X2

How I choose to feel is how I am
-Pearl Jam

I realize that my last post about my first six months in Korea was woefully inadequate. Here are some other top moments:

Music. Yes, Seoul is no Seattle, but it is proving an acceptable substitute for the year. In November, I went to see Two Gallants, a band from San Francisco. The show didn't start until 11, I was tired and cold, and I *almost* skipped it. I am so glad that I didn't. When the band started to play, I found my way to the front of the stage (on "Mike's side" of course!) and closed my eyes, smiled and enjoyed life. Nothing better.

In December, I went to see Deerhoof, a band that I knew literally nothing about. The name sounded vaguely familiar and I read that they were from San Francisco, so I decided to check them out. Once again, as I was walking to the show not only was I cold and tired, but I also could not seem to find the venue. I wandered around the confusing streets of Hongdae for about an hour, and just when I was about to give up, I looked down the street and there it was! Like fate. And like before, I am so happy that I went. The club where the show was held was very very small and unlike at the Two Gallants show, the crowd was mostly Korean. There were three opening bands, all Korean, and all really good. I especially liked the third band, who I *think* are called "Banseom Pirates" and played spacey instrumental music while a strange movie played in the background.

Deerhoof was also a really great band, and if I ever get another chance to see them, I definitely will. The drummer was amazing, so much fun to watch. The lead singer was a really cheerful Japanese (I think) girl who kept saying "Kamsam-ida!"

Of course, I can't forget the guitar-playing bartender that I wrote about before. Victoria and I have since gone back to his bar to listen to him play again. Whereas on Christmas Eve, he mostly stuck with songs by Damien Rice or the Beatles, this time he played mostly Korean songs. I wish I knew the name of his bar so that I could advertise it, because he has a wonderful voice and is obviously a great performer who shouldn't just be in a small bar playing only to one or two people at a time. And, adding to my guitar-playing bartender love: both times we saw him, "Once" was playing on a screen in the background. In fact, on Christmas Eve he asked, "Have you ever seen this movie? It's great."

Theater. I have seen four plays so far in Seoul, three Korean and one American. The first play I saw was Jump, an absolutely hilarious non-verbal play about a family that does martial arts. Highly recommended. The second play that I saw was called Cookin With Nanta, and I went to it on Christmas. Another very funny play, about four chefs who are preparing a wedding feast. Again, it is non-verbal, the story is told through dance and music. And it stars "A Sexy Guy" (that's really what the character is called in the script). A few weeks ago, Victoria and I saw The Ballerina Who Loved a B-Boy, about, as you can probably guess, a ballerina who falls in love with a break dancer. The dancing in the play was phenomenal - as was the fact that one of the actors had a shirt emblazoned with the F-word - and after the play we got to go on stage and take pictures with the dancers. The most recent play that I saw was Without You, a one-man show starring Anthony Rapp from the Original Broadway Cast of Rent. The play is based on his autobiography about the deaths of his mother and Jonathan Larson (the writer of Rent). I wanted to see the play because I LOVE Rent (have seen it five times, own the original Broadway recording, and have the entire play memorized), but I was kind of leery of the whole "one-man show" concept. But it was *so wonderful* He sang songs from Rent (including La Vie Boheme!) and is such a good actor that two hours went by in the blink of an eye.

Cafes. I have to add this one, because who knew that one of my favorite things about Korea would be the coffee shops? There are some great ones in Daejeon. My favorite is called Holy Cross. It is on the 6th floor of a tall building downtown, and is somewhat reminiscent of a New York City loft inside. I have been known to sit there for a few hours, drinking a latte and reading a book on my Kindle. And they have free wifi! And they know my name and order without me having to say anything. That's winning in my book.

Other random things: cute Korean guys, samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup), kimbap, udon, dweji galbi (bbq pork), walking along the Han River in Seoul, the KTX train, waffles for dessert, parks, not having to worry about driving a car (just having to worry that I won't get run over when I go outside, but I'm getting used to that), Sun Sing Dam bakery, getting off the subway at a random stop in Seoul and walking around, and most of all, not having to worry about money. That's a big one. Free housing + no car + low cost of living, relative to Seattle = much less stress in my life. I almost don't want to have to go back to Seattle and start the treadmill all over again. Almost.

