Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival and Cheongpyeongsa Temple

This past weekend I decided to leave Gwangju and head north to the city of Chuncheon for the Hwacheon Sancheoneo Ice Festival (화천산천어축제). The Ice Festival was picked as one of the 'Seven Winter Wonders of the World' by CNN in 2012 and really didn't disappoint.

Ice Fishing festivals are great. Especially when the town is covered in colorful fish decorations.

I left Gwangju after school on Friday and 4.5 hours later I was in Chuncheon. I met my friend Emily at the bus terminal (she lives in Daegu and arrived before me) and then we walked to a Jjimjilbang called Whasan Spa Land. Jjimjilbangs are public bath houses where you can also spend the night. Whasan Spa Land has 4 floors; reception, a women's floor, a mixed common area, and a men's floor. For 8000₩ you receive a pair of shorts, a T-shirt, a locker, unlimited time in the baths and saunas, access to a computer room and exercise room, and a place to sleep. While there are gender-segregated floors for bathing, there's a large mixed-gender common room where you can watch T.V. and sleep.
I feel like I can't properly explain Jjimjilbangs without writing an absurd amount and boring you to death so here's a link where you can learn more: About Jjimjilbangs

After a semi-restless night of sleep thanks to the loudest snorer I've ever heard, we checked out of the Jjimjilbang and bought our bus tickets to Hwacheon (45 min. away). Since this is such a popular festival, there was already a line for the bus at 9:30am but the buses were coming every 20 minutes. The bus ride to Hwacheon was really beautiful. I kept catching glimpses of people ice fishing on the water and sledding.

You just sleep where you lay your mat. This Jjimjilbang was crowded.

After a quick Kimpab lunch in Hwacheon, we walked towards the river and the majority of the festival. I say majority because the entire town was decked out in festival decorations (fish everywhere!) and some events were farther away from the river. Walking up to the river was incredible because you were able to see the sheer size of the festival crowd. What looked like thousands of people were set up on the river ice fishing, eating, ice skating, sledding, and partaking in other icy activities. To say that I was giddy with excitement when we arrived would be an understatement. Our first goal of the day was to find the Foreigners Only Ice Fishing Area. Yes, you read that right. The river was divided into many different sections but there was one special section where Foreigners could go ice fishing. We bought our ticket (8,000₩) and immediately received a 5,000₩ coupon that could be used anywhere at the festival. Of course, we were than told that we needed to buy our fishing rod next door...for 5,000₩. Well played...

Lots of people at the festival. Judging looks as I took this pictures.

I think this photo explains itself.

We spent 2 hrs ice fishing and I DIDN'T CATCH A FISH. I got over it pretty fast but I was really looking forward to bagging my own fish. It especially hurts now because I was just looking at the festival website again and saw this "It is not easy to catch Sancheoneo because of it's rarity. But at Hwacheon Ice festival, we put 2~3 tons of Sancheoneo everyday into the river. So with piece of luck and by some skills, everyone can catch it very easily." Thank you website for rubbing it in and confirming how I'm a total failure. Although I didn't catch anything, Emily managed to catch one. We took the freshly caught fish to a stand right across from the fishing area, paid 2000₩, and enjoyed a delicious baked fish lunch. I wish we had caught more- so yummy.

Ice fishing.

With our lunch. So so good.

After fishing we walked along the river, snacked on street food, people watched, and debated trying out other activities. I had initially wanted to go ice skating but ice fishing seemed to drain our energy. While we didn't try out any other activities, we did watch the Bare-Handed Ice Fishing event. Men and women were given shorts and a T-shirt and then had maybe 5 minutes to catch as many fish as possible. I mention the clothes because they're really important to bare-handed ice fishing. People shoved any fish they caught down their shirts for safe keeping. It was really fun to watch. They also had a kids bare-handed fishing event before the adults. One of my favorite things about the competition was the M.C. He was yelling into the crowd and trying to get us pumped before the event. If we cheered loudly, he would throw a live fish into the crowd. I had two fish thrown in my direction but a crazy ajumma (older lady) grabbed them before I could.

