Season's Greetings!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! 

I am terrible for not posting in months. It's been months, hasn't it? 

I've been busy plugging away at making lesson plans, teaching, and getting through the daily things.
I had a yucky head cold for about a month - from late October to mid November. 

I've gone so Seoul a few times, but mostly stayed around town here. 

Last I remember was that I promised pictures from Seoraksan. Ooops! I'm a turd for forgetting! Maybe I'll get to that over the short time off I have before winter camp. 

The biggest thing that's happened is I have a new laptop. I'm still getting adjusted. 

Oh wait, that's the second biggest thing. The biggest thing is that I've signed a new contract for another year teaching here in Korea. 

December 12th there was a decent snow fall. We've had a lot of snow here - for South Korea. I was eating a quick meal before an English teacher's meeting and was just thinking to myself "It's like it can't decide if it wants to rain or snow." when it suddenly started coming down in ginormous flakes. It was a slushy, snowy mess, beautiful but eww. The next morning was ice. 

They don't really treat the roads or get out snowplows. I finally saw some snow tactics in action kind of last week when it was really hazardous. They seem to put down dirt, and use their backhoes and other big construction stuff to pull/push snow. This is on the highway... regular city streets can fend for themselves. 

This was an early December evening as I was let off from my carpool. The sunsets here can be very nice. Next semester I won't be seeing these ginseng people every day. I'm transferring schools!

I went to Lotteria with Jongsoo. 

What is Lotteria? Well - it's South Korea's version of McDonald's! 

It's decidedly for Korean tastes. They have a "wild shrimp burger" and this "corn salad." It came free with the 18,900 won fried chicken (it's a big basket of fried chicken). I tasted the corn salad. It pretty much tastes like macaroni salad - but with corn no macaroni.

This. This was a chocolate-needs day. Sadly, the brownies are only about an inch cube each. For 2,500 won you only get 4 or 6 of these things... I forget.. all I know was 1 was certainly not enough and ended up eating about 3 in one go - such was the need for chocolate. 

The packaging of these brownies really makes me laugh though. Each wrapper is a different design and says stuff like "My Love" and "Dear Sweet Brownie."

Anyway it's Christmas eve here. I'm making pie crust and waiting for the pizza guy to come. 

It's going to be a very merry dairy-mas! 

Hangul Day - way back on the 9th of September

I'm a bit of a procrastinator when it comes to working on this blog.

Today is one of those windy, weather is changing days. It smells like it could snow, but the air isn't cold enough. The sky looks beautiful though.

This cloud was more golden in person. 

I finally took pictures of the clothes I bought in Cheongju on one of the last public holidays before Christmas.

I kind of have too much burgundy in my wardrobe. Ha. But at least it is easy to coordinate.
The other thing I bought, not pictured above was a beige cable-knit cardigan. I think I'll start a cardigan collection.
Koreans tend to wear more.... vibrant or muted colors. It's hard to explain... They'll wear a peachy color, or a mustardy green, or navy. Not so much flat hues like you'd get in the crayon box - but when you do see those colors, there's usually a lot all together. Anyway. I hardly know about Korean fashion, so I'm not the person to ask. I can merely comment on what I've seen.

 Hangul Day - is like Alphabet Day. It's the day Koreans celebrate their written language, which was invented a long long long time ago by the Great King Sejong. He was a cool guy. He set about making a written alphabet for the common citizen so they could read the laws and stay out of trouble. He reasoned that the law is for the people's protection, but it can't protect them if they can't read and understand it. Or something along those lines. (prior to this, all written stuff was in Chinese)

Here's something J bought me yesterday when he was in Itaewon. (i didn't go because i have been sick.)

It's a blue plush Doraemon hat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It is ridiculously cute. I love it.

A Korean Drama Mystery Explained

Hello! It's been a while.

I've been busy with school and with going places on the weekends. A couple of weekends back I went to Seoraksan (a beautiful mountain) with my boyfriend and his aunt. I don't think I've posted about it yet. Sorry I am lazy, and I don't want to take the time to pick out photos. Not just yet. I took upwards of 200 photos there alone. I have to pick the best pictures for you to see.

So today I'd rather tell you about my school staff hiking trip. We went to a mountain by a lake in Goesan. While it was not as precipitous, rugged or high as Seoraksan, it was still very beautiful. I was also glad it was easy hiking since I am feeling under the weather.

Here are some of my coworkers, posing for pictures and just having fun. 

