fall

Its really unnerving how much Korea revolves around the seasons, especially coming from a place that doesn't have four seasons. It makes things change very fast; clothing, fruit, and basically everything else is super seasonal here. I can't believe that I've seen 3 out of 4 of the seasons already. Time has been passing much too quickly. I'm almost at month 8. They have started to talk about hiring for next year at my school, it makes me a little sad to feel so replaceable. I wonder if I made any impact on my students lives, or how much exactly they've learned from me as their teacher. As of now, I'm not resigning at my current school.. but I do feel strongly in my heart that I will come back to Korea after a little(OK a long) holiday.

In early fall I went to a salmon festival with a bunch of friends in YangYang, about an hour north. It was the best festival that I've been to so far. Usually Korean festivals are pretty much all the same and there isn't much to do with the theme. But salmon fest went all out. I did bare handed salmon fishing, the got a print made of my fish and had fancy calligraphy added to it. After that I had my fish cleaned and cooked some of it and boxed the rest.

Salmon waiting to be caught. Being caught.

Print making, Koreans are so meticulous even when pressing a dead fish to paper. Fins were spread wide apart, mouth propped open and eye ball wiped for a clear and impressive image.








Bean bag toss game, also known as
pitch the bean bag at your unwary
friends while they're aiming at the fish's hole. Salmon fest food.

My prize! coughdidn'tcatchitallbymyselfcoughfishareslipperycough.

I ate salmon for the rest of the week too, I never realized what big fish they are. Also at salmon fest there were many tasty salmon themed foods and art and crafts. I bought the most amazing kite ever that would occasionally dive bomb onto some unsuspecting ajushi(the slightly less intimidating male version of an ajuma).



Halloween was great. It was super fun with the kinderkids. My babies looked soooooo adorable.

My kinders. Us Fairies~

PK6(my older babies) were also dressed up a little.

We took them around the neighborhood for trick or treating and had a halloween party with pin the steak on dracula, bobbing for satsumas, and mummy wrap relay. Then Steph and I had a dance party.
I went as a fairy for school and out about friday night for open mic. Played my first show with the band I'm in, "the ofs."

I think we were really good. I also didn't do so bad solo, getting more comfortable playing. For halloween night I went as an undead girl scout.

Had a ton of jagermeister and drank lots of soju on the corner with my pals. Danced all night and that kind of stuff. I was really feeling a strong longing for New Orleans though because no one does halloween like home.

Fall is coming to an end. It was magnificent but much too short, just like summer. The leaves were really something. I'm still knocked back by the absolutely breathtaking beauty of this country.





































Its already snowed here, still have my bangshuah which means that my first or next love will be forever according to Korean tradition.

kangnam(first snow).

Bangshuah

Its been getting frosty and freezing at night, also very cold during the day. It gets dark so early now, gone are the long sunset bike rides that I used to be able to enjoy after work.











I don't think I'm going to be a a big fan of the winter. Except for winter break, I am a fan of that. I'm going to Taiwan!!!!!!! I can't wait! My first adventure into another part of Asia. Dec 30-Jan 5!

Life in Korea has been pretty relaxed; spinning around mostly on work, friends and music. I also read a lot and go hiking or exploring on my bike whenever the weather is nice. I played another open mic with "the ofs." Again we were amazing. Its a great feeling to be a part of a musical escapade with talented and decent folks.

We are going "on tour" next month to Chuncheon(capital of Gangwon-do[my providence]) for a big open mic event. Its maybe 2 or 3 hours away.

Chuseok and myserious Ulleungdo

So I'm now writing about something that happened in the beginning of October and it is now almost November, time flies so fast when you work so much and rest so little. Anyway, this is all about what I did for Chuseok, it is a major Korean holiday.. kind of like Thanksgiving. We did many traditional things. I even got to wear hanbuk, the traditional Korean clothes.
First we had a traditional tea ceremony.



Me with my adorable babies.








Then we made seong cheong (or something like that), which are little dumpling balls filled with sugar, cinnamon and sesame seeds.

Then we did some traditional wrestling.








And a traditional stick throwing game, which teacher won (hohoho!).

My kindergarten! ALL MINE! I love being a kindergarten teacher more than I ever thought I would. They are the highlight of my day.

The best part of this holiday was getting Friday off!!!!! 3 day weekend! For this rare and special occasional I decided to go to the mysterious island of Ulleungdo. Ulleungdo is about a 3 hour ferry ride from Donghae(about 40minutes south of where I live). Everything I read about the island said it was was known for its rocks, pumpkins, squid, no snakes, and beautiful women. I can personally attest to the first four. Ulleugdo was absolutely amazing, the most beautiful place I've seen in Korea so far if not the world. It almost didn't feel like Korea aside from the Korean and drying squid all over the place.

Mukho <->Ulleungdo!

And the boat that brought me there!

First view of the island.. looks like Jurassic Park!

























After checking into the hotel we went on a bus tour around most of the island. Every rock here has its own name. We stopped at turtle rock, pictured below but too big to be actually pictured. There was also lion rock, llama rock, "I'm coming" rock, elephant rock, 3 angel/fairy rock, and nose, hand, and triangle rock (named by me).





















We saw a peaceful temple. At the temple my friend and I got invited inside to eat some potato pancake and sugar dumplings, the best I've ever had.














Views~!











We stopped at the only flat land on the island, inside an extinct volcano. Population of this town was 120 or something, population of all of Ulleungdo is only about 10,000.
At the village we had some pumpkin makkoli(the milky rice wine). I know that in a previous entry I said that this stuff tastes like "fermented cow jizz," but I'm glad I give it another go. It really does grow on you and makes you very silly indeed.










We woke up early the next morning to rain, but then the rain stopped and we went on an "easy" hike. PAH! yeah right! Just the road up to the trail winded me. Cement going straight up is killer for me. I much prefer walking through wooded trails.

"death"

But the way up got easier and the views were amazing.












Until the stairs came. And didn't end. At least my short legs had the advantage on the way down.

I am Mountain Conqueror!

At the very top of the mountain, you could see the Dokdo rocks.... the long contested territory between Korea and Japan.



On the way off the mountain.. we must have taken a wrong path somewhere. We came out on the highway with the city a million miles away. All the roads in Ulleungdo are in curvy cues, it would have taken forever to had gotten back. Yup. I hitchhiked! First time in my life, a nice family picked us up and dropped us at the hotel. 2 hours trekk back turned into a 5 minute drive. Thanks Korean family!



After lunch, we headed to the sea for a swim. The water was actually still warm. And so clear that you could see giant jellyfish, the biggest I've ever seen, floating far far in the distance.












My favorite meal in Ulleungdo was the mussel rice, it was so delicious! Second favorite was pumpkin pizza.



The streets were very tiny, and all one way. Also, just about everyone has a jeep here.. very different from mainland Korea where tiny cars rule.











Goodbye beautiful Ulleungdo. I will miss you!!!
The boat ride back was rough for most people, I took some motion sickness pills and zonked out. But a lot of people got really sick :( If you're going to Ulleungdo, I'd suggest you take a pill!










PS. I hitchhiked again on the way back to the bus terminal! hoho