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Last weekend was probably one of the best weekend’s I’ve had in Korea so far. It started out as a typical Friday where I was exhausted from having taught my 2nd grade and Kindergarten classes, plus the two extra afterschool lessons that I was told about ten minutes beforehand. It seems to be the Korean way for bosses to tell employees of things right at the last possible moment. For the life of me I won’t ever understand this.
That evening after taking a short nap I went to my Korean language class, which has basically become the Friday night social gathering for the 'Yongin Crew' that I've started to associate myself with. After Korean class around 8:30 we decided to go and eat before we would head out to the bar. A favorite restaurant of mine here in Yongin serves what is called Dwen Jeon Chigae. It means ‘bean sprout soup.’ It’s a pepper based soup with onions, tofu, cucumbers and of course bean sprouts. This is hands down one of my favorite Korean soups. With the soup we ordered some pork which we grilled on the small sunflower oil burner that sat on the center of the table. This grill basically serves as a community plate for everyone. The pork and the soup are complimented with a bunch of traditional Korean side dishes. These side dishes are typically radishes, garlic cloves, cabbage, and of course Kimchi. (I’m actually starting to like Kimchi, who would of known!) There were five of us, so with the food, 5 bottles of bear and 3 bottles of Soju it was like 14,000 Won each. Soju is a rice-based distilled liquor. It’s basically like a diluted vodka and Koreans go nuts over it. It’s about 20% alcohol and it only runs for about 1500 Won a bottle. Around 9:30 were getting ready to leave as the two other parties in the restaurant just started pouring us all shots of Soju. A few of my friends speak fairly decent Korean, so everyone started to have conversing with one another in a mixture of English, Korean, and Konglish. The next thing I knew there were 5 bottles of beer and 2 bottles of soju sitting on our table that one of the parties provided us. A couple in one of the parties happened to be the parents of one of my friend Trevor’s students. This only
contributed to the continual flow of beer and soju. By around 11;15 we gave our thanks to the two parties and tried to leave, but once the mother of the student caught wind of this attempt she immediately disappeared. 15 minutes of soju shots later we started walking out of the restaurant as we see the mother frantically running up the street towards us with a cake in her hand. In broken English she was shouting “Teachers Day cake for Englishee teachas!” It was quite a surprise. None of us wanted to eat cake but we graciously accept the offer along with the additional bottles of beer and soju that followed. By the time we left the restaurant it was well past 1:00am and we were all just flat out tanked. These people are great people who really see the value of the English language and who are grateful to have westerners in their country. Unlike the many Koreans who despise the thousands of foreign intruders that have invaded their homeland. They also asked me if I would be willing to provide their son with english lessons for 4 hours a week at 30,000 won an hour. Awefully tempting but
Trevor says it will be a difficult private lesson as the kid's english level is very low and he does not seem to care in class. I meet with them tomorrow so I'll make my decision then.
Saturday my buddy Bryan, a Denver native who teaches high school invited me to go to Seoul with him for the remainder of the weekend. In Seoul, we met up with his Korean girlfriend Mina and 4 of his friends (Kailie, Katie, Amy & Austin) that all came up from Tongyeong which is on the southern point of the Korean peninsula. Our plan was to go to a baseball game that evening, then go to the ‘Lotus Lantern Festival’ on Sunday. We attempted to go to the baseball game (which are just a ton of fun), but it was sold out and scalpers immediately started to jack up the prices. Amy and Austin were suckered into paying the ridiculous price of 30,000 Won (about $28usd). Tickets normally run under 20,000 Won. Bryan, Mina, Kailie, Katie and I went to the Gangnam area of Seoul where Mina and I split off so she could help me find a cell phone. Cell phone shops
line the streets and underground shopping centers everywhere you turn in Korea so I knew this wouldn't take long. I just needed a trustable Korean person to help me with the contract. Mina went to college fot 4 years in New Zealand so her english is remarkably good. With my new cell phone in hand we met back up with Bryan and the girls who were sitting outside of a 7-11 type convenience store just drinking beer while waiting for the game to finish. Our group reunited later on as we met in Itaewon to find a good western meal. Tongyeong is a very remote town so western food is nearly impossible to come find. After some more drinking Mina went back to her home in Seoul, the Tongyeong group miraculously found there way back to their hotel via the use of subways, buses, and taxis. Brian and I kept it simple and went to the Jinjebong that is in the center of Itaewon.
Jinjebongs are awesome! You pay 7000 Won to basically go crash on a yo and. Not only is it a cheap place to crash but they also have the nude spas that's open 24/7. Just before
passing out Bryan hands me this rice based smoothie drink. I asked him what was in it, but he basically told me to not worry about it and to just drink it as it would cure any hangover. I still don’t know what was in it but probably good advice nonetheless. That morning we took it easy, relaxing in the sauna while laughing at how the whole nude spa thing would never fly back in the states, also at how the Korean guys love to scrub each other down. It's quite the site to watch a nude Korean dude sit on a water bucket in the fetal position in front of the other as he grunts continually while his mate gives lathers him up and gives him a full body scrub down.
That afternoon we met up with Mina and the Tongyeong group in the Seoul neighborhood of Insadong for the ‘Lotus Lantern Festival.’ None of us had any clue what it was exactly but we are all darn glad we went. I’m still not entirely sure what the significance of the purpose of it all was. All I know is it’s an annual Buddhist celebration that attracts people from
all over the world. There were tents and exhibits everywhere. The main drag strip in Insadong was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder with people who were checking out the various different tents that lined the gutters, probably for about a mile long. There was everything from: food stands, street vendors, craft stands, and demo stands. There were also stages spread around the neighborhood that held various different theatrical performances. That evening there was a parade that went right through one of the busiest streets in Seoul. I think only the pictures can describe how incredible and extravagant some of these floats were. I was blown away by not only the coordination of this massive three day event, but also at just the detail of some of these floats. While standing along the sidewalk, the performance in front of me often at times seemed surreal. I can’t really describe it, just check out the pictures.
The weekend was filled with probably the most drinking I’ve done since college, but it was also filled with a very unique cultural experience that wouldn't have been experienced had I not been out drinking. The group from Tongyeong all turned out to be really chill and a lot
Lotus Lamp Festival 110
Bryon, Mina, Kailie, Katie & Me enjoying the paradeof fun to enjoy the weekend with. They invited us Yongin crew members to go camping with them this weekend on the island of Goeje. It’s the National holiday of Buddha’s Birthday on Friday so all of us have a three day weekend coming up, definitely an ideal weekend to make the trip.
I've included some more pictures of my branch school Doochang that I took today since I realized I hadn't taken any. Also I've included the same pictures of the Korean meal with the Cho family since many of you never were able to view them.
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Monica Schane
non-member comment
Wow
Wow this was great to read.. I am so glad that you are enjoying yourself. I think the experience is incredible! I'm proud of you Jason. Love, Mom