East Sea

Today was a blast, but difficult as I didn't get enough sleep last night and we actually spent the majority of the day in the car.

The weather here (Jecheon) sucks right now, but it was partly sunny and much less humid in Gangneung-si, where we went to Gyeongpo Beach.  The day was much more laid back than our usual sight-seeing tours with them.  I wish we would have had more time to spend at the actual beach, but it took about three hours to get there, so the short stay was understandable.

On the way, we stopped by Yi I's (the scholar who is on the Korean 5000 won bill) birthplace.  His mother (Korea's premier female artist) is on the 50000 won bill.

Black bamboo.

Yi I.

Pomegranate tree.

Shin Saimdang, Yi I's mother.

Gyeongpo Beach.  It was a bit gray, but the air was wonderful.

Spicy fish soup delivered to the beach!  It's called 매운탕 (maeuntang) or, simply, "spicy soup."  Of course, Ian and I did not partake.  We had packed a picnic lunch of onigiri (rice balls) for ourselves.

매운탕 sees you coming to eat it.

 

Ian is a pirate.

I'm not so talented when it comes to drawing with my foot.

Bathing suits (or, at least, exposed bathing suits) are not common place in Korea yet.  Instead, people go to the beach, and into the water, fully or mostly clothed.

Four girls had Superman shirts (the dark blue).

Since 99% of people were fully dressed, the lifeguards really stood out.

See the Speedo?  There were five or six lifeguards all in Speedos.  They were terrible swimmers, too, I don't think they would have been very effective if someone needed them.

Rain on the beach.  Luckily, it was clear while we were actually hanging out.

On the way back, we stopped at the Morae Shigae (Hourglass) Park.  It's the largest hourglass in the world and it counts one year at a time.  They rotate it at midnight every January 1st.

They took us out to dinner back in Jecheon at an acorn themed restaurant.  All the food had something to do with acorns.  Who knew they were so versatile?

This salad was made with acorn noodles, veggies, pears, and a spicy sauce.

We mixed them by hand.  It was delicious.  It, and the acorn flour pa jeon (veggie pancake) were my favorites.

Now it's time for bed as we've got to scrub down our apartment tomorrow morning!  Oh, joy!

Good night!

Out of Steam

The only other time I can remember being so thoroughly exhausted as this was UPS finals/ graduation.

For me, it's not necessarily all of the things that I am doing that make me tired.  It's the thought of everything that needs to get done.  I'm a notorious list maker.  Through college I had a cafe board on which I made lists of everything that needed to be done.  Everyone always talks about wonderful it feels to cross something off the list; I get almost as much relief our of making them.

But, sometimes the lists don't help.  Since we got fired I've been having trouble sleeping.  It takes me an hour or two for my brain to stop cataloging all that needs to be done (packing, cleaning, Visa applications, itinerary finalizing, etc) and fall asleep.  Then if I wake up at any point, it starts all over again.  Last night I nearly hopped out of bed because I randomly remembered that I wanted to find a vegan whipped cream recipe for Mom.  Stress does ridiculous things to me.

It's not as if I was sleeping well before we got fired; our bed is rock hard and the mattress is starting to break down where I normally sleep because it has no give at all.  I went to bed at 11:30 last night and got up at 8:40.  I was doing a little reading during one of my breaks and I actually dozed off for a minute or two.  I should be functioning better on 9 hours of sleep.

Aside from physical energy, I don't have much either.  I'm so disconnected from this job.  The lesson plans I made today are lazy and while I feel bad for the students (the ones who aren't urchins), I honestly don't think they care.  I'm officially a warm body to fill a (legally sanctioned) position until they find a replacement.

Julia tried to greet me in the hall and I mostly ignored her.  I tried to smile a little to be polite, as I don't want any complications regarding our last paychecks.  But, I think I only managed to twist my face into a grimace.  Later, Montana popped his head into my classroom to tell me there was pizza for the staff.  I said okay and sat back down at my desk, not intending to do any interacting that wasn't obligatory.  Then Terry (Julia's son) came in with the pizza box and a cup of Coke.  I told him I didn't want any.  I wanted to tell him where he could put the pizza and coke, but I didn't.  He seemed very surprised and left.  

