Market, Mountain Hiking, Crazy Koreans, Monica and Kyles' bad karma

Sorry for the late post, it has been a busy two weeks and we find that our afternoons disappear and we don't know where they went.

Two Saturdays ago we went to the Namdaemun Shijang, the oldest market in Seoul, which means "The Great South Gate Market" (thanks Frommer's), the motto of the market is "If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist." Our paychecks were burning holes in our pockets and Monica was eager to buy some fun fancy new clothes and I was hunting for my new camera. We hopped on the subway and navigated our way to the market with some ease, (we are getting better at finding our way around Seoul). The market was BUSTLING. People shouting to advertise their stores, narrow streets with no room to walk, thousands of knock-off brand items, and no rhyme or reason to any of it. Monica was interested in finding a nice purse and some clothes and I was just following until we found a camera shop. We went into a purse shop and Monica looked around while we were followed by a Korean gentleman who was waiting to rip us off any way he could. She didn't find anything so we left with some ideas. We did the same in the next store, and the next, then we found the underground market which was as big as the above ground market. Three hours later Monica and I were both empty handed and hungry. I think the market was just to overwhelming or what we were looking for didn't actually exist. We left Namdaemun to go to Dongdaemun Shijang "The Great East Gate Market." This market is primarily based on fashion and is larger than Namdaemun. Our first thought was to find food before we went shopping. So we wandered down every street we could find for an hour and didn't find any food. A mall then appeared out of nowhere and it thankfully had a food court. Monica looked around the mall, but it became clear that it catered to a higher class of Korean society than we could afford. So our second market adventure wasn't a great success but we are hopeful and we'll try again when it gets warmer. I ended up finding the camera I wanted at the electronics store around the corner from our apartment and instead of going for the brand new, high tech, only available in Korea model, I got a tried and true Canon Eos 450D (Rebel Xsi) DSLR. It takes great pictures and if you have been on my FACEBOOK PAGE you can see some pictures I took of my kids.

This weekend we went out Friday night. We went to a techno club and had a good time until I went to the bathroom and when I came back Monica was dancing with some random Korean guy. (M: We were at least 2 feet apart, so don't be getting any ideas now). I thought it was kind of funny so I sat back and laughed for a minute until I realized the rest of our group was gone. So I grabbed her away and we found our group who went to our regular bar upstairs. The Korean guy then followed us. We were friendly and I made sure to convey the fact that Monica was my girlfriend which he seemed to understand but he still followed. We went into the club and he wouldn't go away. I don't know what his deal was, but it got to the point where he was following us a bit too closely and we needed to shake him. We found our friends and they helped us out some how, but we both learned a valuable lesson, Monica is not allowed to dance with Koreans she doesn't know, and I am not allowed to let her do it. (M: Maybe Kyle shouldn't have to pee every 10 minutes).

On Sunday we decided to find our first temple. We got on the subway and about 4 stops from the mountain we heard a Korean man shouting furiously as he walked through our train car. He then stopped right next to us and threw a gnarly temper tantrum. He was throwing a stack of paper around, he kicked the train door, then he jumped and double kicked the door (which my coworker tells me is a tae kwon do move), then he fell to his knees, gathered his papers, cried a little until the doors opened and ran out screaming and yelling again. Koreans can be a bit scary sometimes, but from what we hear these are somewhat rare events.

We found the Umyeonsan Mt. which is located behind the Seoul Performing Arts Center and has a temple.

We found a trail head and decided to follow it assuming that the temple would be easy to find and a sign had seemed to suggest that we were going in the right direction, but signs don't mean much in Korea. We walked up, took some pictures of the first flowers that were beginning to bloom. The Koreans do a wonderful job of maintaining their trails and they installed exercise stops at random locations along the path all the way to the top, who needs a gym membership? As we walked we realized that we must have gone up the wrong trail and missed the temple because we didn't find it. We made it to the top of the mountain and rewarded ourselves with delicious frozen treats sold by a man who hiked up the mountain with a refrigerator on his back. Monica got a melon pop, I took the "red one" which ended up being a red bean pop. They love red bean, it actually tastes like bad chocolate.

We switched and Monica ended up liking the red bean so much that she kept it, I was so proud, she's getting more adventurous (live octopus here we come!!!).

We found our way down and toured the performing arts plaza for a while and we were treated with a beautiful musical fountain that danced to Bach, Chopin, Mozart etc. We then made our way home and fell asleep from exhaustion.

Monica and I have had some bad luck this week. My misfortune started on Sunday with some ear pain which ended up being an ear infection. I felt terrible on Monday and I thought I had the flu. We were given the location of a Dr. who seems to specialize in foreigners and he gave me an antibiotic prescription and a magical shot that made me feel better within 10 minutes, and an hour later I was running for the subway. I am feeling better now and my hearing is returning. Monica recieved some unfortunate news today. On tuesdays and thursdays she has a class with no curriculum so they watch Disney movies. Well, our director who has been the cause of most of our issues living here decided that Monica's time would be better spent as her private English tutor. I think this may work out to our benefit of being paid on time (M: I'm not so sure about this...), but I understand Monica's distress and we are going to be contacting the recruiter.

On the upside we just got our internet connection hooked up so we can skype whenever there's time.

