Chusok Travels

Pusan
Still unsure of where to go, my wife and I took a bus to Pusan on Saturday and then hopped on the subway to the Jagalchi Fish Market area. We stayed at the same motel I stayed in 2 years ago which was cheap, clean and in a good area of the city. After taking our room we went out for Japanese food (sushi and tempura) then walked around the Pusan Film Festival area before crashing for the night. There was no film festival at this time but it's always busy with food vendors and merchants of various goods.

The next day we went to the Jagalchi Fish Market where there are hundreds of booths selling all kinds of fish and other treasures of the sea. During my last visit to Pusan I saw several vendors/cooks (they often sell fresh fish in the front of their stall and have a table set up in the back for those who are already hungry) with a plate or bowl at the front of their stalls. In this container there would be several long, pink fish squirming with organs hanging out as if they had just been skinned alive. I told my wife about this but we were unable to find this strange sight on this visit and she was hinting that she didn't believe me. Finally, near the end of the row of stalls, there was a vendor with exactly what we had been looking for. When I showed her, she was as disgusted as I was. She told me that they were in fact eels that had been skinned alive and she guessed that this showed potential customers just how fresh their upcoming meal would be.

Tired of the smell of fish we went to Starbuck's for a couple frapuccino's and then to the ferry terminal to go to Geojedo (the second largest island in Korea). When we bought tickets, we had to write our names and passport numbers/ID numbers on the tickets...but unfortunately since I had figured we were travelling within the country I didn't bring my passport. After my wife told the official that I was her husband and that I worked in Korea, etc. he finally let me on the boat but warned me that I could be fined a million won (around $1000 CDN) if someone catches me. This was the beginning of my paranoia of the police, which would last for the rest of our trip. The only reason I could think of for this need for a passport on a domestic trip was so that they could identify who went down with the ship in the case of a mishap...not exactly a comforting thought either, especially with another typhoon on its way toward Japan.

Geojedo
When we arrived in Geojedo there were 2 policemen with metal detector wands (like they have at the airport) waiting for me...at least that's what I thought. There was another caucasian guy on the boat so I watched him get off...if they took him aside, then I might have to think of another way off the boat. They, however just watched him and everyone else pass. I took my chance and walked out with the last group...unmolested. Unfortunately my wife was not feeling well after the 1.5 hour boat ride so she was sitting on the dock by the boat after everyone else had moved onto dry land. There was just us and the policemen. I encouraged her to move off of the dock as it was still moving with the sea (and I was still sure the policemen were there for me). We went into the terminal where the tourist information office had just closed so we had no idea of where we were or where to go so after my wife recuperated from the journey we wandered around for a while trying to find a map. While passing the police station, my wife thought they might have some maps. I was hesitant to go in, but they had no reason to suspect me so I went in with her. In the office were about 10 bored looking police officers. The man behind the desk was dealing with an older caucasian man who was talking to someone on his cell phone saying "my documents are not with my now, but I left them in your car". Nine bored police officers were looking at me. It took all my energy to look natural, like someone who had his documents with him...and not run out of that office. One of the bored policemen was talking to my wife and the whole process of getting a map was taking too long. After several minutes, the police officer took us outside and was obviously pointing out directions for my wife. She told me later that they did have maps a few weeks ago but they had already given them all out. I was able to breathe normally again once we were out of sight from the police station. Finally we got a map from the wall of the supermarket, which was taken off and given to us by one of the employees.

We took a bus to Koojora Beach where an ajumma (an older woman) told us to continue on the beach road if we want to find a hotel. We did as she told us and found ourselves on a hill overlooking a beautiful sandy beach that had fishermen lined up as far as we could see in the dark, with long fishing rods and glowing red bobbers on their lines. We were very excited at this unexpected even so we sat down and watched one fisherman pull two long silvery fish out of the ocean within the next half hour. Looking back on our trip, this was one of our favorite times...we just relaxed and watched the fishing for a while, then strolled along the beach.

The next day we booked a seat on a boat going to Oedo (Fantasy Island). We wanted to take the package deal that also went to Haegumgang (a steep row of rocks that juts out of the sea) however the coming typhoon was making the sea too dangerous to make the trip to Haegumgang. Oedo is an island garden created by a rich guy in 1995 containing many species of plants from around the world. It was a nice place to visit but cost us too much money and the classical music playing from speakers in the trees took something away from the natural surroundings.

