Vacation, Day 5

I woke up at 5 the morning of the last day, dressed super quietly, and snuck downstairs for (finally!) a long walk on the beach.  I got down to the patio, and it was pouring rain.  So much for that.  I went back to the room, got a sweatshirt, and my book, and settled down on the cold patio to read and watch the sun come up the clouds gradually get lighter.  Blissful, blissful solitude.  Some soldiers came down from their post on some rocks next to the beach and did some drill.  Almost an hour later, when the rain let up a tiny bit, I walked down to the beach.  Still too cold and too wet for a walk, I went upstairs to get another sweater or a blanket, and then to head up to the roof.  The mother woke up and came with me.  I think she was confused and maybe a little uncomfortable when I stood there looking at the waves for an extended amount of time, but she eventually stopped staring at me and started doing some exercises.  (At that point, I was in no place to try to start early morning small talk with her.  I just wanted to do my own thing for a little bit!)  Finally, she asked if I was hungry, and when I said yes, suggested we go to McDonald's and bring food back for the family.  She seemed really excited about the two of us going to the McDonald's drive-thru together (one of the few in Korea, they said).  We went back to the room and she started to sneak around getting dressed, but the father woke up and asked where we were going.  About 15 minutes later, as we were literally walking out the door, he suggested that we all go.  I was bummed at first (soooo hungry), but excited when he said we should pack first and then just leave from McDonald's.  Sweet!  We packed, had a delicious, delicious breakfast of breakfast food, and hit the road.  About an hour away from home, around 1pm, the father told me that we would go have lunch at a Korean restaurant and then they would take me home.  Oh no!  I was done.  I just wanted my apartment.  And to call my friends.  And to be alone.  And to eat a meal without being stared at!  I managed to beg my way out of the meal, saying that I wasn't hungry and was very tired and just wanted to take a nap.  They finally relented, and though I felt like I was maybe being a little rude, I was soooo happy when I finally reached my apartment!

That vacation was a bit too much so early on in my stay here.  I didn't want to eat any Korean food, watch any Korean movies, study any Korean, or do anything that reminded me I was in Korean for weeks afterwards.  I finally got over that, though, and now that I have FINALLY finished blogging this vacation, I can tell you about much more fun adventures!

The next morning I woke up early and tried to sneak out to the beach for an early solitary walk.  It was not to be.  The mother woke up and came with me.  It was a nice morning, though.  

We then had a small breakfast, and the father said that we would do some sightseeing.  (The father seemed super peeved that his wife had decided on a small breakfast.  He kept asking her what he was going to eat.  She named the things that were in the kitchen, and he whined the whole time he was eating his cereal...with chopsticks...out of a dixie cup.) I changed out of my swimsuit and dress into jeans and a tshirt, and we headed to the lighthouse I had seen from the beach.  The father and I climbed up.  It gave us a nice view, which I totally have pictures of...but not here.  (I'm at work.  We have no classes all day today because of exams.  I'll put pictures up later.)  I was definitely regretting the small breakfast.  We got in the car and headed to Seoraksan, one of the most beautiful peaks in South Korea and one that I was really excited to see.  The father kept complaining that he was  hungry.  He said to his wife at one point "Hey!  I'm hungry!" in English.  (Her English is pretty poor -- a couple steps above my Korean.)  I expected her to laugh or say "So?" but she reached down and looked through a couple bags until she found dried seaweed for him to snack on, handing him one piece at a time.  The whole vacation, she was totally fine with her daughter and husband asking her at all times for food.  She would just calmly get up, ask what they wanted, and start to peel fruit or heat leftovers.  I told them at one point that American mothers would just say "You're hungry?  Well, there's the kitchen.  You have two hands!"  They laughed.  They thought that was hilarious.  Then the mother said (I think a little sadly), "No, Korean mothers can't do that."

At Seoraksan, we drove up the mountain for about an hour, watching the hikers in their neon outfits walk by and gazing at a mountain stream through the car windows.  Then, the father decided there was too much traffic, and we drove back to down for lunch.  Lunch was THIS

Amazing!  After we ate the crab, the mother scooped our leftover rice into the head of the crab, which held juices and all sorts of other things inside.  She mixed the juices and the rice, and then we ate it.  It was delicious.  Mmmmm crab brain.

