Geoje Island: another corner of Sparkling Korea!

Last weekend Jules and I headed off to Geoje Island. This was the last weekend we would have free for a while as May and June are chock-a-block full with weekend English camps, so we decided to do something interesting and travel slightly further afield than we usually do.

We had set our sights on the islands of Oedo and Goeje which lie south of Busan off the coast of Korea (an hour's ferry ride from Busan, which is 3 hours bus ride from here). Goeje is the 2nd biggest island of Korea (after Jeju) and has quite a few tourist attractions and some beautiful scenery, a trip to the smaller island of Oedo being one of these.

I must admit that after all the travelling there and back we were quite exhausted but we had a great time. This weekend happened to be Buddha's Birthday - so a long weekend for many Koreans - and we hadn't quite anticipated how many other people had the same idea as us: it felt like half of Korea was in Geoje-do with us! This in itself gave the weekend a more intensely 'Korean' flavour than we had expected and made for much amusement at the Koreans and their very different ways!

Once we arrived on Geoje island we were almost non-stop in queues to buy ferry tickets, queues to get onto the ferries, queues to get off the ferries, and so on. The two highlights in terms of must-sees of our weekend were Jisimdo or Camellia Island and Oedo Botanical Island. We reached both by ferry from the port town of Jangseungpo on Goeje island.

Jismido is a small island with a few humble local homes which are opened to holiday makers and fishermen (a guesthouse like this is known as a Minbak in Korean), but most of the island is uninhabited and the vegetation is almost pristine and very lush and almost sub-tropical: very beautiful and refreshing! There are lovely forests of Camellias, pines and other trees and beautiful views over the ocean and the rugged rocky coastline and small islets dotted all around. The vegetation seems to be a strange mix of pines and other coniferous trees with more subtropical undergrowth - rather unique. This island is famous for the Camellia Flowers (the blooming of which we had sadly just missed) and a small songbird which seems to have a close association with this plant. We did hear and see a few birds but didn't really have enough time to creep around in the forest long enough to see the 'special bird' whose name I haven't yet figured out!

Visiting Oedo island was an altogether different experience to that of Jismido. The whole island has been transformed into a beautiful botanical garden, and is a showcase of many beautiful flowering plants from all over the world. As the story goes, a fisherman was lost in stormy rough seas when he stumbled upon Oedo island. In gratitude to the island 'saving his life' he turned it into this beautiful garden. The irony is that he ripped out all the native vegetation and with it probably a multitude of indigenous animals etc. Anyway, the gardens are beautiful and well-tended. The CATCH with our visit to Oedo was however it's extreme popularity amongst Koreans, the effects of which we experienced yesterday! As I mentioned, getting tickets to the ferries getting onto the ferries etc etc took quite some doing as there were just masses of people everywhere. This feeling intensified as we arrived on Oedo as we were just pushed along with the masses along the paths that lead through the garden - we had very little choice in the matter. I still can't get over how many people there were. Did I tell you that there were a lot of people? So many people!

We counted 15 ferries docking at the island's small wharf and each could take 100 people, so at any one time there could've been up to 1500 people on the tiny island. If one then considers that each of these ferries brings at least 10 loads of tourists to Oedo everyday that is 15000 a day! That is of course only on peak days like this weekend but it is still an incredibly high number of people for such a small island. I hate to think of the damage the ferries must be doing to the sea life around and between these incredibly popular islands...anyway, as long as they can still get their grubby fingers on it and eat it the Koreans don't seem to pay soo much head to any creature living in the sea (or anywhere else for that matter...). So sadly, a place which could be peaceful and tranquil and provide a refreshing experience in nature has been turned into a tourism goldmine. We had a good time amusing ourselves at the people around us though! Whenever Koreans visit any tourism highlight the first thing they do is take photos, and that's also generally the last thing they do. Very little time is spent on appreciating the sights or taking time to experience a place - and on Oedod this was proved to us once again! As crowed as the pathways in the gardens were, this didn't stop people from stopping to have pictures of themselves taken ate every faux-greek/roman statue, column or other item of interest in the garden!

