Sunday, February 21, 2010
Veggin' Out
Today was the first meeting of the Busan Veggie Club - a group I started on facebook after five months of wishing Busan had a group like Seoul's. After meeting a few vegetarians over the last month, I realized I could make it a reality - and it worked! Overnight the group grew a lot, and tonight we had our first successful dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in Seomyeon, Busan called Loving Hut (it's a chain of vegetarian restaurants here). About 15 people came, and it was great to meet new people - and we were guaranteed to have at least one thing in common, so that was a good start to a great evening of good food and good conversation. Some of us ended up getting soy ice cream after at a cute place nearby - I think it was called Purely Decadent - and it was all organic soy ice cream! One of the best things about the night was feeling really comfortable in my skin. It's nice to be with people who understand what it's like to always struggle to find food that you're sure you can eat, and to feel like you don't have to explain yourself or your choices over dinner. I love going out to eat, but it gets frustrating to feel like you're limiting the group's options because of who you are - and that's always been true, here and everywhere I've ever lived, my entire life. It's nice to have a group of people now who I can go out to eat with, without the pressure of being different. It's a great new addition to my life here, and I'm looking forward to our next meal together already : )
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
새해 복 많이 받으세요!
새해 복 많이 받으세요! Means Happy New Year in Korean. This weekend (Feb. 13-15) was the Lunar New Year Here, with the 14th being the primary day of celebration. I was going to stay close to home, because I read that last year an estimated 28 million Korean were traveling to their hometowns for Seollal. In the end, though, I found a train to Pyeongtaek to visit my friend Allina for the holiday.
On Sunday we decided to head to the Korean Folk Village in Suwon because they were having special performances. We didn't realize what a popular destination it would be, assuming that most families would be home having traditonal meals and private celebrations. When we arrived, though, the parking lot was almost full, and the lanes of the village were swarming with families, some in the traditional Hanbok (Korean traditional dress). The kids were adorable in their Hanbok outfits, but sadly it was a pretty muddy day there, with the snow melting into spring, so a number of cute shoes got covered in mud - including my own!
We walked around and saw traditional homes from northern, southern, and island regions, as well as traditional pottery, wood carving and metal craft, which was cool. We caught a few traditional performances, too. We saw a parade and a dance with drumming and horn, with very talented performers. When they finished, they let audience members come up and dance, and it was fun to watch little kids go up and dance in the Hanbok, and even more fun to see ajumas (older Korean women, specifically those who tend to wear a certain style of clothing and enjoy similar activities specific to their demographic) dancing. We also saw an acrobatic show, where an old ajashee (the male equivalent to an ajuma) walks across a tightrope with no rope to catch him if he falls. He did jumps and kicks and was more limber than most athletic people I know who are may age! I got some videos of both performances on my new camera, too. Then we went and rode horses around part of the village, and got to hang out with one of the horses for a bit, and she/he was so mild-mannered. We ran into a rooster and some chickens that got out of their pen, and had to ease our way past them later, but even the rooster seemed to be in a good mood. Later we walked through a folk museum, and it was really interesting to see and read about different significant days and events in Korea, and to see how they were all celebrated throughout history. It felt particularly special to be there with lots of Koreans who were bringing their kids to learn about their history on such a special day of the year, too.
The food was delicious at the village. We got tea before waking around, because it was a chilly day, especially for a Busan-dweller like me! Later we had dinner in our own traditional private dining hut, with a heated floor that was hard to part with. I got tofu stew, with various yummy sides, and we were pretty sure the tofu was made there, because it was amazing (yes, there are huge differences between kinds of tofu, so stop laughing!). On our way out we got pumpkin-rice taffy, which was mouthwatering, but Allina said they don't sell it in stores. Then we got some honey strand candy, where you take honey covered in flour, and then twist it until it's in thousands (yes, thousands, we watched the man do it as a "magic trick") of very thin strands (like honey hair) and then they cut it into smaller sections and then wrap nuts inside. It tastes like a sweet peanut butter ball but it melts in your mouth and it's kind of messy because of the flour.
Overall the day was a lot of fun, and I loved seeing Korean families together, which is kind of rare here. Usually kids are in school and then academies, and parents are at work or at home, so whole families aren't generally out and about. It was fun to see kids having fun, too, as opposed to sitting behind desks or on their way to or from school. Apparently going to the folk village on Seollal (the name for the Lunar New Year) is a really popular activity, and it was really fun to be there with everyone.
