Visitation Rights

In addition to it being Halloween last Saturday, the weekend was also special for another reason: my mom and step-dad came to Korea to visit!  They flew in from San Diego to Busan and then went to Goeje Island to visit my step-sister Nicole and her husband Sam.  (click here to see my previous post about Goeje)  They were there for the earlier part of last week and traveled west to visit Natalie, my brother's girlfriend, and then north to Seoul where they rented a traditional Korean house called a Hanok.  

Then on Wednesday October 28th my mom and Darrell came down to Suwon to spend the day at the Korean Folk Village (click here to see my post on the KFV).  After a little bit of confusion about my school and the correct time to meet, I was finally able to see them.  I gave them a tour of my classroom and a little bit of the school.  Unfortunately no children were at school that day because of the H1N1 flu and most of the teachers had already left too.  However, they did get to meet Yunjoo who is the music teacher and one of my favorite co-workers at the school.

My mom, Darrell, and I walked back to my apartment ("You have to walk this far everyday?" they asked me.  "Sure do," I replied.  My walk to and from work/school takes about 20 minutes at a casual walking pace so I figure it's about a mile away).

After showing them my apartment (alright fine I'll show you ONE picture of it because you haven't seen it yet and it's been 2 months.  Since the addition of my television though, I've had to rearrange and so it doesn't even look like that anymore.) we went out for an early dinner in downtown Yeongtong.


We ate at the same Galbi place that Nicole and I ate at when she was in town.  The first time I was there with Nicole the waiter ordered for us and he picked out the thinly sliced beef which I think is called Bulgogi.  This time we had some kind of pork Galbi and beef Galbi which are thicker slices of meet, and then later, because we were still hungry we got the thinly sliced Bulgogi.

After dinner we met up with my co-teacher Eunju who was kind enough to give my mom and step-dad a ride to Suwon Station so that they could take the subway back to Seoul.

***

On Friday morning I had a cold and a sore throat so I called in sick.  I wanted to sleep in but because of all cases of flu it was advised that I go to the doctor before 9am.  Ugh.  So I did.  It cost me w2,500 to see the doctor and another w3,000 for pills and meds.  Not too shabby at all!

I arrived in Seoul (Insadong) at around 1pm but since Mom and Darrell were not there I went inside and slept for a little while to feel better.  And by a little while I actually mean 3 hours.

That afternoon my mom and I went window-shopping down the main drag in Insadong (click here for my entry about Insadong) and then out to tea at a cute little tea shop.  Insadong is known for all their tea houses and it's one of the things I didn't do the last time I went and really wanted to.

It's not the greatest picture because I really was feeling sick that day, but going out to tea with my mom remains the highlight of their visit for me.





On Saturday Nicole & Sam came from Geoje to stay at the Hanok house.  That evening we went out to dinner at a kitschy little restaurant in Insasong that is known for their handmade mandu/dumplings and has been mentioned in numerous newspapers and guidebooks.

See? Very kitschy.                                                         The food was great though!  And pretty too.          

Good food = Good times

On Sunday we took the Seoul Bus Tour all around the city.  Here are some pictures from the tour:

 

  

The pic above is Haechi, Seoul's mascott.  Personally I think he looks like a wild thing minus the horns:

Legend has it though, that Haechi can distinguish good from evil and can repel fire and disaster.  All those Wild Things can do is roar their terrible roars and gnash their terrible teeth.  Haechi wins.

We also went up to Seoul tower.  It was really cool!

 

Inside the tower.

Week in Review

Last week was my 3rd week in Korea. Hard to believe it has only been 3 weeks!

Highlights of this past week include: Nicole's visit on Monday, Health Check on Tuesday, Now bar on Friday and Insadong/Sadong on Saturday. Today, Sunday, is a day to recuperate for the new week ahead, update my journal and lay low.

