Orange Hands and Raw Fish

Sunday morning, Tracy and I went to the Library for another culture program. Apparently it's a community development sort of project they're doing for the benefit of foreigners in town. Each month they have a different event that highlights an aspect of traditional Korean culture. Last month it was a lecture (entirely in Korean) about natural fabric dyes. This month, they loaded us into a bus (the other foreigners are Philippino and Chinese), and brought us to a "farm" location in the country where we did our own dying! The location was beautiful. It's always nice to go somewhere away from the noise of traffic. There were fruit trees, zucchini plants, a cow, some turkeys, a goose, and a million spiders. We were each provided a white t-shirt and a tub of reddish muddy water to soak them in. After rinsing, soaking, and hanging out shirts up to dry, we ate a snack of grapes, corn, and sweet potatoes. The corn and the sweet potatoes are just steamed and served "as is." I guess they're very traditional Korean snacks. And these sweet potatoes don't look quite like what we're used to in the US. They're yellow inside rather than orange, and their texture is closer to that of a regular potato. Anyway, it was a great time! A cultural activity for free :) I made sure the library folks let me get back to Dangjin in time for English service at 1:00. I just barely made it there in time. I helped with the singing again (it's becoming a regular thing), and we had 3 new songs, by my repeated request. I've actually gone through a book they have of Korean versions of many songs I know and chosen a list that I think would be good. Slowly we'll be introducing them. It was nice to have something new. We've sung the same 10 songs so many times.... After church, Mr. Lee #1 had invited my roommates and I to go with him to the sea. Jane and Mr. Lee #2 accompanied us. We went to a fishing center called something like "Anhong." There we saw the fishing boats being unloaded (when I saw them pull up bunches of fish in a net, all I could think of was Finding Nemo: "Swim down! Swim down!" ;) ), and the place where they put them on ice. All along the waterfront there are fish vendors. All kinds of fresh fish. There were also numerous restaurants. Apparently raw fish is very popular in Korea. We could even see ladies gutting the fish right in front of us. Actually, the whole reason Mr. Lee (#1) wanted to take me to the sea was so I could try raw fish. He said it was delicious. So, we found an open air restaurant and sat down. All around the picnic tables there were tanks with different shellfish and other creatures that were still alive. Included was a large tank of small squid. That was what was ordered for us. The shopkeepers proceeded to fish them out of the tank one by one and toss them into another basket. Man, those things are creepy when their legs are going all over the place! That was nothing compared to what happened next. The lady came over to the basket with a pair of scissors and started cutting them apart! First she'd chop the head off, toss the legs into a separate basket (where they'd crawl around like a freaky sea spider or something), then cut a slit up their head and remove the ink sack and other innards. Occasionally one of these cuts would cause the squid to make a squeaking noise! From there she brought everything over to a cutting area, sent the heads through a slicer, and chopped the legs all apart (which didn't completely stop them from moving). This all went directly into baskets and onto our table. During this process I really felt like I was part of "Fear Factor" or something. Because we (the foreigners) were a little iffy about the raw fish, they also got some roasted squid. This apparently was just a whole squid wrapped in foil, cooked, and then sliced apart. All the ink and "squid poop" was still inside. Well, I know you're wondering if I ate it. I did. I ate some of everything. Actually, quite a bit of everything. My roommates couldn't stomach much (they were a little ill from the night before), and I knew it was expensive, so I ate raw squid, and roasted squid--even parts with ink and stuff! I was pretty proud of myself :). After awhile they sent some of the raw stuff to be boiled. That was nicer. We're used to that from soups and other dishes. Anyway, none of it tasted awful. It really didn't have too much of a taste. The taste comes from the sauce you dip it in. There's a spicy red sauce, a red bean sauce, and a green wasabi sauce (that I steered clear of). Although it wasn't that bad, looking back on the pictures (and videos of squid being chopped), I am pretty horrified that I ate that stuff. You'll have to see the pictures, but I can't post them at this moment. I will get them up eventually, though :) After the squid escapade, we got some ice cream and cookies and then went to a vineyard and sat and ate grapes. These were lovely seedless green grapes like I'm used to from the states. Generally around here you get purple grapes that have big seeds and sour skins. It was a nice treat. I felt like I had been thoroughly spoiled by the end of the day. Mr. Lee (#1) treated us to everything! What a day!

