Halloween is a funny tradition. I believe it started in Mexico as All Hallows Eve where they honor the memory of the dead and worship spirits and have a dinner to commemorate the occasion. There are variations of it all over, and as an American, I can say we're just in for the candy. It has become less of a "scary" day and more of a costume party for adults to dress up in ridiculous things of any nature.
However, being in Asia for a few Halloweens now, Korea at least tries. Any child who's enrolled at an English Hagwon (academy) gets to celebrate the day with candy and costumes, and maybe even a party if the school really gets into it. My school the first two years completely turned a common room into a really scary haunted house (where I will say the goal was to see how many kids we could make cry). This year I was temping at a school, and during the 5 minute breaks between classes, the kids were able to run up to a different floor and solicit candy from the teachers. It was all pretty fun and it gives the chance to the kids to do something, well, childish, and they so deserve it.
But with anything, when you're away from home on a holiday you just want some kind of connection to it. The foreigners here go all out in full force to the usual areas of Itaewon and Hongdae and just party even harder than normal (which is pretty hard to do in a place of cheap soju and no closing times). This year, I decided to stay away from the masses primarily and just went to a friend's house party in Haebongchan (the neighborhood behind Itaewon). We wandered over to the bars afterward and of course, costumes and drunkeness aplenty.
Not sure how its done in other Asian countries, but if Halloween is your favorite holiday you can at least get a taste of it here.
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Holidays. Show all posts
Thursday, November 05, 2009
Tuesday, May 06, 2008
Happy Birthday Buddha!
Perhaps the biggest holiday in Korea may just be Buddha's Birthday. It's one of the few national holidays and has about a week's worth of events planned. From what I've seen holidays tend to be very family oriented and quiet, but not for Buddha. Buddha's birthday this year was May 11th, but Seoul put on a parade of parades on Sunday May 5 in the Insadong area. The parade lasted about 2.5 hours and it featured every imaginable and unimaginable type of lantern.
Before the parade on Sunday the Cheoggye Stream near City Hall had quite a few lavish lanterns set up that were all lit up at night. Also the temples and palaces around Seoul gave out lanterns to those who walked through their doors. Unfortunately I didn't get one, BUT they don't condense so it'd be hard to take home anyway. The day of the parade there was the Lotus Lantern Festival that took place down one of the main streets near Insadong where people could make their own lantern, watch performances, and eat all types of Korean food.
Basically it was one of the best celebrations I've seen here, and wish that they would go this all out for all of their holidays. Oddly enough, the closest I saw was when the westerners took over and celebrated St. Patrick's Day.
Anyway - enjoy the photo highlights:
Before the parade on Sunday the Cheoggye Stream near City Hall had quite a few lavish lanterns set up that were all lit up at night. Also the temples and palaces around Seoul gave out lanterns to those who walked through their doors. Unfortunately I didn't get one, BUT they don't condense so it'd be hard to take home anyway. The day of the parade there was the Lotus Lantern Festival that took place down one of the main streets near Insadong where people could make their own lantern, watch performances, and eat all types of Korean food.
Basically it was one of the best celebrations I've seen here, and wish that they would go this all out for all of their holidays. Oddly enough, the closest I saw was when the westerners took over and celebrated St. Patrick's Day.
Anyway - enjoy the photo highlights:
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Pretending to be Irish in South Korea
St. Patrick's Day has always been an interesting holiday for me. In college it usually fell during spring break, and who wants to stay in the cold Northeast when there's warmer climates waiting? Even though Syracuse supposedly holds the 2nd biggest St. Patrick's Day parade in the northeast - and only 2nd to Scranton, PA (for some odd reason) I never attended. And usually I had to work during St. Patrick's Day when in NYC.
So, words cannot even explain the insanity that was St. Patrick's Day celebrations in South Korea. It was my best one to date, and I believe that to be so because of 3 reasons - 1) It was an absolute gorgeous spring day 2) I have surrounded myself with excellent humorous alcoholics and 3) Seoul has a very large authentic Irish population that know how to do it right.
The Koreans got into the spirit of the day and held a parade near the Cheoggye Stream in downtown Seoul. Started at 2pm, and went until about 3:15 followed directly afterwards by various performers including b-boys and bands until about 6. It seemed like nearly every Foreigner I knew was in this 5 block radius, and it was an incredible day of happy go lucky drunkeness.
Pictures can only explain the fun:
So, words cannot even explain the insanity that was St. Patrick's Day celebrations in South Korea. It was my best one to date, and I believe that to be so because of 3 reasons - 1) It was an absolute gorgeous spring day 2) I have surrounded myself with excellent humorous alcoholics and 3) Seoul has a very large authentic Irish population that know how to do it right.
The Koreans got into the spirit of the day and held a parade near the Cheoggye Stream in downtown Seoul. Started at 2pm, and went until about 3:15 followed directly afterwards by various performers including b-boys and bands until about 6. It seemed like nearly every Foreigner I knew was in this 5 block radius, and it was an incredible day of happy go lucky drunkeness.
Pictures can only explain the fun:
Saturday, March 15, 2008
White Day?
We all remember Valentine's Day right? That day of giving people flowers and candy, and girlfriends get to berate their boyfriends if they forget? Well Koreans love it so much they made up another day just like it - White Day.
I knew it was in March sometime, but apparently it was Friday. I walked into Dunkin Donuts as I do most mornings and a coworker happen to wish me a Happy White Day. From that point on I was showered in candy the whole day.
Valentine's Day here is meant for the girls to shower the boys in chocolate, but White Day here is the exact opposite with the boys showering girls with candy. I'd say its pretty fair to both on both days, but its cute to see the boys try on White Day. One of my friends even got into the spirit and brought me a lollipop to our local bar Friday night. The bar, Exit, even got into the spirit and handed out sparklers to everyone in attendance and it was pretty cool to see everyone indoors waving around tiny fireworks.
Not a significant holiday by any means, but it was cute nonetheless.
I knew it was in March sometime, but apparently it was Friday. I walked into Dunkin Donuts as I do most mornings and a coworker happen to wish me a Happy White Day. From that point on I was showered in candy the whole day.
