Favorite Jeju Spots

We took in Jeju quickly, but some of my favorite spots were...
1. The stream in the forested section of Hallasan.
2. The second, sandier beach we visited (I'll check the name for you)
3. The cave we visited.

Jeju Part 2-Windy Hallasan

On Saturday morning, I still wasn't feeling quite like myself. But God Jeju is a pretty place. And how could I go all the way to Jeju without hiking Hallasan? The other members of my hiking club has said it was quite beautiful there. And Steve had arranged such a wonderful trip. My mind wanted to hike, but my body just wasn't quite cooperating. When I can't decide what to do, I tend to listen to my heart. This has an uneven success rate. :) On Saturday,listening to my heart meant taking a Tylenol and hitting the trail...

One funny thing about Jeju are all the isolated pockets of weather. It was sunny on our side of the island, but cooler and foggier at the base of Hallasan. We'd rented a car, and Steve really enjoyed driving. He was and is also quite infatuated (still) with the "Navi" GPS system. (Yes, engineers love new technological gadgets, it's true! ) So, with the help of our new GPS guide, we were soon at the base of the mountain and ready to go.

Unfortunately, they were doing conservation and construction at the crater at the very highest peak. So the paths were closed off before hikes could reach the lake, which I have heard is quite stunning.On the up side, this meant that the paths were very uncrowded. After spending so much time jam packed into the Line 1 train in July, the quiet, empty path felt like such a blessing. The wooded section of the path, with winding streams and bright blue wild flowers, looked peaceful. Hallasan is known for Roe deer , but there are also several types of pretty birds and small animals, including minks.

Hiking on volcanic rock feels unique. Oddly shaped chunks lay here and there, and the rounder pieces were pushed together on the path. Of course I also added my volcanic rock to several tall rock piles (shamanism-when on Hallsan, do as the Hallasanians do...) honored the mountain, and made a wish. What if the shamanism practitioners know something that I don't?

By the time we reached the top of the open path, we had hiked into a new weather front. Rain and high winds whipped in. Mists covered the fields, cliffs, and falls that I had read about. We stopped nears the top of the open path for ramen, coffee, and, quite randomly, beef jerky. We of course took photos looking sweaty and proud! (In Korea, all events are documented by digital photos. Even when high winds make me look like Medusa!)

But by the time we started down the path again, the mists would roll out for a few minutes, then whip back in when the high winds changed. I caught a quick glimpse of some of the fields on the way down. The weather and trail closing were not ideal. But I really needed a brake from the crowds and pace of Seoul. Looming, quiet, fragrant Hallsan was a good respite.

Jeju Jaunt-Friday

Exhausted yet excited, I hurried to Gimpo airport Friday night for a quick jaunt to Jeju do. My boyfriend and I have tried to get air tickets there twice before-the flights were always full-but the third time was, for us, really a charm. My very generous boyfriend got a deal on a weekend package including airfare and hotel through his travel agent. I might have been wary to fly tiny Hansung airlines otherwise, but WowKorea Tour usually makes good recommendations. The small plane looked a little Casablanca-ish sitting out there on the tarmac, and I hadsome Value Jet turbulence flashbacks during take off, but all in all the flight was fine.

I was really wrung out like a sponge by Friday night. For me, a lot of feeling goes into the end of a school year while teaching abroad-changes, goodbyes, gambles that payed off, travel plans, and the occasional missed opportunity-both educational and personal. It will take me some time to process all the quick decisions I've had to make this year. So, location wise, part of me just wanted to lie in bed and recoup...

that is, until we landed on Jeju island. A wall of warmth hit us coming out of the airport and my excitement started to build. It took us a few minutes to find out rental car, but once we did, and hit the road, I knew I was in for a great weekend.

The package that my boyfriend got included 2 nights at the very snazzy KAL (Korean Air Lines) hotel. Ocean view room, no less. I've included a photo showing our view.

I'm moving on up.... :)

Sisyphus Gets a New Gig

Why are these children smiling?

