Haggle Like a Fiend: Christmas in China

"Haggle like a fiend," some very good advice I received from the Lonely Planet Book:China. From December 23nd to December 30th, Andrew and I spent our first Christmas away from home in Beijing, China.

December 23rd: We arrived in China and the first thing we noticed was the amount of smog. I have read about pollution issues in China but even the airport was foggy! Very quickly the pollution issue took a backseat to the unbelievable cold winds that hit us the second we got into the taxi that would take us to our hotel. We arrived in the evening so we didn't get a chance to see very much on the ride in...but we were very excited none-the-less. When we arrived at the hotel the taxi meter said 52 Yuan, so that's what I paid him as Andrew was getting the bags out of the trunk. He kept pointing to a 10 Yuan all while speaking really fast Chinese (like I could even understand slow Chinese) and wanted me to pay more. Being stubborn...especially when it comes to spending money, I said 'NO' and pointed to the meter. Andrew just stood outside, he didn't bother to get back in and help me, so I was sitting in the stupid cab arguing in English while he spoke Chinese. Going nowhere...I began to get flustered and a woman from the hotel came over and said sometimes they make you pay 10 Yuan more for gas...I was like that's crap but whatever...here is your undeserving 62 Yuan and we walked into the hotel to check it. Needless to say...I wasn't speaking to Andrew and made him carry the bags.

December 24th: Being that we were in China for the first time, Andrew and I were very excited to begin our explorations. Before we left, like a big dork, I tabbed all the places I wanted to see in the Lonely Planet book that Andrew's dad had sent us (thanks again) so that we didn't have to research so much while in Beijing.

We began at the Forbidden City. Built in 1406-1420, the Imperial Palace was the permanent residence of the emperors of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and it wasn't until recently that the public has been allowed to tour it. The Imperial Palace is the largest and most complete group of ancient buildings that China has managed to preserve, and the word 'huge' doesn't even begin to describe it. It is made up of 980 buildings and covers more than 7,800,000 sq. feet! Andrew and I didn't get the chance to see all the buildings because we only spent two hours there and not several days but it was very cool. The buildings were beautiful and everything was so open. The only down fall was that it was so freakin cold we had to cut our trip to this beautiful landmark shorter than we want to.

Another interesting thing that I had read in the Lonely Planet book was about tourist scams. The book said where, when, and to whom it would happen to. Like clock work, as soon as we stepped off the subway to the Forbidden City we must have had "dumb tourists" stamped across our foreheads. Word-for-word what the book said was going to happen, did. A very nice Chinese girl approached Andrew and I and began striking up a conversation about how she was an art student and they were having a free exhibit right outside the city and wanted us to take a look. I politely said no and Andrew and I kept walking. It's important to take notice to who these scammers are talking to. They NEVER approach Chinese people....it's ALWAYS westerners...that's how you know something is up. The book said that people will come up to you claiming to be art students and will invite you to a free exhibit and then pressure you into buying really expensive knock-off paintings. They didn't realize they were messing with someone who A: is very stingy with money, and B: has done their research on scams in Beijing. Andrew and I were hit up by at least 6 'art students' that day...each conversation I got just a little more pissed off and annoyed.

Another annoyance in the Forbidden City dealt with the people handing out little Chinese flags to people as they were walking in. As soon as I was handed one they demanded money. They didn't make anyone else in front of me pay so I said "No way!" and tried to hand it back. Since I took it they were trying to make me pay. I was already annoyed with the fake art student scam that I was like whatever and just plopped the stupid little flag at their feet and kept walking. I was just annoyed about the whole thing because they were going to make me pay while they gave out 'free flags' to everyone else. The lesson learned on this Christmas Eve: Do your scamming homework!

After our two hour, freezing our butts off Forbidden City excursion, we decided to do something indoors. We checked out my tab marked "Shopping" and decided to experience the Silk Market. Now don't be fooled by the name, they did not just sell Silk here, they sell EVERYTHING here! There were 6 floors worth of knockoff watches, clothes, shoes, jewelry, electronics and pretty much anything else you can think of. Andrew and I walked in totally unprepared and overwhelmed by the whole thing. Chinese sales people shouting and literally pulling you into their booths to sell you stuff...I really wasn't quite sure what to do. But I remembered what the Lonely Planet book said, "Haggle like a fiend," and boy was that the best advice I have ever received about China. The Silk Market is a free market so you basically offer your best price and negotiate EVERYTHING! I was scared at first because this was nothing like bartering in Mexico, these people were literally crazy. But the more I did it, the more it became like a game and it was probably one of my favorite things to do while we were in China. To cap off the night, Andrew and I sat in the hotel lounge listening to Christmas Carols sung live by a Chinese Trio...overall, it was a very successful Christmas Eve in China.

December 25th: Merry Christmas! We wanted this to be a Christmas to remember so we had hoped to go to the Great Wall, but it was supposed to be really cold, so we set up our Great Wall tour for the 28th instead. So for Christmas, we thought we would go to a really cool science museum that I had tabbed. I know it sounds so strange...a science museum on Christmas...but whatever...being in China for Christmas was strange anyways. We bundled up and braved the subway. Once we got to our destination, our guide book did not tell us which direction to go to get to the museum. So we just decided to walk. Well...BIG mistake! I have never been in wind so cold in my entire life...we were lost...far away from the subway and absolutely no idea where this museum was. Andrew walked across the street to ask the man directing traffic. He spoke no English, he just pointed down the street, gestured right, gestured straight, and then right again. I looked and Andrew like, "What?" We thanked him and began walking straight. It was almost comical how cold it was. There was a mop proped up next to a tree, frozen to the trunk, and the water dripping off the mop was frozen into icicles! I told Andrew that mans directions mean nothing to us so we went inside the closest bank to ask the guard for directions. He didn't speak English so he went to get another man that couldn't understand us, and then finally a bank customer came over. She told us we needed to get on bus number 104 and then get off at the stop that sounded like, (enter Chinese name here). We thanked them and left. Knowing our past experience with buses in Ulsan, we were not about to get on a bus and not know when to get off.

