what's in a name?

An exciting part of teaching in Korea, is that whenever a new student joins a class, we get to give them an English name. Some kids have ended up (not always from our school) with some pretty strange names, as Alan has pointed out. Today was an exciting day, as I got to name my first child. So, TJ you now have a small Korean boy named after you (Tom, really. Thought TJ might be a bit confusing). I promise the first girl will be Katy.

Jeonju-The city of "love"

We fancied another weekend away (one a month just isn't enough) and decided on the town of Jeonju, which was nearly our home at one point. It's only a one and a half hour coach trip from Gwangju (which is merciful, considering my recent tendency for nausea and vomiting!). We'd read about an intriguing motel in the lonely planet with big jacuzzis, so we decided to try and stay in our first Korean "Love Motel", the Mint Motel. We found it pretty easily. It looked fairly harmless from the outside, although not exactly classy. More like something you would find in the cheap bit of Las Vegas, with it's pink paint and palm tree pictures, but we ventured inside nevertheless. The lobby was extremely dark, it had UV lighting and a reception desk with a little opening which I called through. A woman stuck her head round and motioned a sleep sign with her head and hands, to which I nodded. This was quite a relief as we had been wondering how we would explain that we wanted the room for a full night and not just for the hour. Key in hand, we took the lift to the 3rd floor. Our first surprise came when we noticed the book shelf of pornographic videos (and Robocop) available for customers to take into their rooms. A little further on, we found a vending machine full of sex toys. Clearly a place designed for true "love". Our room was actually pretty amazing and didn't feel too seedy once we got past the condom vending machine in the corner, the blue light above the bed, the huge portrait window from the bedroom into the bathroom (complete with naked woman glazing) and the enormous flat-screen TV, which seemed only to show four channels with a choice of porn, cooking, home shopping, or more porn. As promised in the lonely planet it was very clean and there was a huge jacuzzi in the bathroom, so we were happy.

Hotel sorted, we went to explore Jeonju and managed to get a little bit lost in the process. First impressions were not wonderful as we were wandering through the outskirts and the streets were definitely somewhat more pungent than in Gwangju. We passed a couple of huge and gaudy wedding halls on the way, and stopped to watch as some of the couples came out in their hanbok (traditional Korean dress). When we eventually found the downtown area, it was nice, although very similar to Gwangju, except for the bizarre light canopy running above the main shopping street. We passed through, following signs to the hanok (traditional Korean building) village. The hanok village was beautiful, made up of genuinely old buildings and beautifully built imitations. In the centre there was an area where some of the buildings were shown as a museum, but for streets and streets around, there were others in use as shops (some with lovely craft gifts), restaurants and tea shops. In amongst these buildings was a beautiful, red brick, Catholic church, which was built by Italian missionaries on a spot where Korean catholics were executed. 

One of the greatest discoveries of the weekend was down a little side street in the hanok village, where we found a small restaurant selling curry. There was no menu and just two options; hot curry, or mild curry. We decided it was best to go for the mild in a country where they have kimchi for breakfast. It was a wonderfully  quirky little place, the food was delicious and we even got handmade banana lassi for pudding. All for about £2.50. Lovely. After dinner we found a funny little bar where we had a beer before heading back to our love motel.

The next morning we left the hotel (without ever having seen another guest) and did a bit more exploring in Jeonju, a little bit of Christmas shopping, eating a semi Italian lunch (we realised last night that we have only eaten one meal out since getting here, that wasn't served with kimchi. Sometimes I really enjoy it) before heading back to Gwangju. 

Almost forgot. We witnessed what we assume is another korean tradition this weekend. We saw two separate wedding cars, where the bride was sitting in the open boot, leading the groom along with ribbon behind the car. Very funny

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!

So, in the last couple of weeks there's been a pretty huge temperature drop here. This reached exciting new levels yesterday afternoon when it started snowing during our first lesson of the day. This caused huge excitement for my students, with me having to physically tear them away from the window and put them back in their seats. It stopped pretty quickly and started being all rainy instead, but overnight it snowed heavy and hard. We awoke this morning to incredibly bright light coming through the windows and braved the cold to open the windows and take a peek outside. The roads were pretty much snow free but everything else had a nice healthy covering, so I went for a quick walk taking some snaps in the immediate area around the apartment.

Although it is very cold here now and our school is somewhat lacking in heating (in that it has none at all - luckily some heaters are now on order so we won't have to teach in hats and gloves), I have to say it's much less depressing getting into winter here than at home. It's still sunny with blue skies and a happy lack of miserable clouds and biting winds - so far at least. If it stays like this, I'll be pretty happy. Especially as I managed to buy a new winter coat, scarf and hat for 23,000 won - about £11.50! Happy times. I'm praying for much more snow anyway. It makes me very happy!

On a thoroughly unrelated note, Becky's favourite Korean advert just came on tv. It features a nice slow motion shot of a young child running towards his mothers open arms and bouncing his head off her chest, before cutting to the product on sale... Car air bags! Ace.

