coucoukorea: discover korea

Showing posts with label discover korea. Show all posts

05 September, 2012

How do you survive jangma (장마), otherwise known as the monsoon season, in Korea?

Rule number one: Buy an umbrella.
Rule number two: Never forget your umbrella.
Rule number three: Buy a new umbrella if you forget your umbrella.
Rule number four: Refer back to rule number one.

The monsoon season generally begins in mid-June and lasts until mid-July. Hot and humid weather accompany it.

And, frankly, it wasn't too bad this year (apart from the hot and humid). I've heard horror stories, and seen pretty terrible videos. I was pretty prepared to expect the worst. It never really hit us that badly... unless you're talking about those night time rains. But, you know what, I don't count those, really, because I was safe and sound at home watching the monsoon hit Ulsan from my home.

In any case, here's a video of when it really happened. And I was so freaking lucky, because it started juuuuust when I got home.

Now, it's time to await the typhoon season. Siiiiiigh...

Jinha Beach: lovely. Jinha village: almost desolate.

It's truly a pity that the village of Jinha isn't as developed as, say, Ilsan-dong. And, for that matter, public transportation is seriously lacking there, whereas I can hop on the 133 from Guyeong-ri and it will take me directly to Ilsan, or the 127 from my high school when I finish early. Ilsan Beach isn't quite what you're used to back home but at least they're making an effort and trying to revamp itself as a beach destination where you can sit back, relax, and have a cup of coffee with friends, go to a noraebang, or shop to your heart's content (not my forte, that last one -- nor the coffee, but I digress). On the other hand, Jinha is a sprawling stretch of a beach, was quite empty in June as opposed to Ilsan Beach which was already getting packed, or gosh forbid, Haeundae Beach in Busan which, it goes without saying, was already a ridiculous sea of parasols (!!), and has a nice little islet to discover. All right!

The lovely and yummy restaurant next to the Jinha beach where I had jjajangmyun and mandu with Zach and... I forget the other guy's name...

Joe, Zach and myself swam our way to the island in question and ended up spending quite a bit of time meeting with nature's little creatures, some of which I hope I will never meet again in this lifetime (eurgh!). But all in all, a fun time was had by all and I was properly happy at my decision to make the trip out there.

The Banger Sisters

I have no idea how we acquired this nickname or even who thought it up, but one day Dana and Andrea went to Seoul for the weekend and the next thing I knew I was apparently part of the Banger Sisters... whatever it is we... er, do...

Anyway, here is a video showing you our Friday night out in Seongnamdong at The Royal Anchor, a foreigner bar. We were surprised to get there and find it nearly empty, but quickly made the most of it, as we are wont to do in any given situation.

View of the shopping streets of Seongnamdong at night (photo source)

I am months behind on this and upcoming videos, that I will of course begin sharing without further ado.

Back in early May, I believe, the mayor of Ulsan threw a music and dance party in Seongnamdong, the older part of Downtown Ulsan, after which several restaurants and bars opened their doors with discounts for those of us with coupons. Here's a little video recap of what went down!

A theatre adaptation of the award-winning, cautionary children's tale about selfishness and vanity. Sharing brings happiness and acceptance!

Yup, I joined a theatre troupe. And I'm a red fish. And a clam. And an octopus. Dear gosh, what did I get myself into?

If you're in the Ulsan area and want to check out an amateur piece, here's some information:

We're playing every Saturday until September 29th at 2pm and 4pm at the Dongrami Theatre on the second floor of the Dowon Building, smack dab at the Gongeoptap Rotary (search Gongeuptop on the "Ulsan Buses" section of the UlsanOnline website... yes, they spell it wrong). Tip: It's the building on the left of the police traffic box. Reserve in advance at 052-258-1248, and remember to bring 10,000 won (it's not for us)

This summer, if I'm not at home in Guyeong-ri relaxing after a gruelling day of work, I can usually be found at Ilsan Beach kicking back with some friends or, more rarely, on my own. But tonight I'm going to show you what being with Patrick, Andrea and Dana is like... I love it!

Before this particular video, we'd gone bar-hopping with some friends in Bangeojin just, you know, to pass the time since I had a hike the next day and was going to spend the night at Dana's anyway and did not feel tired in the slightest. I ended up knocking back three shots of whisky, which explains why Andrea and I later ran in the water and frolicked like little kiddies while Paddy and Dana watched on like indulgent parents (they are, after all, the eldest in our group). But this, this is what followed, after we joined them again.

One of the myriad things you hear about but never truly believe until you actually experience it for yourself is... your washing machine, ladies and gentlemen, is a beast. As I indicate in the video, I am not touching the normal button ever again. Wool it is for me! I did one normal cycle back in March and it nearly destroyed my clothes o__O

Anyway, so for those newbies, here are some translations that might prove very useful :) Obviously, every machine is different so some of these might be on yours, others might not. This is just a general guide. Print it out or jot it down for future reference. I've got mine scotch taped to my machine, although I don't really need it anymore. Ah well, times of need. May prove useful one of these days!

(source)

Hope these are helpful for you, too, as they were for me when I first got here. Cheers!

