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Published: October 8th 2007
At the end of our hike
If you look close there is stairs in between the 2 mountains.Oh wow....long time again. Anyways, starting where I left off....
School Field trip! That morning we took a bus ride out to the sea where we all went out to the mud flats to dig for clams and whatever else we could find. It was pretty fun and the kids loved it. They got right into it as well and had no qualms about getting down and dirty. Some of the kids went into the mud with their shoes on and they would just get stuck. I was busy taking pictures and I saw this one boy whose feet were suctioned in the mud and he couldnt move. He was just standing there crying with his feet stuck in the mud. He looked so cute I wanted to take a picture but I felt bad because this poor kid was stuck and there was nothing he could do about it. So I ran over there and rescued him. Once he was free he took off in the mud in his socks and I dug for his shoes.
After that we all had some lunch and then went for a boat ride. We saw so many jellyfish it was stupid. Honestly,
we were on the boat for maybe 30 minutes and we probably saw more than 60 jellyfish. The kids are I were having races to see who could spot them first so we saw pretty much every one. I was just glad I was on a boat and not swimming.
The next weekend I decided to go rock climbing. I had never been outdoor rock climbing before even though I have always wanted to. I've also only been indoor wall climbing twice in my life. So not much experience but I was excited to give it a go. After work on Friday I met up with these 3 guys from the US Air Force. We had to meet at the bus station so I told them to look for the only blonde and that would be me. Sure enough, I was the only blonde in the whole place so I was pretty easy to find. They were super nice guys.
When we finally got to Wonju it was pouring rain. Actually we had learned that there was a typhoon headed for South Korea (how fun...) so we didnt know if the rain was ever going to stop. There were
a few others that were already out at the site camping so one of them just came to pick us up at the bus station. We got out there, did the introduction thing and then just chilled out and watched the rain all night.
Saturday morning the rain had subsided quite a bit. After some breakfast we decided to go and check out the rocks. They were still incredibly wet but they decided to try it anyways. More people had come out by now so there was quite the group of people. I was probably the most beginner climber there...and the only one without any gear. Everyone was climbing in this one area that wasnt beginner level but I didnt want to be a drag and make someone come with me all the way to the beginner climbs, so I just decided to try out these ones. Granted the rocks were wet which makes it harder to climb....and it was my first time, but I think I did pretty good overall. Only a few slips and I made it to the top everytime. I loved it, the people I met were great and unfortunately I havent been out again with
them. As you'll read, my next few weekend were quite full so I havent had the chance, and also I want to buy some gear before I go again so I dont have to be such a mooch.
The weekend after that was Chuseok. Its a pretty big and important holiday in Korea. Its kind of like Korean Thanksgiving. My Korean friend Timmy and his family were nice enough to invite me to their place for the holiday. He told me that generally Chuseok is usually only a family thing and that some of his family members would be surprised to see me there. He also told me that the main reason they would be surprised is because generally when a guy brings a girl to his home for Chuseok it means they they are getting married and she will soon become officially part of the family. Haha..this would definitely be interesting then.
We get to his house and it was just his parents there. They were incredibly nice and welcoming. They didnt speak any English so Timmy had to do all the translating. Actually no one that whole weekend really spoke English at all so Timmy did tons
of translating. Later on that night I met Timmy's younger cousins. They were super cute! We also had some dinner which consisted of kimchi, rice, fish, squid etc. Oh also, I forgot to mention, but their living room had no furniture in it what-so-ever. Just a bare hardwood floor that you sit on to watch TV, read a book, visit, eat....anything. I dont think I have ever sat on the floor so much in one weekend. They could sit for hours in one position. Me...not so much. I was constantly moving around because my feet would lose circulation if I sat in one position for too long. I cant believe how flexible they all were. They could all get up and down no problem and sit in what looked incredibly uncomfortable positions...and these were older people as well. I'd like to see my Grandma do what they did...actually I'd even like to see my dad do what they did. That would be a production and a half.
The next morning we had breakfast. This was a typical korean breakfast of rice, kimchi, fish and squid. Yum, hey? Later on in the day some more of his family came. There was
a few looks of surprise when they met me, but they were all really nice people. Timmy, his aunt and I all went to Seorekson mountain. Its in a national park where there are tons of hiking trails, a gondola and different things to explore and do. We did some hiking. It was absolutely beautiful! I was told that its even nicer in Fall when the leaves turn color so I am hoping to maybe go camping out there then and do some more hikes. After that we went back to his place, met more of his family and had some dinner.
After that we made some Song Pyeon. Its a traditional Korean food. You take chestnuts and a sugar mixture and wrap it in a dough. There is a certain way you have to do it though and I was told that if you make beautiful Song Pyeon it means you will have beautiful girls. Granted I was just a beginner at making Song Pyeon, but I thought mine were pretty beautiful.
I dont know if I have mentioned in earlier posts, but karaoke is pretty popular here in Korea. They have karaoke bars that are called Noreabangs. You
get a group of people together and you have your own private karaoke room where you can party and sing to your hearts delight. Well Timmy's dad and uncles really like karaoke. They pulled out the karaoke machine that night and we all sat outside listening to them show off their singing skills. Timmy's family lives out in the country so they had it pretty loud. Probably about an hour or two into singing the cops came and told them to turn it down because they had gotten a noise complaint! How awesome is that?! I thought it was hilarious. Timmy kept apologizing saying this doesnt normally happen, but I loved everything about it.
The cops kind of dampened everyones spirits so they stopped karaoke all together and all the older family members went back inside. It was just Timmy, a cousin, an uncle and his wife, an aunt and myself left outside. We were all pretty much the same age so we just drank and ate and they tried to speak English to me. The more they drank the funnier it got and it pretty much turned into a gong show.
