The Hawaii of the East

Korean schools don't really have spring breaks. However, Jeil Middle School's founding day was April 20th, so classes were canceled both Monday and Tuesday of last week! I was shocked, because usually classes aren't canceled for ANYTHING and there are generally ceremonies or dinners for special days like this.

The holiday was specific to my school, which meant that none of my friends had vacation. My co-teachers all had other plans as well, but I decided that four days is defnitely too long to sit around Daegu. I had to take advantage of it no matter what, even if it meant traveling alone! I've had my heart set on visiting Jeju Island, or Jeju-do, since I got to Korea, and I wanted to go before the tourist season started and plane tickets got too expensive or difficult to find.

I was definitely worried about going alone - my Korean language skills are basically non-existent and the English signage and English-speakers decrease dramatically as you leave Korea's bigger cities (Jeju-do gets a lot of tourists but is considered a 'rural' province). I'd also heard bad thing's about Jeju's public transportation system - there just isn't much of it. Every single Korean that knew I was going, told me that it's necessary to have a car there to see the sights. I have neither a car nor an international driver's license to rent one. But I decided to take the bull by the horns and just go for it; even if I all I did was sit on a beach, it would at least be four days relaxing outside of Daegu!

Anyway, the second my classes were over on Friday the 16th, I headed straight from school for the Daegu airport. Jeju-do is only 50 miles south of the mainland, so after a 45-minute flight (they were still collecting our cups and napkin trash as the plane began its descent!) I was on Jeju Island, the Hawaii of the East! The plane landed in Jeju's largest city, Jeju-si, along the north coast, and I boarded a limo bus for the city of Seogwipo, exactly opposite from Jeju-si on the island's south coast. Seogwipo's a tiny town (by Asian standards - population 84,000) and it was pretty dark and quiet when I got off that bus. But I had a map and some directions from my hostel, so I found the place within easy walking distance of the bus stop. It was nothing fancy but I had a private room and bathroom for about $20 a night.

I've decided to just make detailed captions of all my photos, in an effort to keep this short, but there are still some things I want to mention. First of all, I've always found Koreans to be pretty friendly and helpful people, but they were really great on Jeju. Every time I was stumbling around looking for the right bus or wanted someone to take a picture of me, all I had to do was ask and even people who didn't speak English tried to help me! Bus drivers, local Koreans, and other tourists were all surprised that I was traveling alone (Koreans like to do everything in groups) and went out of their way to be helpful. I even met one couple in a restaurant on my first night, and later that weekend they bought me dinner and showed me around Seogwipo in their car!

Second, it was such a satisfying and fulfilling trip, not only becuase Jeju is an awesome place, but because I went alone and was able to make my way around and see everything that I wanted to. Living abroad long-term is a strange mix of independence and total dependency. Living alone in a foreign country, holding my first real full-time job, and paying my own bills in my first apartment is definitely an exercise in independence; however, when I first arrived I couldn't even clean my bathroom because I couldn't tell the difference between the toilet cleaners, surface cleaners, and laundery detergents in the stores. And there are dozens of other things like that every single day - I can't go to the bank or doctor by myself, and it was a huge deal when I figured out the post office. There are just things, which a functioning adult in the U.S. totally takes for granted, that are really difficult here, and that gets annoying.

Anyway, in Jeju I visited the tourist office every morning and they wrote me out a little itinerary of what I wanted to do, with directions and instructions in English and Korean so I could show people, and then I was on my own. I chatted with the locals, bused all over that island, read the signs and directions in Korean, asked Koreans for directions, and basically owned Jeju's public transportation system. It was so satisfying, especially after hearing everyone tell me how impossible it would be.

All in all, it was a really wonderful, relaxing weekend - great people, delicious food and beautiful weather and scenery. After living in Daegu for eight months, Jeju-do reminded me of Wisconsin - I realized how much I miss seeing trees and grass and breathing air that actually smells good. Jeju definitely deserves its nicknames - Hawaii of the East, Paradise Island, or my personal favorite: Island of the Gods.

Look at my pictures from Jeju Island here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristin.laufenberg/JejuIsland?feat=directlink

Since I captioned the photos instead of writing more about these places, some of the captions are a bit long and might interfere with looking at the picture. When you view the photos as a slideshow, you have the option (at the bottom of the screen) to hide the captions or display them. Enjoy!

Spring in Korea

Spring has finally arrived in Korea! It was late this year, and apparently this winter was harsher than is normal for Daegu. Even though winters in Wisconsin and Minnesota are much colder and snowier, I do a lot more walking in Daegu, the hallways at school aren't heated, and I paid through the nose to heat a shack that the wind literally whistles through. Needless to say, the current weather is very welcome!

