I'm Coming Home!

Sorry for the lack of updates! I had a few busy months where I did a few things and just didn't have the energy to write about them. So, the next few posts will probably be a little out of order, since I'll try and go back and write about what I did over the summer :) But let's live in the present for a while and I'll tell you about this week ;)

Well! It's been a year since leaving home for Korea!! I finished my contract at my school in Daegu and it was overall an enjoyable year :) So good, in fact, that I decided to find a new teaching contract! I did, however decide on going to a different school. I've signed a contract with a smaller private academy in Busan, the coastal city to the South East of Daegu. I spent a lot of time there on weekends this year and I'm looking forward to calling it home :) My school and apartment are within walking distance of the ocean (not the beach, unfortunately) and I'm looking forward to having access to nicer and more natural places to walk in my free time!

Before I start that job, though, I negotiated 2.5 weeks off to come finish the homeland! I'm currently sitting in Dallas airport. It's 5am.  I left Daegu about 30 hours ago ( that might be a lie. I'm too tired to figure out the time changes) and I'm waiting for my 5 hour flight to Toronto… This trip was supposed to be much shorter. But… Life happens. Delays happen… layovers happen… …

So I caught a 9am bus from Daegu to Incheon Airport Wednesday morning. 3 hours into the 4 hour drive, I am informed by my mother (and later the airline) that my flight from Seoul has been delayed by 3 hours. I was already going to be 4 hours early for my original flight, so I found myself with 7 hours to kill in the airport (it's a nice airport, but it is greatly lacking in entertainment facilities).  I played solitaire, phone scrabble, aimlessly walked around, sat and charged my phone… the usual.

When I finally boarded the plane, I found myself in a window seat with an middle aged gentleman beside me and an empty aisle seat. 'Perfect', I thought to myself. 'He can move over and we can both have some personal bubble room.' NOPE. He quite stubbornly sat right beside me, both legs crossed, knees sticking out and taking up as much room as possible. Mer. At least he didn't attempt to make awkward broken English conversation with me.

Now. I'm not quite sure if the following is a true story, but I honestly can't rationalize it in any other way… So, 6 hours into the flight, I decided to take a nap. So I begin the usual pre-nap rituals; ear plugs, neck pillow, shoes off, chair reclined, half-hearted apologies to the guy sitting directly behind me as a kill all of his hopes and dreams of having space in front of him, blindfold on, turn in a circle three times, bum wiggle into a 'comfortable' position, snuggle into questionable airplane blanket.  You are now ready to pretend to sleep on a plane. 

At the time, I thought everything had gone well. No mishaps in my nap preparations… It was not until 6 hours later that I realized that MY blanket with tucked under my elbow, still nicely folded, unused. I then realize that the gentleman beside me seems to have inexplicably lost his blanket that he had, at one point, been using. Soooo there's a very good chance that I stole a blanket from my neighbour while he was using it and 100% did not realize it at the time. I guess I should have snuggled into the blanket BEFORE putting on my blindfold. The next time he got up to go to the washroom, I casually put my clean blanket on the empty chair for him to use. Haha…

I would feel bad about this incident, but I call us even since he intermittently would send a methane gas attack in my general direction.  Luckily my blindfold was easily turned into an air filtering mask for these lovely occasions. 

Due to the delays in Seoul, I missed my flight to Toronto and ended up with an overnight layover in Dallas. The airline provided a hotel room for the night (the bed was suuuper soft. I felt like I was sleeping on a cloud) and I had to be back to check in for my flight at 4am in the morning. Up-side to jet-lag: this was not as horrible of a wake-up experience as it first sounded. Much easier to get up at 3am when it feels like 5pm.

The flight into Toronto was blissfully short and uneventful :) I was greeted at the arrival gate by my mom and brother. We had lunch and then I climbed into my brother's car and drove to Cornwall (near Ottawa), where he had recently moved.  It was a long few days but I made it through in good condition and decently high spirits! 

It's my party and I'll Thai if I want to!

So, in April, we got a 5-day vacation from work! My friend and I headed off to Thailand and did just about everything you could possible do in 5 days.   It was a crazy 5 days. Due to the travel and tour plans that we made, we never got to sleep in past 9am and It. Was. Hot. 30-40 CONSTANTLY. If you're ever heading to Thailand, go in the winter. My God.  Air conditioning is a life-saver when looking for accommodations. 