Yup, there are lots of things I love about living here, and I will dwell on those, because as a wise man named Eddie Vedder sings, "how I choose to feel is how I am."

6 months..

Life is what you make it

I've had some really amazing experiences during the last six months in Korea, and despite the fact that not everything has worked out quite the way I hoped it would, I wouldn't go back and change anything I've done. I can look back and be happy with my decision to uproot what was basically a good life in Seattle to move across the world. No regrets. So here is a list of a few of the great experiences that come to mind:

Busan last weekend: hiking through the woods with various Koreans who laughed every time I said "kammsamida" (thank you.. maybe I really have been pronouncing it wrong for six months, who knows?) and finding Seokbulsa Temple, an amazing temple that is precariously built into the side of a mountain. Getting there involved lots of walking, riding a cable car, more walking, and lots of miming where I wanted to go to Koreans (if only I could put "miming" on my resume when I get home).


The next morning, I watched the sun rise over the ocean, and then went to Haeundae Beach.

Spending New Year's at the Homigot Sunrise Festival: One of the biggest lessons that I've learned about myself in the past six months is that I'm tougher than I give myself credit for (it only took me 31 and 1/2 years to figure that out...). I needed that tough-ness when I decided to go to this festival: getting there involved taking four buses, sleeping in a jimjilbang, and going so far from the beaten path that I didn't see any other westerners or hear any English spoken for almost 2 days (a bit of a rare experience in Korea). And really what can be better than watching the first sun rise of the new year over a giant statue of a hand in the ocean? Yes, nothing can be better.



Christmas in Seoul: For Christmas, my friend Victoria and I decided to go to Seoul. On Christmas Eve, we went out in Hongdae, the University area, and randomly found a bar advertising "live guitar." The live guitar player turned out to be the bartender, who played songs for us (including an amazing version of "The Blower's Daughter" by Damien Rice and, hilariously enough, "Puff the Magic Dragon"). At the end of the evening, we took a taxi back to our motel and as we were getting out of the taxi, two college-aged Koreans got in and said "Merry Christmas!" I looked at my watch and it was exactly midnight: Merry Christmas indeed. The next day, we went ice skating and then I went to see an awesome play called "Cooking with Nanta." We ended our Christmas day with dinner in Myeondong while watching an impromptu marching band play "YMCA" by The Village People. It was all so awesome I had no time to miss home! (Sorry, mom!)

Some other interesting things:

Festivals! The Jinju Lantern Festival, the Seoul Lantern Festival, the Busan Fireworks Festival and the Cheonan World Dance Festival.

Buddhist temples. There are so many amazing temples in Korea - from Jogyesa temple in Seoul to Donghwasa temple in Daegu. For me, part of the fun is not only seeing the temple itself, but also the journey in getting there. Most of the temples are located on mountains or in parks, relatively far from the cities. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I'm able to find them.

Halloween in Seoul, and buying a drink in a bag from a wizard on a street in Hongdae.

The friends that I have made. Although I generally enjoy being and traveling alone, I have made some great friends here that I think I'll probably stay in touch with even after this adventure is over.

My vacation to Vietnam and Hong Kong. The pinnacle of the past six months. Not much more that I can say about it than that.

And what am I looking forward to in the next six months?
More traveling around Korea.
Hopeful short vacation to Japan?
Trip to Jeju Island when mom and dad come to visit.
Visits from friends? Beatrice, I'm looking at you!
Buddha's birthday in May. Given my love for temples, I am really looking forward to this.
Cherry blossoms in the Spring. A taste of Seattle.
Radiohead at the Jisan Valley Rock Festival in July.
Lady Gaga in April (Haha, surprisingly I am really looking forward to this!)
More trips to Busan and Seoul. I love those cities.
And the pièce de résistance: one or two months in the Fall spent traveling around Southeast Asia. Pages added to my passport, here I come...