We have been told that our presence is required at a meeting tomorrow at noon.  I don't know what it will be about, but Ian and I have several things we need to clear up (taxes, date of our last payment), so we will take full advantage.  I'm not sure if Julia will be there.  Either way, we're going to discuss the effectiveness of such meetings.  We don't want to attend any more.  After all, our letter cites seeing no solution to our faults as a reason for letting us go, so why bother?

Good night!

Another Day Another Dollar

Today was one of the most difficult days at work I've had in a long time.  My students were fine, I just had absolutely no motivation to be there.  It got better as the day wore on, which is good because when my first class began I was considering just sitting there and letting my students read or something.

I'd love to walk out on Yoon's now.  Leaving them without wanamines (foreign teachers) would leave them in financial and legal limbo.  But, if we quit now we'd lose July's paycheck and likely June's.

I've done a little more research on "Unfair Dismissals" and it isn't looking good.  Because Yoon's gave us a letter of warning two months ago, it would be nearly impossible for us to prove our side of things.  It doesn't really matter that Ian and I worked hard to do well by them or that their complaints are mostly ridiculous, the company followed proper procedure and are therefore in the clear.  I feel ridiculous in saying so, but I'm certain they planned their moves from that point on very carefully.  I wrote up a report on a major ESL Blacklist site and I will contribute to other sites' lists as well.  For now, it seems that's the best we can do.

By the way, Julia was at Goam today.  She completely ignored us and didn't even make eye contact.  I'd like to confront her, but the possible consequences (financial and legal) aren't worth it.

The good news is that we'll have about a $1000 refund from our Korean taxes coming back at us.  I want to get it before we leave, but it might be easier to apply from the states.

We booked our flight home last night.  Instead of flying directly from Munich on the 26th, we're flying from Prague (an easy train ride away) on the 27th.  It's saving us $850.  We will arrive at SEATAC at 7:53pm on Friday, August 27th.  Who's picking us up?  Do know that whomever gathers us from the airport thereby agrees to take us to Denny's (Ian stipulates that it's the Aberdeen Denny's or bust, but I have no preference).

This is a much needed weekend, indeed.

Good night!

The Beginning

It's the beginning of the end around here.  The more Ian and I research the Labor Board, the more it seems like it would be a full time job (before and after our actual dismissal) to bring any kind of consequences to Yoon's.  And, while I believe in fighting for one's rights, it's always important to weigh the cost and benefit and choose one's battles wisely.  We haven't given up, we're still looking for options.  But, if it comes down to it (and it likely will) we will choose moving on and traveling instead of bringing Yoon's to justice.

We packed up our winter clothes and some of the things that we don't need around here.  That's what is in the two big boxes.  The small box is full of textbooks and teaching materials that we need to give back to Yoon's.  It felt really good to get some things packed away.  Parts of our apartment look a little empty, but it brings us a lot of relief to be finally moving on, even if it is under unfortunate circumstances.

We fully planned our trip today.  The only thing we have left to do is actually book our flight home (either in to SEATAC or PDX).  Here is our basic itinerary:

• We fly out from Incheon Airport on July 24th at 2:15pm.  After a four hour layover in China, we'll arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 9:55pm.  
• We will stay in Vietnam until the 27th, when we will head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia for two nights.
• Then, on the 30th of July, we'll head up the river to Siem Reap where we will spend five nights (including our one year anniversary)!
• On the 4th of August we'll fly from Siem Reap to Prague (Czech Republic) via Bangkok and then Moscow.  Our layover in Bangkok is 12 hours long.  It's at night, but we're going to see if there is a safe place to get something to eat so that we can get a little view of the city.  We'll spend 4 days and 3 nights in Prague.
• On the 9th of August we'll hop a night train for the 7 hour trip to Budapest, Hungary where we'll spend 3 nights.
• On the 13th of August we'll get on the earliest morning train (3 hours) to Vienna, Austria.  We're spending 3 days and 2 nights there.
• On the 15th we'll get another night train (7 hours, again) to Venice, Italy where we'll spend 3 days and 2 nights.
• On the 18th we're hopping on yet another night train for the whopping 11 hour trek to Paris.  We're hoping we don't have to change trains, but we might.  We'll be in Paris for 4 days and 3 nights.  Our original plan included spending my birthday in Paris, which can't happen, but (ironically) we'll be in the city during Mom's.  Hey Mama, what would you like?
• On the 22nd we'll get on our last night train (6 hours) to Munich, Germany where we will be until the 26th, when we plan to flight back home.  We haven't bought that last bit of airfare yet, we're still scanning for a good price.

