Today is my six month anniversary in South Korea, which of course also means that in the same amount of time again, it'll be time to move on to whatever's next. Most of us teachers that started together in July agree that it seems like we've only been here a few months, though at the same time, the days of frolicking up in the pool as the sun went down do seem very distant right now, caught as we are in the middle of a rather bitter snap.
Three more teachers leave us this week, though two only because they signed six-month contracts to begin with. We have a bunch of fresh new teachers to fill the breach, but among us veterans there seems to be a bit of a malaise in the air, I think for a few reasons: many of us seem to have persistent colds like we've never had before back home, so we're all feeling a little drained anyway, and the ever-crashing wave of kids shows little sign of breaking - I know that compared to my old 9 to 5 this job's pretty cushy, but having 100% of the slots on my timetable filled (as compared to the old days when I used to have at least a couple of free periods every day) takes its toll. Plus, there's the cold, and the being so far from home at Christmas, which I think has gotten many people down too...
On a more positive note, Christmas was not a complete disappointment despite having to work all day. In the morning I managed to speak to my mum and dad for two hours via (a very dodgy) webcam so we could open our gifts together. It almost felt like being home. That, and the Christmas dinner later made with (I should really say 'by') Mary and Christa, actually made the day feel like Christmas, which I wasn't expecting it to.
In other news, the two-week winter camps start next week. I'm working as one of the 'science major' teachers, doing various experiments with the kids, so should be fun.
We have the beginnings of plan to go to Vietnam with our generous 5 days of annual leave in February or March, which is pretty exciting. Something to focus on during the cold times ahead (the snow from the weekend before last has still not fully melted).
Oh, yeah, and I guess it's been noted that my posts have fallen to weekly rather than daily lately. I'm gonna blame the heavy schedule and ask you to bare with me. I'll try harder but am making no promises. New Year's resolution maybe. And speaking of,
Have a Happy New Year everyone!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
It seems another week has snuck past without any updates from me. I hadn't been intending on leaving it this long - I never do, of course. Excuses this week include stressing out about Christmas shopping at the weekend, and then a possible case of food poisoning earlier in the week. I'll spare you the details.
Saturday night was our staff Christmas party. It was held at a local wedding hall, and included free food (Korean buffet, so-so) and free beer and soju (no complaints here). Hightlights of the meals - wait, 'hightlights' is the wrong word; most noteworthy dishes included green fish eggs (which maybe tasted like cavier, but I've never eaten caviar), and...well, I'm no expert, so can someone tell me: is this this a cricket or a grasshopper?
Whatever you want to call them, they were slightly sweet, and not at all unpleasant; the texture on the other hand, and the fear of getting bits of leg or wing stuck in your teeth, is not one I plan on getting used to. The key is not to think about it, and drink lots of alcohol beforehand.
After the meal came the speeches and of course, karaoke. As entertaining as it is to see the school directors bumping and grinding on the dancefloor (again), you can only listen to so many obscure Korean hits before needing a break. Rob had passed up an invitation to attend a Korean Wedding earlier in the day, but as it happens, there was a wedding reception going on downstairs at the same time as our party, so Rob figured maybe he didn't need to miss out on the experience after all. After reassuring each other that yes, in fact, we were both being serious, the two of us set off downstairs to gatecrash. Thinking we would be turned out sharpish, I set my stopwatch going as we entered, to see how long we could last. After loitering by the door for only a minute, we were dragged onto the dancefloor by a couple of middle-aged drunken Korean women. After stomping along with them for a handful of traditional Korean tunes (which always sound a little Bollywood to me), one of the guests decided it was our turn to do a number. Maybe we'd drunk more than I thought, for we agreed very readily. I thought a good old crowd pleaser to keep the dancing going, while Rob was focusing on what would make the best story later. As it is, we went with Rob's choice, which is how we ended up singing Radiohead's Creep at a Korean stranger's wedding. The dancefloor being strangely empty after we'd finished, we beat a hasty retreat amid polite applause...
Our own party was quite conventional in comparison, and we didn't stay much longer. All of the school's staff had been out, but after the meal we splintered into separate groups. Mine went to a nearby bar for more drinks and cake. It was also Christa's birthday today, hence the cake, and tequila. We can only have been in there a couple of hours, but when we came out again everyone was amazed by the blanket of snow that had fallen (and was still falling) in the meantime. After an impromptu (and I'm sure, quite disrespectful) snowball fight in the middle of town, we went into a singing room (and smuggled in a few more drinks of course). After paying for the first three hours we realised that the place had stopped charging us, meaning that we had no incentive to leave, ever. However, after all of our other friends had leaked away, and our voices had turned to gravel, Christa, Vanessa and I finally slip-slided our way home through the snow sometime after 5am, happy and tired.