Kids Say The Darndest Things

One of the greatest pleasures of teaching here, is the funny things that the children say to us. Sometimes, they say such lovely things. A little girl told me last week that her mum says I'm very beautiful, although this was somewhat overshadowed when she told Alan that her mother had called him "handsome, like a God". They often tell me that Mr. Armstrong loves me, as if it's a shocking revelation, which is also pretty funny.

Some things that we tell them, also seem very funny to them. Alan tried to explain to his students that his mother was called Mrs. Armsrong, and that in fact his entire family shared the name. They found this very funny and probably still think that it was just a big joke! When I told one of my classes that I was from England, they looked confused "teacher? English in England?", meaning, do they speak English in England? When I said "I'm from England. I am ENGLISH", they found this hilarious, and started pointing at where it said "English" on the front of their exercise books, and saying "same same". I then had to explain that the fact that the language they learn and the name of my nationality are the same, is more than just a strange coincidence. I must confess that I made a big X with my arms and said "English, not from Canada, not from USA. English from England". I don't feel too bad though, because apparently Alan has also demonstrated this point on the board. It seems necessary, otherwise they are concerned that their teachers may not atually know how to speak English (especially when we accidentally write 'colour' rather than 'color' on the board).

At other times the things they say are just wierd. One of my students touched the moles on my arm, and asked me in wonder what they were. Alan's students seem mostly to be completely obssessed with his beard, oh and one class went through a stage of constantly calling him red panties, because on one ocassion when he lifted his arm to write on the board, they caught a glimpse of the red band at the top of his underwear. This continued until, one day, having had just about enough Alan came into class and threatened anyone who mentioned the nickname with 'no goodbye' (what we call detention).

Although still funny, some of the other things we hear are pretty tactless. I have been asked on a couple of occassions (when wearing baggy clothing, may I add) whether I have a baby in my belly, and once when I said no, they kindly told me that I was looking fat. The other day one of my sweetest students looked at me seriously and asked me why it was so black around my eyes. One of Alan's students informed him that he looks very old and now some of them have started calling him Grandfather teacher (although he claims that this is only because of the beard).

This very frank attitude to appearance is not always limited to the children. Our experience so far has only been positive, but there are lots of stories of others being refused to try on clothing because they are "very big". The funniest thing I've heard, was from an English girl we know, who works in a state school. When she met the director of education for the area, he asked her if she was pregnant. When she (slightly put out) informed him that she wasn't, he insisted, saying "are you sure? I think you should go to the hospital and check".

Hike Hike Hike

Last week we went to Wolchulsan, a mountain about an hour and a half away from Gwangju, with Mel and Jocelyn. We'd heard all manner of different stories about how long it could take (anywhere between 4 and 8 hours depending on who you ask...) and how tiring it could be, so we decided to leave bright and early to ensure we didn't end up stranded up there in the dark. We arrived at the base of the mountain at about 9am and were greeted by a helpful man who, using a smattering of English and lots of gesturing, explained that there were two routes. We could go up to the Cloud Bridge (large suspension bridge) and then on to the main peak, before heading back to the start on a circular route, which would take 4 hours total. Or, instead of coming back, we could do the full 6 hour route across to a big temple, passing an 8 metre high Buddha along the way, then stay in a minbak overnight or get a taxi from the end back to the bus station. Hedging our bets somewhat, we decided to head to the top and see how we felt when we got there.

The hike started quite steeply, and we quickly arrived at metal steps which ended up making up maybe 80% of the way up. This may make it sound easy, but the steps were terrifyingly steep in places and there were points where they were either very far apart or very close together, making the walk really awkward. At other points of the cllimb were knotted ropes tied to the rocks, where we had to pull ourselves up, almost like actual rock climbing! Helpful signs along the way kept shocking us with the distance remaning until we reached the top, as well as constantly being convinced we could see the peak, only to turn a corner and find out that we had to go back down another 100 metres to reach the next upward stretch! The scenery all the way up was incredible, despite it being quite a misty morning when we started. The weather cleared gradually as we got closer to the top and gave us amazing views across the surrounding countryside. Also, as we're still in the midst of autumn (I'm trying to remember to say fall so as to not confuse our students or the other teachers, but I refuse to write it. Must hold on to my Englishness!) here, the colours of the leaves were spectacular. This lead to constant and very welcome photo stops along the whole route.

We eventually reached the top just short of the two hour estimate given by the helpful chap mentioned above and settled down with the soju drinking, kimbap eating Korean hikers to have our lunch and enjoy the view. After some discussion we decided that although we were still feeling pretty good, we may not be up to another four hours, so took the easier option of heading down. Sadly, after about 30 minutes of descent, we started to wonder if we might've been better of going for the longer route. The 6 hour route would've led us across the tops of the mountains and certainly would've required some up and downing. But frankly, it seems like that would've been a breeze in comparison with the way down. Gone were the terrifying steps and ropes, only to be replaced with a random assortment of variously sized rocks in no discernible pattern. There were many places I had to really stretch or jump to get between some rocks, grabbing hold of the nearest branch to maintain some semblence of balance. Gone too, were the majority of the views, although the colours of the leaves continued to amaze us. The helpful signs suddenly became hugely depressing as they appeared to show little to no difference in distance remaning. Despite all this, we reached the bottom before the predicted four hours were up and were thus very pleased. It was an incredible hike and the views more than made up for any whinges. We are already planning to do it again in the spring. Next time we may actually bother to do some pre-hike stretching, as both Becky and I were suffering somewhat in the leg department. In fact, my knee has been highly troublesome for most of the 7 days since we returned. Very annoying, but thankfully it now seems to be all better.

