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….
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