Friday, December 30, 2011

Day 565 in Korea-(How is that possible?!) Thinking about 2012...

I've been thinking a lot lately. Things have been really stressful, both at school and in my personal life, which always causes me to re-evaluate everything I do. I've come to the conclusion that I will stay in Korea for another year for sure. Beyond that, nothing's certain. I love my job but I know it's not forever. While there are many aspects of living in Korea that continue to challenge and invigorate me, but some of the key components of my life are suffering in their disuse. My poor English skills, for one. I've already had to double check the use of 2 words in this blog post. Yeesh.

In the meantime, I've made a few resolutions to keep me occupied in the new year!!


1) Lose weight (I have a more specific goal in mind, but that's for me to know and you to see after I accomplish it!) I've actually lost a significant amount this year and it feels REALLY good, so I fully intend to keep on going!

2) Make a summer wardrobe. I have HUGE plans for this summer vacation and I will need a new wardrobe! Here's the plan: 6-8 new tops (at least 4 or 5 will be knit), 2-3 new pair of shorts/pants, 2-3 cute skirts and 1-2 dresses. I've got a lot of the fabric needed to get started and I'm sitting down this weekend to make a SWAP (Sewing with a Plan) as well as make a trip to Dongdaemun to pick up some more essentials. I think this is going to be the kickstart I need to get me motivated to do more sewing!

3) Continue with my Korean studies. I know that when you make a resolution, it's supposed to be concrete and with a definite finish line. However, it's hard to put a finish line on this one. As anyone who has ever studied a language (or even spoken their own language for that matter) knows, you're never finished learning. In the meantime, I would really like to achieve a Level 4 on the intermediate Korean skills test. If it happens the first time I take it (highly unlikely), then great; if not, then I'll keep taking it again.

4) Take at least 50 pictures every week. I bought a new camera this year and I haven't used it nearly as much as I should have. So, I'm putting a firm number down and saying "I WILL DO THIS!"

I have one more resolution bumbling around in my head, but it's quite a bit more personal so I won't be sharing that one*^^*

Happy New Year everyone!! 새해복 많이 받으세요! (Receive a lot of luck in the new year!)

Sunday, August 28, 2011

Some pictures from China

I'm not sure why I've been sitting on these for so long! I think it's finally time to share some of my experience.


Look carefully under "Bacon Burger Dog." Quite possibly the highlight of our trip.


First meal in China? An ENORMOUS hamburger! Sharon hasn't had a hamburger in over a year, so she twisted my arm and we had amazing hamburgers on Sunday night.


The entrance to the Great Wall!


We took the cable car up and walked back down.


On the way up to the Great Wall!!


One of those moments where you have to pinch yourself and say "Is this real?" Then after a grueling two hour hike and quite literally buckets of sweat, you can't deny it.


We discovered this at the top of the first tower we went to but couldn't find any explanation for it.


Sharon and I!

This climb and the climb before it were BRUTAL! So we decided to kill two birds with one stone and take a picture while resting :-)


More pictures tomorrow!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

A Kansan in China-Day 1/2

Beijing Day 1




I landed at about 2:00 local time, over 30 minutes later than our estimated arrival time of 1:20. We had to wait for a while because the airplane that we flew in wasn’t designed to be used at a terminal, so we had to wait for a bus to come and pick us up to take us to the terminal. I quickly noticed a big difference between China and Korea: the bus that took us to the airplane in Korea was fairly new and very clean. The bus in China was not. The seats were falling apart and the windows were filthy.



The bus arrived at the terminal and all the passengers got off, making our way towards immigration. There were only three lines open but since we had a completely full flight the lines were quite. One of the reasons we were so full was because there was a large tour group from Korea. I waited and waited and waited…finally an immigration officer came over and offered to process the group altogether. I’m not sure exactly why exactly it would be better to process them as a group, but oh well, not my problem!!! He tried saying something in Chinese, they looked at him, baffled, before he finally tried “group.” Thankfully they recognized that word (it’s a Konglish word) and they all followed him. MUCH better!



I finally made it to the immigration desk, she processed my passport and I was officially in China!! I found my luggage and then quickly went up to the arrival gate, where Sharon was waiting for me with her new guide/ friend, Zen. Turns out he was a friend of a guy that she had met and he had volunteered to show her around. I don’t think he expected me though…he didn’t seem too happy, but still very willingly helped us out.



