The Ramblings of Loren Christopher

Molly and I went on a little picnic at Yeouinaru this past Sunday.  It’s an area by the river with lots of grass where people hang out and relax.  It was featured in my “Springtime in Seoul” video actually in the beginning, although it was MUCH less crowded when we went this past weekend.  Still though, there were people hanging out and enjoying themselves as usual.

Molly is a fun person to hang out with and we have a lot in common, one of which is our devout love of Korean food.  So we had an appropriate lunch of kimchi ramen (ramen is really big here, and delicious), kimbab (the Korean version of sushi), and kimchi.  I could eat this food for the rest of my life and be a happy camper, haha.  There is much to do along the Han River in Seoul…you can paddleboat, fly kites, jet ski, innertube, take a cruise on one of the river boats (something I really should do before it gets to cold!) or just bike along the river.

This is where they host the Hi Seoul! festivals which they have quarterly each year.  There are lots of events at these things like open-air concerts, strange competitions, shows, you name it.  I’ve always meant to make it to one of these things, but it just hasn’t happened yet.  Yeouinaru is pretty far from me also, so that doesn’t help with the motivation in heading over there.  Plus I can see another point of the river if I travel about 10 minutes away from where I live, and there are other parks on my side of town as well.

We were a little tired though and content with just walking around.  We ventured along the Han and then happened upon the National Assembly Building which we’d never seen before, so we explored a bit of where the government resides.  It had a very Washington DC feel to it, but in a creepy way because it was Sunday and hardly anyone was walking around there.

All-in-all a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon, for sure.

I had the wonderful privilege last week of hosting one of my best friends in his visit to Seoul.  His name is Jesse (on the left in the picture), and we used to be coworkers and roommates back in the days when I lived in Orlando.  His good friend Colin works for AirCanada and received free tickets direct to Seoul, so he decided to bring Jesse along and visit me here.  Colin is a really nice guy and I’d met him a couple times before.

To be honest (and I don’t think he’d mind me saying it), Jesse was a little apprehensive about coming.  He had the usual concerns about people staring, not being able to find his way around, what there is to eat here, etc.  So I was very glad to show him what Korea is really like and how it’s not actually some scary or strange place where he will feel like an outsider, haha.

It’s a little difficult to sum up their trip here, because they really did a lot of stuff.  I think the highlight would be visiting the noraebangs here.  Noraebang literally translates to “singing room”, and I’m sure those of you who are familiar with the movie “Lost in Translation” have heard of them before.  They are everywhere in Korea.  You go in and are escorted to your own private room where you can order drink and food to be brought up in a cart.  Then you and your friends proceed to have your own karaoke show.

I took them to a nicer one where the walls and furniture is all a tacky Barbie Doll them, and we had a window room where we could dance and sing while people walking around on the streets below could watch us, haha.  As foreigners, there were a few moments when we had a crowd of smiling onlookers down below.

Our room actually had a loft that you could climb up by a ladder and chill up there if you wanted.  It proved to be the ideal spot for Colin and Sandra to pass out near the end of the evening, haha.  One of the first things we all said the next morning was how much FUN we had at the noraebang the night before!

Well, they enjoyed the palace, went shopping in the fashion district of Dongdaemun, went to the big touristy markets in Insadong, all of which probably wouldn’t mean much to you unless you’re familiar with Seoul.  One of my favorite things we all did together was head up to the Seoul Tower at night and have dinner at an Italian restaurant on the top.  I had been up the tower before, but only during the day.  It proved to be much more spectacular at night as you can view the sea of lights below you that go back miles and miles until they reach the mountains.  It was a full moon and couldn’t have been more perfect.

Playing host to these guys was really enjoyable, as it was when Aubrey came to visit me in March.  The more I get to know this city and country, the more I fall in love with it and want to share that passion with other people.  I know they both left Seoul wishing they had more time to spend here, and they mentioned quite a few times how badly they want to come back.  Mission accomplished, haha.  I wonder who my next visitor will be?  Hmmmm….