Anyway, on the way to Oedo island our ferry took a detour past Hegeumgang, which is a beautiful rocky island jutting high up out of the sea. This is one of the icons of Geoje Island and is a really beautiful sight. The funny thing is though, we didn't even get a chance to have a good look and enjoy the beauty of the rocky islet, as our ferry ran headling into one of the narrow coves or crevices and rammed into it! This was a very narrow space, and at first I thought that the driver of the ferry had made a mistake, but no, he rammed it again. Then we had to reverse out as the other ferries were queueing to give their customers the ramming experience! I cannot actually explain the sheer exasperation I felt with this experience: there we were amidst beautiful blue sea, amazing nature and scenery but we can't just sit back and enjoy it, we have to get right in there and ram our boat into the cove, WTH??? I really don't understand this logic!

So all in all we had a good weekend - amused ourselves at the locals, enjoyed the sights and had a good time seeing another part of Korea. It was a rather expensive weekend in terms of time (travel time vs.relaxing time) and money and we couldn't help compare the places we could go and the things we could do for that money elsewhere, but we are after all living and working in Korea, and it is important for us to get to know the country better and visit some of its highlights!

So below are some pictures from our weekend. I'll post them in order and by these headings: Jangseungpo (the port town on Geoje Island), Jisimdo/Camellia Island, Oedoe Island and Hegeumgang.
Enjoy.

Janseungpo: a cute little port town.


View from our 'Love Motel': the best view we've had from one of these yet!







and Jangseungpo by night:




Geoje Blue City: every city in Korea has it's slogan. e.g. Daegu-Colorful City, Seoul -Soul of Asia,Busan-Dynamc Busan etc. Geoje-Blue City!

Jisimdo - Camellia Island:





A "Searchlight depository" - sorry, a WHAT? :)







Oedo Island:


A Korean couple in the classic 'His and Hers' outfit: many yong couples in Korea like to dress in matching outfits: this come sin varying degrees: from hoodies, to shoes right down to underwear!


A brave bird in the crowds on Oedo - any guesses what it might be?


The ferries 'closing in' on Oedo!





Jules inamongst the masses: as conspicuosly non-Korean as ever!




A lovely view over the ocean: complete with FAKE!! Wistarias hanging from the beams above! Can you believe it, FAKE flowers in a botanical garden!
Only in Sparkling Korea!




These cute innocent-looing boys posing in front of one of the more manly greek statues were just too irresistable for us!
Thanks to Jules for this kodak moment!
(And many more inamongst the pics on my blog posts!)

Hegeumgang: the ramming experience. It's a pity it was a bit overcast and rainy on this day so the pics don't quite do the sites justice!






we're going deeper and deeper into this narrow crevice...



...and now we can't actually go any further! Craziness!

Kimchi for Breakfast!

It was a momentous occasion when I woke up one morning and felt ready to have my first Kimchi Breakfast. This is one of the things we westerners in Korea just can't get over: that Koreans would favour Kimchi and rice for breakfast over a myriad of other options: cereal, yoghurt, fried eggs and bacon, toast and jam....etc.
Oh well.

So I decided to try it. Kang, one of my co-teachers, had brought us some Kimchi his wife had very kindly made for us. I think she was worried about us not having kimchi as we have not learned how to make it ourselves, and the shop-bought variety is often imported from China (!) and generally not thought of as being good enough for consumption. And a home without is Kimchi is...well, not quite a home.


So...last Sunday I cooked up some rice, got hold of some seaweed sheets to accompany the rice and hauled out the kimchi. I had fun! But I concluded that I did still prefer cereal, yoghurt, fried eggs and bacon, toast and jam....etc.
At least now I know.

Photographic and video evidence below for your enjoyment.

The box of kimchi which was kindly given to us by the wife of one of my co-teachers.
That's a lot of kimchi.

digging in...

Black Blood!

Yesterday I had my first experience of traditional Korean medicine - more specifically Korean hand acupuncture, which is also referred to as Koryo Hand Therapy. It was an interesting experience indeed!
But first, I must explain why I was in need of such treatment.

