Episode 64: In Which DFM Falls Back Into Old Habits And Says Some More Good-Byes

Today was supposed to be a rest day in which I packed up my things and said good-bye to everyone.  As per the norm with this trip though, things just could not be that easy.  

My boss phoned me earlier in the week and told me that he needed me to come back into work one more day to show the new guy what I had been doing, so back to work I went one more time.

Today was actually a fun day though, and many of the classes went outside to do their work because the weather was so nice.  I tried to just relax and play with the kids, but my teacher instincts soon kicked in and I found myself back to being "Canada teacher!" (캐나다 선생님 for my Korean readers.)

It was neat to finally get to see Seth ("Australia teacher!").  Seth was actually the person I had filled in for originally when I first started teaching back in March, and at the time many of the children thought I was Seth.  To see both of us together threw some of them for a real loop, and Seth had some fun by telling everyone that he was from Canada and I was from Australia.

I wasn't sure how the kids would react to seeing me again after I had already told them I was leaving, but it was business as usual.  And by business as usual I mean playing "change the colour of the crayon inside of the plastic holder and then try to get DFM to guess the colour before laughing hysterically at him."  Oh, great fun.

Of course I had to go back to Summit and say good-bye to everyone there as well.  This time I met another new friend named Kyu-rhang.  For those of you who think she looks like all of my other friends, look closer.  Kyu-rhang has black hair and brown eyes, whereas my other Korean friends have brown eyes and black hair.

I also had to say good-bye to Hyeun-A.  Lee had made her pay for my KFC meal on our first date, so this time I decided to do the Korean thing and pay for her meal.  She hates coming to Itaewon, but she made an exception tonight because I said there was a fantastic ice cream shop near my place.  Hyeun-A gave me a letter afterwards, but said it was all in Korean so I would not be able to read it unless I studied my Korean very hard when I went back to Canada.

I went to bed wishing I had another week in Korea, and wishing I had gotten a chance to say good-bye to everyone else as well.

Episode 62: In Which DFM Falls 25 Feet And Has A Party Thrown For Him

Today I was planning to meet Choi, Ji-Hyeun, and the rest of Ace for a trip to one of Seoul's many large outdoor climbing walls.  Unfortunately, Choi and Ji-Hyeun had worked so hard over the last five days completely stripping the climbing wall of holds and rearranging them that they were too tired to go climbing today.  Coincidentally and fortuitously, Perry had told me that he was planning on going to an outdoor climbing wall today too, and so just like our first hiking trip I asked if I could tag along and off I went on another adventure.

Before I met Perry I had to catch up on some e-mails and unwritten blog posts that were piling up because of my trip.  While I was working in my room the fire alarm started screaming in my building.  I didn't really feel like leaving though, so I just hung around and kept typing.  Everything turned out to be fine though, and ten minutes later the alarm was turned off.

The climbing wall to which Perry and I went was located in Boramae Park.  Boramae Park used to be an air force base from 1958 until 1985, when it was converted into a 420 000 square meter park.

Today (Tuesday, May 5) was Children's Day in Korea, a national holiday.  That meant the park (and probably every other park) was packed with children and their parents.  In some places I saw people sitting on the pathway to eat their lunch because there was no room on the grass.

There were many activities going on in the park, the most impressive of which was put on by the emergency rescue service which gave helicopter rescue demonstrations and tours of their fire trucks.  Unlike Canada though, the question "what's the number for 9-1-1?" isn't so stupid in Korea (look at the fire truck).

The Boramae Park climbing wall is 15 meters high and is overhung everywhere, even the easiest section.  I'm not sure if it was used for any X-Games climbing, but I know that some facilities in the area were used for an X-Games competition and have ample signage to remind visitors of that fact.

The Boramae Park climbing wall is managed by the woman in the yellow shirt, who also happens to be the number one climber in Korea for her age group.  Perry said she sometimes climbs in the evening when it is cooler, and once climbed up and down the wall 20 times in a row without stopping.  Perry was belaying for her at the time and said his arm pumped out from belaying before she even started to get tired.

Luckily Perry had brought some grapes and break along for lunch, because I had forgot to pack one for myself.  Actually, I did not forget, I just did not have any food at home.

After "warming up" (or was that tiring ourselves out?) on the medium difficulty wall, Perry and I tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully to climb to the top of the most difficult section of the wall in the middle.

Later, one of the top climbers at Ace Climbing Center came to the outdoor wall and easily climbed up the most difficult wall... twice.  He told me that I had the strength to get up the wall, but I did not have the confidence.  That information didn't really help me that much though, as I still fell off in the same spot the next two times.

