Neon crosses and hungry kittens

I had a very small and very hungry kitten follow me home yesterday (meaning I was out for a walk and it was yowling so pitifully and so constantly that I decided to take it home).

I love animals, and miss my babies that I left in the states (who, I've been recently informed, are both doing well), but I don't want the responsibility, and mess, and expense, and cat hair, that comes along with a kitten. So I gave it a warm bath and some food, and let it stay the night in my apartment, curled up in the crook of my arm. But I had to move this morning to a new apartment, so on my way out to get coffee this morning I let it back out on the street. I would have like to have given it to a good home, or at the very least to a vet, but I didn't want my boss to think I'd had it in my apartment this whole time, so hopefully it found someone else to take care of it. 

The move itself was rather painless. The new apartment is nicer than my last one, with a better layout though a bit smaller. It has an actual window with a decent view from the back porch. It took less than an hour to pack all my things in a truck and move them into the new place, and another hour to unpack and put everything away.

Another bonus - there's a church right next to my building. There was one at the other apartment too, but at the new place I was finally able to get a decent picture of something that I find odd no mater how many times I see it. Churches here are often not in their own buildings, but in complexes along with restaurants and other businesses. To denote their presence, they often place neon crosses on top of the buildings, and at night you can usually see several of these crosses in any direction. This is not the odd part, but rather the color that most churches choose for their neon cross: red.

Some of them are white, but most are red. I tend to find this a rather sinister color to choose to bring people flocking to the house of God. But maybe that's just me. 

No title required

I am currently doing everything in my power to avoid packing. This includes, but is not limited to, writing this blog, and going to James's apartment to watch movies and eat dinner with him and Cherita. I've known for a few weeks that I have to move apartments this weekend. Normally this would be a looming task that would require at least a week's worth of preparation and packing. But seeing as how I brought 2.5 suitcases with me, and haven't purchased anything of any significant size or worth in the past 3 months, there's very little of my own things to pack. Everything is else is also minimal, and mostly furniture. Therefore, I have very little actual work to do, so I've been putting it off until tomorrow - the day before I move. 

I'm not really looking forward to moving - It'll be about a 25 minute walk from work now instead of a 10 minute walk. There's also an overpass that I have to walk up stairs and then down, and I'm on the third floor. Normally all these stairs and walking wouldn't bother me, but with my knee, it's just gotten to where I can walk the 10 minutes to work without too much problem. I am, however,  looking forward to being in the same building with Gina, my partner teacher (I'll also be three doors down from Cherita). I've been helping her with her homework, so now I'll be able to do it at home, instead of staying late at work. She's taking two classes at a Univeristy in Seoul, both educational theory taught in English, and she's having to do A LOT of work. It's pretty close to the stuff I had to do for my bachelors. But it's in her second language. So I've been sumarizing some things in her textbooks, and checking her grammar on her assignments. It's fun, really, and it's gotten us talking, which we didn't really do the first month or so I was here. I sit next to her in the office every day, and we share Lemon and Cherry class, so I think it's really important to have a good relationship with her, in and out of work. 

So James is cooking "spag-bol", which is short for spaghetti-bolonase? It's just spaghetti and meat sauce. He calls it minced meat, we say ground meat. Either way, he's cooking for the three of us, and then we'll watch movies until it's time to go home. We invited the Korean girls, but they all have schedules and can't ever seem to get together with us (probably because we're always last minute with these movie nights). I did manage to get out of all of them that the 6 of us will have dinner together the Friday after Chuseok (a harvest holiday here that we don't have to work). It'll be the first time that the 6 teachers have been together, without our boss, since I got here, and apparently since James or Cherita got here too. Julie is taking the 6 of us out to dinner on Tuesday to a galbi restaurant, but it's a different atmosphere when your boss is there too. 

It's ok.

