Pet-Watch

We came across this advert in a subway passage below the city of Daegu.
I found it quite astounding for a number of reasons:
Firstly that pet 'accessories' companies are obviously way mroe liucrative in Korea: to have enough money pay for such a huge ad - this would certainly not be the case in South Africa. This ad was sharing space with ads by Gucci, Louis Vitton and Polo.
Secondly that people in Korea would happily leave their pets unattended for days on end as long as they are fed - by a machine.
The third astounding thing is that you can have a photo/video of your pet eating from the machine sent to your cellphone, just to be sure it IS eating. I mean the technology is amazing but I think the lack of care for the pet's 'emotional' well-deing is quite sad.

I get the feeling that pets in Korea are often just another fashion accessory: the way they get dressed up and their fur died crazy colours....So if one can buy a machine that conveniently feeds the pet and sends evidence then why not?!

I think one of the reasons this caught my attention is that quite a few people in our block of flats have small dogs - in tiny apartments. Last week we noticed a definite indoor-pet-smell coming from an apartment where we usually hear a baby crying. We hadn't heard the baby for a good few days so I think the little family had gone off on holiday and left the dog in that tiny apartment...most likely with a food dispenser and no-one to look in on it while they were away - hence the nasty smell. How sad.

Just another interesting aspect of life in Korea - there's always something new!

‘The Second Dokdo Trip – reflections of an NET’

The education department recently invited 20 Native English Teachers (NETs) (that's us) on trip (the 2nd of two) to the Korean islands of Ulleung-do and Dokdo. We were asked to write a 3-page essay on our exeprience of the trip, so I thought I'd post my essay here. (unedited).

‘The Second Dokdo Trip – reflections of an NET’

I was fortunate to be invited by EPIK/Gyeongsangbuk-do Education Office to go on their ‘Second Trip to Dokdo’ last week. I feel so privileged and grateful to have been on this trip.

The experience I had on Ulleung-do can be divided into three parts: beautiful Ulleung-do, meeting students from Ulleung-do and learning about Dokdo.

I was absolutely amazed by how beautiful Ulleung-do is. I had heard from some other people who had been on the trip that it was a pretty place, but nothing can prepare you for seeing the island yourself: those huge, steep volcanic cliffs plunging into the deep blue ocean, the green, green forests, the lovely pebble beaches, the beautiful views and the sea gulls everywhere. I felt closer to nature on Ulleung-do than I have anywhere else in Korea. Our hosts on Ulleung-do went out of their way to show us all their island has to offer: we went on wonderful walks up steep mountains, saw gorgeous waterfalls, and had many, many opportunities to take photographs of spectacular views!

The people of Ulleung-do also struck me as beautiful: I feel that Ulleung-do is largely untouched in the sense that a lot of the landscape is undisturbed – probably thanks to its inaccessibility - but I also feel like Ulleung-do seems to have escaped the commercialisation which has overtaken the Korean mainland. There are very few bright flashing lights, no large supermarkets, no fast food restaurants and so on. The people seem so open and relaxed. There is little traffic on the island, people walk a lot and generally seem more in touch with nature than elsewhere in Korea. I think the people of Ulleung-do are very fortunate in that respect.

Although maybe this also has its disadvantages: the competition for high quality education and good jobs in Korea is intense: I have only been here for 9 months yet I have already realised how difficult it is being a student in Korea, or a young person trying to find their feet in the job world. For people growing up on Ulleung-do it must be difficult to get positions at the top Universities in Korea: they seem to live simpler lives with less pressure on them than students in the urban parts of Korea. For example, when I ask my students back home in Sangju – which isn’t even the height or urbanisation in Korea – what their plans are for the summer vacation, most of them (around 80%) tell me they are going to study. Chatting to the students in Ulleung-do I got more responses along the lines of swimming and spending time outdoors. The children on Ulleung-do are so blessed to be able to swim and have such beautiful natural surroundings to spend time in – and I’m glad to say that they seem to enjoy it!

