it's finally here! - the not-so-fresh, not-so-hot-off-the-press photos from my first month in korea!

FINALLY.
the pictures you've been waiting for have arrived.
i now begin the laborious project of attempting to catalogue them all and write sufficient explanations for the events and moments they capture. this is going to take a long time. i know it. i should just stop complaining and do it. but im hungry and the water is boiling for my ramen... can't i do it later, after i eat? NO. now. get to it.


right.

it took about four days for me to meet someone i knew after arriving in korea. those first few days felt long and kind of strange. i was in a place i knew and yet it seemed unfamiliar. i felt like i was coming home to korea, but it was as if i came home to an empty house. i didnt have much chance to inform my friends of my arrival due to how quickly i had to begin working once i arrived. i had no phone, so i used a payphone to call my friend 선영 (sunyoung), my korean sister. as soon as i saw her and heard her voice it was the atmosphere of korea completely changed, as i expected it would. i was back home. we met at 안양시장 ('anyang shijang' - anyang market), above.
me and sunyoung. she helped me by some 상추 ('sangchu' - lettuce), 김 ('kim' - dried, salted seaweed), and 김치 (kimchee - which ended up causing my fridge and thus apartment smell like kimchee for more than a month, until i finally threw away it away, a decision i later regretted after i learned from my students that kimchee lasts practically forever and that old kimchee is great for making 김치찌개 - 'kimchee jjigae' kimchee stew - one of my favorite home dishes)

that weekend i stayed with my good buddy and oldest korean friend (in terms of length of acquaintance, not age) 원츨 (wonchul - aka 'chris'). unfortunately i did not bring my camera to his home in anyang (foolish). nevertheless the weekend was a very welcome change of pace and escape from my less than desireable living conditions. wonchul's father works for the government as an executive in waste management. their family lives in a very beautiful part of anyang, next to a nice looking park with a gentle mountain overlooking the neighborhood in the near background. i promised myself that i would one day come back to visit one of the many nearby 찜질방 ('jjimjilbang' - public sauna/bath house). we grabbed some beers and fried chicken at a local joint, played go stop, and talked late. i remember noticing that wonchul's home seemed nearly exactly the same as other korean homes i had stayed in (i.e. same layout, arrangement, even furnishings, furniture, and appliances). so even though i had never had the chance to visit wonchul's home during my last stay in korea, it felt very familiar to me, not so much like an eerie deja vu, but just a comforting familiarity, much the same as wonchul and other koreans might feel about the reed roofs, lanais, and palm trees of hilo. after about a week and a half i was finally feeling more caught up in sleep and so i took some time to paint a little. i chose a familiar subject :) unfortunately, something was a little off in my sketching (possibly due to the wrinkled nature of the paper, post-unpacking) and my subjects nose turned out a centimeter or two longer than is commonly characteristic of humans. i cropped the picture to save you from nightmares. the following friday i was finally able to meet up with miri! we met at 한국외대 (hankuk university of foreign studies - a place from which many of my friends have come, but i never had a chance to visit last time i was in kroea). we were supposed to meet at the university entrance, and as i was waiting there looking for 미리 (miri), someone came up to me. i was even more startled when i realized it was miri! she had changed her hair and was wearing a different style of clothing than she normally did in hilo. i felt silly for not recognizing her right away and just a little disappointed that her style had changed a little, but then i should have expected as much. im sure i looked a little strange to her too with my military-length hair. anyway, as soon as we opened our mouths it was easy to recognize each other's old personalities. not much change there! it was just like old times. we grabbed some 회덮밥 ('hoedeopbap' - bibimbap with raw fish and lettuce) and took a look around the university. miri is living on campus now and she'll finish up school this winter. that means job-hunting-time and many stresses and sleepless nights for most koreans. i have learned that the process can be more than just challenging and stressful - for many it is isolating, exhausting, and even despairing. i have a lot of opinions and feelings about this aspect of korean culture (which i wont get into here, but, rest assured, will soon). for now, i'll just say that this is one area to which i feel especially called to share my perspective with koreans. i have really learned to trust things to work out in my life, despite failures, set backs, and the superficial judgement of people in decision-making positions. indeed, it is because of more than one supposed 'setback' that brought me to a place where i could learn about korea and later put me in a position to visit here two years ago. in short, i try to give as much support to my friends as i can - i know how much they need it. in that way, it is a real great thing to be here and give that personally again.

