Wando Wanderings

With just a few days left of my winter vacation (I have been off for most of January and February - except for one baffling week in the middle of February known as "Graduation Week" when all the schools are open and you go to class, but nobody seems to do very much of anything and you spend your time wishing you were back in India), I decided to wander on down to Wando with Lana and Bryce to see Nicola. We hung out and talked and headed to the beach the next day. Lana and Bryce couldn't stay longer, so they headed back to Gurye. Their absence was filled by Stu and his brand spankin' new BMW motorbike. He spent the next two days giving me, Nicola, Amy, Melisa and Chad rides. Of course, we all had to hit the beach again...





Wando was the first place that I visited in Korea, and that was almost a year ago. Our conversations have shifted to discussions on who is staying, who is leaving, who is moving, what people are doing when they go back, where people are transferring to, which schools etc. It's a bittersweet time of memories of last year, but of everyone sort of looking forwards to a new future. It's hard to think that I will lose most of my core group of friends, both in Suncheon and around Korea. I mean, yes, part of that is because I am leaving Suncheon too, but part of the reason that I am leaving Suncheon is because of those other departures. I can only hope that my second year here will be as amazing as my first.

More pics of Wando can be found on my Flickr site.

Highs and Lows, Pros and Cons OR Different doesn't mean BAD

One of the comments in my last post was asking for the highs and lows and pros and cons of living in Korea. I've been thinking about it, mulling it over in my head... and have decided to to a full post about it, in lieu of just sending an e-mail.

Let's keep in mind that everything in this post (and it's a long one...) is my own personal opinion.

Right, let's go with the good things first, keeping in mind that some of this list is specific to working in a public school (not a hogwan) and/or Canadian Connection, my recruiters.

• Since April 2006, I have been to China, Japan (twice), Malaysia, Singapore and India, today, I started looking up other places to visit (Hmmm, how about Turkey?);
• Today, I paid off one of my credit cards - okay, it was my smallest debt, but it's one less than I had before;
• My workload is hardly stressful - between tons of vacation and lots of classes that get canceled for different reasons, I can count on one hand the number of times that I have actually worked a 5-day week. Also, the "teaching" that I am doing is without corrections, exams, parent-teacher interviews - it's the fun part of teaching, without all the.. umm... "work";
• The friends I've made here - I've met people from around the world. The phenomenon here is becoming friends with a whole different category of people - people who I wouldn't necessarily have been friends with back in Canada;
  
• The view from my apartment - mist on the mountains in the morning, neon signs at night;
• My scooter - I couldn't have afforded one in Canada, nor would I have been allowed to drive one without a license or insurance (in Korea, 50 cc scooters require neither of those two things). And, Do Hyun, my scooter mechanic is wicked awesome;
• Canadian Connection has helped me a lot lately, especially Brendan. I would not want to be in the shoes of some of my friends in hogwans who don't have someone backing them up;
• My vet, Dr Cho - well, he's not technically mine, but Jakob's.
  
• Geez - I can't describe every single thing in detail or we'll be here all day - Okay.... I love temples, graves on the side of the road - especially the ones with the slab of marble rising out of the back of a turtle, passing mudbrick houses in narrow alleyways, vegetable gardens that go up to the roads (using every bit of available land, but still leaving tons of untouched forest and nature), the Wando seaside, the buses (comfy, cheap and you never have to wait long to find one going where you want to go), the mountains and valleys, cheegeu ramyan, veggie kimbap, Julianna's, soju cocktails, old halmoni (grandmothers) that smile at you, children that greet you, seeing people walk around in traditional dress for special holidays, walking into a doctor's office and getting seen right away for, like, $3, with super cheap meds from the pharmacist afterwards, really wicked awesome fruits (apples, watermelons, oranges that don't taste like Canadian cardboard) and veggies (when not pickled, brined or chili sauced), face packs, makeup, scrubbing down at the sauna, TaeKwonDo, Korean fashion (both men and women are super stylish), goguma, those soft honey cookies that look like flowers, Korean boy bands (I want one to follow me around like Gwen Stefani's Harajuku girls), Korean stationery stores, sounding out hangeul (the Korean writing system) and appreciating that King Sejong promoted literacy across classes by inventing such a system, "Art Street" in Gwangju, the lights of downtown Mokpo, looks of shock when someone says something in the teachers room in Korean and I agree with them (it's one of those... umm, I think "I understand Korean" moments. But then it passes.);
  

Still there? And what don't I find so appealing?