It was so freaking cold that I was literally speaking with the kind of lisp you get when you suck on ice and I thought my cheeks were going to fall off. We decided that our first indication that we're going to get lost was when I asked the concierge about the museum and she had never heard of it...then stupid us, we thought we could find it. Well...we never did make it so again we turned to an indoor activity...the Pearl Market. Much like the Silk Market but a little calmer. With a little more confidence, we let the haggling games begin and we had ourselves a very Merry Christmas!

December 26th: Of course, it was freezing cold again but we had to see the sites. So once again, we bundled ourselves up and took off for the Temple of Heaven and the Temple of Heaven Park. Built in 1420, it was the place where the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties went to worship Heaven, offer sacrifices and pray. It was a very large and beautiful park. I wish we were able to see it in the spring when I'm sure it's gorgeous. When we walked in, there was music playing and local Chinese dancing away. It was a hilarious sight to see because everyone was just doing their own thing. Some were gypsy dancing, others were ballroom dancing, and there were a few that Andrew and I were not sure what they were doing.

As we got closer to the monuments, the painting detail of these structures were unbelievable. I can't imagine how long it takes to repaint them to keep the colors so vibrant but it was absolutely beautiful to look at. One of the coolest things we saw/read about was the 70-year-old door. In 1779 Emperor Qianlong was 70 years old and his health was failing. So in order to make the walk to the ceremonies a shorter distance, the Ministry of Rituals made a small door in the wall west of the Imperial Hall of Heaven. However the Emperor was scared that his offspring would abuse the convenience of the door he issued a decree saying, "From now on only he among my offspring can enter and exit by this door who has reached the age of 70." None of the following emperors reached this age so he was the only one to ever use this door.

Another cool thing in this park was the Circular Mound. Built in 1530, this alter served as a place for holding the ceremony of worshipping Heaven at the Winter Solstice every year. The steps of each flight of stairs contains 9 steps, symbolizing the 9 layers of Heaven. Everything thing about this structure was made up of multiples of 9. In the center is the Heavenly Center Stone. It is said that the voice of a person standing on this center stone sounds perfectly resonant and sonorous.

Again freezing our butts off, Andrew and I went into this little souvenir shop to warm up. When we walked in we noticed all of these fancy Chinese dress up clothes. Well turns out, you could get your picture taken dressed up as an Emperor and Empress. Naturally we asked how much. The price was perfect, so being the good sport that Andrew is, we got to play dress up and had our picture taken! It was hilarious and even other tourists walking by us were laughing and taking pictures of us on their cameras!

December 27th: One of the other most recognizable tourist attractions in Beijing is Tian'anmen Square. Set right across the street from the Forbidden City. Its claim to fame is the largest city square in the world but it is also home to several events since it's building during the Ming Dynasty. Sorry there is not a whole lot to report about it. It's literally a giant, flat meeting square. There is one very cool monument that is guarded 24 hours a day and dedicated to The People's Heroes. I'm not really sure why we didn't just go when we were down there at the Forbidden City, but I guess we just thought there was more to it.

After we left Tian'anmen Square we decided to take the day easy. We once again opted for an the indoor activity of shopping and returned with confidence to the Silk Market...just to see what unnecessary things we could haggle for (and when I say 'we,' I really mean me. Andrew is to nice of a negotiator).

December 28th: The day has arrived that we have finally been waiting for! When you think about things to see in China what's the first thing that comes to your mind? ...The Great Wall of China or course! Our tour was to begin at 9am and continue until 5pm. 9am rolls around and we seem to be the only one's waiting in the lobby. A nice, young Chinese woman appears and Andrew asks her about the tour. Apparently, we were the only ones crazy enough to want to climb the Great Wall in the winter time so we had a private tour! We rode the bus about an hour and our first stop was the famous Ming Tombs. There are 13 emperors of the Ming dynasty buried at different parts of the foot of this massive mountain. Each tomb significantly smaller than the previous Emperor because they could not have a tomb bigger than their ancestors which I thought was interesting. You can only tour the first and the biggest one. It was the tomb of Emperor Chengzu. He was the third Emperor of the Ming Dynasty and he was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City. The previous two emperors had gone 'missing' so their tombs were not part of the 13.

Basically what I understood was that they build their own tombs while they are still alive. There is such a strong belief in the afterlife in China, that the emperor in a sense builds himself a palace similar to the one he rules in underground as his tomb. When he passes, he is buried with all of his belongings...jewels, crowns, clothing, dinnerware....everything. However, his tomb just looks like a giant hill because the Chinese government will not allow it to be opened. So all they know that somewhere in this 'hill' lies the emperor, his empress and their underground palace that no one has ever seen. In the early 1950s, the government sponsored an excavation of the 13th and smallest tomb to see what they could find. As soon as the oxygen hit the treasures, everything was completely ruined except the actual casket tomb of the emperor. However, that was later burned in a protest during their cultural revolution. Since everything is destroyed, the Chinese government will allow no one to open any of the other tombs. So, we were kind of bummed that we were unable to see anything besides huge mounds of dirt...but it was still pretty neat.

Another cool/scary fact our tour guide told us about was the ancient Chinese version of quality control. All of the bricks used in the Ming Tombs, the Great Wall and many other ancient buildings are stamped with the name is the man who built the bricks. If the bricks were to crumble or fall apart, they would look for the bricks stamp and kill not only the man who made it, but also his entire family! Talk about quality control! After the Ming Tombs we visited a Jade factory where we learned about the history of China Jade as well as how to tell if it's real or fake...it was very beautiful and very interesting.

The Forbidden City, The Great Wall, The Ming Tombs, and even Olympic Park are all built on the same line. If you were to take a birds eye view of these places, they are built in a perfect line the Chinese call the Dragon Line...just a cool fact I thought I'd share.

