Spring Break

Ah yes, back in Busan... Friday the 5th marked my first day back with my students and it was a little rough for two reasons: 1. They had come from a 35 day vacation so they were all still locked in vacay mode and 2. They knew there would two short days of school before their three week spring vacation! I think teachers and students alike saw school as a bit of a joke and no one seemed all that committed to being there.

This of course wouldn't have been a problem except that I actually bothered to create a lesson plan and after seeing the following fly across my classroom:

I realized it was a pretty big waste of time. I'll give the boy some credit, at least my lesson went towards a nicely crafted airplane (it flies remarkably well!)

Apart from their fine paper airplane skills, my third grade students certainly demonstrated their creativity with a short movie they made in their film class (which Vice Principal Hwang broadcasted for the school). Basically, the entire film was about a gun fight between two groups in the halls and classrooms of the schools (yes a GUN FIGHT with extremely realistic guns at that!) Ha! Considering a 12 year-old girl in New York was just arrested for doodling on her desk, I don't think this would fly in the US. Once I gave it some thought, I realized that this is probably a pretty common movie theme amongst the boy filmography students. Basically when these most kids aren't studying, down-time goes to their computer games with guns and killing being the central plot. This movie was just a live version of what they love to play at home. I'm sure they had a blast (and at least they were getting some exercise while filming it!)

Though Thailand was an amazing experience, I needed that first weekend to decompress from all the activity, people and of course, the travel. I did some solo exploring of the city on Saturday and on Sunday, was invited on a hike with a new friend named Seung Chul. Seung Chul, interestingly, is my banker at a local Korean Bank here. After many meetings of signing up for an account, online banking and rewiring my debit card so it could work internationally, we basically became friends and discovered that both he and I enjoy hiking! Seung Chul grew up in Busan, so his knowledge of the trails here is quite extensive.

It ended up being a great experience! We met at the Subway before heading up a trail on Geomjeong Mountain (the same place that Jer and I had our goat-eating experience.) On our way to the trail head, we passed Busan’s baseball stadium. We started chatting about how popular baseball games are in Korea and he told me a story of visiting Boston and attending a game there. Not knowing much about the Baseball scene in the US, he casually showed up to Fenway minutes before a game with pitcher Edgar Martinez. A couple on the street offered to sell him a ticket and he talked them down to a mere $10 for it. Seung Chul explained it wasn’t until later that found out about Fenway and Martinez’s fame, but even knowing how this, he still prefers baseball in Korea because “the fans are crazy here!”

We navigated a number of trails on Geomjeong, all the while battling throngs of weekend hikers (its unavoidable). Though it can be frustrating at times, hiking in Busan is always an entertaining experience! I have to paint a picture of a typical Busanite hiker. First of all, MANY are ojimas (middle/upper aged women) who wear coordinated hiking get-ups, backpacks, hiking poles and a fair number even opt for the face visor:

(The ojimas don't quite look as stylish as this model.) There are of course men as well, with the grandfatherly types typically listening to radios. The men also usually sport equally fashionable hiking outfits with large backpacks as well. Initially, I was baffled by their packs wondering what they could be filling them with, but I soon realized they're mainly for picnicking purposes. Groups will gather on rocks with spreads of food in front of them complete with little burners for hot dishes and of course, cups of Soju and Makali!

Knowing the picnicking part of the hiking culture, I came prepared with apples, green tea and cookies but my little spread paled in comparison to the hull that Seung Chul brought. He generously shared Gimbop (a Korean sushi roll of sorts), clementines, power bars, chocolate and Yang gang (a red-bean jelly bar of sorts).

We had a good time swapping stories and I certainly learned a great deal more about Korean culture. For instance, I told Seung Chul an experience I had had crossing a street a couple weeks prior. I was on my way to Tori's house and decided to cross an intersection though there was a no walk sign flashing (its SO hard for me to wait when there are absolutely NO cars on the road!) There were two ojimas on the other side however and when I passed them, one smacked me in the arm saying something in Korean! I was so stunned it took me a couple of steps past her to realize what had happened and by that point, it was too late to react (though I'm not sure what I would have done or said to her anyway.) Seung Chul observed that its a hard business being a foreigner in Korea. In this particular case, he said that these women probably saw this act as a sheer disregard for Korean law. But on the other hand, it's just as likely that if I had not crossed, another Korean might look at me and scoff thinking “silly foreigner, she is so strict, she doesn't know that she can cross when there are no cars on the street.” So according to Seung Chul, it's a bit of a lose lose situation!

Finally, I lamented to Seung Chul that when walking down the street, I can never tell which side to walk on. Some signs in the subways will specify that all traffic should be on the right side (like in the US) but, it doesn't seem to matter as I still end up playing chicken with oncoming traffic. “It doesn't matter” he said, “really, I'm not lying, everyone feels this way!” So, that answers that question! I guess I'm doomed to battle the crowds for the rest of the year (it really is quite confusing at times!) We said our good-byes on the subway and I'll look forward to exploring some more hiking trails with my new friend!

Considering my school is poor (I just barely talked them into giving me $40 for a pizza party the last day of English camp), they certainly wine and dine the teachers quite well! I enjoyed three lunch outings with all of the teachers and staff the last week of school, one of which was another sushi/raw fish meal at a nice Japanese restaurant. After so many meals with my school, I was feeling like a bit of an expert and didn't expect any surprises at this lunch... that is, until, the live sea worms came out! One of the women delicately picked one up with her chopsticks and smiling at me exclaimed “mashisoyo” (delicious)! As it wriggled its last stand, she swiftly put it in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. “Ohhhh,” I said, “wooow, uh, maybe later...” I think live sea worms will have to be added to the list of Korean inedibles which is as follows:

1. Dog (I don't care that my students categorized this as a “meat” when we were studying food, I just can't...)

2. live octopus (its just seems pretty inhumane)

and now,

3. live worms.