Apparently April is the hottest month in Bangkok and we almost melted. My poor Canadian body was not happy in the humid, or sticky heat, but between iced drinks and air conditioning, we (mostly) survived.  It didn't help that I broke out in hives 4 days before leaving and was still fighting the itch (and looked like I had a terrible disease) on the plane and certainly for the first half of the trip (luckily the swelling in my face went down before we get there or I really would have been grumpy). The hives were a reaction to the antibiotics or or other drugs that I was taking for my tonsillitis (see previous post entitled 'drug cocktail and sea partings')

We flew into Bangkok and stayed at a hostel called "Penpark Place", which is in the same area as Kao San Road, the infamous tourist night-life destination. The hostel was nice and quiet, set back from the noise of the main street. We had a double private room with a communal washroom.  Clean. Air conditioned. Generally a very nice place :) We had only booked two night there because we had a trip to Kanchanaburi booked, but we decided to return to the same hostel for out last night before heading out.

Drinks
If you're ever in Thailand, you will find that many people drink out of bags… No, not brown-bagged liquor bottles, literally plastic bags with liquid in them.  Easy on-the-go transportation of your favorite, usually iced, beverage. It works surprisingly well, and possibly more hassle-free than disposable cups… just make sure you don't put too many holes in it…

Fresh fruit drinks are quite commonly sold on street stalls.  They're a delicious and cheap way of keeping hydrated and cool.  If you're not feeling up to puréed fruit, you can always opt for a coconut, usually sold at the same fruit stand and hacked open with a machete.  Another drink we discovered is Thai Tea. It's a black tea of sorts, but they use condensed milk instead of sugar and cream to flavor it. The end result is a terracotta orange colored, opaque liquid that is Amazing. Simply awesome. We got it every time we saw it being sold. We also creeped on a guy making it the first time we tried it.

Ayutthaya Food Tour

On our first full day in the country, we went on the "Ancient Ayutthaya Food and History Tour"  that took us out of Bangkok to Ayutthaya, the second city that served as Thailand's capital before being destroyed by war. We spent the day sampling Thai food (and sweets) and being guided around temples and ruins of the old city.

The tour company picked us up from out hostel at 8 in the morning and dropped us off around 5. We had two restaurant meals with our tour guide. Breakfast consisted of (ground) chicken rolls, served with a chilly sauce and fresh Thai basil leaves, fried egg omelette, and another dish that I can’t remember, though  I do remember liking it.

For lunch, we sampled fresh lobster (the yellow brains are the specialty of the restaurant. Very creamy), fresh fish curry and pomelo. For desert, we tried some Thai Bingsu (Bingsu is the Korean shaved-ice and condensed milk desert. The Thai have adopted and altered to make it their own.  Between you and me, the Koreans do it better)… I feel like I'm missing another main dish but I have no pictures and no recollection. Anyways, amazing food. The restaurant was over a river and when you were done with your food, you could toss the leftovers over the edge of the balcony and watch massive cat fish devour it… they really like lobster. The fish in the river were considered sacred or something, so they were not in danger of being the next meal while they gorged on their not-so-lucky cousins.

Treats

We sampled many different sweets on our tour. Similar to Korea, Thailand also enjoys sticky rice-cake-y candies. We sampled a few different kinds at a street stand. We watched them make one that consisted of a rice-flour sticky wrapping encasing a sweet peanut ball… if that makes sense.

Another popular treat was something similar to cotton candy, only had the disturbing texture of fake hair. It's called Roti Saimai, and they essentially boil a sugar-water mixture and then stretch it into long strands as it cools. You then wrap the strands in a thin flour tortilla and munch away…And that's a wrap!! Hahaha, Very strange. Not bad. The tortilla balances out the sweetness of the hairs… a bit.

We also spent a night (2 days) in Kanchanaburi. We went kayaking on the River Kwai, hiked (and swam in) the Erawan waterfalls (7 tiers! Fancier than any cake I've ever had!) and rode on an elephant. We also went to the death railway, which was built by WWII prisoners of war. Apparently there's a movie about it… No big deal or anything. Kanchanaburi is also where the Tiger Temple is located (well, near by), though we didn't end up going to it.  Little too expensive on a teacher's wages when she's trying to pay off school debts :(  The town itself was much smaller and run down compared to Bangkok.