Ten....

Today marks exactly two months since I arrived in Korea. I also realized that I've passed my previous record for length of time out of the U.S.--by almost two weeks already! Indonesia was my longest time away, and that was only 7 weeks. I'm going on 9 weeks here. "So, how are you feeling, April?" Honestly, I'm pretty homesick right now. I'm not too depressed (God's Word is keeping me from that), but I could really go for a weekend in Ohio or Wisconsin or Fort Wayne or Michigan or even Bremen. Guess I'll have to wait awhile for that. In other news, I'm going to have a visitor in less than three weeks!! Jason confirmed his tickets yesterday, and I'm so excited! He comes on September 12. If you have any specific questions about Korea, post them in my comments, and I'll write a post about it. It's easy to forget what's "unusual" here that you'd be interested in hearing about. I'm so used to so much of it by now...

A Few Amusing Stories

1. Yesterday, I went to market with a couple Korean friends. As we were walking through, an older man said, "Hello! Ok!" Now, this is not unusual. Everywhere I go people will yell greetings and other things in English to me. They get such a kick out of using their English and hearing me respond. Anyway, this guy didn't just want to say "hello," he wanted to stop me and talk to me. He kept saying "Hello!" and "Ok!" and then babbling on in Korean. He grabbed my hand and then hugged me and told Sang Mi to tell me what he was saying. I guess he used to be a captain or something in the military, and must like Americans :). It was cute. 2. When I was talking to the high school students yesterday, they were commenting on Benjamin's hair. He went back to Kenya a couple weeks ago, and when he returned, he had shaved off all his hair. This was very shocking to the Koreans--they can't get over how "strange" he looks. Of course, this is totally normal for Africans. Well, when the students were trying to describe it to me, they said something like, "Benjamin-- hair -- deleted." That really cracked me up to hear it described like that--hee hee! 3. Today I was chatting with some of the young adults I had met at church last night. One of the guys was being referred to as "Water Hippo" or "Cow." He told me that he didn't want to be called that. So, I asked him what his English name was. He thought for awhile, then said, "My name is 'come'--- 'Beh-come' (Beckham)." Clever. And, I've finally added pictures to my photo album! Click here.

"What's Your Blood Type?"

It's very common in Korea to judge someone's personality by their blood type. I wasn't exposed to this until these past two days. First, there was an especially hyperactive child that refused to listen to Tracy, and when she brought him to the office to have someone talk to him about it, he excused his behavior by saying he had O type blood. We were quite amused. Then, today in English Bible study, one woman was mentioning how she has difficulty with a hot temper. Others asked what blood-type she was, and when they found out she was also O, they pretty much excused her temper as being normal. Then they started guessing what other people's blood types were based on their personalities. I'd never heard of such a thing! After that, I met some of the high school students so they could practice English. In the midst of all the normal questions I get ("where are you from?" "do you have a boyfriend?" "do you like Korean food?"), they asked me my blood type! Strange. Researching on the internet, it looks like it was originally a Japanese idea. That's amusing as well. There is quite a bit of hostility between Koreans and the Japanese. I learned that in history class, they spend a good deal of time on China, but very little on Japan. They also celebrate the day Hiroshima was bombed because it meant their freedom from Japan. There's also an island (Dokdo) that is disputed between Korea and Japan. The high school students would even admit there was a dispute--they say it's Korea's land! They also asked me if I like Japan or Korea better. I was able to tell them that I've never been to Japan, so of course I like Korea better. :)

