9 days

Went to the pension office today to cash in our retirement. Luckily, we'll be getting back twice as much as we thought we would. The South Korean gov't matches your contributions, so we get around 2,000 instead of the 1,000 we thought we'd get.

We still have to start really packing our things, though we've started sorting things, slightly.

It doesn't seem like we're leaving in practically a week. But we are.

WE'RE FINISHED!!!

Today was our last day teaching. We're officially finished with our jobs in S.Korea! Now we have 12 days to tie up all of our loose ends and we're off to China and around the world! The days of getting up at 7:00 am are over for the foreseeable future.

But we can't start partying until I get the results from my skin biopsy today at Seoul National University Hospital at 3:30.

--Richy.

The Last (non-camp) Day

So, we finished our last official day at school today. The day was, for me, fanfareless. The last official day of school for the semester isn't until tomorrow, but as I don't work Saturdays, my stint here ends with no bang. Tomorrow, all of the teachers at my school will be going on a field trip, rafting and having a bbq. But, as I don't work on Saturdays, I wasn't invited.... So today was my last day to see 90% of the people who I've seen on daily for the last year. However, only a couple seemed to care.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, as the more Native Speaker English Teachers they get, the less they can bother about any one. Yet, it seems like maybe there could have been an announcement or some sort of goodbye. Nevertheless, we still do have 2 weeks of summer camp to do, so we're not out of the woods yet. And my friend, Mr. Gu, an older social studies teacher (who specifically asked me why I wasn't coming to the rafting and bbq tomorrow) invited Katie and I to go with him to the countryside before we leave. He was the only person who seemed to care, or realize, that I won't be back next semester.

--Richy

Summer Fun ~ or ~ The Rains Have Come

As I'm sure you can imagine, the 4th of July wasn't really a big deal here. I tried to get some folks together for a bbq, but no one was really into it considering that it was rainy and overcast. Just like many 4ths of past years' back home, but with a twist: rainy, overcast and effing 85 degrees (95% humidity)! Nonetheless we tried to entertain ourselves with some friends, Korean beer, and a few firecrackers we found down at the stationary shop (right next to the party favors, where they always are).

Humidity. A word I never really understood until I came to Korea. Walking out of air conditioning is like walking into a warm, wet blanket. It's pleasant for a few moments, but as soon as you actually have to do something in it you become miserable (and totally drenched in sweat/condensation). To top it off, while you're drenched in this sweat/condensation mix, you walk into a super air conditioned space and what at first is blessedly refreshing quickly becomes bone chilling (since you're wet and all). So you get this sensation like you're at a spa all day, running between the hot rooms and the ice rooms, only not quite as pleasant and not quite as optional. It makes you feel all clammy all the time. The evenings are pleasant though, and it seems a lot of people come out of the AC to enjoy the gentle evening breezes, but unfortunately the mosquitos (or mogi as they're called here) are ready and waiting to attack. I wish we could have a screened-in porch or something, but alas.

We've only got six weeks left in Korea, and I am already starting to feel a bit nostalgic. I've adapted to Korean culture in a lot of ways and I know it's going to be weird going home. When watching American TV I get totally grossed out when I see someone wear shoes inside or put their shoes up on a chair or something. I'm also afraid that I am going to be awkwardly bowing to people all time. It will also be weird not being noticed and feeling like the center of attention everywhere I go. No more double takes, no more special weigook treatment. It will just be strange to actually be able to sight read everything I see (instead of slowly sounding out each word for practice) and to understand the conversations of everyone around me. Hopefully it will be as interesting going home as it was coming here in the first place, but with less fear and awkwardness.

Let me leave you with this interesting glimpse into the world of strange Korean pop music:




by Katie

Extra Curricular Activities

When Richy and I made the decision to spend the year living and working in a foreign country, I never really expected to have a lot of downtime on our hands. However, if you're trying to save money and exhausted after a day of bouncing around a classroom trying to keep 35 Korean teenagers who can't understand you engaged, you end up spending a lot of your evenings at home. With the onset of the cold temperatures back in November, Richy downloaded the first season of The Sopranos, and we got in the habit of ordering pizza and curling up on the couch for an episode or two.

Well we just began summer, and tonight we finally finished The Sopranos. 86 episodes, at an hour a piece = 3 and half days of Richy and I sitting on our couch watching the exploits of America's favorite fictional mafia family. Thats almost 1% of our total time in Korea. An interesting and unexpected measure of our time here.

In other news: we are now proud holders of Chinese visas, which makes us feel like we are indeed actually going somewhere in August!

Two More Months Until We Leave Korea

A Trip to Deokjeokdo

Two weekends ago, Richy and I planned a trip to the island of Deokjeokdo for my birthday weekend/Buddha's Birthday holiday. We had read up about the island a bit in our Lonely Planet guide and planned on leaving Saturday, after my Friday night birthday party. We ended up not going to bed until around 4 am, so of course we got a bit of a late start on Saturday. We weren't really that worried about it because I had read in the Lonely Planet guide (and I think in some random place online) that the 50 minute passenger ferry from Incheon to Deokjeokdo would run until 7:30pm. So we took our sweet time, and by the time we got to the ferry terminal in Incheon it was about 6:30pm. We knew we were in trouble when we walked through the main doors of the terminal, only to find all the lights off and completely deserted except for one confused security guard. So we grabbed some ferry schedules, got out our travel guide, and sat down to try to figure out both where we went wrong and what our next step should be.

Taking the two hour subway/bus trip back home was kind of out of the question, since it was my birthday and I didn't want to spend four hours of it on the subway for no reason. We decided it might be best for us to head back toward downtown Incheon to try to find a motel and somewhere decent to have dinner. Just as we were trying to figure out what time the ferries actually ran another group of foreigners with backpacks on walk in the door. They looked about as bewildered as we probably did, and they asked us:
"Where are you guys going?"
"We were trying to go to Deokjeokdo."
"Us too. Isn't there a 7:30 ferry?"
"Apparently not."
"But Lonely Planet says they run until 7:30."
"Yeah, we know."

Just then, the security guy brought us over some more ferry schedules and shooed us out as he locked the doors. I think he was afraid he was about to be over run by angry foreigners. So Richy and I got back on the bus headed toward downtown Incheon. We wandered around for a few minutes until we saw the first bright 모텔 (motel) sign. Along the way we spotted a rare Turkish restaurant advertising lamb kebabs and falafel, and made a mental note to come back for dinner. The motel was the ubiquitous Korean-style love motel, which can be rented cheaply by the hour or all night. This one was actually pretty nice, with free ice cream provided in the lobby, a big screen HDTV, and a computer in the room. Not to mention several porn channels and all manner of lotions provided (eeew). The sheets looked clean, but we still used our trusty hostel sheets. After chilling out for a few minutes, we headed off to the Turkish restaurant for something that would seem like a nice birthday dinner despite our less-than-well-planned situation.