• Being far from friends and family in Canada. E-mail, msn and phone calls (thanks Meron!) are no substitute for actually being there. My nieces and nephews, who I only really saw a few times a year because I was living in Quebec before, are going to grow up with this concept of their Aunt being a nebulous figure. Actually, I think I'm becoming a bit nebulous for my friends in Canada too... Just, like, don't forget that I exist, okay?
• Feeling somewhat useless. I have the training and the experience, I can teach, but I am certainly not being used to my full potential here. Most of it is because...
• The Korean education system is baffling. The students are sleep deprived, stressed, cold and hungry. They "learn" English through grammar translation and by rote memorization (that we studied at Concordia as being "Methods that will pretty much ensure that you put way more effort than is necessary into learning a language, but that are so inefficient as to more or less prevent you from learning it"). I can't even begin to describe my frustration, yet feel that I've already said too much. I can't even compare these methods to how I taught in Quebec...;
  
• The treatment of women is disturbing. They are conditioned here to act like little girls, whining and mincing around on stiletto heels, calling their boyfriends "big brother", there are brothels everywhere, and infidelity and domestic violence (link to article) is a real problem here;
• The treatment of animals is also disturbing. Most of my friends (myself included) have adopted animals off the street, with many of those animals (Jakob included) showing signs of abuse. Here is an interesting article and site about the tradition of eating dogs in Korea from the Korean Animal Protection Society;
• The food;
• Not being able to understand Korean logic. No, I am not calling them illogical, it's just a different sort of logic than mine.
• Getting overly excited by cheddar cheese, real chocolate and unsweetened yogurt;
  
• Being completely and utterly dependent on someone (whether a friend or a kindly stranger) to help you with the most banal tasks. The post office has degenerated from being "an adventure" to being "the place where I am most likely to end up with tears welling up and people glaring at me";
• Not offending, even when offended;
  

Teaching in Korea is an experience that is different for every person. I am in a city, with a relatively large and stable foreigner community, and I can choose to live in my English bubble, or face all of Korea head on. Having been the "outsider" before: in Saudi Arabia and in La Pocatiere, I can say that Korea presents its own rewards, and its own challenges.

The concept of Culture Shock is a real thing, and if you move to any country that is not of your own culture, language, tradition etc you will live with it, to some degree, every day. I don't have to embrace every part of the Korean culture with glee, just as I don't embrace every part of the Canadian culture. And, many of my friends who have been home (for a visit or permanently leaving Korea) describe Reverse Culture Shock as being even more difficult to deal with.

Koreans are unapologetic about traveling with kimchi - they like it, so why not bring it with them when they go to, say, India, where they might not like the food? And, when I trip over myself to grab an overpriced slab of bleu cheese off the grocery store shelf, am I not doing the same thing? In La Pocatiere, when I would buy English newspapers and magazines, and not eat tourtiere, I was in no way rejecting the French or Quebecois culture, but choosing to live, for that moment, with my own comforts, my own language.

About Korea: Yes, there are some things that I like more than others and some days that I am ready to just pack up and leave. But... for the most part, I like it here.

Happy Lunar New Year!

Welcome to the Year of the Pig. Okay okay... not a pig, but a BOAR. And not even just a BOAR, but a GOLDEN BOAR. It's a good time to have children, apparently, as they will be "honest" and have lots of friends. No, this is not enough to incite me to reproduce.