As this past Wednesday (August 15th) was Liberation Day here in Korea, and therefore a national holiday, a bunch of us decided to check out Gyeongju's Blue One water park to decompress after a rough few weeks of English summer camp. In the end, however, only three of us made it (Clarissa, Corey and myself, for those who are in the know -- that would be my family). I promised myself I'd take loads of pictures, but ended up bringing my camera for nothing as I realised we wouldn't be able to hog lawn chairs and therefore I wouldn't be able to grab my camera for those awesome moments.

Regardless, we had... fun. Sort of. There aren't enough slides, the wave pool was too packed to be enjoyable, the waiting lines for the slides were atrociously long, the entrance fee is just about $70 whereas back home for a much larger water park and a bigger variety you would pay about $30, and overall it got boring after a while, because of all those factors. But we made the most of our time there, the slides themselves were cool enough, and the company was nice.

But yeah. The entrance fee is not worth it in the end. Too bad, because this is apparently one of the biggest water parks in Korea...

(photo source)

Dana, Andrea and I made our way to O'Taco shortly after it was opened, in late May. I won't do a food review here -- and indeed, for that you can follow this link -- but I'll rather just show you the view... and some annoying disturbances you need to get used to when you live in Korea.

Bamboo leaves make for perfect weapons!

I'm terribly derelict in posting on this blog... Sorry.

Today I am taking you to the Taehwa Bamboo Forest, which... was a month ago. Ahem.

I pass by this forest twice a week when I'm heading to and from my high school, but hadn't ever been in the forest itself, which isn't so much of a forest really as it is a man-made trail with bamboo trees left and right. Koreans like their carefully plotted trails (I hike every other week and so far I can count the number of times we've hiked off the beaten track on one hand).

We'd visited the Jeonggwangsa temple earlier and then headed to a neat little rotating cafe called One's Coffee by the Taehwa River and overlooking the bamboo forest. Friends had dessert while I felt too full after our temple meal to gobble much of anything else yet. Plus I had a donut in my backpack.

Too rich for me, but photo ops are fun.

Then afterwards we decided to head to the other shore to explore the forest.

Nom nom while waiting for the cute little ferry pulled by two men. This bag, by the way, is now defunct. Oh well. 15,000\ is too cheap to be too pissed off about quality.

We took pictures while waiting.

And then... Bamboo Forest, here we come! Madness!

Witch vs. warrior princess.

Introducing Korea to foreigners. This was an assignment I gave my high schoolers a couple of months ago. These boys have been brainwashed into believing that kimchi is the world's most sacred ingredient and that it makes Koreans perfect. I'm pretty sure most foreigners would vehemently disagree.

I haven't really encountered much of it, but I did come here prepared for a whopper of an experience. On the other hand, I'm absolutely used to intense, nearly fascist nationalism. After all, I come from Quebec, land of the linguistic and cultural skirmishes with the rest of Canada. Land, also, of separatism and of "they invaded us, the bastards" and "well why should we speak their language since they came into our province".

I kind of grew up on the outskirts of all those debates. See, on the one side, my dad's family is separatist. On my mother's, federalism pretty much wins the pot. So... we never talked about politics at home, and frankly I treat voting duty like a good citizen but don't give a crap about it since all of them big-shot puppets are going to lie and screw us anyway.

Ahem. But yeah. I did grow up amongst the whole "we are better than them" mentality. Canada is better than the US because we can leave our doors unlocked, Quebec is better than Canada because we stayed French despite all odds, Montreal is better than Quebec City because we're multicultural, French is better than English because they stole loads from us anyway... blah blah blah. So I've heard it all, and I'm impervious to it now. In fact, all of it amuses me.

But Korea is sometimes scary.

Let me explain: Whereas Montreal pride is a kind of "anyone who lives in Montreal is a Montrealer" with a usually mutual respect of different cultures and backgrounds, here in Korea anyone who is not Korean may be aggressively and arrogantly treated. You'll be nearing the bus stop when an ahjumma under the bus shelter will stop whatever she's doing and stare at you quite openly, sometimes with a slightly dark look, like you don't belong. You'll be in the taxi telling the driver where you want to go when he'll laugh at your pronunciation. You'll be at the beach getting out of the restroom in your swimsuit when a crabby ahjumma will stare you down like you're the biggest whore the world has ever seen (I do not own a bikini by the way).You'll be dying and sweating buckets in your large-strapped tank top, for gawd's sake, and your kids will make faces and point at your chest like you're actually showing mad cleavage (I have none).

All of this isn't ultra-nationalism at all, but it brings me to this point: Korea is far too isolated for its own good. Something "alien" comes along and they buck up at the first contact.

And now we get to ultra-nationalism: extreme isolation defines a people very rigidly. Isn't Quebec ultra-nationalist because it is the only French stronghold in North America? Doesn't Quebec vociferate about keeping the "purity" of the language (French) because it is afraid of being assimilated? (Don't even get me started on the vociferating idiots who can't even spell or write a sentence without a million grammatical mistakes)

And I saw this in Quebec as well: the younger generation is most vocal one.

Please, Korea. Please don't let yourself go down the arrogant route any further. It's not pretty. It generates hatred and violence.

The approach.

On June 9th a bunch of us decided to go for a visit of the biggest temple in Ulsan. We'd glimpsed it on our way back from Busan the previous weekend and made plans to visit it on the spot. So here is a pictorial visit of the Jeonggwangsa temple in metropolitan Ulsan.