What I did for Chuseok, Part 1

Wow, this is going to be one large post, but I will try and include all the details I can remember. As soon as I can figure out how to hook my new digital camera up to the computer, there will be new pictures for all to view! Here it goes:

Saturday:
I left my apartment at around 10:15am and met Liz at Suwon Station. I ran into one of my co-teachers at the Osan train station. She too was headed to Suwon. I met Liz in the atrium of the subway at noon. We were both hungry, so she had some hotdog wraps from a food cart, and I had Burger King! I love Burger King! Then we jumped on the Subway and headed to Hongik University Station (about an hour on the subway, 1 transfer). We were meeting Beth, Alicia, Nikki, and Sheila there at 2pm (this will be much better when I have the pictures to go along with it). We sat at the subway station for a while, waiting for everyone to get there.

From the subway station, we decided we were going to look for a place to eat. Having 2 vegetarians in the group, this made for an interesting ordeal. Not speaking any Korean, it was hard to find a Korean restaurant that we new had dishes without meat. So, we resorted to eating at Pizza Hut. The pizza was okay. They have different options than the Pizza Huts in America. One can order a pizza with sweet potatoes baked into the crust... interesting I know.

From pizza hut we determined we were going to check into our hotel. We were supposed to stay at a hotel withint 15 minutes walking of the Hongik University Subway stop. We found were the hotel was on the map and proceeded to try and find it. Well... streets in Korea don't really like to be names, and the Lonely Planet map we were using wasn't exactly the greatest. After about 30 minutes of wandering around, we decided to try and find a cab that would take us to the motel. Well, Seoul does have over 5,000 hotels, so no cab driver knew how to get us there. Eventually we gave up trying to find that hotel and just had the cab driver take us to Sinchon Subway Station, where there were apparently a ton of hotels (well...at least according to the Lonely Planet). We took a $2.50 cab ride to get to Sinchon Station. Looking at the map, 2 other foreigners came up to us and asked us if we need help. We told them we needed to find a hotel. They suggested we go to a different street near the subway stop that had quite a few hotels to choose from. Taking there suggestion, we found the street with the hotels. Not wanting to spend too much money, we looked in a few hotels to find prices and room sizes before we settled on the Prince Hotel at 50,000 Won for Saturday night and 40,000 Won for the rest of the week (1USD ~ 1120 Won). And that is the totals, we still had people to divide that among!

Finally having checked into a hotel, we rested for a while and tried to determine what we were going to do that night (which involves all of us looking through our guide books). I found an add for a Cruise down the Han River with live music. It left Yeouido Island (an island in Seoul) at 8:40pm and lasted for 1 1/2 hours... for only 10,000 won a person. We decided to check this out. Only 6 subway stops away from our hotel (Youinaru stop), we soon found ourselves on the shores of the Han River. It was magnificent. We bought our boat tickets and a couple of beers for the boat ride and were soon on the boat. The ride down the Han River was fantastic, especially with the sky lit up at night. After the boat ride, we decided to sit near the river and split a bottle of wine.

After the wine, we decided to head back to our hotel area (it was already 11pm, and the subway stops at 11:30pm). Feeling a little hungry, Beth, Alicia, Nikki, Liz, and myself decided to try and find food. We wandered around our hotel area and found a restaurant that was open until 5am, and had vegetarian choices. We ate puchimgae (Korean pizza...though not at all like American pizza), fried chicken (for us non-vegetarians) and a fruit plate. Plus 2 containers of "cocktail soju" (Korean vodka mixed with fruit punch). It was very good. Being exhausted from the day, we then went back to the hotel and crashed for the evening. I had the privilege of spending my first night sleeping on the floor, but it wasn't bad at all.


Well... that's all for tonight, it's late and I'm tired. I'll try to finish the rest tomorrow!

Chuseok

It's Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) on Tuesday, so I get a nice long vacation. I don't have class again until Friday!!! So, if you don't hear from me for a while, I'm gone. Don't know exactly what the plans are, so you'll have to hear about it when I get back!

Have a good week!

You know your from Wisconsin when...

Yes, I have stolen this from a forward I keep getting. But I do find it incredibly entertaining... feel free to comment and add more!

