Summer time and the living is easy.

Gangwan-do, the province that we went to, was just as beautiful as we were told. It was all mountains, rivers, huge lakes, forests and rice fields with huge stretches of sandy beaches along the coast. It being summer, and Korea being over populated, all of the points that made it appealing to us also made it appealing to the local population and it had it's fair share of summer travelers. We left on the Sunday of the long weekend and when we arrived in Gangneung, which has the most popular beach in the province, we were really put off by the amount of people. And it wasn't just the number of people, it was the people who were there. They were hip summer weekenders from Seoul. It was a little bit intimidating. That first night we spent in the most horrendous campsite either of us had ever been to, but it balanced out because the beach that it was close to was pretty darn nice indeed. We sat on the beach watching hoards of families setting off fire crackers and playing with sparklers. That is one of my favourite things about Korean people: they are always doing something. When Jer and I are just sitting on the beach in the evening watching the moon rise, they are playing with sparklers. When we are reading our books and having naps during the day, they are burying each other in the sand and throwing the girls kicking and screaming into the water. Just hanging out isn't in their repertoire. After our first two nights the long weekend crowd thinned out to just the summer holiday crowd and our initial fear that we would be overwhelmed by the Koreans left.

The next day we headed to Seorak-san, the "most beautiful mountain range in Korea". I say it in quotes because I was told that soooo many times, but I definitely don't say it in quotes because I'm being sarcastic. It was spectacular. The camp site there was the nicest we have seen in Korea. It reminded us a lot of national park sites in Canada. It was organized, had all the amenities (including hot showers!) and there were trees everywhere. There was no mistaking the fact that we were in Korea though. It was loaded with people. Where I'm from I'm used to having space, but, despite the trees and the idyllic location, there were people everywhere. One fun thing to do was stroll around looking at everyone else's set ups. We came with our tent on our backs and an estimated 10 minute set-up time, but the Koreans had something else in mind. Their gear is something to be marveled at and setting it up was a real time consuming process. It is like taking the showroom from the camping version of Ikea and placing it out in the wild. They have huge tents with even bigger awnings, tents for sleeping in that they put inside their huge tents, lounge chairs, barbeques, tables, hanging cupboards, and food and booze coming out their ears!

We chose not to do a 2 day hike thinking that after not hiking for months, it would be pretty sad to wake up on day two not wanting to even walk to the bathroom and realizing we were only halfway through our trek. Instead we conquered Ulsanbawi. It is a huge rock on on the top of a mountain that is pretty spectacular. The hike itself, however, was a little on the strange side and at the end of it we both decided we would never want to do it again. The hike was only 3.4km, so not a huge undertaking, but it was the layout of the hike that didn't appeal to us. The first section was like any other hike you would go on in Korea, but the second part of the hike (maybe the last kilometer), was stairs. Stairs straight up the side of this HUGE rock. Most of the stairs were so straight up that it was like climbing a ladder. I'm a little petrified of heights and I was crapping my pants most of the way up and cursing myself for being there in the first place. I especially didn't like the little segments between the sets of stairs where you had to scramble up some rocks to get to the next set. It all seemed a little bit precarious to us, but there were people with kids up there and no one seemed to notice that we were hanging off the edge of the world. The view from that top was great though and I once again had to remind myself that the climb is always worth the end result.

That night it started to rain and by the morning we were not only glad that we were not halfway through a mountain course, we were also ready to get the hell out of our tent. We packed up, ate breaky, headed to town, got the word that the next day was supposed to be nice, and then headed further North to a beach called Hwajinpo (go further North than that and you end up at the DMZ). It was cold and raining and we were hungry and miserable by the time we got there. Then I slipped on the floor of the bathroom and hurt my arm. That was it for me, I was ready to call it a vacation and go home. Instead, we got a min bak, which is another word for totally reasonably priced hotel with a kitchenette. We had hot showers and crawled into bed with our books for the rest of the evening and all was right with the world. The next day wasn't sunny per se, but it also wasn't cold and it wasn't raining. We ate breakfast on our balcony with our ocean view and took our time. It was totally luxurious. That day and the next day we spent sitting on the beach reading who-done-its (as Dad would say).

It was kind of a strange vacation when I think that most of my friends went to Europe, or the beaches of South East Asia for their trips, but it was relaxing and peaceful for the most part with the added bonuses of saving a lot of cash and getting to see another part of Korea.

We had a good time.

Green rain.