I feel quite sad about the pressure put on young children in Korea to work hard and study, study, study. I feel relieved to know there are some havens in Korea where children can still have fun! Since they don’t seem to be putting as much time in to their studies, and they have less opportunities for extra study, it would seem the natural course for them to continue in the footsteps of their parents and stay on Ulleung-do as farmers or fishermen. But what about those students who aspire to be something else? To be a doctor? A lawyer? A pop star? For them, reaching these kind of goals having had humble beginnings in Ulleung-do might be a really tough challenge. But having a healthy lifestyle and most likely healthy family relations might well build character, and that is what one needs to meet such tough challenges!

Talking about challenges brings me neatly onto the topic of Dokdo. Truly a challenge – and one which I have come to realise it probably not going to be resolved anytime soon. I was slightly wary of coming along on this trip as I know how passionate most Korean people are about Dokdo, and I was worried that we would be ‘told’ to support Korea’s side of the Dokdo argument and given no option. Some advertising I have seen in Korean newspapers is very uncompromising and forceful, and I was apprehensive that we might be subjected to something along those lines.

I was thus very pleased when we had a guest with us from a university in Pohang. Professor Lee gave us a very interesting and balanced talk about the Dokdo issue. Professor Lee accompanied us on our tour of the Dokdo museum and to the platform high up above Dodong town from which one can sometimes see Dokdo island. This was great as it gave us the opportunity to speak to him one-on-one about his interests, and to broach the topic of Dokdo. In his talk, Professor Lee gave us an objective explanation of the origins of the Dokdo conflict and explained to us that the biggest challenge in the issue of Dokdo lies in the differing ‘nature’ of the claims of Japan and Korea on Dokdo island. Korea has a ‘historic’ claim on Dokdo island, whereas Japan has a ‘legal’ claim over the island. This means that both have legitimate claims over the island, but because they are of different natures, resolving who truly owns Dokdo will be very difficult indeed.

Professor Lee also explained to us how there is a possibility that this issue could be brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to be resolved, but that Korea is wary of this as there are more Japanese representatives in the ICJ than Korean, and this could lead to a bias. This is understandable, and to me it would seem that the fact that Dokdo currently has Korean Police stationed on it seems to indicate that Korea is slightly ‘ahead’ in this tussle as it is currently more actively involved with Dokdo. Thus, for the issue to be taken to the ICJ could mean Korea losing this little bit of control it has over Dokdo. For Korea, the Dokdo dispute also has historical ties to the fact that Korea was colonised by Japan, and that the Korean people suffered a lot of injustice and ill-treatment at the hands of their colonisers. It would seem that this is the reason that the Dokdo dispute is such an emotional matter for the Korean people. It is a matter of national pride, and a matter which binds the Korean people together in their quest to prove themselves superior to Japan – or if not superior, then at least not inferior.

Unfortunately due to poor weather and subsequently rough seas, our group was unable to visit Dokdo island. This was of course a disappointment, as the primary purpose of the trip was for us to ‘have proper viewpoints on Dokdo debate’ – and I’m sure that seeing the island and setting foot on it would’ve been an integral part of this process. I feel like I learned a lot about the Dokdo debate – I wonder if the average Korean citizen is as well informed about the debate, or whether Koreans simply follow their leaders and their media in believing that Dokdo island rightfully belongs to them? I appreciate the education department allocating resources to educating us about this important issue in Korea – and that I got to spend some valuable time getting to know the wonderful island of Ulleung-do.

Ulleung-do is undoubtedly the most beautiful place I have visited in Korea – I am yet to visit Jeju-do but it has a hard act to follow in my mind!

Appendix:

As much as I enjoyed the trip, I do have some suggestions as to how it could be improved on for the next time:

It would have been nice for us to have a semi-formal introductions session where the NETs, KETs and students could introduce themselves to one another. In this session maybe one could play some ice-breaker type games to get to know each other a bit better. We were asked to speak to the students in our groups as much as possible, but it would have been nice to have an opportunity to warm to each other first.