The first good sign at the restaurant was that it was full of actual Turkish (or at least Middle-Eastern looking) people. We decided to order the set menu, because at a restaurant we've never been to before, we usually assume it will offer the best sampling of dishes. Unfortunately the dishes came out in a strange order, so by the time we got the bread and rice at the end, we had already eaten most of what it would have gone well with. Overall it was good though, and it's always nice to escape the Korean flavor palette for a meal or two. We finished off with a dessert of ice cream at the Baskin Robbins (strangely found almost everywhere in Korea) and spent the rest of the evening wandering the streets of downtown Incheon. At one point a man and his young daughter played a game of following us for several blocks, all the while daring his daughter to practice her English on us. It was obvious they were following us because we were practically walking in cicles. Kinda creepy, but also kind of cute at the same time.

The next morning, we rose early for a breakfast of MacDonalds (usually the only accessible and affordable Western-style breakfast in town) and took the bus back to the ferry terminal. This time the terminal was very much open, alive and bustling, and we caught the 9:30am ferry to Deokjeokdo. When we bought the tickets, the man behind the counter advised us that the only return ferry open for the next day was not until 5:10pm, which was fine with us because we wanted to spend as much time on the island as we could at that point.

When we got to the island, the only two buses there were waiting by the ferry dock. One of them was crammed full of people, and the other was only half full, but the driver seemed to be refusing to let any foreigners on. So we kind of stood around, trying to figure out how to get to the touristy place with the beach and places to stay, which is the perfect demeanor to have if you want to be approached by someone trying to make some money.

An ajumma (middle-aged Korean woman) approached us and asked us if we wanted to go to the beach. We told her yes, we did, and she motioned for us to get into her van. I asked her "Olmai-ay-yo?" (how much?) and she said "Sa man won" (40,000 won, about $40) which is pretty average for a room for two in Korea. So we looked at the van and deliberated for a moment over whether this woman was going to put us in a really shitty room. We decided that there weren't really any other options and got into the van. It made me feel better that there was one other foreigner in the van and several Korean tourists. The room we were provided was less than ideal, but cozy enough and close to the beach.

After dropping off our stuff and getting a bit settled, we headed for the beach. The beach was nice, sandy, and sunny, but the wind blowing off the water was downright cold. In spite of this fact there were several foreigners sunning themselves on the beach in bikinis. This is a very un-Korean behavior since most Korean women hide from the sun at all costs in an effort to keep their skin white and young-looking. Then we wandered around the town, realizing with each turn that about 85% of all the businesses in the little town were closed for the season and that there was really only one open-looking restaurant with Korean food we were familiar with. We realized that since we hadn't come with a large group of friends, weren't camping on the beach and weren't planning on getting drunk that we probably weren't going to have the best time on this island. There's a fine line between relaxing and boring, and this was definitely more boring than relaxing.

The highlights of our time on the island: eating a few meals at the only welcoming restaurant, finding a few shells on the beach, making a small campfire on the beach, and lighting off a roman candle. Other than that we were just cold and wondering what there was to do. The next day, the woman with the van had disappeared, and around 11:00 a woman kicked us out of our room because she wanted to clean it. We were kind of stranded, with six hours to kill. So we wandered up the beach, tried to find a hiking trail that would lead us back in the direction of the ferry dock, and instead found a dead end. We decided just to hike the 7 kilometers back to dock along the winding, hilly road, on which traffic was very infrequent. It took us about 2 hours. Along the way we had a snack on another beach (this one more geared toward the fishing rather than sunbathing crowd). While we were munching, a little Korean boy, all alone, about 4 or 5 came up to me and told me (in Korean) that he hurt his finger. He had a tiny little scratch, and I showed him my sympathy by giving him a little sucker I had in my purse. Richy asked him (in Korean) where his parents were, and he pointed to a nearby building, and Richy told him to go to his mom, and the boy dutifully obeyed. It always amazes me how independent and trusting of strangers small Korean children are. I think it testifies to both the relative safety of Korea and the fear-mongering we embrace for our children in the West.

We finally came to the ferry dock around 3 pm and spent our last few hours on the island waiting for our ferry, reading our books and eavesdropping on the conversations of other foreigners.  As more ferries left, the island seemed to become more and more deserted. On board our sparsely filled ferry, which was the last one of the day, we found cozy seats in the top deck first class area. We were looking forward to going home, a little bit anxious to catch our subway because we knew it would be a long trip and we didn't want to get home too late for work the next morning. Of course, just when we seemed well underway, the ferry abruptly stopped dead in the water and a serious-sounding announcement (only in Korean) came over the loud speaker. The only other group of foreigners on the ferry called over to us to see if we understood the message, and when it was apparent that we didn't, they sent one of theirs down to see if the English-speaking concession worker could translate. She found out that apparently there was something caught in the engine, and it was unclear how long it would take. We waited patiently as a few frustrated crewmen ran back and forth between the main cabin and the engine. After a few minutes, we were underway again, only to stop again, start again, stop again. We finally made it to Incheon around 7:00.

Moral of the story: don't go to a remote Korean island unless you go with a lot of friends and plan on getting drunk the whole time. Or, at least go during the summer so there will be more stuff open.

Seoul Lantern Festival

In honor of Buddhas birthday, each year S.Korean buddhists parade through the streets of seoul from Korea's main buddhist temple, Jogyesa. Buddha's birthday is determined by the lunar calendar, and the lantern festival is always on the preceding sunday. The parade consists of somewhere near 100,000 buddhists, monks, laypeople, armymen, etc. but the highlight of the parade are the giant and colorful lanterns.

The parade was interesting to see. Unfortunately it rained, and all of the umbrellas presented a problem for viewers. But we made our way forward, and the umbrellas, surprisingly, were actually put away when the rain stopped. I managed to get a few good pictures, but by the time my memory card was full, after about 75,000 of the buddhists had passed, I'd had enough. You can only see so many of the same thing before you start to lose your patience.

On an unrelated note, yesterday marked a pointless but symbolic milestone for us: 100 days until we leave.


Regards,

Richy.

The Eve of the Third Third

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.

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

Thailand: a Blow by Blow Account in 4 Phases

Edit Richy: I have uploaded 257 or so pictures of our trip. These are what I've deemed the most worthy for the purpose of illustrating our trip out of a total of 1000 or so. And these are only the pictures I took, Katie took a few hundred more with the other camera.

...

This was my first trip to Thailand, Richy's second. I was excited to get out of the winter for a while and take a break that would lead my mind away from the daily grind of life and work in Korea.