Because school for the students ended on Tuesday, the teachers were able to leave after lunch on Wednesday through Friday. I used my afternoons for some more exploring of the city. The first order of business was to pick up the latest copy of “Dynamic Busan,” Busan's local English paper. I wanted this particular edition because they published a little article I wrote in their “Opinion” section! It was mostly a fun project (and something to fill my time at school) but I was happy to see it published none-the-less. Here's the link for anyone interested:

http://dynamic.busan.go.kr/sub/news_list.jsp (page 2)

On Thursday afternoon, I arranged to meet some people for climbing at a gym 15 minutes from my school. Well, of course my luck takes me to the wrong gym (I learned later there are two in the same area). Using directions from Koreaontherocks.com I navigated my way to a nondescript building, down the stairs to a basement flat walled room with colorful (and some home-carved) climbing holds. I was met by a 4 ft. nothing Korean woman who spoke absolutely no English. After five minutes and the help of a white board, I discovered they didn't really let people climb by the hour (rather, people were expected to get a 50/mo. membership). But, because I had my own shoes, she decided I could climb for free!

I was the only one there, so this woman (named Jom ok Kim) could focus all of her attention on me! She followed me out to the floor and using a bamboo stick (simular to the ones my fellow teachers use to discipline their students) she began to point out the holds for various routes. She would point to one hold saying “orun-son” (right hand) and then another “oen-son” (left hand) or “orun-ball” (right foot) and “oen-ball” (left foot). Once I was on the wall, there was lots of laughing from both of us as I desperately searched for the little colored pieces of tape telling me where to go next. Still using the stick she would point to a hold, yelling “yogi, yogi!” (here) and then we would both laugh some more. Speaking in rapid Korean, she would correct my form but after realizing this was pointless, ran to the back and emerged a minute later wearing her own (mini) climbing shoes. Jom ok ended up being a beautiful and, because of her height, creative climber. I enjoyed a solid hour of climbing with her where a common language wasn't necessary to curse particularly difficult holds or, once again, laugh when someone (mostly me) fell off the wall. It was a memorable experience to be sure!

The following night, Tori and I decided to be cultured and attended a Flamenco guitar performance by a Spaniard named Marco Socias. Here's a Youtube link of him in:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC4gbldnC90&feature=related

He was fantastic but the performance was long! Two funny twists to the evening. First, we showed up expecting to pay $30 but ended up paying, um, nothing. I guess they decided to let the public in for free (perhaps they didn't quite get the turnout they were hoping for) and second, the performance wasn't just Socias. Intermixed were various Korean performers doing anything from singing Italian opera to playing traditional Korean instruments. Because we had been there since 7:30, Tori and I finally slipped out of the concert hall at 10:30 though Socias was still in in the full swing of things.

On Saturday, Tori, Olivia, Kayla and I braved a Korean bath house and Ginga-bong (not sure on the spelling with this one). I say braved because for the bath house, one is completely naked! I should explain first that the public baths are HUGELY popular in Korea... and so is not shaving/trimming. But because we were the minority, it was us and our western ways that were stared at.

The first order of business at the bath house is to find a free shower head and stool to sit on (naked) and give yourself a good scrub. They provide a little plastic bowl and towel (used soap is even readily available though I opted to use my own) which you use hunkered under one of these shower heads... which, I forgot to mention, only come up to about belly-button height. The low set-up makes sense I guess because it gives you easy access to your plastic bowl and scrubbing towel. Once cleaned, everyone migrates over to the baths which range from freezing cold to nearly 110 degrees. Again, because this is so popular, the locals have figured out how to do it up right. You'll see women chatting casually, sipping an iced beverage brought from home, enjoying the high powered jets or herbal soak available.

After the girls and I had had our fill of the baths, we put on the pajamas provided by the spa and headed up to the Ginga-bong which is separate from the baths. I guess I should specify that because the baths are done naked, the men and women are separate, but the ginga-bong is totally co-ed and actually, seemed to be a popular place for families and young couples. Here's a decent picture of what you might see at a Ginga-bong:

All ginga-bongs are different but the one we went to had various rooms meant to be “good for health.” So, the first room we enjoyed was a warm wooden room filled with salt rocks that you're meant to lay on. Next door was another hot room with plain rocks (which we skipped), followed by a refrigerated room (also skipped that one), and finally decided on a sand-box type area filled with marble sized beads to lay on. They were surprisingly confortable, so we chilled there for quite a while. (Next to the young high school couple totally entwined with one another... for such a conservative country, I see an awful lot of PDA.) Though there were many shocking parts to my first public Korean bath house experience, I knew that it wouldn't be my last visit to the spa!

Tori made a last minute decision to visit Taiwan, so the following week was mostly spent with Olivia and Kayla. I went on a couple of solo hikes around my apartment, another spa trip for a little soaking and a painful but needed “Sport massage” by a VERY strong Korean Ojima, and finally met up with the climbers I had tried to meet the previous week. We arranged to climb outside which I was VERY happy about! It felt good to be in that scene again and hopefully once things warm up a bit, I'll be doing a lot more of that!

Well, thats basically it, this weekend I've planned a little trip to a town three hours away called Uljin where they host an annual Snow crab festival. It will be myself and my long lost friend Julia for a weekend of eating delicious crab meat and fresh sea food! Monday is a holiday here, but on Tuesday its back to the grind-stone as the new term starts. I'll be saying hello to my first year students and saying goodbye to any days off for a looooong time (sniff, sniff).