Valentine's Day here is meant for the girls to shower the boys in chocolate, but White Day here is the exact opposite with the boys showering girls with candy. I'd say its pretty fair to both on both days, but its cute to see the boys try on White Day. One of my friends even got into the spirit and brought me a lollipop to our local bar Friday night. The bar, Exit, even got into the spirit and handed out sparklers to everyone in attendance and it was pretty cool to see everyone indoors waving around tiny fireworks.
Not a significant holiday by any means, but it was cute nonetheless.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Swimming in Chocolate on Valentine's Day
Holidays are fascinating in this country, and every time one rolls around I cannot wait to see how the Koreans celebrate it. Valentine's Day was no different.
At home I could careless about this stupid holiday - and this is NOT coming from a bitter single girl place. I'd say this in a relationship or not. Sure, its cute, and a great excuse to get a flower or some candy or something, but overall Hallmark invented it and there's nothing else to it. The only thing I like about this day is that in 1929 there's some pretty interesting history that happened in Chicago featuring Bugs Moran and Al Capone.
But I digress. Koreans don't have Hallmark, but they sure as hell have a buttload of chocolate. My preschool class informed me yesterday that girls bring chocolate on Valentine's Day and the boys will bring chocolate on White Day in March. White Day being the Singles Awareness Day, apparently. So this morning when I walked into class they had huge bags of chocolate, and my other preschool class kept coming in to give me chocolate as well. Basically by the end of the day I had an entire purse full of various chocolates, cookies, candy, and even a bag of chips. If nothing else, Koreans are an extremely generous people.
Basically I "celebrated" the day like I would any other year - sending out a lot of sarcastic cards from www.someecards.com and going to watch a movie with a friend. Tonight's feature was Jumper featuring Hayden Christenson and Samuel L. Jackson - I highly recommend it. ;)
At home I could careless about this stupid holiday - and this is NOT coming from a bitter single girl place. I'd say this in a relationship or not. Sure, its cute, and a great excuse to get a flower or some candy or something, but overall Hallmark invented it and there's nothing else to it. The only thing I like about this day is that in 1929 there's some pretty interesting history that happened in Chicago featuring Bugs Moran and Al Capone.
But I digress. Koreans don't have Hallmark, but they sure as hell have a buttload of chocolate. My preschool class informed me yesterday that girls bring chocolate on Valentine's Day and the boys will bring chocolate on White Day in March. White Day being the Singles Awareness Day, apparently. So this morning when I walked into class they had huge bags of chocolate, and my other preschool class kept coming in to give me chocolate as well. Basically by the end of the day I had an entire purse full of various chocolates, cookies, candy, and even a bag of chips. If nothing else, Koreans are an extremely generous people.
Basically I "celebrated" the day like I would any other year - sending out a lot of sarcastic cards from www.someecards.com and going to watch a movie with a friend. Tonight's feature was Jumper featuring Hayden Christenson and Samuel L. Jackson - I highly recommend it. ;)
Friday, February 08, 2008
Lunar New Year... meh
Most of Asia got February 6-10 off this year for the Lunar New Year, although the rest of the world will know this holiday as Chinese New Year. And while my counterparts are tearing it up in China, Korea does things a little differently. Its a very low key, quiet holiday here. The Koreans all go home or back to their hometowns and eat traditional foods and pray. China apparently has parades and fireworks. Not fair.
I decided not to go anywhere this week, which is probably a good thing considering I'm injured and on the DL, but that doesn't mean I can't come up with my own ways of entertaining myself. Basically, the week was full of rest, relaxation, drinking, and movies. I kinda feel like I wasted 5 days, but sometimes rest is important too.
IF you're thinking of coming to Korea though - keep this holiday in mind when considering traveling - definitely go elsewhere.
I decided not to go anywhere this week, which is probably a good thing considering I'm injured and on the DL, but that doesn't mean I can't come up with my own ways of entertaining myself. Basically, the week was full of rest, relaxation, drinking, and movies. I kinda feel like I wasted 5 days, but sometimes rest is important too.
IF you're thinking of coming to Korea though - keep this holiday in mind when considering traveling - definitely go elsewhere.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Christmas in Korea!
This was inevitable - holidays away from the family. When leaving for a country for a year you know you're going to miss some very important things. While being in that country for the actual holidays it is important to remember that you chose to do this and that these same holidays will be there next year waiting for you to celebrate them the way that you've always done and to embrace this year as different.
SO that is exactly what we foreigners did. If you're lucky enough you come to Korea and you fall into a group as great as mine. These people have become like family over the past few months so spending it together just was the natural way of it. One of us made a nice Christmas Eve dinner in his apartment before we all headed out to the bar we always go to, where we waited for the clock to strike 12 and make it officially Christmas Day. I was playing foosball at that exact moment, by the way. Due to the fact that I was getting over being very, very sick I called it an early night at 2am.
Christmas day couldn't have gone any better either. I had people over to my apartment where I made everyone french toast for breakfast, and we then had a large Polyanna gift exchange wherein the spirit of Christmas we open presents and then steal what we want from those that we love. I wound up with a nice Guinness set, so I can't complain. There was an intermission in the day for people to go clean themselves up, and we headed into Seoul for a nice, traditional, Moroccan Style Dinner. Wait, what? Moroccan? Yes. We tried for the Irish Pub BUT it was all booked up and this was the next best thing. Honestly - it was a perfect random fit to our day in my mind, and it was actually pretty tasty too (Marakech Night, in Itaewon).
So now, after a successful Christmas comes to a close, I would like to thank all those that were apart of it, and wish all those that weren't a very, very Happy Christmas. I'm really missing friends and family, but I will home in less than a year now, and that's kind of a crazy thought.
Happy Holidays!
SO that is exactly what we foreigners did. If you're lucky enough you come to Korea and you fall into a group as great as mine. These people have become like family over the past few months so spending it together just was the natural way of it. One of us made a nice Christmas Eve dinner in his apartment before we all headed out to the bar we always go to, where we waited for the clock to strike 12 and make it officially Christmas Day. I was playing foosball at that exact moment, by the way. Due to the fact that I was getting over being very, very sick I called it an early night at 2am.
