A funny thing happened in Seoul Station today. . .

I haven't posted in awhile, but this was too bizarre not to record for posterity. We spent Friday and Saturday night in Cheonan, and took the train from there to Seoul today to do some shopping and sightseeing around Insadong. As we were departing Seoul Station, a well-dressed group of Koreans approached us and asked if we could do them a favor. One was holding a camera/camcorder and another had a peculiar flag. When this has happened to us in the past, it was always students doing a project for school that involves asking some English speakers a few harmless questions. These people looked older than students, and kept stating they wanted us to be in a video that would take only "2 or 5 seconds." We inquired further, and they explained they were employed with a nearby department store who is now conducting business in Russia and needed us to pretend we were Russians and stand with them waving the flag.

We found this absurd and were starting to politely decline, citing the fact that we're Americans and really don't resemble Russians at all. We even joked that Obama would be angry if we pretend to be Russian. The Koreans stated that only other Koreans would see the video and they "wouldn't know we aren't Russians." They were persistent, so we finally acquiesced on the condition one of the Koreans hold the flag. The video commenced with us standing on either side of a smiling Korean, waving the Russian flag and singing something that was neither Korean or English (Russian national anthem?). Shane and I forgot it was a video not a photo and were standing there frozen awaiting a flash; the woman operating the camera indicated we needed to be more active and wave our arms around. Then as quickly as it started, it was over. Contemplating that little episode kept me laughing out loud to myself during the cab ride to Insadong.

Daegu and Haeinsa

This weekend, we ventured to Daegu, the fourth largest city in South Korea. We had to sit separately on the train, and my seat partner was a nice younger Korean guy chowing down on some dried squid while reading. He dropped a crumb of the odoriferous snack on my arm and then looked at me apologetically as I plucked it off.

Our initial plan was to head to the bus station and take the bus to Haeinsa, one of the three jewel Buddhist temples in the country, famous for its immense collection of sutras hand-carved on wooden blocks. The weather seemed ominous, so we elected to postpone the temple until Sunday and spend the day in Daegu shopping and dining.

Once settled in Daegu, we walked around the train station and checked out the very modern and youth-friendly downtown shopping area. We succumbed to the allure of Bennigan's (turkey club for Shane and chicken quesadillas for me) and then did some shopping. Shane was able to locate hard-to-find actual deodorant at a high-end department store. He paid for the Ralph Lauren Polo variety, which is pricey but supposed to last a long time and smells divine (Korean men don't typically wear deodorant, though you can sometimes find sprays at department stores.) After checking out the bookstore (we also bought ourselves much-needed wristwatches there), and picking up some lovely-smelling incense at a nice Indian shop, we trolled around looking for a love motel. Lodgings were surprisingly sparse for such a large city, or at least scattered far from the train station. The first place we found was booked, and we lucked out with the second one at only $40 per night for a decent room.

For dinner, we wavered between visiting one of the two Indian restaurants we saw downtown and two highly recommended ones perched in other areas of the city. We were pretty tired from so much walking and knew we'd be walking at lot at the temple on Sunday, so we elected to stay local and eat some Papa John's instead. Ah, the tastes of home!!!

I had been overdressed and too hot the previous weekend in Suwon, and this time, I wore shorts and was freezing by nightfall! We stopped at Starbuck's for an after-dinner warmup, and headed back to the motel (which I realized later kept me up much of the night, thanks to the espresso!)

The next morning, we were up early. McD's for breakfast then a taxi to the bus station bound for Haeinsa temple. The ride was over an hour, and the scenery amazing. However, I suffered for the first time from a terrible case of motion sickness and didn't really recover for the entire temple visit. Thankfully, Shane was kind enough to play photographer and captured some nice images of the picturesque surroundings. The only other drawback was that a good portion of the temple complex is undergoing renovations, so we couldn't get into some of the buildings. We were starving after so much hiking, and the only place to eat was a restaurant/gift shop building at the base of the mountain. A friendly ajumma invited us to eat at her place and we dined on mountain herb bibimbap, sweet potato pajeon, and very traditional dongdongju.

