This weekend was the Seolall Holiday in Korea and everyone celebrated the long awaited time off. I traveled up north to Hwacheon for the Ice Fishing Festival. The first night there, we didn't catch any fish :O After fishing, we were warming up in a tent by the heater and a man asked us if we like BBQ. Neither of us are the types of people to turn down the opportunity to 1. eat or 2. try something new, so we obliged and went to the back of said tent to see what was up. At first, we thought this may be a raping spot, but then Han Song-Jun turned out to be a kind chain-smoker (and possibly habitual liar??), but he made us 2 BBQ-ed fish and brought us out beers and makkoli. This made the night more more enjoyable, seeing as we lost track of time and our bags got locked in our lockers so we had no fresh clothes for the next day.
The next morning, slightly headachey after our past night's doings, we headed back to ice-fishing bright and early in hopes of better-luck-this-time. Well, we had it. We caught 8 fish in 15 minutes. We had some more BBQ-ed fish, this time our own catch, saw Song-Jun and thanked him again, and then went on our merry way (after sledding down this huge hill of course).
Our next stop was Uljin for the hot springs. We ended up getting in a little late so we stayed in the most fabulous and psychedelic love motel I have seen yet. We brought snacks and more drinks to our room and watched hours of tv (we don't have tv's in gwangju) and I took a bubble bath (oh yeah, no baths in Gwangju either).
The next morning we headed to Deokgu Hot Springs, but before jumping on a random bus we were told in broken English that would take us there, a very nice couple vacationing from Seoul asked us if they could take us since we looked lost and helpless. We went with them, every-so-trusting, but it hasn't failed us yet.
The Hot Springs were quite strange, imagine a water park feel, but instead of slides and rafts there were hot tubs filled with not only children but very very old people as well. There were all different levels of baths and such, as well and some indoor some indoor and some outdoor. The lemon or the jasmine bath were my personal favorites.
**I have a phobia of water parks and anywhere it's ok for a mass amounts of people to walk around barefoot, but since living in Korea this phobia has been simmering down a bit since I have to be barefoot quite a bit.
After showering, we hopped on a bus back to Uljin so we could try to make it back to Gwangju at some point that night. While at the bus station, a Korean man asked if he could help us with anything (again the only white people around), and eventually he ended up dropping us off at a crab restaurant that I was bitching about going to since before the start of the trip and picking us back up and taking us to the bus terminal.
**This crab dinner was excellent---my first time eating crab guts. The way Koreans eat is is they mix it with this rice and veggies and other things and serve it in the crab shells. A little nauseating to actually think about, but very tasty once you stop cringing and just eat the damn thing.
Sometimes it's hard to believe how nice Koreans can be. I will say, Americans and other cultures all over the globe may be just as kind, but this is the first time I have noticed a consistency in these actions. We were helped by 5 different people along the way, all offering their help by driving us places, feeding us, or helping with booking tickets for buses seeing us as lost or confused.
That being said I can't dismiss the two very awkward and dickish occurrences this weekend. These events don't have anything to do with Koreans, just assholes in general.
The first one was at the hot springs. We were sitting in a sauna and a little creepy man was sitting there beside us trying to practice his English. It seemed innocent enough until we got up and he hugged us, smushing me up against him and putting his lips on my cheek for what I would consider and uncomfortable amount of time. I can't describe this situation in any better way but he was trying something. After showering and waiting for our bus, he saw us in the lobby and walked up to me and reached his hand in my bag of chips (?!) and then proceeded to try to hug and kiss me some more. Well...
The second happening was on the bus from Daegu back to Gwangju. In the bus terminal an old (drunk) man tried yelling to us (like, ehhhh good job') giving a thumbs up. Sometimes these things can be funny, but when it continues for too long, it gets annoying. Turns out he was on our bus back to Gwangju. He was sitting towards the front so that was fine, but we were laughing in the back of the bus (yes, soju was involved) and he got up and walked back and yelled at us for laughing. This was just confusing after he was being so 'nice' to us at the bus terminal. And he said 'SHUT THE MOUTH' which made us laugh even more.
Nevertheless, neither of these events sway me from my beliefs on how kind Koreans are, but these things just happen.
Anyways, overall I had a fun holiday and am looking forward to the next one.
About Meh
- Marisa
- Marisa McCorkle. Blog about South Korea and my experiences here. http://ibuprofenforbreakfast.tumblr.com/
Monday, January 23, 2012
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Seollal---Lunar New Year----COULDN'T HAVE COME SOONER!!!!
Holy cow, after weeks and weeks of teaching non-stop since our last vacation in September, our holiday time has finally arrived. This weekend is the Lunar New Year, a 3 day holiday, that all of us teachers are gladly celebrating.
Most of the teachers I know are taking a trip to Seoul, while some others are visiting other countries. I'm still not sure what I'll be doing for most of the time, but I will most definitely be R&R-ing. Hallelujah.
Most of the teachers I know are taking a trip to Seoul, while some others are visiting other countries. I'm still not sure what I'll be doing for most of the time, but I will most definitely be R&R-ing. Hallelujah.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Addiction
This tasty treat has been filling my fridge since August 2011. I adore this yogurt. I don't even usually care for yogurt all too much, but thanks to my previous teacher and friend, this here goodie was left for me to devour when she evacuated our apartment. Now I can't stop. If you have access to this you MUST try it.
**The exp. date was not/is not 2010 on any of my yogurts.
**The exp. date was not/is not 2010 on any of my yogurts.
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