The Seventh Circle of Hell

This morning, I arrived at school to find that I either had no classes, or maybe that classes had changed, or maybe I had some classes, but not my normal Wednesday schedule.

Or something.

This rearranging of the schedule is, of course, completely normal. I haven't taught a full 5-day week since arriving in Korea. Or maybe I did.... once.

At some point, I wandered into the staffroom where a bunch of female teachers were putting what seemed to be peanut butter into plastic cups (it was bean paste). I asked what it was and why they were doing it, and ended up being told that "Today is Teacher Health Day. All Mokpo teachers are going to some random gym to exercise. You will come and help."

I feigned incomprehension. I pretended that I was very busy. Finally, I relented.

I arrived at the gym in the middle of goddamn nowhere and was immediately put to work. I started heaving boxes of food (my school was catering, apparently, and I was part of the food service team). And then, I was told to unpack the food and put it on this table... that is until someone else came along and told me to unpack the food and put it on that table... except for *that* which should be on *this* table. I would have joyously throttled the VP when she pointed at a pile of boxes (containing booze, food etc) and said "Baginia. Move that over there", just after I'd moved it from there .... I guess they'd figured out that I was the strongest girl of the bunch (and not wearing stilettos, or carrying a purse that I refused to put down).

The men, obviously exhausted from their long wait for the food, arrived and scarfed down plates full of raw fish guts, pork fat, kimchi.... and the women ran to get more. The whole food service thing was supposed to be "self-service", which loosely translated means "Men in suits stand here and drink makoli (really freaking strong rice wine) while the women run around and serve you". At one point, having eaten and drunk their fill, the men wandered off to play volleyball (obviously the "health" portion of the day). Every so often, someone would take notice of the only foreigner in a 20 km radius and engage me in conversation.... then they would turn to their friend and say something about me in Korean (which I would respond to, getting the shocked "Oh, damn, she understands Korean" face). Ya... well, I don't really. I can just fake it....

Anyway, at one point, after a particularly uncomfortable conversation with 5 drunken ajosshis (middle-aged Korean men), I wandered off to the gymnasium. Suddenly it occurred to me where I was - I was freezing cold, watching male chauvinism run rampant, surrounded by food I refused to smell, let alone eat, and being harassed by old drunken men, while being forced to watch some of the worst volleyball ever played in the history of time. Ahem.

I was in the Seventh Circle of Hell.

Now, I won't exaggerate and say that it was the Ninth Circle of Hell, because there were a few saving graces: a bag of banana chips and a bag of almonds.

That is all.

No wait. I also discovered that my cell phone has a whole bunch of sucky video games on it....which I played until my thumbs were sore.

Oh, and Mr Pak, the 3rd grade teacher, who is an ajosshi, but not *that* kind of ajosshi. As soon as I found him, I stuck myself to him like glue. Finally, at about 4 pm, after a few unsuccessful attempts by Mr Pak to get a taxi to come out to whereevertheheckweweremiddleoffreakingnowhere, I left.

I stood on the street just outside of Hell for about 20 minutes until I finally managed to flag down a car containing a fluently bilingual angel in the form of a Mokpo National University teaching assistant who drove out of his way to drop me off a few blocks from my house.

Thus my faith in humanity and my love of Korea were both fully restored.

Oh, and I have the day off tomorrow for my school's birthday. So, yeah... I guess a trip to Hell and back is just payback for my charmed life.

Halloween!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As you all most certainly agree, Halloween is the most important day of the year (except for my birthday). Living in a place where Halloween is *gasp* not really celebrated can be difficult, especially when it comes to figuring out a costume. It's amazing to see what people came up with for the Halloween party last Saturday night - there were costumes that had been scavenged from the trash, built, sewn together, painted on, cobbled together from random objects found in one's closet, or in one case, imported from the USA (that girl was thinking ahead).

A few pictures (I actually didn't have my camera with me, so have stolen these photos from my friends):

Jack Sparrow attacks Davy Jones (Jongwon's mask is a dried squid -- they are all over my neighbourhood, though generally used as a snack and not as clothing)

In the "politically correct" category, Alex is a leg-less beggar (quite a few of these guys in Korea)

Richard and Shannon's wicked awesome Goombah (??) and Turtle couple set.