the next series of pictures are from my chuseok weekend; to hear a more detailed account of that, see previous posts. that very evening i was able to get out of my evening classes so that i could meet wonchul and his family who would be driving to 보성 ('boseong') to meet wonchul's grandparents and celebrate 추석 ('chuseok' - the korean mid-autumn festival). they happily agreed to allow me to come along and be a part of the family for the weekend. score! after 4 hours of driving, we stopped in 광주 ('kwangju') to spend the night. the following day we met wonchul's cousins, aunt, and ucle and went to the local market to pick up some fruit for the family gathering. as you can see, the market was like a warehouse full of people buying and selling local crops.onions
rural korea - soon i'd get my first up-close encounter
asleep in the car saturday morning. we have arrived in boseong. only a half hour left of driving to get to grandpa's village. 밤 ('bam') - chestnuts - we'd be picking a lot of these soon
wonchul's grandparents' home and where his father and uncles grew up. it lies on the slopes of what i called the 'park family mountain' where several previous generations had lived and many relations still lived. i later learned from wonchul that until recently there had been no toilet other than a hole in a shed and quite a few domesticated animals. red peppers (grown only a few meters away) drying in the sun. they will be used to make 고추장 ('gochujang' - korean red pepper paste, a staple ingredient to many dishes) among countless other culinary uses.
kimchee pots preserving homemade kimchee and other essential korean foods. traditionally these pots are buried underground and left sometimes for decades to achieve a truly remarkable (and a little sour) kimchee flavor.
wonchul's father (left) and uncle peeling for the imminent feast. wonchul's cousins (everyone is playing on their cellphones or one of the other mobile electronic devices that are so popular in korea) - they slept most of the weekend.
getting ready to eat my favorite korean food - 삼겹살 (''samgyeopsar' - pork belly meat). the meat is not cooked with any spices, simply grilled and wrapped in a leaf of lettuce or a sesame leaf with gochujang, marinated onions, garlic, and/or kimchee. alternatively, the meat is dipped in a dish of salt, pepper, and sesame oil (as in the picture). it is essential for this meal to be consumed with alcohol, preferably soju. and it's cheap. lovely.
the kitchen
on the way up the mountain in haraboji's tractor
i thought chris looked so silly in this hat haraboji - grandpa - at the chestnut orchard
밤
it was a really beautiful afternoon - i cant imagine a lazier atmosphere
the waterfall where we washed our faces and took a nice long drink of fresh mountain water
the countryside around wonchul's grandparents' home
wonchul's distant cousins playing badminton (an extremely popular sport for all ages in korea)
after an afternoon siesta - it was hard work picking those chestnuts and digesting all that food.
haraboji found some old, forgotten bottles of soju which also preserved the remains of a snake haraboji had found, killed, stuffed in a bottle of soju, and burried over 10 years ago.
behind the house
persimmon tree
the side of the house - where apparently some relatives used to live and the site of the household toilet before a porceline one was installed me and 할머니 ('harmoni' - gramma)
me and 삼촌두명 ('samchon du-myeong' - two uncles)
me and 할아버지 ('haraboji' - grampa) and wonchul's parents
at the 녹차 ('nokcha' - greentea) farm

the smell was otherworldly, just as is your first taste of green tea
posing like haraboji
cute apples
much of the countryside right around here looked just like this. you could see green tea growing in rolls all over the slopes of hills and mountains, looking like fuzzy, green courodoy

we then drove to the southern coast and visited this beach house where wonchul's parents had once taken a vacation
with that ocean in the background, it almost looks just like old times in hilo...
no one was more surprised than i to discover this very life-like replica of my birth. also a pretty good resemblance of my brother on the left.
wonchul's father turns out to be a kindred spirit
a few days after returning to suwon, i took a train into seoul after finishing my morning classes and met my friend 민지 (minji). we walked around a cemetary park which housed the remains of countless soldiers who had died in the korean war (june 1950 - july 1953 - 1 million+ casualties). the park was unbelievably huge for being so near the center of seoul. it was a really beautiful day - one of my last summer days before the weather turned south.

meeting with minji is always a real delight for me. she's a quiet person, but deceivingly so - she does not conform to general korean expectations. she has a strong desire to make her life her own, instead of acquiescing to the trends of other young-adult koreans, and it's something which i feel uniquely honored to be able to lend an ear to, which i do from time to time. perhaps these choices don't seem extraordinary to most americans of the same age, but in korea, it is very difficult to make an unexpected decision, such as to move to america (a choice that is sometimes necessary for koreans in order to seek the opportunities they want). being able to listen to and share my support with friends who struggle with these choices and their seemingly socially-dissonant desires is one of the most important reasons for my choice to come to korea again. i have found that my voice and support can really mean a lot to some people, and this has led me to believe i have something valuable to give people here. and minji is special too cuz of how different we are. sometimes in hilo we had some pretty heated disagreements about religion, and even our personalities are pretty different, for that matter. maybe im imagining it, but i seem to remember some moment when we had been in complete disagreement about something and feeling like we dont understand each other at all and then thinking 'who cares?' we are friends anyway. so in a lot of ways, my friendship with minji really represents to me this kind of caring that doesnt require even understanding to function. i need friends like that too. and these days, anyway, we find ourselves agreeing a lot more. minji and i also studied japanese together in hilo. but she was 'tensai' - genious. my ability was nothing compared to hers. so in translation class, she helped me understand the japanese, and i helped her write the english correctly! :) hahaha

we saw some traffic-controllers taking a group picture and they asked me to take one for them. then i asked minji to take one of them and me. kkkk
all those little dots are graves. part of seoul in the background
that's minji
some old guy was being interviewed outside this building. we couldnt figure out who he was. or i just forgot.

inside the aforementioned building. dunno what those rooms on the side were for, but we went into that section straight ahead.
here housed the ashes of many other creamated people. a lot of these 'cabinets' were empty, as if the building had been very recently constructed.
these must have been for the general public, since the pictures showed lots of old guys.
looking down at the floor in the center of this building from above. a tradtional korean symbol. what is it called again?...
another view of seoul from the outside.