Korean stores and restaurants mostly close for the weekend, esp. on Sunday and Monday, though trains, buses and cabs have to work all weekend to get people to their hometowns. On Monday a lot of places were still closed, so Allina and I decided to do something I'd never done before - we got manicures! We headed to the shopping complex at the train station and got our nails done, which was so much more relaxing and fun than I expected. Then we decided to go see a movie, which a lot of people were doing, because going to the movies is another popular past-time here for holidays. While waiting for the movie, we went shopping, which I'm usually not a fan of, but I needed new tennis shoes, so I got a new pair of Chucks and then we went and perused a cute accessory store and I got some fun headbands - which I can't imagine wearing outside of Korea, but here they are very cute and popular. Then we went to the movie, which I'd never heard of but was pretty cute - no thinking required, no confusing plot lines, and no expectations: so it was a lot of fun : )
Before I knew it, the weekend was over and I was back on my way to Busan - along with a lot of fellow travelers. We didn't get into Busan 'til 4am, and the station was surprisingly full of people getting ready to travel back home from Busan on the earliest trains, or returning along with me, to start the work week again.
All-in-all it was a lot of fun to be here for the holiday, to be part of the mass of travelers, to be at the folk village on one of the biggest days of the year, and to come back to Busan with the feeling of coming home to the familiar. Now, time to get into a new year!
On Sunday we decided to head to the Korean Folk Village in Suwon because they were having special performances. We didn't realize what a popular destination it would be, assuming that most families would be home having traditonal meals and private celebrations. When we arrived, though, the parking lot was almost full, and the lanes of the village were swarming with families, some in the traditional Hanbok (Korean traditional dress). The kids were adorable in their Hanbok outfits, but sadly it was a pretty muddy day there, with the snow melting into spring, so a number of cute shoes got covered in mud - including my own!
We walked around and saw traditional homes from northern, southern, and island regions, as well as traditional pottery, wood carving and metal craft, which was cool. We caught a few traditional performances, too. We saw a parade and a dance with drumming and horn, with very talented performers. When they finished, they let audience members come up and dance, and it was fun to watch little kids go up and dance in the Hanbok, and even more fun to see ajumas (older Korean women, specifically those who tend to wear a certain style of clothing and enjoy similar activities specific to their demographic) dancing. We also saw an acrobatic show, where an old ajashee (the male equivalent to an ajuma) walks across a tightrope with no rope to catch him if he falls. He did jumps and kicks and was more limber than most athletic people I know who are may age! I got some videos of both performances on my new camera, too. Then we went and rode horses around part of the village, and got to hang out with one of the horses for a bit, and she/he was so mild-mannered. We ran into a rooster and some chickens that got out of their pen, and had to ease our way past them later, but even the rooster seemed to be in a good mood. Later we walked through a folk museum, and it was really interesting to see and read about different significant days and events in Korea, and to see how they were all celebrated throughout history. It felt particularly special to be there with lots of Koreans who were bringing their kids to learn about their history on such a special day of the year, too.
The food was delicious at the village. We got tea before waking around, because it was a chilly day, especially for a Busan-dweller like me! Later we had dinner in our own traditional private dining hut, with a heated floor that was hard to part with. I got tofu stew, with various yummy sides, and we were pretty sure the tofu was made there, because it was amazing (yes, there are huge differences between kinds of tofu, so stop laughing!). On our way out we got pumpkin-rice taffy, which was mouthwatering, but Allina said they don't sell it in stores. Then we got some honey strand candy, where you take honey covered in flour, and then twist it until it's in thousands (yes, thousands, we watched the man do it as a "magic trick") of very thin strands (like honey hair) and then they cut it into smaller sections and then wrap nuts inside. It tastes like a sweet peanut butter ball but it melts in your mouth and it's kind of messy because of the flour.
Overall the day was a lot of fun, and I loved seeing Korean families together, which is kind of rare here. Usually kids are in school and then academies, and parents are at work or at home, so whole families aren't generally out and about. It was fun to see kids having fun, too, as opposed to sitting behind desks or on their way to or from school. Apparently going to the folk village on Seollal (the name for the Lunar New Year) is a really popular activity, and it was really fun to be there with everyone.
