My Single Step: October 2012

What I have learned 2 months in:

1. There are no trash cans..... ANYWHERE. You made the mess, you dispose of it in your own way. Thus Korea has trash everywhere.

2. No forks. Using a fork is looked at as "childish". -- You should see my sick skills at chopsticks though!

3. The hospital's used needle container... Wide open, no lid, waiting for your toddler to just stick their hand right on in there.

4. People are drunk and on the streets 7 days a week and they will pass out where ever they feel it it.
For proof check out: http://blackoutkorea.blogspot.kr/

5. The crazy drivers!! Stop signs/lights/blinkers are just advisory, you really don't have to abide by them. Already, I have not driven for over two months and I can't say that I am missing after seeing all the accidents over here!

6. Korean showers have no doors separating the shower from the sink/stool. The whole bathroom is essentially the shower, FINALLY I am able to pee in the shower!! ... Just kidding.... Get it? ; )

7. We play charades EVERY DAY, 10 TIMES A DAY! When someone doesn't understand Scott and I will try to act it out. We look like idiots 100% of the time, but I would say it has a success rate of about 70%

8. Two words: Metric. System. UGH!

9. One word: Celsius. DOUBLE UGH!!

10. Woman urinals. No joke. A urinal built into the floor (which you are not allowed to flush your toilet paper down).

11. Soap on a stick. They don't use liquid soap in bathrooms, just bar soap on a metal rod.I feel dirtier after using it.

12. Taxi cabs are super cheap! And they don't charge by distance, they charge by electricity used because they are hybrids. = )

13. HomePlus = Korean Walmart. Everyone loves HomePlus... Including Scott and I.

14. All the women wear high heels all the time! And they wear them like champs! We went hiking the other day and I would say 1/10 women we wearing high heels. = |

15. I about pooped the first time I had one of my students whip out an X-Acto knife in class to sharpen there pencil. NEVER in the US public school system would that happen!

16. The Korean language does not have the sound or letter 'V', 'F', or 'L'. The odd replacement letter that they give to these letters. Fishing = "pishing", Office = "oppice", Over = "Ober" Fall = "Parrr". We're working on it!

17. I LOVE the word "service". When someone says, "service" it means you are getting something for "free". At a restaurant you may get a Pepsi for "service" or better yet.... SOJU!

18. SOJU! It is similar to vodka but it doesn't make you want to die while drinking, however, it does still make you want to die the day after drinking it.

19. More strip clubs than Vegas over here! Scott and I almost took our Co-Teacher to a bar called "Banana Bar" thinking it was just a fun bar, but she informed us it was a strip club.... WHOOPS!

20. Advertisement, Korean style. Certain big chain electronic shops will hire girls, dressed up like school girls, to dance in front of their store as a promotion. It grosses me out.

21. It is bad to write people's names in red. I wrote one of my student's names in red marker on the board and he informed me that he does not like to have his name written in red. When I asked him, "Why?" he explained that before computers, the registry office would write your date of birth in black and your death in red. It is bad luck to write Korean's name in red. My bad.

22. I get stared at, A LOT. The odd thing is, it is mainly by babies and small children. I remember in sociology we were taught that children aren't born with the idea of race rather that society instills it in them.... but I am pretty sure that is NOT true.

23. So women wear high heels all the time, but they also are also dressed up like they live in Manhattan. I feel like a slob over here. Korean women dress impeccably. BUT Korean people also feel less remorse on spending large sums of money on impulse buys. In the US, only 20% of people say they DO NOT feel bad after spending on large ticket items, while in Korea nearly 80% of people DO NOT feel bad after spending on large ticket items. BIG difference!

24. Street food. Scott has found his home, literally! Corn dogs, Bimbimbop, potato on a stick, meat on a stick, spicy chicken are all available from street vendors and are super cheap. (I eat spicy chicken and it is only 2,000 Won = 1.70USD!! Scott usually eats corn dogs. A double breaded corn dog is usually 2,000 Won as well, he is in heaven!)

25. I finally figured out the WON system of money.There are four bills: 1,000; 5,000; 10,000 and 50,000. And before I would hand people 10,000 instead of 1,000 or a 5,000 instead of a 50,000 until I found out that their money goes in increasing size for increased amount. = ) Finally, I don't feel like a silly American girl when giving them my hard earned Korean Won!