Phase 1: Arrival in Bangkok

We arrived at our guest house in Bangkok at 3 am after a 6 hour flight that left us pleasantly un-jet-lagged because Seoul and Bangkok only have a 2-hour time difference. The apparent owner of the place, a native English speaker (some manner of British), was wide awake, helpful and welcoming. The next morning we decided to check out the nearby Chatuchak weekend market, one of the biggest outdoor markets in the world. Our walk took us by hundreds of amulet vendors (mostly small Buddha images), which (as I read later) are popular and sometimes expensive spiritual accessories for people in dangerous occupations. Cab drivers especially invest in these to protect them on the roads (lord knows they need it - Thai drivers are even crazier than Korean drivers, which I didn't know was possible). The market itself could only be described as an overwhelming swirl of commerce of all kinds. It was pretty amazing, and although we wandered around there for a few hours that first day, I could only get my head together enough to buy a single pair of earrings. Afterward, we wandered around a nearby park, then took the skytrain to Victory Monument, which lead us on another multi-hour walk toward and around the royal palace. Unfortunately Bangkok's mass transit system is nowhere near as cheap, plentiful and efficient as Seoul's, but walking around seemed more interesting here anyway.

At the palace, we scanned the moat for the abundant and sometimes frightening signs of wildlife. The climax of which was a close encounter with a 4 foot monitor lizard that jumped out of the marigolds and frightened the living daylights out of a young Thai couple walking nearby (they ran away screaming, while we, the tourists, started snapping pictures). We wandered our way down to the tourist district of Khao San Road which was both an interesting and appalling sight. Something about watching white folks having their hair dreaded, beaded and braided into cornrows while wearing traditional Hmong clothing gives me the creeps in that haven't-you-heard-of-cultural-appropriation kind of way. We ate an over-priced and over-rated meal, drank a few beers, watched people get ripped off, and decided we'd had enough walking for the day, so we took a hot pink metered taxi back to the guest house (so nice to see vehicles outside the Korean car color palette of black, white and gray).

The next day we found out our friend Desiree from Seoul (a la Daesungni winter camp) had arrived at the guest house, so we woke her up and made her follow us back to the weekend market for a second, less overwhelmed look. This time we succeeded in doing a little bartering, buying three more pairs of earrings, a skirt, a pair of linen pants, and a linen shirt for Richy. I was probably encouraged a bit by Desiree's no-BS attitude when it comes to shopping. Our shopping ended in a huge, random, torrential downpour of warm rain as we ran for the cover of another neon taxi (luckily we had freshly purchased dry clothes with us in conveniently plastic bags). We decided this would be a good opportunity to go to the train station secure tickets for a night train south to Surat Thani, the jumping off point for some of the most beautiful island beaches in Thailand. We should have known better than to take the third class night train seats when we found out that sleeping cars and air-conditioned second class were sold out. But we were feeling energetic and adventurous, so later that evening we left Desiree behind to find out what 12 hours in third class on a crowded Thai train felt like...

Phase 2: Misadventures in Southeastern Thailand

Waiting for the train itself was a melancholy experience, as it was more than an hour late, and this mood was punctuated by a particularly mournful harmonica player on the platform. When our train finally arrived, it was apparent that our third class car had been built some time in the mid 20th century, probably 1940's or 50's. It had kind of an interesting retro look taken by itself, especially with the mint green interiors and interesting gyrating wire fans installed in the ceiling. However, this charm was lost on the hundreds of people packed like sardines inside, sans air con. We had to keep the windows wide open to breathe, which meant getting a lungful of such wonderful smelling things as thick diesel exhaust, rotten swamp, rotten sewage, rotten garbage, and occasionally a whiff of something edible from one of the station restaurants. All the people aboard wore uniform expressions of boredom and exhaustion for the entire trip, and as the train rolled into jungle, people started spreading newspapers on the floor and crawling under seats to try to find a place to rest their eyes. This became a serious issue of contention for me as I had just finished up reading the section in the guidebook about Thai cultural foot phobias. Apparently stomping on a coin with the king's face on it can have serious social repercussions, as can failing to remove your shoes when entering a culturally-defined no-shoes-zone or inadvertently touching another part of someones body with your foot or a shoe. With all the people on the floor, I spent the whole time super conscious of where I was putting my feet despite the fact that no one seemed to be paying any attention to me whatsoever.

Richy and I spent the night packed onto a hard, straight-backed bench with a third person, spending the entire night shifting positions every 15 minutes to try to find something relatively comfortable. This effort proved relatively futile, but provided a good activity with which to while away the 12 hour ride. My only consolation was the following mantra: warm white sand, warm white sand, warm white sand...

Upon reaching Surat Thani we found ourselves immediately surrounded by bus ticket hawkers, taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. My head was screaming and all I wanted to do was sleep, so the first guy to grab us was pretty effective at shoving us onto a random bus and making us buy a ticket. Luckily it was going to where we were headed and included a ferry transfer. About four hours later we were getting off a ferry in Thong Sala, the main port town of Ko Phan Ngyan, the island we had been hoping to get to. From here we had planned to meet with our friend Kitho on a somewhat secluded beach called Haad Yuan, so we made arrangements to take a taxi truck to Haad Rin (the big party beach of the island, and way over-developed) and from there, a long tail boat to Haad Yuan. We had been totally confident about being able to find a place to stay on that beach, if not at the same bungalows that Kitho was staying at. Unfortunately, we arrived at the bungalows to find that not only were they full, but they figured that every other guest house and bungalow on that beach was full too. So we sighed a big, long, weary sigh, the kind you only seem to be able to muster when you haven't slept in nearing 30 hours, and let the guy at the guest house lead us to Kitho ("Oh you mean the Korean guy who sleeps all the time? Yeah, room 15." Hehehe.) While Kitho was welcoming and accommodating, and one of the guest house guys offered to let us sleep in his personal bed, it just didn't seem like we could relax without our own room. So wearily, we bid Kitho and his guest house buddies goodbye and got back on the longtail boat to Haad Rin to find a place to crash. Even though we were hungry we were too exhausted to even eat at this point (a fact punctuated by Richy's inability to finish even a small plate of Thai fried rice despite his typical ravenous appetite).

After wandering Haad Rin with our backpacks stopping in at some travel agencies, and asking around, we still couldn't find an open place. Finally we found a guy who said he knew a guy who had a room for 1500 baht for a night (about $45). This was way over our price range (of about 300-600 baht/night - about $10-15), but we were exhausted enough to follow him. Of course when we got to the place the owner said, "No, no, no, one night? 2000 baht." And he could tell by the looks on our faces that we were not happy but also too tired to barter. At least the room was quite nice, with air con, hot water and all, so it was at least a good place for us to recharge. The next morning we set out calling all over the island to find the ideal place to stay, and after a few phone calls and a harrowing truck taxi ride over some pretty rough jungle roads, we found it, a charming private bungalow with a view (partially obscured, but pleasant) and for only 600 baht a night.