Two nights ago I had the most terrible stomach cramps and indigestion: I think it stemmed from eating too much rice cake.
How ironic, as just a few months ago I couldn't bring myself to eat the rubbery stuff, never mind enjoy it and indulge in it, and now I have reached the stage where appear to have over-indulged!
Too much doesn't really mean I pigged out too badly: I had about four pieces of it (One piece is about the size of a small kiwi). According to Kang, my co-teacher at the high school, this isn't really much (they love the stuff after all and are forever gorging themselves on it!) And their digestive systems are of course accustomed to it!
So I am not surprised that my digestive system went hay-wire: you may recall my earlier descriptions of rice cake: "I have decided that my least favourite 'Korean-favourite' is the rubbery rice-cake thing I wrote about the other day. It is so rubbery and tastes funny - they love it though and I think I will just have to get used to it."

The offending cake. I will be steering clear of this lot for a while!

So it would seem that my taste buds have got used to it but my gut hasn't!
Due, I presume, to the extremely rubbery and dense nature of this treat, and the fact that I ate more than usual of it, it got jammed in my digestive tract somewhere.
Man what terrible pain I was in! This was compounded by the fact that I had done some rigorous stomach exercises the day before and any movement which affected my abdominal area was excruciating. Anyway, I look some pills and eventually managed to get to sleep.
I woke up the next morning feeling a bit better, but after cycling to school the pain was back. Lucy, my middle school co-teacher, asked what was wrong and I explained, sheepishly, how I had indigestion from eating too much rice cake!

Anyway, she is very caring and I think enjoys the semi-mother-like role she plays in my life, so she whisked me off to the school nurse for some acupuncture: I was all game as the pills I had taken had not had the desired effect and I figured that Korean medicine might just be the ticket to deal with too much of the nation's favourite cake!

So Ju-Ju (the school nurse's English nickname) had me sit on the bed and proceeded to hit the top of my arm with some force. She then whipped out one of those auto-pricking type machines, like the ones they use to test your blood iron levels before you donate blood.
She flicked the side of my little finger quite hard a few times then pricked it. It wasn't really that sore but my blood came squirting out and she and Lucy both went 'ooooh'. Apparently the fact that the blood squirted out so viciously and the fact that it was black (i.e. very dark) means that my digestive system was very out of balance. 'Black blood is very dangerous' Cathy, another co-teacher, told me later. Anyway, so Ju-Ju then squeezed and squirted more blood out with a tissue and then she did the same to another finger on that hand and then to the same two fingers on the other hand.
Afterwards I was given a Korean herbal drink which I had to 'chew' before I swallowed it - chewing on a liquid is a strange feeling!

So that was my acupuncture experience. I actually really felt quite 'cleansed' by the experience and for a few hours before lunch I felt quite a bit better but eating a bit of food got the cramps going again. Anyway, I was brought some Maesil tea, made from a kind of green apricot, which is also meant to help with indigestion.

This experience has highlighted the generosity and caring nature of my colleagues to me: they were all very concerned about my well-being and all offered advice. To someone else this may well have come across as interfering and irritating but I will openly admit that I enjoy attention when I am feeling unwell and it all made me feel a lot better!
Ju-Ju was so kind and attentive and she offered her 'bleeding services' to me anytime - next time I have one of those monster headaches I will definitely head over for some more 'Sooji Chim'.

I think this is a fascinating branch of alternative medicine which I would like to make the most of while I am here. Below is a chart of the hand which is used to treat afflictions of different parts of the body. If you'd like to read more about Koryo Hand Therapy have a look at the website http://www.koryohandtherapy.com/

P.S. 'Blogger' is driving me slightly mad: I can't seem to get the text in this post to the same colour as that in the others, and as much as I try I can't get rid if the 'Arial' font. So please forgove my inconsistent post layout and formatting! I try!

Images of Spring - Sangju is looking suprisingly pretty and friendly!

Spring has made its way into our apartment as well!

These are pics from my bike ride to school...a beautiful avenue of cherry blossoms...they only lasted about 10 days though which is sad!