A fringe benefit of my Korean lessons is that I now know my way around the staples of a Korean restaurant menu, which means I can be much more adventurous with what I order. In particular, there's a chain of restaurants called Kimbab Cheonguk (or Kimbab (or seaweed-rice) Heaven), the menu of which me and Christa had to memorise in entirety for homework recently. We've developed a semi-regular habit of popping in there after class to grab something to eat. Our previous method of finding new dishes was to pick at random and hope for the best. With hindsight, I see that we were rather lucky to avoid the fish egg noodles, the pig's intestine sausages, and the ox bone and snail "hangover" soup. In fact, it's my current favourite place to eat, as the aforementioned delicacies aside (which we haven't (yet?) tried so shouldn't judge) , they do have some great food on offer.
Especially on cold days like these, there's nothing better than a hearty bowl of stew or soup, which the Koreans do very well. Doenjang jjigae, and its extra-pungent cousin Cheonggukjang jjigae, is a soybean paste-based soup, containing vegetables and tofu, and sometimes shellfish including small mussels and shrimp. I guess I have to accept that there's really no way for me to make fermented soybean paste sound appetizing, but it really is delicious.
I'm faced with a similar problem when it comes to Budae jjigae, (which translates to "army base stew" since it was first created from surplus rations from the US Army after the Korean War). This is an excellent sinus-clearer, as being based on a chili/soybean paste it is very spicy. Common ingredients include instant noodes, tofu, beans, hot dogs and Spam! Trust me, it's great.
I'm not aiming to turn this page into a recipe book, so I'll hold back for now on many of my other favourites. Suffice to say that I am a total convert to Korean food. There's really nothing from back home that I'm missing right now, but I know I'll be craving some of the food here when I'm gone. There are those (I'm thinking of Emma in particular but she's certainly not the only one) who have never really appreciated the food here; the only reason I can suggest is that opinions have been too heavily based on cafeteria food - contrast cafeteria with real food back home and you'll see the problem. But, I shouldn't speak for anyone else. I love Korean food. Let's leave it at that.
Shannon Soesbe left us today. She's heading back home for a few weeks before setting off on her next adventure to go teach English in Turkey. Korea I think just wasn't her cup of tea, but she gave it six months, which is a fair shot. Though I never got to know her half as well as I'd have liked, she will be missed. Her absence will leave this place a shade less colourful than it was, and I wish her all the best.
One final story before we say goodbye, though. Because I've been to the airport and back a couple of times (for Katie's visit and Emma's own departure) Shannon asked me if I'd mind nipping into Suyu with her on Sunday to point out where she needed to catch the airport bus. Of course I was happy to oblige, but since I'd spent most of the day shopping, I suggested that it would be easier if I just went with her (and Daniel) this morning instead, which would mean I got to wave her off, too.
Woken up by my alarm at the unholy hour of 8:45am, with a streaming nose and the beginnings of another sore throat, I kinda wished I'd just shown her yesterday, but dragged myself up nonetheless. After a final lap around the building a teary goodbye or two, we set off to grab a taxi. It's still not entirely clear what happened, but I believe it was the security guards kindly ordering a taxi for us that kicked off the ensuing madness. It quickly became apparent that we were not on the way to Suyu (though maybe not as quickly as it might've been, as Daniel and I were wedged on the back seat under Shannon's suitcases and couldn't really see a thing). When quizzed, the driver said that he was taking us to Gireum Station, rather that Suyu Station as we assumed had been sorted out when security had spoken to him. Despite us protesting many many times - Aniyo! Suyu! - the cabbie was unrelenting. Indeed, he seemed to rather enjoy the power he had over us. He kept muttering in Korean, and all we could really make out was Gireum, about 15 minutes out of our way.
I found it all ridiculously funny, but Shannon was getting seriously riled. 'Suyu, motherf***ing retard!' I believe she was beseeching him at one point (to be fair she had a plane to catch in a couple of hours, and we were in effect being hijacked), but to no avail, the cabbie just laughed and carried on. After a few attempts, Daniel managed to get a Korean member of our school's staff on the phone to talk to our kidnapper and clarify the situation. It seems that between them, the cabbie and security guards had decided that the traffic would be too busy around Suyu so had opted on an ulterior plan. Never mind that nobody had asked or even informed us of this, or the fact the Shannon had been wanting to go to the bank in Suyu first, we're just dumb foreigners after all.