Bare-handed fishing for the brave.

This man is a hero. Yes, that's a fish in his mouth. A live fish.

When we finished exploring the river, it was time to check out the Illuminated Ice Sculptures on the other side of town. The sculptures were breathtakingly beautiful. We had a lot of fun taking pictures but left after a short time- it was super cold in there! Shortly thereafter we caught a bus back to Chuncheon and made our way to Myeongdong Street. This street is well-known for a dish called Dakgalbi (super delicious stir-fried chicken, cabbage, and spicy sauce) and we practically breathed in the food. After eating our fill, we headed back to the Jjimjilbang for bed.

So many ice sculptures. So beautiful and colorful.

Many of the sculptures were famous buildings and temples from around the world. Mt. Rushmore was there.

It took us forever to find but we found Dakgalbi Street!

We woke up early Sunday morning and made our way to Soyang Dam, Asia's largest and the world's fourth largest rock-filled dam. While it was really beautiful, it was really cold. At 10, we caught the first ferry to Cheongpyeongsa Temple. The temple was built in 973 and has a myth about a princess attached to it. There was once a man who loved a princess but died. He came back to earth as a snake and preceded to attach himself to the princess and would not get off. Since she wanted the stalker snake gone, she went to the temple and performed a Buddhist ceremony. The snake left and she build a Pagoda at the temple in thanks. It's name, Gongju Pagoda, translates to Princess Pagoda. The temple is a 30 minute walk from the dock and passes the Guseong Waterfall- which was pretty small and happened to be partially frozen. The temple grounds were pretty and I ended up buying some traditional snacks to bring back to my co-workers. Since we both had work the following day, we caught the ferry back and then caught buses home.

Soyang Dam in the morning. Everything is fish-shaped!

A view from the ferry

The frozen waterfall.

The princess and the snake. A statue on the way to the temple.

I didn't like any of my pictures of the actual temple but this ceiling shot turned out well.

The trip was really fun and I'm glad I did it. I'm definitely going to try to travel around Korea more so expect more interesting posts in the future.

Peace!

A wedding in Gwangju, Korea

Ah confusion, a feeling I know all too well in Korea.

I'll apologize right off the bat for how few pictures I have. It was kinda overwhelming at the time and I wasn't sure what was appropriate. Once I realized pictures were ok, my Iphone reminded me that it doesn't like to take pictures in semi-darkness and nothing turned out well. Sorry!

This past weekend I went to a wedding. I was invited by my friend Megan to attend her co-teacher's wedding (I met her once) and I had no idea what I was in for. Pre-wedding, all I knew was that I didn't have to dress up and that the ceremony was going to be really quick.

It seems that the majority of weddings in Korea are held in Wedding Halls (unless it's a traditional wedding- I'm focusing on Western-style weddings). Wedding Halls are large buildings with multiple floors completely devoted to hosting weddings that couples can rent for their weddings. Unlike the ballrooms in a hotels, synagogues, or churches, Wedding Halls are permanently decorated for weddings. When we arrived at the designated Wedding Hall and made it up to the third floor, we were greeted with a large amount of people milling around in what appeared to be a lobby. Three or four tables were set up on the side of the foyer with banners hanging overhead with the names of different brides and grooms. These tables were the allocated gift areas. Representatives from the couple's families received the gifts (money) and logged your name. Once we gave our gift, we were given our meal tickets...I'll explain that one later.

Before the actual ceremony, we went to the small room used for the wedding photos to take a picture with the bride. It seemed that all guests are invited to take pictures with the bride (Megan and I got one or two pictures- I was still wearing my winter jacket. Definitely one of my more awkward pictures).

The bride in the wedding room. She looked gorgeous.

