Goodbye to Friends & Uljin Snow Crab Festival

Our second term at CDI has ended, and the spring term started this week. We've been busy prepping new lessons, so I haven't had a chance to blog in awhile. My students gave me some cute birthday and goodbye gifts at the end of the winter term. You can see some pictures of my students and Danny's students on my Picasa photo page. This term I am teaching more upper-level classes than usual. I taught my first Par Reading class on Thursday and I felt a bit confused. The structure and material was so new to me compared to the simple lessons for the younger kids. I can't believe how smart these students are. They read these long passages and then pick out the thesis, major details, and minor details. They seem to understand the exercises better than most American high school students would. Hopefully the upper-level students will also be more well-behaved than my younger students in the past.

Last week we said goodbye to 3 of Danny's coworkers. Two of his Korean teachers were getting new teaching jobs and his coworker Daniel was returning back to the the U.S. It was sad to see them go, because we hung out with them a lot the past 2 terms. Danny's school had a farewell dinner for its 3 teachers, and I met up with them at a norebang after work. We sang karaoke there for nearly 2 hours. Afterwards, we went to a bar and the casino. Luckily I didn't have to teach the next day until 4pm. Three of the teachers from my school finished their contracts last week too, and my school had a farewell dinner too. Unfortunately, I couldn't join them because Danny and I had to wake up crazy early for another Adventure Korea trip.

Our second Adventure Korea trip was called "Uljin Snow Crab Festival & Wilderness Trekking." Uljin is a seaport town on the east coast of Korea. It took about 4-5 hours to drive there because we had to meander through small villages and around mountains. It seems that most terrain in Korea is mountainous, which is so different than what I'm used to back home. The town of Uljin was having an "international festival" for the snow crab that the region is famous for. There were markets, music and dancing shows, ferry rides, cooking shows, and of course restaurants and stalls everywhere offering tastes of fresh snow crab. First we went to the festival publicity building where we could touch, hold, and take pictures with the giant snow crab. If you've eaten king crab legs, the snow crab's legs look similar in size. After we got to explore the market. We stopped to witness a cross-dressing drum troupe dancing to Korean pop music. We eventually met up with our tour group to take part in a Guiness World Record attempt at making the longest kimbap. Kimbap is one of Korea's most famous foods. It looks similar to sushi rolls, but it tastes nothing like it. Instead, kimbap is made of salted, dried seaweed that is stuffed with seasoned white rice, pickled vegetables, ham, egg, and usually meat or fish. Naturally, the kimbap we made at the festival was stuffed with fresh snow crab. Since the festival was trying to attract international publicity, they allowed our mostly foreign tour group to stand right in front of the news cameras at the tables and roll the kimbap. We were given aprons, chef hats, and gloves and assisted by Korean staff in rolling the kimbap. I couldn't understand what the announcer was saying, but I'm guessing we beat last year's world record. The Korean visitors to the festival all lined up to taste the giant kimbap that we made, and of course we got first dibs on tasting. Next, we went on an hour-long ferry ride around the seaport. We boarded an older-looking ferry with life jackets that were too small for us foreigners. The first 15 minutes or so were exciting, because the boat kept jumping up and down from the waves. It was an overcast day, and although it didn't rain, the waves were pretty rough. For the remaining part of the trip, nearly everyone from our tour group felt seasick. Danny and I rested on the floor in an inner cabin to avoid getting sick. Afterwards we got a private tasting of fresh snow crab at the festival site. I couldn't even think of food after getting off the boat, but once I tasted the crab I felt a hundred times better. I've only really tasted king crab legs and bits of crab in sushi before. But this crab was incredibly fresh and full of flavor. We moved on to our hotel after, which featured bedding on the traditional heated floor again. We had barbecued pork belly for dinner. The past few months I've been trying to eat vegetarian, which is somewhat difficult because meat is so popular in Korea. Luckily there were tons of vegetarian side dishes that I feasted on. The next morning we woke up early to use the hotel's free spa facility. The Uljin area is famous for natural hot sulphur springs. The spa was indoors, but the water had a slightly sulphuric smell because I think they use the water from the nearby springs. Danny and I have never been to a "jimjilbang," the famous Korean bathhouses here. But we decided to try it while there were other foreigners around. At a jimjilbang, the men and women use separated facilities. The spa in the hotel was very tiny, consisting of just a hot, medium, and cold bath and a few saunas. I went into the women's locker room, stripped down to my birthday suit (which is necessary here to use the spa), showered, then took a dip in each of the three pools. I hadn't eaten anything because it was 7am, so I actually started to feel lightheaded in the hottest pool, and I left after maybe 20 minutes. I didn't realize there was a sauna room, so I didn't try that. Overall, being naked in front of a bunch of Koreans wasn't as scary as I thought. I will have to try one of the big, luxurious jimjilbangs in Seoul (where you can all day for only about $10!) After a PB&J breakfast (my favorite!), we headed to the mountains for a 2 hour hike. It had rained the week before, so our original trekking area in the Shinsun Valley was flooded. We instead followed a relaxing hiking course in the mountains. The area is famous for its pine trees, and you could smell them in the breeze as we hiked. We watched a really good Korean movie on the bus ride home called "Castaway on the Moon." It was the first Korean film I've ever seen. When we arrived at the bus station in Seoul, we tried an organic vegan buffet in Gangnam called "New Start." Everything was so fresh and tasty, and they served homemade bread and jams too.