Nicola is eerily perfect as Frida Kahlo.

Me and Ty as very hot pirates. Yeah, all I have to do is wear contacts and straighten my hair, apparently, and my costume is done.

The end of October

So, for the past few weeks, I've been looking at the end of October as just one big looming deadline.

Tomorrow, my school is having a "School Festival" - like a pageant - and my Grade 6 class will be performing a very confusing and morbid play about a little boy frog who inadvertently kills his mother when he goes to Snake Valley. Yeah... Well... I'm super proud of my students anyway. It's been a lot of hard work on their part and a lot of yelling on mine to get them to the point where they are not only reciting their lines, but acting as well.

The School Festival is conveniently on the same day as a huge teachers' meeting that will get all the foreign teachers from around Mokpo together for some workshops. Nicola and I are going to give one of these workshops together, which should be interesting (I hope!). We'll be presenting to about 230 waygook and Korean teachers. I guess, by now, I've given enough of these teacher talks that I shouldn't be nervous anymore... but still.

Saturday night is the Mokpo Hallowe'en Party. I'm a (very small) part of the planning committee. See, I was using my students as a sort of Hallowe'en decorations sweatshop - hoping that I wouldn't have to make any decorations myself because I'd just get them to do it all. Unfortunately, I had forgotten that my kids are pretty much all thumbs when it comes to crafty things. It made for a week of very fun classes though, as we spent most of our time colouring Jack o'Lanterns and making toilet-paper ghosts. I was really proud of a HUGE spider that I made, that lived at the back of the class in a big toilet-paper web. The kids all made smaller versions of my spider and I hung them all over the web. Really awesome.

My article for Cat Fancy has been coming along well. The first draft was written last week, and is now currently being majorly overhauled (hmmm, hard to believe that, with a sentence like that one, anyone wants me writing for them....). I still have a week to finish it up....

And, on Saturday, Ty is going to pretty much move to Mokpo. Since his job doesn't start until December, he will be staying with me for a part of the time (and probably heading home for a visit too). We had a bit of a cohabitation practice this week, and it seems that we are able to live in a small space without clawing each other's eyes out (he does dishes, which is really good because I really don't).

With my school distracted by the festival practices, I managed to sneak away ridiculously early every day - I'm supposed to stay until 5 pm, but I left as early as 12:30 on some days. It was nice to have this mini-holiday - I showed Ty around Mokpo (sometimes on the scooter too), and most evenings were spent with friends. It did make for a very tiring week, but well worth it.

Korean Recipe

As much as I may have complained about the food in Korea before, I'm starting to discover things that I really really like. Here is a very easy recipe that you can try (thanks Jen for recipe). I call them "Crack Noodles" because they are so amazingly addictive. I made some last night, and it was yummariffic.

Korean Chap Chae Noodles

1) Cut up some veggies - make sure the pieces are really small. Think carrots, cabbage, spinach, mushrooms, hot peppers, zucchini... whatever you have in your fridge.
2) Boil up some Korean vermicelli noodles (aka glass noodles or rice noodles). Use very strong broth instead of water. The noodles should soak up all the liquid, so use less than you normally would.
3) Fry up a bit of garlic in some sesame oil (this is the key ingredient that makes chap chae so addictive). Add your veggies and stir around. Add more sesame oil. And more. And more. You can't have too much.
4) Dump in the noodles and stir them around until they are completely coated with oil.
5) Sprinkle on some sesame seeds.

They are easier to eat with chopsticks than anything else and will help you practice your Korean noodle slurping, which is completely acceptable here.

Wee Update

Okay... sorry. I know that I should have updated since the weekend, but I keep getting distracted by random things, like my LIFE.

Cool things that happened this week:

• One of my sweet little kindy kids launches herself into my arms when she sees me and covers my face with pecking kisses. Talk about feeling the love!
• Nicola and I found a place to get *real* veggie kimbap that doesn't contain hidden spam or crab, but that does contain extra veggies.
• French Night is fast becoming the highlight of my week. The morning after French Night is fast becoming the headache of my week.
• Jen gave me cheese from France (that I inhaled) and Alex gave me TIM HORTON'S coffee, that I am totally not going to share with anyone. Ever.
• The first *week* of the three-week celebration of Hallowe'en has been a roaring success so far. I've got a classroom full of paper jack o'lanterns, toilet-paper ghosts and a spider in a web full of baby spiders. Little do my children know that they are actually my Happy Hallowe'en Sweatshop, making decorations for the upcoming Mokpo Hallowe'en Party.
  
