Wednesday, September 30, 2009

It's Time for a Chusseok Party!





Happy Chusseok everyone! Today our school celebrated Chusseok, the Korean Thanksgiving. Our morning was particularly fun because we did not have normal classes; instead we had a Chusseok party with all of our prekinder and kinder kids! All the kids showed up in their Hanboks, traditional Korean Chusseok clothing. We spent the day making Korean kites, playing traditional Korean games, dancing Chusseok dances, and having a lot of fun. It was quite delightful. Most of the pictures are of my kindergarten class, I love them all. They are so much fun and such smart 6 year olds (7 Korean age)! They looked so cute in their Hanboks!


We also received many gifts from our students today, from food and coffee drinks to a coffee maker, gift baskets of cleaning supplies, face creams and more. Also our director gave us each a gigant gift basket of fruit...so now we have 12 bananas, 2 gigantic cantaloupes, 8 Asian pears, 6 apples, 8 golden kiwis, 12 clementine oranges and 2 giant bunches of grapes to eat. Woohoo fruit and Happy Chusseok!



Also...here is a video showing just how much Nick's prekinders love him...they literally immobilize him in the hallways to hug and climb on him. :)



Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Happy Birthday Nick!!!


Happy Birthday indeed! Today is Nick's 24th birthday (25th if you're talking Korean age) and it was a very happy day. My kindergarten class wanted very much to celebrate Nick's birthday - even though Nick has never been their teacher - and so we spent the morning making handmade cards and presents for Nick. I bought a cake and during break time the kids surprised Nick and sang to him. It was very cute.



Nick got dozens of handmade cards from all of his classes, as well as some small presents from his kids and KT. It was a good day. Other than my little cake that my class and I shared with Nick he also got a cake from our directors. It was a fruit cake, topped with tomatoes. Because tomatoes are fruit here. Glazed tomatoes, yum yum yum. It was all fun though.



After work we came home and I made Nick a birthday dinner of spaghetti in a bacon cream sauce with broccoli and peppers. We topped it off with some salad and a nice bottle of wine. I was happy to cook for him :)


I got Nick three traditional wooden masks as well as some boxers that have the Korean won on them...very amusing I must say. Nick also got presents mailed to him from several family members and was really appreciative of everything. It was a really nice little birthday. This weekend we plan on going out with some friends to celebrate some more, but as far as I can tell he couldn't have had too much of a nicer day. Happy Birthday Nick!

Sunday, September 27, 2009

I made something pretty today :)


Today I went shopping for Nick's birthday presents and while I was out I stumbled on a traditional art festival in Insadong. They were doing traditional wood block painting and I decided to try my hand at it. Above is what I ended up with. :)

I found out two things today: that many Koreans are amazing painters and that they are incredibly impressed when a foreigner can emulate their painting. I was sitting next to a ten year old girl whose block was just as good as mine, and the women and men all around me who were painting their wood blocks and carved ducks were amazing painters. I was the only foreigner painting. I had a small crowd surrounding me of Koreans all watching in wonderment as I painted my flower and butterfly. Many told me that they did not expect to see a foreigner painting a traditional Korean wood block and that they expected even less that I would be any good. It made me feel pretty good about myself, haha.

I'm glad I got the chance to paint this, the only thing I regret is that I didn't have time to paint more!


Saturday, September 26, 2009

Today we went to North Korea.



Well, as close as we could which was pretty close - within three kilometers (1.8 miles). We and a few of our fellow American teachers went to the DMZ (the demilitarized zone) between the two countries on a guided tour. First stop was the freedom bridge on the civilian line of South Korea, where Koreans who had been captured during the war were forced to choose whether to go to North Korea or South Korea when they were freed. Those people had no idea what it would be like on either side or where their families were. Over 600,000 people made such a decision and those who chose South Korea came across the "freedom bridge" which crosses the river that is near the border of North and South Korea, possibly being separated from their families. The freedom bridge crosses the civilian line. The civilian line is the line where civilians can no longer cross and the area becomes a military zone. There is a 2 kilometer military zone from the civilian line and then the DMZ begins. The DMZ goes for 4 kilometers; 2 kilometers in Sout Korea and then 2 kilometers into North Korea. Then there is a 2 kilometer wide military zone in North Korea as well, and then their civilian line. So there are 8 kilometers of land in between the two countries that is shut down to the public and heavily guarded.