At 1:30 sharp we headed into the non-denominational sanctuary. What I found really interesting was how we were walking in as the guests of the previous wedding were walking out. The music started and the mothers of the bride and groom walked down the aisle escorted by Wedding Hall workers (I initially thought they were bridesmaids-nope!) After a quick bow to the audience, it was the bride and grooms turn. They walked down the aisle looking fantastic and happy. The whole ceremony took less than 20 minutes and I have no idea what was said. I couldn't see what was happening very well but they had a small screen projecting the affair. After the couple bowed to both sets of parents, they slowly walked down the aisle to leave. This may have been my favorite part. The Wedding Hall workers stood on either side of the couple and would throw fake flower petals in the air as they walked. The couple then had to stand at the end of the hall and hold a kiss while the photographer snapped as many photos as possible.

The bride and groom waiting to enter the chapel. You can see how busy the lobby was with guests from multiple weddings.

The wedding hall.

Wedding Hall workers throwing flower petals in the air every few steps.

The long posed kiss for pictures. I could tell that the bride was trying not to laugh.

We were pretty confused about what to do afterwards because the couple and their families immediately started taking larger family photos at the front of the chapel. We were starving at this point and decided to check out the food. To my foreigner eyes, western-style weddings in Korea are mostly spent eating. We used our meal tickets to enter a large buffet hall. Guests from the wedding we attending, the wedding before, and the wedding after all shared the buffet and tables. The buffet was really diverse and delicious and we abused the free food whole-heartedly. We spent more than enough time in the buffet hall trying all the food and people watching.

In conclusion, western-style weddings in Korea are quick, efficient, and pretty. The fast pace made it a bit confusing for a first time Korean wedding guest and Megan and I were pretty lost about where to go at certain points. Yet, wedding food is the best and I want more.

Peace! 

Korean Classes in Gwangju

I thought it was only fitting to write this post while procrastinating from my Korean homework.

I did the wonderfully idiotic thing and moved to a country where I can't speak the language at all. Although I told myself I would study and learn lots of Korean before moving...I didn't. I learned how to say a few simple greetings and how to read Hangul, but then got overwhelmed with learning a new language. While some people may be able to learn solely from Youtube videos, I'm definitely not that person. I might have every intention of watching Korean Language tutorials, but after 15 minutes I tend to end up on the cute babies and marriage proposals part of the Internet.

When I first got to Korea I learned how to count and say basic greetings at our EPIK orientation.  We learned enough to impress our Principal and.....that's about it.

But I really wanted to learn more.

I started dedicating more time to studying: buying books, watching videos, taking notes, and asking my friends and co-teachers to repeat sentences and words. Although I learned a few things using this method, I didn't really understand the basics.

Cue Korean class.

At the end of September I finally had the chance to sign up for classes offered by the GIC (Gwangju International Center). Previously, English teachers in Gwangju were able to take free Korean classes at the local University but alas, no longer. The classes offered by the GIC are two hours, twice a week and, unfortunately, when I took them last session they were on Wednesdays and Fridays from 7-9pm. Thankfully, they're now offered on Mon. and Wed.

Although I might not always be skipping there after work, I really love my class. The classes are really small, with 7 people last session and 4 this time around. We're able to cover a lot of material and we all got to know each other really well. Last session was especially great because we all started bringing snacks to class. This meant that there was always a plethora of snacks to eat while we learned the new vocabulary or grammar. Which made learning Korean a whole lot sweeter....see what I did there?

So what did we cover in class? So much. Last session we learned verbs in present, past, and future tense. We learned tons of new vocabulary, useful slang, useful sentences, and learned about sentence structure. We worked on our pronunciation, our listening skills, and our writing.

Right now we're two classes into the new session. We've already learned how to ask "Can I...." and responses "No, you can't" "Yes, you can." We've learned opposite adjectives, new slang, and we've been reviewing anything we may have forgotten in the 2 week break between sessions.