There was a strangely large population of middle/old aged white men sitting in the bars along the street. I assume that it is Britain's Florida; where the old people go to die.  Strangely, it was only old men. So either their wives were at home, it's where the old single people go to die.  Either way, very different feel than the youthful presence on Kao San Road.  That being said, it was much prettier than Bangkok. I tend to gravitate towards places with trees and grass, and Kanchanaburi did not disappoint :) Our hostel (Sam's House) was right on the River Kwai, so there was plenty of wildlife around us. Sam's House was more rustic than Penpark Place.  Each room was a separate bungalow with a bedroom and washroom. The air conditioning wasn't as… functional, but it got the job done eventually.

Bangkok

We headed back to Bangkok and hit up the Grand Palace (it was crawling with pushy Chinese tourist) and Wat Pho. The Grand Palace was, well, grand! Very rich, shiny, and overwhelming.  We didn't stay long due to the crowds and the heat. I'm not joking when I say it was overwhelming.  No matter where you stood, someone was touching, or pushing you.  It made everything feel a little claustrophobic. It didn't help that the buildings and statues were all so close together that it was impossible to take a picture where you could see the whole structure.



 Wat Pho was just as impressive but had much more of a relaxed, Buddhist feel, aided by the never-ending Buddha statues, and a very large reclining Buddha at the heart of it all. We had to pay to get in to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho (be prepared for that) which was unfortunate, but I can sort of understand why.  The grounds were well-kept and the price kept the tourist level down a bit (in Wat Pho, at least).

Overall it was a great trip and great adventures!

Drug Cocktails and Sea Crossings

The spring festivals continue! Last weekend we went to a sea parting festival is Jindo, a southern island at the end of the Korean peninsula. For two days every year, the sea tides get low enough to expose a land bridge between two islands.  It draws large crowds of foreigners and Koreans! There are two times to cross, one in the morning and one in the evening. We were at the evening crossing, since Jindo is a 4 or 5 hour drive away from Daegu. My friends and I went with Enjoy Korea, our super dooper, handy dandy trip coordinators!

The festival seemed to be 'around the world' themed and had food tents representing different countries… We were a little confused about some of them. The German tent had sausages (fair enough) and coconut drinks… … … do they have coconuts in Germany? I was kinda under the impression that they don't, but I could be wrong.  Sadly, there wasn't a Canadian tent, but the American tent made up for it (not). They had spiral potatoes on a stick and the largest assortment of booze I have ever seen in Korea… This is what they think we do. Eat fried potatoes and booze. Haha.

Sea crossing

On sale at the festival were these awesome, thigh-high plastic boots to avoid getting a drop of water or mud on you. I, of course, opted for the questionable water shoes with wholes in them (think crocs) for my sea parting adventure. I wanted to feel mud between my toes!!!! I quickly realized that my mud aspirations were not to materialize as reality. The sea floor was surprisingly  solid sand and rock.  The Koreans (I'm assuming those who live near by)  immediately began digging in the sand for shell fish or sea crustaceans (or whatever).  It was a little strange but I'm sure they went home and cooked up an awesome meal afterwards.

my choice of shoe 

Diggers! and check out the boots!

Jindo has some sort of legendary grandma figure. I never actually heard to story, but there was a statue or a grandma and a tiger marking the entrance to the sea bridge that had some sort of significance. People could write hopes and wished on a banner that was then carried across to the other island (I think).

Grandma and Tiger

After all that, we hopped back on the bus and went to our spa hotel. Again, we were sleeping on floor mats in a large room. Someone my two friends and I ended up in a room all by ourselves which was nice. I apparently passed out really quickly, which makes sense since I was sick and taking a large amount of (prescription) drugs.