I went on a hike with the 'women teachers club' from my middle school last week. The English teachers couldn't make it so I was a bit apprehensive about not being able to communicate with my other colleagues but we had a great time!

6 months in Korea

Many hats make a party!

We have reached our first major milestone in Korea!

We feel this is quite an achievement: our first few months in Korea were quite tough and there were quite a few instances where we wanted to throw in the towel...but here we are halfway through our 1 year contract and we're doing surprisingly well! So well, in fact, that we might just stay another year! This is of course not to say that we are absolutely ecstatic and feel like Korea is our new home (not at all in fact!) but life here has taken on a comfortable routine and we have got used to many of the bizarre aspects of life in Korea! We keep reminding ourselves that we are MILLIONAIRES every month anew... and that our jobs in Korea are opening up many opportunities to us that we would otherwise not have. Who else can say that they have actually eaten REAL Kimchi? Who else can say that they've been to a REAL noraebang? Who else can say that they have to change their shoes at school AND at the gym!

Anyway, the point is we are getting on just fine. The 'injection' of new foreign teachers into Sangju has also been fun...we had an AMAZING party to celebrate our 6 month anniversary with Korea last weekend. Our little apartmnet was full to the brim with people speaking English, eating, drinking and having a good time, it was quite something: the first real house party we've had in Sangju!

Our NET (Native English Teacher) numbers have more than doubled over the last two months. When Jules and I first arrived in this little city, we were only 7 public school native teachers in total. There were some other hagwon (academy) teachers around but we felt rather isolated, to say the least. Anyway, so in the last few weeks our numbers have increased to about 20! Yiipppeee! More friends, and more importantly, we can now start CHOOSING our frieds - and not just be friends by default, what a luxury (Do you realise how ridiculouc that is??)

Another plus of having all these new teachers around is that, as Jules puts it, we have now 'graduated' from being 'newbies' to being 'oldies': quite a pleasant feeling. We are now the ones dishing out advice and coming up with phrases like 'don't worry about x you'll get used to it' 'oh, really? that happened? oh well, that's Korea for you!'

So here are some pics of our highly successful "6 Months in Korea Hat Party"...some of you might recodnise them from facebook but here they are anyway. (We told our friends that hat parties are a South African tradition...it's ridiculous what lies one can get away with in the name of culture and cultural exchange :))

James and Barbara: our first ever friends in Sangju - very special people and without them we'd have felt even more lost and lonely

Jess and Nawaal: Nawaal is one of the new teachers. She's from Cape Town, yeyyy! Some more South Africans!! She's a sweeties and hass the cape accent down to a tee....'takes me home' everytime I hear it!

Devon, Jess and Kimberly. Devon's been here a month longer than us. She's from the US and we've had some good times with her. Kim's also from the US and is a newbie. The two of them have the real 'gift of the gab' (is it a gift???) and can talk the hindleg off many a donkey - they make me seem like a very quiet littel mouse!

Kelsey, Barbara and Jules. Kelsey is also new and can also talk (no surprsie then...she's also American)! She's quite a character: she studied fashion design but it was wearing her out (funny one!) so she's come to Korea...won't be long til the Koreans wear her out!!

Brad, Jules and Kelsey. (Told you she's a nutter!) anyway, Brad is an old faithful and has just finished his first contract. He's just gone home for his 2 weeks vacation and is coming back for more!

Jules and Devon...these two have that funny love-hate relationship...

The night would've not been complete without a visit to the noraebang (singing room). We traipsed off to 'World Cup' noraebang, one of our favourites in town - we are friendly with the son of the owner who turns out to be involved with the Korean mafia...and they have cool wigs and masks!
A great time was had by all...with loads of beer and loads of singing: on and off key!! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Konglish

“Konglish is the use of English words (or words derived from English words) in a Korean context. The words, having English words in a Korean context, or are made from a combination of Korean and English words.”