• If you consider it a sport to gather your food by drilling through 38 inches of ice and sitting there all day hoping that the food will swim by, you might live in Wisconsin
• If you're proud that your region makes the national news 96 nights each year because Park Falls is the coldest spot in the nation, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you have ever refused to buy something because it's "too spendy", you might live in Wisconsin.
• If your local Dairy Queen is closed from November through March, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you instinctively walk like a penguin for five months out of the year, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If someone in a store offers you assistance, and they don't work there, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If your dad's suntan stops at a line curving around the middle of his forehead, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you may not have actually eaten it, but you have heard of Head Cheese, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you have worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you have either a pet or a child named "Brett", you might live in Wisconsin.
• If your town has an equal number of bars and churches, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you have had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you know how to say Oconomowoc, Waukesha, Menomonie & Manitowoc, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If you think that ketchup is a little too spicy, you might live in Wisconsin.
• If every time you see moonlight on a lake, you think of a dancing bear, and you sing gently, "From the land of sky-blue waters,....you might live in Wisconsin.

YOU KNOW YOU ARE A TRUE WISCONSINITE WHEN:

1. Your idea of a traffic jam is ten cars waiting to pass a tractor on the highway.

2. "Vacation" means going up north past Hwy 8 for the weekend.

3. You measure distance in hours.

4. You know several people who have hit deer more than once.

5. You often switch from "heat" to "A/C" in the same day and back again.

6. Your whole family wears Packer Green to church on Sunday.

7. You can drive 65 mph through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard, without flinching.

8. You see people wearing camouflage at social events (including weddings and funerals ).

9. You install security lights on your house and garage and leave both unlocked.

10. You think of the major food groups as beer, fish, and venison.

11. You carry jumper cables in your car and your wife or girlfriend knows how to use them.

12. There are 7 empty cars running in the parking lot at Mill's Fleet Farm at any given time.

13. You design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit.

14. Driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled with snow.

15. You refer to the Packers as "we."

16. You know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter and road construction.

17. You can identify a southern or eastern accent.

18. You have no problem pronouncing Lac Du Flambeau.

19. You consider Minneapolis exotic.

20. You know how to polka.

21. Your idea of creative landscaping is a statue of a deer next to your blue spruce.

22. You were unaware that there is a legal drinking age.

23. Down South to you means Illinois.

24. A brat is something you eat.

25. Your neighbor throws a party to celebrate his new pole shed.

26. You go out to fish fry every Friday

27. Your 4th of July picnic was moved indoors due to frost.

28. You have more miles on your snow blower than your car.

29. You find minus twenty degrees "a little chilly."

~ I found them all entertaining :-) but I would like to say...ketchup is not spicy and belongs on everything! I don't eat fish, especially fish from Wisconsin lakes, I don't follow football, and everyone (male or female) should know how to use jumper cables. Other than that, we really do leave our cars unattended and running in parking lots during the winter. I've done it, and I've seen others do it as well!

A couple of Shout-Outs

Well, not to much exciting has happened since the weekend. I did get paid today, which is an event in itself. I now have more than 5 USD!!! Hopefully before Friday I will have a cell phone, but no guarantees as I cannot get one on my own. The 10 words or so that I know in Korean will not help me get a phone.

But, I did want to give 2 shout-outs 'cause I've been meaning to, but keep forgetting.

~Al~ Thanks for making me get a blog...there is a slight possiblity I will now remember the things that I've done here in Korea.

~Abby~ Thanks for helping an accountant think of a creative blog website, otherwise this website would be elissa.blogspot.com or something equally as unexciting.

TTFN.... I'll let you know when something else noteworthy happens :-)

Sightseeing with Su Jin

On Sunday the 19th, another teacher at my school, Su Jin, asked me if I wanted to go to Seoul with her to see the Chagall art exhibit and visit a temple (I know...both of which I have mentioned in my last post). I immediately agreed to go with her. She picked me up outside the grocery store near my apartment at around 8:30 am. Not willing to drive into Seoul (I do not blame her in the slightest...Seoul is a scary place when you are in a vehicle), we parked her car at Osan City Hall and took the bus into the city.

The bus picked us up almost immediately and cost 3000 won (1120 won = 1 US dollar). 40 minutes later we were at the Nambu bus terminal in Seoul. There was hardly any traffic on the way. From the bus terminal, we jumped on the subway to head to the City Hall subway stop (the closest to the Art museum). While we were exiting the subway station, we noticed that there was a huge festival going on in the park across from the City Hall. We watched from across the street for a little while and headed to the art museum.

The art museum was just that...a Chagall exhibit. Pretty interesting.

