The Short One vs. Korea

Time continues to fly over on this side of the Pacific as another awesome vacation has come and gone, summer English camp is over and the daily "grind" of going to work everyday has commenced once again. Mariana was my most recent visitor and our time together was just as meaningful and event-filled as the previous vacation with my family. As with my family's trip, I will try to spare you all the little details, especially because Mariana and I visited almost the exact same places. Before I get to that though, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the summer English camp that preceded the short one's visit.

I must say, the camp was truly three weeks of singing, dancing, playing games and watching movies. I'm not sure how much new English those kids walked away with, but I can tell you they definitely had a good time. Unbelievably, the work on my end was extremely minimal, meaning even less than the effort necessary for regular school, which is saying something. Even more unbelievable is that I got paid extra for the camp, which was totally unexpected, but definitely appreciated. I can't help but feel a little bad though, being as though I hardly did anything, but heck I'm not offering a refund. If they want to pay me more for doing less, that's something they're going to have to work with whoever is in charge of the school district's budget. So anyway in case you're interested, the games we played were Twister (colors, rights, lefts, etc.), Guess Who? (describing people) and Scrabble (I think this needs no explanation). At first it seemed like their favorite game was Twister, but like most people, they got tired of having to hold their bodies in contorted positions for long periods of time, so Scrabble ended up being the hit of the camp. Guess Who? proved to be not so popular as it turned out. Over a couple days I actually had the students create their own superheroes through a Marvel website, and that was a lot of fun. They basically had to create the character's costume and choose what weapons, if any, they carried and then had to talk to the rest of the class about their superhero; things like what his/her name is and why, what's his/her power, how did he/she get that power, etc. It was very entertaining to see what they came up with. Children's imaginations are just so intriguing and so unpredictable. I don't know if there's ever a time in life when you're more creative than when you're a kid. Korean children seem to love superheroes and the supernatural too, so this made this activity extra fun for them.

As far as the movies were concerned, I took the opportunity to introduce the students to the High School Musical series, which was a hit of course. After watching all three of those movies, we watched Enchanted and 101 Dalmations to close out the camp. It was really funny to watch their reactions to any sort of romance that would occur in these movies. They would get all fidgety in their seats and start talking to each other and just plain be embarrassed by what was on the screen. I mean we're talking High School Musical and Enchanted here, so when I say romance you know what I mean. I guess for them though, that stuff is still new and strange. Especially so here in Korea, where things are a little more conservative than back home. It's probably akin to a teenage male watching Basic Instinct with his parents in the same room. Can I get an "aaaawkward" from Karlynn on that one?

With camp over, it was time to go pick up my little Mexican jumping bean in Seoul for a week of Korean adventures. I basically played it just like when my family came, by going to Seoul the night before she came and checking into the hotel, then heading to the airport the next day to pick her up. I again used public transportation to get there, which meant about two hours on subways. It's really not that bad though. If you keep yourself occupied with music or phone games you're totally fine. I'd like to mention too that I really feel like a pro now with the Seoul subway system. I remember being so intimidated when I first rode it earlier this year. Just looking at the map gave me a headache, but I can now confidently say I've mastered that beast! Anyway, as I was getting closer to the airport, these neat little screens inside the train update you on arriving and departing flights. Imagine my shock when still 10 minutes or so away, the screen shows that Mariana's flight has landed 30 minutes early. See the week before I had joked about not showing up to get her on time or hiding and scaring her when she came out of the baggage claim area, and I knew if she walked out and didn't see me, she might have started thinking I was serious. So when that train arrived at the airport I was hauling my tookus through that place to try and make sure I was there when she walked out. When I got there I noticed passengers were coming out and I frantically looked around to see if Mariana was standing somewhere sharpening the knife she would use to let me know how disappointed she was that I wasn't there on time. Lucky for me she hadn't walked out yet and after about another 10 minutes or so I was able to meet her as she came through the glass doors.

That first night we took advantage of the CPK conveniently located near our hotel and took a stroll along the Cheonggyecheon stream, which is where I basically ended my vacation with my family. Mariana had somehow found a picture of it somewhere the week before and asked if we would be going there, so I figured it would be a good way to kick off the trip. The next day we took the same DMZ tour that I had taken with my family and enjoyed all the same sights and sounds. Mariana even made sure to get her picture taken with the giant, kind of insensitive DMZ letters located outside the entrance of the Third Tunnel. A bonus on this trip that for some reason wasn't included the first time I did this, was a stop at a small little souvenir shop, where I was able to purchase North Korean soju. I guess it's supposed to be a little bit stronger than regular soju and apparently they had honey to it as well. Anyway, it just seemed like something I should buy and try, because when would I have the opportunity again. After seeing how cheap it was, I even bought a bottle for my principal who likes him some soju. He seemed pretty pleased when I gave it to him today.

When we got back to Seoul that day, the streets in the downtown area were packed for the funeral procession of a former South Korean president who recently passed away. Cops were out in full force and Mariana was quite amazed with how many there were. As this was happening, we decided to visit a palace that both of us hadn't been to yet. (See it's funny because I said both of us. Of course Mariana hasn't been there before, it's her first time in Seoul. Get it?) The name of the palace is Deoksugung and it pretty much looked exactly like the other palaces I had visited in Seoul, so it was good to know I didn't need to waste time taking her to another palace. After visiting Deoksugung we hopped in a taxi to Seoul Tower and soon after called it a night. Still adjusting to the time change, Mariana would poop out around 8 or 8:30 every night, so doing anything passed that time probably would have caused her to pull out that knife I mentioned before.