The next morning we were woken up bright
and early so they could do their traditional ceremony. Its a ceremony that gives thanks to their ancestors for food and drink etc. They display all of this food on a table do a few other ceremonious things and then they all line up and do this bow. It was very cool to watch what they did. After they were done that we had a big feast and ate a ton of food. After this was done, the 6 of us from last night decided to go to some of their family members grave and carry out a ceremony there. We went to 3 graves and what you do is lay out some food in front of the grave and do the bowing again. Then you pour a bottle of Soju on the grave.
Graves are much different than back in Canada. There are no tombstones or any designated area that you bury someone. I think that you bury them wherever you want. I'm sure there are certain customs that determine where you bury someone, but to me it just looks like a big hump in the ground in the middle of nowhere with no documentation of who is buried
there.
After this we just went back and I was on my bus ride home. It took me 2 hours to get out to Chuncheon from Suwon because I went when there was no traffic. Coming back to Suwon was a different story. The traffic was stupid. It look me over 4 hours to get back home. Thats the one thing in Korea that I dont think I could handle if I lived here for a long period of time. When traffic is bad...which seems to be often, expressways, highways every road is at a crawling pace. Never in my life have I seen traffic as bad as in Korea. I actually talked to a few of my freinds who went down south for Chuseok. It would normally take 4 or 5 hours to get there with no traffic. When they came home, they left that 7pm thinking that if they drove later on at night the traffic wouldnt be as bad. They didnt get back to Suwon until 6am. They drove in bumper to bumper traffic for 11 hours! Even at 2 in the morning the highways and expressways were at a standstill. Uhhh...that is awful.
The
weekend after that I decided to go to Seoul and see Trena. Friday night we didnt do much and then Saturday we did tons of shopping and I spent way too much money. We also decided to go out to Itaewon that night. I have only been there once before and I thought it was very sketchy. But we were planning on going to this bar that is like a beach on the inside. They have sand and hammocks and everything in there. Then we were going to go to a country bar that is around there. I really do miss country music and everything country since being in Korea so I needed a country bar fix. Well, when we got out of the cab we decided to go into Rocky Mountain Tavern for a drink first. Its a Canadian pub in Itaewon. Well anyways, we actually ended up meeting a good group of people there and stayed there almost the entire night. It was tons of fun. We did venture to the country bar, but there were 4 people there (how sad...) so we ended up back at RMT. The next morning was brunch and I was headed back
to Suwon.
Now onto this past weekend. I headed up to Seoul again to see Trena and some of the guys we had met the weekend before. Friday didnt consist of much. Well it was originally going to be filled with a bit of hiking and heading up to Seoul Tower so we could look out over the city. But, I ended up not leaving until late, traffic was backed up (how surprising), a few other things happened and so when we went up to Seoul Tower we were too late and it was already closed. So ya, it didnt work out too well that night. Saturday I did some window shopping for Christmas presents. There are tons of good things to buy, now I just need to get paid. That night was just dinner, some hookah and hanging out. It was a pretty good weekend, but I think I am done with Seoul for a while. Two weekends in a row is more than enough. I'm not sure what my plans are for this weekend, maybe rock climbing, maybe a latern festival, maybe some hiking...its all up in the air at the moment.
Schools been good. We
just got another foreign teacher. His name is Matthew and hes from Britain. Seems like a good guy so that will be nice. Oh, one of the Korean teachers left as well. I thought she was just sick or something but then they informed me she quit and just left a note for the boss Friday after work informing her of this. So that was interesting.
Hmmm, something else I've noticed about Koreans lately is that she always apologize for their English skills or lack there of. Whether they speak almost fluently or just know a few words. If I am in a taxi and the taxi driver knows practically no English but is trying to make conversation he will apologize for his English. If I am talking to someone who is almost fluent and forgets how to say a certain word in English they will apologize. Holy smokes! I always tell them not to apologize. I'm the one in Korea, I should apologize for how awful my Korean is. I can say like 12 words and I still dont even know the alphabet. Pretty bad considering I've been here for over 2 months and the alphabet is extremely
easy to learn. All I have to do is just dedicate a few hours to it. Man I suck.
Also, being caucasion I've been told I have a 'small face.' Its actually pretty common for a foreigner to hear that. I dont know what it means exactly since I dont think Koreans have overly huge faces, but supposedly mine is small. We had a new teacher come to my school a while ago and I was told by one of the Korean teachers that the new teacher has a smaller face than mine. Huh, who would have thought....
Oh and also, just as a morbid side note...but I think I might die in a taxi. Not once, but twice, have I been in a taxi where the driver has literally been falling asleep at the wheel. Driving in Seoul is ridiculous to say the least so its a good idea to be alert and know whats going on. How do you think I feel when I am sitting in the back of a taxi all calm and relaxed and all of a sudden the taxi driver will up and smack himself across the face and start pinching his
hand or leg while hes driving! And then they'll do the whole head shake and kind of rub their face to wake themselves up. One guy started singing a song to himself. Yup, all this stuff is going on in the front and I'm sitting there wide eyed in the back praying for my life and discreetly putting on my seatbelt. Another time, after the bar, this taxi takes us back to Trenas house going 160kmh pretty much the entire way. Good God! Trena said that was the quickest shes ever gotten back home. I dont doubt it.... Then there is just the fact that taxi drivers run red lights all the time, people are always cutting people off, motorbikes ride up in between traffic and people are neverendlessly honking at each other for a number of reasons. So yes, I may very well die in a taxi.
K, I think thats about it. I'm sorry for making my updates so spaced out and then when I actually get around to doing them I make them so long. People are probably dying from boredom from reading every little thing I write about. K, I promise I will try and
make them shorter and more interesting from here on out.
Hope everyone is doing great! Love you all!
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