By mid-afternoon a large number of visitors to the park had gathered to watch all the climbers.  Anyone who made it to the top of the wall received a round of applause.  Although I was not able to make it to the top while the crowd was there, I did take a spectacularly large fall of roughly 25 feet which garnered quite a few "oohs" and "ahhs," not to mention a good number of gasps as well (I was only 35 feet up, so I came relatively close to the ground).

After climbing, Perry invited me back to his place for a "party" in honour of my last week in Korea.  His wife only arrived home from her hiking trip five minutes after we walked in the door, but she is the fastest cook in the world and had a delicious feast on the table in under ten minutes.

After the party Perry showed me back to the subway station, but not before we said good-bye to his friend from the health food store.  Upon being told that it was my last week in Korea, his friend frantically looked around the shop for something to give me before finding a box of Korean ginseng tea (this was the item he was holding in the picture I took of him the first time I met him).  It was a touching gesture, and indicative of how much Koreans care for people they consider their friends.  I once again felt that I would miss Korea very much when I left.

Episode 59: In Which DFM Visits A Museum Without Walls And Plays With His Food At The Dinner Table

Day 3 of my trip called for another early morning rise and a train trip to Gyeongju.  Before I left I said my good-byes to Mr. and Mrs. Kim and Mr. Kim's parents.  I also try out my new Korean phrase, "I will miss you," which prompted Mr. Kim's mother to call me "sweet."

Today (Saturday, May 2) is Buddha's Birthday in Korea.  When I ordered the tickets last week there was only one spot left on the KTX train for this day and it was in First Class.  What a pity.

I was excited to see what a first class train ride would be like, but unfortunately it was a bit disappointing.  There was so much leg room that my feet could not reach the foot rests no matter how far I stretched, which was rather uncomfortable.  Furthermore, the seat in front of me was so far away that the fold down tray was out of my reach and so I had to bend over awkwardly to use it.  This was not the most comfortable position either.  

On the plus side, I could get out of the seat without putting the tray up and, with the combination of an a/c unit that actually worked and 25% less people in the car (only three seats per row instead of 4), I made it all the way to my destination without feeling like I had been sitting in a pool of sweat the whole way.

Part way through the trip, I had to switch from the KTX train to the much less glamorous, or speedy, Mugungwha train (astute readers will remember that Mugungwha is also the name of Korea's national flower).  

At least the scenery at the platform where I disembarked was nice.

Eventually April and I got to Gyeongju.  I originally took this picture because I thought it looked pretty, but upon reviewing my pictures later I realized that I had actually learned the meaning of the sign on the left during my trip (in an unrelated incident).  The writing in the red circles on the pillar reads "hwan-yong," which means "welcome!"

After trying to find a reliable form of transport (the buses we needed were not coming around at an acceptable interval for two impatient Seoulites), April and I took a cab to meet her friend, Sun-hee and her friend's daughter, Jee-seon.

The four of us went to a traditional Korean restaurant, at which to enter we had to squeeze through a door only five feet high.  We tried not to bump our heads ("try" being the operative term), and were rewarded for our troubles with a delicious meal of spicy barbecued chicken and ddeok in a some sort of hot sauce.  Actually, now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure that this is the same meal I ate with my boss on Thursday before I got paid and left for this trip.

After lunch we all drove over to Bulguksa.  Bulguksa is a Buddhist temple ("sa" means temple) built in the wooded foothills of beautiful Tohamsan ("san" means mountain in Korean, so Tohamsan translates to Toham Mountain).  Many invading countries liked to arrest Buddhist monks, so the monks often built their temples in the mountains to hide from enemy armies.

Bulguksa was built roughly 1480 years ago in AD 528, during the Shila dynasty.  Unfortunately, the Japanese appear to like burning down temples more than the monks like hiding them up in the mountains, and so Bulguksa also had to be rebuilt after the 1592 Invasion of Korea by Japan (the second temple this trip).

In 1995 UNESCO (a branch of the United Nations) declared Bulguksa a World Cultural Heritage site.  Bulguksa contains no less than seven National Treasures, and it is also located in the most beautiful place I've ever seen, and is reached by Korea's best driving road (that's the most important thing though, isn't it?)  Bulguksa is often referred to as "a museum without walls."

Before you can reach the temple, you must walk over this bridge (behind the trees).  The bridge is called Haetalgyo, and it represents the crossing from the sin filled world to the realm of bliss - Nirvana.

Every reader has seen the giant rock piles from my hiking trip with Perry, right?  Here we have hundreds of tiny rock piles built by visitors behind one of the temple buildings.  There must have been a lot of praying here.