This is a long one, all the links in this entry (and most links in my other entries) are to pictures I’ve taken of whatever it is that’s highlighted…just something to keep in mind while you read.  I woke up this morning to dead silence.  I sleep with my window open and normally I can hear the subtle sounds of cars driving by or people talking, etc.  Today is the big holiday you see, so almost everyone is out in the countryside paying homage to their ancestors and performing traditional rituals.  I felt a little creeped out this morning to be honest, like the world had come to an end or something.

After I adjusted to the idea that my neighborhood had become a ghost town overnight, with hardly anyone out walking around.  I decided to take advantage of the fact by walking around with my camera and taking some pictures.  I’ve never written about my ‘hood, Godeok….although it’s a big part of my life here in Korea obviously since it’s where I live and hang out all day, so I thought I’d introduce it here!

I’m kind of far (as in all the way) out on the east side of Seoul in a district called Gangdong-Gu.  Evidently this area is where primitive people came to settle some 6,000 years ago by the Han River.  They actually have a little park not too far from Godeok where you can check out “the way the ancient people lived”.  I haven’t been there yet, but I’ll check it out soon.  This was also the district that hosted the 1988 Olympic games, although after the games that section of Seoul was divided into its own adjacent district called Songpa-Gu.  So I’m close to Olympic Park I guess is what I’m trying to say, haha.

Well, Godeok is not exactly the most happening area for nightlife and entertainment, but it certainly has it’s perks.  There is a lot of greenery here and you get a peaceful feeling walking around this little community.  As nice as it would be to live in central Seoul, I’m thankful that I don’t have to fight those crowds everywhere I go.  It’s small enough that I run into students and their parents on the streets, people from my gym often spot me in E-mart and will say hello (sometimes shouting it from across the store) and perhaps even come up to chat with me, if their English permits, long enough to ask, “Loren, what are you buying today?” as they search through my shopping basket.  I was surprised when this happened the first time, but they’re just curious as to what a foreigner purchases.  People stare into my shopping basket all the time, once I was checking out the cream cheese in the dairy section….after I walked away this older Korean man who had been watching me went up and started inspecting the same cream cheese packet I was thinking of buying, haha.  Ok I’m getting off point.  It’s a community here, and one that I feel a part of now.

Godeok is known for having a lot of private schools (hagwons), so education is a big thing here.  You see a lot of students in their school uniforms walking around during the week and even on Saturdays (poor kids!).  So there are a decent amount of foreigners here, although they tend to live in the city or commute into the city often like I do.

I spend most of my time within the half a mile radius that surrounds my apartment building.  I have everything I could need within a 2-minute walk.  The subway station is just a block away, my gym is in the building across the street from me, and my school is two blocks away.  It’s a luxury living so close to work…on the other hand it makes me lazy.  I can be laying in bed at home until 5 minutes before I have to teach!  One day I was particularly tired for some reason, and I went in to teach and had pillow crease marks on the side of my face because I had just woken up from a nap.  My kids called me on it of course, haha.

There are plenty of restaurants here too, and I can easily get my fill of Western food when I need a quick fix.  Godeok proudly features Pizza Hut, Kraze Burger, McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts, and Baskin Robbins.  There’s also a TGIFridays at the next subway stop from me, although I haven’t been to that one yet.  I normally eat Korean food though because I love it so much!  One of my all-time favorite restaurants is Kim Ganae, which translates to something like “Kim’s Family Line”.  The picture in that link shows it closed, but that’s because today is Chuseok holiday and almost everything is closed.

Why is Kim Ganae my favorite?  Well they just have a wide variety of good Korean food honestly.  It’s one of the first places I ate at when I moved here.  Ahhh, those were the days, nervously searching the pictures of interesting-looking dishes on the wall, wondering which one I should choose (was probably dol sot bibimbap because that’s the only one I was really familiar with….I’ve since tried almost everything they cook there!).  I will write an entry about Kim Ganae sometime, because there’s just too much to say!  Dang, now I really wish they were open today, haha.