To celebrate in Korea, you should, amongst other things, eat "dok", which is crappy bland phlegm-like gelatinous rice dumpling things. Instead of eating dok, however, we (Karen, Stu, Matt, Helen, Gemma and Jeannie) each made a different Indian dish and had a hugely wonderful Indian feast down at Matt and Helen's. It was one of those times when you overeat, but still go back for seconds and then... you sit around and nibble until there aren't even leftovers anymore.

We've got a bit of time off now - the new school term starts on March 2 or 5 or something like that.

I guess I do have some news. I've decided to say goodbye to Suncheon and move on to Mokpo. So, in April, Mr. Shane, Jakob and I will ride the Red Devil the 200 or so kilometres west to Mokpo. Now, this isn't because I don't like Suncheon or anything, but more in the interest of not getting into a rut. Also, there's a whackload of people leaving Suncheon in April anyway, so I just get to sneak off at the same time as them, and nobody will even notice that I am gone. Or, well, actually, they probably will. I am not known for my wallflower-ness, am I?

Other, less important, news: I survived the obligatory post-vacation depression upon my return from India; I wish I had a Korean boy-band to follow me around (soooo jealous); you know, I saw a real boar in India and I almost knocked the poor 120-year-old guide over as I attempted to jump into his arms; my bathroom door now closes completely (yay privacy!); all my clothes "shrank" when I was in India eating fried naan and muttar paneer; have discovered a new Montreal-esque cafe in Suncheon where I can hang out; are you still reading this teeny-weeny font?....

Videos from India

Standing in front of the Taj Mahal and panning across (rather short video):



Karni Mata (The "Rat Temple"). You can hear the rats squeaking...:



Wedding Procession in Bundi - bringing the groom to his bride. We were there during "wedding season" and saw weddings every day. Turn on your speakers for this one...:



Our last auto-rickshaw ride in Delhi. Not our wildest ride, but it gives you a small idea of the road from Connaught Place to Karol Bagh (video is about 1 minute long):

"This is indeed India..."

“... the land of dreams and romance, of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty, of splendor and rags, of palaces and hovels, of famine and pestilence, of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps, of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle, the country of a thousand nations and a hundred tongues, of a thousand religions and two million gods, cradle of the human race, birthplace of human speech, mother of history, grandmother of legend, great- grandmother of tradition, whose yesterdays bear date with the mouldering antiquities of the rest of the nations—the one sole country under the sun that is endowed with an imperishable interest for alien prince and alien peasant, for lettered and ignorant, wise and fool, rich and poor, bond and free, the one land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for the shows of all the rest of the globe combined.” Mark Twain, 1897.

Tokyo... Seoul.... HOME!

Made it home.

Wandered practically sleeplessly through Tokyo. Saw the Harajuku district, but were too tired to do anything.

Just got in to Suncheon. Will post pictures and videos tomorrow.

Happy to be back in Korea, but wish I was still in India.

Last Day in India

Before I left Korea, I declared that I didn't want to see any cockroaches during my visit in India. Meron laughed. Jeannie laughed. Helen laughed the hardest.

And... well.... it ALMOST worked.

Yesterday (that would be the 2nd last day here), we saw a total of 7 cockroaches. Two in Chennai (on the breakfast buffet), 3 little ones in our Delhi hotel bathroom and 2 that met their untimely demise under my shoe (also in our hotel room).

This is our last afternoon here before we embark on a flight to Japan, a day in Tokyo, a flight to Seoul and a mad dash to get back to Suncheon before school starts.

I have loved every single day here (Some days more than others, but still, every day has given me something new and amazing). In the past month, I have become addicted to chai, chapatis and Bollywood. I've worn holes in my camel leather shoes as I've walked filthy laneways, narrow alleys, sandy deserts, dusty roads, hopped over rocks and fences, while dodging cows, freaky hippies, beggars and goats. I've travelled by private car, taxi, jeep, local bus, "deluxe" bus (HA!), camel, horse, scooter, cycle rickshaw, auto rickshaw, and on the back of a motorcycle. I've learned how to haggle with rickshaw wallahs and store clerks, and to differentiate between a tout and someone who is just being helpful.