We went swimming again in the afternoon, and then went back to the hotel to shower.  The parents told me we would be having two dinners that night, chicken at the hotel and then soup.  I was really confused as to why we would have two dinners until I realized it was because the daughter was refusing to eat at the restaurant we were going to.  After we ate the chicken, the father was trying to get everyone out the door.  The daughter was bouncing up and down on the bed, showing no signs of getting ready to go.  I was sitting right behind her, and we had been rough-housing all weekend, so I pulled her down to the bed.  She sat up, pulled her knees up, put her head down, and started whimpering.  Oh my gosh, I hurt her.  She looked really hurt, and she wasn't responding to me at all.  The mother came over and touched her on the back.  The girl crawled into her mom's lap and continued whimpering.  I was getting really scared.  The mom started to rock the girl back and forth, and the girl started to cry.  I was asking if she was ok, and the mom kept saying she was, but the girl was crying!  The mom started to pet her daughter's hair, and at that, the daughter started screaming.  Loud. I haven't heard screaming like this since the last time my younger sister was refused a toy at Toys R Us.  When she was three.  Three, not nine.  Relieved, I started to relax a little.  The crying and soothing went on for about twenty minutes, with me wavering back and forth between worrying if they were real tears and annoyance at realizing once again they were fake.  Finally, the girl calmed down, told her mom that she didn't like being surprised like that, smoothed her hair, and said "Let's go" expectantly in Korean.  The dad, mom, and I all laughed.  I was incredibly relieved to finally be absolutely certain she wasn't hurt.  When we laughed, the girl cried again for twenty minutes.  When we finally left, the mother explained that the girl is their only daughter, and so she is like a baby.

We have an uneventful dinner, go on a viking boat ride, which the daughter loves, and which looked out over the beach and some fireworks.  We took a last walk on the beach, saw some men drawing these lighted boats into the water, and went to bed (well, after several hours of TV).  I was determined to wake up early the next morning and take a long walk on the beach by myself.

Vacation, Day 3

The next morning was rather uneventful.  We got up, had fast food burgers for breakfast ("This is American style breakfast, right?") and headed to Sokcho, our final destination.  The motel there was bigger, had a kitchen and a balcony, and best of all, no evil overhangs to bump your head on.  We carried our bags to the lobby, were told check-in time wasn't for another couple hours, and carried our bags back to our car.  This was not quite the Zeis-style family trip with color-coded itineraries that I'm used to.  We had lunch, returned to the hotel, and carried our bags in a final time.

We then drove down to the most popular beach to go swimming.  The sand was covered with umbrellas and little raised pavilions, and a large area of the water was roped off.  The surface of the water in this area was almost completely covered with yellow tubes.  I don't think I saw a single person in the water that was not in a tube.  Apparently, most Koreans don't know how to swim, and so only go to the beach when there's a lifeguard on duty and only go into the water with tube while they're there.  Once in the water, you're only allowed to swim within the safety ropes.  This is much different that the water safety we learned as children!  My neighbors have been telling me how strong a swimmer their daughter is, and I was very much looking forward to playing with her in the water.  She doesn't know how to tread water, though, so I wasn't willing to take her out deep.  It was probably for the best, because it turns out she's scared of the ocean.  The mother and daughter stayed close to the side ropes, and every once in a while I would do laps out by the farthest rope where the water was deeper and there were less tubes.  The water was great.  Clear, perfect temperature, and decent waves.  The waves here, though, crash when the water is very shallow, so there was no body surfing.  Soon, I discovered another reason for staying inside the safety ropes.  A motorboat carrying several screaming and laughing passengers roared up about twenty feet away from the swimmers, and drove up onto the steep sand bank to stop itself.  I would not want to swim across that path.

