Simon: welcome to Korea

Simon, Julian's brother, arrived in Korea at the beginning of March. He was placed in a rather small town on the west coast of Korea. It's been a bit of a tough start for him: he seems to have blessed with an even crazier complement of co-teachers than either Jules or I have, which is saying a lot, i.e. they are a pretty rotten bunch. That, combined with being in 'the sticks' and away from home for the first time has been a bit challenging.

It's been really cool for Jules to have his brother here, and helping Si out with his teething problems has been quite a nice for us to see how far we've come. The things that drive him nuts about Korea and working here used to drive us nuts too, but we've grown to accept, even if not to understand, that we must just 'go with the flow' and that things are just different. Kicking and screaming doesn't really help! It's of course easier said than done this far down the line, but at least we can be a sounding board for Simon's frustrations and help with with the little daily challenges which one faces. Paying bills, getting a cellphone, navigating the public transport etc.

Here are a few pics from Simon's first weekend visiting us in Sangju. We gathered some friends round for a braai and also had a meal out in a Korean restaurant: we had 'dweji galbi': pork rib BBQ. Unfortunately Seocheon is 5 hours from Sangju by public transport so it's a bit of a trek!

BIG BRAAI and a memorable farewell

In March we had a 'party weekend' of note. Two of our good friends were leaving Sangju and had organised a farewell bash at Sangju's only, and barely-functioning, night club, and Jules and I organised a fundraiser-braai for the day.

We have found a supplier of SA Braai meat in Seoul - it is delicious, albeit it pricey, meat (boerewors and lamb chops) and everytime we invite friends to join us for a braai there are 'ooohs' and 'aaahs' about the meat. So we decided to capitalise on our good braai-reputation and arrange a braai to raise funds for a project my Mom runs at Hermannsburg. (See pic below).

It was pretty stressful to organise: for some reasons we've found it incredibly difficult to get people to commit to events: whether these are purely social, or in this case, a fundraiser. We had asked people to RSVP by 4 datys before so we could order the meat, but by the night before our RSVP list was still changing, rather stressful! This was also the first time either of us had 'single-handedly' organised an event with food where people would be paying - which of course makes it imperative that there is enough food, but since we were trying to raise funds, not too much food and not enough people to pay for and eat it. Fortunately it went really well, everyone had a good time and enjoyed the food, and we managed to raise around R800. Yey!

The group photo we took at our braai venue, under a bridge at the river, is rather amusing and indicative of our ignorance as foreigners in Korea: the sign behind us reads 'no cooking'. Our Korean friends only told us this as we were packing up.

Faux-pas of note! Haha!

No Cooking?!

Marize, Marg and I. Marize is South African and Marg Australian. Two lovely ladies I feel lucky to have met in Korea.

Inga from Umtata, Whee the master braaier, and Kelsey, whose farewell we were going to 'celebrate'.

The festivities then continued at 'Shampoo' the possibly dodgy night club in Sangju. Some of our friends interpreted the name of the club as a dress-up theme, and arrived in bath robes: classic! We also managed to pick up a new friend from the rubbish dump: Chuck The Commissioner: he is now a firm favourite on facebook and accompanies us on weekend outings.

Shampoo? And the ernest Mr. Barker.

The 'Dong-Crew' with our new friend, The Commissioner.

('Dong-Crew' = our friends who live in Dongducheon, north of Seoul.)

An exciting Hike: Lunar New Year, snow, darkness, COLD!

The hike we did on Lunar New Years is high up there with the most exciting and memorable of my experiences in Korea. It is an old Korean belief that if one watches the sun rise from a mountain peak on Lunar New Year, the year will be a lucky one!

Lunar New Year is usually a long weekend in Korea, and one is advised not to travel long distances as the roads and trains are chock-a-block with people travelling home across the country to be with their families. So many Koreans work away from their families, and national holidays are often the only opportunities for them to see each other, especially as most people work weekends as well.