Christmas day couldn't have gone any better either. I had people over to my apartment where I made everyone french toast for breakfast, and we then had a large Polyanna gift exchange wherein the spirit of Christmas we open presents and then steal what we want from those that we love. I wound up with a nice Guinness set, so I can't complain. There was an intermission in the day for people to go clean themselves up, and we headed into Seoul for a nice, traditional, Moroccan Style Dinner. Wait, what? Moroccan? Yes. We tried for the Irish Pub BUT it was all booked up and this was the next best thing. Honestly - it was a perfect random fit to our day in my mind, and it was actually pretty tasty too (Marakech Night, in Itaewon).
So now, after a successful Christmas comes to a close, I would like to thank all those that were apart of it, and wish all those that weren't a very, very Happy Christmas. I'm really missing friends and family, but I will home in less than a year now, and that's kind of a crazy thought.
Happy Holidays!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Ice Skating at Lotte World!
Lotte World is Korea's own mini indoor version of Disney World. It has an amusement park, a bowling alley, an ice rink, a shooting range, a food area, and I don't even know what else.
Sunday night since most of us had at least a few days off we took a little trip out to Jamsil to go to the ice rink at Lotte World. It is an indoor rink that's pretty large, and surrounded by parts of the amusement park including fake hot air balloons that take people on a tour throughout the place.
We all laced up our skates after spending 8,000Won to get in and 4,000Won on the rentals and hit the ice. Some of us were better than others as is to be expected in any group, but all of us had a lot of fun. There's a light show to music and fake snow that falls from the ceiling but overall it was an excellent time. The only weird thing I still don't understand is one of the rules - All Skaters Must Wear Gloves at All Times. You could go out onto that ice wearing a speedo and goggles, but as long as you're wearing gloves they don't care. The second you take your gloves off you'll hear a whistle come from any direction and the Korean skate guards will come over and nicely ask you to put the gloves back on. My only explanation is that they don't want you hurting your hands if you fall, but why should they care? It remains a mystery to me...
OH, and if anyone sees this guy walking around - give him a high five for effort:
Sunday night since most of us had at least a few days off we took a little trip out to Jamsil to go to the ice rink at Lotte World. It is an indoor rink that's pretty large, and surrounded by parts of the amusement park including fake hot air balloons that take people on a tour throughout the place.
We all laced up our skates after spending 8,000Won to get in and 4,000Won on the rentals and hit the ice. Some of us were better than others as is to be expected in any group, but all of us had a lot of fun. There's a light show to music and fake snow that falls from the ceiling but overall it was an excellent time. The only weird thing I still don't understand is one of the rules - All Skaters Must Wear Gloves at All Times. You could go out onto that ice wearing a speedo and goggles, but as long as you're wearing gloves they don't care. The second you take your gloves off you'll hear a whistle come from any direction and the Korean skate guards will come over and nicely ask you to put the gloves back on. My only explanation is that they don't want you hurting your hands if you fall, but why should they care? It remains a mystery to me...
OH, and if anyone sees this guy walking around - give him a high five for effort:
Saturday, December 22, 2007
It's an SLP Christmas!
Christmas time at SLP was an interesting time. There was definitely more of an effort put into Halloween than Christmas, but I guess that makes sense? Korea is only 25% Christian, afterall.
Friday morning the two guys on our staff took turns acting as Santa for the children. The parents sent presents in earlier in the week and then Santa has them sit and hands them out. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves...
We spent the morning making Christmas cards which was kind of hilarious. They gave us all these materials - felt, construction paper, ribbon, stickers, little fuzzy balls, and of course directions. Now, half of the staff is foreign, and none of us speak any Korean, but take a look at the directions, notice anything:
exactly. It's all in Hangul. So we improvised and I made a completely different card. Yes, I made, not the kids, because they're six and do not have the dexterity to cut through felt with plastic scissors. I hope their parents appreciate my hard work.
Then after arts and crafts time, there was story time which was such a joke. Like the first half where we were given materials, I assumed we would be given stories. And you do know what they say when you assume. We were supposed to either make up our own stories to tell the children OR take them to the library and have them find christmasy stories. Yea... that never happened luckily, because Santa came and all was forgotten. But I love the ill preparation from those above me. One of those, "Ohhh Korea" moments I suppose.
After the kids got all their presents and went home, the afternoon classes continued as normal. I brought in candy for the kids, and that was as festive as the day got. The one thing I felt bad about was I had planned on giving all of my kids no homework over the break, but through no choice of my own I was forced to give them 5 days worth of homework. Asian children get worked harder than I ever did as a child, that is definitely for sure. Oh well, I guess they're used to it and have no idea what they're missing. Kinda sad really. But hey, at least I get a vacation out of the whole deal...
Friday morning the two guys on our staff took turns acting as Santa for the children. The parents sent presents in earlier in the week and then Santa has them sit and hands them out. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves...
We spent the morning making Christmas cards which was kind of hilarious. They gave us all these materials - felt, construction paper, ribbon, stickers, little fuzzy balls, and of course directions. Now, half of the staff is foreign, and none of us speak any Korean, but take a look at the directions, notice anything:
exactly. It's all in Hangul. So we improvised and I made a completely different card. Yes, I made, not the kids, because they're six and do not have the dexterity to cut through felt with plastic scissors. I hope their parents appreciate my hard work.
Then after arts and crafts time, there was story time which was such a joke. Like the first half where we were given materials, I assumed we would be given stories. And you do know what they say when you assume. We were supposed to either make up our own stories to tell the children OR take them to the library and have them find christmasy stories. Yea... that never happened luckily, because Santa came and all was forgotten. But I love the ill preparation from those above me. One of those, "Ohhh Korea" moments I suppose.
After the kids got all their presents and went home, the afternoon classes continued as normal. I brought in candy for the kids, and that was as festive as the day got. The one thing I felt bad about was I had planned on giving all of my kids no homework over the break, but through no choice of my own I was forced to give them 5 days worth of homework. Asian children get worked harder than I ever did as a child, that is definitely for sure. Oh well, I guess they're used to it and have no idea what they're missing. Kinda sad really. But hey, at least I get a vacation out of the whole deal...
