Say Kimchi

This man invited me to join them. While we waited, he told me about his son who lives in Baltimore.

While wandering the streets of my neighborhood the other day, I came across a small park one block off the main street. There were a bunch of older Koreans engaged in fierce game of croquette. When the grandmas sent the balls away, they hit them clear across the court, a good 200 meters. Here harbaji is resting and fanning himself while waiting for his turn.

On the last day of or Spring semester, we had a market day for the kids. They could use dollars they had earned (for doing homework, good grades, etc) to buy pencils, accessories and small toys. I taught my students the terms for bargaining. But by the end of the day, it was clear that I could use some tips from them for getting the best deals possilbe. This is Christie, Sara, Jenny, Beauty, Cindy and our director, Soo.

Goryeoung has an annual mud festival. this involves mud slides, mud pits, mud obstacle courses, mudmodeling, mud painting, and even mud wine. Needless to say its quite messy and probably aimed more at foreingers than Koreans. We certainly out numbered the locals anyhow. This year, it happened during one of the typhoons, but that didn't stop fun.

In June, David and I went backpacking in Jirisan, Korea's oldest National Park. At the end of the trip, we were waiting for the local bus to take us to the nearest town to catch another bus home. An older Korean man drove by and offered us a ride. He hiked 20 k in one day, we hiked 15 k over two. I guess all that experience pays off.

These are the sea cliffs near Busan Maritime University. I am halfway up the rock, and Corey is belaying. What a view from the top!

One day while hiking, I saw a tradional Shamanistic ritual taking place on the coast. Notice the pig head, colored flags, dried fish and pot of rice. The part that I saw involved the participant being lightly hit with dried fish and coored flags. Then rice was eaten, a shot of soju drank, and the rest poured on the rocks. I hope they were cured.

At the end of May, I went to the Green Tea Festival in Hadong with just about every foreinger in Busan. Brent graciously exchanged some webdevelopment work he had done for the governor for a couple buses cart us foreigners around in. Thanks Brent!

Here are some campaigners for one of the Municipal elections in Korea. They have a great system here: set finances, two weeks to campaign, and the whole country gets the day off on election day. Depending on the candidates image, he either has responsible looking matrons bowing to passersby, or dancing girls with electioneered popsongs riding around on trucks.

King for a day. Jake was carried in on a palanquin.

Kyun and Jake got married at the end of May in a traditional Korean ceremony. Here is Kyung Ah in hanbok. Her headpiece weighed 10 pounds.

Fans at the University.

The Saha crew watched the game at nearby Dong-A University.

More fans at the Korea vs Togo game

Fans at the Korea vs Togo game

Ferry to Jeju. There is no assigned seeating. Just really large platforms where the goal is to claim as much personal space as possible.

Waterfall on Jeju Island- the Hawaii of Korea

Celebrating Korea's third World Cup match in the Westin Chosin- the same hotel Bush stayed when he was here for APEC.

Kimchi Ajuma

kimchi ajuma

This is the local market. This stall sells just about twenty different kinds of kimchi. Next to her is a woman who makes tofu. I buy most of my fruit and vegtables here. Most of the men and women who work the stalls are very friendly. They're usually pretty excited to see a foreigner in the market, as opposed to the supermarkets. So they usually throw in a little something extra.

Stuck in the 80's

Korea is in love with the 80's. This is demonstated by numerous women's fashion: side ponytails, ruffled skirts, excessive layers...

Perhaps it is most evident in the fabulous aray of quality programming. Currently, I have my choice between the following quality shows:

Miami Vice
A Team
Knight Rider
Dallas
McGyevor

This makes me especially greatful for "Sex in the City".

Mountain Bank

So I started rockclimbing in Korea. At first I was a little disconcerted because in the gyms its mostly all bouldering. Coming from Colorado where people are trying to get as much altitude as possible (they actually have a marathon up Pikes Peak) I didn't quite know what to do with bouldering around in circles always 6-24 inches from the ground. But after a few visits to the gym, I got the hang of it.