Of the seven National Treasures, these were my two favourite.  The first is Seokgatap, a classic Korean pagoda of superior quality.  The second is Cheongungyo and Baegungyo, which combine to make a massive 33-step stone staircase that represents the 33 heavens and hells of Buddhism.

After a wonderful exploration of Bulguksa, we all went out for yet more spicy Korean food.  This time the meal was a spicy bowl of soup containing a number of vegetables and a whole fish, merely gutted, but not deboned or beheaded.  Lucky me, I got the fish head again.  It had received a debraining, but I was still able to play with its mouth.  In hindsight, I think perhaps playing with one's fish head at the dinner table is not something that Korean dining etiquette encourages.

Episode 58: In Which DFM Has Dinner For Breakfast And Beats A 10 Year Old At Parcheesi... Twice!

Day 2 of my journey called for an early rise.  Mr. Kim's parents were up and a traditional Korean breakfast had been prepared, so I thought it was polite to come join them.

Korean breakfasts look exactly like Korean lunches and Korean suppers.  There's rice, kimchi, and a large collection of side dishes.  In fact there was more food at this breakfast than there was for dinner last night.  I was served another bowl of samgyetang, and I had an opportunity to show off my new kimbab eating skills.  

Rather than using my hand to hold my kim (dried seaweed) and then filling it with a spoonful of rice, I would take a spoonful of rice and then place the bottom of my spoon on the top piece of kim.  The seaweed would stick to the spoon and I would shove the whole conglomeration in my mouth.  Mr. and Mrs. Kim were impressed, because apparently Mr. Kim's father is the only person they had seen eat kimbab that way.  For the record, I had learned the technique from Yoo Sung Bok's father when I had dinner with Sung Bok's family.

After breakfast, April and I left with her sister Julie, and brother-in-law Kenny.  We were planning to see a famous temple nearby, but first we stopped in at an incredible tea house.

The tea house was hand built by the owner and is located  on the side of a beautiful mountain.  I can't remember the name of the place, but I'll never forget the stunning front yard.

It was hard for me to believe, but the inside of the tea house was even more beautiful than the outside.  It felt like stepping back in time a few centuries, because the floor was made of dirt, and you removed your shoes and stepped up onto the raised wood platform to find your table. (Note:  I have no idea what Korea houses were like a few hundred years ago, so ignore my earlier statement about stepping back in time).

I had something called 5 Flavours Tea, served cold, and it was fantastic.  While we drank and talked I was stuffed full of delicious traditional Korean cookies made from fried rice , and some sort of candy-coated traditional Korean peanut treat.  After tea I was given yet more tea, this time a special plum flower tea with the plum flower in my cup.

After tea we travelled a bit further to see the 1 370 year old temple, Gwangduksa.  The temple once housed 9 Bell Houses and 8 Castles, but was burned down by the Japanese in 1592 and had to be rebuilt.  I didn't bother to count how many buildings there are today.

Incredibly, there was one historical item still left standing.  This walnut tree is over 400 years old and is the first and oldest walnut tree in Korea.  It was brought to Korea by a monk and subsequently the Cheonan region has become famous for its walnut cookies.  I found this out later, otherwise I would have asked to have some.

After seeing the temple, April had to visit a high school student she used to tutor.  The student now attends an advanced language learning institute for grade 10 and 11 students.  The students can learn any of four languages, including Spanish and English, and April's student told me in near perfect English that she was at the bottom of her class.  April even got me an interview with the head recruiter who told me to send my CV to him in case there were future openings for teaching positions. 

The school had some young ducks outside in a pen.  Kenny and Julie's kindergarten aged son, Jun, came along with April and I (his parents went home), and he kept trying to get the ducks to come near him so that he could pet them.  Of course every time he moved closer to the ducks they moved away from him, and he started to become quite upset.  A few times I had to come and prevent him from lashing out at the cage in frustration.  Jun was a favourite of all the high school girls on their class break, and they would come to look at the ducks, but most him.

The school is located right next to an expensive apartment complex, built by Samsung for housing its employees.  Kenny is a Electrochemical Engineer and works for Samsung, building laptop batteries.  He told me he dreams of one day becoming the head of his division and expanding the business.

As if the pond/fountain weren't pretty enough, the apartment complex also had this large Teletubbies style rubber hill for the children and numerous other playground areas (all coated in rubber matting).

April left to go visit even more former students and I stayed with her sister at their new place.  Kenny told me that I was the first guest in his new apartment, so I felt honoured.

Julie slaved for well over an hour on this feast, which made me feel kind of bad.  Not bad enough to not scarf it all down, though.