Once we got out of the water, I said I wanted to take a walk on the beach.  It was a long one, and I was looking forward to walking down to a lighthouse I could see in the distance.  They family said, well, ok, we'll walk, then.  (I now know, that if you say to a Korean "I'm going to....", they will usually hear "Let's...."  I need to learn more Korean.)  Surprised that they wanted to come with me, I told them I planned on walking a long way.  They agreed and we set off.  I was a little disappointed, as I had been looking forward to my first moment alone in a couple of days, but oh well.  We got to the edge of the safety ropes, and the father said we should go back.  I said I would like to keep walking.  He said that we weren't allowed to go any further.  I asked why and he said that he didn't see any people, so we must not be allowed on that part of that  beach.  I said that I didn't see any signs, and there were people further down, and that I would keep walking and would see them later at the hotel.  He said, no, let's go back.  Feeling that I was being rude, I grudgingly turned around.  When we got to the dry part of the sand, the father told me to put my shoes. on.  I told him that I liked walking in the sand.   He said that at this beach, there were shells that could cut my feet.  We went back and forth a couple times, until I again felt like I might be being rude, and started to bend down to put my shoes on.  As I began to do so, the father said, "Kate, just follow my orders!"  Not seeing his face and thinking that he was joking, I laughed and said "Follow orders?  I haven't followed orders since I was eighteen!  That's almost..."  As I straightened up I saw that he was rather angry.  Great.  I had just been told to follow orders.  Now I'm angry at being told to do so by someone who is not anywhere close to being an authority figure, and he's angry because I may have just insulted him in front of his family.  The dynamic of the trip changed immediately in my eyes.  I had seen myself as a guest, but still an independent, adult one.  They saw me as a guest, a dependent one they had to take care of.  We walked back to the hotel in near silence.

When we got back, they turned on the TV.  (They watched three or four hours of loud TV every night!)  I put in headphones, turned my back to the TV even though it felt rude, and seriously considered telling them that I would take a bus back to Seoul that night.  I decided to stay.   There was only one full day left, and, you know, we were at the beach!  I never want to leave the beach.  That night for dinner we had grilled clams, which I had been really excited about.  Excited until they were grilled alive right in front of us, squirming and popping in their own juices.  I didn't eat much.

Going to bed, they said I could share the bed with their daughter if I wanted.  Their daughter is probably the smallest 9-year-old I've ever seen, so I agreed.  In the middle of the night, I rolled over, and somehow, the girl's face had swollen to about three times its size.  I screamed.  The mother, who had changed places with her daughter at some point in the night, and was now lying in bed next to me, opened her eyes and gave me a sleepy smile.  Fully weirded out, I rolled back over, scooted to the edge of the bed, and fell back asleep.

Vacation, Day 2

The next morning, I woke up around 8 and the women were already in the kitchen preparing breakfast.  About an hour and a half later, the grandfather went outside to cook some fish over a brick grill in the yard.  Dinner was served about half an hour later.  I couldn't believe how long it took to prepare or how many dishes were on the table!  That fish was delicious, too.  Someone had mentioned that we would go swimming after breakfast, then go for a hike in the afternoon, so I put on my suit and a dress.  After breakfast, my neighbor told me I should go get dressed.  Confused, I asked if we weren't going swimming.  He said he didn't know.  I said I was dressed for swimming, but would change if we were going hiking.  My neighbor called his friend into the room, and they had a conversation that lasted about 5 minutes.  At the end, my neighbor turned to me and said "We're going swimming."  We went hiking.  I had the feeling no one knew where we were actually going until we got there.

After the hike, we went swimming in a gorgeous river right below a cliff with a huge waterfall.

 The kids all had tubes even though the water was only a few feet deep and there was no current.  None of the other adults swam, but I had a ton of fun spinning the kids in their tubes and dragging them around the river.  After swimming, I told the mother I was going to the bathroom to change clothes.  She told me I should change in the car!  (It was a very crowded parking lot.)  When I told her I'd rather change in the bathroom, she called out to me to be careful.  I'm not sure what I was supposed to be careful about...

We said good-bye to my neighbors' friends and started our trip to the coast.  The east coast here is beautiful! The water is amazing.  This is near Uljin, where we stayed for half of the first night:

We got to Uljin, and the father sent the mother and me into a guesthouse to make sure it was ok.  The mother kept asking me my opinion.  I had no idea what their standards wore, nor what else would be available.  The rooms were clean, they had fans, and looked plenty big enough for two people, so I said sure.  Turns out the room would be big enough for four people, and then I understood why they wouldn't let me help pay for any of the accommodation.  We would all be staying together.

We unloaded the car and the mother, daughter, and I went swimming while the father rested in the room.   The water was clear, rather warm, and calmer than I've ever seen.  There were almost no waves - it was like being at a lake. The sand sloped down very quickly, so that if you walk out a few feet, you're several feet deeper in the water.  I had been looking forward to throwing the daughter in the water and splashing around with her, but she wouldn't get in past her waist because she didn't have her swim cap.