nice day for a picnic

that weekend i was abliged to visit my boss's church. he had asked me one time when i had no handy excuse. it's not that i didnt want to go to church in korea - i do often - but always with my friends; i dont usually go to church when im abroad unless im going to share something that is a part of my friends' lives (i.e. - not my boss's - he's not exactly very pleasant, but i dont really want to go into that here). anyway, i went, and it was fine. as it turned out, another new korean teacher was also abliged to go. the service was pretty characteristic of korean church. this church was the sister church of the world's largest which is located in seoul (in 여의도 - i actually went there 2 years ago). after church we bailed, crabbed some kimchee jiggye for lunch and afterwards i got my first look at 화성 ('hwaseong'), the famous rock wall that surrounds the historical city-limits of suwon (which has now greatly spread beyond its original borders). at one time, the emperor apparently wanted to relocate the capital city from seoul to suwon and so he built the impressive rock walls. later the transfer never happened. so the korean teacher and i (her english name is bekka - i dont know her korean one) decided to look around this part of suwon since it was a beautiful day and neither of us had seen it before (she is from 인천 - 'incheon', a coastal city west of seoul, home of a major fish market and the largest airport in korea). as we were looking around we noticed a reenactment of some kind. turned out to be a pretty big deal. below are some archers from ancient korea.
shooting at a wild boar

the emperor (possibly) or some other noble/prince
a procession
yeah archers! you rock!
화성 - the wall
children playing 'get the foreigner' - i was a little nervous seeing them run at me from a distance without slowing down

i got off this shot right before the fastest one tackeled me
yup. the wall is right in the middle of the city. pretty cool actually.
the next week i took a train into seoul for the afternoon and met my old friend 영민 (youngmin - we've been friends since my first year in hilo during which we played in the hilo orchestra and volunteered at the UHH women's center together; later i stayed in her home for almost a month while living in korea for the summer) in 용산 ('yongsan' - a part of seoul that has lots of foreigners due to a military base). we ate some vietnamese beef noodle soup. yummy!

we went to another korean war memorial park. this one had lots of war machinery and vehicles. i walked up to some kid and asked him 사진을찍어주세요 ('sajin-ul jjikeojuseyo' - please take a picture for me). i think he was extremely surprised. he suddenly stopped laughing with his buddy and very solemnly took the camera from me.
a group of kids seated under an immense bullet. this was apparently some secretly designated day for school field trips. many, many children everywhere.

the inside of a bomber plane
view of the park and some of the city beyond

that weekend was a meeting with chris (wonchul) and my friend daniel, who would soon be getting married. i was really excited about this meeting because there would be so many of my old friends there from my first year in hilo - many of my first korean friends. the evening was lots of fun. daniel was extravagent with his generosity and paid for everything (as is the custom in korea - oldest buys, usually, and especially on slightly formal occasions such as this one - daniel had us all get together to give us invitations to his wedding)

'mj', 'tall mikyoung', chris, and daniel (from left to right)
주현 (joo hyun - 'hong-joo'), 현숙 (hyunsook), 보경 (bokyoung - 'bobo'), 명주 (myoungjoo - 'mj'), 혜진 (hyejin - 'alison') (left to right)
left to right again - mj, tall mikyoung, chris, daniel, hong-joo, hyunsook, bobo, alison, me

i couldnt say enough. just kept talking the whole time. many different nostalgia floating in my head - many different times shared with everyone. and many times all together too. *sigh
better not get into now.. i wont be able to stop...

hyunsook invited me to her choir's concert the next weekend. she is working for samsung as a secratary to the president of everland, a samsung-run theme park in 용인 ('yongin' - a town outside of seoul and not far from suwon). i met her boyfriend at 경기도문화의전당 (gyeonggi-do arts center) and we saw the performance together. it was pretty interesting. all of the singing groups were different sections of the samsung company. most sang a mixture of ballads and famous musical songs, with a couple of classical pieces thrown in. although it wasnt the kind of music i would normally choose to sing in a choir, it was pretty fun, and it reminded me of singing in the hilo choir. it was pretty entertaining to see some of the 'dance moves' a couple choirs tried to tackle.

hyunsook with her choir, in the middle. after this photo, someone came up to me and told me cameras were not allowed. lame.

after the concert, the three of us went out to eat some 갈비 ('kalbi' - beef rib meat) - a famous food of suwon.

the following friday, i went out to visit a nearby mountain in suwon and eat lunch with my last morning class. we took a short hike (15 min) and then gave it up pretty quickly due to unanimous support for eating.

my class, minus DK (who was taking the picture): kelly, jane, alice, me, april

that weekend i went to visit hyunsook on sunday. i asked her if i could come to mass with her since i had been to their church before when i was in korea two years ago and had stayed at their house in 방배 (bangbae - part of seoul). during that time i had been hanging out with hyunsook's brother a lot (who happens to be born on the same DAY as me); he's now serving his required 2 years of military duty. this has been the only catholic church that i've visited in korea, but it was amazing how similar mass was to the mass im used to in america (mostly at valley, my HS). just a different language. i especially love singing the old-style humns in korean :)

after mass we hung out at home for a little while, then hopped in the car with hyunsook's mom and drove to 부천 (bucheon - a developed area outside and to the west of seoul) where hyunsook's mom manages a korean-food restaraunt. we got the royal treatment: a private room, loads of delicious korean favorites: 비빔밥 (bibimbab - rice mixed with beef, veggies, egg, pepper sauce), 도토리묵무침 (dotorimuk-muchim - seasoned acorn jelly), and many delightful korean side dishes (including 생선전 'saengseonjeon' - pan-fried fish fillet!). we sat talking for a long time - it was a very peaceful setting. hyunsook is contemplating her lifestyle, or more precisely, her job which is effecting her lifestyle. her job is a desireable one, no doubt about it - working for samseong in any fashion is an accomplishment coveted by many aspiring young people - but it is also taxing, mundane, and isolating. hyunsook feels a calling to more meaningful things for her life and an awareness that her present job isn't fulfilling those aspirations. i could sense she was seeking some encouragement and a friendly ear and i was more than happy to park myself down for a while and fill those gaps as best i could.