Today, Danny and I are going to the wedding of one of my Korean coworkers. He invited all of the teachers at my school too. Coincidentally, Danny was invited to one of his Korean coworker's weddings too. Hers is next weekend though. I have still never been to a wedding in America, yet I have been to 2 in Italy and now I will have been to 2 in Korea. I will let you know what a Korean wedding is like in my next blog entry, although I think they are similar to Western style weddings today. Tomorrow we are going on an Adventure Korea day trip to a big lake in central Korea, where we will go on a ferry ride and explore caves.

February Holidays: Valentine's Day, Lunar New Year, and my 23rd Birthday!

Another 3 weeks have passed since I've blogged, but nothing too exciting has happened. For Valentine's Day, I put together a big box with chocolate and other snacks for Danny. I might have mentioned before, but Valentine's Day in Korea is only for girls to give their boyfriends chocolate. On March 14, the guys reciprocate for "White Day." So I will wait until White Day to get my gift! Valentine's Day this year happened to fall on the Lunar New Year. Most of us in America know this as the Chinese New Year. It is the biggest holiday in Korea, and most businesses close down Saturday-Monday. Koreans traditionally spend the holiday visiting family in the country or in smaller cities outside Seoul. They eat a special soup on New Year's day that is believed to make every person age one year. Danny and I did not eat the soup, so I guess we stayed the same age. Families also play traditional games together and children are given pouches with money. Some of my students told me that they even wore the traditional hanbok dress to do a special bow to their elders. Since most restaurants were closed on the holiday, Danny and I had our Valentine's Day dinner at a chain buffet restaurant called VIPS. It's actually a steakhouse with a "salad bar" buffet option, and it's quite pricey for a chain restaurant. Danny was lucky enough to have off from work the day after New Year's, but I had to work (and naturally most of my students did not show up that day!) Danny was kind enough to clean the whole apartment on his day off....that's better than any Valentine's Day gift for me! My mom sent me some American Valentine's Day supplies to put together little gifts for my students. I gave each student one of those little cartoon character Valentine cards and a heart-shaped lollipop in a little gift bag with hearts on it. They loved them, because Koreans don't exchange cards with friends on Valentine's Day.

This weekend was my 23rd birthday, which makes me 24 in Korean years. One of my students was thoughtful enough to give me a hand lotion set for my birthday, and another student felt bad that she didn't have a gift and offered me her used pencil! One of my Korean desk teachers knows that I love Hello Kitty and she surprised me with a bag of Hello Kitty goodies on my desk. On Friday night we went back to VIPS restaurant for dinner with Danny's coworkers. Two of his Korean teachers and one of his American teachers are leaving next Friday, so we went out for an early goodbye celebration. After we stopped at a bar, batting cages, and finally spent nearly 3 hours at a norebang (private karaoke room). I sang so much that I nearly lost my voice afterwards. To finish the night, we went to a DVD-bang (private room for watching DVD's with friends) to play Nintendo Wii. I only wish we could have so much cheap entertainment available in New York!

On Sunday we went to Sanchon, a buddhist temple style vegetarian restaurant in Insadong. The food is served in the traditional Korean style, and we sat on the ondol heated floor. A traditional dance and music performance accompanies the dinner. The price is a bit steep at Sanchon, but it was my birthday gift!

63 floors of fun: art, wax, sea creatures, and sushi!

So this past Friday I was invited to another outing with Danny's school. This time it was a farewell party for one of his coworkers. We ate at a galbi restaurant again. After what happened the night of my school's dinner, I decided to pass on the soju. So I was teased for toasting with water, but I was thankful Saturday morning when I was able to go out for a nice run. We went to a bar after, where the new teacher who will replace Danny's coworker that is leaving showed up. She literally had just been dropped off from her training location. I guess that a night out with new coworkers is a good introduction to everyone. Korea bar food is a lot different than the usual American fare. While bbq wings, french fries, nachos, and mozzarella sticks have become more popular here, the traditional stuff is completely different. First we had dried, grilled squid served with spicy ketchup and mayo. It was actually interesting. Then the Korean staff from Danny's school heard that we never tried "bundegi" before. Well they insisted that we try it, and I was pretty psyched because I like to try weird new things. Bundegi is silkworm larvae. Yes, those are bugs. And yes, they are edible. Some people buy them in cans in the grocery store as a daily snack. But we had them served in a spicy broth with vegetables. Apparently the smell of them is worse than the taste, but this soup had no foul odor. I tasted it and honestly it wasn't bad...I kind of enjoyed it! And when I heard from the Korean women at the table that the critters are high in natural collagen I liked it even more. So anyway I found this hilarious blog post about bundegi. It is so funny it literally made me choke on my breakfast. However, the humor is somewhat crude so if that's not your style then you may want to pass.... http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000398.php