Feel the air up above, a pool of blue sky

...See the waves on distant shores awaiting your arrival
Dream the dreams of other men, you'll be no ones rival...
A distant time, a distant place that's where we're living
A distant time, a distant space, so what are you giving?
Pearl Jam, Unthought Known




Few things go together as well as Pearl Jam and nature.

Last weekend I went to Busan, which in the space of 48 hours became one of the best cities I have visited. And that's saying a lot after my first day.

I left Daejeon as early as possible on Saturday since I wanted to have as much time in Busan as I could. I arrived around 10:15 AM (it's about an hour and a half from Daejeon on the KTX, making Busan totally do-able as a day trip. And I think it shall be one quite often in the future). Unfortunately, when I got to Busan the rain that had kept me awake during Friday night had followed the train south. But no problem, a little rain can't deter this Seattle girl - plus, I had the trusty umbrella that I bought in Seoul two months ago (the first umbrella that I have ever owned, believe it or not). Despite the rain I still decided to stick to my original plan to go to the ocean - oh, how I have missed the ocean. 45 minutes later when I got out of the subway in Haundae, the most famous of the beaches in Busan, the rain had let up a little bit but was still coming down pretty hard. I walked around a bit, and then decided to get some lunch at a cute little sandwich place called Breezeburns and then go to the aquarium in hopes that the rain might ease a little.

Ease, it did not. When I came out of the aquarium it was so windy that the rain was pouring down sideways. And then my umbrella broke. There I was standing on a sidewalk in Haundae with my broken umbrella, a backpack on my back, and clothes that were getting increasingly more soaked every minute. I saw 2 choices in that moment: find my hostel and call it a day, or buy some new, dry, warm clothes and hope for the best. I chose the second option, and that is how I ended up at the world's largest department store spending 90,000 won on a pair of corduroys, some socks and a sweater that has, in a matter of only a few days, become my favorite item of clothing.

From that point on, the day got much better. By the time I left the department store the rain had all but stopped and I was dry and warm and even had a new pink (the only color they had) umbrella. By now it was about 4:00 so I decided to go find my hostel and drop off my backpack before the fireworks show at 8:00. When I was looking for a place to stay in Busan, I grudgingly decided to go the hostel route - I am not much of a fan of hostels, especially after a bad experience at one in
Dublin. But it turns out that Busan is a pretty expensive city and while I am willing to pay a little bit more for a motel there were none available in the areas in which I wanted to stay. Luckily, the Busan Hostel proved to be one of the best parts of my trip. They had emailed me very helpful directions, which involved taking the subway and then a bus. The bus ride from the subway station was about 20 minutes and all uphill. We passed the UN cemetary and a couple of parks, and then I saw my holy grail: the ocean. I got off at the very last bus stop, as the email directed me to, and walked up to what looked like an apartment complex. I found the hostel, met the owner who was really nice, spoke good English and confirmed that yes, indeed, the fireworks would still take place that evening regardless of the rain.

The view beside the hostel was absolutely breath-taking. Normally I'm not one for nature, but there is just something about being in this part of the world that every once in a while makes me feel so alive. Maybe it's because I still can't quite believe that I'm livng in Asia, maybe it's because I'm in awe dreaming of all the places I want to travel to, or maybe it's because it's so much easier to live in the moment when you're taking a year out of your life to really live and don't have the weight of a million responsibilities on your shoulder.
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After checking in and leaving some of my things at the hostel, I headed back out on the bus to the beach where the fireworks would be. I'm always so proud of myself when I successfully navigate public transportation in this country. Truly, the journey is usually more important than the destination sometimes. After a dinner of fried chicken and beer, I made my way to the giant inflatable soju bottle set up on the edge of Gwangalli Beach for a night of fireworks competition between countries. Despite the fact that the beach was crowded, that I was shoved several times by Koreans that don't have the same personal space boundaries as Americans, I LOVED the fireworks. In general, I have loved the festivals I have gone to in Korea. Rarely do I feel more at ease than in a crowd. I love being in a sea of people, and as counter-intuitive as it may sound, it is comforting at times to be surrounded by people speaking another language. I think that's probably why I love Seoul and Busan so much - crowded they are, but they are also full of experiences, independence, and life.
After the fireworks ended, I walked around for a little while, enjoying the peacefulness of the ocean contrasted with all the neon of a Korean city.