Simililarly, I think our interactions with the students would have been a bit easier and more fun if we had played some games – maybe even language games – with them. This would have been a more constructive way of them practicing English with us. Spending so much time touring the island they grew up un would not have been that much fun for the students. They were very well-behaved but I do think they got a bit bored.

It would have been a bit more relaxing for the NETs if we had had a bit more free time. I realise that we were meant to spend as much time ass possible with the students but having some time to ourselves to enjoy the island would’ve made the trip more enjoyable for us – we are independent travellers and to be on a full schedule and a guided tour all the time can be a bit much.

Thanks again,

Jessica Cockburn Sangju-si, 20 July 2009

8 months down the line

This post is a copy of a story I wrote for our local newspaper at home 'The Greytown Gazette':

17June 2009
8 MONTHS DOWN THE LINE ............ IN KOREA

My boyfriend, Julian Barker, and I (Jessica Cockburn) have been teaching English in South Korea for just over 8 months. There have been many fun times, so I could say ‘time flies when you’re having fun’, but saying this may imply that the experience has only been fun or at least mostly fun, which is not an entirely true reflection of our experience here.

We had a tough start: culture shock hit us much harder than we had expected. The language barrier seemed impenetrable – nothing vaguely resembled our alphabet and the strange sounds we heard held no meaning! We were surrounded by people who not only looked different, but who openly stared at us because we looked different! They seemed inaccessible to us: mostly because we speak different languages, but also because we have different cultures, different approaches to life, different histories.

When we first arrived, our only links to ‘the rest of Korea’ were our co-teachers: they were our assigned ‘chaperones’ and did everything for us: from buying us furniture, to taking us to the doctor. We, who had set off on our Asian adventure as intrepid, independent travellers found ourselves totally dependent on strangers. The most frustrating part to this was that our co-teachers themselves spoke only broken English, and battled to understand our South African accents.
8 months down the line I can almost look back at those early weeks with a smile on my face. I say almost because it was a very difficult period, and as much as I’d like to, I’m not quite ready to smile about it!

But we have come so far. We have done an amazing amount of travelling and exploring -. we spent 10 wonderful days in the Philippines during our winter vacation, we have seen many of the famous Buddhist temples in Korea, have visited Goeje island: a lovely holiday destination off the south coast of Korea, spent several days skiing and seen many famous historical sights in Korea. We have walked in the lovely forests around our town Sangju, and scootered through the recently planted rice fields.

We have also explored and absorbed Korean culture: Julian has, uncomfortably, swayed arm-in-arm with my male colleagues singing love songs in a ‘Noraebang’ (i.e. karaoke room), we’ve eaten very fresh or even live! seafood taken straight out of a tank outside the restaurant, seen dogs in cages off to be slaughtered for dinner, been invited into an old Korean woman’s house and given kimchi (the national dish of fermented cabbage), been to public bath houses where everyone wanders around starkers without a care in the world, been semi-harassed on the street by Koreans trying to practice English, had our arm-hairs and eyebrows touched and pulled at because they’re white or yellow (not blonde), …the list goes on.
It has been an amazing 8 months. The teaching has itself been an adventure: we teach at government middle schools which has not been without difficulties. We have been left to our own devices with little in the way of guidelines, which in the beginning was frightening but which we now use to our advantage: we can run our classes as we like and do anything we fancy to help the students practice the little English that they know.

We really do miss home and our families very much: one of the most important things that being in Korea has made us realise is how much we love and miss South Africa despite all its faults and problems. We will certainly be back: armed with a multitude of travel stories and a better understanding of the world.

Where we live

OOOOhh the greenness of it!

One can see emdless numbers of photos and still not quite picture or understand the atmosphere and feel of a place if one has never been there. Despite this, I'm going to post some more photos of our little city Sangju, so your picture can hopefuly come a bit closer to the real thing.

