So long to bitter days and nights. Spring has arrived in Korea! The past two weekends have been about 75 degrees and beautiful. Two weekends ago I traveled to Gyeongju, where my friends Dayna, Ariel, Conor, and Charles live. On Saturday we walked outside and were met by sunshine and no wind. Now living on an island, I've been 20 minutes from beaches my entire life, and Dayna growing up in LA...well let's just say we were in GREAT moods.
Beautiful day in Gyeongju
Everyone was. It made me think of college, and how every year on the first nice day of the year, everyone would be outside, in high-spirits, playing frisbee and hanging out at the lake. Spring does that to you, especially after such a cold, long winter. We met up with the rest of our group and had our usual bibimbap and coffee, followed by the decision to rent bikes for the day. We had them for about three hours. We rode everywhere and anywhere.. on the track along the river, through the park, and through street markets (carefully) so as not to run down ahjummas, children, and/or produce. In the park, the cherry blossoms were beginning to bloom and were gorgeous.
Cute couple amongst the cherry blossoms
Korean cherry blossoms are different from Japanese cherry blossoms, for they are more white with a slight pale pink color. It's almost as if you're walking in some winter wonderland in the middle of Spring. The only down side is that they are only in bloom for about two weeks tops. And if there's rain (like there will be this weekend), their life is cut short even more. So Koreans have these festivals to savor their beauty and short-lived lives. The park was a beautiful place to be that day. Children and their families were flying kites as couples strolled through the park in their coordinating outfits.
--> Quick side-note about couples here. They coordinate their outfits whenever possible. I have witnessed everything from matching colored neon Nike shoes, matching plaid shirts, and entire coordinated outfits (and I mean every piece). Manikins and advertisements follow suit as well. It's definitely entertaining to watch couples go by and notice how well their outfits go together. Men also LOVE shopping with their girlfriends, unlike in the West. You will see men holding their girlfriends handbags and choosing outfits for them (with no sign of embarrassment or "get me the hell out of this store" whatsoever.)
My first kimbap experience. I'm hooked. Kimbap is kind of like sushi but does not contain raw fish which is why I love it!
Bike Day!
Clodagh, Dara, and Ariel. Biking break
Kodak moment at a small temple in Gyeongju
It is very worth mentioning that Gyeongju brought me (as well as most of the group) to what could be considered one of my top 3 favorite Korean meals.. Dak-galbi. It is marinated diced up chicken, cabbage, rice cakes, scallions, cheese, all stir-fried in a chili pepper sauce. It has a bit of an Indian curry taste to it, which is probably why I like it so much. But like most Korean meals, it is ALL about the preparation and presentation. The waiter/waitress cooks it for you at your table, and adds every ingredient in their own unique way.
Dak galbi!
Conor, me, Simon, and Marc at the dak galbi restaurant
Back to Spring...
This past Wednesday, we had off for Election Day. So that meant, no school! Dayna, Dara, Conor, Ariel, and I took that as a day meant for shopping in Daegu. (Quick thing about Korean elections - Campaigning here, means each candidate has a group of singer/dancers who line up on the sides and corners of streets singing to a choreographed dance. It is the greatest sight! Some of their songs are even popular songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb. Of course the lyrics are changed to Korean propaganda related to their candidate. It definitely woke me up every morning for the past two weeks walking to school. Please all let's just picture Obama or some old graying political member in the States hiring people to do this..) So I don't know if I was excited or sad to see them go come Election Day. We all did quite a bit of damage in Daegu (and by all I really just mean me and Dayna.) My Korean-style clothing is growing and I'm really pumped to bring it back to the States and see what happens haha. But in all seriousness I really am a fan of the women's fashion here despite the shortness of the bottom half of their attire. Which is good, because it's hella cheap compared to all the Western stores with their imported goods. We ended that day at an Italian restaurant, where we had dinner on the porch outside. A bottle of red, a bottle of white, and some delicious light salads to finish off our perfect day. All we needed was Billy Joel serenading us and we would have completed the song. Instead we got intense K-pop songs from the noraebang next door.. we weren't complaining.
Successful day
Representing the Irish.. Conor and Dara
Representing the States.. Ariel, Dayna and myself
This past week I went running down by the Nakdong River. This river runs through most of Gyeongbuk Province and empties out into the Korean Strait (South Sea) at Busan. Andong, like many cities, has a beautiful track that runs along the river. Bike rental stands appear throughout, and children, men and women young and old, are running, walking their dogs, riding bikes or if you're a couple, taking a lovely stroll in your matching sneakers. The river is only about a ten to fifteen minute walk from my apt which is really convenient.