Kenny/Julie's other son, Matthew, has a friend named Whi-seol (sounds like "whistle").  Whi-seol is twelve and very clever.  After dinner we played an intense game of Parcheesi.  Matthew loves this game and I had beaten him twice earlier, so he was happy to finally get his revenge this time.  Jun is only five and he soon got bored and started trying to steal my pieces.  Matthew got upset and started stomping on him repeatedly.  It reminded me and my brother at that age.

When I got home, another former student of April's was over at Mr. and Mrs. Kim's house.  We talked for a bit and then Mr. Kim took us all out for dinner.  By this time I was pretty full, but I had a reputation to uphold, so I finished my portion and more.  Mr. Kim ordered me some makgeolli, but no one else had any.  I didn't know that there was another option, so after I finished my makgeolli I finished off two giant bowls of tea, one each from Mrs. Kim and the student in the white shirt who had both ordered but not finished theirs.  Mr. Kim said, "he eats good and he drinks good too!"

Finally 1 O'clock AM rolled around and we finally went back home.  Tomorrow I will rise at 7 AM to catch another train for Gyeongju.

Episode 57: In Which DFM Holds A Stack Of Bills Two Inches Thick And Fights A Korean

Today (Thursday) is the day of my big trip.  My train wasn't scheduled to leave until 8:10 PM, which was nice because I had a lot to do before then.

I spent most of the day trying to catch up on my backlogged blog posts, doing laundry and packing for my trip, but I also had to find time to rush over to Lee's office and pick up a package.  Thankfully my tendinitis seems to have settled down a bit and I did not notice an excessive amount of pain in my knees while running there (I had expected to be crippled for a month or more after my half-marathon).

Around 6 PM I took the subway to meet my boss.  I was supposed to get paid on Tuesday but there were some unfortunate bank errors that ended up pushing my payday back until today.  When I showed up, the errors still had not been cleared up yet, but my boss had been given a promise that the money would be ready by 7:30 PM.  

In the mean time my boss took me out for some dalkgalbi (spicy chicken pieces grilled with vegetables and rice cakes in a spicy sauce).  Not wanting to waste an opportunity to learn about Korean culture I asked about, and was treated to a lesson on the responsibilities of the first born son in Korea.  All too quickly 7:10 rolled around and we left to find a bank and get my money.  

After all was said and done I had about $1200 in cash in my backpack.  I did not have time to go back home and stash it, so I was forced to travel around with it.  In hindsight I'm glad I packed all my stuff along with me when I went to see my boss (my mother would be proud).

The KTX bullet train travels at 300 km/hr, so the trip to Cheonan/Asan took little more than 30 minutes.  After departing from the train, April and I took a cab to her friend's apartment where we would stay for the next two nights.

If my trip were to consist only of meeting Mr. and Mrs. Kim I would have still considered it a great success.  Mr. and Mr. Kim are both public school teachers.  Mr. Kim teaches regular subjects in Korean, while his wife teaches English to Junior High students.  With April and myself both teachers as well it made for some interesting conversations around the dinner table.

Speaking of dinner, Mr. Kim is a great cook and served me a great meal of delicious, home-made samgyetang.  My boss and friends had told me that Korean mothers always give young men a lot of food and expect you to eat it all.  Even though I had stuffed myself full of spicy chicken just a couple hours earlier, I pushed my way through the whole bowl and all the rice.  Mrs. Kim looked at my empty bowl and said "good boy."

My bosses lesson came in handy in other ways as well.  Mrs. Kim had told me earlier that she stayed with her parents-in-law.  My boss had told me the first born son always has to take care of his parents, so I mentioned to Mr. Kim that I thought he might be the eldest son.  Mrs. Kim was impressed and told me that April had told her I had a "Korean soul," and that now she understood what that meant.

I had noticed earlier a picture in a newspaper of a ssireum tournament taking place (traditional Korean wrestling), and after supper I asked Mr. Kim about it.  I soon found out that Mr. Kim has the spirit of a young man.  After trying to describe the sport to me in his limited English he had me stand up and we did some sparing.  I wasn't able to take him down, but I was able to block all of his attacks (Mr. Kim didn't count on my past experience as a wrestler).  It's a good thing the Kims live on the ground floor.

Mr. Kim gives me hope for my own middle age.  Not only did he want to wrestle me on this night, but on another night he challenged me to an arm wrestling contest.  I can tell he's as competitive as I am, and it's a good thing someone called the arm wrestling match a draw because both of us would have continued fighting until someone became injured.  

Mr. Kim also showed me his numerous medals for running, including one from a recent Seoul International Marathon and another for running 13 km barefoot through the woods.  He also had a certificate for his successful summit of a 5005 meter peak in Nepal last year.  To put that feat in perspective, the tallest peak in the Canadian Rockies, Mt. Robson, is less than 4000 meters, and the mountains I have been hiking around Seoul are about 700 to 800 meters.