For those of you keeping score at home, that's 10 cities (9 countries) in 33 days.  It'll be one hell of a whirlwind, but it's what we've been waiting for.

I don't want to go to work tomorrow.  It's tough to be motivated for a job from which you've already been fired.

Good night!

A Day in the Sun

Due to our jobs and somewhat Korean lifestyle, Ian and I spend a lot of time indoors. Recently, we've been remedying this by having picnics.

So, yesterday was a blast, even though the temperature hit 91 and the humidity hit a peak of 82% in the middle of the day.

They (Chun wha, Chang su and their son Min su) picked us up a little after 9 and we headed to the Andong Hahoe Folk Village. The coolest thing about the village, which the Wikipedia article doesn't explicitly express, is that people actually live there and they are a part of the heritage preservation.

Andong is home to Korean mask culture. These two masks are from a satirizing a shamanistic exorcist (say that three times fast). There are four traditional masks assigned to that play. The top mask is the aristocrat and the bottom is the bride.

Puppets for sale.

Elizabeth II celebrated her 73rd birthday in Andong in 1999. There is a whole mini-museum dedicated to things like the food they served her and the table at which she sat. She planted a tree while she was there and these are the shovels used in the ceremony.

Rice paddy.

Lily pads.

This man lives in the village. He was very friendly and he was wearing a sweet bolo tie.

Different types of roofs and building materials originally designated standing in the village.

These houses used to be made out of clay soil, but now they use cement.

This is part of one of the noble houses. As far as I could tell, no one lives in these. They are more like museums with a few rooms made into displays. The noble houses are built up on stilts while the commoner homes are ground level.

This house burnt down. There were people touring it, but we didn't go over there.

In the middle of the village, this man painted "family precepts" (or "golden rules" specific to one's family) on rolls made of fabric and parchment. The one here is written in Hanja (Chinese characters).

The small lettering is the date: "Summer of the Tiger..."

Chun wha and Chang su asked us what our "family precept" was. Ian and I then took to discussing how to explain that Westerners don't have the concepts of honor and filial piety that Eastern societies do. We never had to explain, though, because Chun wha chose one for us and had it painted. "Faith, Wish, Love" in Hangul (I believe she chose Hangul and not Hanja because we can read the former). Ian took a video of the whole process, which will be at the end of this post. I am so stoked to have been given such a gift. It will definitely hang on our wall in the states.

Commoners used these swings to try to peer into the houses of the nobility, since they were built higher than their homes.

I'm not sure where this ferry goes.

Lastly, we visited the mask museum. It had masks from all over Asia and other parts of the world.

For lunch, they treated us to 콩국수 (kongguksu), which is a cold noodle soup made from soymilk. It was interesting. I'm not a big fan of Korean soymilk. It's full fat and very rich. But, I was happy to try something new.

On the way home, we stopped in Yongju which is famous for growing gingseng. Chun wha wanted to make drink for us with the ginseng back at their place. It was made by blending fresh ginseng, milk and honey and, though chunky, it was delicious. It felt like eating a power breakfast in a glass.

Then we drove back to Jecheon. We stopped at E-Mart to do some shopping, presumably for dinner. They kept asking us what we wanted (expecting foreigner specific requests like "bread"), but we just told them we would eat whatever they wanted. In the end, she made tons of banchan, rice and doenjang jjigae and lettuce to make wraps. It was fabulous. Nothing beats a homemade Korean meal. I really wish that we could have given that to Mom.

We started with a bunch of delicious, summery fruit.

And, upon Chang su's adamant request, several types of alcohol (beer, soju, whiskey, mokkoli, and later sake). Between the fruit/booze fest and dinner, we played yut. Yut is a traditional game played by throwing four sticks and then calculating your move based on numbers assigned to the possible positions the stick can land in. It is especially popular on New Year's. We played this game once before when we ran into a group of older Korean people having a block party. Here's that post in case you forgot.

I hope to have more adventures with Chun wha and Chang su. They mentioned going to the East Sea, so we will make sure that happens.


I left the video uploading all day (literally) and it still wasn't finished when I checked it tonight.  So, it will have to wait.