After visiting the freedom bridge we got on a different tour bus and went to the entrance of the military zone. We had to show soldiers our passports and then they let the bus into the military base. We first went to a train station for the Korean Intercontinental Train. There is no Korean Intercontinental Train. The station was built in 2002 in case the South and the North ever come to an agreement and are so hospitable that train lines can be run throughout both countries. For seven years the station has sat, empty, with no trains ever coming through it. It was eerie.



After seeing the empty train station and passing by the main base our tour took us up to the main observatory. There we stood, just over 2 kilometers away from North Korea, overlooking the DMZ and the North Korean mountains. We were told that we can tell North Korean mountains from South Korean mountains because the South Korean mountains have trees while the North Korean mountains are bare. They are bare because the North Koreans used all the wood for building materials and as heat source and that they cut down all their trees and wasted the resource to the point that wood is apparently a precious commodity there. Since we were in the middle of a military base we were told we were not allowed to take pictures of the view - they even had a photo line on the ground where cameras were not allowed. We snuck some pictures of North Korea (see North Korea below!!!!!!!) and then we were herded back onto the bus to go to the 3rd tunnel.


The South Koreans have found four tunnels since 1959 where the North Koreans have tried to dig their way into South Korea to invade Seoul, which is only around 40 miles from the border of the two countries. The 3rd tunnel was the largest and was discovered in 1978. The 4th tunnel was found in 1990! The South Koreans fully believe that there are more tunnels crossing the border that they have yet to find. We went through a museum telling us about the Korean War, the creation of the DMZ, and the discoveries of the four tunnels. We watched a short movie about the DMZ and the tunnels and then we were brought to the tunnel. We were given hard hats and then we walked the 20 stories down (yes, 20 STORIES, it was 73 meters or 239 1/2 feet down!) to the 3rd tunnel. The North Koreans had painted it with black and tried to explain its existence as an abandoned coal mine. The rock was ACTUALLY granite and they had created it by blasting the rock with dynamite. You could see the yellow spray paint where they had marked dynamite holes. Had the tunnel actually been completed it is estimated that 30,000 North Korean soldiers would have been able to walk through it in an hour. That is INSANE. We ducked our heads and walked through as much of the tunnel as we were permitted to (over 300 meters of it, which is around 980 feet), crossing the border into the beginning of the DMZ. We were now around 1.8 miles away from the North Korean border...and 240 feet below the earth. At that point they had the first of three barricades set up, secured with giant metal doors, barbed wire covering the entire tunnel, and video surveillance should the North Koreans at any time attempt to use their tunnel.




After the long walk back up to the surface we returned to the civilian line and got back on our bus to go home. We drove along the river that separates North and South Korea for a little while (with the South Korean bank heavily covered in barbed wire and guard posts and surveillance every few hundred feet) and we could see more bare mountains and what appeared to be towns on the North Korean side of the river. Our tour guide told us that even though towns are built along the river in North Korea...no one lives in them, they are just for show. They are just there. Empty.


It was incredibly interesting to see all of this today. We learned a lot and were very intrigued with all that our guide told us about the war, what they know of North Korea now, and how they still hope that one day the North and South will reach an agreement and that they will be able to reunite the countries.




Friday, September 25, 2009

Wiggle wiggle wiggle!!!!!!


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WE DID IT! We ate live octopus tonight with our friends and coworkers! As you can tell from the videos, we were very excited.

Our director took many of us out to dinner tonight at a Korean seafood restaurant. It was a lot of fun to go out with all the Korean teachers, our front desk workers and our vice director too. The restaurant was not too far from work. While not everyone from work was able to make it to dinner, there were 15 of us gathered around the table so it was quite the party. We were all laughing and telling stories and stuffing ourselves with delicious seafood.


We started off with whole baked mackerel. They were tasty but there were a lot of little bones. Our sides consisted of kimchi, seaweed soup, sizzling corn and carrots, edamame, garlic and tiny little shells that had oyster like things that you sucked out of the shells. After the mackerel came the sashimi platters, piled high with glass noodles and delicious fish. Then came baked eel smothered in brown sauce and sesame seeds. Then came the octopus!!!!!!!