The closeness of E-mart is by far one of the best things about my location.  E-mart is like a Super Target; they have everything you could imagine there from food to bedsheets to computers, etc.  It’s a 6-story building with a Mcdonalds and Foodcourt on the 4th floor.  McDonalds by the way, serves Big Mac value meals for only $3 between 11am and 2pm!  I found this out soon after I moved here, by arguing with the cashier who didn’t speak English, I insisted that she had my order wrong and I kept saying five, five!!  The meal should cost 5,000 won, not 3,000.  Well apparently I said five enough times, and within a few minutes I was given five Big Mac value meals!!  *pounds head on the counter*  So anyway, yeah I frequent E-mart, it is only a block away.

There is also a hospital right across the street from the E-mart where they practice Chinese medicine and other alternative medicine.  This is where I went for my acupuncture treatments.  They are really nice, and actually they practice Western medicine too…the lady said it was half and half.  Sidenote, Korean people go to the hospital when they’re sick.  Even for minor things like a cold or fever, they will go to the hospital because it’s so cheap!  When I was sick at the beginning of this year, my co-workers offered to go to the hospital with me.  I was kind of surprised, “I’m not DYING guys, sheesh!”  Now I would go if I had a sore throat even.

Being on the edge of Seoul has it’s perks, and being close to nature is one of them.  There is a huge park and nature trail that starts next to the hospital and goes back a looong ways.  It’s nice to get out and walk through the forest and see random animals and things.  I haven’t been all the way down it yet actually.  There is evidently some mountain nearby that you can hike up as well and see out over the entire district of Gangdong-Gu, which would be pretty cool.

I feel like I lucked out with my little spot in Seoul.  It has everything I need, and although I’m not in the midst of all the action, I’m at a subway stop at least so I can easily connect TO the action when I need to.  I’ve done a fair amount of exploring around this area although I can’t help but feel that there’s always room for more exploration.  My good friend Ashley is applying to take over Ben’s position at work, and if she gets the job (which I’m sure she will), she will be my co-worker and neighbor here in Godeok by the end of next month!  My co-worker and I don’t hang out together all that often, so having Ashley here will be a lot of fun to go venturing around with!  Alright, well I must be off….I’ll leave you with a few thumbnails from what I call home.

Well, our weekend trip plans were at the mercy of Chuseok.  With almost the entire country on the roads during these few days, we ended up NOT taking a trip to Cheongpyeong as intended, but we visited the lovely (not far from Cheongpyeong) island of Namiseom instead.

When I say “island” I’m talking about a very small stretch of land in the middle of a river.  This place was recently formed as a result of the Cheongpyeong Dam which was built upstream.  After it was completed, the water subsided and this crescent-shaped piece of earth arose out of the middle.  It was a waste land for the immediate years following, with trash and overgrown agriculture that was not-so-pleasing to look at.

A man by the name of Min Byungdo bought the island in the 1960’s and has since helped transform it into a place where art, culture, and nature all collide together.  This fusion is a really interesting one, and while walking around you can really feel the attention to environment that has been put into this place.  Min Byungdo was evidently so proud of his accomplishment in resurrecting this ‘once overlooked stretch of land’, that he named it Namiseom, and declared its independence from the Republic of Korea!

I’m still unsure whether or not it’s considered it’s own country, but nonetheless they do have an “immigration desk” that you pass by before you get on the ferry to the island (by immigration desk, I mean a photo op….at no point are you required to show your passport or any ID, haha).  You can buy Namiseom currency, passports, and flags at a gift shop on the island even!  So if we’re being technical here, I traveled “outside of” Korea today…woohoo!  Another country to add to the list, haha!

All kidding aside, we had a great time at Namiseom.  We took a stroll up from the small port down the center of the islet…there were all sorts of exhibitions along the way and a lot of artwork out in the open to see, which was cool.  We sat and listened to a stage performance by a band from Ecuador that played Incan music (in of all places, Korea…right?).  They were so good that we started nodding off, shouldn’t have stayed up so late watching cheesy TV shows in our hotel room I guess!  Seriously though, they were really good…and it was funny to hear the crowd ‘oooh’ and ‘ahhh’ when the lead singer/player started speaking Korean between songs!  I gasped right along with everyone else honestly, haha.

