Bad start. Good ending.

As my third ride, I decided to ride my scooter to the bus terminal. I had a trip to Uljin (about an hour and a half away from Pohang) planned and I bought my scooter so I didn't have to rely on the bus. Even though I was a little afraid of riding it at a semi-busy traffic time, I had confidence in myself.

So I'm scooting, scooting, scooting... then it starts going slower, slower, slower. And then stops. In the middle of a busy road, where inconveniently there are no places to get up on the sidewalk. [Enter several obsceneties...]

I've only broken down on the side of the road one other time in my life and that was a horrible experience (long story short, it included a ride in the back of a cop car and three hours at the Gerald, Missouri police station with Officer Joe...). At least this time I knew where I was and had cell phone reception (and didn't cry).

I called a friend who had no idea how to help me (thinking back on it now, not sure why I called you, Jenn!) Then I called the guy who sold the scooter to me, who of course, was of no help as he didn't speak English. Eventually I got a call from a Korean who spoke English to translate the problem/solution between Buddy (scooter salesman) and me. I was told to leave my scooter on the sidewalk with the keys in the seat (Hopefully it wasn't stolen...) and take a taxi to where I was going. Remember, I was going to the bus terminal to catch my bus at 9:30.

I got in my friend's car at 9:23 assuming I'd miss the bus and I'd either catch the next one or leave the next morning. She drives (illegally) to where the buses depart from and tells me to run. I run. I say "Uljin" in Konglish to the first worker I see and I get waved to the bus in front of me. I tried to explain that I didn't buy a ticket yet. I get waved onto the bus... Okay. So I get my wallet out to pay the driver who also waves me to the back of the bus. Alright...

I'd never been to Uljin but my friend told me that the bus I was taking was an hour and a half ride, straight there. Nope. It made about 20 stops along the way. I had no idea when I was supposed to get off. I asked these middle school-looking boys if they spoke English. No. One of the boys mustered up enough courage to try to tell me that my stop was the last stop and it would arrive at, "Eleven hour, forty minute." I applauded his effort. And a little later a woman looks at me and says, "Uljin. No." (The middle school boy had informed everyone else on the bus that the silly waygookin didn't know where she was going and to help me get to Uljin.)

I made it, finally, hungry and with a headache. To much avail, my friend Angela had a lot of yummy leftovers in her fridge and fed me American food that night and the rest of the weekend. The blueberry pancakes Saturday and Sunday morning made my day, week, month and probably year!

The rest of the weekend was spent hanging out with good company at the beach, an outdoor jazz festival and more sun and beach! I was asleep before midnight every night but had so much relaxing fun doing practically nothing. You need those weekends sometimes.

I guess I was (abnormally) cheerful today during my first class (and may have broken out some show tunes). One student asked me, "Teacher. Why you sing? You happy?"

"Yes, Miki, I am happy."

"Why?"

"I had a good weekend."

And then William says, "Teacher. Stop the music," and covers his ears.

Playing cards on the beach because it was raining (note the umbrellas..) 

We were determined to enjoy the beach in spite of the not-so-great weather!

Wheeeeeeeeeels!!

As my birthday is coming up in two weeks, I thought it was appropriate to buy myself a new present. (Truth be told, I've bought myself several birthday presents recently...)

I don't live in town, so it gets really expensive to take a taxi to meet friends or just go anywhere in general. I do take the bus but they aren't always the most reliable mode of transportation or quickest. So to solve my transportation issues, I bought a scooter. 

My beauty is close to new (has a about 500 km on it) and I got a really great deal that included a helmet and lock! Max speed is around 65 km/hr (about 43 mph) which is generally less than the speed limit but that's okay. North American friends, you probably know about my not-so-great driving history. I assure you, I'll be safe. A scooter is small so it's not as easy to bump or hit things. And there are no corn fields in Korea (props if you know this story...).

When I got on it to test drive I thought, "There's no way I can ride this thing," as I jerk forward and nearly fall off. "Slow. Slow," says the Korean man holding the back as if I'm riding a bicycle for the first time. After my first solo 100 meter ride I look back to see Koreans watching (I pictured them cheering me on but it probably didn't go exactly like that) a 5 year old riding without training wheels for the first time. 