Konglish is one of the things which I really enjoy about Korea. It seems to be an attempt by Koreans to include some English and/or western language and customs into their lives which often goes awry and is amusing - well from our perspective anyway!
Konglish comes in many forms and guises, from English words written in Hangul (Korean script) to English written in English with Korean grammar or even English written in English with Korean sentiment (or craziness :)) added.

Stationery made in Korea boasts many Konglish gems. This is particularly true for the exercise books the students use for English lessons - these are sold specifically as English Notebooks, and usually bear some sort of English paragraph or phrase or sentence on the front. These are usually bordering on nonsensical and amuse me no end, while at the same time endearing the Koreans to me for trying so hard to 'assimilate' English!

Here are some classic examples:

"Children growing, Berds singing, Sun rising, Flowers blooming, and all the things in life..."

"Green. natural colour."

"A glass of milk. milk is the white liquid produced by cows, goats, and some other animals, which people drink and use to make butter, cheese, and yoghurt. Milk is processed on the basis of the maximum content of fat and solid not fat (SNF) it would ultimately possess."

"Oh such a kings weather we should go on picnic"

And of course the photo above "Memory..."

Wikipedia also quotes some other classic examples of Konglish as Apateu (apartment) and Hopeu (draft beer, from the German word ‘Hof’).

Here you can see another funny quirk of Konglish: the addition of the 'eu' sound at the end of most Konglish words/syllables.
We often joke that one could get by without much Korean if one just added 'eu' (pronounced a bit like the 'e' in 'her') to the end of every word e.g. "shampoo-eu chuseyo" (please), "french fries-eu chuseyo", "notebook-eu chuseyo" "juice-eu chuseyo" etc.
Our friend Clint, who's teaching up near Seoul, is called Clint-eu by his co-teachers, and this nickname has caught on amongst his foreign friends in a big way!

I decided to keep the best for last:
My FAVOURITE Konglish or Konglish-error-English phrase is one I came across on a bumper sticker on a car yesterday:

"Let's go Korea! The new demention"

It's a hilarious mistake as I'm sure they meant to write 'dimension' and not 'demention'.

From my perspective as an English speaker in Korea this is double funny: us foreigners are always joking about how Koreans are so incredibly proud of their technological and economic advances, they are very nationalistic and of course they would want to say that Korea is the 'new dimension' – it’s so funny that they ended up unintentionally saying that Korea is the newest place to make you go crazy (=demention)! Because that is quite often how we feel about it, even if it is an unfair judgement but that is nonetheless our experience!

Sangju under Snow

About two weeks ago we had the biggest snowfall we've seen in Sangju: It came very suddenly. We thought spring had arrived, and woke up one morning to a white city. It was so beautiful.
My favourite picture here is the one of the snow-capped kimchi pots which we look out over from our window.
Kimchi endureth forever!
I think this is a case of 'a picture paints a thousand words'. Enjoy!

My school and the river in the foreground of the photo

My darling ducks. Oh how I love them!

Reading South African novels: feeling the divide more than ever.

I have had quite a bit of time during the school holidays to catch up on reading, and I’ve really enjoyed it. There is a definite trend in my reading though: I am REALLY enjoying the African novels! As you can see on my reading list on the left, I have recently read three novels by authors in Southern Africa: "Three-letter Plague"," A change of Tongue" and "The Grass is singing". I have certainly gained much more enjoyment and thought stimulation from reading these three books than any of the others I have read.

I guess this is not surprising: I am of course missing home soil, and anything that can 'transport' me back there for a few hours a day will be enjoyable! But not only that. I think travelling opens up ones mind to looking at ones home and home country from a different perspective, and I think I that is how I have experienced reading these books. This perspective brings with it a strange mixture of critical, even negative, thoughts as well as nostalgic, overly-positive thoughts. I can't quite figure it out.

Let me try to explain: these thoughts about my experiences of reading SA books while in Korea sort of 'came to a head' whilst I was reading Doris Lessing's 'The grass is singing'. I read this most recently of the three, however, it is the oldest among them, having been published in 1950. Doris Lessing was the Nobel Laureate for Literature in 2008, and this is probably the reason I stumbled upon this book in a book store in Daegu.

