Exploring Jeollanam-do

 Boys at Jindo being fierce.

 Eating whale.

 Parting of the Sea.

 Starfish.

 CDI picnic

 Wolchusan- under the bridge

 On the bridge.

 Finally at the peak of Wolchusan

 We climbed all of that and more!

 Steep stairs- not my friend.

As Spring starts to show itself, the weather has finally been allowing for some great weekend trips. I’ve had some great experiences in the last few weekends, exploring the Jeollanam-do province of Korea. 

First, a few weekends ago was the Parting of the Sea Miracle Festival down in Jindo. Jindo is a small island in the South Western part of Korea. About twice a year, the sea of Jindo miraculously parts. The tides part and there is a long pathway connecting the coast of Jindo to an Island about 2km away. Jindo hosts a fun festival on this weekend, celebrating this phenomenon. We took a bus down to Jindo: a bus full of foreigners. The bus driver actually stopped the bus along the way to tell us to be quiet. Cultural norm: Stay relatively quiet on buses- Noted. We walked around the festival, enjoying the food and people watching. We got lunch, where my friends ate whale! They were not impressed, at all. Around 5, the tides began to part and the Earth began to rise. We bought the irresistibly sexy orange thigh-high boots to walk out in the water, and away we went. There were hundreds of people amongst us. The Korean older women immediately began collecting the seashells from the ground. We walked and walked, as the path grew longer and wider. It was a strange feeling, walking out into the middle of the Sea. We found all sorts of sea life along the way, mostly starfish. All the seaweed was really amazing as well. However, after a while, the seashells and rough rocks under our feet become uncomfortable and we made our way back to land. It was a great Korean cultural experience to be apart of, and conveniently holy on Easter Sunday.

Two weekends ago our employers treated us to a company picnic. It was a nice, sunny day in April and the weather was perfect. We all loaded up the bus and were whisked away to a nice park about an hour away. The park had an interesting lake, with a pagoda in the middle and two, barely functioning bridges connecting the land to the pagoda. Our employers and Korean co-workers cooked up a nice meal for us and we all enjoyed a picnic together.

On Saturday this week, four of us decided to brave the infamous Wolchusan, a beautiful mountain here in Southern Korea. If you open most Korean guidebooks, you’ll most likely see a picture of the bridge at Wolchusan. The mountain is the biggest national park here in Korea. Dusty, Sean, Jessi and I left Saturday morning and took a bus down to Yeongam and then a taxi to the base of the mountain. The mountain is absolutely beautiful. We started by hiking up the most rigorous part to the infamous orange bridge. The whole mountain in general was extremely steep. The mountain also offered quite a variety of terrain to climb: stairs, boulders, gravel, and more rocks. The mountain was extremely up and down, but mostly up. While I was struggling quite a bit, my fellow Korean hikers seemed to be flying down the mountain past me. At one point going down some big boulders, I slipped and a Korean woman stepped on my fingers. She felt so bad that she grabbed a hold of me and wouldn’t let go for about 10 minutes as she brought me down the mountain. Along the mountain, there were a lot of ropes to help you up or down. I was scrambling up the mountain using my hands to help me more often than anticipated. On the way down, my legs were so tired that I had to go rather slow. I even sat on my butt and slid down some of the big boulders. However, there’s a great thing about hiking: You just keep going and eventually you are successful. It’s not easy, but quitting is not an option. So we made it up to the peak and felt very accomplished. The park was filled with so much beautiful nature, including bamboo, waterfalls, and caves. Wolchusan is in my opinion, one of the most beautiful places in Korea. It was definitely worth the struggle and sore post-hike muscles. Enjoy the pictures.

And the countdown ‘til my departure is officially underway! I’ll be departing Korea on May 30^th. Then I’m off to Cambodia to check out Angkor Wat and then visiting, Thailand. And then, finally, home sweet home on June 9^th!

Thanks for following the blog; I’ll post again before I leave Korea.

Until next time…

Olivers Do Korea

Welcome to Korea!

Dad holding a handmade Hanbok.