Before going to Oedo, while we waited for our ship to come in after booking our tickets, we went to the beach again for a barefoot stroll. Once again there were a few fisherment around but in the day they didn't seem to catch much that looked tasty - some bottom feeders and baby puffer fish. A few guys were casting nets out into the water which was interesting to watch but after a while we got bored of watching them untangle their nets and pull garbage out of them. The bottom feeder fish had spikes on their backs so it was interesting to watch different fisherment's techniques at avoiding the spikes while unhooking or untangling their catch...some wore gloves, others took their chances.

Pebble Beach
We took a bus as far as we could down the coast to Pebble Beach (that's what the Korean name means). We were hoping to make our way to Haegumgang but after 2 hours of waiting for a bus heading in that direction or even a taxi, we figured we better just take the next bus out of there...so we were off to Tongyeong on the next bus.

Tongyeong
Unfortunately the next day was the day everyone celebrates Chusok, so we took a cab downtown and found it to be dead. We found a kimbap (rice rolled in seaweed) shop and ordered lunch, however the kimbap in Tongyeong is unique and what we received was unexpected. Usually kimbap is rice rolled in seaweed with egg, ham, pollock, and veggies inside. Tongyeong kimbap is just rice and seaweed with some kimchi as a side dish...not exactly exciting. This was also the only dish that the restaraunt served. Unfortunately it seemed like the restaraunt owner and his wife were not on speaking terms and a heavy air hung over our tasteless meal. (I supposed that his wife wanted to celebrate Chusok like everyone else rather than work).

After lunch we wanted something tasty so we stopped at a Mini Stop (even open on Chusok) and bought some ice cream. We then hiked up to Yi Sun Shin's statue. He was the general who fought off the Japanese in 1596 (I think that's the year) using the famous Korean turtle battle ships. The statue was smaller than we expected but the view from the top of the mountain of Goejedo and Tongyeong was nice.

Unfortunately it started to rain when we were on the mountain so we took a taxi to the Mireukdo Tourism Area. We were told it was a good place to go but it's basically a marina and a fancy hotel so that was quite disappointing. We did find a "sports centre" in the area so we went bowling, played ping pong and some arcade games before leaving for Jinju later that day.

Jinju
The plan was to catch a bus onward to Gwangju or Jeonju (our final destination) but we arrived in Jinju at 7:30 and the last buses for our destinations were gone by 6:30. Resigned to stay in Jinju for the night, we took a cab to the Jinju fortress. The cab driver tried to get us interesed in some night clubs and seedy hotels but we insisted on going to the fortress. We wanted to visit the fortress the next day so we planned to get a place close to their so we could just walk there the next day. As we got close to the fortress we saw many huge lanterns floating in the river that runs through Jinju. Apparently we caught the first day of the Jinju Lantern Festival. By chance we had a chance to catch the festival with hundreds of hand made lanterns (and hundreds of patterns such as kimbap, skulls, cartoon characters, milk cartons, ships, people and whatever else struck the imagination of the people of Jinju) and at just the right time, in the evening. I won a stuffed bear at a carnival game for my wife...a pink ugly bear that just reminded me of my failure to get a stuffed Snoopy. She liked it though so we kept it...for a while.

The next day we went to the fortress and looked around. The fortress at Jinju was defended with 3800 Korean soldiers against 20,000 Japanese soldiers in 1592. Six months later the Japanese returned with 90,000 soldiers and slaughtered all the soldiers and civilians which together totalled around 70,000 people. After the defeat a Japanese commander was being entertained by a Korean professional entertainer (a cultured prostitute?) when she lured him close to the river's edge and hugging him, fell into the river. Both the woman and the commander drowned. Now the most notable figure and hero of Jinju is a prostitute. Her image was on hundreds of lanterns at the festival and a 20 foot high version of her bobbed up and down in the middle of the river. We even got to see the very rock the two fell off of to their deaths, named "Righteous Rock". As one writeup at the fortress stated, without the help of a prostitute, the rock would never have become righteous.

