August 24-29 EPIK Orientation in Yang Yang
Well I have finally started a blog. Now if you like, you can read all about my adventures in South Korea. I'm using this blog mostly to fill everyone in at the same time and keep a record of my travels this coming year. Be prepared...I'll be honest and you'll always know where I am at here with all the up to the minute details. Sort of sounds like a huge ego trip. I guess that's what blogs are for too. So now without further ado, welcome to my blog.
There is a song from an Irish band called Siucra. It's called The strands of Magilligan. After not listening to this cd for a long time I put it yesterday and was struck by the words.
I'm a stranger in this country
from America I came
and theres few in it knows me
or can say my name
but here among strangers
I will stay for a while
For the sake of my darling
I'd go many a long mile
The flight from LA to Seoul was pretty seamless. No turbulence and a perfect landing. The plane ride was filled with movies on my own personal screen and all the pineapple juice I could drink. We arrived in Seoul at 5am. Our group was not meeting 6:30 pm so we got a hotel room in Incheon, cleaned up, and rested. For lunch, we headed down to a restaurant downstairs from our room. It looked good but did turn out to be all meat. The man that owned the restaurant was very helpful though and took us to another restaurant across the hall that turned out to be his father’s. He took us in and ordered us Bee Bim Bap which I have had several itmes and really enjoy. When it came to the table he used my bowl as an example of how to mix it. He put so much GoChuJung (very,very spicy chili paste) in my bowl my head spun. Ah! So my first impression of Korea was quite nice. So many people seemed so willing to help us out.
That evening we went across the mountains to Yang Yang. It was pretty late so we went to our hotel room and went right to bed. I was surprised when I woke out and went onto the balcony that I had a pretty spectacular view of a mountain range. It turned out that behind the hotel room was the East Sea (or sea of Japan if your somewhere other than Korea).
I was soon to find out that being a pecsa?tarian is tough work here in Korea. We had a buffet style set up for each meal that pretty much consisted of several trays of meat, iceburg lettuce, eggs in various shapes and forms, and tater tots. I kid you not one day I had white bread, egg, and tot sandwich. On the last day we did have Bi Bim Bap which was a welcome change. For several meals Michael and went out in town to a couple of different restaurants. I ate a lot of Kimbap that week! Kimbap is sort of like sushi. It’s rice rolled up in seaweed with picked radish, carrots, cucumber, egg, and crab. Ham too but we ask for it without. For the most part people have been fairly understanding about not eating other kinds of meat. Incredulous yes, but willing to make it without meat.
Later on the first day we went to a temple called Naksan. It was very beautiful. Lots of paths that went by the temples and and ponds and vendors… At the top there is a massive Kwan Yin statue that can be seen from the beach by our hotel. When you get the top of the stairs she just rises up to greet you.
There were many women praying to here and many nuns and monks all around. It was nice to be around them, mostly because their smiles were so very welcome.
Tuesday was full of classes, Wednesday too. A lot of walks on the beach and shell finding. Wednesday night there was a party complete with drinking, karaoke, and a bonfire. A friend and I actually got up and sang Like a Virgin. Seriously…?
Thursday we were taking on several field trips. In the morning we went to Seoroksan park and were set free for about two hours to hike and explore. On the way to the trails there is a massive Buddha and piped in monks chanting.
There are little shops everywhere selling anything from trinkets to a full meal. About a mile up the trail we went on there was a restaurant. Funny…could you imagine hiking by Rocky Mountain National Forest and passing souvenir shops and full bars. Totally different world. Michael and I ended up hiking to a cave about 3 or 4 kilometers (yes kilometers) up. It wasn’t until then that the people started thinning out and we were met with some seriously spectacular views. The last part of the hike was almost entirely up a long orange ladder that went on and on hooking cliff to cliff. In the small cave at the top there were three Buddha and a little spot to sit and pray.
That afternoon we went to the Edison Gramophone Museum. Yea, a little piece of South Orange New Jersey here in Korea. It turns out there is a Korean man who is very fascinated with Edison and all his inventions. A lot of the museum is pretty cool. It’s, as you would expect, filled with gramophones and light bulbs, but also letters and nearly every invention he ever came up with.
Friday we got our placements. We were placed in Samcheok City, which is close to the southern coast of Gangwon do. That’s great. The one downfall is the commute to our school in Dogye. It is about a 40 minute drive by car. The teachers that picked us up could speak very little English but were very kind. That evening we were taken to out apartment. It is very nice and spacious. We’ve got lots of really nice appliances. Bathtub, shower, curtain rack (which I here is quite rare). And…a view of a yucky beige brick building. It reminds me of this Wendy Woo song…” the view out my window, from the house in the city, is a brick wall with a fire walk that cuts through the vines”.
After seeing the apartment we were taken out for a meal of baked fish. On the way were ran into the head master who was unable to really greet us at the time because he was indisposed. The food was welcome and very tasty. We were given huge bouquets of flowers and lots of food. There is a ton of social drinking here. I refuse to drink Soju, which to me tastes like rubbing alcohol, so I have been playing a long by taking shots or little sips of weak beer. The Vice Principal kept saying “One shot, one shot”. Your not really encouraged to turn anything down so I have been saying yes to whatever I can stomach. After dinner and drinking we went to a bar for more drinking and fruit. We were asked many times how old we were, which is a common question. I think it’s used to figure out what hierarchical order y’all go in. My favorite gal so far is Park Jung Sun. She can barely speak English but is so sweet and eccentric, I just love her. During our drinking time at the bar she continued to tell how happy she was that we were her new friends.
August 30, 2008 Saturday
Saturday Park Jung Sun took us to Home Plus. This is basically a cross between Super Target, Wal-Mart, and the H mart in Aurora. When you walk in someone bows to you and says “Anyang Haseyo”. There are three floors full of most things you might need. The hardest part, obviously, is that most everything is in Korean. So it was pretty challenging to decide what was in a product without being able to read the label. All I can really say so far is “without meat?” Anyway, the time spent at the store was completely overwhelming and I was glad when we were finished.
rice
Next we went to lunch. Our new friend took us to get special noodles called Bi Bim Naeng Myeon. We were presented with a big metal bowl full of some sort of brownish\clearish noodles, topped with Asian pears, hard-boiled eggs, zucchini, and spicy red sauce. Next to that bowl was a smaller bowl filled with a clear broth and shaved ice. You take the both and shaved ice bowl and dump it in the noodle bowl and mix it all up. Honestly this stuff tasted so good. If I had to find anyway to sort of loosely compare it to something more familiar I would say it reminded me of gazpacho. Park Jung Sun has several silly pictures of me, along with a movie of me on her very equipped phone, showing how much I thoroughly enjoyed those noodles. We spoke little but laughed a lot.
August 31, 2008 Sunday
Sunday we just chilled at home for most of the morning. When I woke up I forgot where I was and sort of moped and cried a little because our view is so full of concrete and our commute so far. Oi! But do not despair!!!! We still get sunlight in here and we are very good at keeping busy. Plus it is fun to watch the kids play out in the playground across the parking lot.
That afternoon Kim Sun (supposed to be our translator but is stressed out from English so is sort of MIA cuz she's been really sick) took us for a short tour of the city. We passed lots of pretty market and stores with loads of English words. Hmm...
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