Spring Pictures: Flowers Galore!

So cheerful! Flowers in a Buddhist Temple on Mudungsan.


Cherry Blossoms


Bong Suk, Jenni, and me.
We were admiring all the beautiful cherry blossom trees in a park in the city of Naju after a volley ball tournament.



La Casa and my favorite color of flowers.


Univerisity of Nambu, Chamdan.

Jenni and Anne-Mari

Saturday Markets

Variety of vegetables and kimchi

Fish

The umpa-lumpa trees!

Anne-Mari making a gift request :-)

Even the bushes are lit up!

Decorative Kimchi Pots outside the Gwangju Folk Museum.

Path to the park where the girls (Jenni, Erin, Anne-Mari) and I run during the week.

The 840 km path around this pond is a great place to run. Plus, you are surrounded by colorful flowers and adjimas wearing three layered visors.

It's Spring Time!

"April prepares her green traffic light and the world thinks go."
~ Christopher Morley

Spring is here and the weather is warming up! Outside is turning more and more green, especially with the light rain showers we get every few days. Gardeners are out in my neighborhood cleaning up their plots of land and getting ready to plant their chili peppers and other vegetables. Cherry Blossom trees are in full bloom and strawberries have taken over the fruit stands in the markets. The temperature is so perfect and quite refreshing! What could possibly make things any better? ...
A BIKE!
A teacher named Liam in the neighboring dong, Chamdan, gave me a great deal on peddle bike that's practically brand new and even has a lock and a cute bell! Usually, I walk everywhere or wait for the bus, but now I can get to where I want to go in half as much time. I feel as free as a bird and so alive (partially because stop lights don't necessarily mean stop here so pedestrians and bikers have to be even more careful with crossing the roads). It's quite exciting! I've used it every day this week and have given it the Korean name, Go Young Sun.

Work is going well. I love my students and they still impress me everyday with their humor and playfulness. Mo Ju Won has been showing me how to perform a few magic tricks! It's amazing what you can pick up from students! Since I don't plan the curriculum, my schedule can be feel quite repetitive, but it is nice not having to bring any work home. My free time is totally mine to play with. Socially, there is so much to do, but this year has also been a wonderful opportunity for me to devour books to my heart's delight. I've accumulated quite a few books, plus, it's great swapping with foreign friends. With four movies and no cable, books have become therapeutic for me and a great escape when needed.

I have been given a class of two adult gals (ages 25 and 26) who wanted to work on speaking and pronunciation. They are really great and a lot of fun to talk to. We have a book, but having discussions and a chance for them to talk seems to be what they need most. They work from 8am till 11pm with only an hour break for lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday. Korean culture pushes people to work so hard. Wendy and Sara (which are their English names they just gave themselves) use their afternoon break to come to my class three times a week. Soon, one of their managers will join them. He is excited to practice his English as well. It is such a new experience teaching adults in comparison to kids and I am looking forward to this opportunity and to make more friends!

Volley ball is still one of my favorite things to do here. Recently, I played back row for the Sangam men's team at a tournament in Naju, an adorable picturesque city just south of Gwangju, because they didn't have enough players. The competition was intense and every game was so close! Our team didn't go far in the tournament, but I thought every game was a blast and the volleying back and forth was excitingly competitive. Digging those hard hits are my favorite! They don't expect that from women! Our team became known as the "Global" team, because I was a foreigner. Ha! It was fun!
Yesterday, we had a small women's tournament. Our team did really well towards the end and left with one loss and one win. I really enjoy the volley ball folk. They are such nice people who take care of each other. Plus, it's nice to be on a competitive team again.

Another activity I really picked up is running. Five days a week, I meet up with three gals: Jenni from Indiana, Anne-Mari from South Africa, and Erin from Canada. Early in the morning, I ride my bike over to Chamdan to Erin's house where we all meet and run for about an hour taking different routes each day. With four running foreigners, we can be quite a show for some people on the streets! When we run laps around one of the parks, people will start counting our laps and making supporting gestures at us. Sometimes it is overwhelming having that "zoo animal" feeling, as jenni says, but overall, people are quite harmless and friendly. Jenni, Anne-Mari, and Erin are awesome gals and it is so outstanding that we are almost all at the same pace and training. We signed up for a half marathon on June 13th on Jeju Island. It will be a glorious run right along the northeastern coast. Woo Hoo!

It is such a rewarding feeling knowing that I have survived living in another country for seven and a half months now. There are challenges and still I go through mini stages of culture shock, but overall I feel proud for setting and making a life in such a densely populated area. South Korea is the size of the state of Indiana, but has a population of around 50 million people. What makes the statistics even more impressive is that 60 percent of the land in South Korea is covered in mountains, which are hard to build on so most people live in the flatter areas or cities. There are huge apartment complexes everywhere! I love my little apartment~ it is so pretty (I posted pictures below in an earlier blog).

Goodness.... only four and a half more months with my kiddos! Yikes!

