Discovering Unique Places

This past weekend I ventured to Seoul to visit my old roomie Dayna from SNET. She had been working a nonstop summer camp and we finally coordinated a time to meet up. We gossiped, shopped and ate at a "faux" Italian pastaria.

To fully understand the meaning of "faux" you must consider that Korean cuisine is drastically different than all other cuisines worldwide. They use specific ingredients and stick with them to make a plethora of delightfully spicy meals. However, this art does not transfer when crafting other foreign foods. Often you await a meal with anticipation just to realize your spaghetti has oil and octopus for sauce. Or, perhaps your naan is crisy cracker wafers instead of the doughy fluff of garlic you desire. Regardless of the type of ethnic food, it generally goes by the same name and looks appealing, but manages to be a bit peculiar. On this particular ocassion our calzone was wrapped in a tortilla and managed to taste like a mushy pizza wrap...tasty, but a bit of a stretch from the crunchy puff we expected. Don't worry though, all negatives of the meal were salvaged by the twinkle tree lights (totally going there on Christmas) and the $4 glass of wine. Thanks to oh so "authentic" Italy! Enough about food though, you will think it is Jake writing.

After parting ways with Dayna, I met up with my friend Derek for his birthday. We hit the streets of Hongdae - a booming nightlife area in one of the many university districts of Seoul. The downside of the fabulous scene is piles of litter, smells of sewer, and drunken chaos. Imagine New Orleans...no further description needed. We bounced into a few clubs and realized we couldn't uphold a normal conversation at the volume. Finally, with the help of his Korean friend Young-Il, we wound up at an underground hookah bar with fabulous ambiance. A pool of lilies and candles took center stage. Pillows, carpets, and tapestries covered every nook and cranny of the dim basement. Groups were clustered in alcoves and hidden corners about the bar. We found our own corner and settled in. If anyone visits, this is a sure stop. The pictures hardly do it justice.

Of course, the night wouldn't have been complete without a trip to the ever popular norae-bang (karoakee room). We jammed on till 4 am at which point I deemed it unfeasible to get a hotel room. Instead, I champed up and waited for the 5:30 am train home. Oh, what a night in Seoul.

In other big news, our intensives are over! Hip-hip-hooray! 5 weeks of 10 hour days was so overrated. It wasn't even that we were over worked. We actually only had one extra class. However, it was at 10 am, so we had to chill at the office for 4 hours extra with little to do each day. That equals 5 extra hours of being at work with only 1 hour being paid. It kind of cut down our time to enjoy Korea and do exciting things. Now it is back to the normal schedule so you can expect to receive more calls, emails, and updates. Till then....

Farewell Parties

For the first time since we arrived, we have to say good bye to somebody. One of our Korean co-teachers that we have all grown very close to is taking her leave at the end of August. It is hard, it damages the security of our workplace knowing that at any point some of our co-workers that we get so used to being there every day could decide to not be there next month. It is also difficult because I know that in less than 10 months we will be saying our own farewells to all of these people.

The good part about saying good bye, is that we get to have a party! For Milly's farewell party we went to the restaurant owned by the uncle of our secretary. The restaurant specializes in duck. We had a table full of banchan when we arrived, featuring Kimchi, spicy crab, candied acorn squash, acorn jelly soup, boiled bok choy, pickled spicy green peppers, and more! Every 3 or 4 spots down the table there was a big empty spot that was to be filled by the main course. Huge platters of smoked duck breast. The duck was cooked perfectly.

The popular way to eat the duck was to soak it in the sweet soy sauce at every space that was mixed with a hot yellow mustard similar to mixing wasabi in soy sauce for sushi. Then put the breast with a mixture of chopped vegetables, also marinated in the sauce, on a piece of lettuce. Then wrap it up and shove it all in, then of course you chase it with either a shot of soju, a glass of beer, or a shot of soju in your glass of beer! Then repeat! I ate so much duck that my butt was quacking all night!

After all of the duck feast the only logical thing at dinner was to bring out a huge bowl of kimchi and pork rib spicy tomato soup. After eating a ridiculous amount of this more food was of course brought out. The most giant mandu (think pot stickers) were brought out. They looked like huge boiled brains, but they were stuffed full of ground pork and spices. I managed to eat half of the half I took before I had to finally give up.