Saturday, November 24, 2007
Thanksgiving - Korean Style
The fall is easily my favorite time of year. Leaves start falling, the weather gets colder, fashion gets interesting, and you start gearing up for the onslaught of holidays that come with the times. First you've got Halloween, then 3 weeks later follows a nicely timed Thanksgiving which is usually 3 days off, and then another 3 or so weeks and you've got xmas - which all really makes the end of the year fly right by.
Well not in Korea. Thanksgiving obviously doesn't exist here since this country didn't just pop up a few hundred years ago and decide to be thankful that someone taught the people how to farm their land and then kill the natural inhabitants.
It was a little weird this year not having this holiday to break things up. Having four full weeks of work just didn't seem right. And not to mention the thought of not going home and fully living it up on Thanksgiving Eve with all the home friends, was just odd too. No Macy's Day Parade, no Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner, no Pumpkin Pie. It was rough.
Although, the Friday after proved to be its own little mini Thanksgiving here. One of the girls on my staff had gone into Seoul to have dinner on an army base and stole a bunch of goods to bring back to us that were less fortunate. She brought leftover Turkey (the best part of the holiday anyway), bread and butter, and an apple pie. It was all mouth watering deliciousness. It also happened to be the monthly birthday celebration at school, and Robbie's last day at SLP so I probably had more food than on any other Thanksgiving before it. Well, that is if only fried chicken were a traditional Thanksgiving fixin'.
December is just around the corner, and luckily, my school gets a very sizable vacation compared to others so hopefully that'll make up for it.
Well not in Korea. Thanksgiving obviously doesn't exist here since this country didn't just pop up a few hundred years ago and decide to be thankful that someone taught the people how to farm their land and then kill the natural inhabitants.
It was a little weird this year not having this holiday to break things up. Having four full weeks of work just didn't seem right. And not to mention the thought of not going home and fully living it up on Thanksgiving Eve with all the home friends, was just odd too. No Macy's Day Parade, no Thanksgiving Turkey Dinner, no Pumpkin Pie. It was rough.
Although, the Friday after proved to be its own little mini Thanksgiving here. One of the girls on my staff had gone into Seoul to have dinner on an army base and stole a bunch of goods to bring back to us that were less fortunate. She brought leftover Turkey (the best part of the holiday anyway), bread and butter, and an apple pie. It was all mouth watering deliciousness. It also happened to be the monthly birthday celebration at school, and Robbie's last day at SLP so I probably had more food than on any other Thanksgiving before it. Well, that is if only fried chicken were a traditional Thanksgiving fixin'.
December is just around the corner, and luckily, my school gets a very sizable vacation compared to others so hopefully that'll make up for it.
Sunday, November 11, 2007
Happy Pepero Day!
Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote about some of the candy I've been addicted to? Well, shortly afterwards I learned of what has become my new favorite holiday - Pepero Day. I've never seen anything like it... sure at home we have Valentine's Day (a day made up by the greeting card companies to sell more cards and chocolate while discriminating against half the population) but I've never seen a day dedicated to one brand of candy. It'd be like having a day dedicated to Twix bars at home or something.
Anyway, every November 11th while America is celebrating its fallen heroes on Veteran's Day, South Korea is celebrating it's love for chocolate covered cookie sticks on Pepero Day. Why November 11th? Well, quite easily because Pepero are long sticks of chocolate - so 11/11 looks like the chocolate. Everything is decorated kind of like Valentine's Day - red, pink, white, and the boxes are arranged in hearts and the packaging all says "We Love You on Pepero Day!"
Friday was a fun day because all of the kids came into school with all type of Pepero - and some were tiny and I even got one that was a foot long from one of my favorite students.
As I was walking around Suji and even Seoul on Thursday/Friday/Saturday there were HUGE displays outside of most convenience stores and even in Lotte Mart there was a gigantic area dedicated to it. This is an example outside of the GS25 that I go to everyday on my lunch break:
Either way, it was a very odd random little holiday and it was a pretty big deal to the kids. Either way, I definitely had my fair share of the stuff, and do not look forward to the day when I can't walk into any convenience store and buy it for 70 cents.
Anyway, every November 11th while America is celebrating its fallen heroes on Veteran's Day, South Korea is celebrating it's love for chocolate covered cookie sticks on Pepero Day. Why November 11th? Well, quite easily because Pepero are long sticks of chocolate - so 11/11 looks like the chocolate. Everything is decorated kind of like Valentine's Day - red, pink, white, and the boxes are arranged in hearts and the packaging all says "We Love You on Pepero Day!"
Friday was a fun day because all of the kids came into school with all type of Pepero - and some were tiny and I even got one that was a foot long from one of my favorite students.
As I was walking around Suji and even Seoul on Thursday/Friday/Saturday there were HUGE displays outside of most convenience stores and even in Lotte Mart there was a gigantic area dedicated to it. This is an example outside of the GS25 that I go to everyday on my lunch break:
Either way, it was a very odd random little holiday and it was a pretty big deal to the kids. Either way, I definitely had my fair share of the stuff, and do not look forward to the day when I can't walk into any convenience store and buy it for 70 cents.
Monday, November 05, 2007
Scary Kids Scaring Kids (Halloween)
Yes, I stole that from a horrible New York Indie Band name, but its oddly appropriate. Last week saw a two parter in the way of Halloween - asian style. First up was the adult version... (no not THAT kind of adult). Saturday night, October 26th a few of us went over to Lotte Mart and bought ourselves the cheapest easiest costumes we could find. I personally spent 11,000W (or rather $13 b/c i used my credit card) to purchase a pair of blinking red devil horns, some batteries, and a pitchfork. I always like a costume that stands out, and even if I wasn't the least bit creative this year at least I had something people would see in a crowd.