(Amy)

(Lewis and Irene)

In the switch between classes in the morning the kids are briefly left "unsupervised". I say that in quotes because all the classrooms have cameras in them, and the monitors can be seen from the front desk and the main hallway. So I left Cherry class (the babies - they're about 4yrs old) very briefly this morning to go get their clocks that I had left at my desk. When I came back in, Amy was crying, and kept saying "Lewis say 'It's ok'" over and over. Of course, my first question was "What happened?". She then proceeded to show me with her hand 'push'. So I asked "Did Lewis push you?" (he's been known to do worse). Her reply? "No. I push Lewis and he say 'It's ok'". So of course I asked her why she pushed Lewis. She started crying even harder and said "I don know". I had to work really hard to hold back a smile and looked over at Lewis, who seemed more concerned that Amy was crying than anything else. I asked him if he was ok. He said "Yes. Amy, it's ok, it's ok." I don't know what made her get so upset, but she calmed down after a big hug and a few minutes.

I love my kids.

Just a quick note or two

I changed the name of my blog. I wasn't too thrilled with the original one, but seeing as how my default user-name had been used by myself about 6 years ago for a class project, I opted for the next best thing. I have changed the name to my name in Hangul (it says "beh-ri-ahn-nah).

I've also been compiling a 'list' of sorts for a while. There's quite a few things I see here on a day-to-day basis that just don't seem either blog-worthy or have become so common-place now that once I've seen them I promptly forget about them. This list is still in draft mode, as I know there are about 20 things I've forgot to put on there, but as soon as I have been reminded of them, the post will show up.

On a school note, we had our monthly birthday party today. The requisite massive amount of pictures and pizza with fried chicken and noodle soup were all present. Afterwards someone had the bright idea to take the kids on a walk by the river, seeing as how it's a lovely bright and sunny day (it's been raining, or had the threat of rain for the past two months almost every day). Imagine taking about 50 kids, ice cream in a bag in one hand and their partner's hand in the other, on a walk down by a river full of insects, flowers, joggers, bikers, ajumas, and other fascinating things for a 6 year old. My class of 7 was mostly well behaved, which is more than can be said for some of the other classes. Part of it I'm sure is that my class is the oldest and has been with EWAS the longest. The other part is they know better with me - I don't let them misbehave, I don't care how old they are. The kids were hot and tired when we got back to the class, and Fiona teacher took all 50 of them into the Fun House, so the rest of the teachers have a relatively easy day today.

Saturday and Sunday: reprise

On Saturday morning we slept in until noon, when we got a call on the room phone in Korean, supposedly telling us it was check-out time. So James went and re-booked our room for one more night since we were going to leave from Busan on Sunday morning to head back to Uijeongbu.

It had taken us a good 2 hours to get transportation home on Friday. First we tried to get the KTX (Korean Transport something-or-other) train back, but there were no seats left for Sunday back to Seoul. So we asked about a bus, which we were able to book straight to Uijeongbu instead of Seoul. The only problem was the express bus terminal was miles away from the train station and they don't sell tickets over the phone, so we had to get on the subway again to get two tickets for noon on Sunday. 

We decided to take it easy on Saturday, and wandered around Busan a bit, first looking at "Foreigner's Street", which was really more like Russia street, since most of the signs were in Cyrillic. Then we headed to the Jalgachi Fish Market, the largest fish market in the country.

It's  a long street covered in colorful umbrellas with people sitting outside with every type of seafood imaginable for sale or consumption on the spot. Some of it was pretty normal; crabs, clams, etc.

Some of it was normal for Korea, such as mounds of dried little fish.

Some was a little hard to find, like shark.

And some of it was downright gross. Like the dried turtles and the dog:

The people there were very sociable; trying to get you to buy whatever they were selling. I think most of them thought since we were foreign we didn't know that you could eat the fish they had swimming around in tanks. They kept trying to tell us that they could cut up the fish and feed it to us, and it would be delicious. 