Teaching

Another week of teaching has come and gone... I thought I'd give you a little description of teaching is like here for me- At Mirae there are three foreign teachers, and 4+ Korean teachers (the principal does some teaching, and there are some teachers that just teach a class or two). We take turns with the classes. I have my classes two or three times a week, depending on their English level. The other days they are with a Korean teacher who takes care of teaching grammar. My main objective is to get the kids to practice pronouncing English correctly. The classes get older throughout the day. I have my youngest ones at 2:30, and middle school at 7:30. Two days a week I also have an adult class after that. Each class has a book that we're supposed to complete within the quarter. The books are determined by the English level of each class. Each age group of kids is classified into A, B, C, D and E categories, A being the most advanced in English. We will be finishing a quarter at the end of this month. At that point some of my classes may change, and we'll be switching books. The teachers get a lot of input into what book to use--making judgements based on how difficult or easy the last one was for the students. As a teacher I'm also given a lot of leeway in what I do with the kids. As long as we're making adequate progress in the book, I can use extra class time to play games with them or make projects or whatever. I try to come up with activities to reinforce what they're learning in the class. Some curriculums give more ideas than others. And, I don't have a teacher's guide for any of the books except adult class, so sometimes I have to make up what you're supposed to do on a page of the book. Anyway, it's a good job. I love the kids. I just wish sometimes that I could just be their camp counselor or something instead of their teacher. It's easier to have fun with them than to teach them :). Discipline is challenging, especially because I don't speak Korean. Well, it's time to head to English Language Bible Study. Have a good weekend!

A "Long" Weekend

Technically, that's what it was--Monday was a national holiday. But of course, as is often the case with vacation, it didn't feel long. I could've gone for at least two more days! Well, except for the fact that I'm trying to save money... I wanted to wait to post until I got some pictures up, but the computer's being weird about it, so you'll have to wait a little longer on that. Friday night a bunch of us went out with the new foreigner who had just arrived. He's an Aussie who will be teaching at the school where the Irish couple was. It's so funny to hear his accent and the slang he uses. It quickly became apparent that although he speaks English, we don't speak the same language :). It was a really late night, though. My latest since I've been here. Saturday I got up to go to English Bible Study at church. After the study they ordered in lunch for us. Then I went home to take a nap before meeting up with church friends later on. They came over to the apartment and we caught the end of a movie on tv and ordered "fire chicken" and sweet potato pizza. The sweet potato pizza was much better than the Hawaiian pizza we had for the soccer game. I think it was the same pizza place, so there must just be some pizzas they do better than others. Walked around Dangjin some after that, got some Yofruito (frozen yogurt with fruit) and taught Benjamin and Min Hyung ("Brian") how to play Rummy. Cards are not very popular with the people around here. Maybe I can encourage them to try it more... ;) Sunday I went to 11:00 Korean service and 1:00 English service. I led a prayer in English service. Mr. Moon played "This is My Desire" again for everyone else to learn. It turns out that some of the students who were there the week before recorded me singing on their phones. So weird. Like most people, I don't like listening to my own voice, so I was pretty embarrassed. After church, Sang Mi ("Jane") and I went to the theater to watch "The Fantastic Four." It was enjoyable to watch a clean movie in an air-conditioned theater on a hot day. Sang Mi really enjoyed it, too. We caught up with "Rainy" and Sang Mi's friend, Mi Ok ("Carrie"--who looks a lot like Jen Buck, if you ask me) later and took Mi Ok's car to see a valley. We drove by a couple small lakes and lots of hills and fields. Very pretty. That's one thing Northern Indiana doesn't offer--hills. Anyway, we got to the place just before the sun went down, walked around a bit, took some pictures, and then sat down to eat dinner outside. While we ate our dinner, the mo-gee (mosquitos) ate theirs :(. Monday morning I woke up fairly early, went running (you would not believe how sweaty you can get in this weather!), and met the same three girls (Sang Mi, Mi Ok, and Rainy) to go to the beach. On the way there I spent my time studying some more Korean. We went to a place called Malipo. It was a nice sand beach, but super crowded, of course. Not only is it summer in Korea, but it was a holiday! I was the only one of us girls who wore a swimsuit and went all the way in the water. They were being very "Korean" and didn't want to get to dirty or anything. The way the girls here in Korea primp and dress, even when doing things like climbing or going to the beach, is quite amusing. Anyway, they got a kick out of my approach to the beach. It is especially strange for me to want to spend time in the sun. They're all desperately trying to keep their skin white. I need to remember about the UV rays here, though. They seem more powerful than back home. I've gotten sunburnt a few times after relatively little exposure. After walking down the beach and taking a whole bunch of pictures, we ate nang-myon (cold noodles) for lunch, sat in the shade sipping "cider" (basically Sprite), and then went to a nore-bang. Yeah, we're strange. Those girls love to go, and always sing the same songs. It's cute. Our music selection is quite different with them than it is when I'm with the other westerners. But, I feel a lot more free to try out songs I'm not as comfortable with. When we got back to Dangjin, I invited the girls up for dinner. I made some garlic potatos (inspired by Laura Buck) and heated up the left over kimchi chigay (kimchi soup) we had from school. Nothing fancy, but the girls really enjoyed it. They kept raving about the potatos, even though they're a very simple dish. They just thought it was a good idea for how to cook potatos (way to go, LB!). That brings me to today. Back to teaching. The day went pretty quickly, considering it's a Tuesday. My throat is sore from raising my voice, though. Even when the kids aren't bad I have to raise my voice to get their attention. Hopefully I'll have those pictures up for you soon.