We decided to head straight to the Olympic Stadiums: the Bird’s Nest and the Swimming Cube. With Zen’s help, we boarded an express bus to the Olympic Village. The ride through Beijing was fascinating: we drove through a part of town that had a lot of Korean signs, so I enjoyed reading things to Sharon. One of my favorite signs had the word “libro” (Spanish for book if you don’t know) written in Korean on a bookstore. We also spotted a large Lotte Mart, a Korean supermarket chain. Not too far from the Lotte Mart was a building that was obviously a Korean medical practice: I spotted a dentist and two internal medicine clinics, plus a few other clinics that I wasn’t familiar with.



We finally arrived at the Olympic Village and walked about 1 mile to the stadiums. Even though it’s been (exactly) three years since the opening of the Olympics, this is obviously still a very important site to them. The area was teeming with people: vendors selling all sorts of things, like souvenir stuffed mascot dolls and kites, as well as tourists from all over the world. Before we could go into the stadium area, we had to go through a quick checkpoint so they could x-ray our bags.



We walked through the checkpoint and just started heading towards the swimming cube and the Bird’s Nest. You could pay 25 RMB (about $3) to go into each building, but we decided not to: just being there was enough for us! We poked around for a bit before my poor suitcase’s wheel imploded: between the sidewalks of Korea (walking to my bus that morning) and the sidewalks of China (walking to the stadiums that afternoon) my poor bag couldn’t take it anymore. It looked like what happens when the tread becomes separated from the tire on semi trucks. So Zen volunteered to carry the bag the rest of the day!



We surprised Zen by saying that we were finished very quickly and decided it was probably best to go back to the hospital and drop off my poor maimed bag. We walked for a while before finally finding the subway station that we needed. Sharon already had a subway card, as well as Zen, so we tried to figure out what I needed to do before finally settling on just buying a one-way ticket. In Korea, the cost depends on how far you go but in Beijing it’s a flat 2 RMB: around 30 cents. We paid for my card and hopped on the subway.



Again, the subway is very similar to Korea just dirtier. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s really caught me off guard. It was also very crowded, similar to what the subway is like when I ride to work in the mornings. After about 20 minutes and two hectic transfers, we arrived at the subway station closest to our hostel. One of the many things that is on the Beijing must-see list are its famous hu-tongs-tight and winding alleys full of businesses, houses and life in general. We’re lucky enough that our hostel is in a hu-tong, so we’re able to experience it first-hand every time we step out the door. Our hostel is also brand new and very VERY comfortable for the crazy low price of about $7 a night.



You walk in the door into an entryway, then walk through one more door to check-in. Part of checking in requires registering your passport with the front desk so that they can register you with the police. After letting them scan my passport, we headed up to our room: two real beds, a private bathroom and a fantastic shower. This type of room would easily cost $50 plus per night, especially in a larger city. We have free wi-fi that kind of reaches to our room but is much stronger if you’re sitting in the large courtyard.



We said goodbye to Zen, who had to go get some work done and thanked him for all of his help. We sat down to discuss our plans for the week and based on the weather, decided to head to the Great Wall today. At the front desk you can reserve your choice of four different tours of the Great Wall. The closest part to Beijing is also the most recently restored as well as the most crowded, so we ruled that out pretty quickly. We ultimately decided to go to the Jingshanling section of the wall, which has been restored in some parts but not others. We paid 260 RMB (about $40) each and they told us we would leave at 6:30 the next morning.



By this time, we were quite hungry. I had eaten on the plane, but it had been quite a while since Sharon had eaten so we decided to explore the hu-tongs around our hostel and see what we could find. Sharon was quite excited to be able to show me her mad Chinese food ordering skills, but the food in Beijing is almost completely different from the food in her area of China! She had no idea what most of what we were seeing was, so we decided to check out a restaurant that was next to the subway station called “Grandma’s Kitchen.” We went in and sat down, received our menus and quickly figured out that it was an American-style diner! Chicken-fried steak, pasta of all kinds, a full page of milkshake choices, and BEEF. Expensive, not Chinese, but absolutely amazing. Sharon doesn’t get to eat Western food very often, so I offered to make the sacrifice and eat Western food with her ;-) We drooled over the many choices before deciding on the classic American hamburger with a milkshake: peanut butter for me, strawberry for Sharon. After a few minutes, our milkshakes arrived: HEAVEN! A few minutes after that, our hamburgers arrived, shocking us at their size. Literally, the same size as our faces. We played around with the camera for a few minutes before sinking our teeth (as best as we could) into the massive slab of meat. Easily the best hamburger I’ve had in Asia.