As you'll remember, the Greek Sisyphus was a king who had the bad luck to be cursed to roll a huge boulder up a tall hillside, only to watch it roll down again, and to repeat this oh-so-scintillating task forever. Not a fun afterlife, as after-lives go. :)

On my worst days, teaching out at the rice paddy school this year, I have felt a little like Sisyphus. Only, my boulder has tended to be interactive learning activities that get omitted for being too "messy" and English CD-Roms that decide not to play on Tuesdays. I have pushed my lesson plans forward, only to watch them tumble down again...

But, no more! Some of the kids did well, most of the kids had fun, and, most importantly, all of the kids are done. Done. Finished. "Fin-ish-ee" as the students say.

Why am I smiling?

I finished.

I made it.

Perhaps just 'cause I'm stubborn.

I did it. :)

Nationalism...Can you dance to it?

So, South Korea probably owns the island/islets of Dokdo.
Koreans say that historical maps mention the island, and heck, they are their maps... Why mention this now? Because Dokdo pride runs deep in South Korea, and just as the beef furor dies down, Dokdo fever rises up....But, if you're not from Asia, or an Asian Studies major at Columbia, you might be wondering, where the hell is Dokdo, anyway? Dokdo is small island nestled in what we Westerners would call the The Liancourt Rocks. And these, to quote my friends at Wikipedia.com...."are a group of small islets in the...East Sea. (Not, let the Wikipedia authors be reminded, the "Sea of Japan.") But back to the islands..."Sovereignty over the islands is disputed between Japan and South Korea.[1] South Korea has controlled them since after the Second World War.[2]The islets are also known as Dokdo (or Tokto) (독도/獨島, literally "solitary island") in Korean and as Takeshima (竹島, Takeshima? , literally "bamboo island") in Japanese.[3]The Liancourt Rocks comprise two main islets and 35 smaller rocks. Their total surface is 187,450 square metres and their highest elevation is 169 metres.[4] They are currently inhabited by 2 permanent Korean citizens, Kim Seong-do (김성도) and Kim Shin-yeol (김신열), a small Korean police detachment, administrative personnel and lighthouse staff.[5]Korea administers the islands as part of Ulleung County, North Gyeongsang Province. Koreans prize Dokdo, as far as I can tell...for the varied, high quality marine life, the unique birds ,the fishing rights to yummy tasting seafood, the "natural beauty" of the volcanic rock...and because they got them back from those mean, nasty land-grubbers of the 1930s and 1940s...the Japanese. But how big a deal could these small islets be? Um, in Seoul, a very big deal. Why? Well...As an Irish-American, I can understand an ages old territorial dispute building momentum over time (As late as the 1990s, in certain pubs in South Boston, Northern Ireland did not seem to exist). Land that has possibly been stolen or compromised away (I am not taking sides on that one) is easy to romanticize. Still, Dokdo's small size and rocky terrain makes it easy for a foreigner, standing on the outside, to wonder what all the fuss is about. Very few people (like 3, if you include the lighthouse keeper) actually live there on a given day. Is it the fishing rights? Or just the symbolic value of the area that matters? It is unfortunate that they didn't just attempt to settle the matter at the close of World War II in the Treaty Of San Francisco. Now that Japan has listed Dokdo as Japanese territory in their recent textbooks, Dokdo-love is trendier than I've ever seen it. From t-shirts to pencils to you-tube slide shows; inventive South Koreans espouse Dokdo pride. The most entertaining response to the Japanese claims to Dokdo that I have seen is the Hip Hop Song D.O.K.D.O...which I attempt to link to here....
http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=aX5NWYrLM0Q&feature=related
Caveat: As I only understand a small amount of Korean I CAN NOT PROMISE THAT IT DOES NOT CONTAIN LANGUAGE THAT LISTENERS WHO UNDERSTAND KOREAN AND JAPANESE WELL MIGHT FIND OFFENSIVE. It might. (I'm just a poor, struggling foreigner. Don't make mean comments on my blog.)
As I watch his Hip Hop Video, I wonder.... Can the power of music solve an age old conflict? Probably not, but it dos have a good beat. :)

Blame Teen Prostitution on Homosexuality? Why Not?

