Fireworks and the DMZ

Saturday I went to Seoul. It is about a 3hr bus ride. When I got there I met up with friends and we somehow had saved a spot on a hillside of an island under a bridge for the fireworks festival. What a great view of the fireworks, but I have never seen so many people. The Seoul metropolitan area has over 25 million. That is not including tourists or guests.  Needless to say it was packed where ever you went. But the fireworks were amazing. There were four shows, and each show was 20 minutes. The four countries that participated were Itay, China, USA, and South Korea. So 80 minutes of fireworks with 4 grand finales. Wow I was never bored. Each one was better than the last one. With South Korea just blowing everyone out of the water, at one point there was what looked like the horizon or a horizontal line with just like a dam of fireworks while the show was going on. It was amazing. But my camera was dead so I had to steal pictures from fellow friends who were there.  

I can see North Korea from my house.

DMZ……… Take all your preconceived notions and throw them out the window. It is very safe, I didn’t see any North Koreans. Hell, you don’t even get to go in the actual DMZ. The real DMZ is a nature preserve filled with old landmines and there are no humans in it. We did a semi guided tour. First we went to Imjimgak which is a place with many statues and a small museum. We were there for only half an hour while the tour guide registered us. Everyone must be registered in order to go to the DMZ. There was a bridge there called the bridge of freedom that about 50 meters in was blocked off and you couldn’t go any farther. The Bridge of Freedom got its name when 13,000 war prisoners shouted “Hurray Freedom!” as they crossed the bridge returning home after the Armistice Agreement in 1953.

After a short stop for lunch we arrived at the 3^rd of 4 tunnels dug by the North Koreans under the DMZ. This was probably the coolest part. There was a museum explaining all the tunnels. The 3^rd tunnel is 240ft underground and roughly 6ftx6ft which after the scaffolding they put in it is even shorter. It is about 1 mile in length but we were able to go maybe ¼ mile into it before it was blocked off. There is nothing allowed down so I was not able to take a picture but I did happen to bend over and take a piece of rock. It is apparently designed for a surprise attack on Seoul from North Korea, and can easily accommodate 30,000 men per hour along with light weaponry.

Next was an observatory where you could look through the pay binoculars and see North Korea. There are two big cities that some think are fake and just propaganda so that we think they are living better than they really are. I am sure we all know that North Koreans have a horrible life. It was cool to be able to see building and mountains in a place that few people have seen and even less live in. You were only able to take any pictures from a certain point so you could not get a good picture but here are a few. You can pretty much just see the mountains.

The last part was a railroad. Where the train only comes once an hour, and for 50cents we could play on the train tracks till the train came. The significance of the tracks is that they are the last stop in the south. But the South Koreans and people associated with the DMZ want unification so the slogan for this stop is “Not the last station from the South, but the first station to the North.” If the track ever is able to be connected to the north you could travel from Busan( Southern South Korea) to the transatlantic railway to the trans-Siberian and take you deep into Europe. Overall I am glad I was able to have this opportunity. I guess it was even crazier because the day before a North Korean Solider shot 2 of his superior officers and defected into the South. The South didn’t shoot him, instead they just interrogated him and I can only assume that he will be able to live here. He must have desperately wanted to leave because the punishment for that is that his family will be killed for 3 generations. So that diffraction cost his family many lives.

Tuesday was sports day at school which I was told I didn’t need to go to. But come on its me, I love sports try stopping me. They had many games and relays all for fun, and the whole family was invited. Many parents and grandparents were there. I was asked by students, staff, and parents to participate in many events. It was really cool, my favorite had to be the first one where 4 kids sprinted about 20 yards and opened a piece of paper read a name had to find that person and finish the lap running with them. Well, when I was called I made sure that the kid and I didn’t lose. It was really fun; the parents were all taking photos as we ran by. There not used to seeing a foreigner interacting with their kids. One more was a relay race, but the baton was not small it was huge; it was like 4ft long and awkward to run with. There was the tug of war and many games that we had at ours as kids. Wednesday was a break though day climbing for me, I guy who is younger than most who have been helping me was my trainer for the day. And he took was able to explain to me how to use my legs. Sounds simple but it’s not there is a certain technique that I was not using at all. Once I was shown it I was able to climb the first route 3 times in a row. I had never done it twice in one session. I needed that for my motivation on climbing I felt I had hit a wall. And on Friday my friend Jake came I was able to do the explaining as he climbed the wall with what looked like ease. It was very good the Koreans were impressed with him and me for the teaching skills. They were probably more relived, that they didn’t have to try explaining it again but either way.