I could have stayed up talking with the Kims all night, but it soon grew late and the Kims had to get up early and teach the next day.

Episode 53: In Which DFM Gets A Rose And Koreans Start Dancing In The Street

It's been a long time since I last posted.  I've been terribly busy, so I'm sorry about the spotty updating, but faithful readers will be rewarded with what I hope is a good post today.

It turns out I had learned the name of the "mystery woman" from Episode 50.  Her name is April, I had just forgotten.  Today (Sunday) she invited me to her church with her and her family.  Her father was a former member of the Korean Navy and worked for many years as an Engineer for the Korean Air Force.  He spoke very good English, and is still an avid table tennis player.  DFM loves to hear of people remaining active after they retire.

April's father is one of the church's elders and, like April, seems to know just about everyone.  We had a long chat with the pastor, in his office, before the start of church and almost made him late.  The pastor was very friendly and asked many questions about me.  He also gave me some mushroom juice (it comes in a bottle here), which tastes a lot better than it sounds.

After the sermon, the pastor had me introduce myself to the congregation.  April came up to translate my introduction, but I surprised everyone by introducing myself entirely in Korean instead.  I got a large ovation from the entire congregation who then gave me a rose and sang a song of welcome to me.  (The congregation has at least 125 members I'd reckon.)

After church I was a mini celebrity and it seemed like everyone wanted to come and shake my hand.  I got a lot of practice saying "nice to meet you" in Korean.

After church April and I went to meet "One Piece," Pyeong-hwa, at Gyeongbokgung - another palace in Seoul.  However, it was quite busy when we got there, so we decided to walk around the outside of the wall and see the Blue House (where the President lives).  (To see a picture of the Blue House, click here.)  You're only allowed to view the Blue House from that one angle, so every shot any tourist has ever taken looks exactly the same.

At the Blue House site we ran into an interesting family from France.  From left to right is Sophie Cremezi, PR and Events Manager for the French Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, her mother and father, and finally, her husband Guilhem Cremezi.  Guilhem works for a company that supplies parts to Hyundai/Kia.  He told me that he took the job so that he could travel.  Smart man.  Speaking of smart, the Cremezis know French, English, and a fair bit of Korean.

After the Cremezis departed to have lunch, April, Pyeong-hwa and I went to Insadong.

Budha's Birthday is not for another week or two, but since Budha's Birthday is on par with Christmas over in Korea, there were all sorts of opportunities to "catch the spirit."  Here we were taught how to properly drink tea, the Korean way.

I had to leave April and Pyeong-hwa for a while as I rushed over to Jamsil Stadium to watch a baseball game.  The Doosan Bears (Thom's favourite team) were hosting the Hanwa Eagles in their rather beautiful stadium.  Unfortunately, I showed up slightly late and so the tickets to the "good section" by the team's rabble rouser were all sold out.  Instead I found a seat in the equally packed right field bleachers for less than $4.  

Much like the soccer game I went to, if you want to cheer loudly you need to be sitting in the right spot.  There were pockets of cheering going on in my section, but it was nothing compared to where the "real fans," as I call them, were sitting.

I went to the game by myself, so I had no one to communicate with, but this boy in the Doosan hat and I would exchange smiles and fist pumps every time Doosan did something positive.

Sorry about the poor quality on the video.  The transfer from an .avi to .wmv file is less than perfect it must be said.

There were definitely a lot more people at this game than at my Woori Heroes game, but the cheering somehow  felt less passionate than when the Heroes fans and I screamed our lungs out for a rare base hit by our really bad team.  

To see real cheering though you have to witness Busan's Lotte Giants fans, who Yi Woojin assures me are the best fans in the league.  I'll let you judge for yourself though (click the earlier  link if you haven't already, and also try this one too).

After about two hours at the baseball game I left early and rushed back down town to catch the final hour and a half of the great Budha's Birthday Parade.  A parade is a parade is a parade, but this one lasted over four hours.  There's not much new I can really say since most people have seen a parade before, but never-the-less I have included a few of my favourite images for your viewing pleasure.

After the parade ended at 9:30 PM, a concert started.  It seemed to be a blend of Korean folk music and Korean pop music.  One of the singers was a big celebrity in Korea, and this seemed to get a great many cheers from the younger members of the audience.  

The concert carried on until at least 11 PM, and at one point a mass group dance broke out in the middle of the street.  Some rather drunk old men started getting a little too vigorous in their dancing, so I decided that it was best for my safety to head home at this time and go to bed.