We rented bicycles and ventured around this small nature haven for an hour.  It was picturesque, and left me wishing (which has been the case in my travels around Korea lately) I had more time to spend here.  There were plenty of things to do, water-skiing, camping, archery, fishing, paddle-boating…heck, I would have been happy just sitting in the grass under a tree.  But it was nice nonetheless to get away from the city again and be surrounded by beautiful nature.  Maybe I’m beginning to favor the countryside in lieu of the city…could it be?!?

One of the things I thought was interesting was this little garden of rocks that I saw.  There were large rocks on the ground….but one by one, smaller rocks stacked up on top of them.  I was intrigued because I’d never really seen anything like that before.  There were even rocks stacked into the trees wherever a new branch was shooting off.  I asked my Korean friend what they signified…and he explained that Koreans have this sort of superstition/belief.  You can make a wish and carefully place a stone on top of another stack.  If you can do it without knocking over the other rocks, then your wish will come true.  If they all tumble down….well, let’s just say it’s not a good thing!

Well, I’ll be back to visit Namiseom again sometime I’m sure.  It’s only an hour from Seoul, which means I could easily go on a weekday, before work even!  I miss the nature trails and river banks already, but alas I am back in the city now…preparing for a week of balancing work and Jesse’s visit from the states.  Where will the time go….?

Unfortunately we only had about half a day to hang out in Boseong and the green tea fields, but what a relaxing half day it was!  We arrived in this small town around 1pm or so and were dropped off at a tiny, run-down bus station.  It was furnished with very old Korean men and women sitting around who had the faces of tea farm workers.  They had big hats, darker skin, deep wrinkles, and some of the women could not walk upright.  A lifetime of working in the fields had given them a completely bent figure, with the upper half of their bodies always parallel to the ground beneath them.  It was neither sad nor strange to me really, but definitely fascinating to see such a contrasted Korean from the Seoulites who walk around in heels and are constantly checking themselves in the mirror or any other reflecting object that is close to them.

I just felt warmth standing there at that bus station surrounded by all these strangers.  Countryside people are generally simple and kind, I suppose that’s almost a given anywhere in the world (America included).  It was almost enough to make me want to move out to this rural stretch of Korea, and I talked about that actually, how nice it would be to live out in the countryside for a while.  We all promptly agreed that a year would probably be too long to commit to, haha.  Some foreigners do it though….you would walk away having a COMPLETELY different experience than if you had lived in Seoul!

After about half an hour, a local bus headed for the tea fields came and we got on board.  We were surrounded by these workers with their giant bags of tea leaves and other food they’d been harvesting.  They had so many of these bags with them!  It was cute though when the bus came to our stop.  We were all sitting in the back, and everyone turned around and started yelling at us and pointing for the door.  It couldn’t have been more obvious to them why we had come and what we wanted to see, haha.

So we made our way off the road and into this park.  Evidently Boseong has the cleanest air in all of Korea, and just walking around and breathing would make you a believer.  I don’t know how many times we commented on how wonderful the air was and how good it smelled!  We headed through tall rows of pine trees, around nice little sitting areas where you can enjoy nature, and then you can see the rows of green tea plants just stacked one on top of another.

I don’t know, for me it’s one of those stunning features of Asia that I had always imagined (partly out of shamed ignorance) before I came to this part of the world.  Asia is the Great Wall, temples, koi, and green tea fields….right?  Of course there is so much more, (don’t forget bamboo! haha) but it was nice to finally see this in person because I don’t think pictures really do it justice.  You have to be there to see the enormity of it, and smell it.  So, we hiked up a few of the hills and made futile attempts to capture some of the beauty on film.  It wasn’t too crowded there either, which was nice.  It’s strange to be in Korea at a tourist destination and NOT be fighting the crowds.  That being said, this was the weekend before the big Chuseok holiday (Korean Thanksgiving), so people are preparing for that all over the country and will be traveling in droves then.

We marched back down the hill and enjoyed a late lunch of bibimbap made with green tea rice.  Ok, bibimbap is one of my all-time favorite Korean dishes.  It translates to “mixed vegetables and rice”, and that’s exactly what it is….nothing weird.  It’s sooo good (and very healthy for you), and you can add in some spicy red bean paste and mix it all together.  I had never had the green tea rice kind, but it was yummy also.