I would like to say that in my two months I haven't experienced culture shock, but in some ways I have. It is difficult, by any standards, to be plopped in the middle of a country that speaks a language all of it's own that you are not privy to. But, in all honesty, I think I am doing pretty well for only being over here two month. = )

Much love to all!

-C

Hakdong Pebble Beach:

During our Chuseok vacation, Scott and I visited Hakdong. It is located on the eastern bottom half of our island, Geoje. We had an enjoyable couple of days and couldn't have asked for a better precursor to the Chuseok holiday.

Walking barefoot on the pebble beach is said to be good for your health in Korea. People come from all over Korea just to walk on these pebbles. Well let me tell you, walking barefoot on the stones may be, some how, in some way, good for my health, but it hurts like hell! I guess this is also the country where EVERY woman wears at least a 2 inch high heal at all times, so they are probably used to this kind of foot pain. I, on the other hand, was just hoping that it would cure this bout of clumsy toe syndrome that I see to be ailed with..... (which the magic pebbles did not cure, the next week I took a gouge out of the same bum toe). hmmphh... So is life.

Despite my toe troubles, I had an amazing time at Hakdong. Upon getting to Hakdong (after an almost mishap of a bus taking us to Busan rather than Hakdong) we checked in, and headed down to the beach. The sounds of the waves against the rocks was something that I will never forget. The waves splash against the rocks and as the waves returns to the sea, it makes this sound of dragging pebbles with it. I think if anything was "good for my health" that was it.

After sitting at the beach and watching the waves for nearly an hour, Scott and I wondered to the CU and bought ourselves a beer and some snacks and sat and enjoyed the view. We walked along the boardwalk and Scott picked out a fish restaurant (our course) where he had a great meal and I, ate sticky rice. That night we went down to the beach and laid on the rocks. We made silly games and threw rocks into the ocean for about 3 hours.

Day two was filled with no plans, no appointments, no having to be anywhere at any certain time... and it was amazing. We were able to sleep in, mosey down to the boardwalk and get some snacks to have (yet another picnic) on the beach. When we sat down to have our picnic we were surprised by one of our students, Jin Hee, and her mother. They invited Scott and I to have lunch at their restaurant (of course, it was seafood) and we obliged. Scott said he had the best bimbimbop he has had since being here (I think it was because they treated us, everything is better when it is free) but he enjoyed the RAW fish that was in it. I on the other hand, picked around the fish and ate the rest of the meal. We thanked them (too many times to count) and departed for another stroll down the boardwalk.

We got sidetracked by Scott forgetting something in the hotel so I sat down at the GS25 and grabbed us some beers while I waited for him. The view from that convenience store store was the best view in all of Hakdong. I could have sat there for hours!! However, Scott is much more ADD and when he got back, finished his beer, he wanted to hike up these rocks. I of course tagged along, but convinced him to take the intended hiking path so nicely made of wood. Again, being the busy boy he is, the hiking trail was not enough and he wanted to go off roading. I couldn't let him just go alone (or he would have broken his neck) so we climbed over the railings (near a sign that had a big 'X' over EXACTLY what we were doing), shimmied down this cliff and perched on these rocks over looking the ocean. And I stood corrected, that was the best view in all of Hakdong.

Scott wanted to continue on with his hike and all of you know me and I am not much of a hiker so I went back to an area he passed over. It was absolutely amazing. Up in this area were huge trees, some of them extending out over the cliffs and looked like they were about to fall into the sea. I climbed out onto one of the large trees and I was literally out over the sea and the only thing holding me up was the tree. It was a rather exhilarating feeling. After that, I wondered back down and ran into a creepy man from Busan who talked at me about his life until Scott FINALLY came and rescued me. The one thing about meeting new foreigners is that I like to hear their story and more often than not people WANT to tell you their story, but somethings are better left unsaid (especially if you look like you might have kept dead bodies in your crawl space back in the states 8 years ago and make unwanted advances to a year 20 years younger than you.... just saying).