One of the interesting things about bouldering is that it is very liberating for someone with a fear of heights: if you fall, you merely step down. Consequently, I started climbing on things I probably would have never tried at home, and have been pretty successful. That the beauty of travel, there are new spaces to explore and new ways to explore them as long as you are open to the possibilities.

So with that, here is a picture of me on the overhang at Mountain Bank.

The overhang at Mountain Bank

So Korea has had its ups and downs. Last week was the real low point. After experiencing some general angriness about people consistently bumbing into me and my boss randomly changing policies aand clases and not telling any of the staff until we do it wrong, I hit an unusual low.

It came as I was walking home from the grocery store with two friends. Now I always considered the sidewalk the safest place for a pedestrian to be. But, you know, I've been wrong in my life. Along come two cabs who hop the curb, race each other down the sidewalk (heading towards us) and hop back off the curb just after the light. I assume this was not a police chase, merely an effort to bipass the line of five cars in front of them. Who really knows.

Seonusan with Korea on the Rocks

So I started climbing in the gym a couple weeks ago with Dara, with the goal of eventually climbing outside. Dara told me about a website called Korea on the Rocks. I was so excited to find outdoorsy people in Korea, I quickly became addicted, checking the forums before and after school and occasional on breaks at work.

One day I saw a post about an upcoming "Meet and Greet" for all people interested in climbing in Korea. It was on the opposite side of the country with a bunch of people I had never met, this coupled with my mediocre climbing skills was enough to turn most people away. The draw: a Mexican potluck and banana pancakes and coffee by campfire in the morning. Perhaps I was feelig a bit homesick, but this trip was perhaps the best thing I had seen since I first visited the Gecko in Seoul. Now, to find someone to go with....

I approached my climbing partners, my girlfriends and anyone who might be even remotely interested. I was already to give up when I recieved a personal invite from "Sonia". On Friday, I figured if it was something I was still talking about after a week, I probably really wanted to go. So the next morning, I hopped on a bus to who -knows-where armed with a backpack and directions in English, and Korean in the event I got lost.

It was probably the best decision I had made sine coming to Korea. I was initially met by flabbergasted park ranger who was adamant that it was too cold to camp and pointed out the hostel and cheap hotel nearby (multiple times) while walking me to the camp site. (For the record, it was extremely cold, and no tent is warm enough when snow is predicted for the following morning.)

Next, I walked up the trail and encountered my first group of foreigners with the only frisbee I'd seen in 6 months. After the frisbee nearly collided with the the high-heel clad feet of young Korean ("Waayyyyyyyyy!!!!") we decided to take our game to a larger field near the campsite. Here we encountered one of the most fascinating Korean men I have ever met. His clothes were somewhere between a clown and a hippy. If it weren't for his colorfully patched pants, handknit sweater and tiedied hat, from his nature one would have presumed he had just walked down from the monastery in the mountains.

He had never seen a frsbee before and was very intrigued by the group of us throwing it around. We invited him to play, and at first it wobbled and landed in the middle of the circle, every time. But each time one of us through it, he watched our every movement and practiced with the concentration of a monk. After an hour, he mastered not only the backhand, but also a the flick. In the end, we took pictures, gave him the frisbee and exchanged emails. He had nothing to offer us in return other than cigarettes.

Since the sun was setting, we headed back to the camp ground and waited for the other climbers to return. That night, I finally got my wish for ruby slippers as I was magically transported back to Boulder, Colorado and all its finest: veggie fajitas with real cheese, Avery Red Point Ale, hurricanes and beads in honor of mardi gras (ok not quite Colorado...), and to top it off, a roaring campfire.

Since I had missed the the camping season last summer, I passed up my spot in the minbak for a tent that was guarenteed to be warm. No tent is really warm enough when snow is expected the following morning, but sometimes the experience is worth it. The next morning, before heading out to climb, the mysterious Sonia made lattes with Vail coffee (Ok its the yuppy side of Boulder)while the the banana pancakes were cooking.

