Party on the Beach

Having a whole week's vacation for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) was fabulous. I spent the beginning of my week relaxing and mostly indoors due to the torrential downpours and flooding outside. By mid week the weather had cleared up and I made plans for the long weekend. Sam, Terry, Sean, and I decided to go away for a little couples trip to Muuido Island. Muuido Island is a tiny island off the larger island of Yeongjong that houses Incheon airport on the west coast. It's really tiny and mostly known as a great vacation spot with nice beaches.

Once we got to the airport we hopped a bus that took us to the ferry. After taking the shortest ferry ride of my life (about 5 minutes) across and catching another bus, we made it to Hanagae Beach.

welcome to Muuido

shortest ferry ever

Sean and I on the ferry

Our first night we spent in these tiny little one room huts on the beach. They were pretty ghetto and in the morning our backs were aching from sleeping on the hard floor and we felt dirty from the gross bedding they had given us. When we found out there were no showers for our use we were a little alarmed. After exploring the area desperately trying to find somewhere else to stay, we came across a wonderful pension with many rooms which all had a kitchen, TV, bathroom, and AC. Needless to say the second night's stay was much more comfortable.

Sam in front of our tiny rooms on the beach

We spent the next two days enjoying the weather, drinking beer, eating seafood, throwing the football on the beach, getting some sun, making a campfire on the beach, reading, playing cards, grilling out, and relaxing.

Sean, Terry, and Sam on the beach

cheers

shells were everywhere

sunset the first night

campfire on the beach

Sean and I hanging around

Sam and Terry on the swings

BBQ our last night

In the early morning the tide on Muuido Island goes out. Way out. Probably hundreds of feet out. And beach dwellers are left with a huge sand bar almost as far as you can see. Sean and I walked out there one morning and were amazed by this natural phenomenon. I had never seen anything like it in my life. Then, just like clock-work, around 2:30P.M. the tide rushed back in within the span of an hour and you could enjoy the water until the sun went down.

the shoreline in the morning

tracks in the sand

I had a fantastic time on Muuido Island and felt blessed to have some really great people to spend an awesome weekend with.

Namaste

365 Days

Today is my one year mark in Korea. One year ago today I found myself in this country far from home and began to make a life for myself here. My life this past year has been a whirlwind of experiences and learning about myself. I am so grateful for this opportunity, but so grateful to have such amazing family and friends that make returning home such a treat.

These 365 days have been some of the hardest of my life. I never thought I would get homesick the way I sometimes found myself. I never thought I would not like my job as much as I did. I never thought I was anything worth staring at for so long. I never thought I would feel as awkward and frustrated as I did at times. Despite all of the not so good days, there were plenty of fantastic days to boot.

I will really miss the people, places, and little things that made my time here so special. The nice comments from my students in the form of a "teacher, your earrings are really big" or "teacher, your belt is really pink", the smile and wave from my favorite crossing guard, the free juice from the security man at the bank, the goodies from my co-workers at school, all the small kindnesses that had such a large impact on me. I will miss shopping at A Land in Myeong-dong, running along the Tancheon, trying new restaurants in Itaewon, gelato smoothies at my favorite coffee shop in Bundang, and all night excursions in Hongdae. I'm convinced no other city can party as long as Seoul can. I will miss all of the people that made my time here memorable. Most of all I will miss my boyfriend, Sean, without whom I might not have made it the whole year here.

Besides my one year anniversary, today also happens to be Korean thanksgiving, so Happy Chuseok! In the spirit of giving thanks, I am so thankful for my year in Korea and I feel truly blessed.

2.5 weeks until I fly home.

Namaste

Palace in the City

Since I have come to Korea I have wanted to visit one of Seoul's palaces, but never actually got around to it until this past weekend. Gyeongbokgung is the largest palace in Seoul and sits in the middle of Seoul's busy downtown. Walking through the grounds were many different buildings and structures, each used for specific purposes. I was surprised just how expansive it really was. On one end of the compound was the National Museum of Korea as well. The structures were fist built in the 12th century and have been reconstructed as needed due to damages that occurred during Japanese occupation. Each building was more beautiful and grand than the next. Gyeongbokgung is hands down one of my most favorite places I have visited in Seoul. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I have included lots for you to see for yourself.

the Korean National Museum

structure in the park, beautiful

love the traditional Korean architecture

Sean and I in the palace grounds

stunning

guards overlooking the courtyard

sneaking a photo with the guard

the second gate

the main gate

The day ended with some shopping and lunch in Insadong. We had some delicious food at a little place off the main street. The main dishes were beef with soy sauce and japchae, Korean clear noodles with seafood. Really tasty.

with all the sides, waiting for the main dishes

beef and japchae

Namaste

My Favorite Korean Food

samgyetang

I must admit, I am not a huge fan of some Korean cuisine. The textures, spices, and flavors of some dishes do not suite me well as most are very spicy, but there are a few Korean foods that I really love and will miss back home. One of them is samgyetang, chicken and ginseng soup. It is a whole chicken stuffed with rice, served in a hot pot with ginseng and other ingredients floating around in the broth. After de-boning the chicken, you can enjoy the soup with a pinch of salt. It is absolutely delicious and very healthy for you as well.