So we decided to plan some 'local fun' for ourselves. There is a National Park near Sangju, Songnisan National Park, which takes just over an hour to get to. We headed over there and spent the night in a fantastic little 'mountain hut' in the park - 'Birosanjang'. It's one of my favourite places in Korea: it's really rustic, with long drops and tiny little Korean style 'ondol' (heated floor, sleep on a mat) rooms and genuine hospitality. One is surrounded by mountains and forests, and the only sounds are birds and the gushing river. We had a hearty Korean dinner and then an early night.

We woke up at 4 am and by 4:30 we were ready to go. It was pitch dark and snowy all around: it was not snowing at the time, which is fortunate, but there had been a good snowfall during the week. The plan was to hike to the top of the nearest mountain peak, from where we'd watch the sunrise. It took us, as planned, just over two hours. Walking up that mountain was so peaceful: the forest was as still as only a forest covered in snow can be, and there was not a soul to be seen. So quiet.

It was, by far, the coldest, darkest hike I've ever done! I'm willing to be the temperatures on the way up were hovering between -3 and -5 degrees celsius. Once we were up on the exposed peak, the temperature dropped dramatically, I think it may even have reached -10 degrees. Incredibly cold! It was so cold, in fact, that we couldn't stay up for the sunset, we saw the sky redden in the east, it was just pink enough to confirm that indeed that day, the sun would rise, and then we were off, down the other side of the mountain. We have been skiing in Korea, but the cold we experienced up there on that mountain was by far the coldest I have been in my life! But it was a thrilling, unforgettable adventure with a great bunch of people!

On our way down again, with a dear friend of mine, Lina, the ice angel! She is an outdoor enthusiast of note, a snowboard instructor and a lovely lady!

I told you it was pink! The sun did rise, we just didn't see it!

'Munjangdae': the peak we scaled.

On top! So wrapped up! So cold! The flecks of snow in the picture were being blown off the peak by the strong, cooold wind.

'Birosanjang': one of my favourite places in Korea

We visited Beopjusa temple before checking into our mountain hut, it looked lovely under snow!

Us on the snow!

Go Team!

Merry Christmas in Korea

We had a wonderful Christmas weekend! Thanks to our dear parents we had lots and lots of gifts and treats! I managed to produce lots of lovely sweet & spicy Christmas biscuits, Gluehwein and Christmas mince pies.

Thanks to our friends in Korea for good times: the Christmas Eve dinner on Thursday night, walk on Geumosan on Saturday morning, delicious pa-jeon and makkeoli for Christmas lunch, Sherlock Holmes (movie) on Christmas afternoon, Suanbo & Weoraksan snow, Cockburn's Port, pheasant & makkeoli on Boxing Day and a dinner party and live music to finish it all off with a flourish!

Here's to a fabulous 2010!

Snowy Skiing at Muju Resort

Two weekends ago we went skiing at Muju resort. Muju Ski Resort os one of the biggest in Korea and is about 2 hours from here by car.

Arranging public transport to get to Muju was a bit of a nightmare - we were going to take a shuttle bus organised by the resort, but then it was cancelled at the last minute as they didn't get enough bookings. So then we were going to have to take two trains, a bus and a very expensive taxi to get to the resort. Our dear friend Seong-suk then came up with the brilliant idea of hiring a van (=mini bus). Her husband arranged a great deal for us and for W200 000 for the weekend it was very much affordable. I was the designated driver - the only one with an international drivers' licence - and fortunately it all went very well. Thanks go to Dan, a UK friend of ours, for taking over the tricky snow-driving!

We had a fabulous time at Muju: the weather was perfectly wintery! It snowed most of the time we were there - this was of course accompanied by very cold temperatures: it was around -7 degrees C most of the time, and at one point my eyelashes even began freezing shut (scary!!) but it was great for skiing. I am still not a very good skiier but I really enjoyed going down the slopes at my own pace, and by now I am relatively comfortable even going down the internediate slopes which is a real personal achievement!