The next day, we ventured to a restaurant that I had heard about called Butterfinger Pancakes. I was quite excited for this, because from the pictures I had seen, I was about to have a real American breakfast for the first time in months. The restaurant didn't disappoint. It's basically like an IHOP, so I can understand if that doesn't excite you very much, but you have no idea how exciting it is for me. I mean seriously, abalone porridge is what they call breakfast here. Abalone porridge people. So to be able to sit down and have some eggs, bacon, hash browns, sausage and pancakes was a treat. After enjoying this fantastic meal, we headed to Insadong so the short one could stock up on souvenirs, and finally ended up in Myeongdong where we had our first Korean barbecue meal of the trip.

We were off to Jeju the next day and arrived with enough time to get in at least one activity that day. Mariana really wanted to take a submarine ride to look at the fishies, so we hopped on board a big white submarine and enjoyed a REAL ride through the ocean. I say real in all caps, because until this point my only submarine experience had been with Nemo and his buddies at Disneyland. Now, I'm not a huge fan of fish or simply staring at them for that matter, but it was a fun little excursion and seeing how excited Mariana would get seeing the fish, especially the jellyfish, made it totally worth it. That night I gorged myself at the hotel buffet as Mariana just watched, because she wasn't hungry. It wasn't a cheap buffet, so I guess I had to make sure I was getting my money's worth. And boy did I. The next day we actually did two interesting never-done-that-before activities. We started out the day at the Museum of Sex & Health, which Mariana accurately described as being just a little bit more about sex than health. It really was a site to see and a unique experience for sure. Outside the museum were huge statues of naked men, women and their body parts. And you know what I mean by "body parts." Inside, the museum housed various items related to sex and health, and seemed to tell the story of sex through history and in different cultures. Unfortunately it was all in Korean, so not only could I not read it, but I couldn't say I went there for the interesting articles. There were definitely things in there that you'd look at, then wonder who's looking at you looking at that stuff. It was very funny actually. Full on pornographic movies were playing in certain parts of the museum and they displayed just about every type of sex toy you could think of, and probably some you'd never think of. Like I said before, it was definitely an experience.

To close out our time in Jeju we went to a giant bush maze. This has nothing to do with the sex museum, so for those of you who just read that sentence, and thought what you thought, shame on you. Anyway, it was like one of those mazes you'd see in a movie (The Shining is a good example for those of you who've seen it.). We were literally like rats in a maze trying to find the cheese and let me tell you, I now have a new respect for rats. The frustration of passing areas you know you've passed already, turning corners that lead you to nowhere and thinking you've finished only to be taunted by the actual finish line staring back at you is immense. Realistically we were probably in there for about 15-20 minutes, but it could have been an hour for all I knew. There's definitely a real sense of panic that sets in when you're walking around getting nowhere and start thinking about how you'll ever get out of there. Anyway we made it, sanity in tact and enjoyed some ice cream afterwards for our efforts. Mariana actually took video of this whole ordeal, so whenever she gets it all edited maybe I can post it on here with a future blog or something.

With Jeju behind us, it was time for Busan! We stayed at the oh-so-spacious Hotel Koontz which is neatly decorated with pink flower wall paper, features the ever-popular Korean all-in-one bathroom and is conveniently located nowhere near the beach. It's a five star property no doubt. While here I had a chance to take Mariana to Brent and my favorite pork restaurant, which is Korean barbecue-style, and also to some spots where I spend a lot of my free time. It was cool to be able to show her around the areas she's heard so much about. She even was able to meet one of my good Korean friends. We of course visited the Jagalchi Fish Market, a must for anyone visiting Busan, and also spent a good amount of time on the beach. Overall it was another great vacation that I didn't want to end, but like the last one and every other one I will ever have, it had to. Mariana actually did really well here, as far as adjusting to the lifestyle. She never really had a problem with any of the little things, like being stared at or nudged/pushed on the subways. I was really proud of her. Saying goodbye was tough again, but like I kept telling Mariana and really almost everyone I talk to these days, I really think these next six months are going to go by quick. It honestly amazes me that I'm already over six months through this adventure. Again, I just feel so lucky to have had two visits from people that I care about. I mentioned this in my last post, but I really don't know who else has been lucky enough to have their friends and family come visit them. I definitely feel special.

So with summer vacation now in the rearview mirror, it's full speed ahead with the next semester of school. We started back up again today, though there weren't any classes, just opening proceedings I guess you can call it. It was great to see the students again and it was cool to see that they were excited to see me again too. I've said it many times, but they definitely are the coolest and most rewarding thing about being here by far. It definitely isn't the food, I'll tell you that! As I set into these next six months, I also want to explore different parts of the country that I haven't seen yet. I've about had my fill of Seoul and Jeju. With my International Driver's Permit, I can rent a car and go do some exploring of other cities here and I definitely plan to. Even going beyond Korea, Brent and I are looking into visiting China and the Great Wall this winter. There's still more to do and still more to accomplish before I leave in February/March.

On with the second half!

Here we are in Seomyeon, Busan

The maze of death

She acts like she doesn't see it, but she sees it.

Mariana being giddy in the submarine

Mariana helping to unify the Korean peninsula