and synchronizing schedules is enough to occupy a lot of our free time. But at least we won't be too bored, twiddling our thumbs while watching the second hand on the clock. It's better to be busy so the time goes by faster.
24.4.08
10.4.08
Spring is Springing
Yes, it's hard to believe how quickly I went from freezing my face off every time I walked outside to spending a whole weekend without my jacket on. Suddenly the memories of the sweltering Korean summer are rushing back to me and I am considering wearing my Thailand clothes to work. On the way to school, I've started noticing bright green buds of leaves forming on all the ginkgo trees and the huge white magnolias are bringing to my attention shrubs I haven't noticed in months. The weather is beautiful, without a doubt.
Richy and I celebrated the beginning of spring by attending the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival on Korea's south coast. We spent last Saturday afternoon exploring Busan, and on Sunday we took a bus to nearby Jinhae. Busan kind of reminded me of Portland, Oregon with its combination of ugly industrial waterfront juxtaposed with bourgeois cafes and fancy public parks. We wandered around its fusion-style Chinese and Russian foreigner district, and put our toes in the sand and surf at Haeundai Beach while Korean schoolgirls giggled at us and dared each other to practice their English. We stayed at a sketchy little yeogwan, complete with a bottle of "Man Touch" lotion at the bedside (eeew), glad that we could speak and understand enough Korean to book a room. After breakfast at the nearby Starbucks (they actually had bagels), we asked the tourist desk at Busan Station the best way to get to Jinhae by bus. She sent us to the bus terminal across town, even though I could have sworn I read online about a stop closer to where we were staying. So we went to the terminal and got in a shockingly long line of Koreans waiting for the bus to Jinhae. Luckily they had planned for a glut of passengers and buses to Jinhae seemed to pull up every five minutes, so we were able to get on the third bus.
Jinhae is a very small city, which is known as both the home of the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Korean Navy. It was founded by the Japanese during the occupation of Korea, which explains why the city is laid out in a very neat, orderly way. It also explains all the cherry trees and its use as a military base. Unfortunately, all the original cherry trees were cut down after the Japanese occupation ended in the 1940's, but they were replanted soon afterward and are now protected by law. The cherry blossoms are very apparent as you approach the city because suddenly all the hillsides are covered in huge swaths of white blossoms, and when the wind blows it causes a minor flurry of petals. The central street of town leading up to the main hill and city tower was covered in white tents which housed trinket vendors of all kinds and several soju tents serving up spit-roasted pork and Korean squid pancakes. After running into some friends from Seoul who recommended the pork, Richy and I chose a tent and sat down for lunch. We ordered a beer to share, had some roasted pork and some Korean pancake. Typically this kind of meal in Seoul doesn't cost us more than 20-25,000 won. After our meal, we were shocked to find that we were being charged 38,000 won and didn't have enough cash to pay the bill. So I asked for directions to the nearest ATM and the waitress pointed me to the nearby GS 25 convenience store. Richy stayed behind as collateral. Unfortunately the GS 25 cash machine was out of cash. So I called Richy and told him it might take me a little longer to find money. I asked a nearby traffic cop: "Oon-hang o-dee-iss-oyo? (Where is a bank?)" he replied in English: "Go down that way." So I followed where he pointed me. After walking about 5 blocks, I realized I was at the gate of the military base, no bank in sight. So I walked back to the main roundabout and found a bank in directly the opposite direction of where the traffic cop had pointed me. I ran back and paid the ridiculous price for our lunch. Then, Richy and I decided to walk up the main hill in town and went up the tower to see the view. From there, you could see the bay and all the hills around the town. It was quite nice and the breeze was very refreshing. We took lots of photos. Although it was still early, we walked back down the hill, bought some ice cream and headed back toward the bus station.
When we got back to the bus station, we were soon relieved that we had headed back early because the line of people waiting to get on the bus back to Busan was four times longer than the line heading from Busan to Jinhae. Our train was scheduled to leave from Busan to Seoul at 7:05 pm and we couldn't afford to miss it, but we figured we were okay because it was just after 4:00 and it was only supposed to take an hour on the bus. We ended up getting on our bus around 4:30. The bus then got stuck in traffic, so we didn't get out of Jinhae until almost 5:30. I was getting increasingly nervous. Once we got into Busan at about 6:15, the bus stopped and several people got off, and as soon as we pulled away, we realized that that was the bus stop closer to Busan Station that I had read about online. So now it was 6:20 and we were heading AWAY from the train station. When we finally got to the terminal at 6:30, Richy and I ran to the subway station, and then ran to our transfer station. We got out of the subway at Busan station at 6:55, but still had to go get our bags out of the storage lockers. Again, we ran up the escalators, and down to the tracks, finally boarding our train at 7:04, barely one minute before leaving the station. I spent the next 20 minutes catching my breath and hacking the phlegm out of my lungs. I decided need to work out more.