We also visited the museum in the fortress, which explained in more detail the events surrounding the Jinju fortress. Unfortunately most of the explanations are in Korean so we went through it pretty fast. When we finished walking through the museum, my wife went to the washroom. Meanwhile, the museum employees were looking at me while I was putting my camera back in my bag. Feeling a little paranoid yet again, I quickly got our stuff together and couldn't wait for my wife to get back. When she returned, they told her how cute they think her pink bear is. They were very taken with her bear so she gave it to them (I told her it was ok as I didn't like it anyway). It was a nice feeling to give someone something they really wanted...especially when it's something I don't want anyway!

We thought we better get to the bus terminal before 6:00 so we could catch a bus home. Of course the day after Chusok the bus terminal had lineups out the front doors. After we realized that we were at the wrong bus terminal, a taxi driver told us that all buses were sold out but he could take us home for the special price of 150,000 Won...about 150 dollars Canadian. My wife gave him a disgusted sound and waved him off with her hand. We took another taxi to the other terminal where we caught a bus (no problem, not even close to full).

Jeonju
When we got back to Jeonju, we ate dinner and took a taxi home...when we paid the taxi driver I had 1000 won left in my wallet...about $1.

Settling in before Chusok

With the first 3 weeks of school finished, we have a long 5 day thanksgiving type holiday called Chusok starting tomorrow. We still haven't figured out where we're going to go yet and it's Friday night already. Everyone in the country it seems travels on this holiday to visit their parents and grandparents so it's a very busy time to travel, but the only chance we'll get until Christmas. We're considering Pusan (a large port city with a huge seafood market), Gyeongju (capital of the one of the most famous empires in Korea's history) and Oedo ("Paradise Island"). We were very excited about the idea of Oedo until I read the information in the Lonely Planet guide book where we learned that the island is man-made, crowded and expensive. During Chusok it's likely to be even more so. However the other islands around the area of Oedo sound interesting enough to go to.

I've really enjoyed teaching recently as I have several middle school classes who speak English well enough for conversations and they understand my jokes. When I taught in Gunsan in 2002/03 all of the students were given English names so within a couple weeks, I knew most of the students names. 3 weeks into this experience, I know maybe 10% of my student's names. I'm trying to learn their Korean names but it's difficult. The students often correct my pronunciation of their names and every name is strange to me so they're difficult to remember.

Korean classes are getting better as we finished the alphabet after 2.5 weeks so now we learn useful phrases every day. I met another English teacher in my class. He's from the U.S. and is also married to a Korean. We talk every day before and after class. It's nice to have somebody to talk to who I don't have to speak simply and slowly to.

I've been a bit paranoid about mentioning names in my entries so far. I want to make them more personal but I feel a bit nervous about it after a situation that occurred over the summer. I posted an entry on a web site asking a question about a certain school. 2 weeks later my wife called me and told me that the owner of the school called her and yelled at her...apparently a teacher read my entry, told a recruiter that he wasn't interested in the school, the recruiter told the employer, the employer called my wife, and my wife called me. We sorted everything out in the end (I removed the name of the school from the entry) but there was nothing connecting me to the entry as it was anonymous...except that I had been in negotiations with the school. So it creeped me out how easily I was tracked down and unfortunately my wife was pulled into the situation too.

So anyway I'm hoping to get a little more personal with my entries but it's difficult. I feel if I do, then I can't accurately report certain events without getting in trouble. However if I don't get more personal then my writing won't have the warmth that it should have, given that I'm writing mostly to my family and friends. I'll figure it out sometime.

We found a shop fairly close to our apartment that sells western food so we're chowing down on nachos and cheese with salsa at the moment. Sooo good. Cheese is one of the foods I miss most and now I can have it often, especially now that I have something to eat it with! I was excited to find Oreos (and cheap!) but they're not quite the same...a little more soggy than at home. Also: Pringles, M&Ms (no Smarties), Snickers, Skittles, Hershey's Kisses and all kinds of Kellogg's and Post cereals. Sometimes I crave a good steak or pasta but they're not too hard to find if I'm willing to go downtown and pay a little more money (well, probably the same price as in Canada but if I order a Korean dish, it's about half as much so it just seems more expensive.