As Jules has written somewhere, it has grown on us. In my mind it has moved from being ugly and grey-brown with higgledy-piggeldy, ugly architecture, fields and huge apartment blocks adjacent to one another, garbage and other discarded items at every turn, an almost constant smell of sewerage...to a place I could almost call a 3rd home Now when I picture Sangju, I see it surrounded and interspersed with bright green rice fields, onion fields, cabbage fields; Ajummas and Ajoshis (the male form of the Ajumma) everywhere; a lovely tree-lined path along the river (which looks so much healthier now that the first spring rains flushed out the junk and filled it up a bit!); friendly if curious and rather insensitive people, an easy lifestyle, a place one can happily and safely walk everywhere, a place where one has a few similar-minded foreign friends, some less similar-minded but still genuine Korean friends, and a place which is starting to feel familiar!

A place where within 5 minutes on a bike/scooter one can get away from teh bustle and be in the forest, halfway up a mountain or simply amongst fields of green. A place which when one gets off the bus after a long weekend bussing around as a tourist, feels sweet to come home to! So here are some pictures to show you our sweet Sangju. Still quite ugly and with higgeldy-piggeldy architecture but now tempered by a constant green-ness and a nearness ot nature - albeit farmed nature - which I had missed, and I feel I have re-discovered!

Sangju from halfway up one of those small mountains

Our apartment is somewhere near the blue arrow. In amongst all the love motels! :)

The building with the big blue roof is the auditorium at my school.
To the right of it are the main buildings of my schools - I am quite lucky to have both my schools on the same property, very convenient. The balloon was in honour of Buddhas Birthday on May 2.

The next few pics are of the fields I walk past on my way to school in the morning. Life's sweet isn't it? I really enjoy this 'agricultural' vibe in Sangju!

And then there are the lovely green broad-leaved forests just a few minutes outside town - literally all around us.
Birds cheeping and insects buzzing around. Being out in the forests makes me want to start an insect collection all over again! I have ordered a bird book online and am eagerly awaiting its arrival so I can at least get the bird-watching going!

And in these forests are cute little purple irises...



and REAL wild violets...



And bumblebees doing their thing!



Life is indeed schweeet!

Sungshin School Festival - Link

A few weeks ago my middle school had its annual school festival.

I have posted a story and a gallery of photos about it on my teaching blog. Click here to have a look. Enjoy!

"I saw you on the street"

There are many things that Korean people do and say that we find odd and don't understand. Of course. And I have got used to and learned to just accept many of these things: If I hadn't I'd have gone mad by now!
Anyway, I have decided that "I saw you on the street" is one of my pet hates in the category 'odd things Korean people do or say'.

"I saw you on the street" is a phenmenon which I experience most with my students, sometimes with other people. It is directly linked to the fact that we are such celebrities/oddities/highlights in Sangju. Even though we've been here over 6 months now, almost everyone must have seen us at least once, and there are now well over twenty foreigners in town, bumping into us in the street or in the shops or even just seeing us is still a highliht for most.
And my students feel like they need to tell me this. They are darlings, I love them, and everytime someone has the guts to come and speak to me I try my best to look as friendly and approachable as possible. But what can you say when someone says to you "I saw you on the street yesteday/at the weekend/last week..."? "That's nice." "Oh, I didn't see you!" "Oh" "Oh, where?" "Oh, really?". Gosh, I really dislike having to come up with responses to this statement. I realise that I am a bit of a 'tourist attraction' in town, and I really don't mind that too much, so I really wouldn't mind at all if they told their mother, grandmother, friends, sisters, counsins, brothers etc that they saw me on the street (which I'm sure they do! - I can just imagine it!) but PLEASE DON'T TELL ME! I don't know what too say.

