On Thursday evening after my adventures in the city June Sig came down to my room and invited me to travel with his family to their hometown for the Chusok celebrations. Then a thought occured to me: Would I make it back in time for the BWL raid. Either way, I was assured we'd be home between 7pm and 10pm depending on traffic AND it was a great opportunity to immerse myself in the culture so I decided to go. A small problem was waking up at 4am to beat the traffic especially since I didn't get to bed until 1am (a nasty combination of mosquitos and excitement).

Either way, I managed to wake up on time and we set off with his parents. The city we went to is about an hour northwest of Pusan, Korea's biggest port. Possibly Changwon but I could be wrong. We reached June Sig's uncle's house at around 0930 after a short stop at a rest area. His two cousins were there already. It took them about two hours before they felt comfortable enough to come near us (and that was to poke at us). This is Ju Na, showing us the bug he just killed.



Anyway, we just watched as his parents and relatives made preparations for the ceremony. Food and drink (I was to find out that the drink offered was makoli, an alcohol made with rice and some other things) was offered to the deceased grandparents and the door was left slightly ajar for them to enter. There was also a small side table with some dishes on it in case his grandparents had brought some of their friends (if their own relatives had neglected to offer them food).



Hmmm, tea is good. Earthy flavor. Just having some now....

When the ceremony was complete we had brunch. It included fried fish, bibpimbap, sliced pork and of course kimchi. And plenty of makoli. I will never understand how Ju Na and his sister could drink it and actually looked forward to drinking it. I must say it's an acquired taste. Same goes with kimchi I guess. I know people back home that can't even handle slightly spicy food. Yet here young children eat chilli like it's candy.

After brunch we went to the family burial site. Unfortunately I can't remember which town it was except that it was between Changwon and Cheonan (It did start with a 'g' though). These are some shots I took from the car on the way to the village. Rice country methinks. Plenty of apples too (Bucolic scenes incoming!).





After a somewhat steep climb we made it to the burial site, with it's mounds of raised dirt. June Sig told me his parents had come here earlier in the month to clear the place up before Chusok. And just to be safe I asked permission before i took any photographs of religious/spiritual areas.



This is the view from the burial site. Their family plot occupies the highest place in that area for that clan. Apparently the other clan in the village has traditionally been wealthier though one could not detect that now. You can see apple trees lined with Juju trees and rice plantations on the left. Juju look very similar to olives (How I miss them! I must try and find some!!) with a similar shaped seed. The main difference is the flesh of the fruit. Quite sweet and firm. I also know why a good friend of mine would resent being called 'Juju' by her cousin :O



After our picnic lunch we visited a relative of June Sig's that lived nearby. I was introduced as a 'chingu' which means friend. When we arrived I think we interrupted their dinner preparations as they had just killed a chicken. In Korean this type of chicken is called 'ogulge' meaning black boned chicken, since the skin and the bones are black. Amazing how much sense the language makes. He told me that this aunty makes really good shike and man alive was he right!

It was about 3pm when we left that village and set off for Seoul again. We had a short stop outside the village to say our farewells and June Sig's aunty wished me the best for my time in Korea (in Korean). She then said to June Sig that she could have said farewell in English but chose Korean since I was in Korea. A none too subtle hint for me to learn the language.

Because of the massive volume of traffic heading to Seoul our estimated travel time was six hours for a trip that would normally take three. As time went on though, the traffic got much worse so we stopped at Ginsam World! This place is one of the rest areas on the major highway to Seoul. Because the area is known for it's ginsam there is a huge 'themepark' set up here.



From then on, the flow of traffic was painful. We reached Cheonan at 2300 I think. This place is a massive food centre which seems to be open 24 hours. Even for such a late hour there were huge crowds of people here and the food was better than I expected for a rest area at this time. One thing about this place that struck me was they played Boyz 2 Men songs in the Men's toilet. Rather fitting methinks.



Leaving Cheonan, traffic was still as bad as ever. At least we caught up on alot of sleep while in the car.

It wasn't until 0200 that we reached Nakseongdae in Seoul which means I spent 11 hours in a car for a trip that would normally take four. Still, the cultural experience I had was well worth it.

City pics

Ah, the week that was. We just finished the Chusok holiday period here in Seoul. It was a nice break from class for a few days.

I went into the city last week in search of one of the palaces. Apparently there were performances in all of them but I got lost/distracted so I never found any of them. I did wander around what seemed like the main shopping district in Seoul. Maybe it's just me, but there are some really beautiful fountains in the city.





These shots are from the fountains just outside the subway, the name of which I have forgotten. Though I do recall the British Embassy was close.

Then there was this....



I felt the need to try and use it. But both numbers I called just rang out. From here I somehow made my way to Shinsegae Department Store. I couldn't help going in since I used to work at Myer Sydney City for a long time. If you've ever been to that department store, imagine something with three times the floor space, more than 14 floors and mix in a few 5 star hotel features. Then you might get close to seeing what this place is like. They had Parking Attendants that were better dressed than most clients directing people into the carparks (They were kept up-to-date on car spaces via a communication system of some sort. Not bluetooth I don't think due to the limited range). Snazzy hats too. Apologies on the quality/lack of on this photo. I didn't want to seem like too much of a tourist.



I'm really going to have to go back there to get a proper description of the store. My jaw was dragging along the ground for most of my time in there. This is a photo taken just outside that area. Maybe someone will know where it was that I went.

