The Longings of My Seoul: 2013

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Fall Has Fallen

The sun shined through the doors as I left school one afternoon about two weeks ago. I was a bit discouraged when it had immediately become fall. By immediately, I realized that I hasn't been outside in the daylight for the entire week...bad move! I work out in the morning before school so I go in the doors at a time of day that shows off the couple of constellations that can be seen in the early morning sky. That week I had gotten particularly busy in the afternoons and had left school after dark as well. Although I wasn't really happy about the realization, there was only one good way to counter my indoor time - early morning hike! What a blessing my Sunday morning was. I decided to hop on the train and go back to the fist trail that I had hiked after arriving to Seoul. Even though I went on a solo hike, it was really me and my 3,000 closest hiking buddies. If there is one thing that Korea does way better than Colorado, it is enticing people to be active! Hard to believe that the State of 14ers has far fewer hikers than even the population of Seoul. Trying to achieve a peaceful morning hike, I equipped myself with my new multi colored Korean hiking jacket and my ear buds. I put on some acoustic worship music and started up the mountain. A fog had set in over Mt. Dobongsan and it was magical! I could try to describe the beauty, but I guess that whoever realized that pictures can do what words can't was pretty wise, so here are a few thousand words worth of beauty. It did my heart and soul some good to soak in the beauty of Gods art work on Earth.

Settled

Settled...what a powerful word on so many levels. I can honestly say that I didn't expect to have that word or any of its meanings pop into my mind when describing life here at all this first year. Much to my suprise, that is exactly how I have started to feel. Bored? not in the slightest. Assimilated? Not a chance. Acting like a local? Not quite. Settled? I do believe so :)

When I come in the door of my apartment, it feels like home. Not like my parent's home, like the house I share, like the place I am staying...it feels like my home, when I am starting to build my life as my own. Things that seemed so foreign are just my normal activites now. Don't get me wrong. Going to the grocery store is still an event, but I know where things are now and all of the people on the microphones marketing thier tastly treats doesn't even phase me anymore. I can read enough Korean (and recognize the words) to know what some of the ingredients are. I can sound out words of things I have translated so that I can ask where to find them. All things that I thought would take FOREVER to get use to are part of my routine now. All of the entertaiment that comes along with public transportation is still entertaining, but it is still what I am use to. When one of the families mentioned that they are looking at getting a car, it hadn't occured to me that it would be so weird thinking about driving somehwere. Oh how my world has changed.

It is a bit sad that some of the newness has worn off and I don't have nearly as many 'oh my gosh, this is real life' moments. There is no replacement for the excitement and rose colored glass attitudes that come with a brand new adventure. On the other hand, I have started having awesome moments when it occurs to me 'this is my city...were I live' and those moments are equally as rewarding. Its an ownership and realization that I am a small piece in a 20 million piece puzzle...but I am part of the puzzle and I like it.

Wednesday, October 2, 2013

The Japan

Fair warning...this is a long one!

"Hey girls I don't know very well yet...let's spend our fall break on a Japanese island where we don't speak the language, don't know how to get around, and lets just camp on the beach" says Meg. "Ok, I'm in" remark All the Single Ladies. Let the adventures begin!

I had started reading blogs about moving to Korea long before I was even offered the position (ok, like a week before) and I had tucked away a few awesome trips people had blogged about. One of these trips happen to be to an island 52 kilometers (about 32 miles for the non metrics out there) off the coast of Korea that actually belongs to Japan. Tsushima offered beaches, beaches, some Japanese food, beaches, some hiking, beaches, some temples, and also some beaches. Sounds like an ideal vacation destination to me. (see more here http://tsushima.weebly.com/)

We did have major chaos of finding out that camping season was over, busses apparently weren't very user friendly, the KTX was sold out for our return date, and we don't speak enough Korean or Japanese to make this all happen. A huge thanks to the Japanese and Korean speaking staff at APIS!! We finally got it all organized!

The KTX high speed train to Busan was WONDERFUL! So comfortable and speedy :)

Morning view on the KTX

We spent the afternoon/evening at the beach in Busan soaking up the fact that we were officially on vacation. Good food, good location, great company!

Busan Hyundae Beach Sunset

Beach by night!

It was a really nice bonding time with the All the Single Ladies (side note- APIS hired two families and 5 single ladies this year...we named ourselves...very creative, I know!) We finally had time where we didn't have to talk about school and Seoul and just got to know each other's lives. I am SO thankful for these girls - they really have become like family - there through tough stuff, family style dinners, and loads of fun!

After a really early morning and a 'hover craft' ferry ride, we arrived on the Island. Junko, our Japanese teacher here at APIS hooked us up with a car rental. Not a company, just a couple that rents out their car - it was great! Also, the fact that the lady's sign said "Mr. Mergan Peddlton" instead of Ms. Megan Pendleton was hilarious...and then us driving away, on the other side of the road, was probably equally as funny.