Campfire at the Meet and Greet

UMMMMMmmmm... banana pancakes!

Climbing in Seonusan

The climbing was fabulous and a bit magical with little snow flurries coming down. To top off the weekend, I got a ride back to the train station in "Pancho the Pacas". A recently purchased van, whose former owner was a Korean art student, which explains the murals covering every surface. As bluegrass streamed from the Ipod, we were entertained by the looks coming at the colorful van full of foreigners. The children loved it, the adults....

Me, Melanie and Pedro

In the end, the ruby slippers landed me back in Busan but with a whole new cohort of travel partners and friends. Pays to travel, I guess....

Climbing in Korea

Because Koreans celebrate both the Lunar and the Solar New Year, I've had two opportunities to create New Year Resolutions. Like most people in most years, these focused on health and happiness. So naturally, what better way to accomplish this than by immersing myself in an outdoor community. In Korea, this translates into rockclimbing. But, like most things in Korea its easier said than done, and takes a few attempts and lots of planning before anything pans out.

So after a couple weeks of research- looking on the internet, talking to some folks, having my Korean coworkers look on the internet, and making a few calls_ we came up with a list of possibilities and set a date for a Wednesday morning. The day before, I made sure to cross my "t"s and dot my "i"s, and called to make sure the the gym actually existed, the directions I had were mostly correct, and the gym would be open when we got there. It seemed everything was in order. The directions were correct and we could climb any time. I was optimistic things would work out for this innaugural excursion....

So Dara and I met in the subway station, grabbed some coffee and headed out for the treasure hunt, map in hand, "X" marks the spot. After wandering around for 45 minutes in and out of small alleyways, we finally handed the map with Korean directions to a man working at the florists. He looked at the map, spun it around, looked some more, and started off across the street, leading us through more empty alleyways, past resturanuts that weren't yet open, apartments that had been abandoned for the days work, and bars that had just emptied their trash from the last nights patrons. For all the gyms I had been to (actually quite a number for the relative novice that I am) I couldn't quite picture a rock wall in this neighborhood.

Eventually, one alleyway lead to a narrower alleyway, and tucked in between two old houses was the sign reading Busan Climbers. Much to our chagrine... it was closed. I figured after checking and double checking, we would have succeeded. I didn't know whether to chalk it up to "saving face" on the part of my coworker, or more motivation to learn the language. However, we would persevere and ty again on Friday.

This time Dara had written down directions to a closer gym that was recommended by a foreigner. It was rated "easy to find". The directions read something like "Take the subway exit across from immigration #5(?), a turn left at the bank. Pass the police station, and right around the corner is Mountain Bank." Well it turns out there are three different exits across from Immigration, none of which ar #5. When we exited the station, there was just about one branch of each Korean bank (and some foreign banks) on the street. So much for good directions.

After another 45 minutes of wandering, we found the gym. A success after only two attempts is really pretty good odds. The people were really nice, even gave us a bit of instruction. I'm looking forward to climbing outside in a couple weeks. I think I'll start my research now.

Full Moon Festival

Korea has many traditions for the first full moon of the Lunar New Year. One is to drink wine all day: it "makes beautiful ears", aka good hearing. Another is to eat walcuts all day, which keeps tumors away. The third, and my favorite, is to fly a kite.

For the Full Moon Festival, I was invited by the buddhist group to join in a traditional kite flying contest on Haeundae Beach. It was one of the most beautiful days I had seen in months. Blue sky, and weather so warm, you only needed a sweater. After signing in with the Buddhist group they gave me my kite. The appropriate age range for this kite was 4-7 years old. Appartently, I looked like a novice. I later learned how exactly true this was.

In Korea, kite flying takes on a whole new meaning. The adjushis really get into it. Later that night I was watching a 60 year old man fly a kite over a bonfire. It was a whole body work out for him. Somehow he managed to keep the kite floating parallel to the ground but 400 meters away from him. He leaned in and out of the wind, letting out and retracting string with the competance and dexterity of.. well, aman with 60 years of kite flying experience. Needless to say, I was a novice.