Love M & K

Cherry blossom buds, new friends, eating bugs, karaoke, and drinking and driving

This weekend our recruiters planned a trip to Jinhae, which is on the southern tip of SK near Busan. The trip was centered around a cherry blossom festival in a town known for them. Monica and I turned down our invitations to the bars Friday night and opted for an early bed time in order to wake up at 4:30am to catch the first train to Seoul which was a 71 minute ride to get to our destination, the Seoul National University of Education, where the recruiter was picking us up. We got to the bus at the requested departure time and waited for the last stragglers to arrive. We met our recruiters who were very friendly, got in our seats, and promptly fell asleep. After our first rest stop, we played a game which had the same rules as speed dating only it was so we could meet the rest of the people on the bus. We were given kimbap, basically a Korean California roll, for breakfast. Koreans don't really understand breakfast food and they eat anything they want for any meal of the day. We then sat and road the bus for the next 3 hrs reading our American literature (The Great Gatsby for me and One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest for Monica).

We arrived at a naval academy for our first stop. We took pictures on the water front, but if we turned our camera toward some of the large "battle ships" an officer would step in to the frame and tell us no. I guess they are paranoid that NK will find out. The best part about the academy was the turtle ship. The turtle ship wasn't built for long range combat it was built to ram into Japanese ships and crush them, sort of like the monster truck of the sea. The top of the ship is covered with spikes, should any Japanese men fall from above and land on top of the ship. Admiral Yi Sun-sin invented the ship, which helped Korea defeat the invading Japanese during the 15th century and he is one of the most honored men in Korea to this day. (They really don't like the Japanese). We took a tour of the boat and then saw a few long-range guns and monuments honoring the Korean navy. The most confusing thing at the academy was a small sailboat from LA. Apparently, a Korean student sailed from LA to Busan in the 90s and because he was the first one to make this kind of journey, they show off his boat, like the Amelia Earhart of SK.

We then left the academy to go to the festival. Unfortunately, it has been too cold in Korea and few trees have started blossoming, but the few that had were very pretty. The festival was really about the market though. Three streets were closed off and tented where every bauble and knickknack you could think of could be found. I was very happy to find a bright orange Yankees cap for $5. Since we haven't been paid yet we weren't really able to shop, but hopefully we will find other festivals to go on treasure hunts at. We found some traditional eastern medicine vendors who specialized in centipedes; alive, dead, in jars, and flasks. I wanted to buy one, but Monica reminded me I couldn't afford it... yet. The food at the market was, for lack of a better word, interesting. There were full pigs turning on spits, various sea creatures hanging from tents, various live sea creatures in tanks, unrecognizable jelly stuff that had no flavor, fried street vendor options that Monica refused to eat, and the Korean treat, boiled silkworm husks. A few of the other foreigners actually bought a dixie cup full of the bugs, but Monica and I didn't really feel like throwing up so we decided not to partake. Maybe after a few bottles of Soju... (Monica: NOTHING could make me want to eat them, especially since the smell alone makes you want to gag, whether the less actually eat a bug. Gross!)! We did however find some delicious snack that you are supposed to eat with tea. Through a very cool process of pulling honey and cornstarch until it becomes thinner than hair, filling it with peanuts and almonds, and Mmmm… is it scrumptious. We have a video of it being made, but the file is too big so we'll post it on youtube later.

The recruiter had planed for us to go

walk on a romantic street lined with

hundreds of cherry blossom trees. Since there weren't any cherry blossoms we went to the beach instead, or at least a place where there was water because I wouldn't really call it a beach. There were people digging for snails or some other shelled creature along the shore, though after seeing the tons of garbage and glass I don't think I'll be eating whatever they were digging up. The beach was really a little walkway to a large rock with a boardwalk around it. We explored the island and I risked a climb down to the water to get my

picture on a small rock surrounded by water. We walked on top of the island and got a good view, but I was eager to see what I could find on the beach. We noticed a family crouching around a rock and laughing at something so we went to check it out. There were small sea anemones clinging to a rock in shallow water. The funny thing about these creatures is that they would squirt a thin stream of water when they were poked. So of course Monica and I found something with which to poke them and made a video.

We then piled back on the bus for the 5hr drive home. We decided to divide and conquer to make more friends on the drive home, and I really didn't care to talk about where to buy the best shoes. I mentioned a while ago that Korea doesn't really have traffic laws. That holds true inside vehicles as well. Our recruiter brought a case full of small bottles of Soju, which were generously handed out for everyone to be merry while we were stuck on the bus. Once we had loosened up a bit the recruiter started noraebong, Korean karaoke. A few bottles of Soju later, Monica and I were rocking “Hey Jude,” which was the best duet of the night, I might add. 3.5hrs of noraebong later we arrived in Seoul, said our goodbyes, and took our 71 minute train ride back home.

Sunday we rested. Not much happened this week while teaching. The owner of our schools is showing her true colors and was a week late in paying the Korean teachers. Monica and I set up bank accounts this morning and we are awaiting our first payment, which will hopefully be today. I am very excited to get my new camera and cell phone and Monica has already planned a shopping weekend in Seoul’s market district. We’ll keep you updated on that!

Love, M & K