by Katie
Richy and I celebrated the beginning of spring by attending the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival on Korea's south coast. We spent last Saturday afternoon exploring Busan, and on Sunday we took a bus to nearby Jinhae. Busan kind of reminded me of Portland, Oregon with its combination of ugly industrial waterfront juxtaposed with bourgeois cafes and fancy public parks. We wandered around its fusion-style Chinese and Russian foreigner district, and put our toes in the sand and surf at Haeundai Beach while Korean schoolgirls giggled at us and dared each other to practice their English. We stayed at a sketchy little yeogwan, complete with a bottle of "Man Touch" lotion at the bedside (eeew), glad that we could speak and understand enough Korean to book a room. After breakfast at the nearby Starbucks (they actually had bagels), we asked the tourist desk at Busan Station the best way to get to Jinhae by bus. She sent us to the bus terminal across town, even though I could have sworn I read online about a stop closer to where we were staying. So we went to the terminal and got in a shockingly long line of Koreans waiting for the bus to Jinhae. Luckily they had planned for a glut of passengers and buses to Jinhae seemed to pull up every five minutes, so we were able to get on the third bus.
Jinhae is a very small city, which is known as both the home of the Cherry Blossom Festival and the Korean Navy. It was founded by the Japanese during the occupation of Korea, which explains why the city is laid out in a very neat, orderly way. It also explains all the cherry trees and its use as a military base. Unfortunately, all the original cherry trees were cut down after the Japanese occupation ended in the 1940's, but they were replanted soon afterward and are now protected by law. The cherry blossoms are very apparent as you approach the city because suddenly all the hillsides are covered in huge swaths of white blossoms, and when the wind blows it causes a minor flurry of petals. The central street of town leading up to the main hill and city tower was covered in white tents which housed trinket vendors of all kinds and several soju tents serving up spit-roasted pork and Korean squid pancakes. After running into some friends from Seoul who recommended the pork, Richy and I chose a tent and sat down for lunch. We ordered a beer to share, had some roasted pork and some Korean pancake. Typically this kind of meal in Seoul doesn't cost us more than 20-25,000 won. After our meal, we were shocked to find that we were being charged 38,000 won and didn't have enough cash to pay the bill. So I asked for directions to the nearest ATM and the waitress pointed me to the nearby GS 25 convenience store. Richy stayed behind as collateral. Unfortunately the GS 25 cash machine was out of cash. So I called Richy and told him it might take me a little longer to find money. I asked a nearby traffic cop: "Oon-hang o-dee-iss-oyo? (Where is a bank?)" he replied in English: "Go down that way." So I followed where he pointed me. After walking about 5 blocks, I realized I was at the gate of the military base, no bank in sight. So I walked back to the main roundabout and found a bank in directly the opposite direction of where the traffic cop had pointed me. I ran back and paid the ridiculous price for our lunch. Then, Richy and I decided to walk up the main hill in town and went up the tower to see the view. From there, you could see the bay and all the hills around the town. It was quite nice and the breeze was very refreshing. We took lots of photos. Although it was still early, we walked back down the hill, bought some ice cream and headed back toward the bus station.
When we got back to the bus station, we were soon relieved that we had headed back early because the line of people waiting to get on the bus back to Busan was four times longer than the line heading from Busan to Jinhae. Our train was scheduled to leave from Busan to Seoul at 7:05 pm and we couldn't afford to miss it, but we figured we were okay because it was just after 4:00 and it was only supposed to take an hour on the bus. We ended up getting on our bus around 4:30. The bus then got stuck in traffic, so we didn't get out of Jinhae until almost 5:30. I was getting increasingly nervous. Once we got into Busan at about 6:15, the bus stopped and several people got off, and as soon as we pulled away, we realized that that was the bus stop closer to Busan Station that I had read about online. So now it was 6:20 and we were heading AWAY from the train station. When we finally got to the terminal at 6:30, Richy and I ran to the subway station, and then ran to our transfer station. We got out of the subway at Busan station at 6:55, but still had to go get our bags out of the storage lockers. Again, we ran up the escalators, and down to the tracks, finally boarding our train at 7:04, barely one minute before leaving the station. I spent the next 20 minutes catching my breath and hacking the phlegm out of my lungs. I decided need to work out more.
by Katie
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