"Korean Age"

I didn't realize as I was travelling to Korea that I was time travelling as well. Upon arriving here I immediately gained two years. When people here ask how old I am, my answer is 24, although I was 22 in the U.S. Here's how it works in Korea: When you are born, you are 1 year old. They just skip 0. Then, when the new year comes, you gain a year. Your age doesn't change on your birthday. So, if my brother, born on New Year's Eve, was born in Korea, he would've been 2 years old on his second day of life. Weird, huh?

Immigration

Today Mr. Kim and Mrs. Baek took Tracy and I to another city to begin processing our Alien Registrations. We had to bring our passports and several passport-sized pictures. It was an adventure in itself to go to a photo studio and have a woman who spoke absolutely no English try to tell us how to pose and which way to turn our heads, etc. But today going to the office was smoother because we had Koreans with us. All we needed to do was be there and sign the papers that had already been filled out for us and turn in our passports. It was especially strange for me because of my experience working with refugees in Fort Wayne. There, I was the person filling out forms for people who didn't speak English and just having them sign their names. Then, I would take them to the SS office just so the staff could see them and make sure they matched their pictures. Today I was on the other end. I was the one who didn't speak the language and just signing my name without understanding what was happening. So strange!

Vacation Day 5 and more

Wednesday was almost entirely all travelling. We caught a bus back to Sokcho and arrived at the inter-city bus terminal at about 10:00. Unfortunately all the buses to Seoul were full until 1:00. So, we waited around the city for 3 hours, finally got on a bus, and then rode that bus for 7 hours. Ugh. At least we could just sit. Too much walking would not have been good. From Seoul we got back to Dangjin with no problems. When we got to our apartment, however, the power was out. It appeared it had been out for quite some time, too. The freezer was all melted and the refridgerator was warm. So, rather than going right to bed, we spent an hour cleaning it out. It needed a good cleaning, but it would've been better if it wasn't right when we returned. We found a switch to turn the power back on right away, so that wasn't a problem. Apparently there had been tons of rain here while we were gone, and something about that makes the breaker switch off. Thursday and Friday were regular days of teaching. Many kids are still away on vacation, so some of the classes were smaller and more relaxed than usual. Saturday I headed to church for English Bible Study, but no one was there. I went up to the church office and found Mr. Moon. They had decided to cancel because Benjamin was gone (he's in Kenya for his brother's wedding). But, Juliet had left a message for me there to call her. When I did, she invited me to accompany her family to the beach. I went with her and her husband and their two little kids to the coast and just relaxed. It was good to talk with them and have time to sit and enjoy the sea breeze. The beach was a rocky one, not good for swimming, but it was such a hot day that it was just nice to have the cooler air from the sea blowing. When we got back to Dangjin, Jane was waiting for me. She asked me to do her a favor of reading aloud some passages in an English textbook for her to record for one of her students. After that she took me out to dinner. While we were at the Kim-Bop house, it started raining. She was so afraid for me to walk back in the rain. It was bearly sprinkling when we left, but she kept wanting me to get a taxi or something, although we were quite close to my apartment. Eventually I convinced her that the rain wouldn't hurt me and headed home for my 8:00 "appointment" :). Sunday was really nice. I went to the 11:00 Korean service at church, and one of my Korean co-workers showed up. We ate lunch at church and then had English service at 1:00. I helped Juliet lead worship. Mr. Moon spoke because Benjamin is gone and had a very good (although brief--in his words "Little English means little message") sermon. He concluded his message by playing a song in English I knew. It was a song that meant a lot to me in high school-- I remember it first from an Acquire the Fire conference ("This is My Desire"). I sang along with it from my seat, and then when his sermon was finished, people who had noticed me made me get up in front and sing it again. I was touched by the song, and it must've shown, because everyone came up to me afterward and commented on how it was very "emotional" and they liked it, etc. Then I worked with Juliet and a piano player on Shout to the Lord so we could do that song next Sunday. They decided they should just record me singing it. It was rather embarrassing. I've really become a celebrity there, which is quite odd. But, if I can use musical talent to encourage them and glorify God, that's good. Last night was the "big" Korea vs. Japan soccer game. Even people who don't normally watch soccer will watch it when Korea plays Japan. We had some friends over and ordered pizza. Pizza here has proved disappointing, unfortunately. There is very little sauce, the cheese tastes different, and they put corn on it. Strange. I think I'm finally caught up to today! I hope you all had a good weekend!