Private lesson on Shabu Shabu.

Cherry Blossoms in bloom.

Two good looking people.

Mama and Papa

G in Jeonju.

Royal Palace in Seoul

The door was 4ft tall so the servants naturally bowed to their King.

A King and his Queen.

Mama Bear

Vegetarian Feast

Culture Clash

Fish Market

Giant Shrimp

Growing greens in the bus station. Dad's hungry.

Floating Stadium.

Seoul Tower

Just when things in Korea seemed normal, my family came to visit! Because of their visit, I was able to see Korea through a new lens- gaining a new perspective. And this was such a wonderful gift they gave me. In the past seven months, it is challenging at times to always appreciate the beautiful culture around me. It gets buried in the stress of life, the homesickness, and the routine that quickly develops. Seeing Korea through the eyes of visitors was as if they re-painted a shimmery gloss over my world, making it much more enjoyable. So, thank you.

Here’s how it went:

I’m not a crier. Everyone who knows me, knows this about me. This is why I was so surprised when I was waiting for my family to arrive at Incheon Airport and I had to hold back these rushes of emotion that kept forming tears in my eyes. I almost didn’t even recognize the watery substance forming in my eyes, since it’d been so long. Finally, someone tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and screamed with joy at the sight of my mother. And then my brother. Finally, Dad. I sobbed like a baby.

We left Incheon and headed down to Gwangju. It took me a while to overcome my disbelief that they were really here- really sitting next to me. More difficult to comprehend, was the fact that I hadn’t been with them in seven months; so quickly, it felt so normal again.

So there are multiple themes of the trip: The first one: Zombies: We were often so tired that we experienced the symptoms of a zombie due to exhaustion. So Sunday night, we stumbled into the Holiday Inn Gwangju and were pleasantly surprised. The hotel was beautiful. Another theme in the trip: Breakfast Buffet, we love you.

Monday: We went to Yangdong Market. I wrote about and posted pictures from this open-air market a while back in the blog. The market amazed me for the second time. And my family was equally in awe. As my Dad pointed out: The pictures just don’t capture the full moment- the people, the smells.

After Yangdong, we walked around Bongseon-Dong, my neighborhood! The streets I’ve walked everyday for seven months, finally, miraculously, I’m walking down holding hands with my mother. How wonderful. We introduce Gordon to the local woodsman in the neighborhood. Then, around the corner, we wander into the local handmade-hanbok (traditional Korean dress) shop. Finally, we settled down to our first real Korean meal: Shabu Shabu. This is a Korean meal, using Vietnamese rice paper to make vegetable and meat wraps. Like most Korean meals, it is equally a meal as it is an experience. The most memorable part of this meal was: The pastor who gave private lessons on how to properly make the wraps, finishing the lesson by hand-feeding my 25 year old brother.

Tuesday: After our enjoyable breakfast buffet, we went to the Folk Museum in Gwagnju! Learned a thing or two about Korean culture, and then enjoyed the beautiful, clear blue skies that Gwangju graced us with. Then we met up with my Korean friend, Hae Jin, for lunch. Hae Jin was my first Korean friend and she really helped me transition into feeling comfortable in Korea. She took us out for an interesting meal. Here’s how she described the crab, “It’s dead. Rare. Then we eat it one years later.” Sure enough, we ate raw crab. It was the first time I saw my mom ever pass on eating something. Regardless, the meal and Hae Jin were memorable in a positive way. The experience, like most meals in Korea, was: a learning experience and end in really sore knees from sitting on the ground. Tuesday night, in our zombie state, headed over to my boss’s apartment for a dinner party! The dinner party was a perfect insight into real Korean culture: friendship. Most of the people in attendance were my Korean co-workers, and they did a great job of showing my family what it’s like to cook, eat, and socialize in a Korean home.