Korean stores and restaurants mostly close for the weekend, esp. on Sunday and Monday, though trains, buses and cabs have to work all weekend to get people to their hometowns. On Monday a lot of places were still closed, so Allina and I decided to do something I'd never done before - we got manicures! We headed to the shopping complex at the train station and got our nails done, which was so much more relaxing and fun than I expected. Then we decided to go see a movie, which a lot of people were doing, because going to the movies is another popular past-time here for holidays. While waiting for the movie, we went shopping, which I'm usually not a fan of, but I needed new tennis shoes, so I got a new pair of Chucks and then we went and perused a cute accessory store and I got some fun headbands - which I can't imagine wearing outside of Korea, but here they are very cute and popular. Then we went to the movie, which I'd never heard of but was pretty cute - no thinking required, no confusing plot lines, and no expectations: so it was a lot of fun : )
Before I knew it, the weekend was over and I was back on my way to Busan - along with a lot of fellow travelers. We didn't get into Busan 'til 4am, and the station was surprisingly full of people getting ready to travel back home from Busan on the earliest trains, or returning along with me, to start the work week again.
All-in-all it was a lot of fun to be here for the holiday, to be part of the mass of travelers, to be at the folk village on one of the biggest days of the year, and to come back to Busan with the feeling of coming home to the familiar. Now, time to get into a new year!
Monday, February 01, 2010
A Visit to Seoul
Since our extra classes and daytime schedule ended on Friday, I decided it would be a good weekend to head up to Seoul. I ended class at 8 on Friday and didn't start again until 4pm today (Monday) so it was my longest weekend to date. It gave me the chance to see my friends from training last September, as well as to pay Shana a visit in Anyang.
On Saturday my friend Rachelle (my roommate during training) and I decided to head over to Seoul Tower for a view of the city. Oddly enough, I turned around after getting my ticket and I hear, "Hello Kendra Teacher!" Behind me in line was one of my students who was also visiting Seoul over the weekend with his family. I'd joked about maybe seeing him that weekend, but it seemed like an absolutely unrealistic possibility! We ended up getting a picture of the two of us in front of the window that told how far away Busan was from the tower. The whole thing was bizarre but pretty funny.
I really enjoyed the tower. We took the cable car up rather than walking, but today I discovered that the amount of walking we did over the course of the whole weekend was still enough to wear a hole into the shoes I wore for the trip! When we got to the top of the mountain, we found out that we'd arrived in time to watch a traditional display of fighting skills from the Joseon Dynasty period. It was amazing to watch some of the sword work and the hand-to-hand combat, and I was glad my camera battery lasted long enough for me to get videos of some of the performances.
After the performance we headed up to the tower. There is a very cool display on the first level where people have put up personalized locks all along the guardrail/fence, and you can purchase a lock to write on and leave there, so of course we did that before leaving. It was cool to see all of the locks covering the fence, and fun to be a part of it all.
On the second level, they have labeled the windows with how many kilometers away you are from various cities around the world. I took pictures in front of the ones for Chicago, Accra, and Busan, though I forgot to do NY/DC. I took pictures of a lot of other places as well, just because I thought it was really interesting to know those distances. Plus, they had decorated the windows with the snow paint stuff people use during the winter, and the designs were pretty cool.
After leaving the Tower, we headed over to Insa-dong and went to Jogyesa Temple. They were conducting their evening services, but I really enjoyed just walking around the area and enjoying the sounds of the services ringing through the night. It was very calming and the whole are had the heavy, comforting, and almost eerie feeling that I connect with most places of worship I've been to. I'd like to go back later in the year to see more in the daylight and talk to the volunteers there more about the temple. Rachelle filled me in on some things she knew, but it seemed like the kind of place that deserves more of my time in the future.
After the temple Rachelle and I joined up with the other two guys we trained with for an amazing dinner at a place called Butterfingers Pancakes in Gangnam, Seoul. I got a huge garden vegetable omlette that came with two small pancakes and rosemary roasted potatoes. It was so delicious, and the kind of treat that I enjoy stumbling upon here and there: one of those comfort food meals that remind you of home, and are so hard to find here. It was a great place for a reunion, too, and it was nice, though a bit surreal, catching up with my friends from training. It felt like that first week again, when we were all so unsure of what to expect, but now here we are, almost five months later, and all settled in to new lives and new routines. Pretty crazy.
After dinner I headed out of the city to Anyang, a suburban-ish city that's still on the subway line out of Seoul. There I joined up with Shana and we had a nice, chill time with some of her friends and walked around the city some. On Sunday, we headed into Seoul to Yongsan, where there is a huge electronics market - Electroland, as it's called. My camera had been eating batteries like it was starving. After a few months of wasting money on AA batteries every time I wanted to take pictures, and then having my camera die just before the best part of a sunset, or right when I wanted to get that funny moment captured...I had finally gotten impatient. It was time to invest in a new camera, and Shana had gotten hers in Yongsan and she has a great camera, so I decided to go for it. I decided to stick with Olympus, in part so I wouldn't have to change the kind of memory card I had, and in part because it seems like my family has always had an Olympus, so I figured I'd keep up the tradition. Besides, the guy let me play with the different cameras, practice taking pictures, check out the features, etc, and the one I settled on seemed like a wise choice for the long-term. So, I went home to Busan with a pretty new camera that will hopefully last me as long as (or longer than!) the previous one (6 years, I believe) and which has a battery that recharges through the wall or my computer - so no more money wasted on AA's.