As far as I can tell, spring in Korea is famous for two things: yellow dust storms and flower festivals. I didn't really get the dust storms - other people complained about them for a week or so, but I think during the worst one I was indoors for the night and completely unaware of it. As for the flower festivals, I visited two: plum blossoms and cherry blossoms.

First came the plum blossoms. On March 21st my friends Jeannine and Diana and coteacher Bosun joined another Eagle Tour bus trip. We headed south and west to a province called Jeollanam-do and started the day in the city of Gwangyang.

So there was a lot of confusion (for me at least) about what this festival was actually about. The trip was advertised as a tour to see the Maehwa, or apricot flower, Festival. Gwangyang is famous for this festival and there is even a Maeshil Maeul, or apricot fruit village. However, several websites (including the Eagle Tour page for this trip) mentioned apricot blossoms and plum blossoms in the same breath. And when we got to Gwangyang, it was obvious that we were looking at plum blossoms - there were pictures of plums everywhere, plum juice and liquor were for sale, and I ate plum-flavored ice cream, for crying out loud. So what was the deal? It was only after I got home that I learned that, not only are plums and apricots the same species of plant, but the flowers we saw in Gwangyang are commonly called winter plums, Chinese plums, Japanese apricots, or Japanese plums. Take your pick.

Anyway, the blossoms were beautiful, and because it was a Korean festival there were lots of snacks – that plum ice cream was delicious. I really like the plum flavor – it’s popular here in things like candy, juice, and tea. It was also a popular subject of traditional paintings in several Asian cultures. Because it blooms in winter, it is a symbol of that season and represents perseverance and resilience.

After checking out the festival we headed to Odong-do, or Odong Island. It's only about 800 meters off shore, so Bosun, Jeannine, Diana and I actually walked out to it on a causeway. Even though it's a tiny little place we couldn't see much because we had barely any time there – just enough to eat lunch and stretch our legs for a bit. We’ll have to go back and explore in the summer. There was a big tourist map with some beautiful ‘Engrish’, pointing out Odong-do’s must-see sights, among which are the 'Photo Zon', 'A cool wind', and 'The rocks on the seashore.'

Our last stop for the day was the Suncheon Bay Ecological Park. It's a protected wetland with an eco museum. The wetland was really beautiful and wild, especially when we were there; it was so cold and windy, and nothing was growing yet, that it felt pretty desolate. There are lots of reeds, raised paths and walkways, and several species of protected birds. I really liked it, but Bosun and I were too cold and tired to do much walking, so if I’m ever in that part of Korea again I’m definitely going back.

On April 4th Bosun and I joined Eagle Tour once again. This time we headed to the city of Jinhae, in the south-easternmost part of Korea, for their famous Cherry Blossom Festival. It was a bit disappointing because, due to the late arrival of spring, the blossoms weren’t quite in full bloom yet. They were definitely beautiful, just not at their peak. But never fear – the trip wasn’t a total waste. Like any good Korean festival, there was a street market with a maze of food stalls, and Bosun and I kept our spirits up by steadily eating our way through the streets of Jinhae (it was even better than at the Gwangyang festival. Bosun ate larvae!). It was a nice relaxing day – for once we didn’t have to get on the bus at the crack of dawn, we could walk around all day at our leisure, eating and taking pictures, and we were home nice and early.

Daegu isn’t particularly famous for any blossoms, but I visited a little park near downtown this weekend and got some nice pictures of the cherry trees there. They were a lot fuller than the ones we saw in Jinhae.

You can see the rest of my pictures from Gwangyang, Jinhae, and Daegu here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/kristin.laufenberg/SpringInKorea?feat=directlink

Sorry they’re not captioned, but they go Gwangyang – Jinhae – Daegu.

Seoul with Hyun Ju

Whew. It’s a relief to have finished those long vacation blogs! After that I needed a break from writing and I’m sure that everyone who read those things agrees with me :) However, I’m all rested up and back in the swing of things, so I’m sorry but here’s another really long one!

It was hard to get back into school after vacation ... actually, it’s been two months and I’m still having trouble getting back into school. Winter camp, my unofficial vacation, and my real vacation all lasted so long that I forgot what a normal schedule is like. It doesn’t help that school this semester is more difficult than the last one – I have more after-school classes, and more extra little chores. I’m at school until 5:30pm almost every day; it sucks but I am getting paid more to do the extra work, so I just have to remember that I’m financing my next vacation right now! All the work also makes the time go really quickly – in two weeks my students will have their mid-term exams, which is hard for me to believe.