For dessert, we had a pomegranate drinking vinegar, mixed with soju of course! I had never had drinking vinegar before. It is a little sweet and a lot of sour. It was actually quite delicious. After I had maybe four or five portions of dessert the restaurant was closing and kicked us all out.

From there, we went to the noraebang (Karaoke room), where I failed at rapping two, Erin succeeded at rapping, and Michael sang Al Green. We were also introduced to "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, I'm gonna make you move your body," A very catchy and popular Korean pop song.

All in all a fun night, but we are sorry to see Millie go!

Socialized Medicine

Just a quick blurb to say how amazing socialized medicine is. I had a really bad stomach flu for didnt go away after 7 days so I went in to see the Korean doctor (I would have done this sooner but I didn't know it was in the same building as my school). I waited about 5 minutes to get in to see him, he checks me out, hears me out and writes me a prescription. The visit cost me less than 3 dollars. Then I head down to the pharmacy which is also in the same building as me. 2 dollars later I have enough pills to heal me (hopefully).

I'm pretty sure this would have cost me much, much more back in the states! So lets hope Barack gets his health care reform working, because the way it is set up now is so prehistoric compared to the way it is handled here.

-Jake

Day by Day and Jeju

Not much is new here. This week felt epically long after vacation. We are both looking forward to intensives being over. 10-7 is a draining schedule bc you feel like you have limited time before or after work. My extra class of kids is really adorable though - they are totally into singing, chanting, and doing whatever ridiculous moves I assign them to help remember the English words & songs -- code awesome. Only two more weeks....fighting!!! (They always say that before a competitive game - it's a fun term).

Jake has been ill ever since we returned from Jeju. So that has been another downer. Poor guy hasn't eaten much in days bc he just gets sick. No worries, he will visit the doctor on Monday.

Jeju was phenomenal. Of course, our camera broke again. I jinxed us by calling the trip our second honeymoon. Now, we have no documentation of either trip thanks to the lovely Kodak Optimal 3x zoom with the "not so rechargeable" battery life. We did get a disposable camera on our hike, so perhaps we will scan them sometime soon.

Jeju's atmosphere was stunning and brimming with natural wonders. It is just north of the equator so there are still an array of deciduous and coniferous trees. What makes it distinct is that the pine trees are mixed in with palm trees and tropical flowers. This really makes it seem like vacation. All of the guide books say Jeju is Korea's Hawaii, but I kept leaning towards Ireland. It was greenier than the leprechaun bystanders in the St. Paddy's day parade.



The biggest accomplishment of our trip was hiking Mt. Hallasan. We manned up and decided to do the longest hike to the "crater lake" atop the mountain. We were told by the entrance guide to hurry up when we strolled into the park at the slacker hour of 10 am. Our predicament was that the summit path closed to ascending hikers at 1 pm. This meant we had 7 km to cover in three hours. We started off strong and practically sprinted up for 4 km like wild people on amazing race. We arrived in just under 2 hours and felt like champs. Unfortunately, that race really got us dragging later in the game. The entire hike was a whopping 18 km. Much of it was moderate until the last 2 or 3 km which consisted of thousands and thousands and thousands of steps.

There were a few kids plastered on the ground on the path that gave us some chuckles. Jake told one girl she was almost there and she begrudgingly whined, "CRYYYYYYY!" The thing about hiking in Korea is that there are tons of ridiculously fit old people in full gear (this includes long sleeve microfiber jump suits, gloves, visors, poles, pouches, etc...). The benefit of this mania is they always keep us motivated in order to restore our dignity as "young" people. We made a game of 10 points for every Korean we could pass -- this is tougher than it sounds.

The end view was slightly distorted as we ascended into a monsterous cloud. And actually, the scenery from the second to last viewpoint was by far the most rewarding. You could see our hiking trail winding up the mountain side, declaring the long distance we had traveled. The green hillside stretched to the edges of the island which then disappeared into the sea. The crisp air revitalized our spirits.

Other exciting journies included the Ilchubong crater/volcano, the lava tube caves, the numerous black sand beaches, waterfalls, the Yeongomeori cliffside, and Jeju chocolate stands. Jake also tried abalone on a cliffside from some old ladies who caught the treasures minutes before. We enjoyed their entertaining company despite not understanding a word they said to us. They were going on an on, pointing to different shelled creatures, and laughing when we were dumbfounded. This happens often.


