pic #1 - Dr. Fish
pic #2 - Seoul at Night - aka what all of Korea looks like at night - Neon Lights EVERYWHERE
First of all I would just like to say that the most embarrassing thing just happened to me.
Well, it is FReAKING hot here. So hot that as I was waiting at the bus terminal that was not air-conditioned, I went into a Dunkin Donut not even all that hungry, ended up getting food so I didn’t get stared at for just sitting in front of the air conditioner looking as if I was about to die, and sat there alone sweating profusely and probably had the most pathetic look on my face. (why don’t Koreans sweat by the way?! I feel like people are looking at my like some sort of smelly pig or something…well I am a bit smelly…but only because most humans sweat and aren’t used to this excruciating heat – I may or may not be a little dramatic right now). Anyway, as I enjoyed my donut, bagel with cream cheese and big delicious slushy I noticed that my pants were sticking to my legs because of the sweatiness and tried to get a little more comfortable now that I was in the beautifully air conditioned good ol’ Dunkin Donuts shop. Well the floor was rather slippery and my food slipped and knocked the table in just the right way to give it enough force to successfully DUMP my bagel and the glass plate it was on onto the floor, the slushy upside-down on my lap and the donut neatly placed on top of the disaster named Carly Butler. Yes it was quite the foreigner show staring ME! I gave everyone a little wave in embarrassment and quietly spat out some swear words that they wouldn’t understand anyways. I was quite the sight. I looked like I wet myself! OH MAN. Thank goodness I had my overnight bag so I could change into my other shorts after trying to avoid all eye contact with anyone that noticed the big wet mark on my lap while walking to the bathroom! Haha.
So right now I am on the bus on my way back to Daegu...and I am secretly thanking the odds of getting a seat to myself because honestly I think if someone did sit beside me, they would rather sit on the floor. Aside from the strawberry banana slushy remnants, I smell like a sweaty man that has been climbing/bamboo foresting/walking in the hot hot heat of Korea ALL DAY LONG. And that is exactly what I did….ALL DAY LONG. This weekend I went to Gwangju to visit Morgan and Kevin. They went to UofG and I know them through Sarah, my sweet little roommate of 4 years! Anyway, Gwangju is a beautifully stunning 3 hour bus ride west of Daegu and its either the 3rd, 4th or 5th largest city. Everyone says they hear different things about what is the largest and the ranking, so I know it’s one of those.
I decided to come visit because they are almost done their contact and are only going to be here for a couple more weeks so I thought it would be a perfect opportunity for me to see them and their city. We had a fabulous time. When I first got there, we went for some sushi, which was delicious, went back to their apartment and had some sangria and then ....well ….it was about time for another meal so we went out for some ShabeShabe (I am totally guessing on the spelling of that). It’s one of the most interesting of meals I have had in Korea so far actually. While you sit criss, cross applesauce around a table that has a grill in the centre, they bring you a boiling pot of soup with some sort of greens, mushrooms and a deliciously salty broth. They also bring you a heaping plate of thinly sliced meat that you place into the boiling soup to cook it. It was DELICIOUS. Oh but that’s not it. After you eat the mound of meat, they bring you thick noodles that you also cook in the boiling soup. Just magnificent. They then bring the best tasting rice in the world. YUM!
They then brought me to a tiki-hut bar where you have your very own little hut that was surrounded by beautiful gardens and ponds. We had some Soju cocktail (which I also have to see if they serve in Daegu – along with the ShabiShabi) and visited over drinks. It’s so interesting to hear all about the lives of the people you meet being in Korea. For example, we were chatting with other foreigners that are working with Morgan and Kevin and are in their first week. They are from England and he was working in the music industry before coming to Korea and she was in marketing and advertising. He was telling us about the time he was at some sort of high-end music event going on in London and had a little bit too much to drink and ran to the washroom to get sick in the sink only to look up at Marilyn Manson looking at him in the mirror. Crazy. He also had some pretty neat stories about discovering some pretty popular bands. He left to come here though, because as we all know, the music industry is pretty tough with the illegal downloading and such now a days. Anyway, we had a really nice time.
This morning we got up and went 45 minutes outside of the city to visit a town that was home to many famous bamboo forests. The forests are so amazing to see and explore. It was the hottest day so far since I have been here and when I say hot, I mean HOT. Sweating in areas that shouldn’t sweat, like your ears. It was nasty. But it was fun and entertaining. I am going to have to get used to it I suppose cause it’s only gonna get worse. I just need to buy some skirts, shorts and really thin capri’s to wear because I couldn’t even think about wearing jeans in this heat. Anyway we explored the area, took pictures of the rock bridge that led across the river, beautiful rice fields and all the great bamboo shops that had everything you could think of made of bamboo (I got a fan and a bamboo cup – I tried buying one of those big traditional bamboo hats that shade your face and the rest of your body from the sun due to its enormousness (my kinda thing right?!), but it was 65,000 Wan. Psshh…ya right!).
We went for lunch in a really cute traditional Korean restaurant and had the bamboo rice choice. It was the coolest thing. Everyone got their own little bamboo cup filled with rice that was delicious and of course many many other sides that consisted of kimchi, Korean radishes, fish, pork, assorted veggies and soup! YUM! I am loving Korean food if you haven’t noticed. Unfortunately we experienced a bit of a negative aspect of Korean reality soon after our dinner. There was a rather loud domestic dispute that kinda scared us all, but unfortunately that happens and as a foreigner, there really isn’t much you can or should do for that matter. Koreans are all wonderfully hospitable to foreigners and are extremely pleasant, but I have read, seen and heard that sometimes marital disputes are a little more public here. Fortunately we were in a small room off to the side, so we didn’t have to see any of it, but we sure heard it, and it kinda brought us down a little bit. We talked and realized that there wasn’t anything that we could have done and really who are we to even try and understand when the language is the big enough barrier alone. Either way, we tried to get along with our day and put it behind us.