• I discovered a place to watch Season 2 of Heroes online at work. This means that I can relax after a stressful day of doing the hokey-pokey and forcing my children to make more and more decorations by putting my feet up in front of my big screen TV.
  
• Annnnnnnnd, Ty is moving to Mokpo. It's a long story, but he's changed jobs (to a much nicer one) and the new job just happens to be within walking distance of my apartment.

Have a good weekend!

Jeju Birthday Weekend or Remembering just how friendly Koreans are in general

What a weekend... and where to begin?

Ty arrived in Mokpo on Thursday night (his dodgy hogwan having given him the day off on Friday for his birthday), and on Friday morning, he came to school with me. We started off with some cake in the staffroom with my Korean colleagues. It was actually quite funny - he stood on one side of the table and everyone else stood on the other side and stared at him and told him he was handsome and giggled... We wandered around the school a bit, getting hugs from the students and whatnot, until it was time for him to teach my classes for me. We'd made a PowerPoint about South African animals and the kids just ate it up. Some were a bit surprised that he wasn't a) Black or b) wearing a loincloth (such is the Korean stereotype on Africa), but he was a total hit with the kids.

After lunch, we ran down to the ferry terminal for our boat to Jeju (my school had given me the afternoon off so that we could get to Jeju on Friday night and not Saturday afternoon). On the five-hour boat ride, Ty managed to make friends with a group of guys from Seoul who were going to Jeju to shoot a movie.... yeah, I know. We should have seen if we could have been extras or whatever, but ... meh. Perusing the brochure, we tried to figure out the best way to get to the southern part of the island (Jungmun/Seogwipo area) - which seemed to be the airport shuttle, but how to get to the airport from the quay? Fortune smiled (as it did for the whole weekend) and we ended up being loaded into a rented van with a random tour group that detoured out and dropped us off at the airport - where we caught the (really cheap) bus to Jungmun and Ty did his Canadian Connection phone interview (that's a whole other story).

We hopped off the bus at a random corner, ran to a depanneur and stocked up on "groceries" (wine, coffee in a can, Pringles...), then grabbed a taxi - asking the driver to take us to a "minbak ... pissoyo no!" (cheap inn). He drove us around for about 15 minutes, stopping at 3 different places before he found us a room, then carried our bags up 3 flights of stairs before wishing us good night (I was a bit worried that he was going to go so far as to tuck us in...). Once again, it was just a case of super-friendly Jeju folk.

The next day (my birthday) was cloudy, but since we would be spending that day underwater, it didn't really matter. We got to Seogwipo, and so began our scuba diving day. A few years ago, I went scuba diving in Cuba (twice) and I loved it - BUT, my ears hurt so much after that I wasn't sure that I'd ever be able to do it again. The Jeju dive would tell me if I was physically able to scuba, which is kind of important when you are seeing someone who owns his own wetsuit.


The boat had taken us to a bit of a rocky... island? Ummm, lump of rock in the middle of the sea, just south of Seogwipo. There were about 40 other people on the island with us - all Korean (except for our dive instructors) and all kitted out like real divers. Because I was not certified, I had my own dive instructor - an American guy named Mark who had lived in Thailand for three years.


We went over all the equipment, the hand-signals and the importance of equalizing (that would be the "not letting your eardrums explode" part of scuba diving) and I just got more and more nervous. We got all our stuff on and hit the water. Being more experienced, Ty went down quite quickly and kind of sat at the bottom and waited to see if I could do it. But... slowly... hand over hand, with a lot of patience on Mark's part, and a lot of nose-squeezing on mine, I managed to get down to 12 metres.