We could NOT get over how much the little legs wiggles so much. We and our fellow American friends kept poking the dishes with our chopsticks to watch the mass of "food" wiggle and writhe on the plate. Our director and Korean coworkers were very amused with us as we squealed and screamed our way through eating them. It was really hard to pick up a leg with our metal chopsticks, because the suckers would attach to the plate and you couldn't get them to let go! The taste was actually pretty good - not as chewy as cooked octopus. We dipped the legs in a sweet and spicy red sauce and sesame oil and them chewed and chewed and chewed until they wiggled no more...if you didn't chew it enough you could feel it wiggle in your stomach! It was weird, fun and definitely a memorable experience.



After the octopus platters the food kept on coming. We feasted on spicy crab soup (which was my favorite part, it was soooo yummy), then came baked fish heads which were so tender and delicious. Our vice director told me that the fish heads have the most tender meat. We tried everything put in front of us, it was a really fun experience, especially with our Korean coworkers explaining what everything was. After the fish heads came the king crab. Nick and I were VERY happy to indulge in that. Our director was very generous with this 4 hour feast - apparently it is customary here for the boss to take all the employees out for a big dinner and some fun every once in a while. Once he saw how much Nick and I enjoy seafood he asked if we would like to go with him to the giant fish market in Seoul. He lives near there and said he would be happy to take us for another seafood feast. We are actually really happy with this invitation because we have not gone to the fish markets yet and we really want to check it out.

Nick and I will most likely be eating this again sometime, we enjoyed it not only for the wow factor but because it really was tasty!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Namsangol Village and Seoul Tower






Another Sunday caper, another huge post.

Today we went down to the Chongmuro exit and visited the Namsangol Korean Village. This is a traditional style village that is preserved/restored. It was a beautiful, slightly cool slightly sunny day and it was wonderful to walk around and enjoy the gorgeous antiquated architecture and learn more about Korean life in the olden days. They had traditional games, a wicker weaver, costumes to wear, a traditional "backpack" for you to try on, etc. There were also beautiful park areas, a huge lawn, little groves of trees, and a stream and various ponds scattered throughout the grounds. They had buildings that had furniture set up to show what a traditional Korean home looked like, they had giant kilns and decorative pots, and then there was the Korea House which is a somewhat fancy restaurant where you are served in the traditional style and the servers all wear traditional clothing. They Korea House also has live traditional music and looks really nice - Nick and I have decided we will try it out one night when we want to celebrate something. It was a lot of fun.



After spending some time in Namsangol we walked over to the gondolas to get up Namsan Mountain and visit the Namsan Park and Seoul Tower. We hiked up the hill to get to the gondolas and saw the Seoul Cartoon Museum on the way. We took note and also took some fun pictures with the large cartoon statues outside and decided if there was enough time we'd check out the museum on our way back down.


We took the glass gondolas up the mountain. They crammed over fifty people into the gondolas at a time! It was a little scary but very beautiful being able to see the views of Seoul in all directions. Once we got up to the top (only a three minute ride) we climbed up the wooden stairs and perused all the different views available to us through a series of platforms admist the forest that covered the mountainside. We took lots of pictures of the hazy city that is now our home, and marveled over how gigantic this city truly is - it went for as far as we could see in all directions. We could pick out some places that we recognized but those were few and far between. There are so many places, buildings, streets and areas that we have no idea about yet, and it seems that you could live ten lifetimes here and never really know it all.



We walked up to the peak of the mountain and managed to watch some of a martial arts exhibition that was taking place in the main plaza underneath Seoul Tower. We got some more awesome shots of the city and also of the Tower itself, as well as the art that was in place up there. They had mesh people hanging on thin wires so it looked as though they were "flying" through the air. They were all posed in provactive flying poses, it was quite beautiful. Nick was also completely enamored with the outdoor viewing platform below the tower where thousands of people have left various padlocks with personal messages and dates attached to the railings. I think before Nick and I leave Korea we will return to Seoul Tower and leave a lock with our own message on it to be seen and remembered. :)



After seeing so many breathtaking things we took the gondola back down the mountain and quickly stopped in the Cartoon Museum. They had a small interactive section with games and then a massive viewing cartoon library and also a comic library. It was interesting but all in Korean so we played some games and quickly looked through the other sections and then went home. Back in Hwajeong we had some delicious bbq pork (with lots of onions and garlic, Nick's favorite, haha) and found some time to relax before our work week begins. This week will be hectic due to Monthly Testing, the rigorous exams that every student takes during each month for two days. They will be tested on all their subjects. Luckily we have a three day weekend coming up the following week for Chusak (Korean Thanksgiving), so after the stress of administering and grading tests as well as turning in grades for this month's report card we will have an extra day off.