We've been busy exploring!

This past weekend was jam-packed--so jam-packed, in fact, that it has taken us a few days to recover and not feel exhausted and to of course, report. It's still no excuse, though, I know. On Saturday we went to an area of Chuncheon that we hadn't really explored yet called "Gongjicheon" (I think). We were looking for these tent bars that Rory found on our Chuncheon "Fun Map" we got when we first moved here (god bless that fun map). It was nice outside so we decided we wanted to do some tent drinking and food sampling. So we got dropped off at the sculpture park, which it turns out is not very far from our house--cheaper to get to this place than to downtown, even. So we were walking around this sculpture park and we saw the duck boats. I saw the duck boats on a chuncheon web site before we ever even moved here, so I was like "hell yeah, we're riding those ducks!" So all three of us rode around in a duck boat, and it felt like a dream of mine had been fulfilled. I still would have liked to decapitate the duck by going under one of the strategically placed "fun bridge"s, but oh well. After that we went to a restaurant whose basement was right at water level; we ate dakgalbi and watched the bridge lights turn on as it got dark. We noticed this really cool temple at the top of a mountain/hill while we were eating dinner, so we decided that we would walk up to it when we were finished. It was sort of starting to rain, I sort of had dressier shoes on and the mountain didn't really have a path, so I ended up walking up the side of the thing barefoot, holding my purse and shoes in one hand and clinging to Rory for dear life with the other. It was fun. We found the top, and there was this gorgeous temple with a really, really old gigantic bell. And we were the only people there. It was beautiful up there. We got to see a part of Chuncheon that we don't ever really get to see. I mean, we had heard that Chuncheon is the city of lakes, but we hadn't really seen any lakes yet. From the top, at this temple, though, you could see it all. It was awesome. I think Rory got some pretty cool pictures. We will post those, too. So then we walked down the other side of this mountain and we saw this restaurant that was shaped like a barn and all lit up with Christmas lights--I had to get to that barn! So we walked over to it, and the closer we got we saw that there was this little winding path next to the barn that led back to godknowswhere--so of course we followed it, and we found ourselves walking through all these cool trees and little rock sculptures and fountains and chickens and little kids jumping on trampolines. And barbecue pits in tree stumps. It was gorgeous and unlike any other restaurant we'd seen in Chuncheon. So we decided to have dinner again. We ate under trees out of a tree while listening to this Korean music that sounded like '60s surf music. I asked our waiter and the only other table there if they knew what the music was, but no one had a clue. It was so pleasant. We bought the other table a bottle of soju and they bought us a bottle of beer. Turns out this place is really famous (we found that out later...). So after this place, we are still determined to find these damn tent bars. We walk for a little bit and then we see them--two parallel rows of these tented bars. They are big on eating and drinking out of tents over here--but these aren't your standard issue tents. These tents are very organized little infrastructures involving a lot of steel poles, very plush couches or benches and fully functioning kitchens. By this point we were very tired. We had been out and about for at least 6 hours (two dinners worth of time...), so we picked a spot and ordered some draft beer. Over here it is customary to order a side dish with your draft beer--this is how they make all of their money. It is not a rule or anything, but just one of those little things we've been told. If you order bottled beer you don't have to order a food item. But the food items on bar menus are like 10 bucks for a plate of fruit or fruit salad in sweet milk. No thanks. So we tried to order just three orders of rice ($1 each, the cheapest on the menu), and you could tell the waiters were annoyed and a little amused. So they brought us the rice and then gave us a free pot of chigay (stew that we actually like quite a bit). We drank maybe half of our beers and then left. It was a jampacked day.

So jampacked that we slept in a little bit the next day, but then we decided to catch a bus to Seoul. Imagine deciding at 1:00 in the afternoon--hey, I'll just pop over to NYC real quick. No problem. We were on a mission to find this used clothing/Goodwill type store called The Beautiful Store. Apparently it is one of a kind in Korea. So two hours later we were in Seoul on the subway, trying to find this place. We got off the subway and referred to my shoddily hand-drawn map I copied off of the website. We couldn't find the damn place. So finally, after wandering around in Insadong (white person central--yuck. all the white folks over here look like assholes, and based on our experiences with whiteys, most of them are assholes. We have met some nice ones, though. don't get me wrong. it's just that that is why we like chuncheon so much. no one looks like us, and it's not full of these hypermasculine US soldiers who come over here to get hot Korean wives), we got a map that looked a little more official (and accurate) than mine. We wound up at The Beautiful Store right as it closed. damn. But it was okay--we sat in little plastic chairs on a side street and drank beers while we waited to meet clayton so we could wander around insadong looking at all of the touristy stuff. It was nice to just wander around. We ended up eating at this tofu place that had the beef/tofu hot pot we had been searching for all over sokcho. Also we had some mackerel. They just brought out this little plate with two whole mackerels on it. It was a freaking side dish. So I thought I would give it a try, and really, it wasn't bad at all. A very tasty, cheap dining experience. We went to another spot to have a beer and look down over some busy Seoul side streets. Then we walked around a little more before heading back to the bus station (we caught our bus with 2 minutes to spare--it was a close one!) and riding back to chuncheon.

