"The Heart of the Buddha's Teaching"

"One mindful step can take us deep into the realization of beauty and joy in us and around us." 

~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Fun Days

I've been having lots of fun with my kids these last two weeks during our school's winter camp. According to our contract with SMOE, NSETs have to conduct five weeks of camps spread throughout the winter and summer vacations.  Camps mean smaller classes, more flexible teaching materials and lots of games. During camp time, I actually feel like I get to know the kids on a more personal level while leaving boring school textbooks on the shelves.  I think these past two weeks were some of the best days I've had at Samjeong this whole year to date.

* * * * *

Playing baseball with a makeshift umbrella bat in the multi-purpose room.

Teaching kids the Chicken Dance.  In the video, they said it's one of the most popular dances in America, to which the kids responded, "It's not Gangnam Style?"

Some cute little ones.... playing a game of back to back.

Going to miss the Korean kiddies.

Why doesn't it get easier?

In less than 50 days, I'll be saying goodbye to Korea and to Samjeong and to my life here in Seoul and moving back to the US.   Despite all the new starts I've had in the last few years, I'm nervous to do it again.

What if I can't find a job? What if I don't fit in anymore? What if I miss my life abroad? What if I regret not having stayed in Korea? What if I can't settle?  What if I end up 'failing'?

These thoughts whirl around in my head. I know in the logical part of my mind that there was always uncertainty at every start that I've undertaken.   One year ago today, I had no clue about where in Seoul I would be teaching, who I would be teaching, who I'd be working with or even where I would be living.  Go back another three years from then and I was just starting my last semester of undergrad and I had zero clue about what would happen once I moved to Germany.  But in the end, everything always worked out, in fact, better than anything I could have planned.

Soon I will be going to a place I've lived the majority of my life.  There are less unknowns this time around, and yet it doesn't seem to help.

If any of you are HIMYM fans, you might remember the episode where Marshall wants to quit his job, but just when he's about to do it, he feels this wave of nostalgia at every turn making him think 'this job isn't too bad', even though he hated his work at Goliath National Bank.  Part of that preference to stick with the old, is because it's familiar and letting go means choosing an unknown over certainty.   I think I'm entering that period now in Korea.

Wishing myself courage and luck to do it all over one more time.

* * * * *

Some exciting news...

This month,  I will be traveling to Japan!

DV is half Japanese but he's only been to Japan once and I've never been, so it's something we really wanted to try to make happen while we were in Korea this year.  Japan has a reputation for being a pricey country to tour, and it certainly can be, but we were lucky to find some super low-budget tickets with Peach Airlines.  We'll be in Japan only for a few days, so we're limiting our travel to Kyoto and Osaka.  Naturally, more updates to follow.^^  Yah! We're super excited!

일본에 가고 있어요! 

Ahem, we all know this should read, "EAST SEA" not "SEA OF JAPAN", but in any case, our  flight crossing it only takes two hours to get to Osaka.

* * * * *

How to Survive a Winter in Seoul

The view from inside my apartment--snow and ice and frozen socks and towels that we placed there to try to absorb the perspiration from the windows.  It's been a cold winter.

One thing I won't miss about Korea is the freezing cold winters.  We're talking negative temperatures here on a consistent basis.  Today's high?  -7. (And I'd also like to point out that tonight will be -16.) Even though New Jersey and Germany both have their fair share of cold weather, I can't seem to get the chill out of my bones here.  Seoul is cold, make no mistake about it and to make matters worse, our Officetel has terrible heating.  We have ice all along the INSIDE of our windows.  We've asked management to look at it... six times.  They said it's normal, yes, even the ice.  So what to do to survive this unbearable cold?  The following are my stay-alive-in-the-cold tips for living in Seoul.

1)  Electric Blankets
Seriously, a god send.  I bought mine for around 40,000 KRW ($40) at my local Lotte Mart.  Without it, I would have frozen long ago.  Get one.  There's no excuse.

2)  Fuzzy-wuzzy was a bear...

