Seoraksan National Park

This weekend was the best I've had since I've been in Korea.  On Saturday morning I met up with Logan and the Stewart family (Todd, Kim, Zach (age 11), and Leah (age 7)) at the Yatap bus station and we headed out to Seoraksan National Park.  It took us 3 hours to get to the town of Sokcho, which was a 30 minute bus ride to the park.  We grabbed a couple of hotel rooms and got to the mountain at about 1 p.m.  It was packed with people - most of whom were totally decked out in the most intense hiking gear you've ever seen.  Go big or go home here, I guess.  There were, of course, women in their heels and in dresses who were gripping to their boyfriends and husbands for support amongst the jagged rocks.  I'm not quite sure why even attempted to go anywhere but the base of the mountain, but I'm sure a little nagging from their significant others was enough to get them to brave a twisted ankle in the name of fashion.  Logan and I were honestly the only people in the entire park wearing shorts.  I'm not exaggerating when I say this.  We were the only two people not wearing pants.  We got many looks and few people asked us, "Cold?  Cold?" with many other charades of shivering.  Koreans don't like to be cold, which is ironic to me considering they live in a country whose winters are not exactly pleasant.  I can't wait to see what outfits appear when there's snow on the ground!

The Stewarts went on a less strenuous hike than Logan and I, so we met up with them later that night.  Logan and I hiked what I'm guessing was the steepest part of the entire mountain.  I'm used to Colorado and LA hiking, so I was expecting steep hills, dirt paths, and some rock formations that had been made into stairs.  I was definitely not expecting what has been termed "Korean hiking."  Yes, there were many rocks and boulders and steep hills.  What I was not expecting were the God-awful amount of metal stairs that were made in order for us to hike up to the top of the mountain.  This hike was like climbing the stairmaster for over an hour.  However, the spacing between each step was extremely awkward.  I'm not sure if it's because Korean are shorter than Americans or what, but some of the steps were literally three inches apart from each other.  It was like they were attempting to accommodate toddlers hiking up the mountain, which is totally impossible I might add.  Then, there were other steps with spacing so strange that I was trying to figure out is climbing two at a time was better.  Let's just say I tried out both styles multiple times throughout the trip.  The picture below is just one of the sets of stairs we had to climb.

Also making this hike difficult was the amount of people there.  Our timing wasn't exactly pristine and the age range of hikers was all over the map.  There were kids and grandparents who I thought could have had a heart attack at any moment.  Climbing up the steep steps was where I encountered most of the "Draggers" - the men dragging their wives/girlfriends up the stairs and steep rocks, trying to keep them moving.  Logan and I were cruising up but constantly got stuck behind the elderly who were huffing and puffing along.  I'm not trying to brag, we were definitely tired and a little break now and then was much needed, but seriously these people really needed to get out of our way.  We were on a mission and had no time for slow-pokes.  We would try to get around them, but it proved quite challenging.  It seemed like no matter which side we moved to, they moved right along with us.  It was like they were purposefully blocking our path.  And, when they did realize we were trying to pass, they didn't move over in the slightest!  They just kept trucking along in their own merry way.  I really think Koreans have absolutely no clue about what's going on around them.  I guess I should have guessed by their driving, but I thought if maybe you encountered them in person they would be a little more sensible.  I guessed wrong.  We managed to survive the stairs, the people, the narrow passages, and the "one-way-climbing lanes" (places where it was so narrow you could only let one direction of traffic flow at a time). We made it to the top and it was totally worth it.  The views were great and the fall colors only got better the higher you got!

After that hike, we went and did another hike that led up to a beautiful waterfall.  Luckily for us, it was 5 p.m. at this point and most of the people were starting to go home.  We had most of the hike to ourselves.  This hike was a lot easier, a much needed break from the previous climb.  Near the bottom of the park, most of the leaves are still pretty green.  Once you get to higher elevations, though, the colors are absolutely stunning (but these pictures don't do it justice).  Here are a few from the second hike.