Books that I used for last session and books I use this session

 The books all focus on a bunch of college students from all over the world studying abroad in Korea. The story lines are really simple and not very interesting but it's fun to see my teacher react to the character Hansel. She thinks he's creepy because he keeps hitting on poor Mina and wont leave her alone. I agree. Hansel, take a hint!

A page out of a book. This page is about opposite adjectives (big, small, difficult, easy, etc.)

Yesterdays class work. You can see some of my lovely notes.

Last session my class went out for dinner and drinks after our last class. It was really informal and fun. The super short video was recorded by the only male in the class.

Not my camera but you still get the idea. Going out for dinner and drinks with my teacher and classmates.

Peace! 평온!

Winter Vacation in Korea: Christmas, Hug Lines and Seoul

Happy New Years to all!

One of my many New Years resolutions is to blog more consistently, so here's my first blog post of the year!

I've been on vacation since Christmas Eve and it's been incredibly relaxing. I've been able to catch up on sleep, hang out with friends, and travel a bit.

Before vacation started, I decided to have a few fun winter-themed classes. I had my students make paper snowflakes and 3D snowflakes to take home or hang in the classroom. This was originally supposed to be a one day lesson and then we would watch a holiday movie on the last day. Yet, when it was time for the movie they kept asking me for more paper to make snowflakes. Not one to squish creativity, we had a movie and craft class. One student even started looking up origami to make little christmas trees. It was definitely one of my favorite activities to do with them.

My adorable 3rd and 4th graders. It was originally only supposed to be a movie day but they all wanted to make more snowflakes.

Again, I was only going to show a movie but they all wanted to keep making snowflakes.

Christmas Eve was spent eating Christmas cake, drinking hot chocolate, and watching movies with Megan. Christmas day was awesome. David, Megan, and I got lunch at a nice Italian restaurant, walked around and bought each other Christmas/Hanukkah gifts, went to Norabang (karaoke), and had a delicious dinner. At one point while walking around downtown we noticed a line of high school students holding signs for free hugs. Sometimes being a foreigner is really fun- I noticed a spot in line, walked up with my arms open and started saying "free hugs." Freaked out the kids next to me when they realized I was foreign and immediately I was swarmed with teenagers trying to hug me. They formed a line at one point and I felt like a celebrity. It actually got pretty crazy. Kids were pushing each other out of the way so they could hug a foreigner. Sometimes there was no warning as they jumped into my arms. It was really fun to see groups of friends (mainly teenage boys) egging each other on to hug me. Although I had a lot of fun wishing middle schoolers and high schoolers Merry Christmas with hugs, I decided it was time to stop when one teenage boy nuzzled my neck.

We attempted to eat this entire cake....we failed miserably. 

Such a cute family picture.  

This past weekend I went to Seoul with a few friends. We didn't do any of the touristy stuff (I'm saving my trip for the palace for the Spring when I'm not bundled up like a marshmallow) but it was nice to walk around and shop. I was having such a good time that I decided to stay an extra night alone (everyone else had work the next day). As I spent a good amount of time last year in hostels in South America, it was really nice to be back in a hostel. There's just such a great sense of community and friendliness. You meet the most interesting people from around the world. I ended up making a new friend and discovered a Korean man who sold falafel. So, believe it or not, I now have a falafel man in Korea. He comes to Gwangju every now and then to sell falafel in the market and I'm SUPER EXCITED for his next trip to our city.

This is the one and only picture I took of Hongdae in Seoul. I wasn't going to use it until I noticed the super happy couple that posed for my picture. Thanks random couple! 

Another highlight of my time in Seoul was the hostel I stayed at. If anyone wants a fun hostel to stay at in Seoul in a great location than Seoul Base Camp is the place to be. Not only is the owner awesome but he has a pet pig.

You read that right. A pig. Here's picture proof.

This pig was kinda crazy. It humped everything and sometimes bit toes...but he's so cute when he's asleep!

He wasn't super happy to be in my arms.

New Years Eve was full of friends, laughter, good food, dancing, and drinks. I had a lot of fun ringing in the New Year with new friends.

Peace!