This pet-hate was re-awakened the day before yesterday when Jules and I went for coffee at our favourite coffee shop in Sangju. It's called 'Kopi Gage' (=Coffee Shop) and is run by an interestiung couple. They seem to have a lot of interest in western-style jazz, poetry etc and their coffee shop has a lovely atmosphere with lovely old coffee ginders, hessian sacks on the ceiling, paintings, old black & white photos and LP records on the walls. In fact, 'Kopi Gage' can often feel like an escape from the Korean-ness of Sangju (when one needs a break, which is inevitable at times) and I have the impression that the owners are not quite your standard Korean - maybe evven more 'worldly' (not an adjective one can ascribe to most locals).

Anyway, sadly, the owner let me down. As we were leaving, he said someting to his wife/girlfriend and she translated for him "I saw you on the street near the Bukcheon Monument" aaaaahhhh! Here I am in my 'haven' and the man himself puts his foot in it. AAAAHHH! "Oh that's nice"+ smile (of course!) was the best I could come up with before I escaped. Oh my gosh. 'Ayigo!' as the Koreans would say (which is remarkably similar to the Zulu 'Hayibo!' and means the same)

Anyway, Jules seems to not quite understand why I am so frustrated by all this "I saw you on the street'" business but I hink his boys aren't as vocal as my girls so he doesn't get it that much. Please do me a favour and think about how you would respond if people came up to you numerous times in a week and told you "I saw you on the street!". Thank you!

Our very own 'Ajumma'

Ajumma from afar: a 'mild' Ajumma bent over, tending her fields.
I'm still too intimidated to get closer to get some good photos of them...I'm sure my time will come!

One of the most unique things about Korea is it's 'Ajummas'. Ask any foreigner who has spent some time in Korea about their experiences with Ajummas and you are sure to get a volley of amusing and probably annoying stories with the odd gem of kindness mixed in. 'Ajumma' in Korean actually refers to any married women, but amongst foreigners it has become a term specifically referring to older Korean women (usually older than about 55).

They are a unique bunch and are easy to spot: they usually wear very clashy clothes i.e. orange and pink, mustard and lime green, garish florals and stripes, luminous geometric patterns and polka-dots etc. You get my drift. They also almost always have permed hair, thinning badly.
They walk with a bit of a stoop. As soon as a bit of sun appears they usually don their large visors (oversized caps) and often wrap up their faces with various forms of scarves and cloths, and wear gloves to protect tehir hands from the sun.
They are often to be seen bent up behind an old baby pram which is carrying some form of vegetable, cans of water or nothing at all (i.e. being used as a walker).

Ajummas are also known to be beligerent, pushy, and have very little respect for personal space. They are the worst crowd pushers, especially because they generally exhibit a kind of 'herding' behaviour when in groups and public places. They tend to congregate on street corners where they sit or squat on raised platforms of sorts and watch the world go by.

They are by far the WORST starers and have no 'skaam': they are stubborn and have no qualms in continuing staring even if you show discomfort or stare back. They are often seen squatting in public places and smoking: only old Ajummas are allowed to smoke in Korea: it is frowned upon for young women to smoke.

After all this about the Ajummas they seem like a tough bunch of old ladies, which they really are. But if one turns one's mind to the hard life they've had, this is not too surprising.
They've lived through the Korean war, many have probably lost husbands and sons, many of them have been farming most of their lives, attentively bent over their crops for hours on end. They have been unquestioning servants to their husbands: Korean woman do anything and everything required by their husbands, many of whom have drinking problems (the accursed cheap soju). They have prepared and large number of side dishes for almost every meal of their married life and they have born many children.
They have also watched Korea transform from a poor country on a par with many African develpoing countries, to a hugely successful country in the world, somewhere near 12th on economic country rankings worldwide.

All this may well explain the tough nature of the Korean Ajumma! So that was the lead-in to my real story. I feel like we are one step closer to understanding the real Ajumma, as we now have 'our own Ajumma'. Let me explain.