Needed a quick running break.. and yes of course I hopped across the stones
Nakdong River
Me and Sarah
The next day me and a few girls from Andong decided to go hiking on one of the most toughest trails in Andong. Cheongryang-san Mountain (known as the Sky Bridge Hike) was almost an hour away by bus. There were 3 separate trails to go up, so we decided on the 2nd one, mainly because Sarah's co-teacher said the first one was extremely steep and scary and the third one was too far away. Little did we know... the second trail could just as well have been the steep one she was talking about. About 45 minutes in, we had a nice break at a quiet tea shop where I bought citron tea (유자차 pronounced yujacha.) It's the only tea I know how to say in Korean and has doubled as my new favorite tea, which is clearly why I ordered it. The menus were on paper hand fans and entirely in Korean. It's always a bit intimidating walking into a restaurant/cafe and seeing no English whatsoever. It's then, when you have to either A. make the choice to really study what is on that menu and hope that you recognize something, which often results in the waiter waiting longer than she/he was hoping for or B. point to something and say "hana juseyo" (which means "one please") and hope to god it's not 개고기 "gaegogi" (dog meat.) In my case, I have been taking time to learn Korean foods, so when this does happen to me, which is quite often, I have always been somewhat prepared. Let's think of the reality here... we are not in America. Menus are not going to have an English translation every time. So I don't pity those people who have been here and have not dedicated some time to study Korean. It's necessary, it's fun, and you're living in someone elses's country. Learn their language. Period.
Tea house
So many colorful lanterns!
Back to the trail... After our tea stop, we arrived at Chongnyang-sa Temple. There were colored lanterns on the trail leading up to this point and once we hit the temple, the lanterns were everywhere! Definitely a fun sort-of atmosphere and took away from the aches in our legs after sitting for 20 minutes at the tea shop. The view from the temple was breathtaking. Ever since New Zealand, I have constantly said, pictures really do not convey the beauty of mountains. We don't have anything like that in New York. The closest we come are the Appalachian Mountains that do no justice whatsoever to these. I caught myself, just like in NZ, staring out at them in awe. This is one of the many reasons why I came to Korea. There is so much to the world, and being stuck in America was not okay with me. Everyone needs to experience natural beauty like that. On our way up, we came across countless Koreans coming down. Well, it was either that no one chose to go up this trail that day or they don't go up this trail for a reason because of its steepness and extreme difficulty. If it was the second one, well we just chose to ignore that. Lisa, having the most experience with Korean language, was asking every few people how long until we would arrive at the bridge. One answer was 30 minutes, and then five minutes later, the answer was 10 minutes.. so there was really never a consistent ETA..
Dandayamana-Dhanurasana (Standing Bow Pose) for Bayport Bikram Studio's wall back home!
One of my favorite pictures
Ahjumma central!
After a total of 2 hours, we reached the Sky Bridge, which is a suspension bridge hanging in between the mountains. It was a gorgeous view, and I tried to ignore the fact that this bridge was suspended by cable wires between the two mountains. I mean I jumped the Nevis Bungy in New Zealand two years prior which was located in the middle of mountains by cable wires, so I don't quite know why I was a little shaken. At the end of the bridge, we met a family who invited us to sit down and join them for coffee and fruit. The young couple was fluent in English and the husband had studied at Stonybrook University which is 20 minutes from my hometown. Small world. After our delicious break we headed on back down the other trail, which only took about an hour. This trail was definitely steep and more rugged, which was fun. When we finally reached the road, we felt quite a feeling of accomplishment, just like the end of any hike. Endorphins were running high! Since we missed the bus we decided to stay there for dinner and get the last bus home.
We made it!
Dandayamana-Dhanurasana once again.. I had to haha
-->Three side-notes about hiking in Korea:
1. It's one of their favorite things and they do it in STYLE. I mentioned before about couples' coordinating outfits.. hiking is even cooler! Couples will coordinate their hiking outfits to the max. Though individually, Koreans go ALL OUT when they hike. For example, let's pick a color. Okay purple. They will match their shirts, pants, jacket, backpack, socks, hiking boots, hat, etc. ALL some shade of purple. You think I'm kiddng. I am not. I mean you see manikans in a Nike store with a perfectly coordinated workout outfit. That's them, but 10x more. Meanwhile I'm hiking up in black spandex Nike leggings and a blue Reebok top, with a green and gray backpack. Worst yet, I'm not even wearing legit hiking boots. I felt the stares at my Aasics running sneakers the whole way up.