I am proud to report that the road was actually much easier. On my way home later, I almost experienced running out of gas. Luckily, my scooter shut off just as I was pulling into the filling station. Let's hope there won't be a repeat of that... ever. I went for a ride around my little village this morning and it went quite well. I still need a lot of practice but I'll get there! I opted not to get the elbow and knee pads as it's sweltering outside right now but if you all could say a little prayer for me (everyday, please!) and the other Korean drivers on the road that would be great!

Jimgilbang

Korea is always filled with cultural experiences. After all the MudFest fun, my body felt quite rough. To soothe my aching muscles I decided to brave a Korean bath house and sauna I'd heard so much about. I was always very nervous and hesitant to go, mostly because of my modest, Western upbringing. What I really mean is I didn't want to walk around naked in front of a bunch of Koreans. The results were quite surprising.

I went with Su Jung for our weekly Tuesday outing. Korean bath houses are everywhere and there's a famous one quite close to my house, but luckily we went to one that was further. I probably would have been mortified if I'd run into one of my students with their mom...

We pull up to this building that sits on a cliff overlooking the East Sea. Beautiful. We go in and pay and get two towels and an "outfit." First we put our outside shoes in a little locker then walked up to the women's floor. We strip into our birthday suits and walk around for a while waiting to get our little hand scrubbers. There's nothing like walking around naked with a bunch of ajummas. Surprisingly I wasn't judged. My biggest fear was that I'd be gawked at because let's be honest, I don't exactly have an Asian appearance...

My scrubber is pink.

Scrubbers in hand, we journey into the bath area and wash off first. Then we make our way to the tubs.

This is a picture I found on Google but it closely resembles the one I was in, minus the men of course.

There were like five pools of water with different minerals and temperatures. The temperatures ranged from 60 degrees to about 100 degrees. So we just chilled in the water for a while, hopping pools when the water was too hot or cold. Then it was time to shower. Next, the sauna.

We put on our little outfit we were given and go to the co-ed sauna floor. There were five saunas with different minerals and temperatures again. My favorite room was the "Mud ceiling" one which was set at 130 degrees. It was nice and relaxing. I showed Su Jung some of my hot yoga moves but she wasn't having it. No hot yoga for her. 

Tubs once more and another shower and we were ready to leave. Going to a bath house/sauna is a regular thing for a lot of Koreans and I can definitely see why! It was such a relaxing, serene experience. 

MudFest

Boryeong, South Korea is known for two things: (1) Mud (2) Mud Festival. The silt is apparently good for your skin. Everything in Korea is good for your health and/or skin. Direct quote from the festival website, " The mud itself is very good for your skin and health." The low tide during this time of the year makes it perfect to have a festival!

Our trip started at 5 a.m. with a crazy bus ride. Ninety Pohangsters boarded the buses with beer and booze. The frequent, much needed bathroom breaks interrupted our Noraebang (karaoke) fun but the songs just commenced once we boarded again. The last leg of the ride was particularly painful as we had passed the last rest stop but 90/90 people needed relief. This was the result...

(Photo courtesy of Angela Russell)

Our first stop was to the mud flats for Mud Olympics. It consisted of various challenges, relays, tug of war and of course, a lot of beer. 

(Photos courtesy of Daniel DeGrasse)

Unbeknownst to us, the tide comes in rather quickly. This resulted in everyone's shoes being scooped up as quickly as possible so they weren't washed away. Then that resulted in everyone who had their shoes rescued  venturing up sharp, shell-covered rocks barefooted. The ending result was many sliced feet, arms, knees and bodies. (Which we all felt the next day when we were sober again.)

We then went to our accommodations for the night. The wonderful trip arrangers reserved minbaks (you could compare them to condos) for the 90 of us to sleep in. 

Some beach time was in store after Olympics. We checked out the actual festival a bit then headed to the sand for some Frisbee and swimming. A bulgolgi (marinated beef with vegetables) dinner was prepared for us and the winners of Mud Olympics were announced. I am not so proud to announce that my team, The Dirk Digglers, won the award for the least amount of points scored. Our prize was horrible, cheap vodka that we had to share. Terrible.

After a nice walk on the beach at night, an awesome fireworks show started. 

(Thanks again for the pictures, Angela!)