On Monday after school, Megan (the chick we work with) drove us all around Chuncheon--up on the mountain, to a really cool resort we might go to on Rory's birthday, past some hookers, all that good stuff. There is plenty to do here. And it's still awesome!

Okay, that's all for now. I will make Rory post the pictures later.

I'm Gonna Be Famous!

Last night Jamie called with a weird question. A friend of ours wanted to know if I could take some pictures with a man who's running for mayor of Chuncheon. He wanted two foreign men to take some pictures with him so he could look like he is cool with foreigners. I guess he has plans to open an english style village in Chuncheon. Anyway, about an hour ago, our bud picked me up at our apt., then we picked up our other white friend Chris. We headed to some big office building and sat in some kind of conference room. The candidate shows up, gets some make up put on, and then the photo shoot begins. The first part was me, the dude, and Chris sitting around an office table pretending to talk shop. We were supposed to smile and act naturally while he spoke to us. I had no problem, because it was ridiculous... and I don't know any Korean, really. The next shot was on the stairs.. then one of us "sealing the deal" walking out of an elevator. We then went outside and stood next to eachother looking towards the sky like we're looking forward to the future or something. It took about an hour. I think I'll be in some propaganda posters, and possibly the news paper. If I ever get a copy of any of these you can bet yer ass they'll be on the blog. That was my afternoon. Sheesh.

Sokcho

We just got back from the East Sea. We went to a small city up north called Sokcho. I guess the camera was on in my bag the whole bus ride, so I had no battery. The weather was kinda crummy yesterday and today, so there wasn't much to film anyway. We did get to hang out by the beach, go to a fish market, and eat some sun dubu. This afternoon we ate lunch in the back of a dried squid/fish shop with a really nice old lady who we had some drinks with the night before. Next time we visit, she wants to take us to the park. Also, Jamie has managed to find herself a "boyfriend." It's a cool city. We'll go back sometime soon with a fully charged camera.

Here's all the pictures I could get with 30 seconds of camera time.

www.flickr.com More of mcjulie78's photos tagged with sokcho

this is a long one, sorry....

it's been a long time since last i blogged. that said, it's been a busy couple o' weeks for one jamie mcgeorge. lots of meeting new people and then drinking and making a fool out of myself with them at the norae bong. i just want to give koreans a good impression of drunk american chicks. i'm pretty sure i'm succeeding, woo hoo! This sonsaengnim likes to party!!! Yup, Im a dork.

last week i was walking home and sort of cut off this dude when i was crossing the street. he was talking on the phone, but abruptly hung up and approached me. within 5 minutes of talking to him, we were making plans to meet and speak english together over beer and dinner. so that was cool. later that same night, i was at the bondaegi place (sp? hof with silkworm larvae as a side dish) and the server that we were convinced hated us wanted to go out sometime to drink and speak english. for a while i didn't even know his name, so when he would call or text message, it just said "bug guy" on my phone. actually, i know his name, but my phone still says "bug guy." he text messaged and called quite a few times. I guess that even if his english is lacking, at least he is persistent. i did end up going out with both of said dudes last week and was really glad that i chose to answer the phone instead of hide behind the caller id like i'm used to doing. the guy i met on the street (jong-heeeeeee) i ended up eating clam soup with (not a euphemism...) and we drank beer in my neighborhood. he had a list of questions for me when we went to the bar. out of all the koreans i've met here thusfar, he strikes me as the one the most earnest in his desire to learn english. he wants to go drink, but he also wants to address several pages of questions he has prepared. hopefully i will learn some korean from him as well.

I met bug guy in the university area a few days later. He had a friend with him who actually spoke better english, so he ended up translating most of our conversation. I know that as I relay all this, these sound like a string of really awkward interactions Im getting myself into (even other Koreans I know are constantly asking me what do you talk about with these people?)and we know how I pride myself on awkwardnessbut its really not like that at all. I would be lying if I said the conversation seems really natural, but the sentiment at least seems really natural. And there is this fascination constantly being reciprocated, confirmed, perpetuated why do Koreans do this? Why do Americans say that?