In Korea, kite flying is a sport. For competitions, they coat the string with glass powder. Then the kites battle it out to see who can fly the highest and stay up the longest. I was happy enough to let all the string out a watch my kite sail on the breeze, that is until some overzealous competitor cut my string and fell into the ocean. I think its somewhere near Thailand now.

The competition was quite a spectator sport. Imagine hundreds of people staring at the dozens of kites int he sky. The anouncer was something akin to the soccer announcer on Univision and other Spanish language stations. He gave play by play actions, got the crowd riled up when two kites got close to one another, and cheered on the winner as one floated to the grouund and the other continued to soar. When the competition got really tense, women started drumming and singing, the crowd oohed and ahhed. It was intense.

The Buddhists say that when you fly the kite, your troubles are swept away on the wind. I agree. At one point when my kite fell and I was running to save it, my camera fell from my pocket, into the sand and perhaps was buried. I might have been concerned, I might have been heartbroken, but I that day the wind swept my troubles away. So I apologize, no pictures for awhile, but I hope a few good stories.

Christmas

It is Christmas time in Korea. I have recieved numerous emails from friends inquiring "what is it like" to be in Asia during this Holiday season, asking what I will teach my children about western Christmas and how I will spend the holiday myself.

Christmas, like most western concepts, has invaded Korea. In the last census, 20% of the population was Christian. I'm sure it has grown by now, regardless, this number is not indicative of the expansiveness of this holiday in such a Confuscist society.

Walking back to the hogwon after dinner the other night, I saw the glow of Christmas lights up the street. At the time, I had no idea what it is was, but the warmth of the glow enticed me up a hill I had never visited. And to my baffled understanding, yes of course, those Christmas lights belonged to a church. In the past few days, Christmas trees have appeared in shop windows, Starbucks began playing Christmas tunes and offering "holiday" treats, and the Body Shop offers special Christmas gift wrap. Perhaps the western stores know of no other marketing techniques or perhaps this is commercialism, globalization and ethnocentrism at work.

This lead me to start asking my students if they would be celebrating Christmas and if so, how? "Of course!" was the first reply. Knowing this paricular girl's favorite hobby was playing Christian music on the piano, I decided I would ask some more students, hopefully those from other religous traditions and illicitingly a less predictable response. My extremely unscientific survey lead to the answer that "everyone" in Korea celebrates Christmas, even those who aren't Christian. I wonder what Chrisitian's think of this: is it a way to whett the interest of those who are searching, or is it a travesty that their fundamental holiday has ben co-opted as a western cultural "shop holiday"? (I welcome your responses as comments on the website.)

Since most of my children have been in English academies for a year or more, they have a good concept of many western Christmas traditions: they know Jingle Bells and Santa Claus, and Christmas Trees and Christmas lights. Since this week is finals, I will probably have them make Christmas Cards or ornaments when they finish their tests. For the older students, we might read or watch the Grinch. And I will probably give them candy- candy canes, if I can find them. But I am finding there is little to teach them about the holiday.

For myself, I will join the Korean ski club at Muju moutain. I hear their is a light show of expert skiers coming down the moutain with torches. I also predict that my Christmas Eve will be spent in the Nori Bang. I'm still working on my "number 18" song, but for this occasion, I'm sure "White Christmas" will be appropriate.

On that note, Happy Holidays, whatever your tradition!

Korean Women

So I work at an amazing Hogwon. The Korean women I have met are completely willing and excited to show me all Korea has to offer. I often find myself in unexpected situations learning Korean customs, culture and inside jokes that are shared between friends and university students. From drinking etiquette to drinking games, cultural insights to personality insights, these women exhibit a sensitivity to human nature that is unparelled to anything I have experiences in western culture.

Unfortunatley it happens that in the next month, three of my Korean coworkers will be leaving for various reasons. As I try to embrace the change that occurs, I recognize that Ewha ALS will never be the same.