My skills were really put to the test on Sunday afternoon when we decided to all go down the longest slope at Muju together. It is called 'The Silk Route' and starts high up in the mountains. When we got out of the gondola (=small cable car) at the top it was very misty and windy. We had lunch at the restaurant on top and then headed off to the slopes: well, the conditions were rather scary. By now the wind was howling and the mist and snow coming down so think one couldn't see more than about 20m ahead. This all on a relatively steep slope which had turned to ice. The wind had blown all the surface snow off the slope and it was treacherous and very, very slippery. Scary on smooth skis which are made for snow not ice!

Anyway, we took it really slow, and Lina, our 'Ice Angel' helped us avoid the worst of the ice. She is an experienced snow-boarder and it was very comforting having here there with us. The scary conditions lasted for about 2km of the slope, and as we got lower down it cleared a bit but it was certainly a rather nerve-racking experience - bonding for sure!

Our group for the weekend was as follows: Simon, Dan, Melissa, Lina, Julian and Jess. Lina is from the nearby town of Gimcheon and the others are all from Sangju. A combo of 2 Poms, 2 Americans and 2 South Africans. We had a fantastic time together and really look forward to another ski trip in February when we're back from Cambodia. Enjoy the photos!

Beautiful Muju Ski Resort: the resort is designed in a kind of Alpine Style - very well done actually!

An ice-cream in the snow at minus 7, I just had to!

The slopes! This was a beginner slope - one which I spent most of my weekend going down, just getting into it again and not putting too much pressure on myself :)

Who's who??

Go Team! from left to right: Simon, Melissa, Dan, Lina, Julian, Jess.

Cleaning the snow off the car, as more was falling! We really loved being in the snow, it is still such a novelty for us!

Fly-by-night Sumo Trip to Japan

A few weeks ago we had the wonderful fortune of going along on a trip to Fukuoka in Japan. The main, and almost only, purpose of our trip was to watch the Sumo Wrestling Grand Tournament which was being held in Fukuoka. There are four grand tournaments a year, and only on in Fukuoka - the nearest Japanese city for us - so it was the perfect opportunity. We took a train down to Busan (3 hours) and then a 3-hour ferry across to Fukuoka.

The only part of this experience which was bad, was the awful mission we had to go through to get visas: we had to provide so much paprework, for a 2 day visit. What made it all the more annoying was that the Brits, Canadians and Americans whom we went with were visa-exempt - love it! (Wait 'til we got o China...:))

Anyway, we had a really fabulous time. We were a group of 8 and all got along like a house on fire, I was amazed at how a group of 8 interdependently-minded people could make travel decisions without too much struggle at all. Yey!
We also managed to fit in a delicious Japanese drinking-meal and a some late night capers in a Bourbon bar in downtown Fukuoka - where I was incredibly privileged to be given a Kimono as a gift - a 60-year old one at that, thanks Bourbon+Asian generosity :)

The next morning we managed to fit in a visit to the Robot Center and the beachfront before catching our ferry home.

Here are the pics I showed my students - they laughed SOO much at the sumo wrestlers, they loved it! I tried to emphasize the importance of respecting Sumo as an ancient part of Japanese culture and get them to look beyond the 'sexy panties' and big bellies and 'boobs' but that was lost on them :)

Out and about in Mungyeong

We've just returned from a lovely day-and-a-bit in nearby Mungyeong. It's only about 40 minutes from here by bus and what a lovely place! It seems like Mungyeong City is really pushing tourism - local Korean tourism that is - as there are a lot of things to see and do around the area, even though the town itself is not much to write home about.

The main attraction is a mountain pass that has three large, historical gateways along it. The mountain pass goes up Joryeong Mountain, and was the main connection between the historically significant city of Gyeongju in the South-East and Seoul in the North-west. Most tourists take the direct path up the pass, which is a pretty easy walk and takes three-hours to the top - via three beuatiful, ancient (in varying degrees) gates.