After a delicious Chinese lunch we drove another 20 minutes to the Great Wall of China! It is more than 5,500 miles long in total and I think Beijing has over 1,000 miles of it. When we arrived at the base, our tour guide said that it's about 1,600 steps to the 7th tower. Ok...now let me set the scene. Anytime I have seen pictures of the Great Wall, people are smiling and it seems to go on forever in the background of their pictures. But it looks fairly flat...more on the horizontal side. Well...the part of the wall we went to in Beijing was built completely vertical on the side of a mountain. I was beginning to have chest pains just looking at it. We are so bundled up we look like we are going skiing and it's not quite the loose movement attire you would wear mountain climbing, which was exactly what we were about to do. Andrew and I snap a couple of pictures and excitedly started our assent to the top. This excitement fades fast and turns to pure exhaustion and we hadn't made it to tower one yet! Tower two seemed already out of the question if I didn't pass out making it to tower one. We were never told this was such a physically demanding adventure and we now knew why our tour guide told us to meet her back at the bottom in an hour and half...she was not about to climb it with us. Andrew had momentum from the get go and quickly surpassed me. Embarrassed as I am to say it, I took my camera out and 'pretended' to take photos of the scenery so that I could catch my breath. It's so pathetic I know...but my heart has never beaten that fast and I honest to god though it was going to leap of my chest...or go into cardiac arrest...which ever came first. Here is the reason it was so hard, despite the fact that it seemed to be at about an 80degree angle, the steps were really uneven. Some little, some were normal sized and then the killer ones were knee level. You are already exhausted and then you have to lift your leg knee height and push off like some ridiculous stair stepping class.

By the time we made it to tower one I wanted to die. We 'rested' there for about 10 minutes taking pictures and trying to get our breathing back to normal. Now at this point, the scenery would have been breathtaking had the stairs not gotten to us first. It's even colder since you are on a mountain but you begin to sweat from the grueling physical activity that now you're even colder because your sweat is drying. So let's recap my state at this point...tower one, sweating but freezing, thighs/calves burning like hell, heart pounding so hard it's beginning to hurt and be a little scary, and the worst part is that we still have to go back down! They do have a railing but it's at knee level and more awkward to use that not use.

After some much needed resting, Andrew and I know this might be the only time in our lives to see the Great Wall, so we can't wimp out now. So we decided to climb to tower two and then decide from there. This climb was significantly easier...I didn't even have to "take pictures" on my way up. My heart was still pounding and my calves were still burning but we took a minute rest and decided to suck it up to tower three. Well tower three was worth the view. It was stunning and we were proud to have made it that far. We snapped some pictures and looked at tower four. "Ya, right" we thought. Tower four seemed even more horrendous than the others, we decided that three was enough because we wanted to live to tell about it and walking to tower four would have probably killed us. To help with our bruised egos, we decided that if we weren't on a time crunch and had as much time as we wanted...we could have gone higher...but I guess we'll never know.

Now the way down...there is only one word to decribe it.....SCARY! You are walking down uneven stairs at an 80 degree slant with a railing that hits at your knees. Your body is exhausted and your legs are shaking...the perfect mixture for a disasterous fall. Luckily for us, we managed. I couldn't imagine what would happen if you did fall...there is nothing to stop you from rolling or break your fall except for some uneven concrete. My heart goes out to the poor souls who had to build it...I don't know how they got those bricks up there. The tour guide said they also call the wall the 'Longest Cemetary in the World' because when men died building it, they just buried them on the side of the wall.

To congratulate myself on making it to tower three, Andrew bought me some ice cream in the souvinere shop at the bottom of the wall. I was probably the only ice cream consumer that cold day, but I deserved it! It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen....but seriously the most exhausting!

December 29th: Surprisingly we didn't wake up sore as heck. We decided to take an easy day so we took the subway to the Lama Temple. It's the largest Buddist Temple in all of China so being the temple goers we are in Korea, our trip wouldn't have been completed without visiting the largest one. Sadly there isn't much to share other than it was comprised of beautiful buildings and architecture. People were burning incents to honor Budda so we didn't take a lot of pictures since it's still an active temple and we didn't want to offend anyone. But it was cool to see and a very beautiful place.

That evening was our last in China so we only had one thing left to do, eat Peking Duck. Beijing is famous for it so we couldn't have returned to Korea without filling our stomachs with delicious duck. Andrew and I met a friend from high school who lives in Beijing now, Kyle, so we all decided to meet up for some duck. I was really nervous at first becuase all of the pictures I have seen show the cooked duck with its neck and beak still attached...it completly grossed me out. Well, having Kyle there was very helpful when it came to ordering because he speaks fluent Chinese so we were able to order a traditional Peking Duck meal. Well, when the order came out, the chef rolled the duck out on a little cart and proceeded to slice it like a turkey after cutting off its neck. I was happy because now I could tell myself it was turkey. Then, he cut off the head and sliced it in half, put it on a little plate, and set in in the middle of the table like we were supposed to eat it's brains out. It was totally disgusting and I had to move it out of my sight. You could not pay me to eat the brains. It had it's beak on for gosh sakes! Anyways...the duck was actually really good and kind of tasted like a greasier, fattier turkey,

December 30th: At 9am we left Beijing with frost-bite, a lot of unneseaasry haggeling purchases and great memories and headed to Seoul, South Korea for New Years. The 3 1/2 hour flight took us a total of 14 hours travel times due to delays for things we aren't sure of because no one spoke English. So after an exhausitng 14 hours travel time, one taxi scam, and a wrong hotel number, we finally made it to Seoul.


December 31st: We took the day easy and lazy. We finally left the hotel about 2pm and headed out for something to eat. Excited about Quizno's, but after an ad for Mexican food in the subway, our appetites changed and we found a whole in the wall, Korean version of Mexican food that was delicious. We went back to the hotel to relax until the New Year's Eve festivites began. We heard about a "Times Square type" celebration in downtown Seoul and we wanted to take part. We got there about 10:30pm and there weren't that many people there so we thought maybe we had the wrong place. The number of police officers outnumbered spectators at leaset 2 to 1 at this point. Well, 11pm rolls around and the people start flooding in. The police closed off the street and the crowd flooded in so naturally we followed. Since we were there early, we weren't too far from the stage. Some Korean pop groups performed and then after the countdown from 10-1 in Korean, Roman candels went off everywhere, and they rang this huge gong.