After the art museum we decided to check out the festival by the City Hall. It was a Youth Cultural Festival...so I got to see a couple of traditional dances and eat a rainbow colored rice cake. Korean rice cakes are much different than those in the States... much better. They are more like cake and less like hard crunchy things.

Then it was off to lunch. The restaurant we ate at was a traditional Korean restaurant. You must take your shoes off before eating and you sit on a raised platform but it's still like sitting on the ground. There were 17 side dishes served with our meal of spicy tofu soup. I don't really know the names of any of the side dishes, except Puchimgae, which is "Korean Pizza" though not at all like our pizza. It is eggs and flour with vegetables and squid in it... one of my favorite Korean dishes so far.

After lunch we headed off to the temple. We were meeting one of Su Jin's friends at the temple who works on an army base, so she speaks English very well. We talked for a while on the bus ride and the following walk to the temple. The temple was beautiful. Located on the foot of a mountain in Northern Seoul. We specifically went to that temple because they have 2 monks from America who guide meditation and give lectures on Buddhism in English. We didn't make it in time for the guided meditation but the lecture was very interesting. I can now say that I have heard a monk use the phrase "bitchin'"!!!

After the lecture we went and sat in a park and talked more. They tried to teach me more Korean phrases which I later wrote down and hopefully some day will remember. Both Su Jin and her friend also speak Chinese so we had an enlightening conversation about the Chinese language. By the time we left it was 6:00pm and Su Jin and I still had a long subway ride to the bus station and a 40 minute bus ride home.

At the bus station I even asked for my ticket in Korean...and was given the right ticket! I've had problems on the train before. I say I want a ticket to "Suwon" and they hear "Suhwan" which is a completely different city in the opposite direction. But luckily my "Osan Chu-seyo" (Osan, please) worked!

Got homeat around 8:00pm, cleaned my apartment for a little while, then went to bed.
That was all for Sunday... hope everyone else is doing well!
E

Reflections of the Day

Today was a busy day...considering that it's a Saturday and I don't have to teach. This afternoon Mack (the father of a third grade student at my high school and member of the Korean Lion's Club) called me and asked me if I wanted to go out to lunch with him. Having no reason to say no, I agreed....and that's where the adventure begin! Following is a list of what we did:

1. Went to Osan AirBase. It was weird, first air base I've ever been too. I saw more Americans there than I have seen since I left the US. Apparently the airbase has one of the cheapest golf courses in Korea. So Mack and I went and ate lunch at the golf course bar. Had a chef's salad with CHEESE!!! (I miss cheese)
2. Drove through Songtan... a city near Osan. Mack showed me where all the military people hang out. Looked like an interesting little city.
3. Drove around Osan. I got to find out where a good grocery store is! Mack also showed me the bar where all the foreigners hang out. It's called "Wa Bar" but I don't know if I remember how to get back to it.
4. Crashed a wedding. Yeah, it was kinda weird. 2 of my students were there (I have around 575 students, so I run into them everywhere). Mack knew the father of the bride. He gave a gift of money then we went down into the church basement and ate. While eating I met one of the pastors of the church... he's from the US and wants me to come to mass on Sundays because he holds a foreign service. Don't worry Rachel, attending mass isn't in my plans.
5. Sat at a Family Mart (like a 7-11) and drank orange juice. A mother of my students owns the store. It was weird... 5 Korean people staring at me and speaking in Korean. Every once and a while I heard my name, but who knows what they said.
6. Went to the UN Monument which is on the outskirts of Osan.
7. Finally... made it home.

Mack invited me to have dinner with his wife and daughter sometime next week. I get to go see a Korean household and eat homecooked food. It should be interesting. He also invited me to go "mountain climbing" with one of his mountain climbing groups (he's in 2) sometime next month. He told me that Korean mountain climbing is half climbing and the other half drinking and singing songs. I hope by climbing he means hiking but it sounds like it will be fun. By then I'll have a digital camera, so I'll make sure to take pictures.

Got home and received a phone call from another teacher. I'm meeting her at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We are going into Seoul to see the Chagall Exhibit at the Museum of Art (yes, this is the same exhibit that I saw last weekend). Then we are going to meditate at a buddhist temple in the afternoon. I'll have to let you know how that goes. I'm going to Hwagyesa Temple in Seoul. Here's the website: http://www.hwagyesa.org, it's in Korean, but you can look at the pictures :-)

I think that was all the excitement for the day.

안녕하세요

Creation

Ahhh...yes. I now have a blog. What will I do with it... only time will tell!