I don't really have time to blog right now, but I can't pass up commenting on this scary yet classic story. This news story was translated into English by the generally reliable folks at the "Korea Beat" website. When faced with undeniable evidence of a shaming problem in society, the Korean media often seeks to blame the outsiders. Like blaming the poor. Or the foreigners. Oh wait, no foreigners involved? Blame the gay community. But wait, isn't this news story really about pedophiles enticing young men? And isn't homosexuality very separate and different from pedophilia? YES! Of course, yes. In the real world, yes.
But in the face-saving, image spinning world of the Korean mainstream press? Maybe not. See for yourself...

Check out " this Seoul Shinmun report on a recent investigation of teen prostitution. This (biased) report argues that "an increasing number of teens are entering prostitution after becoming interested in homosexuality...:"
They go on to write that "...a study has found a poisonous inclination towards prostitution due to interest in (gay) sex rather than for simply raising money for living or entertainment.
The 청소년보호중앙점검단, a part of the Ministry of Health, Welfare, and Family Affairs, reported on the 10th the results of its three-month (April to June) investigation of teen prostitution and also that 36 teens and 17 sexual minorities had been arrested.
There is shock over this investigation being the first to uncover cases of teen boys engaging in prostitution with grown men. Of the 36 teens arrested for prostitution 12, or 33.3%, of them were male students. A representative from the police said, “this investigation is the first to find many such clear cases.”
16-year old Oh, a second-year high school student living in Cheolsan-dong in the city of Gwanmyeong, engaged in 30 acts of prostitution in his home with men he met through Internet chatting. 17-year old Song, a third-year high school student from Yeonsu-dong in Incheon, engaged in over 10 acts with men in motels. Another 16-year old named Seong performed three similar acts with a man in his 40s met through Internet chatting in exchange for a pack of cigarettes each time. Most of them, investigators found, had not had any particular difficulty in their school lives.
The Central Inspection Bureau announced, “these boys who engaged in prostitution experienced several cases of poisoning and sought treatment.”
When female students enter prostitution it tends to be for earning money for living or entertainment. And finding them in the 14 to 16 age group is uncommon. 16-year old female student Choi of Namdong-gu, Incheon, engaged in no fewer than 70 acts of prostitution. 14-year old Lee, a third-degree mentally disabled female student who had disappeared, engaged in many acts of prostitution with a man met through Internet chatting who lured her into living with him.
Police have arrested 17 men including 32-year old musical actor Mr. Yeo, 38-year old golf instructor Mr. Lee, 22-year old soldier Mr. Mun."
Maybe it's just me, but aren't they trying to blame the victims here? the TEENAGE (i.e. underage) victims?
The way I read this article, this problem certainly MUST somehow be the fault of the teen boys, of the gay community, or some other outcast group...
Scary.

Three Pheasant Mountain

Despite the heat, we hopped a bus on Saturday to Wonju and hiked up to enjoy the clean air and a few small animals (wildlife? in Korea? Chinca!)....It was hot as Hades, but we pushed ourselves hard (stairs, ropes, and more stairs!), and had a great time! :)

Enough of Compromise

These sweet faces were the only thing keeping me going this week. Honestly, I hate to whine and say "ooh-poor me" when major banks are crashing in the USA, food costs are worrying families, and new tensions are simmering about the tourist shooting in North Korea, but it's too f-in hot. "Aju-touhyoh." Or however I would spell "so-f-in-hot-that-I-will-bludgeon-the-next-pushy-commuter-who-rubs-their-sweaty-armpit-in-my-face-on-Line-1"...it's that kind of hot. But of course I didn't mean that literally. :) Not lil' ole me.:) But, I am from the Northeast. I can't get used to this climate! Lately, I arrive at school exhausted from the heat and the crowds. And the day hasn't even started yet. :( In fact, I don't really think my Korean colleagues can understand how hard it is for someone from a cooler climate to adapt to the summer here. A Canadian whom I know said the same thing to me. I read that an elementary school student in Seoul collapsed recently due to heat exhaustion. Sad. On the positive side, school will end before the worst of the weather is due to hit in August, Praise God!

