Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

I've actually had nothing of the kind. I just like that book.

I've started taking Korean lessons with someone I met through ATEK on Saturday mornings. At first I was reticent to give up one of my few days sleeping in, as well as the possibility of going out on Friday nights, but so far it's been worth it. The first lesson was way above my level, but after talking to the guy who's giving the lessons to myself and another foreigner, it's been changed to something that's much more on my level. I thought at first that I wouldn't go to the lessons if they were free - that paying for lessons would be more of a motivation to go. But since the person is doing it for me as a personal favor, it's almost like I'm being guilted into attending. Not that I mind that much, as I'm learning quite a bit. It also gets me up and going on a Saturday morning instead of laying in bed and wasting the day.

This Saturday, I met a friend of mine in Anguk after my lesson. I had heard of a place in the area where you could go to see an ice carving gallery, and you could carve your own ice. We decided to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat while on our way to the gallery. We tried to follow the directions Amy had written down, but we weren't able to find one of the big landmarks that the directions were dependent on. So we ended up wandering aimlessly around Jongno, which since it was a nice day neither of us minded. We found a strange little coffee shop called Yellow Bricks. We stopped and shared a real Belgian waffle for lunch, and then tried again to find the ice gallery.



We finally managed to find the Ice Gallery. We headed in, steps ahead of a Chinese tour group. The tour started out in the ice carving area, so we decided to go into the gallery first. For lack of a better word, and pun intended, it was really cool. There was a small group of young girls in there who seemed to be just as interested in watching us as they were in looking at the ice carvings.



After wandering through an igloo, an ice pension, ice palace, and even and ice bathroom, we went back to the carving area, just as the tourists were coming down.



We watched an 'ice expert' carve a block of ice first into a beer stein, then a wine chalice, then a coffee mug. And then she handed us two ice picks and Amy and I had a ball hacking away at the ice.







After we left the ice gallery, we wandered around Jongno a little bit, deciding to stop at Jogyesa. The last time I'd been there was at Buddha's birthday last year, when I went to the Lotus Lantern Festival. There was some ceremony going on inside the temple, and while we walked around, Amy told me about some of the different symbolism in Buddhism. I can't wait to go to Japan with her - she's gonna be like my own private tour guide!





We then headed back to Apgujeong, where we killed time in a Tom n Tom's coffee shop, until we met up with Leah for dinner at an Italian restaurant right across the street at a place I'd been meaning to try, called Pizza and Wine Married .



My "Funghi Pasta", which was string pasta with cream sauce, mushrooms, and black bread, was particularly tasty, and quite filling. After that, we headed to the Jang Cheon Art Hall close to my house, where one of my students was performing in the "Seoul Genius Junior Orchestra". June was the youngest member of the orchestra, and played both cello and trumpet. I forget sometimes how small my kids are. it was easy to be reminded when I saw June playing a cello that was larger than he was, seated with his feet dangling from his chair next to other students, some twice as old as he was.


After the performance ended around 9:30, and I had a short conversation with June's mom, Amy and I went back to my house, where I was charged with introducing Amy to the film wonderment that is Labyrinth. Before we saw the movie I checked my email, where I found out that I had won tickets to see Do Make Say Think Sunday night in Hongdae. I asked Amy if she knew who they were, and since she not only knew who they were, but also had some of their music (which was two steps ahead of me), I asked her if she wanted a free ticket to come with me. She agreed (would you turn down a $50 free ticket to a band you liked?).

Sunday morning I spent sleeping, and the afternoon was filled with putzing around my apartment, writing this blog (since I left my camera cord at school I didn't actually publish it), reading, and drinking an entire pot of coffee. Amy and I met around 4pm on the subway, and headed first to Richard Copy Cat's American Diner where we both enjoyed breakfast for dinner. We then made our way to Hapjeong station in search of Bau Haus Cafe, where Amy fulfilled her dog craving and I satisfied my curiosity.



After the dog cafe, we went to find the venue for Do Make Say Think. I had no idea where it was, only that it was in Hongdae, and it was called V-hall. Usually there are signs all over Hongdae on the streets for shows that point you in the right direction. This time there was nothing. So Amy and I stopped at the tourist box, where I asked for directions. The lady at the desk pointed out the window right across the street, and told us it was in the basement of that building.