All-in-all, it was a great getaway weekend, and, just like last time, it felt amazing to come back to Busan and feel like I was home.
On Saturday my friend Rachelle (my roommate during training) and I decided to head over to Seoul Tower for a view of the city. Oddly enough, I turned around after getting my ticket and I hear, "Hello Kendra Teacher!" Behind me in line was one of my students who was also visiting Seoul over the weekend with his family. I'd joked about maybe seeing him that weekend, but it seemed like an absolutely unrealistic possibility! We ended up getting a picture of the two of us in front of the window that told how far away Busan was from the tower. The whole thing was bizarre but pretty funny.
I really enjoyed the tower. We took the cable car up rather than walking, but today I discovered that the amount of walking we did over the course of the whole weekend was still enough to wear a hole into the shoes I wore for the trip! When we got to the top of the mountain, we found out that we'd arrived in time to watch a traditional display of fighting skills from the Joseon Dynasty period. It was amazing to watch some of the sword work and the hand-to-hand combat, and I was glad my camera battery lasted long enough for me to get videos of some of the performances.
After the performance we headed up to the tower. There is a very cool display on the first level where people have put up personalized locks all along the guardrail/fence, and you can purchase a lock to write on and leave there, so of course we did that before leaving. It was cool to see all of the locks covering the fence, and fun to be a part of it all.
On the second level, they have labeled the windows with how many kilometers away you are from various cities around the world. I took pictures in front of the ones for Chicago, Accra, and Busan, though I forgot to do NY/DC. I took pictures of a lot of other places as well, just because I thought it was really interesting to know those distances. Plus, they had decorated the windows with the snow paint stuff people use during the winter, and the designs were pretty cool.
After leaving the Tower, we headed over to Insa-dong and went to Jogyesa Temple. They were conducting their evening services, but I really enjoyed just walking around the area and enjoying the sounds of the services ringing through the night. It was very calming and the whole are had the heavy, comforting, and almost eerie feeling that I connect with most places of worship I've been to. I'd like to go back later in the year to see more in the daylight and talk to the volunteers there more about the temple. Rachelle filled me in on some things she knew, but it seemed like the kind of place that deserves more of my time in the future.
After the temple Rachelle and I joined up with the other two guys we trained with for an amazing dinner at a place called Butterfingers Pancakes in Gangnam, Seoul. I got a huge garden vegetable omlette that came with two small pancakes and rosemary roasted potatoes. It was so delicious, and the kind of treat that I enjoy stumbling upon here and there: one of those comfort food meals that remind you of home, and are so hard to find here. It was a great place for a reunion, too, and it was nice, though a bit surreal, catching up with my friends from training. It felt like that first week again, when we were all so unsure of what to expect, but now here we are, almost five months later, and all settled in to new lives and new routines. Pretty crazy.
After dinner I headed out of the city to Anyang, a suburban-ish city that's still on the subway line out of Seoul. There I joined up with Shana and we had a nice, chill time with some of her friends and walked around the city some. On Sunday, we headed into Seoul to Yongsan, where there is a huge electronics market - Electroland, as it's called. My camera had been eating batteries like it was starving. After a few months of wasting money on AA batteries every time I wanted to take pictures, and then having my camera die just before the best part of a sunset, or right when I wanted to get that funny moment captured...I had finally gotten impatient. It was time to invest in a new camera, and Shana had gotten hers in Yongsan and she has a great camera, so I decided to go for it. I decided to stick with Olympus, in part so I wouldn't have to change the kind of memory card I had, and in part because it seems like my family has always had an Olympus, so I figured I'd keep up the tradition. Besides, the guy let me play with the different cameras, practice taking pictures, check out the features, etc, and the one I settled on seemed like a wise choice for the long-term. So, I went home to Busan with a pretty new camera that will hopefully last me as long as (or longer than!) the previous one (6 years, I believe) and which has a battery that recharges through the wall or my computer - so no more money wasted on AA's.
All-in-all, it was a great getaway weekend, and, just like last time, it felt amazing to come back to Busan and feel like I was home.
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