This spot was very scenic. They had benches and swings for people to stop and enjoy the view. 

 So here is a shot of the lake, and across the lake, on that low hill on the right is a cemetery.

I tried to get a close up shot, and this is the best I can do. My dad asked me about how they have mounds over graves. It is an interesting thing. Even after burying, they erect a mound of dirt on top about 2 to 3 feet high. They have very pretty cemeteries, and they are usually in very beautiful locations like this one. 

That brings me to my post title. 

I don't know how many of you have ever watched the Korean drama called "Secret Garden" but if you have you will know what I am going to talk about. 

I doubt it's a big spoiler to say that in the drama, when mountain biking, the leads find themselves at some mountain shack and decide to go in despite it seeming majorly creepy. As Americans, we would be "warned" and just turn around and go back. I found myself asking "Why on earth would there be a restaurant out here in the middle of nowhere on the side of a mountain?" I've been hiking some in the States, at State parks (though not the big ones out west), so my understanding is - there will be stalls and food/water at the head of the main trail, or in the "entrance" area of the park (and maybe not even - maybe just vending) - but from there on out you are by yourself. You must carry your own water, food and whatever it is you might need.
Not so in South Korea, not so. You can be a few kilometers into a hike and come upon something like this.

I believe we had gone 2 kilometers when we started seeing things, and they're not mirages. Before this tent, was a pavilion and a spring with running water. I should take a picture of the next spring so I can show you, sorry I don't have a picture right now. Anyway, it's spring water that they have tapped and it flows constantly. You can drink some with a cup or dipper spoon they have there for just that purpose. So you don't absolutely need to carry a drink.
And if you want something with actual calories, walk no further. They have that too. Around 2.5 kilometers, we reached a water wheel place where ladies were making tteok (chewy glutinous rice squish) by hand with huge wooden mallets. The place sells tteok and shikhye (a sweet rice drink). 

The same was true of Seoraksan. Every 2 or 3 kilometers, there were rest areas with people selling food, snacks, drinks, and souvenirs. Actually, there is a coffee shop up there that has amazing coffee. It's expensive, but it could just be one of the best cups of coffee I've had in Korea. 

Come to think of it, there were similar stalls at Maisan (see a post from last May, I believe it was). The only difference was there were more temples at Maisan, and that made the food stalls a little less obvious to me. The food was before the hike mostly, but there were still small snack vendors in places.

After all my hiking experience, I can see why in that drama the characters do not find it very odd that there is a restaurant stall so far off the beaten path. The only suspicious thing about the place is that there is only 1 (Koreans are famous for putting 3 or more of the same thing right next to each other. People say it's a competitive streak. I think it has more to do with collectivism.)

So if you're ever hiking in this country do not fear if you come across a random food cart/vendor. It probably has something yummy to offer... that or some dried fish, cuttlefish, sea creature... and I guess you can try it if you're into that kind of food. *blech!*

Korean hiking pros: You won't starve or go thirsty. 

There are pre-made paths, so even the elderly can hike.
There are plenty of people out there hiking too, you probably won't get lost.
If you have a medical emergency, there are people to see it happen and call for help.
Cell phone service is everywhere, people CAN call for help.

Korean hiking cons: In a hurry-hurry culture, it feels like Koreans hike too fast.
There are plenty of people... sometimes too many. If you came for peace and quiet - you will be sorely disappointed.
The pre-made paths might insult your sense of rugged American pride if you fancy yourself an off-road kind of hiker.

Random Things Strung Together

I realized I hadn't posted the pictures I have taken here and there in random places. I also did not post anything from Chuseok, well not really much of anything.
What is Chuseok? Well, Koreans will tell you it's their thanksgiving but really... there is  no turkey, no football and definitely no gravy. It's Korean families getting together and eating all kinds of rice cakes, other Korean foods, and doing traditional stuff. This includes visiting your dead relatives. There's an old old old custom of leaving food offerings for the dead. People still do this to this very day. (and this is why it is still considered rude to leave your chopsticks in your food, sticking up. that's how they leave the food for the dead.)

For Chuseok Jongsoo and I went here:

Yes. This is a cemetery. And yes, they have mounds above the graves. Apparently, they are still buried six feet under, but then they build a dirt mound above the ground too.
We went to visit Jongsoo's grandmother, and no we did not leave her food, because she was protestant. But we did see families that brought picnics (blankets, umbrellas and all) to their loved ones' gravesides.
From there we went to visit Jongsoo's grandfather, who was Buddhist, so he was cremated and his remains are in a temple. It was a totally different feel from the cemetery. The monks were also serving vegan bibimbap for free. Very kind hospitality. It was delicious too.