The next day, I got up early and headed to Yonggunsa Temple. It was incredibly beautiful and none of my pictures seem to do it justice, so just go to the link if you want to see it. I spent two hours exploring the temple, pouring water on the statue of Buddha that was underground (!!), and sitting on the rocks by the ocean, enjoying the peacefulness of listening to the waves.

When I left the temple, I decided to head back to Haundae Beach and walk around for awhile. The ocean waves surprised me by being bigger than I anticipated and soaking my pants, but I loved it! In fact, walking along the beach reminded me a little of walking along Coronado Beach in San Diego last July, and I felt a little homesick. In a good way!

Before going back to the train station, I decided to take a side-trip to try to find a temple in Haundae that my Lonely Planet guidebook recommended but said most people don't bother visiting. I'm not sure why - it was within walking distance from the beach and unlike most places in Korea, the directions the guide book gave to find it were very easy to understand. After turning down a side alley, walking by people's houses and laundry and climbing a hill, I came to the temple which was very peaceful and had a gorgeous view of Busan. I sat there for a while, on a bench in front of Buddha and his students enjoying just being in the moment.

Too soon it was time to head back to Daejeon. More adventures to come! I feel restless, and as someone pointed out at dinner tonight, we now have nine months left of the year. I don't want to leave Korea with any regrets about not traveling enough, so onward and upward!

Gangwha Island

Today, instead of having classes all day, we went on a field trip. I'm pretty sure this was Korean for "ride a bus for a long time, get out for a few minutes to listen to a lecture you don't understand, take some pictures, get back on the bus, repeat." No, I'm being sarcastic, it was actually quite fun. but being herded around in a group
is not really my idea of traveling. that's okay though.

As has become my normal schedule during orientation, I woke up early, showered, got dressed, and headed out to take a walk around the neighborhood and to get some coffee. The weather this morning was wonderful, not to hot nor too cold. I've been trying a different coffee shop every morning. Sometimes it's Paris Baguette, one time it was a little place called Ediya's Coffee, and my favorite is Cafe Bene. Not only can you get an Americano (or latte or drip coffee), but you can get a homemade waffle with fruit, whipped cream and chocolate sauce. I may have tried one. Or two. This morning, however, I walked further down the road to a place called Cafe Gunururu. I don't think I'll be going there again, because it was fairly expensive - my iced Americano was 4000 won compared to 2500 - but it was lovely to go upstairs and enjoy my coffee while overlooking the neighborhood. There was a TV film crew (or TV news crew more likely) filming something on the sidewalk, and it was fun to watch.

Around 8:20, I headed back to board the buses to Gangwha Island. These Korean teachers are pretty organized and they like carrying signs. We had a two hour bus ride, during which I had a really nice conversation with Arlene, a teacher from Nova Scotia also going to Daejeon.

The bus ride was actually quite pleasant, and I have to say that Korea is much greener and prettier than I thought it would be. I was looking out the window at the green trees and rice fields when I started to see soldiers, tanks and barbed wire. That's when the tour guide told us, "You are lucky today. It's really clear. You can see North Korea." She told us that North Korea was 2 KM away, across a river. "You can swim across the river in 15 minutes," she explained. I think I'll pass on that one.

At the island's observation deck, we were able to admire North Korea, as it were. It was really sort of creepy - I looked through a telescope and all you can see on their side are some small houses that all look the same and then vast open areas with nothing. I can't imagine living there, especially at night, seeing the lights of South Korea knowing that it's only 2 KM away but impossible to reach. I also can't imagine living on the South Korean side, knowing that this country is so close by. It was really interesting, but the most interesting part is that this whole thing served to remind me that I need to register with the American Embassy.

