On to Seoul

Mom and I blatantly breaking the rules in Jinhae!
Some blossoms up the hill in Jinhae
Cuttlefish, anyone?

At the end of spring break, my mom, Linda, and I took the hour-ish long flight over to Seoul. I had to work that whole next week, so mom and Linda went out and saw the city. Then that next weekend, we took a Royal Asiatic Society trip down to Namhae-do, a small island in the south of Korea that is known for its cherry blossoms. Even though there's a super fast train to Busan, which is very close to Jinhae-do, we took a bus instead. So it was a very early morning and a 7-hour bus ride down there. We got to go on a boat tour off the coast, see Korea's most famous beach, walk up to a beautiful Buddhist temple up on a hill, and eat a very Korean dinner, all on that first day. We stayed in a hotel that night with Korean and western rooms. The main difference was, in the Korean rooms there were bed rolls, but no beds, and that's what we had. Luckily I was so tired that I got a good night's sleep!

The next morning we went to Jinhae, a small city that's like the Annapolis of Korea, because that's where the navy academy is. It's also a big cherry blossom place and we got there right during peak cherry blossom time, so it was us and apparently the entire population of Korea! They also had the annual cherry blossom festival going on, so there were tons of food booths set up, mostly with food I wouldn't eat! But we hiked up a hill to a lookout tower and wandered around the downtown part of the city before getting back on the bus and heading back to Seoul. So it was a very long weekend, but a fun one.

Spring Break--Kyoto

My DELICIOUS non-spicy, vegetarian, Indian meal in Kyoto!
The Golden Temple (Kinkaku-Ji). Originally built in 1397, rebuilt after being burned by a monk in the 1950s.
Daibutsu-den Hall, the largest wooden structure in the WORLD!!! It was rebuilt in 1709 and is only 2/3 its original size.

After 4 nights in Tokyo, we got on the train and went to Kyoto. Kyoto is the old capital of Japan and is famous for all its shrines. We spent 3 nights there. I hate to say it, but my favorite part was the amazing Indian food we had the first night there...it was delicious!!!

We took a day trip around Kyoto and saw some of the main sights, including a palace where the floors are designed to squeak with even a little pressure, so that an intruder can't sneak in, and the squeaking sounds like birds, which is cool to hear! We also saw the Golden pavillion. Then we went to nearby Nara, which has the largest wooden structure in the world with this giant Buddha in it. The Buddha was amazing. Nara is also famous for having all these deer around (the guidebook says over 1200), so we got to pet some of them!

Spring Break--Tokyo

Mom by the Imperial Palace, where the Japanese Emperor lives.
Mom at Senso-Ji temple in the Asakusa section of Tokyo. She's standing by a big incense burner thing.
Mom writing a prayer for world peace and a Democrat president at the Meiji Shrine.

On March 22nd, the first day of my spring break, I flew to Tokyo. I spent the first night there on my own before meeting my mom and her friend Linda to travel around Japan and Korea with them. We were staying in the Shinjuku part of Tokyo, which Lonely Planet calls the place to "dive headfirst into the modern Japanese phenomenon." I explored that area on my own that day and then went to the airport to pick up mom and Linda the next day. We spent 4 nights in Tokyo and saw all sorts of cool stuff, some of which are in the pictures above. We also ate lots of interesting food, including sabu-sabu (grilled meat and veggies), yakisoba (grilled meat dipped in raw egg), some very authentic tempura, including eel, and soba noodles.

I was impressed by how much greener and less polluted Tokyo was than Seoul. It seemed to have a lot more parks and a lot less litter, which was nice! The people were also very polite and helpful and I don't think I saw one person spit the entire time I was there!

St. Paddy's Day

Top of the mornin' to ye! This weekend was spent celebrating St. Patrick's Day here in Seoul. On Friday I went to an Irish bar in Itaweon and got to listen to a bit of Irish music for a while, which was fun. Then on Saturday night, there was a "Who's Your Paddy?" party co-sponsored by SIS and Korea International School. The beverages were flowing and I got to eat some interestingly colored sausage! Luckily I felt well enough this morning to go to church and play some ultimate frisbee!

I've heard that the Koreans feel a certain affinity for Ireland. Partially it's because both countries have been invaded and run by other countries, most recently when the Japanese took over Korea. I've seen a chain of stores here in Seoul called Innisfree and there seems to be a lot of shamrocks that appear on greeting cards and folders and whatnot.

Becks!

The Korean fans.
Becks is #23.
Believe it or not, that's him!
Waiting for the subway after the game.

On Saturday, March 1st, the LA Galaxy pro soccer team came to Seoul and they brought their most famous player, David Beckham. It was an exhibition game and I had heard that Beckham might not play at all, but he actually played the whole game! I'd never been to a professional soccer game and it was really fun! I had a much easier time paying attention than I do at football games. And, of course, seeing Mr. Posh Spice was quite exciting! There were a ton of Westerners there. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of 90 minutes, but then they had penalty kicks and the Korean team got more than the LA team, so I guess they won.