after lunch, we walked around the mall (in which hyunsook's mother's restaurant is located) and then went up to the roof with our coffees.

on the roof: looked more like a park; i couldnt even tell we were on the 8th floor or whatever. we watched the children play around and chatted on more light-hearted topics. experiencing times like this and remembering similar conversations in hilo makes me feel both old and new things. i experience that a lot living in korea and meeting my old friends. i remembering this afternoon as being a very welcome escape for me - i was still uncomfortable living in my apartment in suwon and feeling trapped there. even though this spot was just the roof of a mall, it still felt a lot farther away and an isolated haven.

bridge over the street. no cameos.
hyunsook kindly helped me ask around looking for a good cell phone deal. we wandered around a department store (homeplus, i think) and at some point i was under the misimpression that hyunsook was looking for lamb meat, though i cant remember why. she bought me a pancake with an egg fried in it (i cant remember what those were called, but they were GOOD, yo) and we spent a while trying to figure out which bus would take me to the train station. although hyunsook apologized for the inconvenience, i thought it was really nice just wandering around aimlessly for a few hours.

the following friday i met my friend 시은 (sieun) at 한국외대 (hankuk university, at which she is also a student). sieun studies french (actually she recently was living in france) and is practically trilingual due to living in america for a while as well. so it's really great being able to share some american anecdotes with her, not to mention the fact that we're both PKs - her dad is a pastor in korea.

before i met her, i remember i had been thinking all day about 김치찌개 (kimchee jjigae - kimchee stew) - this was because a student of mine had taught me how to make it the previous night when we were sharing recipes. i had been craving the stuff. i didnt help either that while i was riding the train into seoul that day, some old guy was standing next to me with a huge bag full of kimchee. you can imagine how that smell filled the whole train... so as soon i met sieun and we hugged and got the necessary exclamations out of the way, she asked me if id eaten, i said no, what do you want, and what words should i hear but the very same that had been in my mind: kimchee jjigae! in no time flat, we located a suitable place and tucked in. heavenly.

we grabbed some coffees afterwards at a quaint, little place, were met up with by miri, and the following pictures were the result - the trio reunited! (we were just missing casey...) another family photo
me, miri, sieun
miri stopped by only for a short time; she was on her way to daejeon or someplace for her friend's birthday. of course, she hadn't gotten a gift yet, as everything she had encountered or thought of didnt seem special enough. so we made some hasty parousals of locals shops walking away from all of them empty-handed. lol

after miri left, we had a couple of hours left before i had to go. i made the timid suggestion of 노래방 (noraebang - singing room, just like karaoke) and sieun quickly jumped on the idea with whole-hearted approval. another craving fulfilled that day. i hadnt been to karaoke since japan. i sang my guts out and my voice was subsequently at 50% power for my evening classes. 100% worth it. just thinking about how much fun it was to impulsively go there on a late afternoon makes me want to get up and go right now... alas, only 2 hours until class... i gotta finish this up.

it was fun singing korean pop songs or ballads when there were slow enough for me.
singing 80s songs gets the most enthusiasm out of me.
okay. now it's really rockin. and we didnt even have anything to drink. i think we were singing 'way back into love' - a song from the popular-in-korea film 'music and lyrics'

that night was a going-away part for one of my students and friends: josee (i think she said she chose this name, wanting it to be pronounced joe-jae like in french). this was the night i wrote about earlier in my blog a while ago. see that entry for the details.
left to right, 9pm interchange 3 class: lucy, alicia, richard, josee's arm
my hagwon's secretary youngmin (left) and japanese language teacher (who i was able to communicate with in japanese surprisingly well, thanks largely to the soju, no doubt)

jason - the other native English teacher at Gukje (my school), and a good friend to me - pretending to be caesar, maybe? or dionysus?
me and alicia (just pretending to be sloshed)
at the hookah bar following dinner (most everyone is sloshed by now)

the next day i went into 여의도 (yeouido) to meet my friend mikyoung before going to daniel's wedding. the rest of this day i also included in my previous post, so forgive me for not going into much detail here. again, refer to the old post for more context and details on these pics.
it was a beautiful day for a festival in yeouido. many children.
mikyoung (aka: 'kate' or 'small mikyoung' - there were two mikyoungs in hilo the year she was there) a cool little garden path and a cute little family
alison paying respects to daniel and his parents at the wedding hall (actually a hotel)
alison in the wedding hall right before we sat down
daniel and his fiance bowing to each other at the beginning of the ceremony

the 'newly-hitched'
daniel surprises us all with a song for his wife
the gang: bobo, hyunsook, chris, alison, jiwoo, sophia, sookjeong, brian (who came to stay in suwon with me that night), long J
and me
the after reception gathering and drinking... good 'ol long J - as dapper as ever

can you believe it??
i made it!

through this batch at least. unfortunately it took me several weeks to get these photos up, and as a result, dozens more pictures and happenings have acrued in the meantime. i'll do my best to get those caught up by the end of the week. no promises. they'd be futile anyway. and i'd just make an ass out of myself again for not following through. ha.