2. Ahjummas are FIERCE. These 60-90 year old women are hiking up those mountains faster than the 25-year olds. It is unbelievable and for a lack of a better word, awesome to see. They have such drive and determination. I can only hope that I am that active at 80 years old.
3. 화이팅 Fighting! Koreans have this phrase for encouragement or to cheer you on. They pronounce it, "hwaiting" but some will say the English pronunciation of it which has been translated to "fighting." I have been told this by my landlord when I was sick a few weeks ago and I turned down a run. His exact words were, "Fighting MaryKate Teacher!" We heard 화이팅 many a time from our fellow Korean hikers that day.
After crossing the bridge. Sarah, me, and Lisa
Much needed breaks to keep our strength up
Almost there!
Me and Sarah at the entrance
Awesome shot. Kudos to Lisa!
Yesterday (Sunday), we went down to Andong's Cherry Blossom Festival, where we consumed way too much fried food and saw way too many adorable Korean children. We ran into a few of my friend's high school students which is always fun. I saw none of mine which was disappointing, but found out today in class that some of them were there. Oh well. There were some moments of homesickness in there, mostly because my mom and I have a full time job back home. And that my friends, is called shopping. I had to hold myself back with the vendors selling jewelery and handmade goods. My mom would have had a great time here. At the end of the day, I walked away with a full stomach, a new pair of handmade earrings, a new incense holder complete with jasmine incense sticks straight from India. It was a good day.
Me, Lisa, Lindsay, Angel, Sarah, and Leandi with some of Lisa's students
Winter wonderland.. but not.
Cool looking bull
SO MUCH seaweed!
Traditional Korean cookies and crackers
Still not quite sure what this stuff is
Adorable!
Crab stick
This girl was so mesmerized by all of the wooden nic nacs. So was I..
Within the past week, everything has been going really smoothly, and I have a new sense of comfort living in this country I now call home. A lot has happened.. some fun, some meaningful, some not so important, but all worth mentioning. For instance, bus schedules between cities have been working out to my advantage, I found my own new way to Shinae (downtown) and back. (Only a 15 min walk from my apt. Score!) I changed my phone plan to unlimited data, one of my students sought me out at the market and I met his parents; I am now a millionaire (aka I got paid), I got an amazing package from my mom, including the works (the best two parts being Irish soda bread and my heels.)
Daegu
First stop- Berkeley Bar and Restaurant
Today marks the sixth week I've been in this country. I have been living in Andong for five of those weeks, and in that time I have traveled to three different cities. Daegu was the first. Daegu is one of the three major metropolitan cities in South Korea. I call it the city of "quick sand," in a good way. It was a 2 1/2 hour train ride from Andong, and we spent the day at a bar called, Berkeley. We then had dinner down the road where we ate samgyupsal (pork belly, that's grilled by the customers.) Delicious. Then ended up at a few of the popular foreigner bars and clubs in the city. The next morning we went to a Mexican restaurant for brunch and wound up staying there until 8pm.. We consumed strawberry daiquiris, vodka tonics as well as a complimentary round of tequila shots from the owner. In the afternoon, my friend Dayna and I ventured out to do what we do best... clothes shopping. We were in search of Korean womens' fashion..Just in case you were wondering, we were very successful. That night was a bit crazy for me. There were no late trains back to Andong, and the bus back was sold out (even though I got there an hour before.) Thanks to a great new friend I was able to stay the night at her place in Daegu and get the 6:40am bus back. I arrived in Andong at 8am, took a cab back to my apt, quickly changed, grabbed my bag, and walked to school, walking in the front doors at 8:29am. (I have to be there at 8:30). It was chaos.. but one hell of a story. Yes, we love Daegu.