Saturday the Climbing team invited me to Seorak Mt. Which is another national park but it is considered the best mountain on the inland of South Korea. I knew about it and was excited. We got there and stayed at a motel then went there the next morning. I expected a long hike to an amazingly high peak. Well I was wrong, in the fact that we were not going to the biggest peak. Instead we went to UlsanBawi which is where some of the group was rock climbing (I am not to that level…yet). WOW Beautiful and a very difficult hike. The park was packed with people and there was basically a natural stairway to the base of the rock then a real stairway up the rock. It was the hardest climb I have ever done but at the top we hit 900 meters which is more than 2700 feet. The view was amazing and the wind was strong and cold, but totally worth it. On the way home we stopped by a traditional Korean country restaurant. Had more raw fish, and snail that was still in the shell. It was not raw but super difficult to pull out of the shell. All in all it was a lot of fun. This week I will be getting my hair cut and going on a cultural trip required by the program. 

Free Willy I thought you would taste better

School

Well, on Tuesday I taught days of the week and I chose to use the song It’s Friday by Rebecca Black. If you don’t know it good, if you do then you know what I was put though during the 6 classes I used it for. It was awful, but it is a good days of the week song. I then taught time which was not easy but it was rewarding. It is nice to finally teach something new. And watch the kids when they finally understand what I am saying. I didn’t just teach like 10:15 I was teaching them 10 past 7 and 5 to 8. I did those for the higher grades. But they seemed to understand. Then Friday I took the kids outside and played soccer with them. Teaching them inside of the foot passing and we played a lot of games. They loved it and I loved it. Better yet the principal came up to me and was very happy I did that. I think I am going to make it a once a week thing. Every Friday get the kids outside for some reason or another.  I only taught Tuesday-Friday then I had Monday – Wednesday off Back to school Thursday then to the Mask festival with the kids Friday. The day back Thursday it was no surprise but the kids could not focus. It was the only day of the week in which they had class, I would be the same way. Friday was fun, watching the kids make crafts and being able to be with them outside the class was nice. They all were showing me what they made. I took a few pictures as you can see below.

Randomness

I have gone I think 3 weeks without trimming my beard since I plugged it in with an adaptor and not a converter. So it killed it. But I was able to order one off line at my favorite coffee shop. We tried with my check card here. But that didn’t work so the lady put it on her and I paid her back. They are so awesome. My beard is getting a little crazy and not very professional for teaching. That was on Tuesday and also that day when I came back to my room the lady from the hotel was cleaning it, scrubbing the bathroom sweeping the floors even doing my dishes and organizing some stuff. That was an awesome surprise that needed to be done badly.  I wish it was done weekly. It is hard to keep just one room clean.

free willy

FOOOOOOODDDDDDD

Monday a crew of us went out to eat. We ate beef that we cooked. Its Korean BBQ style, it is soooo good. It comes with many side dishes like everything here and I am sure most of you have never even had one of the side dishes they off. They are very hard to explain. But they are very delicious, but not filling so Adam and I ate again this time fried chicken. I feel like all my money is going to food. It’s cheap but I eat a lot and the groceries are expensive. Another night we went to eat some fish, Adam had been craving it, so I was like lets go. We found a spot with fish in the fish tank outside the place. We ordered scallops and fish. The scallops were amazing, char grilled right in front of us still in the shell. They were awesome. Then they took away the fire and brought us a platter with fish. Raw fish, literally they just took them out of the tank chopped them up and boom there they were 5 minutes later right in front of our faces. We sat there for a minute wishing it was a joke but the cook looked at us and motioned to us to eat. So that is what we did. Wrapping them in lettuce with spicy peper sauce and garlic. Everything we could do to get over the fact that there is a ton of raw fish right in front of us. The taste was ok, the texture was what did it for me. It was just so chewy, I will never again order it on purpose that way. It may happen by mistake again. Who knows? The next thing that I didn’t expect to ever eat was at the mask festival which you will hear a lot more about later. It was Whale, like Free Willy. A group of us went in on it just so we could try it. It came in two parts, first was the blubber (fat) which had a little bit of meat attached to it. But it was like 80%fat 20% meat at best. The meat was good the fat was fatty and had the strongest fish taste ever. So if I could just eat the meat it would be good but you can’t there so fatty. Next was the fin. It was chewy like octopus and that is what it was exactly like. So not bad just chewy. I never thought I would be able to say that I ate Free Willy but I said coming into this try everything once. And that I have done. I forgot to mention a coffee shop I checked out. It was a bigger one and they offered free bread and soup with a purchase. How awesome, but then the music was awful. At times it was hard rap like very profane and vulgar. I understand they don’t know what it is saying but still just tempo in a coffee shop was bad.