At school, everyone is tired. My colleagues are tired. The students are tired. And I am tired. Worn down. The students have already taken their exams, including their English class exam, yet English lesson forge on. A lot of teachers, in many countries, not just here, will admit that kids don't retain much from the last two weeks of school. Their brains leap ahead to summer as the temperatures rise. So, I am trying to keep it light and fun. Throw a little English review in with a game and or an English video on a related theme for the second half of class. My brain is pretty fried though, and our classroom resources (and my ancient PC) are limited, so I am frankly just not pushing myself to do anything too amazing. Since July 4th, when the humidity hit ridiculous levels, English class is what it is. Unfortunately, teaching fatigue and the high heat also have some people at my school acting cranky. Heck, I'm cranky, too.

I'm also tired of the minefield of "Maybe." Let me give you an example of how the word "maybe" means different things to me, An American, than it does to a few of my Korean colleagues... One recent example of having a coworker tell me on Monday that "maybe" something (like a standardized test) will happen instead of English soon, and then that having that same co-worker act all annoyed when I show up to teach the next day. In English, maybe implies "maybe, but maybe not...be prepared for both alternatives" and I am not sure this subtly is understood by everyone at my school.

I am also annoyed by this point by English department co-workers who refuse to delegate work to me and then complain to me about how oh so much work they have to do. If you need to control every centimeter of your workload and won't delegate when appropriate,I am starting to think that you shouldn't have the right to complain on and on about it in the staff room! If you make your own bed, then you get to lie in it...

OK, enough with the bitterness. Many of co-wrokers are wonderful and tried to stand by me when I got sick this spring. My school could be worse. I am sure that at least one of my co-workers is annoyed by me and the different working style I bring to my school.

I am not cheerful every day (in America, it is not a young woman's duty to be cheerful). My too-small desk is cluttered by Korean standards. I improvise in class if the lesson plan isn't working instead of pushing it through to the bitter (boring?) end. I am tired first thing in the morning after a long, hot, packed commute. And, worst,I sometimes do not retain information imparted to me during the five minutes (say 10:40-10:45) I have to hurry and lug my English materials from one building to another.

But honestly, you know what? I don't feel bad about not being super-teacher. I have done the best I can in a challenging situation with very little consistent guidance. Thousands of miles from home. For example, my poor memory annoys me, too, but when given the oppurtunity, I write things down. I can't do this when I'm hurrying by with books, CD/roms and games as the roving minstrel of English! I have suggested a proper department meeting at a desk with a pad and pen many times. Yet it rarely happens. (Sometimes it feels like I am just supposed to compromise 100% of the time, no one else is, because I'm the Western outsider. Oye.)

Also, foreigners are, by definition, just different. I am different, my replacement will be different. That is part of the reason Korean schools hire us Westerners in the first place. I don't mean to spew too much bile, but that's honestly how I feel.

Yet, two WONDERFUL things have helped me hold it together. :)

1.My co-teacher and I have started giving out small rewards (little prize bags I made with goodies I purchased myself from E-mart) to the students who have participated the most in English Speaking Class. It is nice to honor the kids who have really put in the time and the effort all semester. I don't love spending my own money on school supplies, but in this case, the students have earned it! :)

Also, the end is in sight. I finally got a ticket home! I had to lay out the cash (and in fact borrow a speck from a friend to cover part of it), and my school will reimburse me. They didn't confirm this until the last minute which is, to be as charitable as I can be selecting an adjective, very , very gosh darned...let's just say typical. But, now the ticket is bought. I know I can go home on 8/30!! Praise the Lord! :)

I have enjoyed most of my travels here, but two years away from home is a long time. A looong time. A friend of mine told me this week after having a beer that she doesn't think that Koreans who haven't lived abroad (lived, not vacationed, not traveled, not "studied" in Down Under for a mere 2 months) can really understand the compromises Westerners make in living so many miles from friends and family in a radically different culture. The trade-offs we've had to make. I think that's very true.