Well, the stroke of midnight was not as climatical as I had hoped. This jackass (excuse my language) next to us thought it would be a great idea to trow an egg in the air as the gong was rung. I don't know what he thought would happen when he threw an egg in the air with tens of thousands of people packed like sardines. Well...what goes up must come down. That darn egg hit the head of the girl next to me, splattering my camera, my coat, Andrew's camera and jacket and the guy behind Andrew. The idiot man kept saying, "I sorry, I sorry," and something to the effect of, "I friends of Korean President...blah...blah...blah." I was so mad I just looked at him in awe like, "You are the biggest dumbass!" Well...the egg incident ruined the evening but I guess it made for a good story!

Sorry this is so unbelievably long...if you made it to the end, congratulations! I'll make the next entry shorter!

Happy New Year everyone!

A Jail Break and Super Glue

I know I have been slacking lately...my life here has been very boring but Andrew and I leave for China on December 22nd so there will be lots of adventures to report back...just stay tuned! But before all that excitement begins...I have two funny stories from last week.

Story #1: On Wednesday afternoon, December 9th, I was sitting in my office youtube'in some TV episodes when two 5th grade boys came in to bring Johnson and I milk boxes which is an everyday occurrence. They noticed that Johnson was not there and when they asked I told them that he had left for the day. They bowed, said goodbye and left. I heard them giggle a little on their way out but didn't think anything of it.

5:00pm rolls around and I am gathering my stuff to leave. I turn the computer off and hit the lights but I can't get out my office door. Well...needless to say I now knew why they were snickering. Those freakin' kids locked me into my office! (My office use to be a storage closet so it locks from the outside.) I was thinking, "crap...I don't even have the phone number to the front desk for someone to come let me out!"

That's when I became all James Bond like and squeezed through some bookcases that separated part of my office from the computer lab. I knew it was a shot in the dark whether that door was even unlocked because being a computer lab, it's locked all the time. So I got myself through and to my utter surprise and excitement, the door was unlocked!!

This could have been a very embarrassing situation had my survival skills not kicked in :)

Story #2: Thursday, December 10th, I taught my one 5th grade class during first period as usual and then Johnson said I didn't need to teach the 4 sixth grade classes with him today because he was just giving them a computerized listening test and didn't want to make me sit through that. Well, my other co-teacher caught wind that I was not having to go with him and told Johnson that I HAD to go. He felt bad and after the first class he told me the the fifth grade class two was doing crafts and that I should sneak in there and hang out with them since it would be far more entertaining.

The class was making their own cute little gift boxes. Being the crafty person I am I happily joined it. Well, I didn't really know all the directions since the teacher obviously gave them in Korean but I thought I had the gist. Turns out...there was some key information I missed because my box was so ugly and the top didn't even fit. Some of the girls came to help me fix it and we were having some pretty funny conversation because the language barrier was so bad. Well, I was so distracted with our conversation I failed to notice the superglue that had somehow gotten on my cheek.

Yes, that's right super glue. We were using super glue and most of the time instead of scissors, the kids use exacto-knifes...even the third graders. I was so embarrassed by this I didn't want to make a big deal of it, so I tried to just inconspicuously pick at it. No one else managed to get super glue on their faces...hands maybe...but not their face! One boy did put a little in a girls hair...so I felt lucky it was just on my cheek. Anyways...long story short, the top of my cheek was red and flaky and it took about two days for it all to come off!

I plan on being a little more careful that next time I get to sneak into craft time :)

Random Rant

This won't take long...there are no pictures to enjoy...or tales of great travel to be told. It's just a brief venting period...


So, one of my students Kyle, yes, the same after school boy that I Karate chopped a few weeks back for strangling a poor boy in my class is at it again...

Last week, the week of November 16th, after school English class started off like any other. After the first hour, I always give the kids a 10-15 break to read their comics and eat their snacks (2 hours of English after school is entirely too long in my opinion). Anyways, the break time was over and I asked all the students to return to their tables so we can begin the second half. As usual, the other students in the class obeyed and came scurrying back to their seats, a little chatty but they were there. Kyle on the other hand was not. I ask for him to take his seat so that we could begin class.

(I forgot some key information. My co-teacher was not there and we are having class in the library. The tables where the kids sit are in the front of the room and there are book shelves in the middle with an aisle down the middle so the kids can easily get to the tables...just to set the scene a little bit.)


So back to Kyle, being the pain in the butt that he is, he decides to walk at a snails pace while weaving through the books shelves as opposed to walking normally through the middle. He begins to utter something in Korean, (which I'm sure isn't polite) and is seriously barely moving with his eyes locked on me. I'm like...ok "Kyle, please pali pali! (hurry hurry in Korean)" He continues at this ridiculous pace and holding up class. So I just looked him in the eyes and thought two can play this game. So...I let him ramble and baby step all the way to his seat. Once he got there, he pulled his chair to sit. I looked at him and said, "No, Kyle...you can't sit. You didn't listen to me. Please pick up your chair and come to the front." He looked at me and said, "Bad Teacher." In my head I was like, "You're the most annoying kid ever, so call me whatever you want. (At least this insult was in English)" So he brought his chair to the front and began to sit down. I said, "No, Kyle. Lift the chair over your head until I say stop."

Ok...I know you are thinking this is so cruel, but it is a very mild form of punishment. I will admit that I felt a little bad when he started whining, "Ahh...ahhh...ouch...hurts." But then I would look at him, and I just wouldn't feel bad anymore. I only made him stay that way for a few minutes, but he behaved the rest of that class so it was a success. I don't think he'll be snail walking anytime soon...

I hate to say it...but it's true...sometimes authority is a beautiful thing.

The Flu, A Bike and Pepero

Let me give you some important background information before I tell you a story. The weather in Ulsan has been very pleasant, upper 60s since about October. There have been spurts of cold weather here and there, but they seem to blow by just as fast and they blew in.

So last Monday and Tuesday, November 2nd and 3rd, it was oddly cold. The temperature dropped into the mid 40s and the wind was blowing hard and cold as heck. I went into school wearing jeans, a long sleeved shirt and my black fleece (the warmest 'coat' I brought) and realized there was no difference in temperature from the cold outside to the chill inside. As I walked up the three flights to my office, I noticed that everyone still had on their coats and scarfs and gloves. Well I soon discovered why. It felt rather drafty and I realized that they had all the windows open like it was summer again. I was so confused because it was freezing outside, why do they insist on keeping them open.