After walking around the island, we went to lunch. I must say, as someone who has continually been faced with white rice and beef (and canned fruit if I'm lucky) in the school cafeteria - don't worry, I've been spending some of my millions of won going out to eat because it's either that or starve - it was like heaven to see heaping plates of fresh vegetables: lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, bean sprouts, pickles (they have sweet pickles here.. that is one Korean food that I really enjoy). It was called BiBimBap, and is quite possibly what I will live on for the next year. Everyone was given a bowl of rice and could choose to add beef and an egg (I had the egg, but passed on the beef). Then we went to our seats, where we could use our chopsticks to add whatever vegetables and sauce we wanted to our bowls. Since I am not quite adept at using chopsticks, my food may or may not have gone flying over the table.

After lunch, we went to what was called on the schedule "a manufacturing experience." Turns out that meant weaving mats. I was not very good at it, but it was interesting to try, especially when the Korean women who worked there guided my hands without speaking. Needless to say, since I am artistically challenged they had to come help me a lot.

After weaving our mats, we got back on the bus and headed to the Gangwha Dolmen. None of the tour guides really explained what it was, but it looked like a stone formation in Ireland, so I'm assuming it was used as some sort of burial chamber.

Finally we got back to the university around 6:30 PM. Two more nights in this dorm and then I get to go to Daejeon and have my own apartment! And buy my own food, and explore my new neighborhood. Can't wait!

see the waves on distant shores awaiting your arrival...

I’ve been in Seoul for about a week now, and here are some of the things I have done: taken the subway by myself, gotten lost and found, visited a palace and the Korean Folk Museum, wandered the streets by myself in Insadong, Itaewan and Myeongdong, had a waiter tell me that I have a “gorgeous tattoo,” bought things at a store, ordered things in a restaurant by pointing and smiling, hiked up a gorgeous mountain, eaten Korean barbeque, visited a farmer’s market in Seoul and met people from South Africa, Ireland, England, Canada and the US. I have also almost been run over by cars and motorbikes that drive on the sidewalk, been stared at because I am the only white woman on the subway, gotten ice cream when I wanted an Americano, been frustrated by the never-ending selection of white rice and beef served in the orientation university’s cafeteria, and been coughed and sneezed on by people who, shall we say, seem to view basic hygiene differently than Americans.

But I’m still so glad that I came here. It’s an adventure, a chance to explore a small corner of the world, an opportunity to meet people from all over the world. It’s all that and so much more than I know now. Tonight when I was frustrated with the squid served with dinner, I decided to go out to a restaurant specializing in “beer and chicken” where I pointed to what I wanted and smiled like the clueless foreigner I am. Afterward I went to a café where I again smiled and pointed, this time to a homemade waffle covered in whipped cream and strawberries (yum!) I guess that regardless of my thoughts about Korean food (and it’s probably not fair to judge it by the quality of what is served in a cafeteria), I won’t starve. Especially since there’s a Costco in Daejeon!

It's also oddly comforting to be in a country where I don't understand any of the language. It can be frustrating and maddening, for sure, but it's also fun to walk down the street and not have any idea what anyone around you is saying. There's a certain freedom in that. When I travel to places like Boston, San Francisco or even Ireland, I sometimes am mistaken for a local and asked for directions, and I take pride in that and am almost afraid to do things to mark myself as a tourist - even things that would make life easier for me, such as taking out my camera or looking at a map. Here, none of that applies. There is no way I can be mistaken as a local who knows her way around, so why not just embrace my foreign-ness? It's also pretty safe for being such a big city, so why not stand bewildered in the subway station wondering how to swipe my T-money card until a Korean man takes pity on me and helps me through the turnstile?

Right now, I am in Seoul at orientation, and I absolutely cannot wait to get to Daejeon, the city where I will be living. I am excited to see my apartment, to go grocery shopping, to find the nearest farmer's market. I already have a few ideas about things that I want to do and see: I want to have fish nibble the dead skin off my feet (yes, that's a real thing), I want to stay in a buddhist temple, and I am so looking forward to exploring the mountains around Daejeon and the surrounding areas.

Tomorrow is a "field trip" (Orientation makes me feel like I'm in high school) to Gangwha Island. More later on what exactly that is! We're going to have Bibimbap for lunch, which our Korean teacher has assured me doesn't have beef - or if it does: "We will just pick it out for you. Please don't worry."