To his credit, he did eventually deposit us at a appropriate bus stop, and after a twenty minute wait in the freezing cold, we said our final goodbyes, and she was gone.
Bye, Shannon.
Right, so I've written squat since Thursday, and nothing of significance since the Monday before that, so I think we're due an update.
I turned 25 years old on Wednesday. It doesn't feel much different. My Korean age will remain the same until January, when I'll be 27, bluhhh. It was a pretty low key day as I was working in the evening and most of my friends were working the next morning. Nevertheless, it was nice; I was showered with some expertly-chosen gifts (mostly art materials, very cool), and had the Happy Birthday Song (or sometimes the Korean version, Sengil Chukahmnida) sung to me about seven or eight times throughout the day. After work I went round for a little celebration at Shannon's with cake and beer and friends.
Thursday was a little stressful. We're having lots of Government-sponsored students this month, which inevitably seems to mean very low English skills. Trying to conduct a class with such low comprehension can be draining at the best of times, but this month I'm teaching theatre class, the lesson plan for which focuses on having the kids act out a short theatre piece. When only one of them can read the title of the play, getting them through their individual lines is total fantasy, which leaves me a little adrift at times.
Friday was more of the same, but at least it was Friday. After graduation, a troop of SEV staff made their way over to Itaewan, to the final of the battle-of-the-bands-esque showdown that our friend Kane Sole was competing in. He was robbed of victory by a dodgy mike that meant the vocals could barely be heard (the sound guy adjusted the acoustics right after Kane's set) but was awarded with an 'honourable mention' at least. We had planned to meet up with Shannon's going away crowd afterwards, but the competition and MC dragged on for so long that all we wanted to do after the result was head home to bed.
Saturday was a typically lazy weekend day - I could've done with doing some shopping and laundry, but the only productive activity I managed was a little Korean study. Me and Christa went out for sushi later in the day, which was both disappointing and expensive. The salmon was frozen solid (and it's not like it's easy to complain here) and the majority of the sashimi that we ordered was too chewy to enjoy. The highlight of the meal was Christa gamely taking up my challenge to eat the whole dollop of wasabi in one go. It had been making my eyes water even in small doses, so I was a little concerned as to what it might do to her, and there was indeed a moment she looked certain the throw up, but thankfully she managed to stifle the reflex before it got that far.
At some point in the near future I want to write a post on some of my favourite Korean dishes; it seems that usually when I talk about food here it's because I'm drawing attention to some weird or wacky thing I've seen or tasted (and often I've only mentioned our cafeteria food, and we all know what school dinners are like!). There are some real tasty foods out around though, so I feel it only fair to redress the balance. For now, all I'll say on the matter is that on Sunday, me and Christa had a great lunch at a local restaurant before heading out for an exhausting day of Christmas shopping in Insadong, of which no more can be revealed at this time.
Just a quick update on my (vain and arbitrary) mission to ensnare any waylaid cordoroy affectionados* searching for the term 'cordoroy appreciation' out there: I have now made it up to page three. This is good news, as according to a study done by Jupiter Research and marketing firm iProspect, people will go through at most three pages of results before giving up and starting again with new keywords. However, 62% of people will click on a link on the first page, which doesn't give me much of a shot.
*have I made this word up? It gets 14,000 ghits (google hits) but isn't in any dictionary that I can find...
No post today, busy busy busy, but I would like to refer to you to thesetwo posts on the dearly departed Shawn and Mel's blog featuring a very thorough listing of some of many the peculiarities of Korea that they have noticed in their first few months. Pretty accurate and too funny. Well, maybe only funny in a context-specific 'in-joke' kinda way, it's hard to tell.
This weekend, me and Christa participated in a Buddhist Temple Stay at Lotus Lantern International Meditation Center near On Soo Ree (a couple of hours West of us). It's a 24-hour program which took us from lunchtime on Saturday to lunchtime Sunday, during which we were taught about various Buddhist practices by the monks there. There were 13 participants this weekend: 2 Canadians, 3 Irish (Northern I think, with accents so thick Christa thought they were talking another language), 1 English (just me, as usual), I think just 1 American, 1 Swiss dude, a couple of Germans and 2 Korean girls. Ok, that's just 12...maybe there were two from Switzerland. The monks were a diverse bunch too: one each from Russia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Korea (the Abbott). Although 46.5% of the South Korean population (according to Wikipedia) express no religious preference, Buddhism is the most widely practised religion in South Korea, so we figured we should learn something about it while we are here.