Feeling quite content, it was time to check out the little shops.  I picked up some….*drumroll*……yep, you guessed it, green tea!!  I prefer iced green tea so I got some packets for that, but also picked up some green tea latte mix which I’d never had, and a bag of some green tea snacks (for my favorite class because I promised them I would bring them back a present, haha).  And before I knew it, we were on our way back to the big city where the crowds and streets would soon bring me back to a much faster tempo.  It’s so nice to get out and slow down once in a while…this week at work has been far more enjoyable so far because of it.  I’m heading off to Cheongpyeong on Friday with Woon Ha, just staying one night there.  And on Monday my friend Jesse comes to visit me for a week!!  Of course we’ll be doing some super touristy things, around Seoul mostly, so I’ll try to bring the camera and observant mind along with me.

The problem with taking 2-day weekend trips is that you can only spend one night in these places you visit.  As you know, I’ve committed myself to getting out of Seoul and seeing more of Korea on the weekends now.  This weekend was no exception!  I brought along my friends Molly, Kristin, Nate, and Courntey for a trip down to Damyang, and Sunday we went to Boseong to see the green tea plantations (blog entry about that to come).

It’s easy to get down there.  Just get on a bus to Gwangju from the Express Bus Terminal (they leave every 20 minutes or so), enjoy the comfy recliners with ridiculous amounts of leg room for 3 and half hours, then hop off in Gwangju and onto a slightly less comfortable bus to Damyang for a little over an hour.  You can walk to the bamboo forest, but it may be easier to just take a taxi (as we did).  Also, we stayed at the Green Park Motel for 35,000 won a night per room.  It had comfy beds, nice shower and modern decor, plus a huge flat screen plasma with cable TV!  It wasn’t the cheesy “love motel” that you come to expect in Korea, so that was nice, haha.

Anyway, off to the bamboo park.  You pay a nominal fee of around $1 and then beyond the entrance you’re immediately surrounded by bamboo.  Walking through the trails was so nice because it’s cooler under the canopy of trees, and the fresh green smell everywhere was enough to make us Seoulites quite happy!  Clean air is very nice indeed, hehe.  Throughout the forest there are little benches to stop and relax, pagodas to hang out in if you’re getting tired.  They also have a couple shops, a restaurant, and one pathway leading towards a “Bamboo cultural experience” features old-timy Korea houses which are always neat to see.  There were even women dressed in the traditional hanbuks in one area who were dancing to some music and pulling in unsuspecting foreigners to dance with them (myself included).

Once you tire of the bamboo (and it is beautiful, but once you’ve seen bamboo I mean it really is just bamboo) you can stop for lunch just outside of the park entrance and try out the bamboo-infused rice with pine nuts, plums, and garlic….served in a giant bamboo shoot.  This meal was awesome, and as expected they served us a wide variety of other food, including grilled fish, spicy beef with bamboo shoots, and the assumable array of smaller traditional side dishes (kimchi of course being one of them).

I believe this meal set us back about 9,000 won each ($9.00), so that’s not bad.  One of the great things about traveling around Korea is that you meet Koreans who are non-Seoulites.  They tend to be more excited and curious about meeting foreigners, so all-in-all they’re more helpful and engaging.  The adjosshi (meaning older Korean man) sitting at the table next to us offered to bring us some coffee when we were finished with our meal.  He had been eyeing us throughout to make sure we were doing ok.

The park is located along a tiny river which looks to be manmade, but it’s nice nonetheless.  We went for a stroll to walk off our meal as the sun was setting.  You can’t help but have these “I love Korea” moments.  I’ve talked before about people who are miserable here, and how they can’t find anything good to say about Korea….and we were all discussing that as we were walking.  You almost feel sorry for people who come here for a year, go back home, and never really experience what this place has to offer.

Ah well….that’s enough of that.  Damyang did NOT dissapoint, although I got the feeling there was more to this sleepy little town that we were missing in our brief encounter with it.  I’ll definitely go back in the future and spend more time there…we were in a bit of a rush to get to Boseong the next day and see those green tea fields (coming-soon).  I have lots of pictures from Damyang, but here are some thumbnail links of my favorites!