By the time we got back from this hike, it was 6:30 p.m., pitch black, and we were all tired.  We grabbed some food and headed back to our hotel.  Beds are new to Korean culture and the traditional form of sleeping is on a yoe.  Sleeping on one of these is like sleeping on two sleeping bags piled on top of each other.  It's not exactly the most comfortable way to spend the night after a day of hiking, but it was cheap so we sucked it up and did it.  Little did I know that sleeping on the yoe would be the least of my problems.  First of all, our room had no air conditioning and felt like it was 100 degrees.  We tried to solve this problem by opening up our door.  However, we looked right into the street, and on a Saturday night, well you can guess what it sounded like outside.  Also, our deck light refused to turn off, so we were faced with a dilemma.  Should we keep the doors open and close the curtains, blocking out the light and praying that cold air would get through?  Should we close the doors and the curtains and suffer in the sauna that was our room?  Or should we crack the door, close the blinds most of the way, and hope to fall asleep?  We opted for the last one, which was not very successful.  Leah was the only one who seemed to get a good night's sleep.  Kim and I were up most of the night closing and opening the doors, closing and opening the curtains, and tossing and turning under and on top of our sheets trying to cool off (and find some comfortable position on the wood floors).  

When the alarm sounded at 5:45 a.m., it was almost a relief that we were able to escape our uncomfortable room.  We headed down to the beach, about 4 blocks from our hotel, to watch the sunrise.  This was a huge disappointment due to all the haze that encompassed the entirety of the horizon.  Logan and I headed out at 7 a.m. to fit in one last hike before the bus left to go back to Yatap at 1:30 and the Stewarts packed up and headed home on the 9:30 a.m. bus.  The hike we did today was by far my favorite.  It was challenging like our first hike but didn't have the artificial stairs and we got the beauty of hiking by the rivers, similar to our second hike.  Since we started early, we missed most of the crowds and were able to get around the people we did encounter with much more ease than the first day.  The colors on this hike were absolutely stunning.  Once again, the pictures don't do it justice, but hopefully you'll get to see a little of what it looked like.  The green leaves were so bright, the yellow leaves looked like gold, the orange leaves were the color of pumpkin-colored crayon, and the reds were the most brilliant fire-engine red I've ever seen.  It looked like God had taken a paintbrush and created this beautiful picture that we were lucky enough to climb into for a few hours.  The scenery looked like something straight out of a Thomas Kinkade picture.  It was totally unreal.  I don't think I can ever go back to Seoraksan during any other season because this was utter perfection.  These are my 3 favorites!

After we finished this hike, we took a cable car up to the top of the mountain and climbed (and I mean on our hands and feet kind of climbing) up to this tall peak that overlooked the entire city.  It was so cool!  They had a couple South Korea flags flying at the top, and once again, the views and colors were out of this world.  The rocks looked fake.  Everything had the most brilliant colors and shapes.  I just can't believe that a place like this exists on earth.  

I never wanted to leave.  I wish fall could stay like this forever because it was the most gorgeous, peaceful place I've ever been.  It definitely makes you realize how small we are and how great God is.  There are so many wonderful things to see, we just need to take the time to do it.  I was thinking about all my friends and family this weekend, wishing you could all have been there with me!  xoxo

My Korean Mother

Today was a really great day.  I got up, went on a run, talked to my friend Mike, and then spent the next five hours with my boss.

I had to take a couple passport photos to bring to the immigration office, so while we were waiting for them to be developed we went and had lunch.  I don't know how it came up, but we started talking about divorce.  I had mentioned last week when I was showing them pictures of my friends and family that my parents are divorced.  So while we were eating, we started talking about it and she told me that she got divorced about nine years ago, about her marriage, and her concerns about her son growing up in a broken home.  Before I knew it we were both crying.  She told me that she had planned on telling me since she knew about my parents but hadn't expected to say anything so soon.  Divorces in Korea are not as common as in the U.S. and the women suffer much more than the man.  She didn't have custody of her son and couldn't see him for a few years (now she's able to see him everyday if she wants and is hoping to live with/near him when he moves away for high school).  She said that before I came to Korea she had been praying to God to send her a good new teacher.  She said that when she met me and since I've been at the school that all of her prayers had been answered.  She also said that after seeing the kind of person I was, she was hopeful that her son would one day come to find God and would grow up to be like me.  We connected on a very deep, emotional level.  I was surprised that it happened so fast, if at all.  She said that she hadn't told the teacher before me about her divorce and that only one other teacher at the school knew about it.  I felt very privileged that she was able to be so open with me, and I was glad that I could relate to what she was saying and experiencing.