After the game, we got on the subway and it was the most crowded experience I've ever had. Luckily we only needed on be on that train for about 5 stops...otherwise it would have gotten really claustrophobic really fast. I could not believe how many people were packed into each car! We went out for Mexican food at a restaurant called On the Border, which I'd never been to. It was really good!

Catcher in the Rye in Korea

Today I started teaching Catcher in the Rye to my freshmen. I'm really excited to teach this book because it's one of my favorites and I've read it over and over and over again. I started reading it yet again the other night and was pleased to see that it really holds up (so often, books I read as a teenager just aren't quite what I remember them to be when I go back!). It was also fun to re-read it as a teacher...I kept thinking of students I've had in my past who, like Holden, are bright and capable, but just not motivated. I was also thinking of how different it will be to teach this book at my school, where students are SO motivated by points and grades and 100% of them are college-bound. It makes me wish I had had the chance to teach it at Kamiak where I think it might ring more true for the students.

Anyway, to preview the book, I gave my freshmen this prompt and 15 minutes to write about it: Christmas vacation is a few days away. Instead of leaving the private boarding school you attend for two weeks, you will be leaving for good because you are failing every subject except English, and you have been kicked out. What thoughts are going through your mind on your last night in your dorm at school?

In addition to this, your parents aren’t expecting you home for 3 or 4 days because they don’t know you’ve been kicked out, and you have about $400. Knowing expensive Christmas presents will probably not smooth things over, what will you do with your extra time and money?

Some of the responses were so Korean, I just had to share (complete with the original sentence fluency and word choice)! One student said, "If all those things happen to me, I would feel so sorry for my parents because they did so much to support me. I would wonder why my life is always like this. Since failing every subjects is not ordinary, I would think over and over again to find the reason for my failure. I would not even want to talk with my friends their help would not really make me feel better." Look at that Confucianism in action!

My favorite one is, "I would feel bad that I was failing most of my subjects. I know that the school won't help me anymore during the several days I am alone, I would probably do one on one lessons for as much as I can afford. Since I get much more attention and direct help, I can learn more in a faster way. Eventually I get to learn more that my parents would not be so mad when they see my grades have gone up from Fs in the previous to as least some Cs when I go back to school. I could argue that I wasn't getting much attention from the teachers in my boarding school so I thought it was a waste of time. Basically I would tell them that the tutoring worked much better for me." That's right, he would spend his time going to a hagwon after flunking out of school! And the funniest part is that I think he really means it! I have a hard time imagining too many of my American students saying the same thing if given the same scenario.

Seoraksan National Park Trip

Two of the people on the trip trying to make the rock move...what a crock!
The peak with the beautiful blue sky!

Aaron taking a picture of Heather and Rachel coming up the very steep staircase.
All the SIS Tigers on the peak! From left to right, that's Heather, me, Rachel, and Chandler, with Aaron in front.
The view from the top, looking out over the ocean.

February 7th was the Lunar New Year and SIS had Wednesday through Friday off, so 4 of us decided to take a trip to Seoraksan, which is in the northeastern part of the country. It's a national park with beautiful scenary and a mountain to climb.

The trip was through the Royal Asiatic Society, which was nice because they arranged the bus and hotel and everything. There were 15 of us on the trip, including people from the US, Canada, Sweden, and Australia. It took about 5 hours to get to Seoraksan, including a couple of rest stops and a stop for lunch. It was a beautiful sunny day, which was good since it was freezing cold! After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we got ready for the hike to the top of Seorak mountain. It was pretty snowy and icy on the trail, so we had to buy spikes for our shoes and I have to say, that was the best 8000 won (about $8) I've spent since I've been here! On the way to the top, we passed Heundeul Bawi, or the tottering rock. According to Lonely Planet, it's a 16 ton boulder that can be rocked back and forth by a small group of people, but not actually knocked off its perch. I agree that it can't be knocked off the ledge it's sitting on, but after trying to rock it with some other folks, think it's mostly a big hoax! But then we got to the top of the mountain, or Ulsan Bawi. It's 873 meters up and you climb and 808-stair staircase, a lot of which was snow and ice encrusted, but the views were worth it! And, it was sunny enough that I didn't need to wear a coat for most of the hike.

The next day there were 2 other hikes, but it was very chilly and I was very sore, so I opted out of both. After a traditional Lunar lunch (dumpling soup, surprisingly good!) and a ride up the cable car to another peak, we got back on the bus and headed back to Seoul. Lunar traffic is notoriously bad, so we ended up taking some back roads and it was cool to see some different parts of Seoul, but I was glad to get off the bus and back to my nice warm apartment and western food at the end of the day!