Giovanni, a friend of ours who lives near Mungyeong, suggested we take an alternative route up, via a pretty waterfall and a temple, and which would probably also have less people-traffic and be prettier. Jules and I were keen and so we headed up there yesterday morning, in the calm, confident hands of dear Giovanni. Not knowing that he had NO clue how long or steep the alternative path was, and hadn't brought a map along either...needless to say the alternative route to the easy 3 hour walk took us about 7 hours (of course a lots of steep up and down involved)...and that was only to the 2nd of the three gates as we ran out of daylight and leg-power to reach the 3rd. But we walked through such beautiful forests, with far-reaching and wide views from the tops of peaks and we got to experience the beginning of the leaves changing colours, so gorgeous! Since it was Chuseok, most people were spending the weekend with their families and the paths were lovely and quiet. We almost had the mountains to ourselves - a treat in Korea!

We had hoped to at least reach at the third gate by late lunchtime for the famous Korean-pancakes served there (a kind of pancake with green onion and sometiems potato, kimchi and squid added to it = 파전 = pajeon) and so we had only packed some pears, apples and water for the walk. Oh, how dare I forget, Giovanni had also packed Makgeoli and Bamboo wine!! In true korean hiking-style we had our first pitstop after about 30 minutes of walking - around 10:30am and Giovanni insisted we crack the Makgeoli and bamboo wine. So we were well-oiled for those steep inclines and declines! (Although Julian's empty stomach didn't appreciate the early=morning treat that much and he had to take it easy on the pink brew!)

Now, what is Makgeoli (막걸리)? Good question! Makgeoli is a traditional Korean drink made from fermented rice and sometimes has some other stuff added to it: herbs, fruit juice, ginseng, whatever the local product is. In Mungyeong, the Makgeoli is flavoured with Omija juice, a kind of red grape/berry grown there - nice and sweet! So, Julian and I have not taken much to Makgeoli in the past, which tastes very 'wholesome' as alcohol goes, but also kind of sour and just not that easy-drinking. (A bit like the Zulu 'Amahewu'). But when you add Omija...it becomes so much more palatable! And so it was that on Makgeoli, water and fruit we survived from 10am until 6pm when we finally reached not the 3rd but the 2nd gate and could have our long-awaited pancakes!

That was the start of the next stage of our adventure - we were rather weary and very hungry by this time, and as we sat down to order pajeon and...well, of course, some more makgeoli, we were invited to join a group of Koreans who were just doing the same. It was soon apparent that they had also been digging into the Makgeoli, but since they had taken the 'easy' path up, it had already had much more effect on them - -they were very merry and very friendly! We had a lovely time with them, laughing and drinking and communicating according to an equation something like this: one-quarter Korean + one-quarter English + one-quarter makgeoli = we got along!

They then insisted we went down the hill with them to the town of Mungyeong Saejae and joined them them for real dinner (As if we hadn't just flattened three huge Korean pancakes...) of bibimbap - a mixed rice, egg and veggie dish which is very popular hiking food here. We were a little wary as this could only be a front for the next stage of drinking...which would mean lots of soju...but we were given very little choice in the matter! And so, we weaved our way down the hill, one of them fetched a car and then we had dinner. By this stage I became aware of the fact that the ladies in the party were not having as much of a ripper of an evening as the gents, and when I hinted that Jules and I would like to head over to the 'Pension' we had booked for the night, because we loooved each other (lots of gestures) and wante to stay in the beautiful "honeymoon pension, so romantic"... the ladies agreed and we called it a night. It was great fun- - and a lovely way to celebrate Chuseok as foreigners: with a bunch of very friendly and generous Koreans!

Enjoy the pics, I will write about the lovely 'pension' (guesthouse) we stayed at in the next post.

You can see the rest of the pics of our on the Picasa Web Album here: 'Mungyeong Hiking Weekend'

Beautiful Forests...I'm glad this section of the path had so many young saplings along which one could hold onto, it was steep and Giovanni even went for a bit of a roll-down at one point...

One of the peaks we reached along the path. At this stage we were still oblivious to the fact that we were still sooo far from our destination...

Giovanni showing off with his Bamboo wine on the EDGE of a cliff with a beautiful view of the valley below.

The Korean Crew! The little white bowls were what we drank the Makgeoli out of!