Wednesday: The four of us checked out downtown Gwangju, called shinae. We have a shopping side, an art side, and an eating and drinking part. My parents admired all the statues around Gwangju, very proud of the art in this culture. Most surprising all of the shops were just opening up as we were taking our stroll and it was 11 am! Silly Korea. Then, as Dad said, we completely transported to a different realm within a 6 minute taxi drive: Mudeung Mountain. I just recently found out that Mudeung Mountain made the Guiness Record book in 1989 for a mountain being closest to a big city, having over 1 million visitors. (Don’t quote me on that.) Gwangju graced us with beautiful blue skies on this day, so it was pure bliss for me: my favorite place in Korea, with my favorite people in the world. We visited the Buddhist Temples on the mountain and had a short, but worthwhile hike. Wednesday evening, my family visited my favorite class at Chungdahm. The expression on the girls’ faces when my Dad walked in (bald, bloodshot eyes from exhaustion, and sun-burned) is something I’ll never forget in my lifetime. The girls were overwhelmed with emotions; let me tell you, they had quit the case of the giggles.

Wednesday evening, all my friends in Gwangju gathered to meet the family: Koreans, foreigners, and then Olivers all at one big table, enjoying Korean BBQ. I couldn’t ask for more. Once again, the family being here made me re-appreciate my life, and in these instances I really re-appreciated the wonderful people surrounding me. The night was complete with introducing the family to the infamous soju, Korean alcohol.

Thursday: We sadly said goodbye to the breakfast buffet and all of Holiday Inn and left Gwangju to explore more of Korea. We took a bus to Jeonju to visit their traditional village. I posted pictures from my trip there before, so I’ll save you the trouble. While we were at the bus station, we were locking up our bags in lockers and the system was biometric: our lock was my fingerprint! After an afternoon in Jeonju, we took another bus to Seoul. We stayed in a neat neighborhood called Insadong, a culturally rich area packed to the brim with tea shops, restaurants, and souvenier shops- all of which kept us busy.

Friday: Took a tour of an old Royal palace. Seeing the palace made us realize how simple Korean culture and decorating can be, especially compared to other Royal palaces in other countries. It mostly made me recognize and respect the great deal of progress Korea has mad in the past 70-80 years. (But they don’t even recognize it. Most of my students are always apprehensive to call Korea a developed country.) We spent the day wandering around Seoul, exploring the markets, parks, coffee shops, and restaurants. The main theme here was: Where does all this STUFF go? There is just an absolutely obscene amount of STUFF at these markets; we can’t fathom where it all goes? A store with thousands and thousands of zippers- and then there’s about 10 zipper stores. We magically and accidentally stumbled upon a tofu soup specialty shop- happens to be my favorite! That night, we ate at a vegetarian restaurant called Sanchon. Supposedly, an ex-monk grows all the vegetables. It’s a really special, warm environment. And we officially had over 17 dishes for a 4-course meal! Oh, another theme in Korea: Not being able to see your table surface because it’s covered in dishes. The meal was followed by a traditional Korean dance show.

Saturday: We saw the changing of the guard at another Royal Palace. Followed by breakfast at the Dunkin Donuts next door- talk about a culture clash! Then we found another market and explored the streets of Seoul. We headed on over to a giant fish market. The fish market was mind-blowing: the set up was huge, the array of seafood was huge, and oh yeah, the sea-food was HUGE. Biggest shrimp I’ve ever seen. Then we headed over to an area in Seoul called Yeoido and enjoying it’s parks and sunshine. It was truly wonderful to see all the Koreans outside and being active, and most importantly, taking advantage of the public and riverside parks. Later that afternoon, we went to Seoul Tower at dusk.

Most of the trip was spent: eating and enjoying being together as a family. Yes, being in Korea was great, but being together is all I needed. Gordon’s theme on the trip was: Duh. There are so many little things done in Korea that just made sense to us Americans, whether they are environmentally smart or technologically smart, Korea sure does have some simple solutions. Hopefully, I can remember them all and bring them to the States and make a fortune!

2 months from today until I am back in the motherland. This past Sunday I had quit an interesting experience walking in between the seas parting. I will write soon to share the stories and photos. Enjoy the photos of the family trip above!

Until next time….