But soon, sweetly soon, my destination will be...home! :)

Hazy, Crazy Days of Summer

OK, so spent 7/4 throwing "America's Birthday" parties for approx. 150 students. Roving room to room as the minstrel of English with baked goods...Yeah, that was perhaps an overly-ambitious idea on my part. :) But at least they loved the video I found of the 4th of July fireworks display at Disney World. I have been teaching them for almost one calendar year, and with a few of the quiet kids, "fireworks" is the first word I've heard them utter with any confidence!

So, now I am wicked f-in tired, as we say in Boston.

Mad Cow Mess

There's more dissent brewing in Seoul...and more danger?
Protesters are still staging candlelit vigils against Lee Myung-bak and his conservative government. Protesters are still clashing with police. But now, it seems like more people are getting hurt. What do they need to control the situation?
The clergy? Um, I don't know if that's the answer....For a brief, very superficial update on events in Seoul: Lee Myung-Bak's government is importing the US beef and there are lots news segments on TV about government inspectors looking at the beef at concluding that it is, indeed, safe. Yet many average people are still angry. But, life goes on, and it seems that people outside of Seoul have stopped protesting.
BUT, the people who are still protesting against the government have staged more intense, and occasionally, violent protests. Issues are intertwining:trade groups at candlelight vigils against the Lee government are protesting everything from Beef importation, to worker's rights, to health care regulations. So the government, and the young recruits drafted onto the police force, have "clamped down." And citizens have started getting hurt. One obnoxious (or drunk?) man in the crowd provokes a police man-and things can turn ugly pretty fast.
The Korean papers even reported that a 25 year old American citizen just watching a rally was accidentally hurt by police last week. Police moved to "subdue" some rowdy protesters and the poor guy accidentally got hit in the face and body by a riot police shield (readers note-maybe the week when Internet headlines read "Protests Get Violent" is not the time to stand around and watch the protests, OK?). Amnesty International issued a statement saying that they would assign a researcher to look into recent police violence against protesters in South Korea. A.I. is concerned. Hmm. That's never a good sign....
Yet, die hard groups like the "People's Countermeasure Council Against Mad Cow Disease" show no signs of giving up yet. So, who's next to jump into the fray? The Clergy.
I was away this past weekend, so I am still catching up on the news. And to be one hundred percent honest, so many issues are involved in the candlelit vigils now that it's getting a little hard for a foreigner to follow. But apparently, some clergy members recently held "emergency masses" in support of the protesters' right to speak out against the government. Also, the Korea Times reports that "members of the Catholic Priests’ Association for Justice" are going on a hunger strike in a tent in front of Seoul City Hall "...demanding renegotiation of the beef deal between Seoul and Washington." Buddhist groups are also protesting. The involvement of Christian groups may put some extra pressure on the government: President Lee-Myung Bak presents himself as an active Christian, and he remains an elder of Somang Presbyterian Church in Seoul.
So, in with the diehards, the thugs, the riot police, the trade unions, and the clergy....there may soon be...the foreigners?? There is reputedly going to be a protest against the current protests...i.e. a protest in FAVOR of the US-ROK free trade agreement and against the most radical folks, like the members of the "People's Countermeasure Council Against Mad Cow Disease" this upcoming weekend. Two words: Oye vaye. Who knows how much of a real protest it will be and how much is just an Internet tempest in a teapot.
IMHO:the last thing Americans need is even one or two Americans getting hurt (by cops, by opposing protesters) at an anti-demonstration demonstration. Or even if they are in reality Canadians, or English people at said anti-protest protest, W20,000 says that the Korean language papers will allege that they are Americans...
So, I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens with the Seoul rallies. And Seoul counter-rallies. And rallies against the counter-rallies. Have a headache yet? :)
Near city hall in Seoul, it could be a long, confusing summer...
All this political turmoil makes me want some Korean "pop-ping-su," or yummy sweet bean and fruit ice slush. It's a cross between slush and fruit salad. I'm not sure I spelled that right, but pop ping su rocks! :)