Namaste

Weekend Update

This weekend Sean and I ventured into Seoul and explored the areas of Insadong and Myeongdong before meeting friends for dinner in Itaewon. Insadong is always my favorite neighborhood. This weekend it was teeming with foreigners and Koreans alike all shopping for gifts. There were tons of things going on in Insadong like reenactments from ancient times and lots of people dressed in traditional Korean clothing walking around the streets. We wandered around and tried to find this bird cafe I read about in my Lonely Planet until we discovered that my Lonely Planet is outdated and the place closed down a while back. We settled for some coffee bingsu instead.

in Insadong

outside the non-bird cafe

coffee bingsu

Myeongdong was also packed with people, so we shopped around and then people watched from a cafe balcony. I realized I don't think I have written about this yet, but it always makes me laugh. Koreans, especially younger Korean women and girls love to take photos of themselves with their cell phones while sitting at coffee shops and restaurants. Many people have a photo of themselves as a background on their phone. In America this would seem vain, but here it's trendy. Anyways, there was a girl at the table next to us at the cafe taking photos of herself on her cell phone for a good 20 minutes. That clicking sound kept going off and as soon as there was a lull and I thought she finally finished her photo session, another click would sound.

girl at the coffee shop, couldn't resist sneaking a photo

One of Sean's friends from home just moved to Korea with her husband who works for the Canadian embassy. They met us in Itaewon for dinner and we tried out a place called Marrakech Night. There was a buffet of Moroccan dishes, but the food was not my favorite. The conversation was good though, and it was great to meet some of Sean's friends from home.

Next week is Chuseok, Korean thanksgiving, and I have a whole week's vacation from work. Looking forward to it more than I can say.


Namaste

Typhoon Lagoon

Yesterday Typhoon Kompasu came barreling through the Korean peninsula. I was awaken around 6A.M. to the loud noises outside my window from the rain, wind, and debris flying through the air. The sky was dark grey and the trees were all bending, branches scratching against buildings. By the time I had to leave for school the wind had died down a bit, but it was still a little scary looking outside. I tried to find a cab to save me the 15 minute walk in the messy weather, but there were none to be found and a line of people waiting for one. I braved the weather and walked through the rain and wind to work. My umbrella was useless a few minutes in as it kept getting blown backwards by the strong winds. I arrived at school as wet as a dog and to my surprise no one was there except for a handful of teachers and office workers. Apparently there was a two-hour delay but no one called me to let me know. At least I was safe and sound indoors while the rest of the storm passed. There were lots of damages all around, but nothing catastrophic. Only 5 deaths were reported in Korea which is of course awful for those peoples' families, but thank God the death toll was not higher. My school had several broken windows and the giant billboard from the apartment building next door fell into the school. As of today the storm has completely passed and moved on to Japan. I survived my first and hopefully only typhoon and I am just so thankful that the repercussions were not worse.

Namaste

Strange Is Now Normal

I realize I have been slacking on the cultural and social observations in my blogs lately, but to be honest after almost a year here, most things are just normal to me now. Things that used to baffle me don't even phase me anymore. I walk around and observe things and think to myself "this should seem strange to me, but it doesn't". Here are a few things that occurred to me lately while walking around and thinking exactly that.

All restaurants in Korea that serve meat or seafood of any kind all advertise the same way. They show a picture of the meat right next to a picture of the live animal right outside on their billboard. I've never understood this. Is it just to ensure the customer that that is indeed the kind of meat they will be served? 'We say it's beef, but here's a photo of cows grazing in a field, just to make sure you really believe us.'

There is a little clinic that I pass by on my way to and from work where many men are always hanging around outside. They are in their hospital pajamas and are sometimes even seated in a wheelchair or have an IV hooked up to them. They are all smoking cigarettes. It is the most ridiculous thing I have ever seen. They are being treated for one thing or another and obviously taking time off work and spending money to be healed, all the while they are polluting their lungs and bodies further with smoke from their $2 pack of cigarettes.

On another note, Sean showed me the movie 엽기적인 그녀, My Sassy Girl, a very popular Korean film the other day. I wasn't sure how I felt about it in the beginning because the main female character kept asking the male character if he wanted to die. Sean explained to be that it's just a thing Koreans say to each other playfully. By the second half of the movie I was more interested in learning what had happened in the past (it's kind of a mystery) and what was going to happen in the future for the characters. Of course the movie ended heart-warmingly and I ended up with tears in my eyes. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes romantic comedies and doesn't mind reading subtitles.

My Sassy Girl

Happy September!

Namaste