Jongsoo and I went biking along the Hangang River. We biked from near Apkujong all the way to the Olympic Bridge and back.

Jongsoo stopped to take a picture of the Olympic Bridge. 

We used the really big kanihwajangshil (portopotty). Okay. So it is, and isn't, a porto. It's not like those rental things they haul on trucks.. It is more like a modular that a truck hauls in and it is meant to stay there a long time. It has running water, flushing toilets, and if you're lucky - toilet paper and hand soap. This one did, and I was very glad. :D
The building next to it had a GIANT mukade (poisonous centipede) on it.

Or perhaps it's a caterpillar? Either way, why decorate with insects?

I recently found a wonderful peppero flavor. (what is peppero? why, it's korean pocky.)

And about 2 weeks ago my manager teacher asked me if I needed anything for my house. I told her I could use a toaster oven... after some discussion, she understood the "toaster" part. She had to ask my co-teacher to translate for us. He was like "toaster" and indicated with his hands toast popping up. I said yes, but more like a thing you can put stuff in and roast, like an oven, but small, and it also makes toast. "Oh a mini oven" he says. Later on I was to be handed a print out from G Market of what appeared to be a toaster oven. I was delighted and told them it was great.

And as you can see in the picture, it has a door that opens and a rack to put things on and knobs and everything. But do you see on the top right hand corner a switch? Yes.
This thing opens a panel in the top. This is the toast spot. This is where you make toast.

So it is very literally a toaster and a mini oven. I had no clue these things existed in the world.
It is smaller than a regular toaster oven. I was a bit sad over that. But it is a device in which I can make toast and oven-things. I am no longer a slave of the gas range stove! No more worries over burnt pans, no more babysitting the frying chicken, and no more grease splatters! Well -  until I want something of that sort. I have a choice! Huzzah!

I also told my school I needed an electric kettle. This confounded my co-teacher at first. He had no idea what this was. I told him "a water boiler, like we have in the teacher's office to make coffee and tea with" and he understood. Maybe it is because he is a man - he does not have a good vocabulary for kitchen appliances. Later on, as I was walking home with the brand new water boiler that my school got me (and when i say they got it for me - please understand that part of the package of hiring me - they get a stipend from the government to buy things for a new teacher things like toasters, kettles, silverware, comforters or whatever the teacher may need. i'm not sure how much money it is, but it is enough to buy a few of such things), I learned from my New Zealand colleague that in her country they are called jugs, or electric jugs. Wow. Here's my new electric jug.

It lights up blue when you turn it on, and you can watch it bubble through the window. I really enjoy it.
The old kettle I had here was plastic, and had no screen filter thing where the spout is - so anything could crawl in if it wanted to.. And the metal plate inside was just starting to get small rust spots. Time to go old kettle.

When Etude House moved in to our small town, they had a 50% off sale for members. I joined and got this manicure set for half off. They're called "gradient nails".

I didn't do as good of a job as the box's example. My nails are also very short here.
There's a story behind this. 

Last week before class my one 2nd grade boy comes in by himself. It was a chilly day and I told him my hands were cold. He walks over and inspects my hands, and sees my long thumb nails and says, "Teacher, your nails are long." And he shows me his nails, all short, freshly cut. He didn't know the word for nail clippers, so I told him. "Teacher, there are very good nail scissors at my house. Yesterday I cut my nails. You need cut your nails. Your nails too long." He tells me, and asks if I have nail scissors. I told him I had good nail scissors at my house too. I told him I'd cut my nails. He looked satisfied. I forgot to though. And the next day when I had class with him again, he checked my nails and was disappointed that my nails were still too long. I told him I'd forgotten but would cut them that day. So when I came home I cut my nails. 

Season's Change

It's the proper beginning of fall here in South Korea. I saw my first fully color changed tree in the school yard. Most of the trees here are still green, even up on the hills and mountains.
Other fall signs are here though. The weather has cooled somewhat, and the humidity is down. By cooled, I mean I need a jacket or sweater in the mornings and evenings, but the afternoons are still close to 80, if not higher.

Fall means bugs are giving their last hurrah before the dead of winter. The dragonfly population was out doing its best to prolong the species (which, around here, does not need much helping or increasing).