On Monday my step-sister Nicole came up to visit. Nicole lives and teaches in Geoje Island (Geojedo) with her husband Sam. She had to go up to Seoul to file some paperwork and decided to spend the evening with me in Suwon before heading up to Seoul. Although she got in late in the evening, we still were able to make the most of our time together.

First we ate dinner at a typical Korean restaurant where we got to eat sitting down on the floor.

We asked for the restaurant's specialty and thus were served some kind of thinly-sliced beef with mushrooms and onion that we grilled on our personal stove. After your meat was grilled you are supposed to wrap up some rice, the beef, and any veggie of your choosing (of the many side dishes we also got included in our meal) in a piece of lettuce and then eat it. It was the most "meaty" tasting meat I had yet but pretty good, I guess. And of course, we had a bottle of soju to drink alongside our dinner.

The rest of the week was uneventful: school, home, drown myself in movies, repeat.

On Friday I decided to be brave and went to the Now Bar by myself again. I sat down at the bar and had a coke which cost me the same amount (3,000w) as the beer I had later that evening. I met lots of new people but didn't get anyone's phone numbers since I don't have a phone. Everyone commended me on having the courage to go to a bar alone. Actually, I agree. It was hard and at one point I almost cried because I was so embarrassed to be sitting at a bar all alone when everyone else was with friends. Eventually I talked to one person who introduced me to another, who introduced me to another, and soon enough I had met more people than I could count.

On Saturday I met up with Jennifer (from Las Vegas) to go to the Korvia recruiting party. We decided to spend the day in Insadong which is known for its traditional crafts. On the weekends they close off the streets to through-traffic. It is also known for their tea houses which we actually did not do which I suppose gives us an excuse to go back there again one day.

We aimlessly wandered the streets. I must say that there were a lot more tourist items there and a lot less traditional crafts than I was expecting. Although you could buy rice paper there, it all seemed to be manufactured and not handmade. There were a few artists working and painting on the streets, but for the most part it was just stores selling the stuff.

On the plus side, I did finally find some postcards so maybe you'll be lucky enough to receive one sometime soon.

We also found an art museum which was 6 stories high. From the top we were able to get some nice views of the area. The following pictures are from a patio on the 5th floor of the art museum.

We also wandered into a kimchi festival. The particular kimchi they were featuring was made with fish and had a Japanese influence. Kimchi, for those that don't know, is the usually spicy traditional side dish of Korea. It can refer to any kind of spiced and pickled veggie but usually people are talking about the Chinese/Napa cabbage.

Although I didn't buy anything from there, I really enjoyed looking at all the spices and dried mushrooms in this little shop:

Finally it was time for the Korvia party. We took the subway from Insadong to Sadong and after some pro navigation skills we made it. The bar, which I guess used to be called London Pub, is now called iPub and has an Irish theme. Well, at least the logo had a shamrock on it. It didn't seem Irish on the inside. In fact, they played Korean MTV on the tv's and blasted predominately US pop music like Lady Gaga, Chris Brown, and Black Eyed Peas.

Here I am pictured with Jennifer. Her mother is Korean and her dad is white. She never learned to speak Korean at all until she took one course in college. She reads very well but doesn't really speak the language yet.

At the Korvia party I was able to meet people from all over the world. Both the girl on the left and the guy on the right are from South Africa. I also met another guy from South Africa who told me that his original ancestry is French/German and that his relatives were one of the 12 families that came to live in South Africa before the British started invading. The girl in the middle is from somewhere in the south (I forget exactly where, maybe Georgia?) She was born in Korea but moved when she was only 1 month old. She speaks Korean well but the school doesn't want her to speak Korean to the students, nor to even know that she can speak in the first place. Thus, she "plays dumb" in her classroom, pretending like she doesn't know what the students are saying when in reality she does.

Also, it should be mentioned that I got to meet the famed Simon and Martina of Eat Your Kimchi and will now be a part of their next video. Naturally, I cheesed it up and will be a sore embarrassment to your computer screen in the next few weeks. Oh, you just wait!