I’ve been staying busy on the weekends too. I visited two festivals outside of Daegu, which I’ll write about later, and in late March I spent a weekend in Seoul with Hyun Ju, the Korean girl who lives down the hall from me. We decided to head up there because a college friend of hers had an exhibit in the Seoul Living Design Fair 2010, at the COEX complex (I’ll call it a complex but I’m not really sure what to call this place – it houses an aquarium; a 16-screen cinema; the biggest mall in Seoul and largest underground mall in Asia; the Kimchi Field Museum; and the Convention and Exhibition Center, from which it derives its name and which is where the Living Design Fair was). The fair was really cool – it was all about interior design and things for the home, everything you can imagine – furniture, knick-knacks, appliances, decorations, and more. Hyun Ju’s friend was displaying some wall hangings and fabrics that she designed and made herself.

The weekend was tiring – we left before 6am on a Saturday morning, and Hyun Ju had made a jam-packed schedule for those two days. Besides the Living Design Fair and aquarium in the COEX, we hitched a ride across the street to the Bong-Eun-Sa temple (We were lost inside the COEX underground mall – we literally could not find an exit – and a maintenance worker drove us out of the underground parking garage and dropped us off at the street); visited the arty Insadong neighborhood; snacked at a tea house with the best cookies I’ve ever had; tried on hanbok (the traditional Korean costume for women); visited Unhyeongung, a tiny little palace; saw an art gallery or two; and had several fancy traditional meals.

Although not exactly traditional, our most memorable meal was at the top of the N Seoul Tower, on Namsan Mountain. After we finally got there (our cab driver first refused to take us up the mountain, but then took a closer look in the rearview mirror, saw me in the backseat, and informed us that he only drives foreigners up the mountain – Koreans have to take the bus), we took the elevator up 80-some floors to the restaurant where we could look over the city and eat. It was an amazing, gluttonous meal. Most people know that I already love Korean food, but buffets are a Western thing and in the N Seoul Tower restaurant they had a BUFFET OF KOREAN FOOD. Hyun Ju and I were in heaven, literally and figuratively.

We saw a lot of cool things but the most interesting part of the weekend was how we spent the night. To save money, we decided to sleep in a jjimjilbang. A jjimjilbang is like a little town: it’s primarily a bathhouse but can include places to nap or sleep, restaurants and snack bars, movie theaters, arcades, driving ranges, nail salons, computer rooms, singing rooms, gyms, hairdressers, and more. You pay an entrance fee and stay as long as you want.

Jjimjilbang are a big part of Korean culture and social life (there are even TV talk shows hosted in jjimjilbang). Here’s a really good article about it from the New York Times; you should read this first because it isn’t long and sums everything up better than I can.

“For All Kinds of Good, Clean Fun, Koreans Turn to Bathhouses”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/05/world/asia/05korea.html?_r=1

We arrived at the Dragon Hill Spa around 9 or 10pm, paid the 12,000 won (less than $11) fee, picked up our towels and clothes, and deposited our shoes in the shoe lockers. We proceeded in the elevator up to the women’s floor (all the doors and elevators are very loudly marked – for men, women, or unisex) and got right down to business in the sauna. It’s a huge room, and there are lots of options. First you shower, and then you can sit in the steam rooms, try the different baths (hot water, cold water, sea water, different kinds of teas…you get the idea), just sit around and chat with friends, or get a professional massage. I joined a gym several months ago, so the shower and sauna part was fine because I’m used to being naked around strangers. The scrub-down / massage was definitely weird though. There are several tables and professional ‘scrubbers’ off in a corner, and for about fifty bucks I had forty minutes with an older women in her underwear (they all just stand around in their underwear in this sauna all day, scrubbing and massaging naked strangers!). First she scrubbed every inch of my body (even behind my ears), then I quickly showered off again, and then I got a massage. The scrub was kind of painful, and you should have seen the dead skin falling off of me. But my skin was soooo soft afterwards.

Hyun Ju and I hung around in the sauna for a few hours, got dressed in the clothes provided for us (a jjimjilbang uniform: loose and comfortable cloth shorts and a t-shirt) and then started the where-do-we-sleep game. There were a few rooms specifically for sleeping, but they were either full or overwhelmingly warm and dry (remember, Koreans use floor heat AND sleep on the floor, so there’s nothing between you and the heat source. It can be a bit much.).

So we headed down to the common room, and if you thought all the nudity was weird, it gets weirder. Picture if you can several hundred people, males and females of all ages, all wearing the same clothes in the same color, having a slumber party together. People were talking, eating, watching movies, listening to music, and sleeping, either on bath towels (available for a deposit) or just passed out on the floor (it was warm enough that you didn’t need a blanket, and there aren’t pillows, except for sometimes wooden ones). It was so odd. I didn’t sleep very well because of the noise and light, but I had to laugh when I woke up the next morning and saw all the perfect strangers passed out together. Again, you should read that NY Times article to get a better idea of how this works and what it means in Korean culture. It was definitely an interesting experience, and something you shouldn’t miss in Korea!

Look at my pictures from this weekend here: http://picasaweb.google.com/kristin.laufenberg/SeoulWithHyunJu?feat=directlink