Cocktails-in-a-bag
Traveler's Bar & Grill
Sunday Morning Madness
Seoul
Me, Simon, and Dara at Wolfhound Bar
The next weekend, my travels landed me in none other than the capital of this amazing country, and the most traveled-to destination by tourists in SK... Seoul. When I was figuring out my transportation to there, I quickly realized that Andong's train system is unfortunately not very practical. It's double the price of the bus and takes twice as long because 90% of the trains go to Dongdaegu station first and then transfer to other cities. So for example, when traveling to Seoul, if you look at a map, Dongdaegu (Daegu) station is 2 hours south of Andong, and Seoul is all the way on the northwestern corner of SK. The train would travel all the way to Dongdaegu and then all the way back up to Seoul. Plain ridiculous, so because of this I have been taking the bus when I travel. These buses are NOT at all like a Greyhound. They are roomy, and comfortable and easy to fall asleep in, which is very important =) So back to Seoul. The bus was 3 hours and I arrived there on Friday evening. The bus terminal I came into was the Express Bus Terminal which is connected to the subway, (like Penn Station.. for my New Yorkers.) Now being a New Yorker (even though I'm not from Manhattan), I have experience with the subway system, especially in the last two years. Spending a lot of time there... you would think my experiences would give me an advantage when arriving in Seoul's subway. For lack of a better expression. HELL NO. New Yorkers use uptown and downtown to determine which direction you should take the train. This does not exist here. You need to know what station is at the end of the line, so you know which train to take. Yes, there are English signs, but it's still Korea, so most things ARE in Korean! Thank god for two things. My friend Marc and my smartphone. He told me to download the Jihachul app. It's an app that has an interactive map of the Seoul Subway system. I can simply tap what station I am at, tap where I need to go, and it tells me what line to get on, the times, and the transfers. It was magical. Before I even got onto the train however, I needed to buy a ticket. I was so overwhelmed that I completely overlooked the button where it said, English. With my broken-Korean, I asked two Korean girls my age how to buy one. They understood somewhat, but I spotted a foreigner and literally flagged him down like you would a cab. He was my saviour at that moment. I made it on to the correct train and met up with Marc when I got off. It took us multiple cab drivers and multiple kick-outs of cabs to FINALLY find a driver who understood where our hostel was. (That was accomplished by getting in touch with our friend who was already at the hostel, who put the owner on the phone to tell our driver where to go.) We arrived at the hostel to meet up with the rest of our friends... and the night began. Our hostel was in Hongdae (a popular foreigner hotspot), but we took the subway back to Itaewon (American military and foreigner filled area) to go out to the bars. We spent a good part of the night at Wolfhound Bar (an Irish pub) that played Irish songs all night. (It was the night before St. Paddy's.) Of course, me and my Irish friends (Dara, Clodagh, Angela, and Conor) were taking over every song.
Foreigners galore at the Festival
Me and Jaceon at the Irish Festival
When we woke up, we all went out to get bibimbap (probably one of the most famous dishes in Korea, and we all love it.) It's basically a rice dish, with beef, egg, beansprouts, spinach, seaweed, zucchini, and a bunch of other vegetables that I don't know the names of. It's a very pretty dish, for there are so many vibrant colors from all of the ingredients. When it is served to you, you need to mix it all up with red pepper paste. We then traveled to Itaweon yet again for the Irish Festival. There were Korean Irish Step Dancers (who admittedly weren't the best but still made me happy because it reminded me of home.) I made Dayna do the Siege of Ennis with me; there was Irish song after Irish song, and I was eating it up. It did make me miss home, thinking of family parties blasting Paddy Reilly. Our friend Haelim met up with us here (She was our TA during orientation and lives in Seoul.. we love her! She's awesome!) The festival gave us all a similar feeling of not being in Korea anymore, because there was such an abundant amount of foreigners there. Now remember the open container policy in Korea.. well, there is none. lol So please just picture this next part in your head. We all took turns going on beer runs to Home Plus, basically an E-Mart (an enormous grocery store, clothing store all-in-one shopping center.) We walked in and there were hundreds of foreigners stocking up on soju, mekju (beer) and mixers. We walked in there drinking a beer (at the door, the employee put a sticker on them, as a sign that we brought them in from outside and were not stealing.) It was quite a sight. And it was quite a day. Dayna and I bought coats later on that night. We bargained with them for a lower price and won. Pretty great. We ended up at a bar, with a bunch of foreigners wearing way too much green. I won't get in to how we got home that night, but let's just say the subway stops running at midnight and smartphones here die very quickly (the hostel's address and phone number were saved on them.)