The evening started off early with a house party somewhere near Itaewon that I can neither remember nor pronounce. It wasn't so bad - great place - interesting people. Two random guys were dressed up as a "Good Ajima" and a "Bad Ajima" (ajima meaning very old korean woman) which was kind of hilarious. Stayed there for a few hours and headed towards Hongdae to go to a club called Funky Funky. Well after the world's longest car ride sandwiched between a drunk brit and a mermaid I had not known before this experience we found ourselves in one of my favorite areas of Seou only it was being ravaged by drunk westernizers in insane costumes and the bar we wanted to go to cost 25,000W to get in and have an open bar. I just wasn't up for it so my friends, as great as they are decided to go with me to find another bar, Tin Pan, even though I just really wanted to walk around. So we go to a bar that was free to get into, but it was insanely hot and crowded, and the complete antithesis of my kind of place. Wasn't exactly my favorite Halloween, that's for sure.
However that was all made up for by celebrating with my kids on the 31st. The teachers at SLP spend most of Tuesday evening decorating our school almost beyond recognition. We each had our respective rooms - Tarot Card, Story Telling, Crafts, and the Haunted House (which yours truly was co-incharge of). It was very much a success considering we made 5 kids cry, and about 10-15 not even want to attempt to stay in there longer than a minute or two. I even reused my makeshift devil's costume and found some fake hands to make it more authentic.
All in all it was an entertaining day. Did it feel like Halloween? Oddly no. BUT I believe that to be because outside of entertaining the children at work the outside world didn't really seem to notice. There's no trick or treaters at night, no big parade like in New York, not many decorations up in public, and the stores don't have big displays of Halloween candy to be given out. The real weird thing was on November 1st, there was no thought that there was only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving as it doesn't exist here. I'll just have to make it to Christmas.
The evening started off early with a house party somewhere near Itaewon that I can neither remember nor pronounce. It wasn't so bad - great place - interesting people. Two random guys were dressed up as a "Good Ajima" and a "Bad Ajima" (ajima meaning very old korean woman) which was kind of hilarious. Stayed there for a few hours and headed towards Hongdae to go to a club called Funky Funky. Well after the world's longest car ride sandwiched between a drunk brit and a mermaid I had not known before this experience we found ourselves in one of my favorite areas of Seou only it was being ravaged by drunk westernizers in insane costumes and the bar we wanted to go to cost 25,000W to get in and have an open bar. I just wasn't up for it so my friends, as great as they are decided to go with me to find another bar, Tin Pan, even though I just really wanted to walk around. So we go to a bar that was free to get into, but it was insanely hot and crowded, and the complete antithesis of my kind of place. Wasn't exactly my favorite Halloween, that's for sure.
However that was all made up for by celebrating with my kids on the 31st. The teachers at SLP spend most of Tuesday evening decorating our school almost beyond recognition. We each had our respective rooms - Tarot Card, Story Telling, Crafts, and the Haunted House (which yours truly was co-incharge of). It was very much a success considering we made 5 kids cry, and about 10-15 not even want to attempt to stay in there longer than a minute or two. I even reused my makeshift devil's costume and found some fake hands to make it more authentic.
All in all it was an entertaining day. Did it feel like Halloween? Oddly no. BUT I believe that to be because outside of entertaining the children at work the outside world didn't really seem to notice. There's no trick or treaters at night, no big parade like in New York, not many decorations up in public, and the stores don't have big displays of Halloween candy to be given out. The real weird thing was on November 1st, there was no thought that there was only 3 weeks until Thanksgiving as it doesn't exist here. I'll just have to make it to Christmas.
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Chusok Pt III: Backpacking-ish
For a 3 day trip I sure did have a lot to say. Getting out of Suji made me appreciate it much more than I had been and the first significant trip definitely deserves some attention.
Once we got there we tried a few motels & a hostel we knew about, but we got two rooms at the 3rd motel, and wound up playing cards all night on Sunday and 4 of us crashed in one room and 1 of us in the other room. Eh, it's all part of the fun. The second night we stayed at a Hostel which is run by an awesome guy who's fluent in Korean (obviously), English, & Japanese. We paid 50,000 Won to have his master guest room, which had 3 rooms, 4 big beds, and a common room. It was really spacious, very clean, had a big bathroom, free coffee, and for 5 of us to pay 10,000W each? I won't complain. We called him Willie because he only has one eye (a little insensitive on our parts, but we didn't disrepect him). If anyone sees this and is interested in going, it's the Seo-Cheon Guest House and his email address is eui9882@yahoo.co.kr if you'd like to tell him you're coming. We just walked in and he said to come back the next day and all was well. I have his card and phone number, so if you'd like more information, just email me.
The nice thing about the hostel the second night was the random people we met. Hostels are the poor man's way to travel, but they provide the most entertainment, and a certain amount of ease. Four of us sat around the table in the common area late monday night and two guys knocked on our door wanting to know if they could have a cup of coffee with us. So we invited them in - they taught directly in Seoul and were from Florida & Montreal if I can remember correctly... had excellent conversation about teaching in general, and we suggested some places for them to see. About an hour after they left, one of my crew was having a smoke out back and I heard an extra voice. So we invite the extra voice in, and play a round of cards, but more importantly talked about his bike trip that day fro Seoul to Gyeongu (keep in mind it took us 4 hours on a bus), and about his years of experience teaching in Korea & Hong Kong, and we all talked a bit about our experiences, and just had a really sweet night. In fact, I have added his blog to the right side of my blog, so make sure you check it out - he had some kind words to say about his occurence with us!
Due to the rain I feel we didn't get to do as much as I had hoped, but I enjoyed it all nonetheless. We took a bus out to the Sea of Japan when we got there on Sunday to see the Underwater Tomb of King Munmu. After an hour and fifteen minutes on the bus through the windy mountains we finally saw the ocean - the angry angry ocean. The sky was dark, the sea was loud, and full of deep blues and greens, and waves taller than me. However, we weren't sure of the stop and once the ocean became a distant memory we got off in a random rural town. Everything kind of looked run down and there was no sign of anything really. A korean man with decent english walked over and asked of us if he could help, but he pointed to an area on the map and said that we were there, but we all knew we weren't. So we thanked him anyway, walked on to show him we appreciated his help, but once we were out of sight we took the map back out. That's when another korean guy about our age got out of his car and asked us if he could help. He then told us in really good english that this was his home town, and we stuck out like sore thumbs. He even walked us to our bus stop and told us what time it would come by, and I was seriously impressed by his generosity. So awhile later, we got to where we were going... to see some rocks:
I expected this tomb to be much more grandiose, as it is billed as the world's only underwater tomb. King Munmu in the 1300's believe that he would come back as a dragon to protect Korea against invasions from the Japanese if he were to be buried in the sea. So his ashes are placed in the center of that rock formation in a pool underneath rocks. It was still a cool place to see though, and the waves were pretty intense.