Bang in Korean (pronounces like “bong”) literally translates to room.  The bang is much more that a mere word for room in this country though….upon arriving in Korea you quickly learn that the bang is a culture of its own here.  There are PC Bangs (internet and gaming rooms), Noreabangs (karaoke rooms), DVD Bangs (where you can rent a movie with a friend and watch is on a big screen in your own private room), and of course there are the jimjilbangs (saunas).

Bath house and sauna culture is something I experienced many places in Europe, from the luscious Hungarian baths in Budapest to the crazy Turkish bath experience I had in Istanbul.  A 60-year old turkish man beating me into a marble slab and then tossing scolding hot water on me….not my idea of a relaxing time, although oddly enough I felt better afterwards.

I almost feel sorry for my American friends back in the states though, that this isn’t a part of the culture there.  I think many Americans carry a negative and dirty connotation to the idea of going to a bath house or sauna, probably because they’ve never been to one, or at least never to a legit one like in Europe or Asia.  Anyway, the jimjilbangs here are really quite an experience.  They are not strictly saunas and baths, there are other components as well.

The sign for jimjilbangs is universal throughout Korea (featured here), so if you’re unable to read Hangul you can look for the trademark sign and you’ll know you’ve found one.  When you’re told what the sign is, you start noticing these places everywhere you look!

They are a great place to just get away and relax for a few hours.  The best jimilbangs are the ones with about 6 or more levels with a wide array of things to keep you relaxed and happy.  First things first though, you walk in, put your clothes in a locker and take a shower (by now the men are separated from the women, it’s not co-ed here, haha).  Then you can enjoy any number of baths ranging from different temperatures…some are green tea filled, some have special minerals, some are freezing cold while others boiling hot.  Many Koreans will spend a few minutes in the super hot bath, and then go straight into the freezing cold one, hopping back and forth a few times.  This is really difficult to do, but I tried it and it definitely opened my circulation and is supposed to be really good for you!

One of my favorite parts is the salt sauna.  You walk in and rub yourself down with salt, which is sitting in this giant bowl in the center of the sauna.  Then you just sit there and sweat it off in the heat.  Man oh man does your skin feel good afterwords!!  Contrary to the traditional sauna, they also have “ice rooms” that you can sit in and freeze your butt off!  These are great for the summer months.

When you’ve had your fix with the baths and saunas, you can change into some pajamas and go get your haircut at the barber, have a manicure/pedicure/massage, relax on the rooftop terrace, grab something to eat at the restaurant, or go to the sleeping rooms and take a nap (heated floors in the winter so this is super nice!).

Jimjibangs are so cheap (the most expensive are around $10) that this is often a great option if you’ve been out partying with friends in the city and don’t feel like taking a subway back home.  You can all go to a jimjibang and sleep in the sleeping rooms, then eat and shower the next day before you head back home!  There is probably more to say about the Korean saunas that I’m forgetting….although talking about them makes me want to go again.  I’ve only been a few times, but they are so nice that I really should take advantage of them more now that I live here.

In fact, there is one in the building right next to mine!  I haven’t been yet, but the pictures look really nice so maybe I’ll check it out.  All the pictures in this entry btw were not taken by me.  Something tells me they wouldn’t like me walking around taking pictures of naked people, haha.  That being said, jimjilbangs are frequented by families who will make it an entire outing.  The women will go off to their designated levels for bathing, as will the men.  Then you can reconvene in one of the TV rooms and hang out together in the full recliners.  This is actually one of the reasons I haven’t visited the jimjilbang next to me yet, or one in my area for that matter.  I’m too scared I would run into one of my kids there.  Can you imagine relaxing in the sauna by yourself, the door swinging open and hearing “LOREN TEEECHA!!!  HELLO!!!”  No thank you.

Alright, well I’m off.  Tomorrow I’m going to Damyang and Boseong with some friends to visit the big Bamboo Forest and the green tea fields.  It’s all supposed to be very picturesque, and you-know-who is bringing his camera!