First Days of School

With my first week of classes finished and a new one begun I feel good about my job so far. My employer has been very accommodating to our needs (he bought me a bicycle this week so I can get around faster) and the other teachers are very nice, many of who speak English. Still, every day I go to school I feel very nervous, as if expecting all hell to break loose or the students to all come to the realization that I'm not a real teacher but a fraud. However as soon as class starts, my worries disappear and I have a great time. Basically my job is to make the students speak and if I can make that happen, I'm successful. Unfortunately there are some classes where nobody wants to speak and those classes are the most difficult.

I have 2 classes that are particularly interesting as the students want to get into a prestigious high school which has difficult tests and interviews which must be passed for entrance into the school. I have 2 months to teach about 20 students to speak English. There are a few students in the classes who I think can make it but most of the students have never been in an English academy before. They all take English in middle school of course but in large classes, the opportunities to speak are limited. Before I started teaching my boss emphasized the importance of these classes and I felt a lot of pressure to help these kids succeed. (He asked me how long it would take to get them prepared - I would have said 6 months but, feeling they didn't have that long, I diverted the topic slightly. Later I asked a teacher and she told me that they must take the interview in 2 months). In my opinion, these students should have been going to an English academy for at least a year before the interview, instead of cramming with 2 months to go. However at least they will get some speaking in and those classes have been my most enjoyable so far.

This past weekend we went to see me and my wife's former employers in Gunsan. They invited us for supper but then said they would take us out. We waited for an hour and a half at E-Mart which luckily has a lot of shopping and a Baskin Robbins inside before they picked us up. The last time we saw them, my wife and I were secretly dating while both working at their school so they didn't even know about us until a few months ago...until after we were married...so our meeting was a little awkward at first but then we talked for a few hours over Chinese food and had a great time. They also want their daughter to attend a prestigious high school so when they heard I was teaching these interview classes, they had me ask her some questions, which she did very well at...but then she's been going to an English academy that her parents own for a few years so I wasn't surprised.

Every day I work, I eat supper at the school and every day it's kimchi and rice. At first I thought it would be very boring but every day there are 3 different kinds of kimchi and every day they are different (only the cabbage kimchi have I seen twice in one week). There has been kimchi made with radishes, cucumber, sprouts, tiny fish, peppers, ham, cabbage and others I can't remember right now. One of the student's mothers prepares the kimchi for our school and every day it's great.

My Korean classes are going well, although we are going through the alphabet right now at a snail's pace. I'm pretty good with the alphabet so I can't wait to get onto the next part. Over half of the students in my class are Chinese and many of the sounds we are learning in the alphabet are not used in Chinese so it can take half a class to get each student to say one letter correctly. It's slow but fun as I get to meet new people. I've exchanged email addresses with an American who is also married to a Korean so it's nice to have someone in the same shoes as me, being a foreigner in Korea married to a Korean.

Exploring

The past few days have been mostly spent exploring our new surroundings. I was excited to find a PC room on the second floor of our apartment building, a fitness club in the next building and an Imsil Pizza place (good pizza, even with the corn niblets) about a block away. We found an E-Mart (huge department store) about a half hour walk away from our place last night, which is where we'll likely do any major shopping. I was excited to find that they have some brown bread so we bought a toaster there last night. We didn't get a few things on our shopping list after we found out prices....eg. fork, knife and spoon for ~$5 and a tin of coffee for ~$20. Unfortunately we forgot to look for baking soda to put in our fridge. When we open our fridge the whole apartment fills with the smell of kimchi.

On Friday we met my employer, which went well, then on Saturday we bought teaching materials for my classes. I am teaching at a new school so for now, I don't have a lot of classes but they are spread out through the week and some days I have long breaks between classes. The school is brand new and looks great. I was told by the head teacher that the school was designed by the owner...it is very bright with lots of windows and wood trim. The atmosphere is great, I get my own desk and there will be rice and kimchi for me at work so I don't have to leave for dinner.

For now my schedule goes from around 3 PM to 10 PM but since next week will be the first week, I expect that could change. I'm nervous about starting on Monday as the employer has made it known several times that he has high expectations. I'm sure everything will work out but for now I feel like I'm under a microscope.