I've decided one thing though.. The spiders have gotten huge and fat over the summer. They must eat very well.

I did not want to put my hand in the picture for perspective because then I'd have to be near this lady. So I will just say she's about the size of half of my thumb - a little more than an inch long in body and as big around as my thumb. Sadly, I've seen bigger than her.
The golden orb weavers (aka yellow garden spiders) here are gigantic. *shudder* You don't see them in May. You might see a few in June. A couple more in July and August, but September is when they really showed up en masse. Perhaps they were always there, just now you can't miss them because they're big enough to eat small toads. *shudder* They have this penchant for building their webs over walkways (in between trees or light posts) and sometimes they build them too low.

It's scary walking on the sidewalk. I am going to be walking in the street until a few good frosts end their reign of terror for the season.

Panggu

I recently learned the most important word - banggu (the b is actually an unaspirated p, so it sounds like a half-way p/b to  us English speakers) - 방구.

I also recently learned that there's a way around some site blocking. Should I teach you? Hmm. Admittedly it doesn't work for everything. Last week the school's computers all updated (windows, i assume) and this ruined the flash player - which our textbook's computer program runs from. This not only stopped us teachers from using the interactive software, but then the students couldn't do their homework. Conveniently - the flash was ok for 3rd and 4th grade. I think those youngsters would have cried if it had happened to them. The real problem though is that the province of education has blocked adobe.com and blocks attempts to update existing adobe products. I couldn't fix it. So we had to call in the computer person for our school and she couldn't fix it and they called in an expert. And he couldn't fix it. My co-teacher got them to "wipe the harddrive" claiming that the computer was too slow. It wasn't. So pretty much there's nothing on that computer now except flash - which I'm not sure how she did it, but our school's computer lady fixed the problem (for us... it was later on in the week that the students' computers went down). But that still didn't fix my co-teacher's problem with IE not working with his little fox website (english learning site with cute flash animations). I downloaded chrome and showed him how to use it - and that it would make little fox play. At first he seemed pleased. Later he decided this was "too much work" (to open a browser he is less used to) and says "it should work in IE." There goes my google chrome convert. *sigh*

So I guess we'll see in a bit if the problem is resolved for the students who couldn't do their homework - since today is a co-teacher day.

Oh yeah, the trick is... use https instead of http. Yup. Simple. :D

Busy Days

Since school has been back in full swing, I've been keeping pretty busy. On the weekends, J and I typically stay in town and wander around finding new things. About 2 weekends ago we found that our town has a shrine to the legendary founder of all Korea (back from the year like 2333 BC).

And that day we also bought a 3D crystal puzzle. And I bought cute shoes. :D J bought me an adorable bunny shaped white out strip dispenser and hello kitty eraser.

In the meantime I eat chips with cute actors on the bags (i mean, it's not enough for sunny 10 soda to have pop stars.. LOL). And watch clouds, sunsets and such things.... 

This is of course when I'm not cleaning my house. 

Like last weekend, when I went to Everland in Seoul with J. (and didn't clean my house.... the centipedes thought this meant they were welcome to move in. ha.)

Everland was decorated for Halloween, and we were even lucky enough to come the 2nd night of the horror nights. :D I must add -- one nice thing about Korea is that they do not understand the scariness of clowns. I've asked my kids, different ages, if they thought clowns were scary, and they said no. They were puzzled. The Western concept of a clown is new to them, and luckily the scary part didn't carry over yet. So there were no scary clowns at all! ^_^ The only actor that got me was the Korean grim reaper. I didn't realize he was a costumed guy at first, and all of a sudden he whipped out a fan and spread it open, fanned himself and walked briskly past, scowling. I scream a little. (which was his goal anyway)

Everland has a really pretty rose garden with all kinds of roses, and naked Greek goddess statues. lol.

This vampire was willing to pose for a picture. He got really close. 

 Right after the rose garden is the "four seasons garden" which changes depending on the season and holiday. It was a graveyard when we went through. It felt like fall - with orange and burnt red colored flowers, lots of pumpkins, and even a bush or two shaped like a jack-o-lantern.

In the horror village, you could pose with plastic bones and body parts. 

The owl is my new stuftie - Whoobert. J got him for me. 

The day after Everland, J and I went to see the Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki exhibit at the Seoul Arts Center. They had at least a few hundred of the layouts and storyboards all on display. There were some for every single Ghibli movie, even the obscure TV only ones. It was really cool. I realized I've only seen a small fraction of all their works. 