We scarfed down our hamburgers (at least we tried to anyway, they were HUGE) paid the bill, and walked back to the hostel, picking up bottles of water for the next day on the way back. Took a shower, played with the internet, and went to bed.



DAY 2

Day 2 started way earlier than we wanted to…the curtain was open enough that at 5:30 am the room was flooded with light. We tried to go back to sleep but were unsuccessful: we were just too darn excited! We got out of bed, got dressed and ran downstairs to find our driver waiting for us. He led us through the hu-tong to a van that was waiting for us with one other foreigner, David from LA. We drove for about 5 minutes before parking in front of a building, where a waiting man gave us a McDonald’s bag and cup of coke. So my first meal in China was a hamburger, my second was a sausage McMuffin. After 2 or 3 minutes, an older, somewhat rundown bus full of sleepy looking foreigners pulled up and we hopped on. After we left, our guide filled us in a little bit of the history of the wall and some information about lunch and other things. She let us know that it would be a three hour bus ride, so Sharon and I settled in and started talking. She’s so funny: she doesn’t get to talk to many foreigners, so her English sometimes fails her (as does mine.) We’ve both noticed that we forget words much easier than we used to because we just don’t use them as much: most of our conversations are simple and revolve around a few key topics. Today, on the bus, we were talking about how people stay warm in different countries. In many areas of China, they sleep on a bed of straw (I think) on the floor, warmed by something Sharon wondered out loud what people in Europe used to do before bedpans. I looked at her, and said “Do you mean bed warmers?” We both got a kick out of that!



We finally arrived at the Wall at around 10 am. We hopped out of the bus, got some instructions from our tour guide as well as our lunch tickets and we set out to climb the wall! We decided to take the cable car up to the top of the mountain, which was beautiful and surreal. It gave us plenty of time to reflect on what we were about to set foot on. On the right side and the left side of our cable car, we could see the wall perched on top of the mountains: it took my breath away. Absolutely stunning.



We finally hopped (quite literally) out of the cable car and started the final ascent to the wall (the cable car had taken us most of the way but not quite all the way.) As we started walking up the trail to the wall, we saw these two middle-aged Chinese women who were watching us. We knew pretty quickly that they were going to expect something (although we weren’t sure what,) so we decided to just ignore them for the time being. We finally made it up to the Little Jianshin Tower, where the view was indescribable. The wall stretched on as far as you could see in either direction, formidable and imposing. We climbed up to the top of the tower, took a few pictures and climbed back down to start our trek. Our goal was to make it to the tower that is 9 towers past where we were at the time.



We knew going into the excursion that there was going to be hiking involved, but it was nothing like anything either one of us had done before. The stairs were incredibly steep and since that part of the wall hadn’t been completely restored, the steps were often missing or precarious. Adding to that the sun was beginning to beat down on us and the humidity was climbing; we were quickly drenched with sweat. We noticed quickly that the two middle-aged ladies were sandwiching us between themselves, and decided to continue to try and ignore them. Eventually, after two towers worth of climbing, we met up with our guide, who encouraged us to let the local farmers help us: they are truly kind women who know the wall very well. After that we were a little bit more friendly to them , especially since they offered to take pictures of us together and helped us up and down the steps.


The front tower is as far as I went, while Sharon climbed up to the higher tower. The incline doesn't look too bad here, but it was brutal.  


In several different areas of the wall, you had three different choices on how to proceed: you could go down some steep and shallow stairs and then straight back up another set, or you could go on either side of the stairs, walking along a ledge that was usually about a foot wide. Sometimes there was part of the wall to prevent you from just walking right off, other times there were literally inches between you and a deadly drop. It was petrifying and exhilarating at the same time. The ladies were very helpful in telling us which way to go, especially I explained to them that I was terrified of stairs. I really, really don’t like stairs. Ever since falling down my parents’ basement stairs about 5 years ago I’ve had difficulties with descending them.



We pushed on for quite a while, stopping every once in a while to drink water and rest our legs. Parts of the wall involve stairs while other parts involve ascending a 70 degree incline, so our legs turned to jelly before long. Soon we reached a tower called the Flower Tower; it was there I decided I couldn’t go on anymore. Not only were my legs week but the next part of the wall involved climbing some of the steepest and scariest stairs I have ever seen in my life. Sharon decided to tackle the stairs, while I sat and waited for her in the Flower Tower. She got some pictures of me sitting down, I got some pictures of her climbing and on top of the Corner Tower (the tower that I didn’t make it to) and we decided to call it a day.