We boarded the bus at 2pm and headed back to Daegu. Our pre-reserved train tickets weren't until 8pm, and we wanted to relax and avoid more public tranportation, so we returned to our love motel and booked another night, securing tickets to leave for Jochiwon early Monday morning and get back an hour before we had to be at work.

We ventured out for a delicious dinner of Andong jjimdalk, and then crashed at the motel for the evening, utterly exhausted. Another fun-filled weekend!

More Korean Grandfathers!

Last night, we stopped at our corner convenience store for bottled water and observed two older Korean men outside at the picnic table enjoying glasses of soju. Shane recognized them as the same fellows who invited ("forced") him to take a shot of the stuff before work one day, and bought them a bottle as a token of thanks. They of course invited us to sit down and we were compelled to take dixie cup portions of both soju and makkeoli (rice wine.) We engaged in a lively modgepodge of broken Korean and English, in which they seemed to be complementing my Korean while disparaging Shane's, recommending Shane eat dog soup, advising us to remain in Korea for 3 years in order to have a baby or two, and seeking an invitation to our house. One part that was clear was that they wanted us to meet the next evening at 6pm. We left intoxicated and amused by a rather interesting cultural exchange.

We reiterated the story to our co-teacher today and asked if she would join us to translate or at least compose a polite message in Korean stating we'd have to decline the meeting (and any further alcohol) due to being busy with work. I delivered the message to the shopkeeper, as he indicated his chums wouldn't arrive until 7pm and we successfully dodged a repeat of last night.

In other news, the previously troubling lawncare issue has been resolved! This morning, a nice man from the maintenance department of our school arrived armed with a gas-powered weedeater. . . only this one employed a large rotating lawn mower blade instead of a cord to cut the grass. He diligently hacked away and destroyed the jungle. We are planning to give him a gift of appreciation at school since he left before we were able to pay him for all of that hard work!!

Weekend Trip to Suwon

Last weekend, we had a wonderful weekend getaway to nearby Suwon (about a 1 hr train ride from our town.) We bought train tickets in advance and departed Saturday afternoon. Suwon reminded us a lot of Ulsan, where we lived and worked last year. Upon arrival, we were starving and wolfed down some Burger King at the train station food court. We then went off to explore the new and old shopping areas downtown. Our friend Anthony recommended an Indian/Nepalese restaurant which seemed quite difficult to find, even with directions, but in our wanderings through the traditional market, we looked up and there it was! Fearing we wouldn't find it again, we went in with full stomachs and engaged in full-on gluttony with a vegetarian thali set and some paneer masala. Delicious!!

Then we went in search of a "love motel," which is basically the Korean version of a discount hotel designed for couples wanting a romantic getaway. These vary in price and accommodations--we stayed in one called the Hotel Shangri-la and it was still cheaper than a lesser quality Western hotel. It had a large flat-screen TV, computer with free internet access, and a small jacuzzi. It also had an interesting planetarium-style light display on the ceiling.

Check-in wasn't until 6pm, so we went to the local Wa-Bar to sit down and cool off. Once we checked in, we explored the trendy entertainment district near the motel and I was delighted to find an English-speaking associate at Skin Food, my favorite Korean cosmetic chain. Needless to say, she gave excellent advice and I left with an armful of goodies and free samples.

Still stuffed from dinner, we visited the movie theater, but the only decent English movie was sold out until the late showing--risky, since we needed to be up fairly early Sunday morning to meet our Korean co-teacher and head to the Korean Folk Village. We looked at a couple of DVD bangs (places where you basically choose a movie to watch in your own personal theatre) but had seen all their offerings. Not ready to give up, we went to Garten Bier, a pseudo-German pub featuring oddly-shaped beer glasses ranging from single to triple size. Shane ordered a triple and it was funny watching him try to manipulate this table-leg shaped glass without spilling. Another interesting feature was that the tables had built-in electric ice coolers to keep drinks cold. We felt like we needed a little something for a late dinner, so we stopped at a nearby Korean diner and had a snack (tteok bokki, bulgogi dap bap, and chamchi kimbap) before crashing for the night.

