Seol-nal and Tteokguk

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Dear Blog Readers,

I’m very confused. I’m not really sure what is going on. In fact, nobody really seems to know what’s going on. I think the students are coming in on Friday then we have a week of lessons then they have a week off then they have a week back and then the school year ends. I think whoever made up the months of the year actually forgot about February. Firstly, the spelling of the month is weird, that ‘r’ after the ‘b’ is almost as subtle as spelling weird as wired. Secondly, I think they did a calendar trial run for one year and got to the end and thought, “Damn, we’re missing 28 days, or is it 29 days?” Then it may have dawned on them, “How many days have the other months got? 30 or 31?” Somebody high up, probably the Principal of the Calendar, summoned his power, “Let’s make a new month. February. It will have 28 days. Sometimes 29.” So we are blessed with a month of complete limbo where nobody really knows what is going on.

The ferry back from Fukuoka was great. Laura slept most of the way so games of Word Association and I Spy were out of the window. Out of the window was a beautiful sunset across the harbour of Busan as the sun crept behind the high rise buildings looking out to sea and that had been pleasurably absent from most of Japan, particularly in the rural areas. We got the last bus back to Daejeon and realised there were no more buses back to Boeun so we’d have to stay in our favourite motel, BoBo’s. Mr BoBo greeted us at the reception desk and gave us a discounted night for 40,000Won, maybe he knew we were ‘regulars’ now that it was our 3rd time of visiting. It was Seol-nal so everywhere else was charging 60,000+Won.

Seol-nal (설날) is the Korean New Year. It is the first day of the lunar calendar and is celebrated with a three day national holiday, this year it was on 2nd, 3rd and 4th February. It’s a family orientated affair and most Koreans go to their home town to celebrate it. This would explain why the ferry port and bus terminals were so busy last Tuesday when we got back. We got back to Boeun on Thursday and it was eerily quiet. Well, more eerily quiet than usual. Nothing was open and we had no family to have tteokguk with. We were very excited to spend some time with our neighbours, Leonnard and Michelle and find out all about their month long trip home to South Africa.

The next few days were a recovery period for us. I could finish writing the Japan blog chronicles and recover from the lack of sleep and intense schedules in Japan. We didn’t really realise how much we’d actually got done until we had chance to reflect and when a women at the ferry port asked us about our trip for some research, we pretty much ticked every box available much to her, and our, astonishment. In fact, a Korean man sat opposite us leant in and saw her ticking every box and then looked at us then looked back at the sheet and then turned to some people next to him and said what I think was along the lines of, “Look. Two weeks. All of that! They are richee!”

Inspired by the Buddhist temples and ideology that we encountered in Japan, Laura decided to look more closely into following the religion. She began by downloading some Buddhist chants and meditation music. Luckily she hasn’t spotted me changing “Butchered At Birth” by Cannibal Corpse as “Chants For Inner Peace” by Nawang Khechog. Anyway, she insisted that this was serious and to leave her alone whilst she did some meditating. After spending about 20 minutes setting the room up with nice lighting and some incense, she began. Twenty-seven seconds later she comes out protesting that the music is too difficult to meditate to and she can’t do it. Now that is what I called dedication.

As we bring in the Year of the Rabbit, I tried to explain to Laura that you don’t have to take it literally. However, she insisted that she wanted to go on another diet and eat like a rabbit. The salads have been coming in and she’s cutting kiwi’s with huge chopping knifes. The knife size to fruit size ratio is simply barbaric. She also bought a huge tray of alfalfa from Costco which would supply a hungry family of rabbits at least a month to consume yet we’re trying to get through it by the end of the week!

The diet has also brought with it an overwhelming desire to download The Biggest Loser. A program from America which takes morbidly obese people and makes them not morbidly obese. Laura loves it. I love it too. Mainly because whilst she’s watching it I can play on Call of Duty with no fear of physical or emotional repercussions. Tennis has all but dried up at the moment. Mainly it’s because it is too cold for me but we know that does not stop the Koreans from playing. Also, my footwear isn’t suitable apparently so I need to go and buy some proper trainers so that I don’t destroy the courts.