We had two different options for going back: we could go back exactly how we had come or we could take a shortcut down that would take us through the dense forest next to the wall. We decided to take the shortcut down because we both enjoy wooded hikes. One of the ladies led us down while the other one helped me through the woods, every so often stopping to hold my hand to steady me on the loose rock and dirt.



We made it to the bottom of the mountain pretty quickly, where, as expected, they pulled out a few souvenirs to sell to us. We looked at books that they were offering, debated for a while and decided to buy them. We found out later that we had overpaid, but I honestly didn’t mind too much. The ladies were quite helpful, stopping when we stopped and sharing their large fans with us.



We left them and walked back to the area where we had started, where we decided to buy some water and just relax for a while. We went back to the visitors’ center and washed our hands, as they were quite filthy by this point, and found a shady place to sit and talk while we were waiting for lunch time. Eventually David, whom we had met that morning, joined and we talked for a while. He has been to China several times for business, but he was very curious to hear about our lives in Asia.



Lunch was a delicious buffet, although because of the heat I really wasn’t too hungry. Finally we hopped back on the bus and began our three hour trek back to Beijing. It was interesting to hear all of the different languages on the bus: Russian, Italian, English, German, and a few others that I’m not sure of.



By the time we got back to Beijing, traffic had started to pick up, so the bus stopped at a subway station and our guide told us that we had the option of taking the subway back to our hostels, because it would probably be quicker. The guide told Sharon and I that our hostel was about a 15 minute walk away so we ventured off in the direction that our guide had indicated.



I wasn’t terribly sure about where we were going. Sharon was pretty sure that she knew where we were but everything around us looked incredibly unfamiliar. I hadn’t really had the chance to really explore outside of our hostel, but Sharon had walked from that subway station to our hostel, so I trusted her. We walked and walked and walked and walked…As we were walking different restaurant owners would try to get us to come in and eat, sometimes yelling things at us in English but mostly just yelling at us in Chinese.



We finally found our hu-tong, walked back to the hostel, and collapsed for a bit. Between my nasty sunburn and climbing the wall I was sore and exhausted. Sharon was gracious enough to let me lay down for a bit, which was a godsend, while she went out to find some street food for supper. The sun had zapped my appetite, but what I did eat was absolutely wonderful! We laid down in the courtyard for a while, got caught up on Facebook and did some research for today, and just relaxed.



Day 2 plans: Forbidden City, Tiananmen Square, and Temple of Heaven and the famous walking/shopping street in Beijing!

Sunday, June 5, 2011

Day 350 in Korea-Nami Island

Last Sunday I made the trek out to Namiseom, or Nami Island, with my Wop Wop Kiwi friend. It was another one of Korea’s little surprises!!
We left Guri at around 12:45ish and took the subway to Mangu station, where we caught the brand spankin’ new Chuncheon line. Not quite halfway there, an older Korean man got on the subway and greeted us quite warmly, leading me to ask my Wop Wop Kiwi friend if she knew him. Turns out, she didn’t know him, but he was retired Seventh Day Adventist minister who was carrying around an English book about religion, looking for just such an opportunity: two foreigners who couldn’t escape his questions. Luckily, he just had translation questions. I’ve often had problems with people being overly pushy about their religion here. Anyway, we helped him with his questions and we talked for a little bit. After a few stops he got off and we said our goodbyes.
About 30 minutes later we pulled into Gapyeong Station, which is a 10 minute taxi ride or about a 30 minute walk from Nami Island. We caught a taxi which didn’t really do us a whole lot of good, since so many people were walking there that we ended up going at about the same pace. Oh well.  We both decided we were hungry so we popped into this restaurant next to the parking lot. We ordered two servings of Chuncheon Chicken Ribs which turned out to be waaaaaay too much. We ate as much as we could and walked to the entrance of Nami Island.


Nami Island is a little…different. It’s named after a man called General Nami who died about 500 years ago. The history of the island itself is a little long, but the main thing you need to know is that about 5 years ago, Nami Island “declared independence” from Korea and became Naminara, or Nami Republic. Of course, this is mostly a publicity stunt, but it’s still kind of fun. To get to the island, you have to take a ferry. Normal (aka not fun) places say you have to buy a ferry ticket, but Namiseom requires you to buy an “entry visa” at “immigration.” Cute, right? 

We bought our tickets, hopped aboard the ferry and we were on our merry way.

