School Science Festival and Looking for Cherry Blossoms

The last post was lacking photos, so this time I'll make it up to you with a lot of pictures from our recent adventures. In case you're behind on the times and still think the biggest news about Korea is surrounding Psy's Gangnam style video, I will just say that you do not watch enough Saturday Night Live. The new topic of interest is the war between the North and the South, that thankfully has remained a war of words thus far.

On Friday, I found out at lunch time that afternoon classes were cancelled due to a school-wide science festival. The students were really excited to test out the model airplanes and rockets they'd built as part of the science of flight. I just hoped that the North would not consider my students' actions a provocation. 

rocket launcher

the rare model plane that didn't just nosedive

The rockets were made from pop bottles and bits of cardboard, while the airplanes were built from metal and paper kits. Most aircraft did not survive their initial flight.  

students waiting to test launch their rockets

students waiting to fly airplanes

Sometimes, the walk home from school is almost as much fun as actually being at school. Now that the weather is nice I can go on the adult-sized monkey bars with no mittens. I only made it 2/3 of the way across, but by the end of spring I'm going to be so pro!

monkey bars!

Saturday morning, we got on the subway and headed to Yeoiudo to see the Cherry Blossom Festival. One of my co-teachers recommended that we not miss it. Unfortunately, I think due to the cold weather, there were very few trees showing off their pretty pink blossoms. We could see that there were many bare trees that lined the walkways which surrounded the main festival area, where food of all kinds was being served, and games being played, despite the lack of actual blossoms. 

 eggs for sale

or octopus

 or gummies!

balloon darts. Play on roller blades for added difficulty

hot dogs and bottles of rice tea

the green and yellow are all stalls from the festival. Endless!

We still enjoyed walking around the park area. We also ate a hurricane potato and several gummies (a very rare find here) that we bought from the stalls at the festival. 

Happy Emily with hurricane potato and rare blossoming trees

Corey and water

These are not cherry blossoms, but they're pink and blossomy. They'll do.

A huge statue of Emperor Sejong

When we got to the edge of the park, we saw... another park! This park was right on the edge of the Hangang river. There were people riding bikes, flying kites, and listening to live music. We stopped to watch all the fun and then sat and got some sun by the water. 

Park on the river, with Seoul skyline

Corey in front of the water again :)

After a while, Corey and I decided to begin to walk toward Itaewon in search of the delicious falafel we had last time we were in Seoul. It took us about an hour with a few stops along the way, but we did eventually reach our destination. Plus we got to see a lot of areas that we usually miss when we take the subway. We had an early dinner and then headed back to Incheon. 

The bridge toward Itaewon

That's what's going on here. Not quite the images you're seeing on CNN, eh?

p.s. people keep asking me "What is kimbap?" Here is a picture of it. It looks like sushi, but it doesn't have fish (necessarily). This one has egg, carrot, pickled radish, and green vegetable stuff.

Kimchi for Maple Syrup

I started this post a week ago, but got a bit lazy about finishing it...

Mould in Korean is "gompangi". Why do I know that, you may ask. Our apartment does not have the best insulation and as a result, we've had mould growing in various corners and windowsills. We're on good terms with our landlords (an older husband and wife team), but the communication barrier makes it hard to explain when there are issues that need to be dealt with. So, Corey talked to his principal, who talked to our landlords, who came and put up fresh wall paper in place of the old mouldy stuff.

They went above and beyond just keeping things up to code. Once they were in, they repaired the caulking, replaced our shower head, and I think they may have swept our floor while we were out (even though I actually did sweep it the day before!) Throughout the winter and again this spring, our landlords have brought us an endless supply of kimchi as well. We gave them a small bottle of maple syrup that we brought with us from Canada. It was a sort of cultural exchange.

Corey also convinced me to explore Korean culture further by going with him to the local jimjilbang. I will try to explain what a jimjilbang is, but I know I won't do it justice. It's a kind of spa and community centre rolled into one and then put on steroids.

From the outside, this particular jimjilbang does not look like much of anything. It could be an office building or an apartment, except for the big colouful sign on the top that declares it is "Spasis". Inside it is a huge space with everything going on at once. I'll take you through it level by level.

On the first level, there's the women's area. This is where I changed into the T-shirt and shorts uniform provided by the jimjilbang. There are showers, large hot tubs, a sauna, massage area and a swimming pool. Most people walk around nude in this area and bathing suits don't really seem to be part of the jimjilbang experience.

The next level is the men's floor, which Corey tells me is basically the same as the women's area, except restricted to men only instead of women.