It was just the other day, we were looking over text books for the upcoming winter term and us girls bonded over what phrenology (the study of bumps as character traits in people's heads) had in store for us. After perusing a section of one text book dealing with the subject, we began feeling each others bumps, determining who had the largest "love" bump (Anne), the largest "independance" bump (me), and the largest crater of self determination (Joo), we collapsed into a fit of giggles acknowledging, that indeed this was incredibly indicative of our personalities and situations.

This is how I find myself paying tribute to these incredible women at 4:00 in the morning. Acknowledging the fact that this community will be disrupted in a few short weeks, I left the warmth of my house to brave the cold Korean night to meet my friend at a nearby university bar. As much as I should stay in and rest to cure my cold, I feel that my time with these women is so limited, that I must entertain every oppurtunity to commune with them. For every oppurtunity offers a new insite into how the world is percieved and life in general.

I commend these women for their inate strength and intimacy which goes unachnowledged by most of the world. They each posses incredible strength to deal with the Confuscist system that they are born into, that immediately places men (all men, regarless of character) as superior to these amazing women. Consequently, creating the ultimate role of women as caretaker of both the husband and the children.

In the words of Joo- "In this country it is best to be born a man." I have opinions on that, but will reserve them for future postings. Now I would like to celebrate the strength and beauty of these women. Their perseverance and their ability to read the character of people they have met briefly is uncanny and incomprabrable to anything I have seen before. It is through Korean women that I have discovered many of the complexities of Korean culture, learned Holgul and have had some of the most amazing experiences that me make feel completely at home in that I'm-part-of-the-family sort of way that Korea creates.

It is the ajuma on the subway that places my head on her shoulder so I can sleep; it is the young woman on the subway who offers me half a sweetpotato because it all she can do to cheer the sad looking woman next to her; it is the woman who dances salsa with me on break because it is the release we crave from the exceptionally loud children we teach; and it is the amazing and beautifully talented Korean woman who ensures that the foreigner feels at home in the country that she is just as much a foreigner in.

It is these women and the experiences they offer which lead me to being awake at 4:00 in the morning paying tribute to them. Tonight Joo called me about a dinner with some other Koreans on Sunday night. She was at her friend Geyoung's bar and invited me over. It was already 11:00, and I know that when Joo invites me out, it is never an early night, but I can forgo my run the next day for the oppurtunity that this offers. (Because in Korea, I have made it a point to embrace all oppurtunities presented to me.)

My efforts, as always, pay off. And again tonight, a new insight, I am reminded of the gifts my culture and family have granted me. As a westerner, my parents could offer me money or freedom. My parents chose freedom, which afforded me the oppurtunity to explore my world and to make my own journey and decisons. The more I explore, the more I recognize that this is a gift more precious than any inheritance. Early in "The Alchemist", the father offers the shepard two gold coins to start his way on a life long journey to find his desitiny. The father states that "he had hoped these would be part of his inheritance". I posit that the adventure and knowledge they lead to are his inhertance. Without these coins, the Alchemist would not have started on his journey, which inevitably becomes his life's work.

On my own life's journey, I am blessed with the oppurtunity to travel the world and to interact with these beautiful Korean women. They posess a strength and sensitivity to beauty that may be considered common place in Korea, but this inate depth is rare in the Western world. In a few short months, they have instilled in me a new way of seeing the world. As the lotus blossoms from the mud, these women create beauty out of the abismally few rights they have in this deeply patriarchal, confuscist society. They have my deepest respect, both for their persistent strength and beauty and also for the lightness and abundance through which they conduct their lives.

Say Kimchi

Sunday, July 23, 2006

Kimchi Ajuma

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Stuck in the 80's

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Mountain Bank

Thursday, April 27, 2006

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Seonusan with Korea on the Rocks

Climbing in Korea

Full Moon Festival

Saturday, December 17, 2005

Christmas

Thursday, December 15, 2005

Korean Women

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