Greeting us on the wharf was the first of many strange sculptures. There was a tree where the leaves were made out of little light bulbs and a stone totem pole waterfall. Walk a little bit more and there’s a sign that indicates that there are wild ostriches on the island. For a while, I thought it was one of those things that they did just to make themselves seem more eccentric, but after talking to my co-teacher, I found out that there really are wild ostriches running around. We just didn’t happen to see any that day. 
 
There are a lot of little different things to do on Nami Island. You can rent electric tri-ways (kind of like Segways but with three wheels), regular bicycles, family bicycles, ride a little train, or just walk around and enjoy the scenery, which is breathtaking in many places. Along one side of the island is a long dusty path lined with incredibly tall trees on both sides, with bits of the Han River peeking through in places.  They also have a Song Museum, a small museum paying tribute to the history of Namiseom, and various little shops scattered about the island. There’s more located on the island, but sadly we didn’t get to see everything.
The island is well known for being a romantic destination. There were couples everywhere, which in Korea is a tad bit more interesting (to me, anyway.) Couples in Korea often wear “couples’ shirts.” They always match; sometimes it’s just matching colors and other times the shirts complete each other. For example, one of the sets that I saw last week had pictures on the back of the significant other’s “hand” on their back. It’s a romantic destination partially because of the scenery but also scenes from a famous Korean drama, “Winter Sonata,” were shot here. The two main characters shared their first kiss on Nami Island, so a footbridge was renamed “First Kiss Bridge” and there are little snowman couples all over the area, paying tribute to the scene in the drama where the main characters build a snowman together.
The entire day was just very enjoyable and refreshing, although we wore ourselves out by walking around the island. It’s a trip we’re talking about taking again in the fall when the leaves are changing. I can’t even begin to fathom how beautiful it will be then!

More pictures can be found at my new photo blog!

Day 343 in Korea-Donggureung


Donggureung:
Two weeks ago, I finally went to one of my Guri’s most famous sites: Donggureung. Donggureung is a collection of royal tombs dating back to around 600 years ago. This blows my mind. Being from Kansas, I’m not used to seeing things older than 150 years. The strange thing is, for me anyway, people here were using it as a meeting place, playing badminton and climbing trees.  Right next to the tombs of people that have been dead for 600 years. 

Strangeness aside, it was a very pleasant day. I live at a very busy intersection so I’ve gotten accustomed to lots of horns honking, random people yelling who-only-knows-what and lots of traffic noise. It was a wonderful respite to spend the day not only surrounded by tombs of dead people but deep inside a forest as well. My initial thought was to blast my iPod while I was walking through but then I realized that I would be missing out on a lot. As soon as I took off my headphones, I could hear woodpeckers doing what they do best, bees buzzing all around me (although I could never see them, which really freaked me out), and the occasional yell from an excited kid. It was so refreshing!!

Most of the tombs are roped off so you can’t actually see the detail involved. Fortunately, three are open for wandering. Unfortunately, because of my busted toe I was only able to climb one before the stupid toe started hurting. The rest of the time you can only admire from afar. 

The one tomb that I did climb was quite interesting. Each tomb is actually two hills: a large hill with a smaller one on top, containing the actual body itself. On each of the large hill there’s a collection of animals, statues of civil and military officials, and other sculptures, including a stone lantern and a large stone table. In front of each of the tombs is a shrine and a shed. The shrine hosts the ancestral rites for the respective royal buried at that tomb and each shed has a tombstone inscribed with the royal’s achievements. 

One of the things that I really liked about Donggureung was they had a very well written English explanation for each of the tombs, which doesn’t always happen in Korea. It really helped me to appreciate the history and the accomplishments of Korea and its residents even more. The best part was the entrance fee was only 1,000 won, about 90 cents. It was beautifully kept and very well maintained. If you’re reading this from Korea, I highly recommend a visit!

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Day 336 in Korea-Updates and Sports Festival 2011

A lot has been happening the past few weeks. The most significant thing that happened was breaking my &*^%* toe. It's make walking difficult, which has really been unfortunate because we've had two holidays in the last two weeks!

Friday, April 29, 2011

Day 318 in Korea: My Birthday and an ode to my co-teachers

I've noticed that for the last few years my birthdays have been slightly depressing and unremarkable. And I'm okay with that, believe me. But this week has been so much fun (for the most part.) It's weeks like this one that help me to realize that I've won the teaching-English-in-Korea jackpot.