The third floor is a big open space with a small snack bar in the middle and hobbit sized doorways along the outer walls. There are many families sitting on the floor. Everyone is in the same shorts and T-shirt uniforms. Some people are watching one of the big screen T.Vs, while other are having a picnic, and others still are taking a nap on some pillows (which seems impossible with the number of kids running around, leaving ice cream trails behind them). But, where do the doors lead? Each one leads to a different kind of sauna. There's a coal sauna, salt sauna and others. There's also a sort of sun room that has extra oxygen pumped in or something and another room with a picture of an igloo on the outside that warns it is a human refrigerator (to sit in between sauna times). Corey and I ducked into several of these rooms to see what they were like. I was surprised that people were eating everywhere-- even in the hottest saunas!

The fourth floor has a bit of everything too. There's a fitness room, a library, a computer lab, and a cafeteria that's divided into regular table areas and traditional Korean tables that are low to the floor. Again, there are people in every section, and everyone is eating everywhere. There were a bunch of kids eating candy and ice cream in the fitness room, while jogging on the treadmills in bare feet. This is strange to me, but it's obviously a very typical Saturday afternoon for them.

Finally, the top floor leads out to the roof. It was still cold when we were there so we didn't go outside, but we could see out the window that there is a jungle gym, splashpad and a lazyriver-type pool out there. Very surreal.

Other than that, not too much out of the ordinary is going on. We've had a quiet weekend, enjoying Easter treats that Corey's mom sent (er...I mean that the Easter Bunny brought). I got to skype with my family for Passover and see how much my little cousins are growing! Teaching continues to be good. Textbooks with contrived dialogues continue to be a major part of my classes. The schedule keeps changing, but I've learned to just go with it.

Geumsana Temple Stay

I haven't written in a few weeks. The start of the new school year has been a bit busy (yay!). It's so nice to hear voices and laughing in the halls again. I'm also really glad to have regular cafeteria lunches again. There are always surprises in store at lunchtime and whether it's pig intestines or pineapple, squid or strawberries, or other unrecognizable other things (that are more often than not very delicious) I'm just happy that there is a hot meal waiting for me.

Last, last, weekend, we went to Itaewon. Here are a couple pics from that day. Yes, mostly of the deliciousness that is poutine and falafel because these are rare gems that can only be found in Seoul.

Corey with Itaewon in the backdrop

Mmm a taste of home

Petra Palace--amazing falafel place!

Anyway, what I really want to write about is our Temple Stay weekend while it's fresh in my mind.

This past weekend we went to Geumsansa Buddhist Temple. We met up with other foreigners in Seoul and took a bus south to Jeollabuk-do region. We travelled high up into the mountains to reach our destination on Saturday afternoon. Soon after we arrived, we were given monastic uniforms to get into the spirit of the place. Then they divided us up and showed us to our rooms. I was with six friends from Incheon. We set up our quilts and blankets on the floor and settled in a bit before heading to the meeting hall to make lotus lanterns.

Reaching the temple

Pagoda 

Making lotus lanterns

Afterwards we did some meditation, and had an early vegetarian dinner of rice, soup, tofu, and vegetables. Then the monks led us out into the courtyard to take turns ringing a big bell. We went into the Main Buddha Hall for the evening chant. There were many large statues of Buddha and a few monks beginning their chanting. We all followed along the best we could, since we'd been shown the basic bowing and hand positions in our earlier meditation instruction.

Buddhas

We went back to the meeting hall and had tea with a monk who answered many questions from our group. He had a translator, but sometimes he was eager to answer a question himself and skipped the translator. His English was very good and he admitted he had the translator there mostly because he was too shy to use his English in front of a big group. He answered some serious questions about what Buddhists believe in and why vegetarianism is important in keeping with the idea that they should not kill anyone or anything. He also answered those questions that people are often curious about, but sometimes embarrassed to ask like: "Do you do any recreational activities?" The answer was yes and that he really liked playing soccer with other monks a couple of times a week and no, they did not play in their long formal monk robes. One guy in our group asked if there was a special way monks had to shave their heads and the monk answered that usually his monk friend shaved his head; His choice razor was Gilette.

My ninja-monk room mates  

At the end of the talk it was 8:30pm and time for bed. We were told there was an optional chanting session that we could attend at 3:30 am. Most of us wanted to try and wake up for the 3:30 chant to get the full experience so we had the lights out by 8:45 and I think everyone in our room was asleep around 9pm. At 3:00am the drums were sounded and four out of the seven of us actually got up to go chant in the main Buddha Hall. We put on our monastic uniforms and headed out into the early morning. The ceremony was almost identical to the one we had done as a group the night before, except this time there were only 13 people (out of our group of 40) and there was an extra surreal quality added to the ceremony because it was so dark that we could see the stars (which never happens where we are in Incheon). So we walked into the hall, took our places, and chanted. I can see why people would choose this experience as an escape from city life. It's the kind of space where you can actually hear and feel yourself think.