On our way to the shops yesterday evening, we passed a house on the corner. I've noticed this house before: there are often Ajummas in and out, they often play loud, old-fashioned Korean love-songs and there are plenty of pots outside growing all manner of vegetables and decorative garden plants. There is also a little fluffy dog which had puppies earlier in the year, so I have been observing this hosuehold with interest.

Anyway, as we passed by yesterday evening, the Ajumma of the hosue walked out of her front gate and started yelling at us (I don't think Ajummas can speak, they just yell!). All in Korean and at quite a rate: I didn't understand anything: except for the word 'banchan' which I recognised: it means side-dishes (an important word in Korea considering how very important food is in this culture). She was gesticulatong wildly and calling us towards her home and I guessed she wanted to give us some 'banchan'. I was right. She grabbed me by the hand and we went into her home, where she opened the fridge, promptly squatted down on the ground and began hauling out dishes. In a whizz she had a bowl and some chopsticks out and we were squatting down next to her in her kitchen trying her kimchi and other delights!

Our few Korean expressions of 'ooh, delicious' 'thank you' 'I like this' were lost in her constant stream of words (still almost at yelling pace and pitch!) She then decanted some of her treats for us and with that waved us out the door and we were on our way again, with many more 'thanks yous' and 'goodbyes' which I don't think she even heard!

The little exchange didn't last more than 3-4 minutes but it was quite something! Jules felt a bit overwhelmed by the experience - not surprising as we couldn't communicate with one another at all and her pushy, almost demanding, approach made her kind and generous act seem almost intimidating!

But in restrospect I feel honoured and humbled to have been invited into her home. I managed to get her name (Well, I think it's her name) 'Hon-Cha'. (I remembered it because in my mind she was a bit of a 'head honcho!') What a kind, geneours woman to haul two strangers off the street and endow them so generously with her handmade 'banchan'.

I am planning to make some banana bread (in Korean 'banana ppang') and take it over to her when I return her dishes. If only I could learn Korean in 48 hours so I could understand her non-stop chattering! How much more valuable our brief exchange would be then! As if I needed any more motivation to learn Korean: so much language so little time! You know how some people have a 'pudding stomach' and can always fit in pudding - I wish I had a 'language' stomach to always have extra tme and energy to devote to learning Korean.

Well, here's to Hon-Cha: I look forward to many more bewildering and enlightening exchanges with her. From afar she may seem like just another nutty Ajumma but her kindness and generosity warmed my heart!

Ice cream truck...or not...

On Friday morning I was walking to school when I heard the familiar and sweet sound of an ice-cream truck. That tinkling music sound is so pleasant and reminds me so much of my grandparents buying us ice-cream from the truck in Greytown when we were little.

Anyway, so I was looking foward to being able to re-live that experience sometime -in Sangju 'nogal'!

But alas, all those sweet ice-cream thoughts were shattered when the truck came around the corner and was not an ice cream truck, but...well, what's the furthest thing from an ice-cream truck? How about a sewerage truck? Yup, that's it! It was a sewerage truck playing the sweet tinkling tunes which the rest of us associate with ice cream and childhood innocence!
How bizarre!

the little pebbles and the sand...

Up until now my blog is dominated by large posts with pretty pictures and stories of our travels.

Do you know the metaphor of a jar filled with large stones, pebbles and sand? The jar is filled with large stones, and seems full, until one adds small pebbels and they trickle down and fill the spaces between the large stones. Then one adds fine sand and it further fills spaces between the large stones and pebbles. This was used as a lesson in time management as it illustrates that one must fill the jar with the larger stones first (priorities) and then with the less important stuff...etc.

Well, anyway, what I am getting to is that it is time for me to add some 'samller pebbles' and maybe sand i.e. to start posting smaller posts about daily funnies and experienecs I have in Korea. Because at the end of it I will only get a full picture of the whole experience with the big stones and the 'fillers'.

So here goes with the 'small pebbles' ...

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!