After that, we waited for about two hours at the Immigration office so I could get my ID card so I can open up a bank account.  While we were waiting I was telling her about some ideas I had for the students and she was getting really excited.  I think I'm doing things in class that are pretty different from the past teachers and she made it seem like I care more about tending to the needs of the students and making learning fun as opposed to just getting through the curriculum.  After we were done at the Immigration office, we went to an American book store and I picked out a couple books that I thought Mrs. Kim should read and about 5 different books for some of my new classes that I will get to create the curriculum for.  By the way, if anyone has any book suggestions for my students to read, please let me know!!  After that, she took me to a cafe that gives Korean lessons for free on Saturdays, so I hope to go in two weeks so I can start learning.  Before she took me home, she picked up sushi for us to eat because I had mentioned earlier in the day how much I liked it.  Isn't she so great!?!?  She definitely has taken on the role of my Korean mother and I feel so lucky and blessed to have someone looking out for me.

A Little Korean Pick-Me-Up

This week flew by!  I can't believe it's already Sunday . . . and that I've only been here for 17 days.  Part of me feels like I've been here for much longer.  I think living in LA was a good preparation for what life is like here: fast paced, tons of people, crazy driving, lots of shopping - just to name a few.

This was my first week of teaching completely on my own and it went great!  My classes are all very unique.  My first class has a ton of energy, so much so that I think I'm going to make them run the stairs before we start class.  They are adorable, but they have so much energy it's a little frightening.  They sit two feet away from each other but shout to each other as if they are talking over four lanes of traffic!  I constantly have to tell them to use inside voices, which lasts for about ten seconds before they're shouting again.  My second class has five kids and they are the teacher's pet, people-pleaser type kids.  They are very smart, listen, and always participate.  My third class is my new beginner-level class.  They are very focused and I have a few girls who are total perfectionists.  They totally freaked out before their first quiz, even though the lowest score was a B, and the ones who were freaking out the most got A's or A+'s.  My fourth class is more challenging.  There are only three kids and it seems like they don't really want to be there.  They are at that middle school age where it's too cool to participate in class, so if I didn't make them answer questions about what we're reading I don't think I would even know what their voices sounded like.  My last class, my highest level students, are so fun.  Because their English is so good, we get to read more challenging books and we have real conversations that are completely unrelated to school.  I should probably be more of a stickler about doing more schoolwork but it's way more fun to hear about their lives, about Korea, and talk about sports and celebrities!  I did start bringing my own dinners, so I had an entire week that was 100% free of bibimbop!!

Yesterday we celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving.  Obviously I'm not Canadian but a lot of people from the program are that I've become friends with, so we all got together to celebrate.  As I was walking to the subway station, I was feeling a little lonely thinking about all the holidays that are coming up and was missing my friends and family.  I got about halfway out of my complex when this nice lady said hello to me.  I could tell she wanted to keep talking, so I stopped and tried to speak with her.  I totally overestimated her English abilities, but we were still able to communicate a little, mostly due to the use of constant repetition on my part, lots of pointing, hand movements, and probably the best game of charades I've ever seen played.  I did learn that her name was Mrs. Kim (go figure - one of the three most common names in the country, but atleast that means it won't be hard for me to remember), she lives just two buildings down from me, I told her I wasn't married, and she touched my hair and said I was a very beautiful girl.  I hope to see Mrs. Kim again, she was very sweet.  I was feeling a little better and my loneliness was starting to disappear.  I got about twenty more feet when low and behold a whole class walked out of a school that's in the middle of my apartment complex.  Towards the back were about fifteen 15-year old boys.  The second they saw me they shouted, "Hi," "Hello," "Beautiful," "Sexy," and "Great body."  I didn't know how to respond except to laugh.  I thought it was totally hilarious.  No one in the States would ever be that bold to shout those things out at you on the streets unless intoxicated . . . and even then it's pretty uncommon.  So needless to say, my mood was definitely lifted after those two experiences.  I was chuckling the entire walk to the subway.  Anyways, back to Canadian Thanksgiving.  We played an awesome game of touch football, Americans v. Canadians, and obviously the U.S. prevailed!  I do have to say that I played pretty well and even scored a couple touchdowns, thank you very much.  It was a perfect day for football, too.  Sunny, mid-70's, a few clouds - a perfect fall day.  During our game, though, a lot of little Korean kids kept running onto the field.  Luckily no one got hurt, but there were a few close calls.  It was quite the chore trying to get them off the field with the language barrier, so we tried to huddle them together like sheep and chase them off the field.  Most of the time they just scattered so it always ended up taking a few minutes.  After the game we went out for galbi, which is Korean bar-b-que, and then bowled for a few hours.  I was the highest scorer out of the group, scoring 145 my first game, which I think is my highest bowling score ever.  And no Thanksgiving would be complete without pumpkin and apple pie with vanilla ice cream, so of course someone had gone to Costco earlier in the day and picked up a couple pies for us to share.