Oh, and I finally understand Seung Mina's ending in Soul Calibur. She defeats Hwang in a duel and he gets to use a wooden sword (it's been a very long since I played it so I might be wrong). At the school sports day there some carnival rides and one vendor selling wooden swords, Chinese and Korean ones.

Then there was the umbrella performance. For weeks I'd hear this music during my afternoon classes but I couldn't see where it was coming from. Today I found that it was for the umbrellas.





There was also a taekwondo performance. This is the principal demonstrating what he does to naughty children (really, he's a pretty cool headmaster).



The girl in the front by herself is on one of the posters in the foyer leading to the office where I take lunch.



Some of my students are in this team. They would have to leave a few minutes early on certain days to rehearse. It worked out well, since they had nunchaku and they didn't hurt anyone or themselves.



And drums. I would see some of the students running around with drums. They were pretty big and i guess a nuisance to them but there perforance was very good. I don't know, but to me there is something primeval about drums. Maybe it has something to do with our heartbeat. Either way, it always gets to my very core.



Most fun I'd had in a long time today. I'm really happy I went since I didn't have to go to school anyway. Also, I had lunch with the other teachers (I usually eat lunch with the office staff and the principal). There was so much food! I had calbi for the first time. Calbi are beef ribs, I think they are stewed. I really can't understand why my students snigger when I ask one of them what their favourite food is, and the others reply "She likes calbi". I also had this drink called shiken. It's made from rice and served ice-cold. It has a slightly sweet taste. Very nice.

So that was the weekend.

These are some shots I took on the way to the school. Seoul is not what I expected, though I really had no idea about the city anyway. I almost can't wait to see how it looks under snow, and the children all rugged up like little balls of wool, with mittens!





This is the groundkeeper. I arrive at the school at around 0815 so the deputy principal greets us and I guess puts in a good word with the principal since whenever he sees me he comments on how early I am. Anyway, this groundkeeper waters the football pitch every morning. No big deal, except that there is no grass on the pitch at all. just gravel. Weirds me out every morning.




This week is Chusok in Korea, Harvest Festival/Thanksgiving Holidays. Basically, that means I have no classes to teach for one week. Though I did go to the Sports Day today since alot of my students asked me last week if I'd be there to see them. And I did watch them when they were rehearsing the activities.

It's strange how some things happen (me being here for one thing, which I'll write about later). Last week in my 4th grade classes I had the students do a role play. One of the characters in the play has a wig which falls off when he bows so to make it as realistic as possible I had them wear these halo-shaped cardboard rings that they had in stacks by my desk. Today, one of the events between the races was to throw these rings onto poles. The sports day was as much for the parents as it was for the students.



I also saw them working on their portraits since the school term began. These portraits were strung from the main stage (where I was sitting) all the way to the other side of the football pitch where the students were sitting. People always said I had an eye for detail.



One of the events they were practising last week was this weird race. Basically, they have two chairs about one metre apart and the students line up on eitherb side of the chair, going towards the goal posts. Then one student from each team walks on the backs of the other students supported on either side. At the opposite end the walkers switch and the winning team is the one that gets their walker back to the beginning first. Of all the times I watched them last week, it was the blue team that finished the race first (the team on the left). But today the red team (my team since most of my students are on that side) won!




Then there was the fan dance. Looked really good from where I was (first photo is from the rehearsal last week).








Though my favourite event was the relay. This is a photo of one of the girls in my 2nd grade class. She is the one in yellow.



The yellow team won quite comfortably. In the seniors it was a photo finish with orange coming in first (I had no more room on my phone though)

Wow, it's been quite a while since I last updated this thing.

Let's see....

I moved into my own room last week. Single person accommodation so I wasn't expecting anything huge. It's pretty cute though. I can see the football field much better from this room than from the one upstairs, though I already miss the view of the churches going up to the mountains.

This is the football field. To get to it I have to go around the block and up a hill to the middle school.



On the weekend I went to the Museum of Photography (http://www.photomuseum.or.kr). No english site available yet so I had an interesting time working out how to get there. Anyway, once I worked that out I got off at the right station and saw this...



...and I thought how cute. Then I saw this at the Olympic Park



This gateway was probably built for the Seoul Olympics in 1988. Bloody huge. I kept walking and I pass a cafe called "Cafe Mix and Bake". They were playing some pretty cool (and unexpected) jazz music so I made a note to go back there after I was done at the museum. Because I was curious and it looked like there was some sort of festival I decided to walk to the end of the block. There I saw what must be the biggest Methodist church in existence.




Seriously blew my mind. Though, there are very few 'traditional' churches that I have seen. Some very innovative designs here.



Going back to the museum, I watched a very moving documentary about Korea during the Japanese Occupation. On the whole it was more concerned with the traditional Korea becoming lost during the process of modernisation Japan-style. Though the narrator did mention a certain chinese set phrase about heaven which I will not repeat here.

I must have spent a good two hours in the museum because I didn't realise that it was already 1600. Remembering the cafe, I went there to see why it was so popular.

Firstly, it was big. Much bigger than you would expect a cafe to be. And it was a western styled cafe with a big emphasis on sandwhiches and other breads. Lots of imported beers too. When I ordered my latte (I ordered in Korean!!! Though I didn't know what 'dine-in or takeaway?' was so she started speaking english) the music had changed to lounge.



As you can see, a very big orange theme here. The latte was decent in size and flavour, but not worth the 4000won that they sell it for. Zen coffee is still the best. And there were people with those toy dogs everywhere!! Like those dogs that you see Paris Hilton carrying around! Guys had them too!

Hmmm, this one is too long...