After the chanting we went back to bed for a bit and then woke up again at 5 to meditate. Most of the group was there by the time we had our traditional temple breakfast at 5:30 am. It's a very cool ritual with a lot of etiquette on how to serve and how to accept food. I have to say, I am not a big fan of rice and kimchi for breakfast. It was especially hard to stomach the piece of radish required for wiping down the bowl at the end of the meal.

Breakfast is served

passing along the place settings

Corey radishing his bowl clean

I felt better when we were done with radish-wiping (and then water washing) our dishes because we were led to the other side of the temple to see a beautiful bridge over a creek with the mountain as the backdrop. Some other people in our group who were not on dish duty were responsible for sweeping the pathways.

Sweeping the paths

The view

A peaceful bridge

Once our chores were completed, we followed a monk who led us on a refreshing morning walk in the forested mountainside. The pictures don't capture the beauty of the place, even with the trees still in there sparse winter state. When the trees start to blossom, I imagine it's even more like something from a fairytale.

Walking in the woods

 Corey and the trees

The most amazing part, to me, was when we were given 108 beads and a piece of string. The monk instructed us to perform a bow and for each bow, to add a bead to the string (which works sort of like a rosary for keeping focused on prayers). The full bow is pretty much a yoga movement that I'm familiar with, but I'd never repeated it 108 times and wasn't sure I'd be able to. Still, Corey and I took our beads to the main Buddha Hall and began. One bow, one bead. I enjoyed the process and tried to focus on doing each bow as completely as the first. I finished my necklace nearly an hour later. I was really proud of myself for sticking to the process and for the final product.

We had lunch with the monks and with some Korean pilgrims who had hiked up to the temple. It was bibimbap and seaweed soup with apples and pears for dessert. Then we changed into our ordinary clothes, said our goodbyes to the monks and translators, loaded back onto the bus and headed to Seoul.

Serving up some vegetarian goodness

On the bridge

In Seoul, our group from Incheon gave up the vegetarian lifestyle we'd experienced at the temple in favour of a Mexican style dinner. I think we kept the spirit of the weekend with us though.

Mexican food and drinks time

When Corey and I finally got back to Incheon, we were exhausted and fell asleep pretty early.This blog post does not do justice to the amazingness of the whole experience, but I'm not trying to write the next Eat, Pray, Love here, so I'd better stop now. Plus, my legs still hurt from all the bowing and I can't sit still this long.

Times Square

This week at school was basically the same as last week so I'll skip over that.

Saturday, I went to Seoul with my Canadian friends, Chris and Joanne.  We went to Times Square Malll. I was looking for English reading material, Chris needed the new Shinee CD, and Joanne was shopping for souvenirs. There was a bookstore that, Chris assured us, had everything we were were looking for.

Before we went shopping, we all agreed lunch was a priority. We ate a Chinese restaurant in the mall that had delicious food and a roomy feel since it looked out over the mall and if you looked up you could see the trees on the rooftop terrace. The mall in general is really futuristic with huge glass windows and glass bridges crossing over the second and third floors.

On the first floor of the mall, we saw a group of people sitting cross-legged in front of a small stage. We weren't sure what or who they were waiting to see, but we figured we'd find out soon enough.

We went down to that level, not because of our excitement to watch an unknown performance, but because there were women dressed in Hanbok giving out free instant rice dishes and packs of walnuts. Kind of random as giveaways go, but none of us turned it down.

There was still no sign of anything starting on the stage, so we started our shopping. We looked around at a few different places, but mostly we spent our time and money in the bookstore, which was kind of like an even bigger version of Chapters or Indigo, with even more random sections that have little or nothing to do with books. There's stationery, toys, music, jewellery, electronics, and even a bulk-candy area.

After about four hours of shopping, we were getting ready to head home, when we saw that announcers had finally come out on the stage. We joined the crowds of people who were pushed up against the balcony on every level of the mall in order to catch a glimpse of whoever it was that was expected to appear on stage.

The announcers went on for a few minutes, getting all the teenagers in the audience to whoop and cheer. Then they brought out a young Korean guy and he played acoustic guitar. My friends and I looked at each other in disbelief. People had sat on the floor for at least four hours, waiting for that? I guess he's a celebrity and we just don't appreciate his star-factor.

In the subway station, Joanne asked if I'd ever tried takoyaki. It's a kind of Japanese food made with dough and octopus. I admitted I had never tried it, even though it's readily available as street food in Korea. So we bought a dish of it and I tried some. I liked the fried doughy part, but I'm still not a huge fan of octopus. I eat it a lot at school, but I still haven't got used to it.

Anyway, altogether it was a really fun day. It made up for a really sloooooow week.