linking circles, reunions, time-efficient matrimony

so ive decided to just start writing journal entries from this point, instead of trying to recap everything that's happened until now. if i remember something, i'll jot it down. but otherwise, im just gunna upload a ton of pics and let the comments come out on their own. no forced memory searching.

i will, however, give you an account of last weekend. it was full of unique experiences, to be sure. hopefully they will be recurring throughout my stay in korea. first of all, on friday night, i went out drinking with my class. on one occasion they had come to my apartment to drink some beer and play go stop, but that night seemed like a doll-tea-party compared to last friday night.

the party was to send off one of my students who will soon be leaving for america to work as a nanny for a year or so somewhere in north carolina. apparently there is an organization that gives this opportunity to young korean women - they live with a family and earn about 1000 bucks a month. well, it was kind of an interesting party for several reasons. first of all, my class and i thought the gathering would be relatively small: just the 5 of us and the other native english teacher from canada, jason, who taught their class before i came. as it turned out, jason had invited quite a few of his other friends - foreigners from his old school and some guys on his soccer team - and also some other workers at gukje academy. as i observed the confused and uncertain expressions on my students' faces, i realized that this seemingly innocuous action was a korean faux pax.

let me explain. in western culture, i think it is a generally common desire to bring together people from different realms of our social interaction. we see it as a kind gesture to introduce our friends to each other, so that they both can see another side of our life and know us better, not to mention getting the chance to meet a new, 'good person'. in korea, however, social circles are highly prized and very intimate. to most korean people, bringing in an outsider breaks the flow of intimacy within the group, making everyone uncomfortable. this person does not belong, they cant understand our circle's intimacy, etc.

well, we all went to a huge korean restaurant and eventually got seated in the upstairs room. i could have guessed the seating arrangement perfectly. there was a 'foreigner table', a table for my class, and a table for the other korean employees from gukje (with whom i had gone drinking before, but separately, of course, from my classes). since the foreigner table was comfortable and completely unaware of the discomfort of the two korean groups, i decided to sit in between those two tables, instead of with jason and his friends. this ended up working out perfectly. i was able to interact with everyone, and i think my calmness with being the 'middle man' of sorts made everyone else more at ease. i was happy to be able to do this, and yet, i noticed that i was the only person who was not really solidly a part of any social circle... it just seemed like a familiar sensation to me. do i do that a lot? i think i often feel that way in korea or interacting with koreans. i am ever ready to slip out of one 'social circle atmosphere' to chat with someone one-on-one, and i often find myself in 'floater' situations. but my hawaii friends have often done the same for me - whenever i visit them and they introduce me to their families, friends, or any other part of their lives. well, it will be a frequent feeling for me living in korea, no doubt.

i had to be careful too, since my position required me to make toasts at two tables. i kept hearing 'peter!' and turning to see someone holding a soju bottle or some other such korean alcohol. i kept myself under control, though, since i had a wedding to go to the next day (more about that in a sec). unfortunately, one guy from my class who is a few years younger than me was considerably less conservative than me, acquiescing to the 3 누나 ('nuna' - older sister - used by guys to describe any girl who is older than them) classmates whose shameless coaxing caused this poor guy to get thoroughly sloshed. after dinner we apprehensively sent him home in a taxi wondering if he would make it. those of us remaining after dinner proceeded to the only hookah bar in suwon which just happened to be very near the station. although grossly overpriced, the atmosphere of the place was pretty chill and authentic, despite being in korea. it was like stepping into another world, totally separate from the country that lay just outside the door. cushions strewn about a table enclosed behind a light curtain. very dim lighting. countless candles on ledges above our heads. rose favored hookah. a light buzz. first class. i went home at 3am, declining invitations to join the stragglers at a 노래방 ('noraebang' - singing room or karaoke).

the next day was the wedding day of a friend of mine, daniel, who i met in my first semester in hilo. he was kind of the 'older brother' of the exchange students, as he had been in hawaii for a while, was graduating that winter, and going to be starting work in korea at samsung (a very prestigious accomplishment). we played go stop with the other guys quite a few times. actually, i didnt actually know him all that well in hawaii, but wonchul told him i was in korea, so he invited me to his wedding, for which i was very thankful. many of my friends from that year in hawaii would be coming, so it was going to be kind of a reunion.

the wedding was at a hotel near 여의도 ('yeouido' - a pretty important financial center in seoul, located on an island on the han river which runs through the city). i had been there quite a few times before, two years ago. wonchul told me that a friend of ours, mikyoung, was living and working around there these days and suggested i try to meet up with her before the wedding. this i did. we bought some sandwiches and fruit smoothies and walked around the yeouido park. it was a beautiful day and i was happy to get outside and away from suwon. there was some kind of festival going on that day and there were many kids and young families running around. mikyoung told me about her job, working for a company that plans and organizes exhibitions. she said her coworkers were really great, but there were too few women, as is often the case. i hadnt really talked to her since we met two years ago when we went to seoul grand park and visited its art museum, so it was a nice chance to catch up.

i then met up with my friend alison and we headed off in search of daniel's wedding together. we first had to stop at a bank to withdraw cash. it is customary in korea to fork over a chunk of cash to your friend in a white envelope when they get hitched (usually about $30-50). it seemed impersonal to me, but wishing to respect korean custom, i followed suit. along the way to the supposed location of the wedding, alison described to me the general wedding procedure in korea. although some koreans get married in a church or some such religious establishment, most prefer to go to wedding halls (often located in large hotels, as was the case with daniels). at these wedding halls, the scheduling is strictly kept. on busy days, the bride and groom are hitched in no time flat and quickly scooted off to a reception to make way for the next happy couple. these 'ceremonies' often take less than 15 min and the switcheroo is done in 20.