Korean picture pose on the high speed ferry

The Merg...what a ride!

We arrived, but could not check in so we went adventuring to find food. We returned to our hotel to find this...

View from our balcony - that went all the way around the corner

Floor mat sleeping!

I loved it so much that I bought a Kimono to take home!

The room had two beds and three floor mat beds (which we are all really used to by now. That is a really common accommodation here in Korea as well and is actually really comfortable!) The view was AWESOME!!

We spent loads of time at the beach!

We spent one entire day just driving the whole island - Way to go Meg P. for being a trooper and driving the whole time! We met the only other American on the island who was actually getting interviewed for a TV show in Tokyo...so we might be on Japanese TV?!? I also requested that we try to make it to a really cool old temple for sunset to round out our adventure day.

Japanese TV!

We got a bit lost, but look what we found!!

"The Red Bridge"

Busan on the horizon if it was a bit less humid.

The other great excitement was the food!! We did a lot of pointing and nodding as we don't read any Japanese, but we had some awesome food. It was salty/savory which is very different from Korea. I can say that I was ready for spicy by the end of the trip. I guess my taste buds really have adjusted to Korean food. Breakfast was provided each day by our hotel...that was an adventure but it was great!

Day 1 breakfast: After day 1 the cooked the fish for us. The tofu in the white bowl was awesome though!!

Alright Nemo...lets dance...

Salmon, and egg, soup, salad and rice...why not?

Dead fish on rice...most amazing sushi!!!

We were BFFs by the third time that we ate here!

Squid sushi...that's a new one for me.

Overall, Japan was great! Beautiful, good food, nice people, and great company! Thanks Japan, I'll be back for more!

Sunrise on the last day

Ships in the port at sunset

View from the ancient castle location.

If anyone out there is trying to do what I did (read a blog, take a trip) we took the KTX high speed train from Seoul Station to Busan Station, stayed the night in Busan at the Popcorn Hostel, and took an early ferry (site to purchase tickets in English- Kobee Beetle) to Hitakatsu port on Tsushima. We ended up having to take a bus back since we waited too long to get the KTX back to seoul (it was Chuseok Holiday). I would suggest book early for KTX as one of our really, really nice Korean language teachers booked the bus for us (the site is only in Korean). We stayed at Hotel Kimiso while on the island. They were awesome!

Wednesday, September 25, 2013

So it has been a while...

Life is starting to settle into 'real life' here. Every day is still and adventure but it is my life and I am busy working, and doing 'real life' things. I thought I would do a quick update about all the 'little things' I've been up to. I hope you enjoy the little blurbs and some pictures!!

Secondary School Retreat-

We ride in style!

Pause life...pick up the secondary school students and staff...drop them at summer camp...press play! We spent 3 days at an outdoor camp (like summer camp style) with the faculty and students grade 6-12. It was awesome! Not only were we outside a bunch, but it was great to get to know my students and faculty a bit better outside of the school walls. There is something about the kids being out of uniform, playing games, having a dance, zip lining, ropes courses, and free time that mixes the pot in a new way. It was great to build some relationships with my kiddos but also to see them interact with each other. They are awesome!

These guys were awesome! Senior boys
with some DJ skills!

And it was BEAUTIFUL!

My room! The bed mats are in the closet...
welcome to Korea :)

Color Run-
Pause life...pick up a handful of APIS teachers in their best running outfits...drop them 1.5 hours away (if only teleporting was real..)...press play! Color Me Rad came to Korea...what an awesomely fun day :) Becky and I splurged on some wild boxer style shorts in 80's patterns and had craft time to make running shirts. Thanks to Janice and Tyler for the 80's style workout headbands (from Tyler's cut up sweat pants). We were decked out and ready to run/play/color fight! We ran, we color bombed each other, we inhaled a huge amount of chalk dust, we had chalk fights, and then we ate Mexican food while still covered in chalk...we rocked it!

I can't make blogger do regular spacing or captions anymore...sorry - it will be loads of scrolling to get through this one now! If anyone knows how to control the layout better, I'd love the help!

These are obviously the before pictures...

These are the after!!

Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!!
Mexican food!! Mexican food!! Mexican food!!

I got a bit excited!! And it was good- it wasn't Colorado good - but it was good :) Yay Korea!

Coolest subway car EVER!
These are the things that dreams are made of!! Pause life...get on car 5 line 1...walk into the magical dream forest and land of awesome...press play! Becky and I accidentally got on the most amazing subway car - it is decorated like you are outdoors, it has a library, a water station, a charging station for phone batteries, plugs to run/charge computers, a nurse, a deli, a room for nursing mothers, and tables to sit and read/eat. It was AWESOME!!