After drinking, went to the norae bong. For some reason, singing dont stop believing in the company of two dudes who have no idea who journey is is not as fun as my inebriated self thought it would be. Koreans at the norae bong are not like drunk Americans at karaoke. Koreans pick the most heartfelt, sentimental love songs and render them gut-wrenchingly. Americans pick the party jams and like to march in place as they sing (okay, by Americans, I mean me. Im a fan of marching in place in general). But the norae bong is the unofficial end of drinking activities, so I knew I would be going home soon anyway. Parted ways with bug guys friend, then bug guy walked me home (his apartment is near mine). When we got to my door, he asked if he could kiss me, so I awkwardly said uh, I guess on the cheek. So I turned my head and he ended up kissing my hair. So that, in all its awkward glory, is the most physical action I have had in at least 3 months (aside from creepy dude in seoul who tried to molest me, but Ill try to block that one out). Despite all this, it was a really good night and I will probably hang out with him again. It sounds silly, but I think these sort of awkward interactions are one of the purposes of my life. Awkward people gravitate toward other awkward people. And its a beautiful thing--or at least a highly uncoordinated, graceless thing.

On Friday night, met up with Jong-Hee and his friend, Mr. Ham. They were both eager to meet jules and rory. We drank with them for a while at a bar in jules neighborhood. Then my friend Michael met us and we went to another bar. We ended up drinking many many ginormous pitchers of beer and lots of soju. A very good night, and some pretty interesting cultural exchanges. We played so many drinking gameskorean and American--high low red black, bullshit, and several soju lid games. It was funny when we played bullshit though, because instead of calling "bullshit" they would say "you are a liar!" Michael walked me home and my normal walk from julies house ended up taking at least 30 minutes. I offered to make him some food, but before I had even cooked it he was passed out in my bed. So I slept on the floor. Somewhere in the middle of the night in my comatose/drunk state, we ended up switching spots. Then he ordered delivery Chinese food the next day as a hangover cure. So Friday night was great. One of us drinkers ended up making pizza (read: barfing a lot), but it wasnt me.

The next day I headed to seoul for the lotus lantern festival. I really like the city of seoul as a place to visit, but this third trip confirmed my belief that chuncheon or any of the smaller cities are the places to be. I think Im having a more unique experience maybe than the masses of foreigners in seoul, as I am basically forced to have much native Korean interaction. The opportunity to mingle with only other esl teachers is not as everpresent in chuncheon as it appears to be in seoul. It was a sort of reverse culture shock to be in seoul, as I again felt painfully self-conscious around all the judgmental whiteys. Of course Koreans are judgmental tooIm not a Korean, but Im living in koreabut their judgment seems so much more objective to me than that of other Caucasians.

Another aspect of seoul that was so tiring was the subway system. I guess its convenient, but I felt like I was underground or in a taxi or on a bus all day long. Whats the point of being surrounded by mountains if you cant even see them? I think overall, it was just the pace of life that I didnt like. Constant struggling to be somewhere, making plans and feeling pressure to keep them. I much prefer the relaxed, unhurried life in chuncheon. Things in korea seem to happen in double-time already--so much life compressed into a small timeframe. Why would I want to speed that up even more?

Anyhoo, that was Saturday. Lots of traveling, lots of walking around, lots of drinking. Lots of fun, but quite exhausting. There were no lantern festivities going on that night, so the focus was just on seeing different parts of seoul. We ended up at a bar called the beer factory. I dont know which brilliant person decided that serving 4 liters of beer in a giant column with a tap at your table was a good idea. But I want to personally thank him/her (look at rorys myspace picture. We couldnt even fit the whole thing in the camera frame). Who needs electricity, or the telephone, or the cotton gin? Things that facilitate inebriation are much more useful inventions.

On Saturday, woke up extremely late and decided that more drinking was in order. After all, when in seoul...do as you normally do in any other city. So we navigated the subway again, and ended up in the area of city hall, where the lantern festival would be taking place. There were many many tents set up and a major street closed off for the festival. So this part of the day was like an arts and grafts bazaar: make a lotus flower, paint the Buddha picture, make another lotus flower, etc. there were also lots o lanterns for sale. So Jules and rory bought a lot for other people, and I bought some for myself. At the end of the blocked-off street, there was a pagoda-ish area that had all these brightly-colored lanterns strung overhead, blocking any view of the sky. Other things of notelots of whiteys, lots of monks, lots of breakdancing, lots of everything.