My first third grade class began and the kids were literally shaking. All the windows in the room were open and it was absolutely freezing. The kids had on their winter coats, hats, gloves, blankets on their legs, and hand warmers! Yes, that's right...hand warmers! The little one-time use packets that we would use in the USA to make it through a cold football game. But these kids were using them in the classroom! I thought how ridiculous. This is not a good learning environment and these poor kids are going to catch a cold.

After two days of this madness I finally asked Johnson why are the windows open in the winter. He simply said, "it keeps kids from spreading the swine flu. This way there is constantly fresh air entering the classroom." At this point, more than 10% of my school has the flu, so clearly this theory is irrelevant. I just kind of laughed to myself and asked if he was serious. O, he was and he didn't seem to see my humor in his theory. I asked Andrew if the scenario at his school was the same, which it was, and he too asked why. We compared notes, and it's true. They keep the windows OPEN to keep OUT the swine flu.

I just let it go...I'm in Korea and I will do things their way. But I just want to say something. Ok, so having fresh air is a positive, and I no longer have to be concerned with what shirt I am going to wear to school since I never take off my coat or scarf (two points for the Korean Theory). On the other hand, kids cannot write well with wool gloves on, they are going to catch colds or even hypothermia thus turning into the flu, and the blankets and hand warmers belong at an outdoor football game, not in the classroom (six points me). PS: If you have any of those mittens where the top folds back exposing the fingers, please send. It would make typing at my desk a lot easier....and warmer!

This past Saturday, November 7th, Andrew and I decided to take advantage of some beautiful weather we were having. It was sunny and about 70 degrees so we decided to take a picnic lunch to Ulsan Grand Park. It's about a 15 min taxi ride from our apartment and we really didn't know where we were going (as usual) since we had never been there but we were excited. We got out of the taxi and the first thing we saw were thousands of beautiful flowers! They even had "Ulsan" spelled out at the entrance. The park was absolutely gorgeous...and crowded! The leaves on the trees were at their peak of beauty and the large pond and waterfall caught their reflection. We took a seat on a bench by the water and began eating. It didn't take long to notice that so many people were riding bikes. We realized you could rent them so we did what any nerdy foreign couple would do after a picnic in the park...we rented one...that's right one...a tandem bike to be exact, a nice bright yellow one! I was so excited since I had never ridden a bicycle built for two. Needless to say, it took some time to get use to but once we got the hang of it was quite an experience. We had few close calls but we blame it on the fact that one of the breaks was broken, our gears barely switched and our front tire was flat.

Later that night we went to dinner and decided to ride the famous Farris wheel that lights up the Ulsan skyline. It wasn't until then that I found out Andrew was slightly afraid of heights...so I enjoyed the view from above, while he closed his eyes and directed me on what to take pictures of to show him later :) Overall, we had a really great Saturday on a beautiful fall day.

November 11th, or Pepero Day! This has to be one of my new favorite Korean days! It is named after a Korean snack, Pepero, since the date (11.11) resembles four sticks of Pepero. It is similar to Valentine's Day I guess, because young people give these candy sticks, both bought and homemade, to their friends (and in my case teachers). It is said to have started in 1994 by some middle school girls in Busan who exchanged Pepero sticks as gifts to wish each other to grow as tall and slender as a Pepero stick! It's interesting, and I have enough Pepero sticks to ensure that I won't grow as slender as the candy stick.

A very old Temple and some Halloween Fun

Last week, Oct. 22nd and 23rd, Andrew and I had an EPIK in service training in Gyeongju; a historical city about an hour northwest of Ulsan. The training lasted all day Thursday and until 2pm on Friday. It being our first time there, we decided to stay until Saturday and do some site seeing. We had also gotten wind of an ATV mountain tour that peeked our interest. (We actually never found the ATV tour and aren't even sure it existed. I found it on a kind of shady website...in Korean...so maybe I 'read' it wrong :)

After the conclusion of the training, Johnson drove us to a cheaper hotel we found online and he said he would talk to the people to try to get us a discount because Hakseong often stayed at their hotel for soccer tournaments. Well, when we go there, he talked to the lady at the front desk and then translated to us that it's originally 80,000 won a night, but he 'talked' her down to 60,000 (about $50.) Whether that was true or not, I'll take a discount when I can get one.



When Johnson left to return to Ulsan, Andrew and I decided to take a walk around the Bulguksa Temple. This temple was completed in 774 AD and it served as a center of Silla Buddhism and of prayer for the protection of the country from foreign invasion. Sadly, like many other ancient Korean landmarks, the entire temple was burnt d0wn by Japanese invaders in 1593 (they should have prayed a little harder...) and it wasn't rebuilt until 1969 after thorough research, investigations and excavation of the ancient temple site. Something I thought was pretty cool, was that in 1995, the temple was designated as the world cultural heritage by the UNESCO.


As Andrew and I walked up the stairs to the temple grounds, the scene was literally breathtaking. I couldn't imagine seeing this temple for the first time at any other moment during the year. The trees were at their most beautiful fall peaks and the colors were simply gorgeous. (We see no trees living in the city of Ulsan, so it was an amazing site to see). The temple grounds were filled with beautiful trees but the most beautiful site of all were the trees that surrounded a pond and a waterfall. Andrew and I took like a hundred pictures and just couldn't stop staring at such natural beauty. I wish you all could have been there in person. These pictures just don't do it justice.

After we walked the temple grounds, we got on a bus to take us up the mountain to see the Seokguram Grotto, another UNESCO world cultural heritage landmark. The ride was less than exciting. I hear the views are beautiful but I was too busy closing my eyes and concentrating on not getting sick all over the bus. It was a miserable windy ride. The grotto was constructed in 751 AD and it represents not only the supremacy of Silla art, but it is also regarded as the best oriental Buddhist work. Sadly we were not allowed to take pictures because of how old it is I'm guessing. But it was a cool looking giant Buddha. I'm sad to admit, but for me, the view from the top of the mountain at sunset was even cooler!