Monday wasn't any drier... we went to the Korean Folk Village which was primarily closed due to Chusok & the rain:
And then we moved onto the Bulguksa Temple, which was the highlight of the trip for me. A temple that had been burnt down by the japanese was rebuilt 50 or so years ago, and has a number of pagodas housing shrines to various types of Buddha's. I managed to take a few illegal pictures:
Overall an excellent trip, and a very beautiful part of the country. I recommend it :)
(mounds that are traditional korean tombs for royals)
Once we got there we tried a few motels & a hostel we knew about, but we got two rooms at the 3rd motel, and wound up playing cards all night on Sunday and 4 of us crashed in one room and 1 of us in the other room. Eh, it's all part of the fun. The second night we stayed at a Hostel which is run by an awesome guy who's fluent in Korean (obviously), English, & Japanese. We paid 50,000 Won to have his master guest room, which had 3 rooms, 4 big beds, and a common room. It was really spacious, very clean, had a big bathroom, free coffee, and for 5 of us to pay 10,000W each? I won't complain. We called him Willie because he only has one eye (a little insensitive on our parts, but we didn't disrepect him). If anyone sees this and is interested in going, it's the Seo-Cheon Guest House and his email address is eui9882@yahoo.co.kr if you'd like to tell him you're coming. We just walked in and he said to come back the next day and all was well. I have his card and phone number, so if you'd like more information, just email me.
The nice thing about the hostel the second night was the random people we met. Hostels are the poor man's way to travel, but they provide the most entertainment, and a certain amount of ease. Four of us sat around the table in the common area late monday night and two guys knocked on our door wanting to know if they could have a cup of coffee with us. So we invited them in - they taught directly in Seoul and were from Florida & Montreal if I can remember correctly... had excellent conversation about teaching in general, and we suggested some places for them to see. About an hour after they left, one of my crew was having a smoke out back and I heard an extra voice. So we invite the extra voice in, and play a round of cards, but more importantly talked about his bike trip that day fro Seoul to Gyeongu (keep in mind it took us 4 hours on a bus), and about his years of experience teaching in Korea & Hong Kong, and we all talked a bit about our experiences, and just had a really sweet night. In fact, I have added his blog to the right side of my blog, so make sure you check it out - he had some kind words to say about his occurence with us!
Due to the rain I feel we didn't get to do as much as I had hoped, but I enjoyed it all nonetheless. We took a bus out to the Sea of Japan when we got there on Sunday to see the Underwater Tomb of King Munmu. After an hour and fifteen minutes on the bus through the windy mountains we finally saw the ocean - the angry angry ocean. The sky was dark, the sea was loud, and full of deep blues and greens, and waves taller than me. However, we weren't sure of the stop and once the ocean became a distant memory we got off in a random rural town. Everything kind of looked run down and there was no sign of anything really. A korean man with decent english walked over and asked of us if he could help, but he pointed to an area on the map and said that we were there, but we all knew we weren't. So we thanked him anyway, walked on to show him we appreciated his help, but once we were out of sight we took the map back out. That's when another korean guy about our age got out of his car and asked us if he could help. He then told us in really good english that this was his home town, and we stuck out like sore thumbs. He even walked us to our bus stop and told us what time it would come by, and I was seriously impressed by his generosity. So awhile later, we got to where we were going... to see some rocks:
I expected this tomb to be much more grandiose, as it is billed as the world's only underwater tomb. King Munmu in the 1300's believe that he would come back as a dragon to protect Korea against invasions from the Japanese if he were to be buried in the sea. So his ashes are placed in the center of that rock formation in a pool underneath rocks. It was still a cool place to see though, and the waves were pretty intense.
Monday wasn't any drier... we went to the Korean Folk Village which was primarily closed due to Chusok & the rain:
And then we moved onto the Bulguksa Temple, which was the highlight of the trip for me. A temple that had been burnt down by the japanese was rebuilt 50 or so years ago, and has a number of pagodas housing shrines to various types of Buddha's. I managed to take a few illegal pictures:
Overall an excellent trip, and a very beautiful part of the country. I recommend it :)
(mounds that are traditional korean tombs for royals)
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Chusok Pt II: Gyeongu To & From
Spending 3 days away from Suji was exactly what the Doctor ordered. However, the doctor did not order more rain, and insane traffic but we got it anyway.
Five of us trekked out of Suji at 5am on a grey Sunday morning. The bus systems start here at 5am so we waited to take the 1550 bus to Yangdae for the subway, and then the subway to the bus stop. Well, we got a little scared about waiting for and maybe missing the bus, so we hopped in some cabs and were at the bus station in central city Seoul by 6am for a 715am bus. We bought our tickets on line at www.kobus.co.kr & paid extra for the tickets on the "Excellent" bus... a steep 26,000W and within four hours we were in Gyeongu, on the South Eastern side of the country, pretty close to Busan. The trip itself was great on the way down... we had four seats directly across the back, the windows on the bus open unlike at home so there was a nice breeze, and the view was incredible:
Nothing but farms and mountains as far as the eye could see.
We stopped at a rest top halfway through, and it was along side a rather large mountain and a river:
It was all wood, like a pier, and restaurants, and of course bathrooms, and it put rest stops at home to shame. Not just McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Subway like on the thruway, but you could get full on meals here. There was even carnival food all along the outside and I found something I never thought I would find here - Syracuse Salt Potatoes. Syracuse hasn't cornered the market on these, but very very few people know what these are even though the name says it all. Tiny boiled potatoes drenched in salt and butter. The koreans put their little spin on it though... they added sugar... and it was heavenly.