Andong Mask Dance Festival-http://maskdance.com/english/sub1/sub3.asp click that for more details

It is one of the biggest festivals in Korea. And it’s a 10 minute walk, how lucky am I? This is not only the festival it’s the Korean Thanksgiving weekend. So that means there that a ton of people from TALK (my program) are free and coming to visit the 6 of us in Andong. Let the party begin.  People started arriving Friday night. We all just hung out that night and attacked the festival Saturday. The group was about 10 strong going there. And we attracted a lot of attention. This is surprising because there were many foreigners. At one point we stopped and to a picture in front of a big mask and cameras came out of nowhere and they all were taking pictures of us. But that wasn’t it. As we continued to walk this guy was there having us pose with masks and other objects of the Festival. We have no clue what his credentials were. But we just went along with it. The festival is full of people selling anything and everything. Also there are many opportunities to make crafts. With my lack of creativity I stuck with the simple soap making. Many members of the group stopped to do some sand art but I just continued to look around and when I came back the news was there. And me a others were taped holding a mask waving saying I love Andong. That clip was on the news on MBC the local Andong news. I was unable to see it though. Throughout the weekend we came back many times and saw many shows. There were performers from all over the world. Mexico, Russia, Germany just to name a few. It was fun watching people from all ages and walks of life compete in a mask dance contest. I don’t know who the winner was but they all did great. I feel like because I was there so much this weekend/week I should have more to tell you but I don’t. It was all the same thing over and over again but that was ok because it was still new to us.

                                                                              look familar?? I wish I was an artist. 

 

Juwang San

Tuesday 3 of us woke up early and went to a mountain about 90 minutes away. It was actually a national park so along the walk to get to the trailhead there were many shops. With many samples, that they made sure we tried. So we got some good carbs before what we expected to be a hard hike. The hike was very beautiful, we the fast way up the hill so we could see the good stuff on the way down. The peak was 722 meters high.  So almost half a mile, but at the peak it was very wooded so there was not a final view.  Then the way down is when the real fun was. There were two waterfalls and we walked next to a river almost the whole way. It was so beautiful. There was also a cave, where a Chinese king once hide. It was blocked of by a rock so you couldn’t go in very far but people were kneeling and praying in front of it. The whole hike excursion was about 12km, so like 7 miles. It was awesome and I would go anytime. I love the hiking there is here.

Folk Village

Tuesday night everyone went out, well almost. I was too tired from the hike and I volunteed my place for a movie night if you don’t want to go out. While there was 3 of us, and if you know me and movies well I was out fast. I was on the floor at the foot of my bed snoring. Next thing I know its 3am and there is a crowd of people surprisingly quiet coming in and crashing. I knew they were coming and it was ok. I gave up my bed so others could have the comfort. I don’t need it, the floor is sufficient for me. But the next morning 8am hits and I am awake and only one other person was so we just went on a walk. A long walk to the longest wooden walking bridge in Korea, it was about 4 miles. When we go there we noticed a folk village and museum so we checked it out. When we go there this man beckoned us over to the table where some women had just smashed the rice patty and tossed it in peanut dust and they told us to eat. Well, you don’t have to tell me twice.  It was delicious still warm from the pounding.  Then we explored the museum and learned about the Confucian time period and caught a taxi back cause we were meeting people for lunch. I am glad I didn’t go out. I would have missed out on that opportunity which is worth more to me than a couple drinks.