After the market, we decided to head up to Busan Tower, which is 120meters tall and has a great view of central Busan.

On the way to the base of the tower, we heard some good music (which is very rare here) and decided to check it out. About 20 minutes later, we were rewarded with a break-dancing competition with dancers and DJs from Korea, the UK, the US, France, and Germany.

James used to break-dance, so he was having a great time, and I was fascinated by some of the things these people (guys and girls) were able to do with their bodies. The setting itself was also amusing to me, as the dancers were performing in front of a traditional pavilion.

After watching for a few hours, we headed up to the tower.

It had a great view of the dancing competition we'd just been watching,

as well as the rest of Busan.

After looking around for a few minutes, we headed back down to find some dinner. We tried to find s0-galbi, but were unsuccessful, so we had samgyopsal again before heading down to Dadaepo Beach for the International Rock Festival that's held there every year. We got there rather late and only saw one band, T-Earth, which was pretty, well, boring. I think it was a bad 80's Korean rip-off of Aerosmith, but not entertaining in the least. We ended up meeting up with some other foreigners (one of which recognized me from Vinyl Underground the night before - we'd danced together for a little bit) and spent the rest of the evening with them.

After the rather disappointing concert concluded, we all headed back downtown in a couple taxis to go dancing. We ended up back at VU around midnight, where I suddenly ended my night by dislocating my knee dancing. Luckily (I think), I had dislocated my other knee back in 11th grade at the Homecoming dance, so I knew exactly what had happened and what to do - I knocked it back in to place. I had to have someone help me to the nearest chair, where I spent the rest of the evening putting ice on it, telling James I was fine and to go dance, and trying to keep a rather creepy Russian guy from hitting on me when I couldn't really move anywhere to get away from him. We got back to our hotel around 4am with a taxi, set the alarm to get up in time to catch the bus, and went straight to sleep.

Either we both slept through the alarm, or my alarm-setting skills at 4am are rather lacking, because we didn't get up until 11:42 - with 18 minutes to get packed and get to a bus station that was 45 minutes away. James was (understandably) very upset, so we packed our stuff as quickly as possible (I was hobbling pretty badly at this point) and headed to the train station near us to see if the tourist info center could help us get another ticket. They told us that we could exchange our tickets for a W10,000 fee, which was fine with us, but the next bus wasn't until 5pm. So we grabbed some food, and took the subway to the express bus terminal, where we waited for a few hours for our bus. (We waited outside because, as most public buildings in Korea, the bus terminal didn't have air conditioning, and at least there was a breeze outside). 

We left on time, but getting closer to Seoul the bus got caught in some pretty bad traffic. James and I were amazed at how many people got up out of their seats to come to the front of the bus to tell the driver where to go to avoid the traffic. There were at least 6 people sitting on the stairs and in the aisle-way trying to tell the driver what to do. He let about half the bus off somewhere outside of Uijeongbu, and we finally made it into town around 11:30, about 2 hours after our scheduled arrival. We grabbed a taxi from the bus stand and went straight to my apartment, where Cherita brought me a knee brace for my knee. We talked briefly for a bit about what our weeks had been like, and then I sent James and Cherita packing because I had work the next morning.

I'm very thankful that I didn't hurt my knee until my last night of vacation, otherwise the week would have been ruined for me. I've been going to an acupuncture clinic (on the advice and insistence of my boss) for the past week to help it, and it may be working, though I'm not completely convinced. I've also resolved next time I have a vacation to give myself at least 1 day to recover. We should have gone back to town Saturday night instead of Sunday morning, but now I know. And knowing is half the battle. 

Finally Friday

We checked out of our hotel around 9am and found COFFEE! There's a chain of stores called Holly's Coffee (there's one in downtown Uijeongbu) that's pretty much like a Starbucks only much less expensive. So even though we got there just as they were opening at 9:30, we still enjoyed a real cup of coffee, and used the available PC to check up on our e-mail from the past week.