We had only bought our tickets one way. We were testing out the bus since many people told us it wouldn't be a good way to go, and the that train would be better. Well, since the trip down had been so nice and we realized everyone was completely wrong, the second we got to the station we bought our return tickets. It was 17,500W on the "Normal" bus, and we were scheduled to leave on Tuesday.
It rained constantly on Sunday & Monday and of course, on Tuesday it was beautiful. We kept close to the station and got on our bus at 1:40pm. Our bus had an indian theme to it, and was no where near as spacious and nice as the "Excellent" bus we had on the way down but it worked.
Unfortunately we were not home at 6pm like we thought, but rather 2am. We all went a little stir crazy around hour 8 and we had to coax each other back on the bus when we made rest stop #3. Apparently traveling on Chusock Day is 10x as bad as traveling in the US on the Tues/Wed before Thanksgiving. The rest stops which I had thought were beautiful on the way down were hell holes on the way back - swarming with thousands of people, dirty, & everyone was angry - and rightfully so. There was a TV on the bus which was cute in the beginning but 13 hours straight of korean television would be enough to make anyone go mad. You ever try watching a gameshow in another language where they have to learn Old MacDonald for an hour? I didn't think so. Also, we watched an inflight movie where a teenage Korean boy comes to terms with himself and his desire to be a woman by becoming a pro wrestler. He wins the championship, and everyone loves him at the end when he dressed up like madonna and sings Like a Virgin in drag. I kid you not. Well, 13 hours later we were at Seoul and had cabs back to Suji. I love traveling.
Five of us trekked out of Suji at 5am on a grey Sunday morning. The bus systems start here at 5am so we waited to take the 1550 bus to Yangdae for the subway, and then the subway to the bus stop. Well, we got a little scared about waiting for and maybe missing the bus, so we hopped in some cabs and were at the bus station in central city Seoul by 6am for a 715am bus. We bought our tickets on line at www.kobus.co.kr & paid extra for the tickets on the "Excellent" bus... a steep 26,000W and within four hours we were in Gyeongu, on the South Eastern side of the country, pretty close to Busan. The trip itself was great on the way down... we had four seats directly across the back, the windows on the bus open unlike at home so there was a nice breeze, and the view was incredible:
Nothing but farms and mountains as far as the eye could see.
We stopped at a rest top halfway through, and it was along side a rather large mountain and a river:
It was all wood, like a pier, and restaurants, and of course bathrooms, and it put rest stops at home to shame. Not just McDonalds, Pizza Hut, and Subway like on the thruway, but you could get full on meals here. There was even carnival food all along the outside and I found something I never thought I would find here - Syracuse Salt Potatoes. Syracuse hasn't cornered the market on these, but very very few people know what these are even though the name says it all. Tiny boiled potatoes drenched in salt and butter. The koreans put their little spin on it though... they added sugar... and it was heavenly.
We had only bought our tickets one way. We were testing out the bus since many people told us it wouldn't be a good way to go, and the that train would be better. Well, since the trip down had been so nice and we realized everyone was completely wrong, the second we got to the station we bought our return tickets. It was 17,500W on the "Normal" bus, and we were scheduled to leave on Tuesday.
It rained constantly on Sunday & Monday and of course, on Tuesday it was beautiful. We kept close to the station and got on our bus at 1:40pm. Our bus had an indian theme to it, and was no where near as spacious and nice as the "Excellent" bus we had on the way down but it worked.
Unfortunately we were not home at 6pm like we thought, but rather 2am. We all went a little stir crazy around hour 8 and we had to coax each other back on the bus when we made rest stop #3. Apparently traveling on Chusock Day is 10x as bad as traveling in the US on the Tues/Wed before Thanksgiving. The rest stops which I had thought were beautiful on the way down were hell holes on the way back - swarming with thousands of people, dirty, & everyone was angry - and rightfully so. There was a TV on the bus which was cute in the beginning but 13 hours straight of korean television would be enough to make anyone go mad. You ever try watching a gameshow in another language where they have to learn Old MacDonald for an hour? I didn't think so. Also, we watched an inflight movie where a teenage Korean boy comes to terms with himself and his desire to be a woman by becoming a pro wrestler. He wins the championship, and everyone loves him at the end when he dressed up like madonna and sings Like a Virgin in drag. I kid you not. Well, 13 hours later we were at Seoul and had cabs back to Suji. I love traveling.
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Chusok Part I: Presents for everyone!
This may be a 2 or 3 part series - not sure yet, but the first part will be an explanation of Chusok - the Korean version of Thanksgiving and the events I've partaken in so far...
Tuesday, Septemeber 25th is this year's Chusok. It's basically a Harvest Festival celebrating Korean ancestors that supposedly goes by the lunar calendar. I've seen where it is supposed to be in August, however I guess it has been in September most years. I assume its counterpart for scheduling would be our Easter, but it is more traditionally related to our Thanksgiving. Chusok starts the night before and ends the night after, so most Koreans will take 3 days off of work which means that as an English Teacher we also get 3 children free days and no obligation to celebrate the way they do. What do most of us do? Well a few guys went to Thailand, another that went to Taiwan, another to Japan, some choose to just stick around here and do day trips, and some have their relatives come visit (there are a few moms roaming around the streets of Suji and its quite cute). Myself? I'm going to take a 3 day trip to Gyeongu, a city about 4 hours away on the South Eastern coast of Korea to visit Buddhist Temples, and see old traditional Korea, with four others. Should be pretty exciting.
However, before the actual holiday, Chusok is a much talked about event and there is much excitement leading up to it in a school. Starting this past Thursday the moms started bringing in tons of presents. Here's an example of some of what I got:
I received a big box of bath stuff (seen above closed & open) from a mom who bought it at an extremely nice body shop. Other moms brought in food for all of the teachers. Then on Friday it was stuff galore... I received a gigantic box of various teas, gourmet brownies individually wrapped in bows, a really nice passport holder, a Lotte Mart gift certificate from our boss, juices, cookies, and just various cakes and whatnot were around the office. Some of the other teachers received various forms of gifts as well - one girl received socks, and another received high end procured meats. Very random, but very very good & extremely generous. Also, all of the kids dressed up in their various Hanboks (traditional Korean clothing) not too unlike the Kimono. Check out how friggin cute my kids are!