I should mention that the reason why we were having such a hard time finding a place to stay had to do with a little Ko Phan Ngyan tradition. Every full moon, the beach at Haad Rin throws a huge all night party, fueled by sex, drugs, alcohol, fire spinning, and apparently lots of German frat boys. Back in the 80's it started as a hippy birthday party, but apparently people had so much fun it became a tradition, growing every year along with the island's infrastructure, now taking on proportions that rival spring break at Cancun or Fort Lauderdale. We weren't really sure if we were going to go check it out or not, I'd heard that it could be pretty disgusting to watch, but we met some Italians at our bungalows that encouraged us to go. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) the decision was taken away from us, as the party was canceled at the last minute due to a little known rule (at least by foreigners) that in Thailand, alcohol cannot be sold on election days. This provincial election happened to coincide with this particular full moon.

So we spent four days lounging on a secluded beach called Than Sadet, at some bungalows collectively called Mai Pen Rai (Thai for "no problem"). We got a little tan, bought a tie-dye hammock and some candles, read a few books, ate delicious Thai food, and played in the surf. We even tried to make friends with a giant spider in the bathroom. It was totally worth all the trouble of getting there. And the coconut shakes were so delicious and fresh, despite their mild laxative properties!

Unfortunately we couldn't stay on the beach forever (or maybe we could have if we were willing to make a few changes to our long-term life goals). I was even getting a little bored on the last day, in-between books and laid up from playing in the surf when a big wave scraped my leg across the gritty area of sand and left me without any skin on my knee. So we made plans to leave the island, hopped aboard the most crowded truck taxi I could imagine (finally fitting 15 people into a modified, small, 1995 Mazda pick-up) and made the mistake of booking our trip north with a tiny Thai travel agency. It was however, better than the 3rd class trip on the way down. The highlight was getting dropped off in the middle of a Bangkok highway interchange at 3am to be fed to a pack of crooked cab drivers, most of whom were unwilling to turn on their meters. Luckily we found the only honest one who used a meter and took us to the Northern Bus Terminal. It was 4:30 am by this time and we were faced with a choice: wait until 10:30 to take a bus to Sukothai, or wait 30 minutes to take a bus to Chiang Mai. We chose Chiang Mai.


Phase 3: The Lovely Chiang Mai


We arrived at Chiang Mai on Sunday in the late afternoon and quickly found a pleasant guest house to stay at within the old city wall. Richy knew of a Sunday market he visited when he was here the first time, so we wandered around the old city until we found it. Richy was surprised to see that it had grown a lot since he was there last, but it could also have been the difference in tourist season. I was surprised by how much the community feel of the event reminded me of a typical spring Artswalk Festival in Olympia. There were lots of artists, musicians, food vendors, and a good mix of tourists as well as Thais enjoying themselves. We found ourselves some delicious mangoes and sticky rice and sat down to wonder where all the English-speaking Western kids had come from and why they were walking around all alone. We also pondered the popularity of all-blind music groups playing for change - a government program perhaps? We wandered back to our guest house street and decided to unwind by taking in some beer and snacks in a nearby Kiwi-owned place. About halfway through our large bottles of Beer Chang, a somewhat official-looking man in a suedo-uniform (blue polo shirt and black pants) and carrying a gun, walked in. We thought nothing of it until the staff of the restaurant ran out with big black coffee mugs and started pouring all our beer into them. They were getting rid of all easily seen alcohol consumption evidence... why? Election day. Different province, different election day, same no-alcohol sale rule. Not that that really stopped anyone from drinking. We heard the official-looking guy telling some guys on his way out, "Order a mixed drink, then it just looks like you're drinking juice."

The next day, we decided to rent a motor scooter to go see the Doi Sutep temple on top of a mountain outside of Chiang Mai. I was a little scared, because Richy had never driven a motor scooter before (neither have I) and with Thai drivers being crazier than Korean drivers, anything could happen. But I reassured myself with my second calming mantra of the trip: nothing worth doing is without risk, nothing worth doing is without risk, nothing worth doing is without risk... The first place we went, across the street from the guest house, was run by a kindly old Thai woman who, once she heard we had never ridden a motor scooter before advised us to take a bus or taxi instead. Not wanting to argue with her, we walked several blocks to another rental place we had seen the day before. We didn't exactly tell the guy it was our first try, and Richy took a test spin around the block before I hopped on the back (yes moms, we wore helmets). The first few turns were a little awkward, and I could tell Richy was a little nervous, but by the time we were heading out of the city toward the mountain, we were both feeling pretty comfortable and enjoying the wind on our faces. It was much easier to ride up the mountain anyway, since there was less traffic and almost no intersections to speak of.

We arrived at the temple, took off our shoes, took lots of pictures of the beautiful scenery, and met our first elephant of the trip. But we weren't ready to head back into town. Instead, we continued up the mountain in search of less touristy sights and a little-visited traditional Hmong village we read about in the guidebook. So we kept going until the road turned into dirt, and the jungle-laden hillside began to feature banana trees and coffee shrubs. We saw maybe six other people on the whole ride. We stopped at a peaceful little coffee plantation and had a cup straight from the source, a very black, bitter yet strangely sweet brew. Then we continued to the village just a short way up the road. When we got there, we were a little uncertain about what to do, since it was basically a bunch of wooden shacks with pigs, chickens, and cute little dogs milling about. We bought some drinking water from a little roadside vendor, then continued down the road until we arrived at the largest building in the village, what appeared to be a school. There were English signs pointing to a toilet and a view point, so we checked it out. There was a beautiful sweeping view of the valley and all of Chiang Mai. Back at the scooter, we were met with a Thai man who seemed very happy to see us. He was the English teacher at the school and began giving us a tour, introducing us to students and explaining the history of the place. He offered us more coffee, followed by tea, and took us to his English classroom. The students were all Hmong, most of the teachers Thai (all but one commuting daily from Chiang Mai), the school beginning 35 years ago with a grant from a group of people in India. The school is government funded now, but still has trouble with financing as evidenced from the homemade shampoo and dish soap that the students make to get money for school books and such. We bought two bottles of shampoo (apparently it will keep our hair from turning gray and falling out), and bid the students farewell. Upon leaving Richy and I were thinking: now that's the kind of school I would like to teach in! Of course, a school like that could only hire volunteers, so we'll have to wait until we have some savings to volunteer in any village schools in Southeast Asia...