I just had the most traumatizing walk home from school.
In Korea they use a lot of pesticides and that kind of thing. They often come into your apartment to spray around the edges, killing everything in their path. They also routinely spray the trees lining the streets. You will hear a siren like there is a fire or something and look down the street and see a truck with some guys and a hose, spraying the trees with who knows what. It is kind of intimidating coming from a culture where pesticide is a dirty word.
Today I got to leave early because the vice principal anticipates there is going to be a "hard rain", so he wanted anyone walking home to avoid it. Very thoughtful especially because we had one earlier today that was really spectacular. (Hold that thought, it just started outside! I would have been right in the middle of it. Thanks VP!!!) Just as I was leaving the school grounds I looked up to see a tree spraying truck coming down the road I walk on. The guy making sure there was no one in the direct line of fire looked at me in frustration and motioned for me to hurry up. I walked faster. He made motions for me to run. I didn't. Stick it to the man, right?! Anyway, as I got on the already-sprayed side of the truck it looked like it was raining ahead of me. Not being so quick sometimes, it took me a minute to figure out what was happening. As soon as I did I ducked into the closest doorway. Thousands of caterpillars. THOUSANDS!!!! Falling out of the trees like rain. Little green furry guys. My least favourite insect is a centipede, but the close second is when there are lots of caterpillars. I felt trapped. I was in a narrow doorway looking out at a never ending rain of caterpillars, the ground quickly becoming covered in them. It was then that I noticed I wasn't the only one in the doorway. A little old man was standing with me in my refuge. He said "Usan". I cocked my head and squinted my eyes with confusion. "Usan" he said again. Then I recognized the word and simultaneously we both pointed at my umbrella. He made a squashing motion with his foot and said "Okay!". I was so grateful. I opened my umbrella, said my thank yous, and made a run for it. All the way down the road, thump, thump, thump, the caterpillars landed on my huge green umbrella. When I got to the end of the line of trees I shook it off, wiped my shoes on the sidewalk and took a deep breath. I made it!

Staff field trip.

Last Monday, the first day of summer vacation for elementary schools, my staff went on a field trip. We met at the school and all piled onto a bus. Not everyone came, but we had a big bus full. Before we took off the principal came on and told us to have a good time. He is old and extremely respected by the staff. I joined in the round of applause and bowing that followed his short speech. Our bus ride was about an hour and I sat with Celine (Korean name: Nam Soon), who is in charge of me and has become what I guess is a pretty good friend. She talks to me all the time at work and our bus ride was no different. I'm always impressed at how she never seems to run out of things to say or questions to ask. When we got to our destination we went on a small "hike" that was about 5km. I went to the front of the group with my co-teacher Sunny (Korean name: Hyun Yu). The place we were hiking was a place she had recommended to me before and she was pretty stoked to be there with me. It was HOT and humid and I was glad that I was not the only one sweating right through their clothes because that would have been embarrassing. At the end of our walk we all got onto a boat and went on a boatride around a lake. It was really beautiful. Everything is so green here at this time of year, even the water. I am not sure if the water is actually green or if it just reflects the surrounding hills, but it is beautiful regardless. Then we went to a camp ground where a catered picnic of a whole roast pig was waiting for us. We chowed down and drank some beer, then some people took naps in the shade and the rest of us went down to a nearby creek. We all took our shoes off and sat with our feet in the cool water for almost 2 hours. My staff is almost completely made up of women, and one of the two men who was on our outing played the "boy" role and splashed some of the women and even dragged one completely into the water. I'm always surprised at how the traditional male/female roles are exaggerated in this country. After that it was back on the bus, and early home. All said and done it was a pretty great day!Left to right: Bree (the 6th grade teacher who speaks English and picked me up on my first day here), me, Celine (the lady in charge of me), Grace (the music teacher, who is in my office), another grade 6 teacher (she speaks no English, but she is a sweetheart)

Summer camp begins.

Today was my first day of English summer camp. My coworkers informed me afterward my lesson that it was a "huge success". Hooray!!! I've been stressing about it for what seems like months (not that I'm done stressing just because it is finally happening), but I really do think that today went well. This week I have grade 3s. They are 10 years old Korean age, so about 8 or 9 Western age, and they are SO cute (hard to believe I know). I have 17 students this session, for 4 days, 80 minutes a day.