as it turned out, that day was a slow day, and everyone was able to linger a bit longer in the wedding hall to take pictures. there were at least a couple hundred people there. koreans invite everyone they have ever known and quite a few people they haven't. thus, wedding expenses fall heaviest on reception costs. i got the general impression that most people present at the wedding didnt know each other. korean social circles are generally kept tight and separate. alison and i got early and were thus able to find pretty good seats. we saw the bride and groom take turns walking down the isle. they bowed to each other and stood side by side as some guy behind a podium (not a priest - i think he was daniel's father's buddy from the marines, in which daniel also served his military service) droned on for about 10 minutes describing what i took to be the accomplishments and life stories of the betrothed. then the couple bowed to their parents and it was over. i may have missed something. i certain felt like i had. there was no exchange of rings (but i do know that engagement rings have strong significance in korea - you should spend several weeks pay on them). there was no kiss. daniel did surprise everyone, however, with a song for his new wife. he turned out (to most people's obvious amazement) to be a pretty good singer. then the pictures. at this point i was pretty distracted what with finding my other friends who had arrived during (or after) the ceremony. many of them i had not seen for 2 years and i was delighted. my friend younghoon (who came from daegu) admitted that he had come late and missed the entire ceremony, but was 'on picture time', a phrase koreans use to mean that it is only important to make it for the picture so that you can say you were there.

the following reception was impressively lavish. it was like renting out a private buffet. there were dozens of dishes, a salad bar, soups, sashimi, deserts, and of course beer and soju. we postponed imbibing, however, until the 'after party-party'. the chance for a private reunion of old friends is not a thing to miss. i tried some very interesting and curious buffet foods. there was this one clam shell that was filled with an unrecognizable paste that no one could identify. and of course i helped myself to a steamy bowl of 미역국 ('miyeok guk' - seaweed soup) - a traditional celebratory dish. yum! after that, we paid our respects to daniel and his new wife one last time and headed off for the bar!

it was just like old times. i was able to catch up with a lot of people (some of them i was able to see two weeks previous when we met to receive the wedding invitations from daniel). unfortunately my korean has not progressed to the point where i can participate in conversations between koreans, but my friends kindly spoke to me in english too. being surrounded by an unfathomable sea of korean is not unfamiliar to me anyway. we hung out there for a while, then decided to relocate to gangnam - a popular hub in seoul - from which everyone would be able to catch buses to their respective homes. actually, we didnt drink all that much, largely because our time was cut short due to the difficulty we had in finding a place that was not already full and could fit all of us.

afterwards, younghoon came back to suwon with me. i was really happy to spend some one on one time with him. we went to a quiet bar near my apartment and just hung out sipping our beers and chatting. it was really nice to do something like that. lifted a little of the oppressive feeling of suwon. the next morning, after catching a couple of burgers for breakfast (korean hamburgers are sweeter, less salty, and include sweet pickles), i saw younghoon off to the train station. i hope i'll get a chance to visit deagu soon.

arriving in korea - how did i miss writing about this before?

okay so i finally made it through my chuseok adventures. now i just have to retell the last month and a half. if i had not lazily neglected to keep a written journal when my electronic one was inaccessible, then perhaps i would have not forgotten many of the anecdotes that now escape me. nevertheless, i will do the best i can, and try to start from the beginning...

the trip into korea was as long as any of my trips across the pacific (i had made 6 previous ones, not including those to hawai'i - both ways to kyoto, japan in '04, seoul, korea in '06, tokyo japan in '07). surprisingly, this time, despite leaving for likely longer than a year, seemed less ominous than the others. perhaps it was because i was returning to a place i had been before. perhaps it was because i was going to a place that already contained countless good friends waiting for me. perhaps it was because this wasn't my first time going away with no feasible expectations. i really did have no idea what was in store for me. it had been an unnerving process trying to determine the best job and location for me to live and work from so far away, as you would know if you've read my previous posts from this last summer. but, in fact, this time i was leaving home with a good deal more preparation than most of my other adventures. i had a job waiting for me, for one. and a place to sleep. those two facts already put me in better standing than many of the times ive boarded a plane.

so it was with a pretty unperturbed mind (but a heavily perturbed ass) that i got off the plane in seoul. i didnt expect anyone to be waiting for me. but i knew which bus i had to get on. i had already fared the 인천국제공항 (incheon international airport) which is about an hour away from seoul. this time, with my gaze unbroken and with a wave of my hand, i confidently (and quite satisfyingly) shooed away the malicious taxi drivers attempting to prey on an ignorant foreigner (i fell distressingly victim to them 2 years ago - read about it in my previous post), and made a b-line for the ticket booth. after i got my ticket, i decided to call my friend from hawai'i, priscilla, who works in 수원 (suwon) - my new home and final destination for the day. as i went back inside and started heading for the jumble of payphones i ran right into her! total surprise! apparently in my haste and determination to send the taxi drivers packing, i had walked right around her without either of us noticing, despite the sign she was holding with my name on it. (she told me that since i was coming in to korea, i ought to have a sign) last time coming to korea, i had made the mistake of assuming someone was coming, and this time of assuming someone was not.