After swimming, we went to have sashimi, which is raw fish.  I am not a fan.  My neighbors were nice and ordered some more of that amazing grilled fish for me.  We went to bed after that.  My neighbors were watching a slapstick comedy show, and I was drifting in and out of sleep.  After a couple hours, around 11pm I think, the father sat up and asked "How can you sleep?"  I think I said something like "Mwueah?"  He said "It's so hot!  How can you sleep?"  I didn't want to say that the tv was keeping me up, so I just said I didn't know.  He must have been really hot, because he then said "Let's go.  Let's find another place to stay."  What.  What the what.

We got up, packed our things, and loaded the car.  I forgot all my toiletries in the bathroom  On the way down the stairs, I knocked my head on the concrete overhang from the second story.  I told my neighbors, complete with miming actions, and they said sorry.  I was not a happy camper, but thought we would just drive down the road to another guesthouse.  Nope.  We drove to the next town.  The mother and father looked around (like, literally looked around.  Like, out their windows.  Not at a map.  Not at their GPS.  Not at their smartphones.  Out the windows.) for a hotel.  They found one, the dad ran in and said it was full.  They repeated this process a few times.  Finally, the fourth hotel told him there was a soccer tournament that weekend and all the hotels would be booked.  I was shocked.  I thought for sure he had asked the front desk at the first hotel to call around and ask about empty rooms, but apparently not.

They finally turned the GPS on, located a hotel, and drove 20 minutes to the next town.  We started driving up a huge private drive-way towards a cliff over-looking the ocean.  I was thinking there was no way this place would be affordable.  Sure enough, the dad ran in and came right back out.  Getting back in the car, he noticed I was holding my head and asked what happened.  I told him again that I had hit my head.  The mother flipped out and checked my head about five times looking for blood.  The dad started looking for nearby hospitals.  I told them that I was fine, and managed to convince them that I just needed a bed!  The dad agreed, but said that he would be monitoring my behavior the next day.  I don't think I could've walked into the overhang hard enough to give myself a concussion, but I guess it was nice that they were concerned.  Finally, finally, after about 45 minutes of searching in the middle of the night, they decided to start calling ahead to see if hotels had room.  They found one close by, and this one had actual beds.  I took the smaller bed to myself and passed out while the mother prepared a snack for her husband and daughter in the next room.

I found out the next day that the only reason we had moved is that the 9 year old daughter hadn't been able to sleep.  Good lord.

Vacation, Day 1

My neighbors have been incredibly nice to me ever since I met them.  We walked in the park together almost every night until it started raining so much (and I stopped walking), the mom had  brought me American food (syrup, pancake mix, Jell-o, peanut butter, and canned tuna) three times, and they've taken me out to eat and on a couple day trips (to an amusement park and to the border).  One of the first few weeks I was here, they asked if I could tutor their daughter, and I said no.  It's illegal for me to have another job, and I was still scared of getting kicked out of the country.  I ended up agreeing to tutor her once a week for an hour for free.  I still only had one friend, wasn't doing much with my evenings, and I really do genuinely enjoy tutoring.  So I tutored her for free once a week, and they took me out once in a while and sometimes bought me things.  A couple weeks before vacation, they said I should come to the beach with them.  I said sure.  The initial plan was to do two weekend trips, but they had to cancel the second.  They asked if I could do one 5-day trip instead.  We would visit their family friends in Andong, then go to Sokcho, which is a beach I've been dying to get to.  I said why not?  Haha.  Why not...

The first day of our trip, they picked me up about 6am.  We started driving, and stopped for breakfast a few hours later.  Now, Koreans don't really differentiate between breakfast food, lunch food, and dinner food.  They just eat food.  I was starving, and, used to Dad's cross-country races, assumed we wouldn't stop again until lunch around noon.  I ate bibimbap, which is rice mixed with vegetables, some spicy sauce (most of which I took out), and lots and lots of sesame oil. Lots.  I wasn't sick, but did not feel well all morning.  We stopped 3 times before lunch, and every time the mother tried to get me to eat more food!