One other event that does deserve being highlighted was the Happy Town acrobat show. We were just being whimsical and decided that an acrobat show was a necessity. To our surprise, we got more than we bargained for. The show started off impressive with minature kids spinning from ropes above on their necks alone while 10 girls spun china plates on metal sticks beneath them. But, it really blew our mind when attention was turned to the spherical, metal cage. Smoke billowed, lasers flashed, and a single light beamed from back stage. Suddenly, out raced a ferocious motorcyclist. He revved his engine, a small hatch door lowered, and the motorcycle blasted into the cage ball. We watched in awe, as he flew upside down, inside out, and all around on his motorcycle like Sonic the hedgehog. Just when I caught my breath, another light beamed from backstage. Motorcycle number two cruised by in route for the cage. Sure that we were going to see someone die before our eyes, we watched with anxiety. The motorcycles honked their horns to signal routine changes. The first motorcycle continued spinning rambunctiously about the cage and number two bulleted in. The two criss-crossed violently and continued honking their horns relentlessly. When I thought the show had reached its apex...out came motorcycle three, four, five, six, and seven. I can't even begin to describe the insanity of this death exhibition. The motorcycles were literally one foot apart from each other, flipping upside down in a sphere. It was insane, impressive, and the most irrational thing I have ever seen. I'm going to attach an you-tube video to try to make this real for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzKBvtsICwQ&feature=related (5)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3w3Z8hSGLQ&feature=related (7)

Enjoy the ride!

ZOO LAND, JOY LAND, & FLOWER LAND = O WORLD

The pictures really speak for themselves. Zoo land was amazing. We actually saw animals at nighttime; it didn't close down at 4 p.m. like zoos at home. A cougar prowled in a cage over our heads, a hyena growled with its jaw clenched like we were dinner, and a bear paced relentlessly like a madman. The zoo was lit with neon green nightlights that provided an alien-esque aura. This was exceptionally creepy when viewing the wolves in the spacious mountain side habitat.

Plus, an animal safari was included. We took a bus into a jurassic park like setting (picture metal gates, relentless vines, and loads of animals). I've never seen wild animals so close.

The cheesy amusement park rides were fabulous for reverting to our years as 12 year olds as well. Are you tempted to visit now?

MUDFEST

Sorry we haven't updated the blog much. We have been out of town on the weekends and busy working intensive summer classes during the week. We are doing well and having some ridiculous adventures.

We ventured to Daecheon Beach for the annual Mudfest on the 18th. The weather was insane. It was practically a hurricane on the beach. The winds were literally knocking us over and sand was blasting against our skin like a pellet gun. Sirens were going off non-stop to warn visitors of the no-swimming ban. Lifeguards were stationed every 20 feet to block the muddy intruders from the sea. The weather subsided a bit when we were in land.

Luckily, many mud events were still up and running. Jake stationed himself in the mud prison and walloped innocent by-passers from his cage. There were mud baths, blow up races, and rinse pools. We had some battles with the mud paint and no one made it out clean. The funniest thing was that our friend Kim refused to rinse off all day and by the evening she had a thick layer of cracking, turd-like mud pasted to her body. This beautiful look was enhanced by some lustrous pink lip gloss. Classy lady!

Late at night, a torrential downpour began. Instead of retreating to our hotel, we bought ponchos and headed to the rap concert. It was absolutely incredible. The rain added a whole other level to the dance party. People were going crazy in their plastic bag ponchos and busting moves. There were at least 2 encores. We had a blast dancing on the sea front and playing in the puddles all the way back to our hotel on the cliff.

The next day we awoke to a 90 degree, sunshiny day...too bad we had to head home. What luck, eh?

Busan for the 4th

So we ventured to Busan, the second largest city on the sea, for the fourth of July. We were hoping to find some western food and fun, but I think we got more than we bargained for. The beach party actually had more westerners than Koreans. Still, there is nothing like roman candles on the beach to ring in freedom. That being said, we definitely had some delicious food and fun. There is no shortage of seafood photos from Jake's expedition.