The next day we went to the Boseong Green Tea fields where we partook in a tea drinking ceremony (pretty cool) and walked around the tea fields for hours. It was quite beautiful. The weather was amazing and I came out of it with loose leaf green tea and green tea chocolates!  We ate dinner there as well and, of course, the dished were green tea themed.  Jenna and I shared a pork dish with green tea powder dumped on top (not a favorite) and Tilly had a green tea Bibimbap. Overall it was an enjoyable weekend :)

Tea Fields

Tea Ceremony

Now, back to being sick. I came down with tonsillitis a few weeks ago. The first antibiotic I was on had no effect whatsoever but the one I'm taking now seems to be doing the trick! I've come to realize that Koreans love drugs. They like treating the symptoms of the illness but also like to treat the side effects of the antibiotics. This is what being sick in Korea looks like:

The single pills in the packaging that you would see in Canada is the antibiotic. The intimidating packets of the assorted drugs and what they give you to make you feel better (and sleepy). In those packets, we have cough relief, fever reduction, pain killers, anti-indigestion, decongestants… I think I'm missing something but you get the picture. Then we have the cough syrup (I'm assuming. This one tastes like Banana) in individual tubes, a mouth gargle, and diarrhea gel packs (only to be taken if needed and then to be rded for future travels). Almost everything is taken 3 times a day with good. 

For a few days, the little packets of wonder-pills weren't doing their job.  I have never experienced more drug side effects in my life (really wishing I'd had the diarrhea packs earlier on. She gave them to me a week in)… Dry mouth sucks. I almost chocked on a piece of bread the other day because I couldn't produce enough saliva to swallow the damned thing!

Since throwing up in front of a student on Monday, I've been on a egg and rice diet, the only things I felt like eating and didn't upset my stomach more. I also took Tuesday off work because I barely made it through Monday without fainting. Even after observing me on Monday, the school still tried to make me come in on Tuesday (even though I had a doctor's note) but I refused and stayed in bed. 

Sponge Baths and Blue Snot

The marathon of spring festivals have started!  The cherry blossoms are out and the sun can occasionally be seen through the ever-present smoggy haze.

This weekend I went down to Busan for the Holi Hai festival which was held on Haeundae beach.  It's actually the Indian festival celebrating the coming of Spring.  I'm usually not a 'party on the beach' kinda gal, but who can resist a beach party where you get to throw fists full of coloured powder at strangers?  It was also the largest gathering of foreigners I've seen in the 7 months that I've been here! It's always nice to find surrounded by your own language for a bit when you live in a foreign country. It's funny how you can't help but look up and locate the source of your own language when you're not used to hearing it on the street or in a store.  It's always a treat to be surrounded by it when it's not just your friends talking (not that I don't love hearing my friends talk…). 

 

I slept in a jimjilbang (I'll get back to that later) the night before and was on the beach by 8. Registration started at 9. Everyone got a packet of coloured powder and samosas (yumm) when they register.  Extra powder could, of course, be bought throughout the day as needed.  It was essentially a huge beach party with a colour throw every hour when everyone got together for a count down and then went crazy with the colours.  I think the colour throws kept the energy up throughout the day, which is probably why I didn't end up ducking out early as I would normally do at a party.

 

 It was very strange to have strangers throw colours at you.  They also had 'face' paint circulating around and I lost count of the number of times I had people come up to me and rub their hands all over my face, or touch my nose, leave hand prints on my shoulders… etc. Very strange but quiet entertaining all the same.  I'm pretty sure Holii's the only place where a stranger (or friend) could get away with it and have it not feel super inappropriate or intimate (though I did have one ass grab… by an older Korean gentleman… not quiet sure why he was on the beach...). Anyways, fun times were had by all.

 

It WAS interesting to see how different ethnicities acted in that atmosphere though.  The few Koreans who were there were quite timid and threw small pinches of powder at people and then would scurry off.  I mentioned to my Korean teacher that weren't many Koreans there and she said that Koreans don't like getting messy and the thought of being covered in paint and powder was not an appealing prospect.  The American/Canadian crowd were rambunctious but in a 'we're here to drink' sort of way. The Indian/Middle Eastern crowd were much more joyful and celebratory in their partying and dancing. Holi Hai is supposed to be welcoming the coming of spring and the Indians sure do give off that vibe. They certainly believe in the celebratory and playful side of the festival.

After the festival came to an end, we all crammed into the washroom to try to de-colour our faces and bodies. I'm sure the people who went in to use the washroom after us were shocked and very confused by the muddy greyish water that was left behind on just about every surface. Once I got home, I did more thorough scrub down though, despite my best intentions, my snot was still a disconcerting blue colour for a few days afterwards. Hahaha. Gross.