A couple hours after breakfast, we made it to Andong.  We stopped first at a traditional folk village, met the family's friends (a couple and two young kids) and looked at the mask museum.  We took a bus to get to the actual village.  It's big enough that it took several hours to walk around.  People still live there, so you're only allowed in a couple houses.  The surrounding area was gorgeous - bright green rice fields, ponds of lily pads, small mountains in the distance, and lily pads.  There is also a small pine forest.  Everyone was really excited about the pine forest, which I didn't understand until I saw it.  The trees are extremely tall and very slender.  There are enough leaves at the top to provide shade, but the leaves don't start until very high up.  You're surrounded by thin, vertical, weaving lines as high as your peripheral vision can see.  There's no undergrowth, so the ground was a soft carpet of needles.  The atmosphere felt very calm, even with lots of little kids running around.  (Didn't hurt that there was a slow river passing in front of a cliff just beyond the forest.)  Pine trees apparently give off some sort of chemical or something that's good for the health.  (Kimchi, seaweed, walking barefoot on stones, and mud from the west coast are all also "good for the health."  It's a favorite phrase here.  I think there's a Korean word for it that we just don't have in English.)  On the teachers' trip the next week, some of the older teachers were even hugging pine trees.

In one area, they had some traditional swings and games.  I started pushing the kids, and they were having so much fun!  I did that thing where you run under the swing to get them really high, and they about flipped out!  Traditional swings are meant to be stood on (they tried to teach me how to swing myself standing up, and it is so hard!), and I think the kids were not used to going so high!  It was a lot of fun.

After walking around, we had lunch at a restaurant there.  Actually, we had a feast at the restaurant there.  There were at least 3 main dishes, a soup, and at least 10 side dishes!  There had to be about 50 plates on the table.  I told the father that I thought it was a feast, and he said it was a normal meal.  Still feeling a little sick, I just had rice and grilled fish.  This fish was amazing!  The father said it was probably trout or mackerel, but wasn't sure.  I think it was grilled in oil, but it might have just been the oil from the fish.  It was grilled whole, only missing its scales.  It was amazing!  There was more flavor in one bite than in any serving of fish I've ever had in the States!  I think I have a new favorite Korean food.  The craziest thing was that the father and his friend though that the fish tasted flat!

After lunch, we drove to the friends' parents' house.  It was a small house in the country, with a yard, one large room running the length of the house, a kitchen and bathroom on the side, and 3 bedrooms off the main room.  The yard had a small vegetable garden and some kimchi pots in it.  I didn't take pictures because I didn't want them to feel like I was treating their house like a tourist attraction.  We had some watermelon, the grandparents gave the kids money, and I took a nap.  That evening, we went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.  We grilled some pork outside, and I ate a lot because I was so hungry!  (And it was so good!)  Then, the women brought out more meat and huge bowls of rice porridge!  I do not know how Koreans eat so much.

I went to bed that night on the floor in a room with the mother and her daughter.  Pretty fun first day.  I was excited for the rest of the trip.

Pictures!

I've finally uploaded all my pictures, so here's the last two months in photos!

 This is the main palace in Seoul.

This is a traditional Korean house, in a neighborhood of traditional Korean houses.

 This is the changing of the guard at the palace.  (I can't figure out how to change the order of the pictures!)

More traditional Korean houses.

At the palace again.  This might be the queen's quarters.  (There weren't any signs.)

The mountains behind the palace.

Changing of the guard again.

The throne.

Inside the throne room.

A pavilion on a lake.

The East Sea!  This is near Uljin, during my vacation with my neighbors.

We went to a mask museum in Andong.

A representation of a mask dance.

This is a typical hat for an aristocrat during the Joseon dynasty.

These pillars keep away evil spirits, I think.  Later they'll be painted.  I think they're shamanistic in origin, but I'm not sure.

A pretty landscape, with a heron in the sky.

Rice fields and a leafy crop!

Two herons!

Tradition Korean house in a folk village in Andong.

People-carriers.

Man-carrier.

Interior of woman-carrier.  I think it was made for small women!

Courtyard of one of the biggest houses, made for an important family in the 16th century.

This is the view through their front gate.  Not bad.

Another view of the courtyard.

Playing with traditional toys.

This lake was featured in the movie Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring.

In the movie, there was a floating pavilion in the middle of the lake where a Buddhist monk lived.

Trees growing in the water.  This lake is famous for these trees.

Some statues inside a huge TV show set.

A view of Sokcho from the lighthouse.

The sea viewed from the lighthouse.

The harbor (?) from the lighthouse.

An ancient monument (or a reproduction) in front of a waterpark.

The gate leading to the TV set.

Reproductions of Joseon-era weapons.

And that's it.  When I was traveling with my neighbors, and when I went on the teachers' trip, my companions were not very patient with me while I was taking pictures.  Most of them are rushed, and I feel like my best pictures were taken with my phone!  I'm traveling in September a couple times with other foreigners, and I should have better pictures then!