Vacation Day 4

On Tuesday we planned to visit two separate parts of the park. First (after a waffle breakfast), we went up the cable car. That is definitely the cheater way up :). From the top of the cable car route, you can climb another 10 minutes to a peak. Some of that climb was a little precarious, but they've actually created some stone steps with cement to help you get up. From the peak you could see so much! It was really windy up there, too. You can see that in my pictures. It's hard to believe you're as high up as you are when you're there. It just sort of feels like you're in front of a backdrop or something. Once we descended we stopped by a huge Buddha statue, and started on our next hike. All we knew about it was that the famous "tottering rock" was somewhere on the trail, and it went to another "rock" called Ulsan-Bawi, and there were several Buddhist temples along the way. Tracy and I took the trail slowly because we were already tired from our adventures of the last two days. We stopped at one of the convenient rest stops for a lunch of Bibimbop. Korea is really all about convenience. These rest stops are scattered along all the trails and offer anything you could possibly want to drink, traditional Korean food, ice cream, numerous touristy souvenirs, and clean bathrooms (that even have toilet paper). The beaches and the campgrounds have similar conveniences. Anyway, before we knew it, we had made it to the cave temple where the "tottering rock" was. Almost every Korean that goes to Soraksan gets their picture taken in front of this rock. It's a huge bolder that can be moved (very slightly, mind you) by just one person. So, we each took our turn pushing the rock. We were quite tired by this point, but it seemed a shame to get halfway down the trail and turn back. Thus, we continued on. As the trail continued, it got steeper and steeper. Eventually it became apparent that the end was at the top of a huge rock formation we could see through the trees. It was very tempting to turn back, but we were already almost there (or so we thought). The climb turned out to involve over 800 metal steps, plus many more stone steps. It was SOOOOOOOOOOO difficult. We likened our climb to Frodo and Sam carrying the One Ring to the top of Mt. Doom. When we FINALLY reached the top, I was SO dead. I had to just sit for awhile before even getting out my camera to take pictures of the view. I really didn't know how I'd be able to make it back down. While we were at the top, we had to make a memory. So, we sang "The Sound Of Music" at the top of our lungs! It was great. Something about being exhausted at the top of a mountain in a foreign country really lowers your inhibitions :). Or maybe it's all the practice singing in front of people at the norebang... Somehow, slowly but surely, we made it back to the bottom. My legs were shaking much of the way back. We promised ourselves ice cream when we reached the rest stop, and then planned to have dinner at a pizza house we saw in the park. Unfortunately, when we reached the pizza place, they were all out of pizza! Imagine that! So, we caught a bus back to the hotel, and ventured out to find something else to eat. We ended up at a barbecue place that didn't have any pictures on the menu. We ordered something the waitress called chicken, and sat at an outdoor table waiting for our food. The restaurant was located in a sort of square with different kinds of shops all around. One of the buildings was an arcade. Unfortunately, there was a game near the outside of the arcade that played the same electronic song over and over and over for the entire hour we sat there. Our dinner turned out to be a pile of barbecued chicken. I don't think I've ever eaten that much chicken at one sitting before. I slept very well that night, as you might imagine. And although I tried to stretch out some, I still woke up sore in about every part of my body.

