Goin' up that hill

We finally went hiking this past weekend. Hiking is a pretty big deal in Korea, nearly 90% of the country is mountainous. The city we live in is literally surrounded by mountains. We have some just 10 minutes walk from our apartment.

Like everything else here, there is the familiar and the unfamiliar. Most Koreans really get geared up to hike...walking sticks, proper gloves, jackets, canteens, hats. This is all for a hike of an hour or two.

Our first surprise was when we got to the top of the first hill. There was a clock tacked to a tree, and a mirror. Mirrors are EVERYWHERE here, from elevators to bus stations. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see one in the wilderness, but I was. We had a good laugh about this.

One of the cool things about walking trails and hikes here is that there is always a lot of fitness equipment. I mean, you've never seen so much, it is anywhere people walk. The top of the hill was no exception. Nothing like benching some kilos after a brisk walk up the side of a mountain.

The view was really beautiful up here. It's still interesting to see how the city looks from above, there are just SO MANY buildings.

We also saw some burial sites, they pop up every now and then in remote places. I thought it was interesting how sculpted the ground is around these mounds. They use the mounds of dirt instead of headstones, and the ground is usually very well manicured. I'm not sure by who.

We encountered these banners along the way, we assume they are talking about what a great area "Dalseo" is (this is the part of town we live in).

Once we made it down the mountain we found another treat--pressurized air guns to get the dust off of our feet. No one needs to know that you were hiking and no one will.

The Hogwan

This is the building that our hogwan is in. Hogwan is the Korean word for private school. We are on the 4th floor of a 5 story building.

We were making our daily walk to our school last week, on our way from a lunch of bibimbap. I glanced over to the right to see our building, and noticed that a new banner had been added to the building. Nearly every building here is a littered with a cluster of banners and signs listing what is on each floor of the building. Everything is always in Korean of course. I noticed a few words in English on one though:

Our names are on this huge banner along with the other teachers at our school. Pretty neat, huh? I figured this was a good time to post a few pictures from inside the school. Its really small, our classrooms only have room for 12 cramped students.

This picture doesn't show everyone at out hogwan, but these are four of the teachers that we work with, pictured at the front desk of the school.

We get to work at 4:30pm and leave at 10:15pm. It's a really easy schedule, we are quite lucky.

Tree Sweaters

It's getting cold here. The days are still warm, but at night it gets really chilly. When it started getting cold we noticed that most of the trees here had been wrapped with this straw strap. The strap has the name of the part of town we live in. I thought it was just a festive decoration for the tree.

It isn't. Apparently these are put on the trees in the winter time to keep them from dying. Yes, this small strap has enough heating power to keep this tree from dying. We started to notice that rose bushes have the same sweaters on them as well. I'm no botanist, but this seems a little silly to me.

Trees are treated differently here. Old trees often have strong metal cables attached to them, forcing them to grow in certain directions. Big trees are constantly being relocated, and so there are wooded crutches surrounding them to keep them upright until they take root. There aren't very many big, old trees because the landscape here is still very new. Wherever we go, the trees rarely look like they just happen to be there, it all feels very intentional.

Born to Run

Beth ran a 5K this weekend in a small town outside of Gwangju. She did great, and without any training! It's impressive to me how anyone could even run that distance, much less without training. She wasn't even that sore the next day.

It was interesting to see the differences in running events here as opposed to in the States. I think the best part is the massage train. Just before the runners take off they all line up and give the person in front of them a shoulder massage. Then they rotate 180º and return the favor.

The running events that I went to in the States (as a spectator, not a participant) were always full of supporters cheering on the runners and lots of sponsors. Not so much here. There really weren't many fans around. There were a few vending booths, and one table that was giving away bowls of fish stew over rice, with a side of kimchi. For the few fans that were there, the MC was giving out bottles of Soju (an alcoholic fermented rice drink) to the loudest participant. This is a picture of the MC with one of our friends.

Our friends in Gwangju are part of a running club, and I caught them crossing the finish line. For a few of them it was their first half-marathon, and they were really excited with their achievement.

After the race we sat down to eat a meal of pork, rice, kimbap and kimchi. The people that prepared the meal put about 2 dozen bowls on the ground and everyone helped themselves with chopsticks.

4 Headed Dog

Downtown you'll see some sights. Usually nothing too weird, but this past Saturday I saw this guy carting around these dogs in a baby stroller. They weren't for sale, they weren't advertising anything...the guy just enjoyed the attention he got (and boy did he get some attention).

He literally just sat and watched people take photos and try to touch these dogs. Dogs are popular pets here, but these are about as big a dog as you'll see. Everyone seems to be in a competition to get the smallest dog. All of these pups had their tails dyed different colors (very common). These dogs had also been "adjusted" so that when they bark it sounds like a squeak toy. Yes, the same squeak toy that dogs love to play with. The dog has now become the dog toy.