Wow.

Can't wait to post my pictures.

Chennai (Madras)

Well, we've traded in chapati for dosai, Hindi for Tamil, dust and chaos for neon and billboards, and mirrored Rajasthani tapestries for (what else?) Madras plaid. It's almost as if we've come to a whole other country (again). Look at a map of India and measure for yourself just how far we have travelled over the past month. It's absolutely insane.

Chennai was definitely a good place to finish off this month in India. I'm heading to Pondicherry tomorrow, just for an overnight visit, while Karen stays in Chennai to see if Marina Beach is really the longest beach in all of Asia. We'll get back to Delhi (blech) for one day before we have to leave this glorious country.

I've never spent this long on a vacation in any place, and I don't know if I will be able to find the words to describe everything that I've seen and done. Even the pictures won't do it justice, I know. Yes, Meron, I think I am finally understanding why you want to come back here.

Delhi: A One-Act Play

Karen: Delhi sucks.
Virginia: Yes.
Karen: Let's leave.
Virginia (takes out credit card): Where do you want to go?
Karen: Ummmm...
Virginia: Ummmm....
Karen: I don't care. Anywhere but here.
Virginia: Well, you know I have been dreaming of going to Pondicherry for 10 years.

And so, our heroic heroines book a flight for Chennai for later that afternoon.

to be continued...

Bikaner and Jaisalmer

We've come full circle in just a few days. On Tuesday, we left Jodhpur for Bikaner. The train was late (grrrrr), but our friend Raj waited with us until just before it arrived. Our train ride was, as expected, long and dusty, but we had the pleasure of sharing sweets and gifts with a wonderful extended family (grandmother, gradnfather, uncles, and a sweet little girl who broke the ice). They helped us get a fair price for a taxi-rickshaw and even invited us back to their home (but we couldn't go).

That night was the famous Karni Mata rat temple. It's absolutely amazing. Karen was freaked out by all the squeaking and scurrying rats, but I thought that they felt like strips of velvet running over my feet. Keep in mind that we were visiting a rat-infested buildingm, in the middle of nowhere, at night. Also keep in mind that there were people prostrating themselves in prayer on the floors and kids running around. Rather interesting. Took many pics and video.

The next day, we were up early (4:30am!) for our "deluxe, comfort" bus, which was anything but. It stopped at every shack, hovel and hole in the desert to pick up more and more people. And it was slow, and bouncy, and ... have I mentioned the dust and the blaring horns yet?

It was well worth the trip, though, to arrive at Jaisalmer and the superb Desert Moon Inn, run by Lois and her husband. We'd met Lois in Jodhpur and she is a most fascinating woman.

Jaisalmer is described in Lonely Planet as "a city out of Arabian Nights" and a "fairytale". And it is! The fort is, exceptionally, home to hundreds of people, restaurants, shops and, of course, cows. The narrow alleyways twisting through the gold coloured stone present you with new surprises around each corner. Amazing.

The Desert Festival was also a lot of fun. We enjoyed the camel decorating contest, but found the camel polo game to be a bit long (dusty and hot). I participated in the Foreigners vs Indians tug o' war, and the Foreigners won! Okay, the other team was all wearing sarees and maybe it's just because we outweighed them... anyway. We were quite proud of our win.

This morning, we hired a car (and driver) to bring us back to Jodhpur (no direct flights from Jaisalmer to Delhi). Tonight, we fly back to Delhi, and then.....????????????????????

We honestly don't know, at this point, where we might end up. All we know is that we still have a week here, and we have to be back in Delhi on Feb 8 (we fly out Feb 9 - arrive Tokyo Feb 10 morning, Seoul Feb 10 evening and get back to Suncheon on Feb 11, teaching on Feb 12).

This has been an amazing trip. I can't even express just how I feel right now...