Vacation Day 3

Rain, rain, rain. It was raining when we woke up. Tracy and I went and sat under a shelter by the camp store to wait it out. Eventually we decided to have some "breakfast" (Ramen and Pringles). Soon we were bored, so we chose to pack up when the rain lightened up just a little. We gathered our stuff as best as we could and went back under the shelter for a minute. While there, we were discussing getting to the bus stop, and some men nearby must've heard us. Next thing we knew, one of their sons was driving us with our wet stuff to the bus stop. It was super nice! In general we've found that Koreans are very very nice to us. Other Koreans tell us that it's just to white foreigners they're so nice. Either way, it worked out well for our trip. Other times when we looked lost someone who spoke English would come up to us and help us out. We took the bus back to Sokcho, grabbed some lunch, and then took another bus to the area around Soraksan. Once we got off, we found a hotel quite effortlessly, and then walked up to the national park. Soraksan (literally, Sorak mountain) seems to be Korea's version of Yellowstone. No geysers or anything, but it is the most famous national park in the country. Being vacation season, there were many, many people there. But, I'll bet there are always more people than we're used to at a similar attraction in the US. It was great to see the mountains. I just kept taking pictures, even as we just approached the park. It was beautiful to see "nature" again. It was already afternoon by the time we made it to the park, so we chose a shorter hike to take. It went to two separate waterfalls. This was an especially crowded trail because it is one of the easier ones. Because of the high traffic, there were metal stairs and handrails for much of the trail. It was still a tiring climb. It was amazing to see some of the shoes people ventured up the trail in--some girls were wearing "jellies" (remember those? They're big here), and some even had high-heels on! Crazy. When we got back to the main park area, we bought waffles (yummy!), and headed back to the hotel. I should've gone to bed early, but ended up watching a movie that came on tv. Still, it was nice to have an actual bed and bathroom :).

Vacation Day 2

Sunday I was the first one up. When I looked out and saw that the sky was blue, I had to get out to the beach! I'm glad I did. It was so beautiful and peaceful (can you tell by my pics that I enjoyed it? :) ). I wish I had gotten up earlier! We hit a convenience store for breakfast (pastries with strange fillings and white grape juice with those coconut flesh pieces in it--the ones Jason says are like eyeballs), and then changed for the beach. As the day wore on, the beach got busier and busier. The waves were fairly large, so the lifeguards were really paranoid about people going out in the water far at all. Although still in the buoys, many people were chastised for going out too far. The water was quite cold, anyway, but once and awhile you needed relief from the hot sun and sand. The sand there was super soft. I think the particles may have been even finer than the sand at Lake Michigan. Before long the beach was too crowded, so we headed off to find some lunch. I had seen corn on the cob at some of the outdoor stands, so I wanted to have some. Unfortunately, it wasn't what I was expecting. It was cold, with hard, chewy kernals. I guess they eat it differently here. Ah well. So, we stopped back at the same restaurant where we had dinner the night before. From there, Tracy and I went off to explore some more of the county. I had done some investigating on the website and chose a few interesting locations to check out. What was really interesting was trying to communicate to the bus drivers and find out how much we had to pay. For some reason they all assumed we'd want to go to "Unification Observatory"- A site really close to the border that has something to do with N and S Korea. I guess that's the only place foreigners usually want to go or something! Our first stop was Wanggok Village. Actually, the bus didn't stop where we wanted to, and we had to walk quite a ways to the intersection we missed, and then 1.5 kilometers to the village. All at the hottest part of the day! It wasn't that bad, though. The humidity there was nothing like it is here in Dangjin. It was a nice quiet country road, too. I enjoyed the smell of summer--plants that smelled like the fields in Wisconsin during the summer-- and the sound of birds singing. The village was really cool, too. I guess they're in the middle of construction right now. There were very few signs in English to help us out. It looked like they're constructing some sort of accomodations that look like the old fashioned buildings or something. Anyway, the village was still nice. It felt like what you'd expect Asia to feel like--maybe China or something. Probably what Korea was like 80-100 years ago. People living off the land, quaint houses, gardens of many types of vegetables, and bamboo! I like bamboo. It's pretty. From there we went up to Hwajinp'o Lake. It sounded really nice from the website, and it might have been nicer if there weren't so many people! It was SOOO crowded. I guess it was just the perfect day for the beach, and a weekend during vacation season as well. Besides, the lagoon makes a safer swimming area for young kids. Although, the waves there weren't as bad as at Samp'o. Tracy and I were pretty exhausted by this point, so we kinda napped there for awhile and then headed back to Samp'o. The one thing there that got us excited was the "squeaky" sand. The website talks about it. It squeaks like the sand in Michigan :). The other interesting thing was a guard hut all painted in camoflage colors and surrounded by barbed wire. It made us remember what we had read about the Northern beaches in Lonely Planet (2001): "...they're far less crowded than those to the south, though you're only allowed onto them at certain points and only at certain times of year. in the low season that endless razor wire fence that stretches along the whole of the eastern coast of Korea, separating North from South, is firmly sealed and you'll be arrested (or, worse, shot at) if you venture onto the beaches." -p.183 A strange reminder at a public beach of the conflict between North and South. Back in Samp'o, Tracy and I went looking for dinner. We stopped at a place where they offered us "Chinese Spaghetti." I don't really think it's Chinese, but it was totaly worth stopping there. We saw the guy make our noodles right before our very eyes! He kept stretching and tossing the dough until it was noodle sized, and then it was thrown into a pot of hot water and served up fresh with thick, brown sauce. Very exciting. After that... hmm... I got some ice cream... Maybe that was the night we did fireworks.... I forget now! Anyway, went to bed fairly early again and slept better this time. It started raining during the night, so that quieted people down (besides, we were worn out from our day!).