It's New To Me

One of the best things about living in a different country is encountering new things. Museums, culturally significant landmarks, and amusement parks are fun but the things that I don't plan to encounter usually stick with me more. Korea has given me so much of that unplanned entertainment, that raw uncut culture.

This is certainly not the most memorable thing I've happened upon but it is the most recent. We travelled to Daejon for an Ultimate Frisbee tournament. We got off the train and left the large train station and found this huge gathering just outside the entrance. They had a stage with someone shouting forcefully to the group. There were hundreds of guys with these red headbands.

The stage had a huge fist as a backdrop. I have no idea what they were saying, but the tone sounded like "NO MERCY!" or "DEATH TO TRAITORS!" It was really heated (sounding).

The thing is, you never know how things are going or what is happening because of the language barrier. The guy who was yelling and rallying the attendees stopped yelling, the attendees stopped chanting, and 3 young girls came on stage and started dancing to pop songs. Can you imagine being at an environmental protest and then taking a break to have a few members of the high school dance team move in unison to Lil' Wayne's latest track? It was just weird.

I love it. I love the unpredictability, and I love that things that are probably very normal and part of everyday life here cause me to stop and think: It might be normal here, but it's new to me.

Art in Korea

Last weekend was one amazing weekend, and I want to tell you about it. For a few months now, Jess has been preparing for an art show at the Gwangju International Center (GIC). This organization is such an asset to Gwangju. They have their hands in many different aspects of life in Gwangju, connecting the foreign community and the Korean community in meaningful ways. Check out their website here: www.gic.or.kr

One of the ways they impact the community is by having art talks every Saturday. Jess was invited to display his works and give a talk about his work. For those of you who've seen any of Jess' work, you know that his most recent work (in graduate school and beyond) revolves around our relationship with the media in all it's forms. His work calls people's attention to the messages we receive, and how those messages affect our perception of reality. What is our relationship with the media? This theme in his work has continued here in Korea, now extending beyond just advertising in media and now touching on politics as well.

When Jess was in graduate school, he spent time every week talking about his art work. This is an important component of his life as an artist. You can't just make art and leave it. Art is a channel for discussion and relationship, so you have to be able to talk about your work and listen as others explain their perceptions. But this opportunity at the GIC was different than his experiences in school, because he was talking to a room full of people who were not artists and on top of that, at least half of the people spoke English as a second language. He had a new challenge in front of him!

Just before the talk began, the room filled up and the wonderful volunteers at the GIC began bringing more and more chairs into the room. There were over 50 people in attendance and there was excitement in the air as one volunteer introduced Jess. Jess spoke for about 20 - 25 minutes. He began by explaining how his work has developed over the years, explaining that all of his work has focused on one theme, relationships. Then he went on to elaborate about how his work calls attention to our relationship with media.

Due to the controversial nature of his work, we were unsure how his talk would be received. We were pleasantly surprised as the talk ended and the question period began. The questions asked were thoughtful and heartfelt. As the discussion continued, we quickly realized that many of the people in the room (foreigners and Koreans) had been grappling with the same issues and concerns represented in his work. The question period lasted almost as long as the talk did. The discussion that followed was rich and enlightening for everyone. As each question was answered by Jess, others in the crowd shared their answers and ideas too. There was a fellowship and community that formed in that room. Which is what the GIC does best. They create a rich and supportive community, building bridges between the different cultures represented in Gwangju.

The show opening and art talk at the GIC was a complete success. The rest of the time we spent in Gwangju, Jess was constantly approached by people who had attended the show and wanted to talk to him about his work. We could not have asked for a better community to share his work with. The staff and volunteers at the GIC were absolutely amazing. They took care of so many of the details and made the whole process easy. And on top of that, we had some of our closest friends by our side the whole time. Whit and Lindsay were wonderful hosts for us (they always fix an amazing breakfast!), many of our Gwangju friends came out to see the show, and our great friends Sharon and Bogdan traveled all the way from Daegu with us. We felt loved and supported!

Just this week Jess found a new contact that might lead to another show, this time in our city, Daegu. We'll keep you posted about how Jess' art life continues to develop.

Jeopardy

A few weeks ago Beth and I had game day at our Hogwan (the private school where we teach). We divided the class into two teams and had them play Jeopardy. Most of the classes really loved it, and a few of them were very competitive. As a prize, we told the winning team that we would take their pictures and post them on a champions board. This did not go over well. I pulled the camera out of my pocket and they freaked out, hiding their faces and getting really angry. We decided candy was a better option.




A few of the girls came back and asked Beth to take a picture of them once they had a chance to check the mirror and make sure everything looked good. They love to flash this two finger sign for photographs, I think it means victory or something.

Gate Ball

Check this dapper dude out. He was playing some form of croquet under a bridge here in Daegu. There were probably 30+ senior citizens in full uniform playing what they called "Gate Ball." This wasn't a kit you'd buy at Wal-Mart either, they had stainless steel mallets. There were referees and from the yelling I think the game was pretty intense.