Jimjilbang! I mentioned earlier that I slept in a jimjilbang the night before Holi.  A Jimjilbang a Korean Spa/Sauna, or public bathing house. This was my first jimjilbang experience and it was certainly something that you would not find in North America!

I got there around 8 on Saturday, and once I paid my 15 000 won ($15) for the night, I was issued a key, a shirt, and a pair of shorts. I put my shoes in a small locker on the main floor and was gestured upstairs to the second floor, where the women's bathing area was.  After self-consciously stripping naked by my locker, I walked into the steamy bathing area.  IT was surprisingly empty for a Saturday night but there were enough naked Koreans to make it no feel too intimate a gathering. There were designated scrubbing sinks with handheld shower heads and small stools to sit on.  Koreans really like scrubbing… They're quite thorough in their cleaning.   There were 4 different baths in the room to choose from, varying in temperature. There was also one outside on the balcony where you could breath some fresh air while sweat it out in the hot tub. There was also a water fall muscle-pounding 'bath' so you could work out those pesky knotted back muscles.  I didn't go into the hot and dry saunas, but they were also available for your baking pleasures. 

Once I had had my fill of the baths, I dried off, put on my designated t-shirt and shorts and headed to the sleeping/lounge area the next floor up.  Here, I discovered that there was a restaurant and a snack bar! The locker key also somehow kept tab of the money you spent while you were there… which was convenient because you didn't have to carry cash around with you.  I sat and alternated between reading my book and people watching for a few hours as the rest of the bathers filtered in.  I was surprised at the number of families with young children were there… Just a casual Saturday night visit to the Spa and sleep over!   When I first got to the leisure room, there was a father playing with three young kids. They had gotten their hands on a pile of square cushions/pillows and were happily using them as building blocks.  When the mother came in, she chastised the kids for making a mess and I saw the father discretely disassemble his own pillow creation before she noticed that he had been an active participant in making the mess. Haha. Classic marriage and parenting.

 

Around 11, the staff brought out small quilts that were to be used as sleeping matt and blanket.  I grabbed a few quilts and pillows and staked out a spot of flooring in a small room just off of the main one that was quieter and darker than the larger room.  As you can imagine, it was a little noisy in there and I was happy that I'd remembered to pack my ear plugs! It took some time for me to get comfortable on the floor but I did manage to finally fall asleep, surrounded by strangers.

I woke up uncharacteristically early and decided to go back down to the baths for a bit. I then went back up and ordered some rice and boiled eggs for breakfast.  Koreans boil their eggs in tea, so they're always a strange brown-ish-yellow colour on the inside which is really not overly appetizing looking… but still tastes OK.

As I was sitting enjoying my modest breakfast, I noticed that there were sauna rooms on this floor as well! There was a red-clay sauna, a salt sauna, and two hot rooms as well. I hung out in the salt room for a bit and then cooled off in the ice room (another morning discovery).  I then made my way back to the change rooms to put my Holi attire on (white shirt of course), paid off my key bill, retrieved my shoes and headed down to the beach to wait for Holi to start!

It was an awesome weekend :) 

Seoul for Seolnal

Happy New Year!