We head back to the bus terminal, which was quite the hike and were happily surprised to get to walk onto an air-conditioned bus right as we bought our tickets! Overall it was a great day and we got to see a lot of the beautiful countryside on the way home.
On my way into Gwangju on Saturday morning, I was in awe of the scenery. The mountains, rolling hills and traditional style country homes are so stunning. It made me think of Canada and how lucky we are to have all of the space we have. I actually got a nice taste of the countryside on Canada Day, which was conveniently appropriate. Two of my previous students wanted to get together so they asked if I wanted to go for dinner in Momma Lee’s hometown (the adult student of mine that was like my Korean mom). I gladly joined them and they took me to a great restaurant outside of the city, practically up in the middle of Apsan mountain. It was a wonderful meal of Korean style pizza (which is like an egg pancake looking thing with veggies, octopus and a great dipping sauce), a nicely prepared assortment of little fishies that were a little tough to finish. They were actually quite tasty, but the fact that you just pop ‘em in and swallow the tail, bones and yup…even the eyes….kahdsfkajhdsflkjh….thinking about it makes me quiver, but if you just eat without looking, its actually quite good and supposedly really great for your teeth and bones. Either way, it was delicious and I am always up for trying new things so I couldn’t resist.
After dinner, Lee’s friend came over and invited us to his greenhouse and flower farm. I was more than up for this, because when else am I going to get invited to this part of the countryside?! Anyway it was a beautiful place and I actually felt like I was back home at Colasanti’s. He let us look around for a bit at the plants and pottery (that he makes there) and then brought us back onto his deck that overlooked a beautiful river in amongst the mountains. It was an extraordinary sight to see and the sounds of crickets, frogs and other summer noises made me think of what a great Canada Day I was spending with my Korean friends. Another highlight of the night was definitely Jasmine’s reaction to the countryside. They are so short on space in this country due to its population size that any chance to get “fresh” air is such a luxury to them. She was practically hanging out the window with her eyes closed and nose in the air just taking the fresh air in. She is super cute.
Another exciting thing that I have done these past couple weeks has been my trip to Seoul to see some friends that I volunteered with at SSN(Student Support Network) Drop-in Centre at UofG. This was my first trip ‘alone’ and I must say…it felt pretty darn good. I took the KTX all by myself and arrived in one piece. They took me out to a great Jazz club that had amazingly talented musicians (Dad…you would have loved it) and showed me around the city. We went to Dr. Fish, which was quite the experience. It’s a regular ol’ coffee shop with random tubs that hold little fishies (quite the same size as the ones I had been eating on Canada Day now that I think of it…gross). Anyway these fish eat your dead skin and make your feet all soft and stuff. Well as most of you know, I don’t do well with seaweed touching me in the water let alone fish (I may or may not have had a traumatic experience in Rondeau Bay that involved screaming, crying and a swift kick to my dear old brother for making fun of me for the whole thing). Regardless of that, I did eventually get used to the idea and actually enjoyed it by the end…but that does not mean I am ready for the full body treatment that they offer…yuck!
The rest of the Seoul weekend was super. More swan boats, this time in the Han River (you know…that one that leads to the Yellow Sea)…wow I am just noticing my use of brackets…I am trying not to use the dot dot dot thing…but am just using brackets instead…anyway you all get my drift. And I was starting to doubt that anyone even kept up with this blog, but apparently I have fans that were wondering why I was a week late putting up my new post. Thanks for following along lovelies (Sherry…that’s you)J
Whoa…a little off topic but anyway the rest of Seoul was great and I came back to Daegu and felt for the first time like it was ‘home.’ Not comparable to Canada home, but definitely a reassuring and comforting feeling of a temporary home. Weird how that happens. Being in Seoul made me realize just how much I like Daegu. There are 2 clean subway lines, rather than 15 dirty but it still feels like a big city. I have pretty much got my bearings down to a tee and have learned how to direct a cabby: Chi-Chin for straight, Orang-jock for right, When-jock for left, Yugio for stop here and Jussao for please – by the way that is all incorrect spelling, but that is how it sounds. It’s pretty cool that I am getting by here. It’s a really cool feeling.
Other than that, Elyse and I have just been doing our thing here. Taking every offer to go out for dinner with Koreans (Sue’s mom prepared an amazing traditional meal for us last weekend), trying new foods, teaching our classes, getting together with friends, planning fun summer outings and discovering life in Korea. Elyse found a great beach that we are hoping to go to in a couple weekends for a friends leaving party. Oh and that’s something we are gonna see a lot of. People coming and going all year long. The new girl I spoke of did a runner. She left after one week. Couldn’t handle it. It happens. I am sure glad I stuck it out, because I am loving my life here. I miss home and miss people, but it’s only a year. And I have already learned so much about myself and Korea. That alone is worth a year. And missing one of everything isn’t that bad. I look at it as I only have to miss one Christmas, one of everyone’s birthdays, one Easter, one Thanksgiving and one New Years. But for that…I will have these memories forever. Okay …now I sound like a Hallmark Card but sometimes I have to remind myself of these things cause it’s not always easy. However I guess I just want you to all know that I am happy. And I hope you are too.
This weekend is the Big MUD FESTIVAL. So Stay Tuned. Elyse organized a bus (I actually had nothing to do with it…I am very impressed with her) and there are 20 of us going! So there should be some pretty fun stories.
Pic #1 - CLEAN!