I was worried that we might have trouble getting in because the reservations for the tickets had actually been made in someone else's name. I won the tickets through TheYeogiyo.com forum. The contest had been simple - first person to reply to the post gets the tickets. I was the second. But it turned out that the first person couldn't go, so that's how I got them. But the first person's name had already been put on the list. It didn't turn out to be a problem, and not only did Amy and I get in for free with no hassle, but we got there pretty much as the doors opened, so we were in the front the entire time.



The opening band was called On Sparrow Hills, and they were very entertaining to watch, particularly one of the drummers.


The second band was called Vidulgi Ooyoo. I couldn't tell if some of the sounds they were producing were accidental or on purpose. I'd like to think the ones that hurt my ears were accidental. Though I wasn't particularly fond of their music, it was nice to see a Korean girl playing guitar on stage.


And of course the last band was Do Make Say Think.


Even ignoring the fact that the first time I'd heard their music was the night before, I really enjoyed their performance. There were nine people in the band - two drummers, a violinist, saxophonist, two horn players, and three guitars and one bass (I think). Not only were they enjoyable to watch, but their music was interesting and varied. I'm not usually into instrumental music that's not classical style, but this was catchy, danceable, listenable music.




I wish I had better words to describe the concert. I've always envied people like my friend Steph, who can write about bands and review music and actually make it sound interesting. Anyway, the show was great, and as we were leaving, I saw a 10,000won note lying on the floor so I grabbed it, and promptly told Amy that we now had free cab fare home since the subways were just about closed.

And that was the end to my 'wonderful, marvelous, not bad, very good' weekend.

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.

Weary Wednesday

We decided to rebook our hotel for another night in Yeosu, partly so we didn't have to carry our bags around with us until we got to the next city and we still had a lot to see. We went searching for coffee again, having scoped out some places the night before. One of them had said it was open at 9am, and when we checked it at 9:20 it was dead silent. We did find a hof and coffee place (hof is like bar food), but I could barely pronounce the menu, and I didn't see "kopi" anywhere, so we jsut tried to order coffee. It came black about 10 minutes later (mind you there was one other person in the place). I asked for milk, but didn't understand what she responded with. So we were brought a whole cup of steamed milk. Luckily she didn't charge us for it (milk on the menu was a whopping W3,200 per cup), but it was barely considered coffee

(Side note: if you ever decide to visit Korea and love your morning cup of coffee, don't be fooled by the fact that there are Starbucks here and they serve coffee at bars. A lot of places will serve "kopi", which is really just instant coffee. And yes, there are Starbucks, but be prepared to pay about $3 more per cup for anything you order. The grocery stores really only sell the instant stuff, though they also sell coffee makers. And the places that do sell "real" coffee rarely open before 10am. All in all, be prepared for a less than invigorating cup.)

And because the place we went to was really a bar and not a coffee house, we decided to go to Lotteria for breakfast (It's the Korean version of McDonalds. They have shrimp burgers with avacado sauce, as well as squid rings and a kimchi burger. They also have chicken wings and french fries.). It's just as well, because we did a lot of climbing on Wednesday, and I wouldn't have made it on a pastry breakfast. 

We caught a bus to the island of Dolsando. In both of our guide books, it looked like a small island just a little larger than the one we had walked around the night before. In actuality, it's the ninth largest island in the country, and it took almost an hour to get to the other side via the bus. At the southern tip of the island is a monastery and hermitage called Hyang-iram or Hyangil-am. It's a steep trek up the side of a mountain to get to the hermitage, but there's some amazing architecture there.

 

The temple is situated at the edge of part of a cliff. One building even has 75 stone turtles around it, each with a W10 coin on it's back:

The inside of the temples were covered with lotus images and delicate wood carvings. I wish I knew more about Budhist symbolism.

After looking around at the temple and catching our breath, we made the very steep climb up to the top of Geumosan (323m). We made it to the top of the peak in about half an hour, with a 360 view of the island that was misty and beautiful.

Apparently James and I were the only ones who were in the mood for climbing, and we spent a good 45 minutes by ourselves at the top of the island.

We took another path back down, which was really more of a suggestion of a place to walk amoung the rocks.

We made it back to the hotel after I tried the local kimchi (and needed to buy a bottle of water afterwards. The guide said their gatkimchi has a mustard taste and even if you don't usually like kimchi you might like the mildish ones here. They were wrong.) We found a samgypsal place in town (strips of pork put on a lowered skillet in the table),

that James had been craving, and then wandered around Yeosu for a bit before heading to bed.