We were diving off the lump of rock/island, which looked like nothing from above water, but was a sheer wall of life and colour. Orange and purple somethings sprouted and shook from the wall, schools of fish moved around, and the bubbly-crackling sound of coral surrounded us. Because I'd taken so long getting down the rope, our first dive felt like it was over before it began. We rested for an hour on shore, then went down again.

The second dive was completely different. First off, I was way more relaxed, so my descent was quicker and easier than the first. And, because I wasn't obsessing over my ears, I could actually look around and enjoy what I was seeing -- like angel fish, a bright orange slug thing, and swimming with Ty. Mark took us further out from the wall, guiding us between narrow passageways. At one point, he floated over me and waved at me with both hands.. ... both hands? He wasn't holding on to me! I had been swimming alone and not even realized it. The three of us knelt on the sea-floor, letting the currents move us, and blissing out over the whole experience.

Once on dry land, we heard that Seogwipo was having a festival for the Cheonjiyeon waterfalls (not to be confused with the Cheonjeyeon waterfalls that I visited on Jeju in July), so we walked down to the pier where we found tents, a huge stage, tons of people and lots of food. We bought a roast chicken (stuffed with rice) that we devoured with chopsticks while watching traditional singers and dancers, smiling at children and being filmed by a TV cameraman (we were pretty much the only waygookin there).


We headed out to try to find these mythical waterfalls, and ended up wandering down to the waterfront, where the sun was just beginning to set. Along the way, I instigated myself into a gang of clapping-dancing ajummas in pink shirts....



On the seawall, we were befriended by a dozen middle school girls who asked us questions, giggled and then foolishly demanded that we kiss so that they could take pictures of us with their camera-phones. An older man approached us, took my camera, and started posing us in front of the sunset.


Once the photoshoot was over, he invited us to join him and his friends for a few rounds of some really good soju. We hung out with them for about an hour, using our limited Korean and a lot of hand signals (and a lot of soju) to understand that they wanted us to have two children (note to Mom: NO).


Feeling a bit tottery, we headed back to the festival, walking through gardens along a stream until we came to the waterfalls, where we sat for about two hours before returning to the stage where the concert was still going strong (and included a dance troupe, a salsa-ing couple and a lady in a red silk pantsuit belting out tunes).


The next day (Ty's birthday) was gorgeous and sunny. We caught a cab with the world's nicest cab driver (I would like the cab drivers of Jeju and Mokpo to change places....) to a bus that would take us around the eastern part of the island -think amazing sea views, cliffs, fields, old stone cottages - and up to Gimnyeong and the Manjanggeul lava tubes... It took a bit of walking from the main road to get to Manjanggeul, but it was a nice walk along a tree-lined road under a bright blue sky, and we ignored our rumbling bellies by singing every song that included the word "road" or "street".

The Manjanggeul tubes are now a UNESCO heritage site, but only really live up to their hype if you ignore the warning signs, climb over the rope barrier and keep walking until you're standing in the dark and cold, listening to water dripping -- until a lava tube employee comes and brings you sheepishly back to the exit.

From there, we headed on back to Jeju-si for our ferry home. Ferry trips between Jeju and Mokpo seem to be an excuse for people to sit around and drink, and dance, and sing, and gamble. It's got to be the happiest (and noisiest) place in Korea (besides Jeju) and is also a sort of "feed the Foreigners" time. During the trip, we got oranges, chocolate, green tea, and gum that tastes like urinal pellets.... and all of these things were handed to us quite randomly by someone who was just passing by or standing in line with us. I mean, how many times have you handed chocolate to a total stranger?

Nothing that I've written here can adequately capture the amazing beauty of this weekend. It was certainly my most memorable birthday ever for a myriad of reasons... including the discovery that I've finally, after 33 years, found someone to travel with.

Thus Commenceth The Birthday Week

Supper with friends at Waltz (vegetarian restaurant)... and various camera shenanigans.

The Best Job in the World

Yesterday, classes were canceled (again), so that we could hike up Yudal with the kids. I spent all day being treated like a rock-star and force fed junk food by my students. Thankfully, I remembered to bring my camera:

One of my special needs kids. She giggles every time she sees me.
Over time, she's gone from barely touching my hand to full-on wrap-around hugs.

Grade 6 teacher, Mrs Myeong (Kindergarten teacher) and computer teacher.