Arriving back in Chiang Mai, we filled up the gas tank, shocked to find that although we had been driving all day we used less than a gallon of gas (our next vehicle just might have to be a motor scooter). We returned the scooter just 5 minutes before the deadline, and decided to take in a Muay Thai fight for the evening. We were looking forward to a real Thai cultural experience, but unfortunately the only Thais in the arena were either serving drinks or trying to kick each other in the face. Still, it was pretty interesting to watch, and I wondered why we still allow two people to be put in a cage to beat the shit out of each other, but it's illegal to make animals do it. It started with the "Super Kid Fight" between two 66 pound boys who looked like they should still be in Elementaty school, moving up to the "Super Lady Fights" and finally the headliner fight, which actually drew a considerable amount of blood from the forehead of one of the fighters. After the fight, the lights were turned down and all of the ladyboy (transvestite) bartenders disappeared into dressing rooms, only to reappear moments later in the ring, dressed up like Vegas showgirls, dancing and lip syncing to "Dancing Queen" and "I will Survive." Honestly, I enjoyed the drag show much more than the fight.

And here are some videos to illustrate the Muay Thai and drag show:






Phase 4: Amazing Ruins at Sukothai

The next day, we hopped back on a bus heading southward toward Sukothai, hoping to catch some glimpses of what Thailand was like 700 or so years ago. We found another nice guest house with bungalows in back, nestled in garden of beautiful tropical plants and crawling with adorable geckos. This was our cheapest room yet for only 300 baht ($10) for the two of us, and even including a private bathroom with hot water (what a deal!). As usual, we spent the first evening wandering around on foot, and ate dinner at a nearby night market (with delicious banana roti pancakes, and not so delicious ants crawling all over the produce in the kitchens).

Since we deciding that our favorite mode of travel is now via motor scooter, and considering that the Sukothai Historical Park was a thirty minute ride outside the city, we rented yet another motorbike for a day of sight seeing. We started at the main ruins, Richy taking photos, and me trying to effectively sketch the perfectly symmetrical Buddha faces and towering chedis (conical monuments for housing relics). Since we had the scooter, we were able to also see a lot of the less-trafficked ruins outside of the historical park, including some that seemed nearly forgotten (conjuring childhood fantasies of Indiana Jones) and one perched on a 200 meter hill looking down over Sukothai. We also visited a museum, where I learned the symbolism of some of the typical Thai buddha poses: seated, one hand on lap, one raised for subduing the Mara; standing, one hand raised for imparting fearlessness; and the innovative "walking Buddha" which represents Buddha after enlightenment spreading the word. After returning to the main park for sunset, witnessing some people chanting and worshiping near one of the ponds, and trying to get some last photos in the dusk, we headed back to the guest house for our last restful night in Thailand.

The next day we took the 7 hour bus back to Bangkok, and even though we arrived 5 hours before our flight was departing, we couldn't really think of anything to do but go to the airport and try to get checked in early. Unfortunately our plan was thwarted by a Korean golf tour group, who had already camped out at the check in desk and who had apparently booked nearly the whole plane. Even 5 hours early, we were at the end of the line. Oh well. Back to life in Korea.

One thing that I found positively relieving about being back in Korea: even with our touristy backpacks on, no one tried to sell us any rides or hassled us at the airport. We rode the subway back to the apartment in relative anonymity. And the cold weather wasn't as much of a shock as I expected, it seems like spring is well on its way (thank goodness). Now we can look forward to celebrating Richy's birthday and to a possible trip to Japan over my 3 day birthday weekend in May (which is apparently, also Buddha's birthday - coincidence?).

by Katie

Seollal in Gyeongju

Over the five day holiday weekend for Lunar New Year (aka. Seollal) Richy, Tom, Lindsey and I visited the city of Gyeongju in the Southeast of Korea. We arrived at our accommodation, Hanjin Hostel in the evening of Lunar New Year's Day to find that most of the city was shut down (as expected) for the holiday. Our kind and knowledgeable English speaking host however, insisted that we visit a nearby restaurant owned by his friend that he was working on convincing to open specially for his patrons. After wandering the city for a bit to work up an appetite and climbing up a couple of tomb hills, we went to the restaurant which was quickly filling up with other foreigners from the hostel. We met some interesting Canadians, ate a lovely dinner of samgyupsal and then spent the rest of the evening drinking beer and chatting at the hostel. At some point, our host came upstairs to where we were drinking, decided we weren't drinking enough and gave us 10,000 won (about $10) to go buy more to drink, which we did. All around, I thought the hostel was pretty interesting and full of character, but our rooms were a little on the cold side. I guess you get what you pay for though, since it was only 15,000 per night per person. I think it would be a lot nicer in the spring or summer when the rooftop terrace is more comfortable (we tried to spend time up there, but almost froze to death).

On day two, we had an amazing day, which started with wandering around the town looking for tombs. We found a tomb park, got yelled at for trying to climb on one of them (must have been someone important), and saw some ancient things, including an old underground ice storage chamber. We then visited the museum and saw the huge Emille bell, which can reportedly be heard from three kilometers away by only banging on it with a fist (we didn't get to try though). We also saw many Buddha statues, most of which were missing heads and hands, but impressive nonetheless. We then took a bus up to the famous UNSECO world heritage site of the 1300 year old Seokguram Grotto, which features an impressive Buddha statue and many plastic lanterns lining the paths. Afterward we went down to another UNESCO world heritage site, the Bulguksa Temple, the foundation of which is thousands of years old, with the wooden structures standing on top dating from a few hundred years to a few decades old. The whole place was so peaceful, even though it was crowded with Korean families taking pictures in their hanbok (traditional Korean dress) for the holiday. Richy's camera battery died just before a beautiful red sunset over the temple, which was one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring  sunsets I have seen. After heading back into the city we found what looked like a cozy restaurant, but they kept leaving the door open, so we weren't quite able to take our coats off. The dalkgalbi (spicy chicken stir fry) was delicious though, and our follow-up course of bokumbap (Korean fried rice) was expertly crafted into a heart shape and equally delicious.