After a refreshing jolt of caffeine, we got a bus to Busan to try and meet up with some of James' friends that had come back to Korea after a trip to Japan. After arriving in Busan we went in search of a place to stay. We had hoped to stay in the same place that his friends had stayed the night before, but their place was W80,000 a night, which was way more than either of us was willing to spend. Up until now we'd been using the guidebooks to find cheap but decent accommodation. There were a few places listed in both of our books for Busan, but the first place we tried (that had a free washer that we were rather excited to use), was a little hard to find: "Take Line 1 to Beomnaegol station. Exit 3, and cross the street at the light. Turn left and walk towards the bridge. On the bridge, look for a door leading to a staircase. Walk down to the parking lot and go to building 106 with '1-2' over the entrance. Take the elevator to 1802." After making it all the way up to the 18th floor of an apartment building, we come to find out they're booked for the weekend, but if the people they're expecting don't show up by 4 we can have their room.

So we head all the way back to the subway and try the next one on the list: "Take line 1 or 3 to Yeonsan-dong station, Exit 1, walk straight and turn left at the second block, then turn right at the first block" This one we tried to call first, but they didn't speak English, and apparently my Korean is only understandable in person. After getting of the subway at Exit 1 we find out  we're on the wrong side of the street to turn left. We wander around for a bit trying to possible stumble across it, but no such luck. At this point James is getting frustrated, probably since it was so easy for us to find a place to stay in the small towns we were in, but in the second largest city we can't find a place. So we get back on the subway (each time, by the way, was W1,100 for each of us since our T-money cards only work in Seoul) and headed back to Busan station. 

At this point, I suggested that one of us stay with our bags at the station, and the other one go off in search of a room. James was determined to find a place to stay so he took both guide books and headed off. About half an hour later he called me to tell me he'd found a place a few blocks from the station, and came back to get me. 

After depositing our bags and getting a shower from wandering the streets of Busan we decided to try and see something before we met up with James' friends. So we took the subway again to Beomeosa, a temple at the northern part of the city. It was getting late, so they didn't charge us to get in since it was supposed to be closing in about half an hour. 

Beomeosa was founded in 678 AD, and it serves as the northern starting point for trails across Geumjeong Mountain. 

The entrance gate had 6 very large and rather creepy statues in it

We watched and listened for a bit, while the monks were chanting in about 4 different temples around the complex.

We stayed as long as we could before it got too dark, and then headed back into Busan to catch up with Amy and Tom for dinner and a night out for James's birthday (he turned 31 on August 2nd).

We met up with his friends at Mr. Pizza (whose catch phrase is "Love for women"), and then headed out for a night on the town in Busan, getting free drinks at midnight to toast Jame's Birthday. We found a place called Vinyl Underground a little later in the evening (around 2am), and stayed there dancing until the wee hours of the morning. 

Temple Thursday

James and I checked out of our hotel at 7am on Thursday since we wanted an early start and had a decent distance to travel. We took a bus from Yeosu to Suncheon, and then caught another bus to Jinju. Jinju was a middle ground for the two of us. There was plenty in town for me to see, and James could catch a bus to go to Jirisan National Park. Jirisan has the second highest peak in the country, at 1915meters. At this point in the week, I'd had enough of climbing peaks, so I told him to have fun, and I'd tour the city (aside from the fact that James must be related to mountain goats on one side - he climbs really fast, even by ajuma's standards). So we found a place to stay in Jinju, since there wasn't any lockers at the bus station and we weren't about to carry them around, and I headed to Jinju fortress, which was only a few blocks from where we were staying. On my way there, I passed the biggest Buddha statue I'd ever seen sitting very happily outside a convenience store across the street from the fortress.

There are two gates for the Jinju Fortress, and I went in through the eastern one. 