No, I'm not almost 2 months late with this post! I promise!... I'm only a week and a half late ;)
Korea, in accordance with the rest of Asia, celebrates the lunar new year more than the 'normal' new year.  Actual New Year was also celebrated with a countdown down town but Lunar New Year is considered a more important holiday and we got 5 days of work to celebrate!
But let's recount December 31st.
After work, my co-workers and I hoped in taxis and got down town for 11:30. We wove our way through the crowd of Koreans that were squeezed into a small square with a stage in the middle. There was a K-pop singer on the stage and you could write a message on a balloon to release into the sky at midnight.  We weren't overly interested in the singer and weren't overly enthusiastic about being shoved around by other people so we ducked out of the square before midnight. We slipped into a small mart and grabbed bottles of soju and had our own little celebration when we heard the cheering from the square. We then headed down to the bar area and hung out at the foreigner bar. I, in classic Keryll fashion, left the bar after a short stay and walked the hour home (starting off in the wrong direction, of course).  So, overall, not overly exciting or festive.  Koreans just don't know how to throw a party…
Lunar New Year ,설날,  was also pretty quiet, though it's possible I was just looking in the wrong places…I took at trip up to Seoul with some friends for the 5 days we had off. The bus ride to took about 3-4 hours, which wasn't too bad. We stopped for food halfway between point A and point B for a washroom break and food.  We had grabbed some roasted potatoes (which were not as exciting as we were hoping).  When we got back on the bus, an old couple sitting across the aisle from us pulled cobs of corn out of their bags and had a lovely little munch session as we continued on our journey.  This seemed like a strange travel food to me and my students have since confirmed that this was not normal.  However, on the return trip, I did buy a cob of corn at the rest stop… It was rubbery and cold and had very little flavour… Quite disappointing!
Seoul itself was awesome!  We got there Saturday afternoon and walked around Sincheon, a shopping area near two of the Universities.  The main goal of our trip was to eat as much 'foreign' food as possible while we were there since anything but Korean food, burgers and pizza are rare to find at a decent price anywhere else in this Country.  We started our gastronomically amazing trip with some Indian curry and naan bread.  The naan was strangely sweet, but I wasn't surprised about this in the least.  Koreans have an aversion to anything salty (except seaweed) and they casually drizzle everything in honey.  We also had Bingsu, which is the Korean equivalent to ice cream.  It's essentially shaved ice with condensed milk with fruit toppings.  It is generally served with a red bean paste for added sweetening and flavour (I know it sounds weird, and it is… Beans and ice cream… but you get used to it after having it a few times. Haha. You can also get bean-filled pastries and drinks!).
The next day was my birthday, so I decided to be a princess and spend a few hours walking around
Gyongbok palace.  We got there just in time to see the changing of the guard.  The palace grounds were less colourful than usual since it's February.  The usually green lawns and flowering gardens were brown, but it was still enjoyable to walk around and take a look at the old buildings.  We also saw many girls dressed in the traditional Korean hanbok dresses.  We later discovered that there was a promotion on where people in traditional dress could get their pictures taken inside one of the rooms on the palace grounds.
Once we had exhausted our photo walking options at the palace, we followed the sound of distant drums to a New Year celebration just outside of a museum.  We watched the dancing and listened for a bit, then moseyed on into the museum.  They had an exhibit devoted to the Japanese-Korean food trade.  Since Japan occupied Korean at one point, many foods and traditions were exchanged and adopted by the two countries.  It was interesting to see the differences in eating styles and general food preparations… though slightly strange… The rest of the museum was about Korean history respectively.
Once we were satisfied that there was nothing else left for us to do up at the palace, we went to Insadong to do some souvenir shopping :) We then went over to Itaewon for dinner.  Itaewon is THE foreigner food area in Seoul. We went on a mild scavenger hunt to find a Mexican restaurant which was in a make-shift location above a stripper joint (called big jugs).  It was amazing. I have never been happier to eat a burrito in my entire life.  After that, we followed our noses/carefully laid out map to a pie bakery where we carefully selected a nutritional breakfast for the next morning. Hehe.
Over the next few , we managed to have coffee in the Hello Kitty Café and the Nature Café which has sheep! Though not as exciting as the Dog and Cat Cafés, these were still interesting to see.
We also spent a good amount of an evening at a Canadian bar.  Situated in Itaewon (of course), we ate dinner at the Rocky Mountain Tavern. Not only did they have Moose Head, but it was wing night!! We got the classics; honey garlic (literally, honey and garlic), buffalo and BBQ, but we also went full out Canadian and also sampled one of their beaver sauces!  Maple mustard.  Heavenly.  We were surrounded by foreigners, they had pictures of the RCMP on the wall, they had a hockey game playing on the TV… It felt like home. We were so happy being there, we pulled a Scrabble board out of the bookcase in the corner and sat there for a few hours playing games :)We also went to the Trickeye museum which was not as exciting as I was hoping, though still pretty fun.
And, of course, an excursion with me wouldn't be complete without an incomprehensible meandering into uncharted territory… My lovely friend, who had been playing tour guide all week, allowed me to aimlessly wander after a stroll through the Ewha Women's University grounds.  Though we started in a well populated down town area, I some how managed to lead us into an… industrial… suburb… area with nothing of interest.  We found a station that got us onto a commuter train that lead us back onto the main subway route but my friend was amazed at how I had managed to get us lost so thoroughly.  Needless to say, after that I was no longer allowed to navigate… Haha
Overall, it was an awesome trip! Happy New Year(s)!