We must have earned some bad day karma from the second day being so great, because the third day was quite disappointing. We decided to take the bus out to the East Sea (also controversially called the Sea of Japan), and from there we wanted to visit the underwater tomb and some fancy pagodas. When we got there, however, we seemed kind of trapped, because we couldn't find any taxis to take us anywhere else and the buses seemed to only go back to where we came from. We wandered around the waterfront and the harbor for a while, checked out a lighthouse, and crawled around on some rocks before we got hungry. We decided that it might be interesting to try one of the many seafood restaurants since we were near where all the seafood is caught, and decided we wanted to try some of the steamed crabs. Fatefully, we walked into what seemed like a nice, inviting restaurant. We found out soon that the restaurant keepers had no intention of keeping the door closed (and the restaurant warm) so we found no respite from the biting cold. On top of that, the menu, although it contained some Enlgish, was very confusing. Then, to top that, the proprietor of the restaurant seemed interested in only getting us to buy the most expensive menu items. After a very frustrating bout of trying to talk to her (in both Korean and English), pointing to the things we wanted (on both the menu and on the other tables), and telling her we were on a budget, she finally told us we were going to get something to eat and wrote 40,000 won on our tab. We waited for our 40,000 won worth food to come and she showed up with one large crab (missing a leg), and seaweed side dishes to share. All the other tables with crabs got soup after they ate their crabs so we waited for a while after finishing for our soup to come. No soup came. We were cold. We left, still hungry (and cold), in disbelief that she had charged us 40,000 won (about $40) for ONE CRAB! Tom and Richy asked around at some of the other restaurants how much crabs should cost... one said two for 30,000. We were all in bad moods and went down to the Family Mart to fill ourselves with something cheap and warm (ramyun, cookies, coffee, etc.). Then we took the bus back to town in defeat. We saw another beautiful sunset starting, but couldn't get off the bus in time to get pictures. We went home to the hostel to take a nap, then ate dinner at Mr. Pizza, which was filling, but riddled with more communication problems with our server. How did we suddenly become unable to order food in Korean? I don't know.

We went to bed early and got up early to catch our 7:45 am train out of town. I'd really like to go back to Gyeongju when the weather is warmer and the grass is green. Either way, I'm looking forward to GOING TO THAILAND this Friday! Ahhh, warmth sounds so good right now...

by Katie

 


PS. In other, ancient treasures of Korea news, Namdaemun gate burned down last night. It's very sad because it was the oldest wooden structure in Korea (over 600 years old) and considered the #1 national treasure. I'm just glad we got to see it before it went. Read the article about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7238210.stm

Reflections on Camp and the Jimjilbang

Last Wednesday, Richy and I returned from Chamsarang (True Love) Winter camp in Daesungni. There, we stayed in a lodge-like dormitory with about 100 middle school students, and more than 20 other teachers and staff members. We knew (unhappily) before coming that we would be sharing bathroom and shower facilities with all these people, but we didn't know that we would also be sleeping Korean-style: on the floor. The experience was definitely exhausting from the get-go, and I broke my usual abstinence from daily caffeine intake. Despite these inconveniences however, I was amazed to leave the camp happy to have participated. It was great to get to know a group students, work with friendly and committed co-teachers and supervisors, and actually have fun teaching English. I find myself actually looking forward to the three week camps in the summer but I also hope that they will include western-style beds and private showers.

Throughout the camp, in the stolen moments I took to bathe and take care of myself, I thought that the upcoming weekend would be a great opportunity for Richy and I to experience a traditional Korean bathhouse, known as a jimjilbang. Korean families typically go to the jimjilbang once a week or so to refresh themselves, relax, and scrub all the skin on their body really hard with a rough cloth. Our friend Min-Hwa did some internet research and found high recommendations for a jimjilbang near Bangi station. Entry fee with coupons was 5,000 won per person. After paying our fees, we were each given a key and placed our shoes in special shoe lockers near the door. Then we were issued our offical jimjilbang uniform: pink shorts and tee for women, blue for men (and red for small children, whose parents can take them in either gender's locker room). Then we went into the locker rooms to change into our outfits and store our street clothes in the lockers. From there, we had several floors of options: in the locker room, we could enter the baths (basically hot tubs featuring a variety of temperatures and treatments), the showers, the cupping room, and the scrub-down tables (where you can have a professional scrub all your skin off if you don't want to do it yourself); on the second floor, you can meet your male friends while wearing your fancy little outfits and try out some of the saunas which range in temp from 43 C (109 F) to 72 C (160 F), afterward you can jump into the cold room -5 C (23 F and complete with snow), or buy a smoothie or lunch at one of the restaurants (and pay with your locker key so you don't have to worry about carrying your wallet around); on the third floor, you'll find more saunas, massage and steam tables, places to get facials and manicures, doctor fish (that eat all the dead skin off your feet), a computer room, an arcade, and rooms full of little cubbies where you can take a nap (most jimjilbangs are open 24hrs so if you need a place to sleep in a pinch this is an option); on the fourth floor is the pool, and above that, there were tennis courts, racquetball rooms, and other such things. Overall, it was a really good experience, but I left feeling a little exhausted and hoping for a less crowded venue for our next jimjilbang experience.

This week is Seollal, also known as Lunar New Year, and we will be celebrating our time off work by traveling south to the city of Gyeongju with our friends Tom and Lindsey. Sometimes called the Kyoto of Korea, Gyeongju is known as one of the most beautiful and historic cities in Korea as it was the capital of the Shilla dynasty from the 7th to the 9th centuries. We're really looking forward to the trip and will definitely be updating the blog when we get back.

Happy Lunar New Year! Hope you enjoy the new look of the blog and the photo cast pictures taken with Richy's new camera!

By Katie

Teeth and Camp

A game, any game, involving many children moving about very quickly on a hard surface such as concrete, inevitably leads to injury. This was the case approximately 15 years ago when, as I only vaguely remember, I was the victim of such a wonderfully instructed Physical Education lesson. The details are blurred by my young age at the time and the ensuing years of subsequent memories, though it was a more important event than many others in my childhood. I remember falling, and someone falling on top of me, and my face smashing into the hard and cold concrete, and getting up to realize that my front right tooth had been broken. I remember going to the nurses office and having my mother come and take me to the dentist. I remember that within perhaps the span of only an hour I had went from having a devastated sense of self-esteem from having a chipped front tooth, to it being like nothing had ever happened. After that my mind never frequently went over the details of that event, though the memory was vivid enough for it to be saved until now.

Fast forward 15 years and a couple thousand miles across the western ocean to Seoul, South Korea. A few friends and I are in a cozy little bar, I'm fiddling with my new camera. Our friend Kitho ordered a plate of french fries to share with us. I began eating the rather soft and large french fries, never once were did it cross my mind that my teeth were in jeopardy. I thought that I'd bitten into a hard over-fried french fry, something unchewable, I spit it out. Moments later the memory of PE class in the third grade came rushing back. It wasn't in fact, an over-cooked hard piece of a french fry, but the replacement tooth that I'd never thought twice about since the 3rd grade.

There were several reasons why this was a bad time for this to happen. First, it was after midnight. Second, we had to leave the next morning to go to a sleep-away camp in an out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere town about an hour outside of Seoul. I really wasn't looking forward to having to teach a 10 day camp with a half-tooth. But unfortunately, in a city of 10 million people, apparently there is no such thing as a dentist that works on Sundays. So after visiting two emergence rooms, and explaining that waiting until Monday wasn't an option, we had to depart for the winter camp with nothing more than a paste applied to my tooth to stop the sensitivity I'd been feeling.