Today I went to Myeongdong, one of the southern towns of Seoul.  I went to an English Mass at the Myeongdong Cathedral.  It is one of the most beautiful churches I've ever seen.  It has a very old, antique-y feeling to it with a ton of stained glass windows.  The Irish priest was a little dry but oh well.  After Mass, Greg and Kelly met me in Myeongdong for some shopping.  There are tons of stores, both American and Korean, all within about 1 mile of each other.  There's also an underground shopping area that I went into.  I don't know how all these stores stay in business - there are about 20 different Bath and Body Work-like shops right next to each other, plus all the shoe vendors sell basically the exact same things.  They do have an H&M, Forever 21, Adidas, Nike, and other American stores, too.

It was definitely a fun week.  Next weeked I'm going hiking at Seoraksan National Park, which I'm so excited for and I think over Halloween weekend I'm going up to Taebaek, a town way up in the mountains, for a Halloween party.  Hope all is well in the States!  Lots of love.

Sweet potatoes are my fall obsession, so I probably have one everyday.  Plus, it's one of the things I can make without an oven, making it an easy go-to.  However, today, I realized that my last 3 sweet potatoes had mold on them.  I was so bummed about throwing them away and had an intense craving so I was hoping this little lady that sells produce just outside my apartment complex would be there, even though it was a Sunday.  Strike one, she was MIA when I needed her most.  So then I thought I'd walk down just a ways to another small little mart, praying that they would have some.  So I walked as fast as I could (because I was starving, really wanted to be home after my long day at Myeongdong, and was seriously embarrassed about wearing my pajamas out of the house - short cotton shorts and a white shirt that was an 80's workout-throwback shirt that kept falling off my shoulders - I was probably showing way more skin anyone else in the country, but in my defense I didn't think I was going to be walking so far), and when I got there, no sweet potatoes.  At this point I was only another 2 minute walk from Lotte Mart, the place where I had bought my first batch of sweet potatoes that had gone moldy so quickly.  So I hustled over there, spent about ten minutes looking for the best bag of sweet potatoes, WITHOUT mold, and booked it back home.  I now sit happily eating my lovely sweet potato, and it was totally worth the effort.

If I have to eat bibimbop one more time....

....I think I might puke!  My boss has been so generous and has been buying me dinner at this little restaurant on the first floor of our building, but every time we go, she orders the EXACT SAME THING!  White rice with mushrooms (that are strings, not anything like you've ever seen in America), soy bean sprouts, dried seaweed, an egg, and I think there might be one or two more veggies on it but I can't remember at the moment.  I ate it four times last week, and I had it again last night.  Seriously the smell is starting to make me feel nauseous.  I know that she didn't buy Tayla dinner every night, so maybe she just wants to make sure I eat.  I've been bringing food that I've kept in my big school bag with me, but maybe she just assumes that I don't bring dinner, so then she wants to buy it for me.  I'm not really sure, but I think my solution to this dinner problem is to make more of a show about me bringing my own food.  So here's my plan for tonight: I'm bringing a salad and an apple for dinner so I think when I get to work I'll say something like this, "Mrs. Kim, where's the fridge?  I want to put my dinner in there so it stays cold."  Genius, right??  I thought so, too.