unfortunately, priscilla proved to be the only good thing waiting for me in korea that night. by the time we got into suwon, it was about 1:30am. at the station, mrs. kwon, my boss's wife, picked us up and took me to the larger campus where priscilla worked (and not where i would be) to sign some paperwork which basically removed my employers from a great deal of liabilities - nothing too serious, but still, i felt too tired to be able to concentrate fully on what i was agreeing too and it made me uneasy. after that mrs. kwon drove us to the academy's branch at suwon station - the place where i would be teaching. my first impression of the place was that it was decidedly cramped and rather pathetically small. it was around this time (2am) that i discovered i was expected to begin teaching that morning at 7:30am - in less than 6 hours. then we went to my 'new' apartment which turned out to be located in probably the least desirable location possible: the building was right on the corner of two streets heavily populated by noisy pedestrians, uncomfortably near to a 'red light' district, and my pad was on the first floor, the nearest to the entrance with my only window open directly to the street just outside. the interior was virtually bare, smelled of mildew, and look pretty bleak in the dead of night.

i must admit that at this point my heart fell. i had taken everything pretty well up until then, but i had been counting on a living space at least a little better than this. after all, mr kwon, the boss, had needed a teacher right away, and i had agreed despite the short deadline on the condition that i would be given a larger apartment than the typical 'office-tel', as they call them here. at this point mrs kwon conveniently forgot nearly all of the english she had been using up until then, as i began explaining to her that this was unacceptable and not what we had agreed upon. eventually i gave up trying to communicate with her. i was exhausted; fatigued from the plane and the unpleasant running around we did afterwards; and not at all looking forward to the prospect of trying to figure out how to teach a class in just a few hours. priscilla kindly allowed me to come stay at her place that night - i really needed to get away from that apartment, at least right then. a year was starting to feel like a long time. by the time we got to her apartment, it was very late, and, having not eaten or drunk anything for hours, i broke out into a cold sweat and began feeling nauseous. i managed to eat a few bites of convenience store rice ball and, despite my dejection, swallow also a few of priscilla's kind words of support. it had been a quiet less celebrated reception than two years ago when i had partied all night with my friend 'long J' after getting off the bus in seoul, but the worst would prove to be over.

i woke after a few precious hours of rest, took a remarkably refreshing shower, and made my way to the academy where i'd be working. upon arriving, mrs kwon introduced me to the other foreign teacher there from canada named jason. jason ended up making all the difference working at 'gukje' (literly 'international' - the nickname for the academy). he was very kind and patiently answered all my questions about the company, classes, mr kwon, etc - something he has continued to kindly comply with throughout the last 6 weeks. i discovered that the english textbooks were the same ones i used in japan the previous summer. class size and make up (3-8, mostly university students, young company employees, some high school, some adults) were also basically the same as in tokyo. so i passed the morning classes without much effort, graciously allowed myself to be treated to lunch by jason, stumbled to my new apartment and passed out for the next 5 hours.

after that, there's not much to say about my arrival. since ive done quite a bit of english education and tutoring before, it was not difficult to adjust to the classroom style at gukje. daylight shone a kinder face on my apartment - after living in a tent for nearly 3 weeks and in considerably worse apartments for much longer, coping with the present living situation was not too hard either, following the initial disappointment, of course. adjusting my sleeping schedule, and to the split-shift teaching schedule at work, however, took a good deal longer.

the most difficult part of the first month was in being too disconnected from everyone. i didnt get a cell phone or an internet connection in my apartment until last week. this made it very hard to contact my friends living in seoul and anyone else who wished to talk to me, such as my parents and girlfriend. i was limited to computer use at my academy between classes and payphones (a very dissatisfying form of phone communication - you're hunting for change while trying to hear someone over the noise from the street, and 50% of the time you get disconnected prematurely). nevertheless, i was still able to meet some dear friends during that first month: sunyoung, wonchul, miri, myungki, minji, youngmin, and more. seeing their faces gave me much of the sustenance i needed to go on. in fact, it wasnt until i saw the first familiar face (sunyoung's) that i finally realized the home i was coming to. here in korea, i had not only so many dear friends overjoyed to see me again, but also their own families, with whom i had stayed during my last visit two years before, also anxious to see me and ready to lend me assistance whenever i needed it. then i knew that the only way i could feel lonely in korea was if i chose to isolate myself on purpose.

even so, the familiar face of loneliness has been ever-presently looming nearby. it was still difficult to get in touch with people. i felt ashamed when someone would ask why i hadn't called them sooner. even now, there are still people i am just now getting around to calling and meeting. probably this will be the case for another month or so. when you have many people waiting to hear from you or see you, it's impossible to contact them and meet with them all at once. meeting people one-on-one is my preferred way. and dealing with all the challenges associated with my living and working situation right now makes it difficult for me to find the motivation to seek out company all the time. i feel like i need to take care of myself too, not just rely on others to cheer me up. cheering myself up really gives me the most satisfaction! that's they way ive learned to deal with my feelings. and i feel so beautiful when i am able to discover i have the ability to inspire myself and encourage myself! yet, when i tell my friend that i had a rough weekend because i was gloomy and trying to cheer myself up and they say 'why didnt you call me?!', i have no satisfactory answer. and i wonder if perhaps it is my mistake to rely on my own abilities to care for myself - there are definitely times when i fail at that too... these and other differences in personality or social interaction are a constant challenge for me to understand and cope with while living and interacting with koreans. but trying to do just that - make sense of the kaleidoscope of messes and confusion that results from meshing my way of life with that of someone else very different from me - is what has given me some of the most amazing and unexpected friendships i could never have looked for on my own. i have come to strongly believe on fundamental connections between humans; sometimes they are based on actual similarities in perspective or choices, and sometimes they are based merely on the mutual desire to look out for each other despite the apparent lack of cohesiveness. i have friendships here based on both; and indeed both are required, especially here, where the disagreements are many - but also where the determination to support one another is inspiringly passionate.