Me and the Irish, Dara and Conor
Korean Irish Step Dancers
Me, Haelim, and Dayna
Some Korean girls dressed in hanbok.. they were hysterical
On Sunday, five of us hopped on the train to Insadong. Insadong is a cultural market, holding many little shops that sell traditional art, food, and gifts. We stopped in a nice little cafe for coffee and then walked over to a Buddhist temple, where I sat in on a Buddhist meditation for twenty minutes. It was beyond anything I've ever experienced. I had no idea what was being said, but I stared in front of me, periodically gazing at the beautiful and intricate interior walls and ceiling. I walked out of there feeling relaxed, stress-free and light in a way. It was an interesting and new experience, and I know for a fact that won't be my last visit to a Buddhist temple. From there we walked ten minutes over to Gyeongbokgung Palace ("The Palace Greatly Blessed by Heaven.") This is probably the most well known in all of Korea. It's construction was completed in 1395, but torn down during the Japanese invasion in 1592. 270 years later in 1867, is when the Palace was reconstructed only to be torn down again during the Japanese occupation from 1910-1945. 1990 started the ongoing restoration of the Palace and its surrounding buildings. It is a fascinating place, full of history, culture, and beauty, and a must for anyone visiting Korea.
The main Buddhist Temple (I went into the temple next to this one.. this one was packed to the max)
At the entrance of the Palace
Seoul is a wonderful place, but I am also thankful that I did not get placed there. On one hand I would be broke in a matter of weeks with the amount of shopping that is available. But on a more serious note, Seoul is very westernized and I feel there is not as much culture there as there is in other parts of Korea. I am thankful that I live in Andong, for it contains the more traditional and conservative side of this country. But it's a comfort to know that if I need to get away and surround myself with fellow foreigners, a Starbucks, and western-sized clothes, that Seoul is only a three hour bus ride away.
Pohang
Now we come to the third city- Pohang. Pohang is way down south, right on the eastern coast.. hence beach! This was only a short two hour bus ride. I met up with Dayna, Charles, Richard, Joe, and Westley. We all met very early on in orientation and became an awesome little group. Joe and Richard live there, so they showed us around. We went down to Jukdo Market, which is the famous market in Pohang, known for their seafood. So many fish, so many seafood I have never seen nor heard of before.
Charles with the King Octopus at Jukdo Market
We had lunch at a crab restaurant. We picked out our own crab (still alive) and waited for them to cook them fresh. Delicious and filling! We went down to Bukbo Beach (even though it was quite chilly that weekend), and it was beautiful. It again made me miss home a little bit. My whole life I've been a 20 min car ride form a beach.. so clearly Pohang and Busan are going to consume my weekends here in the summer =) We went out that night and met up with a few other friends from orientation who live in Pohang. Another beautiful city.
Jukdo Market (the commotion at the end is because one of the huge fish unexpectedly jumped almost clear out of its bucket..
Delicious crab
Joe at dinner at a samgyupsal restaurant
Me, Travis, and Dayna
Me and Dayna
Joe, Westley, Richard, Dayna, and me
Traveling to these different cities every weekend is something I look forward to all week. My city of Andong is awesome and the people here are great, but I want to see all of Korea and there is SO MUCH to see. The friends I made during orientation are awesome, and we became very close, so the fact that it is so easy to travel in this country and to see each other almost every weekend is really great. As a foreigner here, I am engulfing myself in this culture and reaching out to meet and speak with Koreans. However all of us foreigners found out very quickly that we need each other to get through this year. This was a life-changing decision for all of us, to move ourselves to a country who's culture is so unlike our own. We go through some tough times here, trying to teach these children and communicate our simplest needs and even our opinions to our co-teachers. We are all going through the same things so talking to each other helps tremendously. Every city we go to, we meet more and more Koreans who are so interested in speaking English with us, and vice-versa. I always say it's so funny, because all we want to do is speak Korean and learn Korean from them, but all they want to do is speak English with us. hah.
This is the perfect point to bring up my friend Scott. I met him the first week I was here in Andong, and he is leaving for the military in two days. (It is required of all Korean men to join the military.) We had a going away party for him this weekend at his uncle's makkoli restaurant, which was fabulous. Scott is a great person, always hanging out with us foreigners in Andong, trying to improve his English, even though he's amazing at it, and clearly fluent. He has studied it hard and we are all sad to see him go. He has helped me out incredibly with my Korean and has become a true friend here. Scott, you're awesome, good luck with everything and I will see you in NY!