I spent a lot of time self-camming with the kids.
Sweet kid.

Mr Lee (speaks ultra-correct English with me), Ms Jeong, the other secretary, my principal.

This girl is very very very good in English, but I don't like her attitude.

Fragile: She's special needs, very gentle, and one of the most beautiful children I've ever seen.
I worry about her future.

Kindergarten kids: It occurred to me afterwards that the little girl is signing "A" (fingerspelling alphabet).

All my students!

A horrible picture of me, but I had to get this girl on my blog.
Keep an eye on her, she's going to rule the world one day.

Kids playing on sculptures in the park.

At the sculpture park.

Grade 5 kids.
They've put away their horns and pitchforks for now.
(actually, my favourite class at the moment)

Buried under a pile of kids.

My kindergarten class.
The little girl in the yellow shirt next to me is only 3 years old, and knows all her alphabet, colours, and shapes in English. I call her "Kitten" because she meows a lot.

A few of my darling Grade 2 girls.

Lee Seung-jae: Eager to please, good in English (was 2nd top student in my class last term).
And I know his name because he is easily tempted to the dark side and spends quite a bit of time in the hallway too.

My neighbourhood (other side of the hill).

A Day at the Beach

Jongwon, Ty, me, Alex, Sara, Korean BoyBand member
(thanks to Stephany for photo)

Almost every weekend (that Ty visits Mokpo at least), we make glorious plans to explore the islands that are within a stone's throw of the coast.... of which there are literally hundreds. And, every weekend, the weather gods decide to wreck our plans. It's rainy, or cloudy or just plain un-beachy.

Ty and I

Jongwon and Alex

On Saturday, however, we awoke to bright blue cloudless skies (a real rarity in Korea). We rounded up Stephany, Sara (new folk in Mokpo), Alex and Jongwon, and headed out for a day at the beach. Our destination, Weydaldo (aka Oedal-do) is a small, mostly deserted (except for the tacky, and very small, waterpark) island about an hour's ferry ride from Mokpo. The houses are little more than cottages, with concrete paths that link one beachy side of the island to the other. Friendly dogs run about, asking to be pet, but there isn't much else there.

Walking off the pier

Our beach

The island that Alex and Ty swam to

Because it's the "off-season", there was almost nobody on the beach - except for a Swiss lady (who I chatted with in French all afternoon) and a group of 5 young Korean guys (sort of like a Korean boy band) who kept themselves within bikini-viewing distance for most of the day, but otherwise left us alone.

Jongwon

Walking back to the pier

Well - I mean - what can I say? We lolled about on the sand, gazed at the view of water, mini-islands and passing boats, dipped ourselves in the water to cool off from time to time (Ty and Alex swam out to one of the off-shore islands), ate a wee snack and just had a thoroughly enjoyable day.

That evening, most of the Mokpo-ites ended up at Garrett's place for Canadian Thanksgiving. Everyone brought amazing food (no turkey, though), and even a confirmed potluck-hater such as myself had a good time. It may not have been the same as being in Canada, but who can complain? You've got sunburned skin from a day at the beach, great food and you are surrounded by friends...

I have some other good news too. A few months ago, I sent a proposal to Cat Fancy magazine to write an article about the cat situation in Korea, why they are so feared, how (appallingly) they are treated and what is being done (at a very grassroots level) to make things better. I now have a contract to write this article (due in November -- eek - to be published next March). I am now, officially, a "free-lance writer"... or I will be, once they publish the article.

Annnnnnnnnnd... next weekend, for my 33rd and Ty's 27th, we are going to Jeju-do (after negotiating time off from both of our schools) to go scuba diving. He's a rather experienced diver, whereas I have stuck mostly to the snorkelling side of things (except for two real-live scuba dives in Santiago de Cuba about 4 years ago).... if things go well, and if my head doesn't explode from ear pressure, I will then do my PADI Open Water in Bali during my winter vacation (in January -- it was a *very* hard decision to decide not to go to the Middle East - I've been doing nothing but think, read and talk about Turkey, Syria and Jordan. But, that day will come, I am sure).

Pics of Weydaldo and of Taiwan are on Flickr- click the link in the right-hand sidebar to see.