Also worth mentioning is the park we passed at the bottom, containing a great many bizarre statues with an alarming array of genitalia on display. Although in many ways Korea seems very conservative, they do seem to go in for some truly suprising exceptions to the rule. It certainly bodes well for our Christmas trip to the somewhat infamous Penis Park...

 

Updatery!

Last Sunday we went for a second trip to Mudeungsan (the mountain in Gwangju). We went for lunch at the base of the mountain in one of the many small restaurants available. We sat down and quickly realised there were no helpful pictures of what we could be ordering, so accepted the first thing we were offered. Quite quickly we were brought an alarming array of small dishes with all manner of different things in them, some rice, a large bowl of soup, a plate of leafy veg and some incredibly fatty meat. We didn't really know what to do with it all, but managed to pick up some pointers from the other diners and a friendly Korean chap at the table next to us. Sadly I have to confess that it was the first meal that I haven't enjoyed since we got here. But it's all part of the fun really and I suppose considering the way we order our meals we're doing pretty well!We went for a walk after the food in an effort to find an art gallery and a tea plantation we'd read about. The art gallery was pretty easy to find, about 10 minutes up the hill. We didn't actually go in, as we didn't have our Biennale tickets and didn't want to pay the entrance fee, but there's some other free things connected to it, including the house a Korean artist used to live in for about 20 years, a video installation and some other bits and pieces. There wasn't really much there, but it was quite nice. We did encounter a small watermill that was being spun by 2 small Korean children, perched precariously on the edge of a shaking wooden box over a bit of a sharp fall, as their mother looked on! Sadly we didn't make it to the tea plantation despite being able to see it in the distance, but we did come across another pretty spectacular Buddhist temple where we might be able to go for a templestay at some point.

After our trip we concluded that our trainers aren't up to the job, mostly because we could feel all the rocks through the soles! So today we bought hiking boots. We're going on a long hike this weekend so decided it was time for proper boots. Korean hikers seem to take it very seriously indeed, they're all kitted out in special hiking gear from head to toe, so we also wanted to make sure we fit in properly! Actually, one pretty amazing thing about our life in Korea so far is the fact that we were paid 2 weeks wages at the start of October, which we've lived on for the last 5 weeks. From that money we've paid for our trips to Wando and Namhae, as well as all our food (we eat in restaurants for more than half our evening meals every week, and quite often for lunch too), our bikes, Biennale season tickets, some clothes, bits and pieces for the house, walking boots and a few nights of drinking. And we're not in anyway struggling now! Bodes well for our potential savings. As long as the exchange rate doesn't get any worse for the Won - at the moment it's going up and down like a yo-yo.

Finally, I'm sure anyone reading this will have noticed I have shaved off my beard. This is in no way connected to the note I was given by one of my students suggesting I remove it! In any case, I've terrified myself with the sight of my hairless chin and shall probably grow the beard back as soon as phsyically possible.

Ghostly Gwangju

We'd been looking forward to Halloween for a while as it meant a day without teaching and an early finish... almost like a three day weekend. Or so we thought.

Our hopes were slightly quashed when we were told that we should come into school an hour early and lug furniture around in preparation for the party, oh and that we should also make at least ten decorations each for the following day. On Friday morning Alan and I got up and covered ourselves in make up. Alan was looking pretty creepy as the joker and I had great hopes that he might walk away with the best costume prize. All the teachers decided to walk to school together for moral support and just to make the Koreans think that white people are a little bit stranger (they're not really familiar with halloween here). The reactions we got were pretty funny. Some people pointed and laughed, some looked completely stunned and others just did their best to pretend that they hadn't noticed.

At school we were each put in charge of a game room. I had the musical chairs room and Alan had some kind of put your hand in the bag and identify the disgusting thing (is it a heart or eyeballs? No, it's a tomato!) room. We had a different party every hour, for four hours and it was actually a lot of fun, although the last set of kids may have had a slightly less enthusiastic group of teachers than the first.

At the end of the evening, we all had to vote for the best teacher's costume and there ended up being six prizes (far more than expected) cash prizes! I got fourth place (70,000 Won) and Alan got second (100,000), so between us we got about £80. A very nice little bonus. We did get to leave school early, so we headed to the pork bone soup restaurant where we got even more attention and scared a few kids (whose parents kept trying to force them to come and get pictures with us. After dinner we went to a bar near our apartment and spent the evening chatting.