Food was in order, so we went and ate some soup (remember, Im a soup fan) with more beef in it than even I am used to. Nothing makes a girl smile like a big plate of raw beef that she gets to cook in a boiling pot on her table. At this point, we three had been debating whether or not to stay for the actual parade or not. Pros: its a lantern festival in one of the largest cities in the world. And we dont even really know what that means. Cons: we live in chuncheon and have to work in the morning. Lantern festival means we stay overnight and spend more money and get up at 5:00 am to make it to work in chuncheon on time. After much debate, we made a wise decision and stayed for the parade. In Columbia or Jefferson city, mo a parade is a completely asinine thing. Merely an opportunity to get hit in the face withbut never actually catchcheap hard candy thrown from the floats of people you never really cared about (i.e. homecoming court, class of 79). So my standards for a parade are pretty low. After eating, we walked outside and turned a corner. And my mind was unmistakably blown. Besides the masses of people flanking both sides of the parade, there was an insane amount of people actually in the parade. This city that was the picture of exertion and activity had been gorgeously and elegantly reduced to a glowing sea of undulating people and lanterns. It was breathtaking, surreal, ethereal. A beautiful and soothingly clear reminder that we are in a foreign land. The sense of history in this country is a very palpable, everpresent thing. Everything Koreans do seems to pay homage to ancestors, elders, a hierarchy passed down through the ages, and somehow surviving, despite technology and modernization. Something los estados unidos is relatively devoid of.

Post parade, went to train station, and found a motel nearby. I also saw more prostitutes up close than Ive ever seen in my life. Not that a girl from Missouri is routinely exposed to people who have sex for money. anyhoo, they were all very pretty and friendly. And of course, they spoke english well. Yup, whores are bilingual.

I just noticed Ive had the same box of Kleenex for three months. I need to blow my nose more.

Rory and Julie's Video Blog 4

Okie doke. There was simply too much action for one video. So now there are two. The first one is some random crap from our first day, and the daytime activities at the lantern festival. The second video is devoted solely to the lantern parade.

soju party including me and lots of dudes

this blog will be short and sweet because i'm at work. i have plenty of other things to catch up on, so i will focus on last night in particular.

a friend of a friend told me he was going drinking, so i invited myself along. it was one of his friend's birthday and they were going to a traditional soju bar. so i met chang hun in kang de hu mun (university area) not really knowing what we were doing, just that i was meeting him. so we walk into this soju bar that has graffiti all over the walls and rows and rows of picnic tables to sit at--a very cool and dirty atmosphere. there were at least 10 guys at this table and i was the only girl. but when they all saw me, i felt like a movie star. everyone going "oh!" really surprised. i think chang hun told them he was bringing an american, but maybe they didn't think i would be as tall as i was. so instead of sitting down next to the one guy i know, they all have me sit down in the middle of them. commence to taking many many shots of soju, something i don't normally do. i felt sort of bad because when the guy whose birthday it was showed up, nobody was really paying any attention to him, they were all vying for my attention and asking me questions like "so what do you think about korean men?" "why aren't you married?" "do you have many boyfriends?" it was really really funny. they were also constantly asking me "do you feel comfortable? we want you to feel comfortable around us." "do you have many korean friends? we want to be your korean friends." they were all making fun of each other too: "this guy doesn't have any eyebrows." "this guy looks like a filipino monkey."

the whole situation was so unique, not only because i'm in south korea, but because in the u.s. i would never feel comfortable walking into a bar and sitting down with 10 complete male strangers. and chang hun kept asking me the whole time "are you okay?" and i was okay. i tried to convey that i was better than okay, so i hope that was understood.

birthday boy was a big hand talker. so his friends made fun of him for that. but he taught me the proper way to pour and receive soju.

when i went home, i had all these guys asking for my phone number and offering to "help me get home." i explained that i had taken taxis home by myself many times. but i got several phone calls and text messages making sure i was okay.

anyhoo, that's last night in brief. i will expound later with more details. just needed to get it down while it was fresh in my mind.

photos from the lantern festival

this is what we did this weekend. hopped a bus to seoul...and went to the lantern festival. i'll let one of the gals give the play by play. i've got a crap ton of footage to edit, but i'll try to get the video blog done asap.
peath.
roar

www.flickr.com More of mcjulie78's photos tagged with lantern