I really wanted this to be fixed as soon as possible. As the doctor in the second emergency room aptly stated, in rather good english, "The problem is that it doesn't look so good." (One note about the healthcare profession in Korea: nearly every doctor speaks english well and if not, someone in the hospital or office will speak english well, as they have more than likely studied abroad. So, luckily, translation isn't too troublesome to worry about.) Well, in Seoul I know I could find decent dental care, but in the rather small resort village, in the off-season, where the camp is located, I was worried that the best they would be able to muster was some magician/shaman trained in chinese medicine and traditional arts. Well, to shorten this already over-the-top narrative, I was mistaken. Though I had to wait an additional 24 hours, the next morning after we arrived they took me to a quite-modern looking and advanced dental office called, "New York Dental," (probably named after where he studied.) The dentist had prominently displayed a photograph of himself among a group of western dentists. And he spoke rather good english. I didn't even have to wait 5 min. and within maybe 45 min. total my tooth was fixed. We were back an hour or so before the students even arrived at the camp.

Now my teeth are back to normal, though the novocaine has yet to wear off, but I'm still trying to remember the details about the initial incident, who fell on top of me, for instance. And I can't help but wonder why french fries managed to pull it off, and not the sandwich that I'd eaten an hour or two before. Nevertheless, I can safely say that the dental system in Korea is at least on par with the dental system in the states 4 years ago, which was about the last time I visited a dentist.

The New Year

So back home you think the holidays have already passed... well not in Korea! We're still in the midst of the holiday season with Lunar New Year coming up at the beginning of February. It's a good thing too because the holiday lights are necessary to your emotional well-being when you're wandering around with your face freezing off in the dead of the Korean winter.






Haley came and went, sadly. We didn't do as many glamorous things as I had hoped. The cold weather put a bit of a damper on any out of the house activities. On the upside, I felt like my home life was normal again. I think I am used to having an overabundance of estrogen in my living situations. This whole 50-50 thing is just not what I'm used to. We did go out to a fancy dinner for New Years (the best Italian food I've had in a long time), did a lot of shopping, and visited the DMZ.







The DMZ is a several kilometer-wide expanse of unoccupied territory between North and South Korea. It is manned on both sides by military personnel and monitored by the United Nations. It's necessary because the Korean war is still technically not over, as a peace treaty was never signed, only a cease fire (I read in the news today that the plan is to have a peace treaty signed by 2010). While the land is still riddled with land mines and anti-tank barriers, it now harbors some of the most pristine wilderness on the Korean peninsula (including tiny deer that grow fangs instead of antlers) as a result of it being virtually untouched by mankind for over 50 years. We got to stand in North Korea for a few moments and took some bleak-looking but interesting pictures. On the way back in the bus we watched a documentary about the Korean war, and it was amazing to see footage of the city back when it was leveled by war (only 50 years ago) while driving through the giant metropolis that has sprung up since.

Richy and I have both started our in-school winter camps which are much more relaxed that our normal school days. It's nice having a small number of students to get to know and be able to have more one-on-one time with them. It's also nice getting off work early and having the rest of the day to do whatever we want. Next weekend we start our away camp, so for ten days we'll be staying at a complex outside of the city. I'm a little bit nervous about it just because I don't really know what to expect. I hope it isn't too stressful as I know other NSETs have complained about them in the past. Either way, we'll be making extra money which we will be spending on our trip to Thailand for the last two weeks of February. We are both looking forward to sand and sunshine. It will be a much needed break from all the cold weather here. I'm hoping that springtime in Seoul will be showing itself when we get back.

Richy recently invested in a fancy digital SLR camera so he's been taking a lot more pictures. So we should have more photos up soon (and of a much higher quality).



By Katie

Winter Break!

We have a week off. An entire week away from school where we get to do whatever we want. Too bad it's only a week. It's the end of our first semester, and the end of the Korean school year. Yesterday I had to say goodbye to the two Vice-Principals at my school because... I won't be seeing them for a month and a half? I'm not sure exactly what the hoopla was about, but apparently the last day of the semester/year is a mildly formal affair. It was the last day of the school year, but I would have expected some sort of graduation ceremony or goodbye to the students event. There was no such thing. I was just taken in to say something kind to the VPs and bow to them. And since they have the final say in affairs related to me (i.e. leaving early or vacation time), I don't have any problems with doing whatever is necessary to keep them happy.

After the formalities they let me leave early. Katie and I had to get to the airport by 5:30 to meet Haley (Katie's younger sister), and it's about a two hour ride on the subway from our apartment. Haley's here to visit for a couple of weeks. We're happy to have some company. The next week should be pretty fun. We don't know what we'll be doing for New Year's Eve, but it doesn't look like we'll be going to Japan like we'd wanted to do. It would end up being too much for Haley to afford. So we'll be sticking around here instead.

It'll be nice to have a break though. We might actually have enough time to relax and reflect and think. Then next week we start our winter camps.

Four Months In

Today marks our fourth month here. That's one-third of our time. And the journey to the half-way mark (six months) is probably going to be fast. Our regular classes end this week, and between now and the beginning of March we'll only have one more week of regular classes. We'll have three weeks of English camps to do in January though, two weeks of which are half-days. Also, we'll be attending a special 10 day camp outside of Seoul at the end of January, for which we'll be getting quite a nice bit of extra cash.

We'll have some time off between now and then to do some traveling too. We're scheming up plans to go to Japan for New Years Eve, and we're planning on going to Thailand and potentially Cambodia too in February.

After that we'll be halfway through, and we'll be thrust into a five month long stretch with practically no holidays, which I've heard described as "the longest five months of your life" by some of the veterans here.

As for the financial front (the impetus for it all) we're four months in and have ~$5,000 saved. Which is on track for the goal of $15,000 by the end. Of course, our travel plans will probably shrink this a bit. But that's the kind of thing we're planning on doing with this money anyway. And the special winter camp will make up for some of that.

Well, I better get back to work here on Christmas Eve. Actually it's not too bad, my lesson for this week is Christmas vocabulary and the "Frosty the Snowman" cartoon.

Happy Holidays,

Richy.

Incheon and the Yellow Sea

On Saturday we planned on going to the Van Gogh exhibit here in Seoul. The exhibit is supposed to be one of the largest assemblages of Van Gogh paintings anywhere in the past decade, and the last showing of Van Goghs in Asia for the next ten years, with two of the largest Museums in the Netherlands loaning paintings from their collections. It started in late November and will continue until March. But our plans were foiled.

