Thursday, October 11, 2007

Brad visits Korea



Having someone from home visit I think helps validate the life you're living in a foreign country. Suddenly there is a connection between the life you knew and the life you're living that makes the two seem a bit more mentally compatible. I haven't experienced culture shock here and don't think I will, nor do I think that I'll have a huge problem adjusting to life back in the states (Although, I am really worried that the Korean habit of not flushing toilet paper down the toilet -- instead throwing it in a trashcan next to the toilet -- will stay with me in America. I can see myself now: thinking there is a trashcan next to me and then throwing toilet paper all over the floor. I can just imagine the bad assumptions people would have about Korean hygiene!). It is nice though to have someone familiar visit and know what you're talking about when you are describing where you work and live, who you live with, and what you are doing day in and day out.

My old roommate Brad visited over the weekend and now is that connection between home and here. After work last Thursday I took a train filled with old drunken men (on this ride at least alcohol + train + old Korean men = lots of random fights with the train staff) to nearby Cheonan station, where the high-speed KTX trains connect the north-end of the penninsula at Seoul to the South-end at the port city of Busan. From there I was locked out of my KTX train with 12 other Koreans and had to deal with an hour of prolonged arguments that eventually led to a partial reimbursement, lots of apologies about how this had never happened before, and a new ticket on the next train. An hour and a half late into Busan, I met Brad, who was worn from over 12 hours of traveling from Naruta Japan, where he works as a english teacher through the JET program. The next three hours we took cabs half-way across the city to a jjimjilbang that turned out to be closed and ended the night on a good note, by finding a hot spring motel that had a bathroom bigger than the bedroom (that's not to say that the bedroom was small, the bathroom was just HUGE and had multiple bath tubs).

The next day we gradually made our way to the Busan Film festival -- asia's largest -- and met up with other F-brighters in what turned out to be a huge reunion with almost everyone that had come over on the program. In all, Brad and I caught two movies because of the difficulty for foreigners without a foreigner id number (i don't have one because i am here on a diplomatic visa) to get tickets and the long lines to get them otherwise. Noteworthy was The Naked Summer by Kenji Okabe. The movie documents a summer camp run by Butoh dance master Okaji Maro and the creation of one of Okaji's performance pieces with the camp members. Brad and I left the movie wanting to join one of the summer camps at some point in the future.







With the rest of Saturdays movies sold out early in the day, Brad, I, and some other F-brighters, made a spur-of-the-moment decision to take a bus an hour and a half north to the town of Jinju, where a huge lantern festival was being held. The festival is meant to commemorate the 1592 invasion of Japan, when Korean General Kim Si-Min sent thousands of lantern down the Nam river to stop the Japanese from crossing the river and to relay messages to neighboring towns about the health of certain soldiers and general war updates. For us: the festival was a huge light spectacle with make-shift floating walkways through lantern floats, enormous walls of lanterns that stretched across the mile-long old wall of the city, and various lantern tents. We ended the evening drinking Makgeolli that was scooped into bowls from a big trash can with a group of young Koreans.




We returned to Busan early Sunday morning, with just enough time to eat a large meal and tour the russian area that surrounds Texas St. -- a foreigner district across from the train station. Brad came back to Hongseong with me and spent Monday and Tuesday playing with my students at school and spending time with my family in the evenings.

Bukhansan


On the outskirts of Seoul is a national park called Bukhansan. Its name means "North Han Mountain" and refers to its position north of the Han river. It also marked the northern boundary of Seoul during the Joseon dynasty. Me and my friend Jeremy hiked this mother two weeks ago, which turned out to be a 7 or 8 hour hike altogether. I've been getting in a fair share of hiking while hear, but this topped them all. The last 2 km of the climb were along a solid rock face that you had to pull yourself up with metal wires that were strung through poles bolted down to the rock. After the climb we relaxed in baths of yellow soil, charcoal, mugwort, and jade in what was hands down the best jjimjilbang I've visited here so far. Below are some poor quality Panoramas and pictures of Bukhansan.