Visa Hassle and First Day

I arrived in South Korea 2 days ago anxious to see my wife who I haven't seen in almost 3 months although it wasn't until an hour before we landed that I allowed myself to get excited. I had spent all of Monday running around Vancouver trying to get my work visa issued in 1 day (which they don't normally do) as I had to leave on Tuesday. I started the day by going to the wrong FedEx location to pick up my visa document at 9:00 AM. I picked up my documents at the right location at 9:30 and headed to the consulate. Once there I was told I could not get my visa done in a day...well maybe if I showed them my plane ticket they could make an exception. Since my ticket was an e-ticket, I didn't have my ticket with me...so back to the airport I went (the same airport I flew into at 7:45 that morning) and got my ticket. I woke up at 4:00 AM this morning so I was feeling quite tired by this time. I fell asleep in the back of the cab for several minutes on the way back to the airport. When I awoke, the cabbie was looking at me through the mirror in a strange way...I think I was snoring with my head tilted back, mouth wide open. Finally I returned to the consulate at 11:30. The clerk there gave me a phone number to call later in the day to see if my visa would be ready for me to pick up. By this time I had spent well over $100 on 6 cab rides so I spent the next 5 hours in Vancouver kicking around waiting to pick up my visa, which thankfully did get processed.

So I finally landed in Incheon Int. Airport and waited for a long time at immigration. Some guy who spent 20 minutes yelling at one of the stewards on the plane spend another 20 minutes to get through the immigration man and he happened to be in the same lineup as me. Finally through, I came out into the waiting area and saw my beautiful wife for the first time in almost 3 months. This was the happiest moment for me since...probably our wedding 3 months ago. Her mother was there with her and I gave her a hug too, although it was a bit strange as the last time I met her mother my wife and I were just co-workers without a hint of romance in sight.

The bus ride to Jeonju was about 4 hours and my father-in-law picked us up at the bus station. I had never met him before. He taller than I expected and more handsome and charming than I pictured in my mind. He brought me pink flowers and a vase, which seemed a little strange but at least it was a positive response (I had had scenarios running through my head as to what I should do if he brought a shotgun instead of flowers). We all then went out for dinner, ate some kalbi (BBQ pork ribs) and told each other how happy we are with my wife translating between the in-laws and myself.

Later we went to the apartment to which the in-laws brought 4 bags of groceries containing water, milk, orange and grape juices, several kinds of kimchi, pork, peaches, plums, grapes, bananas, apples and rice. My mother-in-law said that she was very worried about us and that she wishes that she lived closer so she could take care of us. Then the next day they came again while my wife was at school, proceeded to clean up the apartment, do laundry, prepare and freeze meals for the next week and make lunch for us. My mother-in-law is a great cook and she made bulgogi (spicy pork) and japchae (noodles made with sweet potato I believe mixed with vegetables and chicken....maybe pork). With about 5 side dishes of kimchi of course too.

While my mother-in-law was cleaning up, I was not sure if I should help her or not. I felt torn as she cleaned and brought us fruit while we watched a documentary on soybeans. Finally she said that she was ready to go and that I should hang up the laundry when it is finished. I agreed, finally feeling like there was something constructive I could do...but then while she was taking off her apron, my father-in-law said "washing no... you no touch...my daughter do". I smiled and said "ok" even though I planned to do it since my wife wouldn't be returning for another 3 hours. I cracked a smile, almost burst out laughing because it seemed so absurd. I had a whole day off while my wife was at school so I figured the least I could do would be to hang up laundry. Before he left, he said once more, "No touchie".

Yesterday morning we were woken up by loud banging noises at 7:00 AM. There is new construction in the lot next to us so I expect I won't be getting up late on weekdays (even though I don't work until 2:00 PM) for the next few months. Of course we also have something of a beer garden right below our apartment so it's likely that Friday and Saturday nights will be noisy too. The nice part about being in this area on the other hand is that we have many shops close by. The last time I was in Korea, there were only a handful of shops close to my apartment (and most closed before 9 PM, the time I finished work) but there were many businesses open even at 10:30 last night when we went for a walk. We even passed by the school I'm going to work at, which is only about a 15 minute walk from the apartment. I will go to the school for the first time tonight and find out what to expect as I start work on Monday.