Kristin's Visit

April 2nd~ April 9th, 2010

Last week, Kristin came to visit all the way from Medford, Oregon. Jenni and I met up with her in Seoul late Friday night after work at the Imperial Palace Hotel. From there, we had a good night's rest and spend the rest of the weekend touring around Seoul. Places we visited were Namsan Mountain where we had a nice hike, Seoul Tower, a Folk Village near Namsan, Insadong Antique Market, and several other places. We also observed beautiful pieces of art at a photo gallery while meeting several of the artists~ their photos of the city were amazing and so creative. What made us adore the art even more, was when the artists explained their tricks and how the shots were taken. Quite inspiring!

My favorite place that we visited in Seoul would have to be the Insadong Market. It was such a perfect place to stroll the streets, observe all the beautiful crafts, sample food at different food stands (hodock pancakes, rice snacks, and songpyeong were popular), and it was also a perfect place to observe people in such a rich culture. We had such a great time.

The touring was perfect, because we weren't in a frantic rush to get to everything. Seoul, being the capital of Korea, as well as, home to over 10 million people, has so much to do and see. The Seoul subway is awesome and easy to figure out, plus so cheap (Steve, you would probably love it~Kristin said you loved organized trips!). Also, Kristin was able to try out several Korean dishes such as Galbi, Gimbap, Bibimbap, mandu (dumplings), soups, and other dishes. I was nervous that the food would be too spicy, but Kristin was a champ!

It was a fantastic time for all of us up in Seoul, but I was extremely thrilled to take Kristin to the southwestern region of the country where I live. The region is called Jeollanamdo and Gwangju, the city where I live, is the capital. This region is known for the rice production and also the best Korean cuisine~ yes, that's right!!! It is also known as the "country" or "sticks" where it's less developed in comparison to the rest of the country and supposedly people have a small town accent. A few of my friends find it funny to teach me expressions in the country slang, such as, "O-May" or "I-Go." I love it! I would hardly call this the country with my city being over a million and a half in population, but it does have a stronger hold on the Korean traditions and culture.

Kristin loved the personality of the city of Gwangju and the great access to the neighboring mountains. Plus, the air quality is so much better. Places we visited in this area were Mudungsan (Korea's third largest mountain), Damyang Bamboo Forest, Boseong Green Tea plantation, Gwangju's downtown, and we also spent time meeting up with my friends and touring the dong (neighborhood) where I live. Ha, also, it didn't take a lot of energy trying to convince Kristin to go to the jjimjilbang baths even with the naked factor. It is so therapeutic and fun! She really enjoyed it after her long flight here. Hiking Mudungsan was perfect, because the cherry blossoms are in full bloom, as well as, other beautiful flowers. On the mountain, Kristin was able to visit a small Buddhist temple and also witnessed the typical, hard-core hiking outfits and hiking sticks everyone uses on the mountain! Hiking is a serious matter here! he he.

On our trip to Damyang, Kristin and I went with my co-teachers from my hogwan to walk in a bamboo forest. We explored the area, visited an old school house with traditional Korean houses, and had lunch together at a traditional Korean restaurant. Kristin was overwhelmed by the amount of food and number of side dishes. "They just keep coming!"

On another morning, Jenni, Kristin, and I went to the Boseong Green tea plantation together. We enjoyed delicious green tea ice cream, while strolling through the plantation. It was so beautiful and fun with all the kids running around on their school trips. It is amazing how fearless kids can be running up and starting conversations with foreigners.

Since I couldn't get off of work on Kristin's visit, I still taught every afternoon. It worked out well, though, because Kristin made a few visits to my school and met several of my students. Yes, students are well behaved here, but since they have to go to school from 8am to sometimes 9pm with only a few breaks, they can be quite energetic! Kristin kept commenting on how fun, yet wild these kids are. "I don't know how you do it, Liz!" is what she kept telling me. The students really enjoyed her, although they wished she had brought her new puppy, honey with her (I have a few pictures of Kristin and her puppy in the classroom). Kristin's blue eyes and curly hair were also a huge hit. The compliments here can be strange to westerners, because often times we get told that "we have small faces" or "big eyes" which are considered to be beautiful physical features here. Sometimes, I forget how homogeneous this area truly is since I have almost gotten used to stares and gestures towards me out in public.

Overall, Kristin's visit was truly a blessing. She is such an incredible and wise sister. We had a lot of fun, especially making fun of the various designs (including leopard print) of "same-same" couple sets of lingerie and other items of clothing found in the shopping areas. Ha ha! Everyone here loved her and understood that it was difficult for me to see her go. My neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Hwang, commented on how much Kristin and I are alike and how nice our family must be. They really wanted to spend more time with Kristin and were sad to see her go, too. My volley ball friends were also fascinated by her. Bong Suk treated us with dinner and bought Kristin a beautiful painting from the Gwangju Gallery downtown. People here are just so incredibly kind.

I am so glad Kristin came and was able to have great cultural experiences. She loved having tour guides that knew more than just the touristy sites, yet, it was also awakening for me having her here to see and experience Korea with virgin eyes again. I love you, Kristin!