The bus ride down from the grotto had to be the most miserable 15 minutes of my whole life. It would be wise for them to put air sick bags in each seat. They probably would have come in handy for the poor girl that got sick immediately after stepping off the bus. I know we all felt that way, and the last thing I wanted to do was get on another bus to take us to our next tourist destination. After waiting 20 minutes for the bus and trying to settle our stomachs, Andrew and I rode for 45 min on a bus where we weren't even sure would take us to the right place. Well, as usual, we missed our stop and just ended up getting off the bus. We ended up in 'Love Motel Ally' and weren't even sure how to get back. We flagged a taxi and pointed to the map of where we were trying to go. The map was in English, the taxi driver only spoke Korean...it took us a while to communicate where we wanted to go but eventually we got there.

We were at the Gyeongju Imhaejeon Site on the Anapji lake, a site you can really only appreciate at night time because they have the coolest up lighting on all of the buildings and around the lake. It is a separate palace that the King of the Unified Silla period had built so that he could plant rare flowers and trees and raise uncommon birds and animals. The King also used this place to hold banquets and lavish parties. Once again, it was destroyed by the Japanese and rebuilt in 1975. They have a model of what it might have looked like as well as some actual artifacts that were found when the lake was drained and cleaned.

It was beautiful and the had music playing as we walked the path around the lake. The lighting was gorgeous and even had color changing lights around some of the streams.

After a full day of site seeing we returned to our hotel where we had a very nutritious meal consisting of fried chicken, fries and Pepsi. What a great day!


Wednesday, October 28th, I threw my after school kids a Halloween party! It was so much fun. We played all kinds of Halloween games like 'Pin the tail on the Black cat,' we made construction Jack-o-Lanterns, masks, Ghost suckers, and BINGO (a Korean favorite). Their favorite activity had to be the toilet paper Mummy rap race...boys against girls. It's always good to promote healthy competition. Not to be biased in any way, but the girls kicked butt, look at the picture and you can be the judge! It was a fun time and a nice break from the English studying that we usually do. I think that all kids around the world should celebrate Halloween...everyone loves free candy! But if I have to hear, "Teacher changey...changey...." one more time...I might go crazy. If I gave them a piece of candy, they always wanted to 'change' the flavor. So I stopped that madness real quick. (That's me, in the Witch hat and striped leggings).

By the way, I have posted a few videos on youtube. Just type in 09Ulsan in the search tab. They are short because my camera can't take long videos but they are kind of fun!

Assumptions

Sorry it's been several weeks since my last entry. Sadly my life has turned into a bit of a routine; something I assumed wouldn't happen while I was here with so many adventures lurking to be discovered.

First things first, a volleyball update. So, Wednesday October 7 the volleyball routine began like any other. Change into uniform at 1:50pm. Load into a random teachers car at 2pm and then warm up beginning promptly at 2:30pm. Well, all occurred in that order...except we were at a random school warming up and there was no other team there. So I just assumed we were practicing for another big game. Well, there I go assuming again and in walks our competition around 3pm. We cleared the court so they could have their time to warm up. I just stared as they were practicing their spikes. I looked at Johnson and seriously asked if we were playing them. They were in a league of their own. You could not classify those "Meet the Parents, nose breaking" kind of spikes as recreational. These guys were not messing around and my fun index dropped to fear. I was not ready for this. Well, to make a short game recap even shorter, we got killed and I'm lucky to have walked away with only a raspberry on my knee. A minor battle wound to what could have been...

Since we lost we didn't go out as a team for more octopus, Soju Bombs, and Karaoke. And since we lost I assumed we were finished with the tournament, or what I understood as a 'qualifying' game for the all day Saturday event.

Saturday. Andrew's volleyball team hadn't lost a game and therefore qualified for the tournament. So from noon until 9:30pm, I sat in a gym and watched teachers play volleyball. Needless to say I was less than thrilled. Parts of the day were entertaining...others I was struggling to stay awake. We arrived at noon so we assumed Andrew's team was playing at 1pm or so. Not exactly. He didn't even play his first game until 3:45pm. We think maybe they were scoping out their competition...not really sure. Like I said, volleyball in Korea is taken extremely seriously. Winning is everything and having fun depends on only if you are victorious.

Well, they lost their first game. Andrew and I didn't know if that meant they were finished or playing again...a double elimination kind of thing...no one told us anything because they didn't speak English. So we sat around because they sat around. Turns out, it was double elimination and Andrew's team ended up winning the entire tournament! Andrew even had a clutch play in the semi-final game to send his team into the championship. (A feat he continues to brag about every chance he gets). They played the team that beat them the first game in the championship. It was actually a very exciting game. And after 9 hours...I was standing on my feet beating water bottles together with the other fans. I'm not really sure if I was excited that the game was so close in score or that it was so close to being over. Either way, his team walked away with a trophy, a certificate and an MVP. His principal even game us 30,000 won (about $25) to eat dinner on!

Wednesday October 14th, I was given my first traditional Korean painting lesson by a 5th grade teacher, Mrs. Pan. She drew four lines on a piece on very thin paper and said this is very basic movement that I needed to master. Four lines. Really, how hard could it be? I assumed it would take me like two times to get it right and then I could move on to more 'difficult' things like the flowers she was painting. Well, there I went assuming again. Those four 'basic' lines, I have worked on three different days now. I have probably painted those same lines over 50 times and it still looks embarrassingly awful. There is such an elegant technique that has to be done in order to get the lines just right. The paintbrush is very big and awkward...I still don't think I hold it quite right. The ink is very watery and the paper is really, really thin so the ink bleeds easily. It's been a very interesting experience and it is awesome to watch how gracefully she paints. I now take lessons from her every Wednesday and Friday after school and I am really enjoying the learning experience as well as her company. She is so sweet!