Saturday was mainly taken up with a series of talks by the monks and our guide (I forget her name, but she spoke excellent English) introducing us to the concepts of mediation, mantras, meal offerings and so on, that we would be practising on the Sunday. We also did a little 'community work' in the temple garden, picking flowers until our fingers went numb with cold. They use them to make a rather pleasant tasting tea that we would try later.
After dozing through the 'Introduction to Korean Buddhism' DVD they put on for us in the evening, we were sent to bed at around 9:15pm. Early but understandable, as we were to be woken for pre-dawn chanting at 3:45am 'the next day'.
Surprisingly I didn't have any problems getting up so early - all these late mornings must've topped up my sleep-reserves. Learning from the previous day's mistakes, I put on my jeans under the training-suit pants that I had been relying on the day before, and an extra pair of socks. Although it was to be a beautiful clear day later, I don't think it ever got above a couple of degrees, so we were very cold in the temple (though most of the other buildings were heated).
Obviously we couldn't go around taking too many pictures, but the inside of the temple looked not unlike this. Just picture the air foggy with our breath and you're there.
So, 4am chanting and prostrations. We'd been given a Sanskrit mantra to memorise the night before ("Om Amogha vairocana mahamudra manipadma jvala Pravarttaya Hum"; the meaning is apparently irrelevant as it's merely used to focus the mind) but we hadn't really had time to practise so most of us just listened and bowed when signaled to.
For the bows, I guess we really we need a demonstration...hang on...
To show respect to the Buddha, this has to be done each time you enter the temple and isn't such a big deal. But now imagine doing this at 4am, in the freezing cold. Ok? Now, imagine doing that one hundred and eight times non-stop. Not easy. I think by the final few I was just letting myself fall to the floor...
After these and much not-entirely-unpleasant chanting from the monks we moved to a thankfully warmer room to mediate for 20 minutes. We were instructed to just try and count ten breaths in and out without allowing any other thoughts to enter our heads. I don't think I made it beyond 'two' without some stray thought about what breakfast might be, or what I would do in class tomorrow, or how I really really should've gone to the toilet a couple of hours ago when I got up...Failure aside, I did appreciate the possible benefits of the mediations, so will be trying again.
All meals were supposed to be consumed in silence, but Sunday's breakfast involved a (simplified) version of the complex Buddhist meal offering rituals. We had been instructed in the methods the night before by our guide, but being a newbie, it seems she'd made a few errors, so the Russian monk talked us through it. The bowl set comprises four bowls, one each for rice, soup (or in our case, gruel), side dishes and water. The set is initially wrapped up in a long cloth, with the bowls all neatly fitting inside each other like Russian dolls. The bowls must be unwrapped and placed on the table in a strict order. Each of us had a certain responsibility - serving gruel, water, etc. After eating, a pan of hot water is brought round; some is poured into the largest bowl, which you must clean out with a small piece of kimchi. The water is then passed in order through the three others and the process is repeated. Then you eat the kimchi and drink the water, so that not a scrap of food is wasted. After drinking the dishwater, cold water is brought around to rinse, but thankfully, you don't have to drink this (unless it's dirty and the abbot thinks you have wasted too much food). Finally, the set is carefully wrapped up again with a pretty bow. Actually, the final thing is unwrapping it all and washing the bowls properly in the sink, although I thought mine was clean enough actually...
As the sun was rising we were lead on a walk around the local farm land while meditating on the beauty of nature. In any case, it was a really beautiful time to be out and about so was not at all resentful that on a normal weekend (or any day really) I would still be wrapped in bed for several more hours.
We even got a souvenir of the experience (not that we're shallow and can't appreciate the deeper significance blah blah blah, but me and Christa do like a freebie) as next on the agenda was a lesson in Chinese calligraphy using brush and ink:
I think it's really pretty, even though I'm sure it's quite eligible. To see just how bad I am at this, take a closer look at the first three columns - they're supposed to be identical. I don't know what it means (again, doesn't really matter, but copying the characters takes all your attention so helps clear your mind), other than it's a sutra - a Buddhist scripture regarded as a record of the oral teachings of Gautama Buddha.
Mid-day chanting was at 11, but before that we had time for a special tea ceremony and (translation-assisted) Q&A with the abbot. After that, lunch (all meals strictly veggie by the way, and quite decent fare, too) before being swiftly driven (for once I was grateful for the Korean tendency to drive through red lights) back to the bus stop just in time for the hourly bus home.
All in all, a very peaceful and enlightening weekend.