So, as I was figuring out how to solve this dilemma, I realized that I was seriously lacking in the food department, so I ventured on down to Lotte Mart to grab some groceries.  On my way, I also noticed that I was starting to run low on won (the Korean currency).  Luckily, I know how to shop on a budget, so off to the store I went.  I grabbed some sweet potatoes (YAY!!  I basically lived off these last winter in LA), a cucumber (or so I thought), red onions (which only came in a pack of 5 - Lord knows when I'll eat five onions before they go bad), and a few other things.  It's also been my goal to make my apartment a little more homey and cozy.  My friends put candles in empty wine bottles and it looked pretty cool, so I picked up some candles and the cheapest bottle of wine I could find - about $1.50 in U.S. currency.  I heard Korean wine was bad, and I knew that buying cheap wine was definitely a gamble, but I became accustomed to spending no more than $2 on wine, thanks to the good 'ol Two Buck Check at Trader Joe's in L.A.  So in my mind, I didn't think it could be THAT bad.

When I got home, I decided to try a little sip of this bargain wine.  Let's just say that calling it alcoholic grape juice is being generous.  This is probably the nastiest stuff I've ever had in my entire life.  So I quickly put that away.  Then, I began to chop my veggies - tomatoes, onions, carrot, and my cucumber.  Except, when I cut into my "cucumber," I noticed there were no seeds.  I tried a bite and yep, I accidentally got zucchini instead.  That's one of the problems of not being able to read Korean in a store that, for 95% of the items, are listed only in Korean.  After I chopped up my veggies, I stuck them in a bowl and drizzled on some Balsamic Vinaigrette.  Salad dressing seems to be non-existent here, and let's just say finding any kind of vinegar was a project.  The bottle I got was the only one that had "Balsamic Vinaigrette" written in English, so clearly that was the obvious choice for me.  I added in some pepper and salt, but it still tasted like it needed something else - I didn't want it to be drenched in the balsamic.  So as I'm looking around my sparse kitchen, what do I see but my $1.50 bottle of wine.  PERFECT - I stuck a little bit in a pan, cooked the alcohol out of it, and drizzled that on top of my veggie medley.  It added a little sweetness to the bitterness of the balsamic.  Wow, I was so proud of myself for figuring that out.  Plus, it got rid of some of the nasty wine that I'm now stuck with - I'm contemplating just pouring it down the drain, but maybe I'll think of some other way to cook with it so I think I'll hold onto it for a while.

Anyways, on a separate note, I had my first full night of teaching last night totally on my own.  I got a new class of beginner students and they are so precious.  I have a couple students in there who I'm already in love with.  I'm still figuring out how the school works, so there were a couple frantic moments last night - especially when I forgot I was getting a new class and completely spaced (1) looking at the new books they're reading and (2) writing down their weekly homework.  Luckily, the book was only 16 pages long so I didn't really need to prepare anything for it.  As for the homework, I look at this as more of a projected timeline as opposed to a definitive schedule.  I think I was able to escape both blunders without causing the front desk to totally hate me.

On another note, I might be running a half marathon out here mid-November.  I met a lady at church who was telling me about it, so she Facebook-ed the info to me and I think I'm going to sign up!!

Anyways, I must run - I have to sub for another teacher who's sick and I still need to grade some papers. Lots of love!!

Fall Festivities

Today was an amazing day!  I went over to Kelly's apartment for breakfast and it might have been one of the best breakfasts I've ever had!!!  Kelly's roommate Charissa made homemade pumpkin spice and gingerbread lattes which were way better than Starbucks.  Then Charissa made pumpkin pancakes with...oh just wait, your mouth will be watering...apple cider syrup.  It was heaven on a fork.  I'm sure you can imagine it, and as your mouth is watering, just know that the real thing was ten times better.  I met 2 more people who live in the mountains in South Korea - Simon and Nate.  Both are amazing musicians and have beautiful voices.  Nate is a little more quiet and reserved, but Simon is one of the funniest people I've ever met.  Think pale skin, coarse red hair with a small rat tail, mangy beard, a pork belly (gosh I hope he never reads this), and the guy in the middle of the room that everyone surrounds just to hear is jokes and stories.  He has that type of personality that everyone is drawn to.  You can't help but love him because he's just so funny, but the nicest guy on earth.  I can't imagine what his little mountainous Korean kindergarteners think of him.