O geeze...Monday October 19th. I had to teach my after school kids alone because Johnson had a meeting from 4pm to 6:30pm. I was a little nervous because I now had no interpreter, but I began class like normal. 15 minutes into class, I was writing the new vocab words on the board when I heard two chairs screech across the floor. I turned around to see Kyle and Jack (their English names) standing and facing each other whispering something I obviously didn't understand. Let me paint a picture, Kyle is not your average 6th grader. He has an inch on me and about 30 pounds. Jack is an average 5th grader and very scrawny compared to Kyle. They both just had an extreme look of rage in their eyes and I knew something was about to happen. So I got in between them and told them to relax and sit down. More Korean words were exchanged and I assumed awful things had been said because while I was trying to get them to sit, Kyle reached across and grabbed Jacks throat. I yelled at Kyle and grabbed his arm to let go. Kyle did not let up and wasn't listening to me. So the first thing that came to my mind was to Karate chop his arm to let go of poor Jacks throat. Well, I did it and he let go. Jack sat down, tears in his eyes and a red neck. I grabbed Kyles stuff and put it in the back of the room and told him to sit.

I walked back to the front of the class and just looked at the clock like you have got to be kidding...it's only been 15 min. I was so shaken up by the whole thing I totally lost my train of thought. I wanted to lecture Kyle so bad but it would do no use because he wouldn't know what I was saying anyways. There were no teachers around because they were in a meeting and I just couldn't believe what had just taken place. A kid was almost choked to death in my class and I karate chopped a students arm. Physical abuse is often used among Korean teachers towards students but I am just not comfortable with it at all...but I felt like I had no choice. With the hate in Kyle's eyes, I was afraid he was going to hit me...it was awful.

On a happier note, October 20th was an all school picnic day! I was so excited to go and couldn't wait to see what they did. Well, I assumed we would go to park and play organized field games, eat lunch and return to school. Wrong again. We walked with all the kids about 20 minutes from the school to a trail by the river. All the kids put their backpacks in neat little lines and we continued walking for about 20 more minutes. The kids messed around on some exercise equipment for about 10 minutes and then we walked back to where they dropped off their backpacks. They began to engage in snack time (which I was not informed would take place so I was less than prepared). Several students noticed the starvation look on my face and began giving me snacks! It was great!

After snack time, Tessah (another English Teacher) and I went to play games with students. They just flocked to us and were so excited that we came, it was really cute. Well, this put the pressure on us to come up with some games on the spot. It was a kind of 'bring your own equipment' sort of picnic. I remembered a hand clapping game, Down By the Bank, and Tessah knew it too so we taught it to a group of girls. It went over really well...until they got bored. So the next game we played was the 'Tap, Tap, Clap, Clap, Snap, Snap Numbers game' we play at Grandma Stremme's every Christmas. They REALLY liked that game and I was happy because I was struggling think of any more.

Tessah and I were saved by lunch time. All the students brought their lunches and the teachers had Chinese food delivered. This was real Chinese food, none of that American stuff, and it was actually really delicious. We ate for about 10 minutes before we were attacked by a group of student wanting to play more 'American games.' We racked our brain for some more games. We got so desperate that we taught them the Macaraina...haha. The kids did a nice job of finding stuff to do without equipment. After the American game time...they all went searching for bugs. They were catching dragon flies, baby lizards, caterpillars, huge grasshopper things they chased me around with and several other critters I did not participate in catching. All in all, it was so much fun to hang out with the kids outside of a school setting.

Moral of this blog entry...QUIT ASSUMING!

A "Seoulful" Chuseok

That's right! Andrew and I met my brother and Andrea in Seoul this past weekend for the Korean Thanksgiving holiday, Chesouk. It is a major three day harvest festival that is celebrated 8 months and 15 days after the lunar new year begins. It is actually the biggest holiday in Korea and we almost didn't get train tickets to go.

Ok...a quick update on last Wednesday's first volleyball game. WE WON! And then we all went out to eat to celebrate and then we went to a Karaoke bar. I decided to sing Michael Jackson, Beat It. They especially enjoyed my imitation of the moon walk. Very entertaining evening!

Now back to Seoul. We caught the 7:12pm train on Thursday night since we had no school on Friday or Monday. It took about four hours to get there and we only had to make one train transfer which we almost missed, but that's a minor detail.

Adventure #1: We arrived in Seoul about 12:20am and really had no idea what we were supposed to do. Honestly, the whole trip was really last minute because we couldn't find tickets so we were a bit disorganized. (For those of you who know me well...that is definitely not my style, so I was a little stressed.) We walked outside and the only information we had was what we thought was the hostel address. Andrew forgot to print off the paper with the directions and phone number, this was mistake number one. So we walked out to where the taxi's were and hoped someone know where the 'Guys and Dolls Hostel' was located. It wasn't a brothel I swear although it does kind of sound like one. No one really spoke English, so this man came to help because we obviously looked lost. We showed him the paper and he called a few more people over to help. He finally looked at us like he knew where we were going and put us in a taxi.

A $10 taxi ride later we were in front of a university. I thought we might have been in the right place because I thought the web site said it was located close to the university. I asked a guy who looked about my age if he spoke English, which he replied yes, and I showed him the address. He confidently pointed to the left and told us 5 min down the street. I looked at Andrew like, "Great! We are on our way!" Ten minutes later we still hadn't seen it and I didn't feel like we were going too. So I walked into the police department to ask them. ( I wasn't sure if that was allowed but Andrew said they are there to 'protect and serve' so I went a long with it.) I showed them the paper and he tried to find it on a map, which he couldn't, and I began to worry. He started to make some phone calls and after ten minutes, we were still sitting in the waiting area. I began to feel bad that this was taking so much time. I was also a little nervous because if the police couldn't find it then it must not be legit. However, after several phone calls he showed us on the map where we needed to go and let Andrew talk to the host on the phone. When Andrew talked to him, he asked if he knew we were at the police station. Did he really think we were that stupid? Anyways, we completely backtracked to where we came from and the host met us at the university. Needless to say, if he didn't meet us, we never would have found it. It was tucked in an ally way and there wasn't even a sign! The host was nice and the place was clean, it ended up working out alright.

Adventure #2: We woke up early because we had to switch hostels and after getting lost the night before, we didn't want to waste our whole first day wondering around. Check in at Hostel Korea wasn't until 1:00pm so we were hoping we could just drop our stuff off and begin our exploration. Andrew did end up navigating the subway system well and we made it there in no time. It seemed legit and nice so we dropped our stuff off and went about our day. The eight year old Lonely Planet book that we found in our apartment is what we used to navigate, so we were never really sure if the places we were going were still there.