One of my favorite parts of the weekend was sitting in a plastic lawn chair around the corner from our minbak where some people set up a make-shift bar and grill. The characters we saw during the course of four hours was quite comical. 

(After face-planting into the concrete, this guy at least made it to the bushes to pass out.)

A lively crowd carrying on around "Rhythm and Booze."

The two guys in this Trans Am drove up about four times for drive-through beers...

After a few hours of sleep it was time to get up and enjoy the festival for a while before it was time to head home. This was by far the best part of the weekend. There were areas where you could paint yourself in mud and another area that had mud wrestling, mud pools, mud slides, mud prison and just about every mud activity you could think of. 

You stood inside the bars while bowls of mud were thrown at you.

One of several slides.

A pool to wash off in before going back for more mud!

Paint your mate. Paint yourself. Be painted by ajummas...

...Just relaxing in the mud.

My friend Angela and I walked around (covered head to toe in mud, of course) to take pictures and came across a traditional Korean percussion band.

Then, all of a sudden, we were handed drums. To play with the band. 

Note the Korean photographers behind me... They were EVERYWHERE! One Korean would stop us and ask to take our picture. Then 20 more would swarm in. There's a photo contest for pictures to put on next year's MudFest poster.

The ride home was significantly quieter and I'm sure it took everyone a few days to fully recover. MudFest was an experience to remember forever and kind of makes me want to stay in Korea for another year just to go again. We'll see what happens... Here are some other fun photos from the weekend.

Sunset at Daecheon Beach.

Mud Man??

Kimchi!!

Angela and me just as cold mud was thrown at our backs!

Food

My Korea co-teachers offered me food today. I was feeling adventurous so I decided to take the plunge and try the "blood sausage," but I wasn't brave enough to face the "pig gut." Now if that doesn't sound appetizing I don't know what does... 

They prefaced it by saying, "It's very popular. All Korean people like this." Like I'm gonna' fall for that... I knew the sausage-looking bites were called "blood sausage" but wasn't sure exactly what it is. My co-teacher informed me that it's noodles made into a sausage and soaked in blood. Mmmmm. 

As much as I'd liked to have been surprised with something incredibly delicious, the "blood sausage" was not delicious. 

The stuff next to the not-delicious meat is "dok bokki," which is chewy, spongy rice cakes and processed fish hot dog type of "meat" slow cooked in spicy red sauce. Also not delicious in my opinion but some I know some foreigners who do enjoy glutenous rice cakes and fish hot dogs. 

Bad Activity

My last class on Fridays is a rather troublesome group of 6th graders. I've finally learned that spontaneous rewards is the best way to motivate them. They go crazy for stickers (they can be redeemed for "money"). This particular class period I didn't give out any stickers. One student, Jorden, was NOT happy. In Korea, I hear him cuss - the worst Korean cuss word there is.

I called him out and he denied saying it. "No, teacher, I say Ahhhhh." I'm American but I'm not stupid... So I take him to his Korean teacher. She has words with him and he didn't come back to class until it was over and he handed me a letter - an apology letter. I thought the world might like to read. It's quite comical.

"I am say bad words at the Heather time and I regret teacher say not question and i say bad words the Korean. It is very bad activity and I regret my activity. I am going to haven't say the bad words because it was very bad activity and teacher say at me Did you say the bad words but I say the not. This so I have two bad activity this English time after this time I am not say and the bad words and activity after this time I'd be polite to and behave my shelf."

I'll like to see if Jorden really does behave himshelf.

My troublemakers :) Jordan is on the left.

Korea: 1 USA: 0

I'm not being deported! The last time I updated I had a 15 day extension to get my paperwork in. At that time I thought 15 days was more than enough time. Well, it wasn't. I was on day 14 still with no papers from America. I was pretty terrified to find out my fate when I went to immigration one final time.

I go in with my boss and the immigration was ready for me. Had all of my paperwork and alien card sitting right there on his desk. Korean words were exchanged for a few minutes and he looked through the papers I had... Then he gets out his sharpie marker and writes on the back of my alien card. BAM. Visa renewed. Just like that. (I could have written in sharpie myself...)

So I'm a legal alien still. Celebrating Korea style all weekend! Wooooooo!

Oh and if anyone has connections at the Secretary of State's office, let me know. I REALLY need to track down my paperwork and find out when it might be processed.