After our wonderful breakfast and after being serenaded by the boys, I ran home to change into my best 80s get-up for the Adventure Teaching Retro Olympics.  Of course my outfit included bright green spandex leggings, orange running shorts, blue sports bra, white cut off shirt, and a yellow sweatband - let's just say that I got quite a few snickers as I made my way to the subway station.  (Oh...and on a somewhat different note, I think I've mastered the subway and bus system here - yay for me!)  Unfortunately, the rain hindered some of the games, but we still had a blast even though we were a little wet.  We played 4-square, tug-of-war, did the limbo, had a balloon toss, and jumped rope.

On my way home, I wanted to walk around a little even though it was raining.  And by the time I got to a bus stop I decided to just walk the rest of the way home.  40 minutes + torrential downpour = well, you can do the math.  So as I sit here, attempting to dry off, I can honestly say that I am loving Korea and that I'm so thankful for this wonderful opportunity.  I've already met some great people who have been more than kind and I can't wait to get to know more of the country and the people.  My next task though is to find a way to make my apartment more cozy.  I need to find some candles and pictures to put on my walls because the white is starting to get a little boring.  Also, I'm thinking of getting rid of my huge fridge for a smaller one in order to get more space so I can move my room around and make some space for a Christmas tree (when the time comes, of course).  Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Pictures!!

My bedroom: bed, fridge, closet, behind the doors are my washer, drying rack, suitcases, and coats

 Closet that I jammed most of my clothes and shoes into

Bathroom

Shower (which is IN my bathroom)

Kitchen that leads into the bathroom

Typical Korea street

Caffe Bene: My coffee and internet heaven - plus they play some great American music like Sinatra

Biking/Running path along the river behind my apartment

First Couple Days of Teaching

The past two evenings I've observed Tayla while she was teaching.  I got to meet all my students and I'm excited to get to know them better.  Some of them I can already tell will probably drive me crazy, but there are some that I already adore.  There are a few girls who totally cracked me up with some of the questions they were asking me ("Were you born with yellow hair?"  "How did you get gold hair?"  "Do you know any Korean?"  "Did you go to a school like the one in High School Musical?").  On Monday, one of the main administrators, Sumi, gave me a bouquet of flowers to welcome me.  They also put a fake wreath on my door with two ribbons that said "Welcome Haley Teacher!"  The students hear call all their teachers "Teacher."  I don't really like it, so I'm going to try to get them to call me Ms. Haley instead.  We'll see how that goes.  Tonight I start my first night of teaching.  Thank goodness Tayla will be there to help.  The format for each class seems pretty simple and straightforward so once I've done it a couple times I'm sure I'll be fine.  I think there is a lot of room for improvement for the students and I'm also really excited to expand upon what they're already doing.  Most of the class periods revolve around reading the books, reading comprehension, and vocab and chapter quizzes.  I want to add in some more creative projects for them to do and I want to find some fun books for them to read (right now they are reading the abridged versions of a lot of the classics like Mary, Queen of Scots, Alice in Wonderland, and The Elephant Man).  Tayla's last day is on Friday, so starting next week I'll be totally on my own.  I have five classes and each one is 40 minutes long.  I teach from 5:20-7 p.m., then I get an hour long dinner break, and then my last two classes are from 8-9:20 p.m.  As much as I don't like working at night, it is kind of nice to have my mornings free.  I usually wake up around 7:30 (thanks to the bright sun that creeps into my room due to the complete lack of blinds throughout my apartment) and go on a run.  Then I shower, eat breakfast, and go to a coffee shop to grade papers, work on my TEFL (teaching English as a foreign language) online class, skype, or update my blog.  It's not as lonely when I'm able to be out around the town and atleast see other people, even if I can't really talk with them.

The weather is definitely chilly.  Fall is here and it will only get colder as winter approaches.  Next weekend I'm going on a sunrise hike at one of the national parks with a friend of mine who's out here teaching.  We'll get on a bus around midnight, hit the trails around 3 a.m., get to the peak at about 7 a.m. (I think), and then climb back down around mid-day.  I can't wait to see more of Korea and to hike my first Korean mountain!  I'm heading to Bundang with Tayla tonight after I'm done teaching to meet some of her friends who will be here for the year.  Finally I'll know more than 2 people here!!  I'm excited to make some friends be social again.

I finally took some pictures so I'll upload them a.s.a.p.  Lots of love!!!