Other than that... my school went on a field trip the week before last. I went with the kindergartners through 3rd graders to the Cheongju zoo. That was fun. The kids would ask me what different things were called in English. That was exciting for me, because usually they don't care. And the kindergartners, who I don't teach, looked at me curiously. One little boy asked his sister (my student) is she the English teacher? So I told him yes I was. (all in Korean...) 

I still am not very good at Korean. But I understand a lot more. 

Tokyo & Home

The next day I spent in Tokyo, Natalie and I went to Monzen-Nakacho, Akihabara, Ueno and I honestly forget where else. What I do remember were my feet hurting a lot, and that I was hungry but I had a hard time agreeing on foods with my travel buddy.

Monzen-Nakacho was a cute place. It gave off more of an older charm to me. We went there in search of a festival, but found we'd missed it by a day or two. But there were still a few booths left. We went in the temple anyway. I heard a priest or somesuch giving a talk about Obon and history.

Interestingly enough, you're not supposed to take pictures inside the temple. (in korea, it's okay to. very different.)

I did kind of sneak one though. It's people about to pray after lighting incense at the altar. You buy a stick of incense for a few dollars and light it "in the hopes that blahblahblah" listens to you. Oh, I remember thinking the statue in this shrine was different from ones I've seen. This one was holding a sword and something else... I forget. Man. I should have written it down. 

This was another shrine. It was right nextdoor to the other. They tend to come in pairs? This one was the kind where you go up, clap 3 times and ring a bell.

View leaving the temples. These were leftover booths.

A variety of plastic masks you could buy.

They had these things on display. I don't know the word for them - but they're those things you see them carrying in the middle of a parade during a festival.

From Monzen-Nakacho we got back on the metro and rode to... I guess it was Akihabara. I saw a river and wanted to look for kappa. Natalie didn't know what a kappa was, so I had to tell her the gory bits. Baha. But she didn't really fancy staying in one spot for long, so I didn't see one.

Kappa-less river.

This one was also kappa-less.

Walking.

 Fashionable guys.

They just looked cool. I wish I was the direct kind of person and had just asked them for a photo. But I'm not. 

There are a lot of maid cafes in Akihabara. Sadly these places have a cover charge, as well as a spending minimum if you're going to go in one. I didn't really have the money to spend on something like that. Japan is expensive. 

After Akihabara, we went to Ueno Park. Ueno has been around since there were emperors in Japan, in fact the park was part of the imperial estate. I was a bit disappointed to find out I'm the only person I know who associates pandas with Ueno (zoo). 

This is the lotus pond in Ueno Park. It's full of these huge lotuses! I think the buds were as big as my fist, the leaves broader than both my hands opened wide.

 big old fish

The path in the lotus pond leads to a temple. 

From there we went back up the hill and found these performers.

There were lots of big, old trees and these huge fearless crows. 

 He was trying to hand feed the pidgeons, and she was trying to snap a picture of it.

A lot of the streets we went down looked like this - narrow, filled with shops' stuff and packed with people. Natalie likes it best this way. She ended up liking Ueno a lot - because it had a lot of the small packed streets. I liked Ueno for the park, its peace, and the history that I knew about it. 

I was beat beyond words that day. The next day it was a relief to be going home. The shinkansen has air con, the trains' insides have air con, the airport has air con, and all of these places have seats. :D My feet needed it. I took my time going back to Nagoya, and spent about 2 or 3 hours in the airport. It was nice to sit and read, and just be surrounded by a language I understood. 

I must say, I did miss speaking Korean. It is very strange to go from one place where you've been hearing and speaking one thing, and going to another where you already understand what's being said around you. The one you've been accustomed to using comes out, or blocks some of what you knew before. For me, having those Korean roommates was sweet - because I could go back to using something my brain had created a set for. Perhaps it's because the newness and "most used"ness of the neural pathways, but to me as a person it just felt... familiar. It was such a strange disconnect. Two alien homes.

Sitting in the airport to leave was bittersweet. It was good to go "home" and odd that I thought of it as home. I understand enough Korean to get by, but I understand enough Japanese to understand and create meaningful conversations. Therein lies the difference. 

Oh yeah. I got back to Seoul and stayed the night at Jongsoo's aunts' house. The next day we got delicious salad at this cool cafe and J and I went to a huge Kyobo where I bought Japanese import cds for 1/3 of what I paid in Japan. Sadness! Oh well. Lesson learned!