Everland

Everland

So I finally got around to visiting Korea's big theme park, Everland, a couple of weeks back, and despite my original impression that it was the perfect setting for a horror movie (think homicidal clowns and ravening oompa loompas) I have to say that it was pretty much the most fun I've had as an adult. I guess fairy floss and over sized cartoon animals never get old, but the real draw for me was the crazy rides. I made the belated discovery that I'm a huge wooss when it comes to rides (I swear I remember myself to be much braver as a kid), so I spent a lot of the time at Everland with my eyes squeezed shut and my hands in a death grip on whatever safety bar was at hand. The main event was the T-express, a great big wooden monstrosity that has the claim to fame of being the most vertical wooden roller coaster in Asia. I have to say that I was genuinely scared shitless, and I'm pretty sure I dropped the f-bomb a few times at the top of my lungs, but it was a total blast.

When we weren't on rides (or in queues for rides) my friend and I amused ourselves by counting the color coordinated couples. It's a thing here in Korea that couples will coordinate their clothing to match one another. A lot go all out and have identical outfits, right down to the shoes and socks, but others are more inventive, like the couple we saw all in black and white but with opposing items of clothing, i.e. one white hat one black hat, one white shirt one black shirt etc. I find myself completely bemused by the whole thing, as I can honestly say that it never occurred to me to match what my boyfriend was wearing, but for all you couples out there, there you go...

Everland

Everland, a photo by kirijae on Flickr.

Note the insanely scary roller coaster in the background.

Everland

Everland, a photo by kirijae on Flickr.

I think i got this guy just as he was questioning his career choice as an elf.

Spring

So Spring is definitely here, and I have to say I'm quite the fan. I never really knew what spring was meant to be about - even in Melbourne I just remember it as the weather getting warmer. Well here it is very distinctive; first came the cherry blossoms, which only lasted a couple of weeks but were so pretty while they were here. Then came pretty much every other flower you can think of, and finally we're getting some greenery again. It's amazing how dead everything looks in winter - if it hadn't snowed it would have been really ugly. It's been raining heaps, but when it's not raining we have beautiful sunny days - but super windy days too. Some days everyone wears masks to school and shuts all the windows because it's a high 'yellow dust' day; yellow dust is this stuff that apparently comes from Mongolia and causes cancer and other bad things. I feel weird about the masks, but I do keep the windows closed - which is really sad when it's a beautiful day and you have 35 smelly grade 6's in the room.

Best of all it's getting warmer again; I actually left the house in a sleeveless top the other day, which would have been suicidal only a couple of months ago. Unfortunately this revealed how incredibly white I have become - I don't think I have been this white since I was a baby to be honest. I'm dreading the day I have to wear a skirt for the first time - my legs are definitely a shade unseen around here. But other than that I can't wait for some super warm weather again - beer drinking weather! Unfortunately I haven't found anything resembling a beer garden around here which makes me sad :-(

Things to know about Korea

Okay so after a slow couple of weeks I thought I’d put this post together to show that I’m not just sitting around having fun here in Korea, I’m learning stuff too. Actually, I took all this stuff down in January with the help of my friend Mick and one or two pitchers of beer (hence the belated photo of Mick in my favorite duck restaurant). So here it is;

Things I’ve learned in Korea!

1. Don’t get into elevators naked.

You may think that this would go without saying, but no, I found myself in all seriousness suggesting that Mick had better not do this. This is what happens when you have multi-storied jimjilbahngs, and you have to negotiate floors carrying only your toiletries and a towel a little smaller than one of our tea-towels. It’s better to take the stairs – that way you won’t arrive anywhere unexpected too quickly.

2. Don’t sing karaoke when your friend’s holding a video camera.

This shouldn’t need further explanation, but if it so happens that you are silly enough to break this rule, then don’t complain when said video is brought out every year for your birthday thereafter.

3. Learn Korean for “where is the toilet?”

While charades will get you a long way in Korea, you might not want to use them for every situation – although kudos to Mick for his unflinching demonstration of how to take a leak for the benefit of a rather bemused barman.