Next morning, we were up and facing the usual challenge of where to get a non-kimchi breakfast. We stopped at a Starbuck's to get some freshly ground coffee for our machine at home, but didn't want breakfast there. We had hopes for Burger Kings's breakfast menu, but alas, it was non-existent there. So we ended up going to a coffee shop and ordering an interesting sort of ham and cheese flatbread sandwich.

Soon after, we met up with Julia, bought tickets for the Korean Folk Village, and took the 30 minute shuttle bus there. The weather was ideal and we had an excellent time there! I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Korea, as it was fairly authentic, reasonably priced, and a great natural setting. We purchased basic admission ($11) and even without getting into the museums and amusement park, it was a full day's worth of activities, including a traditional tight-rope walker performance and a reinactment of a Korean wedding. The exhibits were very hands-on and included plants (see surprising crop we photographed) and various farm animals. The folk village also serves as a set for several of the historical dramas filmed here in Korea.

If there was a slight disappointment, it was the food. The market was an extensive cafeteria-type affair, where you ordered at a booth and then went to various vendors to pick up each item in your order. It was rather time-consuming and busy, and the quality of the dishes and drink wasn't the best. Still, not bad for being mass-produced.

On our way out, we stopped at one of the larger gift shops and each purchased a souvenir. The salesladies were incredibly skilled and spoke some English--they were decorating me with necklaces and bracelets before I could stop them! I ended up buying a pair of natural flower earrings, and Shane got some cool reflexology massage slippers that have strategically-placed stones embedded in the soles. The saleswoman gave him a chart labeling what part of the foot correstponds to various organs in the body. You're only supposed to wear them for 5 minutes a day to improve overall health--can't imagine anyone tolerating them longer than that!

We took the shuttle back to Suwon station in the late afternoon, stopped at the bookstore, and elected to have dinner at a restaurant that seemed incredibly busy the night before. Suwon's famous for its dwaeji galbi (marinated pork ribs cooked over a charcoal grill,) and there are countless restaurants serving it on every street. This place, however, had to be one of the best! We ordered three portions, and it was so absolutely mouth-watering and tender we had to order two more!! It was also quite reasonably priced, at $5 per portion with free unlimited sides.

Completely stuffed, we had a little time to kill before the train departed, so Shane visited the batting cages and hit a few balls. We got home sometime after 11, feeling rested and pleasantly exhausted.

"Korea is not a grassy country" and first visit to Costco

So we've been dealing with a landscaping issue since shortly after our arrival. While we are thrilled to have a house and garden to call our own for the year, we don't have any means to maintain it, and with the recent rain, the weeds and grass are starting to look like a jungle. Despite numerous inquiries about how to cut the grass, all anyone would tell us is that most Koreans don't have any grass on their property, and if they do, they pull it, kill it, or cut it with shears. Instead of lawns, they prefer dirt and flowerpots. We searched the market, local stores and the internet for some sort of implement we could use standing up (since neither of us are expert squatters), but to no avail. We even offered to pay someone to do it, but apparently, there are no landscaping or lawn care services here.

Finally, at school on Friday, we were chatting with a teacher who related to our plight. She agreed that "Korea is not a grassy country" and offered to inquire if our school's maintenance staff might have someone willing to help us with our yard. Fingers crossed, we should have an answer next week. The teacher joked that until then, perhaps we could play hide-and-seek in the yard!

Today we took the train to Daejeon to visit their Costco wholesale store. There are only a handful of Costcos in Korea, most of which are concentrated near Seoul, so we feel fortunate to have one only 30 minute away by train. Costco is situated just next to the train station, making it very convenient when lugging heavy bags of goodies home! We were also pleased to find a New York Hot Dog restaurant in the train station, which was one of our favorites in Ulsan.

We paid the $30 membership fee and were delighted with our finds! Since it was our first time, we wanted to get a feel for what's available and just get a few essentials we can't buy locally. The store had a decent selection of Western items mixed in with the Asian ones (think massive cases of ramyun!) Sadly, the clothing and home furnishings (dishes, candles, lighting, furniture, and the like) were seriously overpriced compared to the States. I was especially curious to see the outdoor department, since I saw on the website Costos in Asia carry some gardening tools and furniture. We saw 1 push mower priced at over $400 and a weed eater priced at about $130. Unbelievable! Let's hope we are able to find someone to cut the grass for us instead. . .