Her writing in this novel is quite harsh: she describes the relationship between a white farmer's wife and her servant, Moses, in southern Zimbabwe. The blatant racism, injustice and even hatred of the whites towards their servants is well illustrated. Reading it from an almost 'international' perspective made me realise how 'immune' we as white South Africans have almost become to racism. It is so normal and part of our lives. So here I am, enjoying a novel set on African soil, the descriptions of the farm, sunsets, earth, bush, wildlife and people are so familiar and pleasurable to me as I read. But at the same time I am struck by the utter ugliness of racism. I think Lessing has done this very well: I truly have mixed feelings about being a white South African after reading this book. I feel blessed to have grown up in South Africa: such a beautiful country, such amazingly diverse people and a wonderful, easy lifestyle. I can appreciate these aspects of it even more now that I am living in Korea as a foreigner. On the other hand, I am almost ashamed of being a white South African, because of how much hurt, hatred and injustice 'my people' have inflicted upon our fellow black South Africans. So, as you can see, I am 'stuck' in my feelings!

To 'unstick' me I can turn to 'A change of Tongue' by Antjie Krog. This is certainly a more positive story, and is set in more recent times in South Africa. Writing almost autobiographically, Krog reminisces a lot about her childhood in Kroonstad, on the farm, in amongst white (racist) farmers. She writes also how she realised at a young age how racism was wrong, but also inescapable in most white communities, especially farming communities. She was an activist with the ANC in Kroonstad during apartheid and it seems that in this way she 'redeemed' herself from the racism so part of her family and community. Her writing was also a valuable way for her to express her feelings which were so contrary to those of the people around her. So one can be saved from this 'shame' of being a white South African. Or so she seems to say. Anyway, food for thought.

"Three-letter plague" has another tone and message completely: it is set in rural Transkei, close to Lusikisiki. This novel was 'closest' to me in terms of setting and I also felt I could identify with the characters more in this novel than in the other two. Maybe because of how much time we have spent in the Transkei: two holidays a year for most of my childhood and until now. The place, and the people, are very precious to me: we have a good relationship with a family down there who take care of our beach cottage for us in our absence, and who we in return help to clothe and feed. They live in incredible poverty, yet they are happy, open and warm people. There’s more to it though: the daughter of the family is HIV-positive, and my Mom has been instrumental in getting her to go to the clinic to have herself tested and put on ARVs. Her health is ever-improving and she has realized the value of this modern medicine. The clinic she went to is one of the clinics administered by Dr Reuter, one of the lead characters in “Three-letter plague”.

The story of Sizwe, the main character in this novel, really spoke to me. But once again, I start to feel guilty for being a white South African, Oh no, there it is, that horrible word: guilt. And ‘White Guilt’ at that. I have always thought I am quite good at not taking guilt upon myself unnecessarily: when things or wrong or I make a mistake I am usually quite good at thinking to myself: “that's life, these things happen, etc." But all of a sudden, here I am in Korea, reading books about South Africa, and the word (and I guess also the feeling) has snuck up on me! In this case, I was just thinking about how I go down to the Transkei for holidays (what a luxury) and Matewu and her family look after our house and we feed and clothe them: it is both a patronising and strangely bizarre set-up. But all it is really, is a clear example of the huge divide between not only black and white, but more accurately, rich and poor in South Africa. And I happen to be on the easier side of the divide. Lucky me. And Mattewu is on the other, more difficult, side of it. And that's life. And I guess all one can do, from our side of the divide is to be aware of it, to appreciate the fortunate situation one finds oneself in and to be compassionate and thoughtful towards those on the other side. (Thanks Mum, for taking one for the team for so long).

So, what all this reading of South African books is doing for me is making me think about what it is to be a South African, and since we’re on the topic, a white South African. This is also highlighted by the fact that so many people we meet in Korea say ‘South Africa????’, with a puzzled look on their face, when they hear where we’re from: ‘White person? South Africa???’ Makes one think! And explaining something as complicated as that to someone with very little English is quite difficult…

If anyone has any good South African novels to recommend/send, I’m ready!