My camp is Harry Potter themed. Harry Potter, as most of you know, is very important to me. The books and the movies have been a part of growing up. I'm not the only one who feels this way about these magical coming of age stories about love and friendship and figuring it all out against all odds. Last week the final installment of the series was released in cinemas. It was much anticipated and did not disappoint. I know the exact moment I started to cry. It was when Professor McGonagall started the protection charms around Hogwarts castle. Then I cried through the rest of the film. I've heard people describe the end of the films being like the end of the Harry Potter generations' childhood. I'm not sure if that is exactly how I feel, but I do feel overwhelming emotion as something really big in my life comes to an end. Anyway, enough of me gushing about HP!! I chose to do my camp on this for a few reasons: it is something that I love and know a lot about, it is something that children enjoy, there are lots of fun camp related activities, it is time appropriate with the new movie out, and if I could get one kid stoked on Harry Potter that wasn't before that would make me very happy.

So, today "Hogwarts" started at Kyeongsan Chodeung Hak-kyo (Kyeongsan Elementary School). We learnt some crucial vocabulary including "wizard", "witch", "wand" and "magic", we played some games to get to know each other a bit better, and then I put self portraits that they all drew into a hat and sorted them into 4 groups. They then went to work making posters for their groups and choosing a name, colour and animal for the team. They aren't all done yet, so I can't say what they all are yet, but one group is called "Family Bear" and their animal is, you guessed it, a bear, and their colour is brown (because that is what colour a bear is).

Happy summer!!! I hope that I don't melt in the heat on the way home.

Spring has sprung.

Spring is here! Starting last week there were a few days where the afternoon wind blew warm instead of cold. Then, last weekend Jeremy and I spotted our first blooming trees. Some of the leaves are starting to come in so there is that delicious pale green glow on the trees and bushes that means the whole place will brighten up soon. The other day walking home from work I took off my jacket a few steps out the door, then half a block later I took off my cardigan too. By the time I got home I was sweating and wishing I had sunglasses on. The warmth feels good and I look forward to my first time out of the house in shorts, but, at the same time, we know that the coming summer is going to be hot. Spring is warm, but warmth doesn't last long, it quickly turns stifling. I guess I should just enjoy it before it's gone.

Litter bugs.

Every single morning on my way to work I walk past the park that is right next to my school. And every single morning on my way to work I exchange smiles with an old man that works in that park. His job? Picking up garbage. I think it is great that there is someone who is making sure the park is clean, especially with it being so close to an elementary school, but seeing him there every morning picking up garbage in exactly the same spot as he did the morning before and the morning before that, reminds me of my biggest pet peeve about Korea: littering.
There are basically no garbage cans here. While, in my experience, this is fairly normal for a city, unlike in other cities (and countries) I have visited the lack of garbage cans isn't an oversight or perhaps a way of preventing vandalism and fires. In Korea there are no garbage cans because people don't see the need for them. Why have garbage cans if you can just throw your garbage on the ground? It's easier. Having to walk to a garbage can, having to think about the waste you are making, would be inconvenient. Every day I see people open up packages and toss the garbage on the ground without thinking twice and I cringe every time.
There are three major results of this that I can think of. One: many people, especially older people, are hired to walk around every single day in parks and on some streets picking up the discarded trash. This might not be a bad thing, perhaps some of these people couldn't find a job doing anything else. Two: the streets of Korea, as well as the rice fields, and the parking lots (anywhere there isn't someone hired to clean up) are lined with garbage that goes completely unnoticed by the population that puts it there. And three: there is a whole population of people who, although they are gung-ho about recycling and there are even composting facilities at all the big apartment complexes, do not think about waste and the environmental repercussions of their actions on a daily basis. Even putting my environmental concerns aside, this is a population of people who look at litter strewn streets and do not see the same disgusting, unreasonable mess that I see, but just see something "normal".

Brush your teeth.

Today one of the ladies in my office asked me what are some of the cultural differences that I observe at our school. It seems odd, but the one that stood out to me the most was teeth brushing. This is something I have discussed with many foreigners and they all agree that it is one of the moments in the day when it is clear that we are “not in Kansas anymore”. Everyday after lunch everyone at the school brushes their teeth. All the teachers have tooth brushes in their desks in little cups and they brush their teeth. Some teachers go to the bathroom, tooth brush in hand, some sit at their desks and even chat with their tooth brush in their mouths like it's no big thing, and other still go to the office sink and look out the window peaceful as they brush. No matter the ritual, everyone brushes after lunch. Not to be left out, no matter how odd it feels to me, I too have a tooth brush in my desk and pull it out after our afternoon meal. When I told my coworkers that this is not normal for me, they were really surprised. “Don't you worry about how your breath smells?” “Isn't it better for your teeth?”. I told them that in Canada, brushing your teeth is usually a private thing.