We ended up purchasing jumbo-sized blocks of real natural cheese, oatmeal, parmesan cheese, dried basil, instant mashed potatoes, tortilla chips and organic salsa, low-fat deli turkey, pita chips, and a set of plastic storage containers. The total came to just over $100; that's not bad, considering the quantity and quality of the items. Next visit, we'll probably purchase some more entree items (2 ft Norweigan salmon fillets for $30, and some frozen and refrigerated stuff).

Our next mission is to purchase a TV (so we can use the Nintendo system we bought and stave off rainy-day boredom!) and cell phones. Looks like both will be a challenge in our small town. . . Friday after dinner with our co-teacher, we went to the shijang (traditional market) and asked around. We found one small electronics store, but all the models were large flat-screen plasmas and started at about $160. We then found a used appliance store, but the TVs there were refurbished ,had no guarantee, and still cost $80. It seems like our best option will be to order a TV on the GMarket website, which has basic "old-fashioned" models for less and offers delivery.

Establishing cell phone service seems more difficult and costly here than in Ulsan--seems we can't get a contract with our one-year visas, and the used phones offered for pre-paid minute plans were quite expensive (started around $80.) We considered returning to the same store we used in Ulsan to inquire about a similar deal, but think that might mean expensive domestic calls. We shall see. Like always, it's an adventure!!

Our month of reviewing phonics with the beginning students is coming to a close and we are starting to see progress. A few students are now able to sound out and spell simple English words, which is exciting for the students and teachers alike. Hopefully, all goes smoothly with the lesson planning and transitioning back to the books in June. Starting then, we'll be teaching the books exactly as outlined in the teacher's guides, which sounds perfect to me! All of the activities and techniques we could possibly need are outlined with timetables--this should make life and lesson planning much easier!

Seems like our company's Jeju-do summer English camp is in the works; we should hear more about that at some point. Aside from that, we are planning to meet our co-teacher's friend this Friday, and the following weekend, tentatively head to Ulsan to visit our friends there. We've been taking it easy, since Shane seems to have developed Achilles tendonitis with all the walking and lugging our overnight bag through Japan. Hopefully it heals soon and we'll get in some more traveling before summer hits.

Hi=Yes

The past few days have been a blur. Wednesday evening, we traveled to Incheon, where we stayed in a delightfully charming hotel near the airport to make our early flight to Osaka the next morning.

Perhaps I should rewind: it wasn't a leisurely jaunt to Incheon. We hurriedly packed as it was a last-minute decision to reserve a hotel with shuttle service and stay near the airport. We then went to the Cheonan bus station, where we discovered the last bus to Incheon had just departed. We then had to take a bus to Gimpo Airport and then navigate the labyrinth of Seoul's subway system, which involved several transfers and re-routes due to construction. Mercifully, a few kindhearted Koreans offered assistance along the way. One gentleman, a well-traveled exercise physiology professor with excellent English, accompanied us for a good stretch of the trip and we traded email addresses.

When we finally reached Incheon Airport, it was deserted. We managed to locate a group of Asiana Airlines flight attendants and asked them to call our hotel to inquire about shuttle service. Turns out the shuttle driver went home for the night, as we'd been expected to arrive around 10pm (not midnight). Our highly thorough and efficient front desk clerk arranged a limo taxi to pick us up and 20 minutes later, we were relaxing in our room. (See photos!)

After a mere 5 hours of sleep, we were up, dressed, and (at the request of aforementioned desk clerk "making haste") taking the hotel airport shuttle to the airport. The flight was uneventful and brief. Kansai Aiport was a bit intense, with fingerprinting, temperature scans (due to the recent influenza pandemic), Once in Osaka, we took a high-speed train to the subway (another labyrinth) to our destination.