My fitness has taken a hit so I decided to do the unthinkable…go to the gym. I hate gyms with a passion. Last time I went my friend thought it would be funny to do a starting blocks crouched position whilst the treadmill was running full pelt and he went flying. Thankfully, his embarrassment overshadowed mine so I didn’t need to quickly change the weights pin from 10kg to 70kg whenever somebody walked past. This time it was different. Not only was Laura there, but it seemed like an alert had gone out to all foreigners of Boeun to announce my Boeun Gym debut. Betty, Chris, Leonnard and Michelle, all seasoned veterans of the gym-ing trade were there to witness my misery. I enjoy running so I decided to run to the gym as a warm up before going on the cycling machines. This was useful as I could watch other people use the real equipment and see how to use them. After about 10 minutes I was already spent. Feeling nauseous and faint combined with the overwhelming embarrassment of being incredibly unfit meant an early finish. Disaster.

The few calories that were lost at the gym were quickly restored with a good samgyeopsal with the other foreigners. It was great to catch up and see how everybody’s holidays had been. We even tried out the pool tables, or should I say, Pocketball. They have a weird billiards type game here but the bloke who owned the place just seemed to be hitting the cue ball repeatedly without touching any of the other balls. I was also amazed that Americans didn’t really know what snooker was! My description of “it’s pool, on a much bigger table, smaller pockets and more balls,” probably didn’t do it justice.

I arrived at school on Thursday for my last day of desk-warming before school starts on Friday to be greeted by a student, “Simon Teacher. School. Start. Today?” Oh the humiliation. It’s like going to school on non-uniform day dressed in uniform. Back at home, I asked Laura how different the new elementary school textbook is. They’ve been stressing about it as though it was going to be revolutionising the English minds of young Koreans. Apparently it’s the same book but with a different front cover. They've also changed the characters names. I'm waiting for South Korea to go as political-correctness-gone-mad as the UK by changing them from Min-su and Jin-ho to Aisha and Abdulla. Classic.

The lunchtimes whilst I’ve been at the school have been great. There are no school dinners and normally there are only 3 or 4 of us at the school. One teacher buys the lunch for the day, normally it is the teacher answering the phone, which means I’ve hardly had to buy lunch. My guilty conscious meant I normally tried to bring something in for dessert and I bought pizzas for everybody once. I’ve been able to have some good conversations with teachers who are normally too shy to try and speak English. I’ve also had some awesome new food. I have a new love for make-your-own-bibimbap and I was introduced to bokumbap.

Lessons have begun. As expected, nobody wants to learn anything. The students have had a good laugh at my epic snowboarding fail video. Most students seem to have spent their holiday inside the PC Bang. One student was rewarded with having to hold his hands above his head for 20 minutes for exclaiming that he’d been to a brothel over the winter vacation. I was encouraged when one student said he’d been to Argentina, but upon further enquiry, he’d actually just looked at it on Google Maps inside the PC Bang. Graduation is next week. I’ve heard it is a pretty big deal here but I think I’m missing it because I’ll be teaching at one of my other schools. I’m also slightly relieved as I’ve just translated a memo that has come through which says, “Graduation is a small party afterwards violence prevention plan.” What?

One last thing to note. I’ve just got my hair cut in Cheongju and my stylist was called ‘Hyae Ri’. She was obviously destined to be a hair dresser with that name!

Tink and Laura

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Photos

Sunset
Great sunset view from our apartment.

Boeun
A crisp winter morning overlooking Boeun.

Old Traditional House
Randomly in the middle of Boeun. Used to be the city hall!

Slide
She misread, "Only for 1-2 year olds" to be "Only for 1-22 year olds."

Pocketball
Yes! Finally!

The Glove
We take it seriously.

Tactics
Julie: "Don't worry, I've got a table in my basement at home."

8 Ball
Terrible colour choice. Which one is the 8 ball??

Comments

[Liv]

He he. Glad to see you two have settled back to 'normality' in Korea. Was really great to meet you in Japan, send us a copy of your snowboarding fail video! Liv.