The first place we went was called Insadong and the Namdaemun Market for some local shopping. We got off the subway and the first thing we saw was a Pizza Hut...then a Smoothie King...then a Subway! I knew it was going to be a great day. The shopping was your typical tourist shopping and I was a little disappointed. But a fun experience anyway. On our way back from shopping, we were walking to Subway so I could have my first turkey sandwich in more than a month which it record, and we heard two girls screaming in front of us. As we kept walking we noticed a bum passed out drunk on the sidewalk with his pants down and everything exposed. I just kinda shrugged and said T.I.K. A term foreigners use when something strange happens. It stands for 'This Is Korea."

Adventure #3: After a delicious lunch, we just decided to cross the street to see what else was around us when a man came over and asked us where we were from. We told him the USA and he said that he had lived in Houston for the past 16 years but he is from Korea. We began talking when he asked us if we had seen the palace yet. We said no but we wanted to and asked him how to get there. He looked at his watch and said, "Do you have time now?" We had nothing but time so we started walking with him. He told us how he grew up in a house near the palace and use to sneak on the grounds at night with his friends when he was younger. His name was Kim and he was about 64 years old. We thought he was just going to point us in the direction of the palace but he took us there himself. He informed us that he was in town for a few weeks getting dental work done by a friend from college. We just figured he was bored and wanted some company which we didn't mind at all. It was great actually! We walked up to the palace, which was from the Yi dynasty but it was actually destroyed by Japanese just a little over a half century ago. The Koreans have since rebuilt is using the same technology that is was originally built with more than 600 years ago. While outside, we got to watch the ceremonial changing of the gurards which was pretty neat.

He told us the entrance fee should be waved since it was a holiday which made the day even better. Well the fee wasn't free and Kim thought that was just ridiculous so he told us he knew someone that worked there and led us around back. I looked at Andrew like what is he doing, we might be going to jail for real and not just asking for directions! Once we got in, without paying, he told us that he told the guard we lost our American friend inside and needed to go find him. When the guard asked for our ticket stubs Kim said our friend had them. I still feel bad about not paying but we didn't know what he was doing, but the ticket price was only 3,000 won which is less than $3. Kim was pretty proud that we saved 9,000 won.

Anyways, we walked around the palace grounds for about two hours while he told us everything. It was awesome and so much more enjoyable and educational than if we were to have walked around by ourselves. The knowledge that he knew was incredible and I wish I could have wrote it all down so that I could have remembered it all.

After our long walk, we were crossing the street to leave when he asked two girls at the cross walk where a good coffee place was around the area. They told him and then he invited them to come along. So our three man party turned into five and we all went to have coffee, on Kim. It was great. He told us stories about when he was growing up and more Korean history. He left us with something to think about and I just love it. He said that "The world is an ugly place and it's up to you to make each day beautiful." Andrew and I both felt very lucky to have met Kim and so grateful for the wisdom that he shared. Talk about being at the right place at the right time.

Adventure #4: After our exciting day at the palace, we were going to meet Kyle, Andrea, and their friend Phil from the Peace Corps for a show called Nanta. I knew nothing about it other than the fact that it was expensive and there was no talking; that way all nationalities could enjoy it. Well...it was AMAZING and I wish I could have been allowed to take pictures. It was this show that was about four cooks who transformed knives and cooking utensils into musical instruments. They used only items that could be found in a kitchen to make their music. It was combined with actual cooking, dancing, and comedy. It was hilarious and Andrea was called up on stage where she married another random audience member...she was a good sport for an awkward situation. All in all, if you ever hear about NANTA, definitely check it out!

After the show, we went out for a night on the town. It was fun and my favorite part was probably the alcohol in a bag that you could buy from a street vendor...it was just a funny idea and it made me think of you Montgomery :)

We left around 1:30am to return to our hostels. Out of all the hostels in Korea, Kyle and Andrea were staying just around the corner from us in Sinsol-dong and we didn't even plan it....just crazy!

Adventure #5: Saturday, Andrew and I decided that we were going to back to the area where the Palace was to explore the areas that we didn't have the chance to. We ended up getting off at the wrong stop but ate lunch there anyways and decided to go to the Seoul Tower which is supposed to be one of the tallest buildings in the world because it it built on a mountain. We also decided to go to The War Memorial of Korea as well.

Go figure...Andrew and I got lost looking for the freakin' tower. We walked for a bout and hour in the total wrong direction (even though Andrew claimed he knew exactly where we were). We ended up walking through a really cool shopping center and I saw the coolest looking building but I was exhausted and we hadn't even seen the tower yet. You would think we could have just looked up to see it and followed the road there, but all the buildings were so tall and we couldn't see past them. I ended up asking someone and we walked to the tower only to find the longest line ever for the cable car that takes you to the top. So I snapped a photo and decided that next time we are in Seoul we will go up in it now that we know how to get there...thanks to me :)

After we were exhausted and defeated from not being able to see the tower, we decided to go to the war museum. We were both so glad we didn't just return to the hostel. The museum was awesome and HUGE! It had monuments and life size tanks and dozens of life size planes (dad you would have loved it) and missiles. Then inside was the actual museum. My favorite thing would have had to be the the"Statue of Brothers." It is a symbolic statue of the Korean War and depicts the real scene of two brothers' dramatic encounter during the Korean War. The elder brother being a South Korean army officer embraces the younger who was a North Korean army soldier. It was so sad and touching, I just loved it. Although the reason the monuments were built were in recognition of the people that had sacrificed their lives, the mood of everyone seemed to be very upbeat. I felt very proud to be an American while I was there and proud of what the American soldiers did to try to protect democracy and national peace. I now feel like I understand the war so much better; after listening to Kim and visiting the memorial. It is interesting to note that everything was translated into English except when it talked about places where the Koreans had been defeated, that was only written in Korean.

Later that night, we met Kyle, Andrea, and Phil for dinner before parting our separate ways in the morning. It was a great weekend and we are so glad we were able to get tickets at the last minute. Seoul is a definite must see for anyone traveling to Asia and I hope we can make it back soon!!

I want to leave you with this again, and this is something I will try to do each and every day, "The world is an ugly place and it is up to you to make each day beautiful!"