Our hotel in Osaka was a bit out of the way (unphotographed, since it really wasn't that interesting, aside from the fact that we were provided three single beds. . .) While in Japan, we had our fill of Western food (Subway, KFC, and McDonald's) but we also managed to taste a couple signature dishes. Near our hotel, there was a small takoyaki stand. Osaka is famous for this dumpling made of batter, diced baby octopus, tempura scraps, ginger, green onions and topped with various sauces and fish shavings. The cheery owner gave us 8 of the piping hot octopus balls and a refreshingly cold Coke.

Later that night, we took a walk around the residential area surrounding the hotel, mystified by what to eat, since Japan is quite expensive and there weren't many pictures on the menus. We heard laughter and cheers from inside a tiny corner restaurant, and a friendly young woman invited us to come in with broken English. She promised the yakotori (marinated bites of boneless chicken on skewers) was delicious. We came in and were seated at the bar. The chef/owner and other workers were young and energetic, and seemed like a great group of friends. They welcomed us in and we ordered beer and 3 skewers of leg meat (you can choose what part of the chicken you want to eat--usually it's a less preferred portion for us Westerners, like organs, or skin.) It was wonderfully seasoned and juicy (see photo). At their recommendation, we then tried the house speciality of duck meat skewers--it was succulent and subtly seasoned with herbs and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. We had a lively exchange with the staff, since it's doubtful that many foreigners had visited their restaurant before. I was inclined to get a group photo with them, but we weren't sure of the etiquette. It was a great end to a very long day of traveling!

We noticed some interesting contrasts between Japan and Korea in the short time we were there. Japanese fashion and music seems more diverse, flashy, and rebellious than that of Koreans (at least outside of Seoul.) Japanese cities have more flowers and greenery than Korea (more about our hilarious home gardening issues in another post!) Japan appeared more pristine and orderly--virtually litter-free, with no scooters or cars parked on sidewalks, just a swarm of bicyclists weaving between pedestrians. We knew Japan is expensive and food portions are small, but were amazed by just how costly everything is. We did manage to buy a few small souvenirs in the shopping district for our co-teachers and bosses. By the end of the trip, we were glad for the experience but found ourselves eager to return to our laid-back, quiet country home in Korea.

The trip back to Kansai Aiport went smoothly, as did the flight to Incheon. The bus ride from Incheon to Cheonan took over an hour longer than it should have, due to traffic in Seoul. We decided based on that experience and the jam-packed subways on Wednesday that we will NEVER live in Seoul or a city of that size.

We collapsed at home around 10:30 Friday night, thankful to be back. We spent most of the weekend indoors (it was rainy) catching up on sleep!

The Big 2-9

Yesterday marked my 29th birthday, and we met up with our Korean friends for a delicious ori gogi (duck meat) dinner. The restaurant was quite large and "Vegas-like" with neon palm trees and a fountain in front. The menu was comprised of two sets: one for a group of 3 people, and a bigger one for 4 people. We, of course, ordered the biggest. Basically, the meal consisted of several courses of duck entrees, complemented by a variety of banchan (side dishes) and dessert. Shane and I still liked the slow-roasted duck portions best, which taste like incredibly succulent ham. Our friends were eager for us to try raw crab in spicy pepper sauce, a delicacy here. I tasted it and thought it was like creamy, gelatinous, flavorless goo. Since crab is one of my favorite foods, I asked if we could throw some on the grill to cook, and found it to be much more palatable.

After the main courses, we were served juk (rice porridge) and some broth made from the bones of the duck. For dessert, we had sweet red beans over shaved ice--a popular dessert item here. I must admit the chocolate raspberry cake the Koreans got me at the bakery was more my speed!

After gorging ourselves, we headed to a noraebang (karaoke room). This one had a limited but interesting collection of English tunes. . . mainly very recent pop songs interspersed with old classics. In lieu of my usual standbys, I ended up singing Heart's "These Dreams," "Blowin' in the Wind," and Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours."

We caught the last train back to our town and after a quick bite at a kimbab place (sujebe--broth with dough flakes--is my new dish to order there!), collapsed at home and slept in. All in all, it was another memorable birthday celebration in Korea. We are already planning a road trip to the West Sea for grilled shellfish for Shane's birthday next month!!!