Vacation Day 1

(I've split this up a little. Click on the title to see pictures!) Saturday we woke up bright and early so we could catch the 8:00 bus to Seoul. Once in Seoul we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts for some sugar, grabbed some genuine club sandwiches, and found the bus to Sokcho. Unfortunately, it seemed like the entire country had vacation the same time we did. What we were expecting to be a 3.5 hour bus ride turned out to be a 6 hour bus ride! The scenery wasn't bad though. Once we got out of Seoul there were more and more mountains. The highway went right through many of the mountains. Those were the longest tunnels I've seen, I think. There was no way to hold your breath through the whole thing :). When we finally arrived in Sokcho, we found and information booth very close to the bus stop where they spoke English. They directed us to the local bus stop where we caught a bus headed North to a beach called Samp'o. When we first got off the bus, it seemed like we were relatively in the middle of nowhere. We didn't see much of a town there. There was, however, a campground, which is what we were looking for. So, we payed our 5000 won for the night, set up the tent, and took off down the road toward what looked like might have restaurants. We found a regular Korean restaurant that I was happy to see served nyangmyon (cold noodles). They really hit the spot on a hot day! I'll miss them when they're out of season :). After eating, we walked around outside to discover some sort of summer festival that was taking place. There were carnival games set up, fireworks you could buy, outdoor restaurants, and entertainment. We looked around for a bit, and then Tracy decided to get a henna tattoo. Meanwhile the entertainment began. It was some sort of clown show involving traditional Korean drums as well. They would do the drums accompanied by modern, upbeat music. We stood off to the side for awhile, but when they noticed us, they dragged us to front and center and made some kids give up their stools! It was obvious we were the only foreigners around. Then they tried talking to us in Korean and stuff. The humor started getting a little sketchy (we could tell just by the body language) and eventually we got sick of not understanding what was going on, so we left. From there we bought a couple fireworks and lit them off on the beach. Then we walked down the beach to the campsite. The sea sounds so neat, but is a little spooky to me at night :). In the distance there were bright beacons all around the perimeter of the bay. We decided to go to bed early (10ish) because the sun was down and we knew it would be up early. However, people around our tent didn't quiet down until 4am or so and started up again at 6am. Not the most restful night of sleep ever...

Back in Dangjin

I know you've missed me... ;) Vacation was excellent. Travelling was less excellent. Today I spent a really long time travelling. When we got home (at 10:00pm) we had to clean out the freezer and 'fridge because the power was out. No fun. Anyway, I have a bazillion pictures and stories from vacation to get up here, but you'll have to wait. Two days of teaching and then a weekend. I should have time then. Here's a one-sentence summary: In spite of large numbers of people, beaches and mountains are wonderful things.