well now you have the story of my arrival. i have to take a smoke and a nap now. i promise to write more again soon. and pictures, yes, i know, pictures. soon. patience.

the long-awaited 2nd-half of 추석

i guess blogging is one of those things that's very easy to fall behind on. many times i feel like writing a short little anecdote or observation in korea, but when i think about everything that i still have to write about, the task of retelling all the piled up memories becomes too daunting...

but here i am sitting in my 'studio' on a sunday evening, ive already killed most of the day by waking up late, seeing my friend 용훈 (yonghoon) off to the train station, doing laundry, and watching 2/3 of the mad max trilogy. and now ive told myself that im not going to cook dinner and watch the last one until ive taken a little (or likely a LOT) of time to write about my first 6 weeks in korea. i still owe you the second half of 추석 ('chuseok' which was almost a month ago) AND the two weeks before that which i think i also neglected to write about. not to mention all the pictures that need uploading.

so i guess we'd better get comfortable and have a go, eh? let's start with the rest of 추석 (chuseok) and move on from there.
right.

so i think i left off with wonchul and i drinking soju with his grand-uncle, the architect and well-informed carrier of the park family history (i can happily say that my soju drinking ability has made a substantial comeback, although not yet quite up to par with general standards). we awoke the next morning, rubbed some cold water on our swollen eyes, bade our thanks to wonchul's relatives, and stumbled down the hill back to wonchul's grandpa's house. not to our surprise, we discovered his cousins sleeping haphazardly in a heap. a few of the adults were roaming around here and there. wonchul and i silently took in a little breakfast. i was then starting to realize more and more how wonderful and relaxed of a holiday 추석 is
no one does much work with regard to anything other than cooking. 'leisure' is the team's cheer.

wonchul informed me that we would be heading to the village church after breakfast with 할머니 ('harmoni' - grandma). the church was not far. in the car, wonchul explained to me that everyone in his family was christian except his grandfather; he said that everyday harmoni rode to church on a little motorized tractor. once she was hit by a car on the way to church and hospitalized for a little while, but i can tell you that this woman is far from seeming unhealthy or weak - although she had to move around with walking sticks, her movements and speech are quick and confident.

the church was small, of course, but sturdy and well attended - i wondered how many families were visiting for 추석 like us. apparently the church had had some trouble keeping a pastor for more than a few months because the place was so remote and likely too unfamiliar to most pastors coming from the city. the present pastor, however, had remained for 3+ years and the congregation seemed to really like the guy.

of course everything was in korean, so like usual i couldnt understand much of the sermon, but i sang the songs out of the hymnal, which is always very enjoyable to me. during the sermon i noticed that many of the congregation were elderly, as would be expected. it seemed that a good deal of them were having considerable difficulty remaining awake; harmoni, sitting next to me, was not excluded. although i felt a little guilty about it, i found it quite amusing watching their behavior. harmoni, with her head bowed and eyes closed, would periodically bob her head to indicate her heartfelt agreement with the pastor's words

at first i didnt realize she was actually asleep - not until i noticed her nodding at irregular times like that did not seem to fit with the pastor's speech (he paused once for about 15 seconds to parouse his notes which apparently harmoni was in complete agreement with) and leaning over lower and lower. once, someone in the back let out an incredible snore. occasionally, someone would nearly slip out of their seat. as i watched harmoni, however, dressed up in her nicest clothes, with her grey hair tightly curled, carrying her worn bible that had faint scribbles all over it, i couldnt help feeling a strong sense of compassion and admiration for her simple and devoted faith that brought her daily to church.

we came back home we found out that the rest of the family had already gone to the family grave site to pay respects, so wonchul and i took another nap on the gazebo by the road. then, it was suddenly time to go. wonchul's father wanted to head back to seoul a little earlier in hopes of beating the traffic this time. we had a final meal together, paid our respects to everyone, took some photos, exchanged encouraging words, and drove back down the country roads we had meandered through the day before back to the modern world. instead of going straight back to seoul, however, we stopped by the coast and visited a 녹차 ('nokcha' - green tea) farm. haraboji, like i said in the last post, used to own a green tea farm.

green tea grows on the hillsides all over 보성 (boseong). wonchul and i climbed one of these hills to survey the rising and falling rows of green tea bushes as they stretched across the rolling landscape. ive described the feeling i have when gazing at the mountains of korea as like being completely infused with a sense of aged serenity; the land is steeped in tradition, you can feel its hidden history just by touching the weather-worn earth or looking at the rounded mountains. watching the sun set on these mountains was enough to understand what causes tradition to remain in a rapidly modernizing country - it's impossible to live in seoul without sometimes seeing these mountains peeking above the tall buildings. i think that most koreans see their own culture similarly - it is too strong to be blocked out entirely.

wonchul and i slept in the car most of the time. once, we stopped at a rest area and got some fast cafeteria food for dinner. wonchul's parents offered me to sleep at their house again that night, and i gladly accepted. i never thought that relaxing and eating could be so tiring. but i was grateful for a break in the pace of my life thus far as a hagwon teacher in suwon.