The fortress is a registered historical site and sits just north of the Nam River. In 1593, the Koreans lost a battle with the Japanese and most of the population of the city in the process. It's apparently one of the best restored city-fortresses in the country, and is a pretty popular park for the locals to visit. It should have been W1,000 to get in, but I was ushered through the gates by the attendant without paying.

Just inside the eastern gate is Cheongyeolsa, which is a shrine for 39 patriots. You'd never tell it was a shrine by the large amount of people sitting inside (or standing underneath the floor) eating watermelon and enjoying the shade.

And it has a great view of the river.

Near Cheongyeolsa is Uigisa, a shrine to Nongye. She was one of several gisaeng (similar to a geisha) selected to entertain Japanese generals following the invasion. She led one of the generals to the edge of a cliff, put her arms around him and then threw herself into the river below where they were both drowned. The shrine was erected in 1824 in her honor.

There were several temples and pavilions in the fortress, which was really more like a heavily walled park. 

One of the temples had some interesting interior decorations, including statues in the left corner, 

the seemingly requisite gold Buddhas in the center,

and an odd painting of someone with several hands holding various objects, and concentric rings of hands surrounding them.

After spending a few hours in the fortress, I decided to head across the river to Wolgyeong-sa, the largest temple I've seen since I've been here. 

It's located in the middle of a large area of apartment buildings, and looks a bit out of place.

It's beautifully painted inside, with a 'restaurant' on the first floor where you can get kimbop (rice and seaweed), and large worship areas on the second and third floors.

The third floor was  amazingly beautiful. You had to take your shoes off before you even got to the top of the stairs, so I'm assuming the entire floor was a place of worship. 

This is also the only place I think I've seen with a white Buddha, at least on this scale. There were three ajumas sitting on the floor near the back of the room eating watermelon and some sort of bread pudding. They asked me to sit and eat with them, and then told me that I could go downstairs to get kimbop if I was still hungry (at least, I'm pretty sure that's what they were saying, since none of them knew English, we were using sign language and my very limited Korean vocabulary).  So I took that as my cue to leave and head further up the road to the next temple, Jeongbeop-sa.

(This sign says Jeongbeop-sa to the left and Wolgyeong-sa to the right. Sa means temple.)

On the way up to the next temple, I passed this sign:

I don't know what it translates to, but I think it's pretty obvious from the picture what it's about (the boat says USA on it).

I headed up to Jeongbeop-sa, but it was less than remarkable. I was greeted by a rather vicious, though chained up, dog that growled when I tried to approach, and started barking at me when I got too close. One of the monks came out and sprayed water in front of him and ushered me into the small complex, but it only took me about two minutes to walk around. The temple itself had it's doors closed and I didn't know how to ask if it was ok for me to go in, so I didn't. The monk had to spray near the dog again to let me leave, and I mumbled a thank-you to her as I scurried away.

After the temples I decided to head to Jinyang Lake. I had wanted to take a bus there, but couldn't find any bus stops, so I hailed a cab. The Nam River, which was dammed in 1969, creates Jinyang Lake. I had read in my guidebook that during the summer you could rent row boats to go out on the lake. 

I didn't actually see where you could rent any boats, but there were other things to see there. I missed out on the children's zoo, but saw a nice family park

walking trails, 

a traditional pavilion

and I saw the dam from a distance.

After a long wait for the bus, I decided to head back to the hotel and take a nap before James got back. When I woke up an hour or so later the air conditioner had stopped working. I went downstairs to ask for help (with my phrasebook in hand), and she seemed to say she could fix it from where she was. When I got back to the room it was running again, but blowing warm air. So I sat down to write out in Korean "The air conditioner is broken. I'm hot. Please show me how to fix it" since she didn't seem to understand my pronunciation. At this point James came back in from Jirisan. We convinced the owner, after much gesticulation and pointing to the phrasebook, to let us switch rooms since she wasn't able to get it to blow cold air again. James and I were both exhausted (him more so than me of course, since he'd just trekked up the side of several mountains), so we went to sleep early.