On Saturday we just relaxed....had our usual Indian for dinner and did our biweekly Costco run. On Sunday we decided to check out the 63 Building. It has been a bit chilly and it was supposed to rain, so we wanted to stay indoors. The 63 Building is south of the Han River in Seoul, and it used to be the tallest building in Seoul. It has restaurants and cafes, stores, an IMAX theater, an art gallery, a wax museum, and an aquarium inside. We spent the first half hour or so just trying to figure out how to get up to the top. We finally realized that you have to enter through the "Sky Art" elevators. The 60th floor is an art gallery and observation deck in one. The day was pretty overcast, but we still took some cool pictures. Back downstairs on the main floor we went to a cafe and then to the wax museum. It was smaller than Madam Tousseoud's in Manhattan, but I enjoyed it more for some reason. Maybe because it wasn't so crowded. They had many famous American figures, and not nearly as many Korean figures. After we had dinner at a sushi restaurant. Then we went to the aquarium, which was nice at night because it was mostly younger couples and no kids. It had lots of cool displays, and my favorite was the "mermaid show." It was basically an underwater dancer.

This week we will be really busy with work because both Danny and I are winding down our first terms here and started the winter term next week. So we have some prepping to do before the new term starts. Next week I will have a new set of classes to teach. I will be teaching basically the same levels. The nice thing is I have Wednesday and Friday nights off again. Oh and my classroom will be on the main floor of my building, which is closer to the printer, photocopier, desk staff, break room, and much warmer!

CDI Hwajeong Field Trip

Yesterday I went on a field trip with Danny for the employees of his school, CDI April. His boss, Mr. Jung, owns the CDI Hwajeong branch too, so the employees from that school were on the trip too. It was a good opportunity to finally meet some of the other teachers that live in our neighborhood. We took a coach bus from Hwajeong to the countryside in the north. First we stopped at this small village, where we made Korean traditional pottery. It wasn't totally traditional though because we got to use a pottery wheel. I made a small vase, which I painted and designed after. The pottery we made has to be fired in a special oven ("kiln") two times to harden the clay and protect it. So we will get the pottery back sometime next week after it has been fired. Next to the pottery house was another small building with hundreds of pottery items on display and for sale. The owners gave us each a small pot with a little plant in it. After we made pottery a woman demonstrated the preparation of traditional green tea. The tea leaves were so fresh and potent that the leaves were only steeped for a few seconds. In Korea, people drink at least 3 espresso-cup sized shots of tea. The first cup represents the past, the second is the present, and the third is for the future.

For lunch, we drove to another traditional Korean place in the countryside. The food was cooked mainly outdoors and they had both indoor and outdoor seating. It started to drizzle lightly, so we sat indoors. It was my first time sitting on the floor to eat in Korea (most restaurants here have floor seating). The heating in Korea comes from under the floor, so it was nice and warm sitting there. The meal was definitely one of my favorite in Korea so far! Everything was so fresh and flavorful. We had so many side dishes, called "ban chan." The side dishes are an important part of the meal in Korea, and they usually consist of vegetables, soups, and rice or noodles prepared in different ways. We had marinated pork that was roasted over a wood-burning stove as well. And we had a whole grilled fish too!

After lunch we went to a small horse stable. The owner introduced us to his horses, which were mainly older horses. He explained that they were from Russia, Mongolia, China, and Korea. Most of the horses were much smaller than horses I've seen in America. He said these small horses are ideal for battle. We each got to ride a horse around a small ring for a few minutes. I've been on a horse only once before in Montauk, but it only walked. The horses that we rode yesterday started out walking and started to move very quickly. I didn't want to ride the horses at first, because I was a bit scared. I'm glad I did though because it was really fun! When everyone finished riding, the owner let us try one or two shots at shooting with a bow and arrow. I practiced archery a few times in middle school gym class, but I was never very good. So yesterday I wasn't successful either. Danny's arrow went flying and just passed by my head though! Some of the people that worked at the stables presented a special show for us afterwards. Two women and one man dressed in traditional Korean clothing from 1,500 years ago and did archery and spear tricks while riding horses. The two women could shoot a target with a bow and arrow while riding a horse! Apparently they are the only two women in the country that can do this.

For dinner, Danny's school owner took us to a galbi restaurant in the neighborhood that we live in. It was delicious! Danny and I sat at the same table as his owner, Mr. Jung. The meal wouldn't be complete without plenty of beer and soju (Korean liquor). I told Mr. Jung that I was Italian, and it turns out that he is a big fan of grappa. He said that he tried it when he traveled to Rome and it reminds him of an oriental liquor. It was still early in the evening when we finished dinner, so most of the group decided to go out to a "norebang." I was excited, because I've been dying to try it! "Norebang" literally translates as "song room," and it is a place that has private karaoke rooms. As I had expected, it was tons of fun. The Koreans in the room sang to K-Pop songs, and the foreign teachers all sang to American songs. It was still really early after the norebang, so a bunch of us went into the Hongdae area in Seoul to go to a bar and dance! Of course I'm exhausted today, but I'm off to go run or play soccer with Danny!