None of our friends wanted to get up early enough or weren't interested enough to go. After debating whether or not to go by ourselves to the museum, our friends Tom and Lindsey called us with a somewhat ridiculous suggestion to go to Incheon to see the Yellow Sea. It was already 2:00 in the afternoon and the trip to Incheon is nearly 2 hours from our place. With the sun setting at around 5:00 here we realized that it wouldn't be the most scenic or comfortable outing. Nevertheless, it was an intriguing idea, and I have been wanting to go to Incheon for some time.

Incheon is technically a separate city from Seoul, though you'd be hard pressed to tell where one ends and the other begins. It is one of the busiest ports in the world and is where Seoul's international airport is located. Incheon also has an important role in Korea's recent history. It was in Incheon that Douglas MacArthur and a group of UN soldiers made an amphibious landing to turn the tide in the Korean war. Well, almost turned the tide, as the country is still divided in two. Without a doubt this is one of the most important events of modern Korean history, as the American influence in South Korea has been tremendously influential in every aspect of it's post-war culture, for better or worse. But this isn't the only reason why the Koreans venerate MacArthur, as they also adore him for defeating the Japanese in World War II, which ended the half century Japanese occupation of Korea, one of the most shameful periods of history for the Koreans.

So to illustrate MacArthur's importance they have erected a large statue of MacArthur on top of a hill overlooking Incheon's port. Just how important this statue is can be understood by the simple fact that the statue of Confucius (who can be credited with laying the intellectual and cultural foundations for several east asian cultures) is lower on the hill and quite smaller.

Sinterklass

We went to our Dutch friend Noor's place yesterday to celebrate the Dutch holiday Sinterklaas. Apparently in the Netherlands they have two holidays when we have one. Sinterklaas means just what it sounds like it means: Santa Claus. So whereas we've smashed together a christian holy day and a more secular day of gift giving into one mega-holiday, the Dutch, as well as many of our other European cousins, have two separate days. One Santa Claus day and a separate jesus birthday.

On Sinterklaas in the Netherlands, you exchange gifts. Children wake up to get gifts from stockings, just like Christmas. And families gather etc. Another interesting tradition that is a bit more unusual is that it is common to write rude poems about everyone in attendance. Normally, each person writes a rude poem for someone else. But since Noor was the only Dutch person at her Sinterklaas party, she took it upon herself to write a short poem for all of the guests that came. She tried to walk a fine line between preserving the Sinterklaas rude poem tradition, and not pissing off all of her rather new friends, in other words, what we received were apparently watered down versions of a real Sinterklaas poem. I think she was pretty successful though. My poem was something along the lines of: your better at playing the Wii than you are at Noraebang.

It was interesting to experience a different culture translated around the world like that. Perhaps back home it would seem strange. But, in Asia, when you meet others from European countries, you realize just how closely related the European cultures are, and America is a European culture. So Sinterklaas feels not at all unfamiliar. Of course, if everyone was speaking Dutch it might have been a bit different. But I don't think any European holiday would feel as weird as a traditional Korean Chuseok festival complete with making an entire meal for your dead ancestors....


- by Richy


So Sinterklaas was nice, but the highlight of the weekend for me was the housewarming party we went to on Saturday.

The day started out less than ideal. Richy and I rolled out of the house in the early afternoon to check our bank statements in Suyu, get some lunch and pick up some gifts to bring to our two weekend parties (because we're such social butterflies). I had a run-in with a curb at the bank, which left me with a sore ankle, dirty knees, and scraped up hands --- then at our fancy McDonald's lunch, I spilled my full soda all over the floor, much to the delight of the depressed-looking cleaning girl. Then we headed off to Dongdaemun Stadium, which is the shopping mecca of Seoul, where I was entranced by the garish displays of Christmas lights and bought the bitterest grapefruit juice drink I have ever tasted (only drinkable after considerable watering down). We went to the 1,000 won store (the Korean version of the dollar store) to get some good white elephant-style gifts for the Sinterklaas party, and I found a glowing pink mushroom lamp and Richy found a "classic" mini globe. Korea is the best place I've found yet for buying cheap, hilarious crap (haven't been to China and Japan yet though).

Then we took the short subway ride to Min-Hwa's tiny apartment housewarming party. Although the place is a small studio, she's done an excellent job decorating it with candles, a pretty rug, some houseplants, and the centerpiece of her entertainment center: two very perky-breasted African woman figures. Her mother (who lives in the southern seaside city of Busan) sent a large styrofoam package of Korean king crabs. Although there was only 5 of us, we had 8 huge crabs to share, plus six bottles of wine (which we didn't finish thankfully). Housewarming seems to be a pretty big deal in Korea, but I am glad Richy and I never had one because A: I don't want all my co-teachers to come to my house (I'm afraid my housekeeping may not be up to Korean standards) B: We don't need all that stuff to get rid of when we leave. We spent our post-crab time playing wii sports until Min-Hwa fell asleep and we took the amazingly short cab ride home (typically early morning cab rides seem to take an hour and cost close to 20,000 won, where as this one only cost 8,000). This was the highlight of my weekend because I love crab. We're going to have to make it out to Busan one of these days.

Then we had Sinterklaas, which Richy already covered. Next weekend we may go see the Van Gogh exhibit...


- by Katie

Thanksgiving

We had a thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. Our friends Tom and Lindsey from back home came, as well as our newer friends Kitho from North Carolina, Min-Hwa from Busan, Korea, and Noor from the Netherlands. It was Min-Hwa and Noor's first time celebrating thanksgiving.

Katie prepared pies and stuffing, Kitho made mashed potatoes, Tom and Lindsey brought some wine, I made sweet potatoes. Unfortunately turkey isn't very easy to get or affordable here, so we had to have a roast chicken instead. But it wasn't too far from a traditional meal.

After dinner and pies, and a few bottles of wine, we played some Wii games.

Then we had a couple of bottles of soju.

And then we we were ready to go to NORAEBANG (고래방). Not exactly traditional, but it was fun anyway.

There's a Noraebang near our place that I've wanted to go to for a while. Noraebangs are very prevalent. You cannot walk down any street without seeing several (Unless, of course, you can't read korean, in which case you'd be oblivious). And so, because of their prevalence, they try to differentiate themselves. This particular Noraebang tries to set itself apart from the rest by having a creepy alien-nest theme. Each of the Noraebang singing rooms is covered in a plaster to look like some sort of alien plant is growing over them. And there are creepy statues everywhere. Inside the nest-rooms, though, is just your typical Noraebang set-up. Several television sets for the Karaoke part, lined with benches, a giant remote control to input the songs, and some tamborines.

All Noraebangs have an English language section, though I'm beginning to realize that they all have the same crappy selection. Still it's a couple of hundred english songs to choose from.

We paid up front for an hour at 15,000 won (about 15 dollars) and sang to our hearts content and until our voices were fading.

It was a strange but satisfying thanksgiving.