On the last night, I was finally able to eat something more than just street food and sticky rice and we went to a Korean BBQ. They had a gas grill (we have been used to the coals) so things cooked a lot faster than what we imagined and we SMOKED the place up. I was so embarrassed!! There was an old man with his family (who I assume was drunk) and he couldn't get enough of watching Scott and me, and to make random commentary.

On Monday, we got on our bus and headed back to the Gohyun Bus Terminal and to HOME. It was a spectacularly relaxing weekend, but all I wanted to do was get home, jammie up and take a nap!

DAY ONE (SATURDAY):

If you ever have the chance to go to a pebble beach.... GO!

In total, the Hakdong Pebble Beach stretches for a little over a mile. And we walked that thing probably 10 times during our first day, just enjoying everything and taking it all in!

Families and friends came out to spend the day on the beach.

You are allowed to picnic, build a fire, and camp all on the beach if you wanted to.

(Personally, I would avoid the camp out on those pebbles, youch!!)

Along the beach on the board walk was lined with hotels and SEAFOOD RESTAURANTS! Fishing is a big part of this Geoje's economy and nothing else reminded me of that more than going to Hakdong and having to eat street food or sticky rice because there was NOTHING BUT SEAFOOD! = P

Sign welcoming people to the Hakdong Beach.

Oedo Island, we had gone there prior to our vacation with some friends we met.

(That reminds me, I should probably put those pictures in my blog!)

DAY TWO (SUNDAY):

View from one of our student's mother's.....(seafood).... restaurant.

Before leaving for Chuseok vacation our student Jin Hee told us she would be in Hakdong. On the second day we ran into her with her mother and they invited us to eat at their restaurant (for free).

It was such a nice gesture and they had such a beautiful location.

Scott absolutely loved the (raw fish) ricey meal, I ate around the fish. = )

I love these pictures. It pretty much describes our time. Just hanging out on a pebble beach on the East Sea surround by mountains. Couldn't be better!

Bad thing about being the camera person, you only gets snaps of everyone else or your feet.

One day my grandchildren will ask about me in Korea and I will only be able to say my feet were in Korea.

Stopped by the GS25 on the second day to have our refreshments and to enjoy the view. I think that the store had almost the best view of everyone on the board walk.

Again with my feet.... but no one in the world has those customized CeeCee's, so I guess I have proof that it was actually me!

Raft used for fishing (top)

Ferry boat that shuttled people to and from Oedo Island.

It can't really do it justice, but what a view!?

While sitting on the beach, Scott says, "Let's go climb that rock!" and I say, "Or even better, let's use the wooden hiking trail intended for hiking!"

And we head off...

We get about 10 minutes into the hike and Scott wants to get off the path and head down the steep cliff to the rocks.... and I say.... "Sure........ = S"

View of the cliffs, it looks less scary than what it REALLY was...

View up toward the meant to be used hiking trail that we were no longer on. (left)

View directly down off the cliffs. (right and below)

Our triumphant pictures of our off road hike.

(let the record show, I went out farther than Scott did... He is a worrier!)

Scott continued on the hike and I stayed back to go and look at this off path that I had seen earlier.

This tree actually stretches out over the cliff and rocks and is just hanging by it's huge roots.

(Insert something inspirational about endurance or something here).

Op, here I am!! Too bad the sun was in my eyes.

There were benches to sit on and you could look out and enjoy the sea

while also being a part of this forest.

View from my bench. My kind of hiking! <3

I am not for certain what these are, but they reminded me of fall.
<3

A really disappointing aspect of Hakdong Beach was the way people treated it.

Litter and garbage was all over the beach and even this dry stream was covered.

An announcement was made over the intercom (in Korean) that pleaded for people to pick up their trash and any trash around them. Only knew the word "trash" and "area" "please" .... getting there!

When people were done camping, they would shake off their blanket (as if it were covered in leaves rather than trash) and head back to their cars. Not even thinking about picking up their garbage = (

No longer "pebble" beach, straight up STONE beach on the edges.

I wonder which is better for my health?

Sun setting on our second day.

These two girls were still in their Chuseok dresses. It was so cute to watch them play and run while trying not to mess up their fancy dresses.

Chuseok is always during a full moon. Scott and I were not able to see the sun rise from where we were, but we got a gorgeous view of the full moon coming up!