Today Corey and I also went for a nice long walk around Subong Park. (I didn't take a camera) The snow has mostly melted and the paths are starting to smell earthy and Spring-like. This makes me hopeful that winter is almost over. There are signs around the paths with pictures of different kinds of wildflowers, which I'm also looking forward to seeing sprout and bloom in the spring. I hope everyone else is staying hopeful through the dullness of February. One more week.

February Air

It's Sunday night and I'm trying to prepare myself mentally for the week ahead. There are no students this week, but I'll be at the school office every day from 8:30-4:30 anyway, as my contract stipulates. I can't really complain because I get paid just for showing up.

The third grade students had their graduation a week ago. I got to watch the ceremony. It was really nice to see how many of the students' parents attended. They brought flowers and chocolates for the graduates. Afterwards, the students left with their parents, and the teachers had a celebratory feast in the cafeteria. There were even strawberries for dessert!

Graduation Ceremony

Now, most of the teachers are on vacation. The Vice Principal comes to school every day along with a handful of teachers who have prep work to do. I do a bit of lesson planning, but unfortunately I did a ton of prep during my office hours in January and now I don't have much to plan. I've created differentiated lesson plans for my high and low level classes in each grade and compiled a bunch of games from past camp experience and waygook.org. I may never get to use these lessons anyway. First, the textbook must be "covered". So I've done a bit of work here and there, but now I mostly watch TV shows on my laptop.

Some of my co-teachers and me in the school yearbook

I know I should be trying harder to learn Korean, but even with all this free time I can't focus on it for longer than about an hour a day before I start mixing stuff up and forgetting anything new I try to take in. (I guess I sort of know how my students feel when I present them with 45min. of non-stop immersion English)

The co-teachers in the office are always nice to me. They invite me to join them for lunch most days. Sometimes we order in, but usually we go to a local Korean restaurant where the school has a tab. I always order dubugook (soybean curd soup) because it's the least spicy thing on the menu. I feel badly that when we get back to the office, the other teachers all get to work, and I go back to watching How I Met Your Mother.

Yesterday, I went to the library to try and get a card so I could sign out books to read at school, but when I went to the information counter, the librarian shook his head and walked away. Later in the day, I read online about getting a library card in Korea and found out that most libraries do not issue cards to foreigners, though there are a few libraries in Seoul that will. Anyway, I stayed at the library and read for a few hours in the children's section (where there is a small section of English books). If anyone wants to send me books, newspapers, information pamphlets, pretty much any reading material in English, I will be more than happy to read it cover to cover! I also read articles and stuff online, but staring at a screen all day has started giving me headaches (which I never got before coming to Korea).

Corey spent the day at a jimjilbang which is a kind of Korean spa. I was a little nervous about going since I didn't really know the protocol and I just got over a cold, so I thought it'd be best if I wait before going into tight spaces with big crowds. Corey did some research though and bravely explored the four floors of the jimjilbang, which he tells me included a floor that had separate saunas for men and women, plus a co-ed sauna floor, a swimming pool, arcade area, eating area, and more. You pay an admission fee to go into the jimjilbang and then you get a bracelet that you can swipe to charge various items and activities to your tab. Maybe next time I'll be brave enough to go with him.

Not the actual jimjilbang Corey was at, but he says this sauna looks similar to the ones he went in

For now, I'm keeping a low profile and eating lots of chocolate. Corey's mom sent us a big Valentine's Day package and Corey got me an additional box of "KicKers" chocolate (kind of like a kitkat)

Valentine Treats from Corey's mom

KicKer!

The tone of this blog post is obviously less optimistic than my previous ones. I just can't seem to shake these February blues. I'm really looking forward to my students returning in March! Plus, they will be joined by the new grade 1 students who will be starting middle school!

Winter Warm Up

Corey and I are back at school and teaching this week. The students have one random week of classes before they graduate. They know their grades are already decided so they aren't very motivated to learn new material. I've been playing games like 20 Questions, Hex and Hot Seat with all my classes.

The nice thing about being back at school is we get mail sometimes. We got a winter warm-up package from Corey's mom with many delicious and warming things inside.

Corey used the gravy to top off some homemade chicken stir fry. Yum!

Our Thursday night was spent with the board games in Bupyeong group. We took over a few tables at the local cafe, Coffeesmith, and set up a variety of boardgames. Corey and I played Red November with some other foreign teachers. It was a bit of a sad ending when our drunken gnomes died before they could save their submarine.

Bupyeong is a magical place. Besides being the meet up spot for many events, it's also a huge labyrinth of a shopping mall. Corey stopped to pose beside a mannequin wearing a lovely SMILE sweater. It has many English words that don't make sense when read together which is typical for clothing items found around Korea.