4. Be suspicious of overly attractive women who want to hold your hand.

Not all the bars that Mick and I stumbled into were entirely on the up and up.

5.

6.

7. These were all various points made on the hazards of drinking too much, that can pretty much be summed up by saying that it is not entirely necessary to finish the entire bottle of scotch/5^th jug of beer/insert drink of your choice in one sitting.

8. Don’t be the person with a Dong Chim story.

This might take a little explaining. There’s a fun little tradition here in Korea known as ‘Dong Chim’. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but to give you an idea, the literal translation is ‘poo needle’. Whilst I haven’t experienced this myself (I’m glad), many a foreigner has had the unexpected shock of bending over – usually to put on/take off their shoes – and receiving a little Dong Chim surprise. Basically, you don’t want to be the person who can say, ‘oh this one time…”

Jindo Sea-Parting Festival

P1020649, a photo by kirijae on Flickr.

So I made it down to the most southern point of Korea last weekend - quite a bus drive! It took about 6 hours each way. The weather was a little crummy as you can see, but it was definitely worth seeing the sea 'part' and all these people walk out to the islands. It only happens once a year, and lasts for a couple of hours. I don't think there were as many people this year because of the Tsunami in Japan, but there was still quite a crowd. Lots of people were picking up the seaweed that lay on the rocks and the ground - guess it's super fresh!

Because I got back to Seoul so late on Saturday night I thought I'd sleep at a jimjilbahng (Korean spa) - definitely an experience. Basically I slept on the floor in a big room about the size of the wing of the library at CDU, and which was packed with people. When my friend and I finally found a spot to lie down, I could only lie on my back, with my arms folded across me - there wasn't room to put my arms down next to me!!! Luckily the person next to me moved after a couple of hours, so I could curl up a bit, but let's face it; nothing really makes a floor comfy, even one that's heated. I may think carefully before pulling an all nighter in Seoul again!

Long time no post...

So I realized it's been a while since I've posted anything here, which I guess puts me at risk of losing my precious 5 followers - sorry! Mostly this has been because I've been doing very little, other than bonding with my couch. I didn't think anyone was really interested in the latest TV I've been watching (Torchwood, Misfits and Band of Brothers ;-) or books I've been reading (Keith Richards' autobiography). Actually I have some movie recommendations! For Rachel - Monsters is awesome, I just wanted to watch it over and over, and seeing as you like your monster movies intelligent I right away thought of you. And for Bev, if you haven't already seen it, Waltz With Bashir totally blew my mind, and I really think you'd love it. If anyone can recommend anything for me I'd love to hear it! It's still pretty cold here, hence my complete lack of motivation to do anything energetic. I think I've been cold for about 5 months straight now, and now that the snow is gone I am definitely over it. For one thing I'm sure that I'm a much slimmer person without all these layers - hopefully come summer I won't be too disappointed once I can no longer hide beneath said layers ;-)

A new semester - and year - has started for me at school, which has had me pretty pumped. I am loving having new classes, it's like I get a whole new chance at mastering this teaching thing. One important thing I learned last year was don't bother trying to be too nice at the start if you ever want them to do what you say. The new grade 5's this year have been really excited to finally have the 'foreign' teacher, so it came as a bit of a shock this week when I put crosses through their stickers when they didn't shut up when I told them to. They all looked so completely betrayed, as if a favorite toy had turned on them. Oh and don't underestimate the power the stickers have over these kids; stickers are cause for respect - or abuse - from classmates and eventually lead to candy and even movie days, so putting a big black X through them had the desired effect. News travels, I've discovered, so now when I say 'attention one', I never get past 'attention two' before the classroom is as still as a grave. Yay!

So not much else happening; I am going away this weekend, to visit a place called Jindo Island. Every year it has this phenomenon occur that makes the ocean between the mainland and the island part, leaving a pathway for people to walk down a-la Moses and the Red Sea. Hopefully this is still what the sea does this year - things have been pretty crazy in this region, as I'm sure you've all seen. But all going well I should have some good photos to post next week :-)