Cultural differences.

A look at SK.

Welcome back to South Korea and my blog about my life here! I just found this video on a site about Korea for Expats, and was blown away. The images are beautiful and it really tells a story of what it is like here. I don't really know how to explain what is so unique about it, but I keep wanting to say "this is what Korea looks like!!!!".

The harvest.

After Korean Thanksgiving, which is called Chuseok and was in the middle of September, Jeremy and I got on harvest watch. Around where we live there are lots and lots of rice fields (and green onion fields, pepper fields, various leafy greens and root vegetable fields) and it seemed to us that they were all becoming ripe (or whatever you call rice that is ready to be harvested). Soon after Chuseok, however, there had been no signs of the harvest and the rice started to grow bits of thick black on it and we assumed that it was going bad. We had already watched corn rot on the plant and fall to the ground without being picked and bean plants never put on anything to grow up so they just laid on the ground to die and there are hot red peppers going bad and falling off plants as I type, so we have become confused. Why plant all these things, go through all that effort, if you aren't going to harvest them? Is it for show? Does planting help keep the ground fertile? Was there a mix-up in communication?
Then yesterday, at long last, the rice harvest began.
A big machine that deals with strips of rice field a meter and half wide at a time was brought into our neighbouring field. It swept over it in the style of a zamboni, clearing the whole area of rice. The machine cut the rice stocks close to the ground, scooped it inside the machine where it then striped all the rice from the stock and dumped the remains back out onto the ground. As we watched, the machine rid the entire place of rice with incredible efficiency. When I think about watching the rice being harvested in South East Asia, people bent over at the waist, sickle in hand, I can not help but marvel at this very very cool invention.
So they didn't forget about the rice, but we still want answers about the peppers and the corn!

Books in the mail.

As many of you know, Jeremy and I have been ordering books online. Most of the time it works like a charm. You get second hand books, super cheap, delivered to your mailbox or front door. What more could you as for?! But we ordered two sets of books from different places. One shipment got here really quickly, but the other one (which happened to have all MY books in it) was taking its sweet time. When we got back from our vacation to Jeju there were several slips on our door saying that we had post, so we went to the the post office to pick it up. Unfortunately, apparently if you don't show up fast enough they send the mail back from whence it came. We weren't fast enough and our books had been sent back.
Luckily, soon after I had finished the last of my books here that I actually wanted to read, Jer and I went textbook shopping for the new semester. At the textbook shop I picked up a copy of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows". Perfect for recapping before the movie comes out in November!!!! Unluckily, soon after I started reading "Harry Potter" I made the mistake of reading outloud to Jeremy one evening. He instantly got sucked in (who wouldn't!!) and I lost a book for reading while he is at work. Of course it is nice to read outloud to him, and what a perfect book for the job, but that wasn't exactly the point!
Finally I gave up on waiting for our books to re-arrive and started reading "The Great Gatsby". A classic that I wasn't enthused about reading, but one that it wouldn't hurt to have read. Then, as predicted, as I stepped with two feet into reading this book... our books arrived. Now I have to make a decision. Do I finish "Gatsby" even though I'm not overly excited about it and I'm not that far in, or do I put it down and start to read "Dune" which I have been waiting to read all summer long? Dad would say that that isn't a decision, of course I should just stop and read the book that I want to read. But for some reason quitting a book once I've started it has never been in my reading vocabulary. Perhaps it is a holdover from when I was younger and reading was always a real challenge. Like I always put so much effort and discipline into getting through each page that giving up on a book was like wasting all that I had put in.
I'm not sure what I'm going to do, but I do know that I'm excited about our new books! Three arrived: Dune, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and The Iron Heel. All of them are really old and it was kind of exciting just to open up the package and see such old things while we are in a country that is big on everything being new new new. The oldest of the three is The Iron Heel. It was published in 1944 and is in great condition. Here are some pictures of it. We both got a good laugh out of Penguin Books advertising cigarettes on the back of one of their books. Not something you would see now for sure. The ad on the inside cover is pretty funny too. It turns out that Horlicks is a malted milk drink. After reading the ad, that is NOT what I would have guessed.