They come in dressed up and we spent the morning making Songpyon - VERY tasty rice cakes that look like little dumplings, filled with sugar, cinnamon, & sesame seeds, & black soy beans if you wish (which I didn't). We ate them for the kids' snack time and then they brought home whatever extras they had. I of course had no idea what I was doing, so I spent my time taking pictures of the kids:
Overall it was a pretty enjoyable day - and getting presents is always a fun thing. My presents to all of my kids? Mostly classtime spent playing games (educational ones of course - scrabble, hangman, guess who) and no homework. Hey, that'd make me happy - and its the gift that keeps on giving b/c that means I don't have to grade anything when we get bacK!
Tuesday, Septemeber 25th is this year's Chusok. It's basically a Harvest Festival celebrating Korean ancestors that supposedly goes by the lunar calendar. I've seen where it is supposed to be in August, however I guess it has been in September most years. I assume its counterpart for scheduling would be our Easter, but it is more traditionally related to our Thanksgiving. Chusok starts the night before and ends the night after, so most Koreans will take 3 days off of work which means that as an English Teacher we also get 3 children free days and no obligation to celebrate the way they do. What do most of us do? Well a few guys went to Thailand, another that went to Taiwan, another to Japan, some choose to just stick around here and do day trips, and some have their relatives come visit (there are a few moms roaming around the streets of Suji and its quite cute). Myself? I'm going to take a 3 day trip to Gyeongu, a city about 4 hours away on the South Eastern coast of Korea to visit Buddhist Temples, and see old traditional Korea, with four others. Should be pretty exciting.
However, before the actual holiday, Chusok is a much talked about event and there is much excitement leading up to it in a school. Starting this past Thursday the moms started bringing in tons of presents. Here's an example of some of what I got:
I received a big box of bath stuff (seen above closed & open) from a mom who bought it at an extremely nice body shop. Other moms brought in food for all of the teachers. Then on Friday it was stuff galore... I received a gigantic box of various teas, gourmet brownies individually wrapped in bows, a really nice passport holder, a Lotte Mart gift certificate from our boss, juices, cookies, and just various cakes and whatnot were around the office. Some of the other teachers received various forms of gifts as well - one girl received socks, and another received high end procured meats. Very random, but very very good & extremely generous. Also, all of the kids dressed up in their various Hanboks (traditional Korean clothing) not too unlike the Kimono. Check out how friggin cute my kids are!
They come in dressed up and we spent the morning making Songpyon - VERY tasty rice cakes that look like little dumplings, filled with sugar, cinnamon, & sesame seeds, & black soy beans if you wish (which I didn't). We ate them for the kids' snack time and then they brought home whatever extras they had. I of course had no idea what I was doing, so I spent my time taking pictures of the kids:
Overall it was a pretty enjoyable day - and getting presents is always a fun thing. My presents to all of my kids? Mostly classtime spent playing games (educational ones of course - scrabble, hangman, guess who) and no homework. Hey, that'd make me happy - and its the gift that keeps on giving b/c that means I don't have to grade anything when we get bacK!
Saturday, July 07, 2007
Hot Dogs & Fireworks & Asians
This past week, America & I celebrated its independence in a number of ways. Most notably though for both of us, would have to be the 2007 Hot Dog Eating Competition at Coney Island, where Joey Chestnut took back the championship trophy for all American Fat Asses to be proud of by eating 66 slimey hot dogs.
Not that I had a great view, but it was an entertaining time even though I was cheering for Kobayashi.
The whole thing made me wonder if SoKo (street term for South Korea that I'm trying out) has a comparable holiday. And after an immediate stop over at wikipedia I found out that there really is not. The basic listing of holidays include New Year's, Korean New Year, Independence Movement Day (which celebrates a movement against the Japanese in 1919), Children's Day, Buddha Day (apparently a gigantic festival, which I'm very excited for), Memorial Day, Constitution Day, Liberation Day, Harvest Festival, National Foundation Day, and Christmas. Which that last one amuses me, because only 25% of the country is Christian. There are a few others as well, like Labour Day, Parent's Day, and Teacher's Day, but they're not national holidays. Although I really wonder what Teacher's Day will be like since I'll be one. It's probably like Administrative Assistants Day here, where you get some flowers and a free lunch or something.
Korea stopped being occupied by Japan in 1945, but then had to endure the Korean War from 1950-1953. And then apparently had 5 constitutional changes, and a number of inconsistent presidential elections. I guess it wasn't until 1987 when they really got their act together. So low and behold, there's no benchmark moment for their country like ours & the fourth. The question is I guess, will I become completely unattached to this country and not care next year, or will be so homesick by that point, you'll hear about some little redheaded chick running around the streets of Seoul wearing red, white, and blue and sparklers?
Not that I had a great view, but it was an entertaining time even though I was cheering for Kobayashi.
The whole thing made me wonder if SoKo (street term for South Korea that I'm trying out) has a comparable holiday. And after an immediate stop over at wikipedia I found out that there really is not. The basic listing of holidays include New Year's, Korean New Year, Independence Movement Day (which celebrates a movement against the Japanese in 1919), Children's Day, Buddha Day (apparently a gigantic festival, which I'm very excited for), Memorial Day, Constitution Day, Liberation Day, Harvest Festival, National Foundation Day, and Christmas. Which that last one amuses me, because only 25% of the country is Christian. There are a few others as well, like Labour Day, Parent's Day, and Teacher's Day, but they're not national holidays. Although I really wonder what Teacher's Day will be like since I'll be one. It's probably like Administrative Assistants Day here, where you get some flowers and a free lunch or something.
Korea stopped being occupied by Japan in 1945, but then had to endure the Korean War from 1950-1953. And then apparently had 5 constitutional changes, and a number of inconsistent presidential elections. I guess it wasn't until 1987 when they really got their act together. So low and behold, there's no benchmark moment for their country like ours & the fourth. The question is I guess, will I become completely unattached to this country and not care next year, or will be so homesick by that point, you'll hear about some little redheaded chick running around the streets of Seoul wearing red, white, and blue and sparklers?
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