Anything fuzzy and synthetic, and doesn't breath (like cotton) is likely to keep your extremities warmer.  Fuzzy socks, hand warmers, leg warmers, pajama pants, the list goes on and on, you can find these items just about everywhere in Seoul, from Daiso and on the street for less costly items or in standard stores if you don't mind paying the extra premium for them.

Korean women are always fashionable, even in the bitter cold.  I noticed lots of women walking around in fuzzy robe-like polar bear fuzz this winter, like the first two women are sporting.

3)  Break a sweat...
by eating one of Korea's many super spicy soups.

Pretty sure he's not eating Korean food, but he looks as if he is.

 4)  Make it a steamy night

When I just can't shake the cold, I take a super hot shower and as a result my skin kind of burns for a while afterwards.  It brings my body temperature up just long enough for me to get cozy upstairs in my loft under my electric blanket before bed.

5)  Jim-jil-bang It

Don't want to rack up the water bill? Go hang out for a day at a Korean sauna, otherwise known as the Jim-jil-bang.  With a one time entrance fee, you can stay warm and relax the whole day long and enjoy a hot meal while you're there too.  Just a warning for the modest among you,  you will be expected to strip and go naked in the gender separated hot tub areas.  Koreans have no qualms about this and you shouldn't either.  It's actually a pretty liberating feeling.

Our snazzy uniforms that you wear in the co-ed areas.  This was me back in January 2006 (seven years ago!), back when I was visiting Korea for two weeks.

 6)  Let's go to the mall... today.

Since our heating doesn't work, and we're only two stops from Gimpo Airport, we spend a lot of time wandering around the Lotte Mall there warming up on someone else's dime.  Seoul has TONS of indoor malls scattered all around the city, there's bound to be one near you.  Enjoy feeling toasty for a little while.

Co-ex Mall, Gangnam, Seoul.

* * * * *

And that's a wrap!

Goodbye 2012!

So 2012 is about 24 hours away from being completed.  Presently, all seems calm as I sit in my tiny little Seoul apartment, but looking back, this year has certainly kept me on my toes. In the last 364 days...


-Visited the US after 1.5 years

-Packed up and said good-bye to family, friends and students in NUE

-Moved to Seoul, South Korea, became an expert at using chopsticks & started teaching some of the cutest and greatest kids in Korea right here in Banghwa with EPIK

-My first niece was born with news of two nephews on the way in 2013

-Took Korean classes

-Applied for and successfully completed the Visa/Green Card Interview & process at the US Embassy

-Experienced the beauty and extreme weather that comes with each of Korea's four seasons

-Explored green tea fields, walked through bamboo forests, looked straight across the 38th parallel into North Korea, experienced my first Typhoon season, visited the Yeosu World Expo, celebrated Buddha's birthday, lived the life of a monk for 24 hours, climbed mountains all over Korea, ate too many new and delicious foods to even start to name, visited the beautiful island of Jeju as well as making Seoul feel like home.

-and lastly but not least, celebrated seven years with David :)

Phew.  Thank you 2012! Wishing you all a wonderful, healthy and fulfilling New Year in 2013.

* * *

Jeju: Where to Stay and Visiting in the Winter

Jeju is feeling more like a dream with each passing day, now that we're back here in freezing Seoul -.-. Before all the details completely elude me, I wanted to post a few things we experienced there for future Jeju visitors.

One of the questions I had before visiting was whether Jeju would be worth a winter visit.  While it is a good deal further south, it isn't a tropical island. Jackets were necessary (no beach lounging this time of year) but we were pleasantly surprised that the weather was so agreeable.  We had sunshine Monday and Wednesday while we were roaming around the other parts of the island, and Tuesday, at Hallasan, it was covered in snow, which was a pretty nice setting for our Christmas Day hike.  And a plus, there were no crowds anywhere (which is a pretty huge plus when you're talking about visiting anywhere in Korea).

We stayed two nights in  Jeju-si and it worked out for us well.  We used buses to get around for long distance and taxis to get us in between to locations that were out of the way or a hassle to get to with public transport.  

We were really pleased with our hotel/parktel, the Goodstay Nulsong Parktel.  It was superbly clean and the staff super nice.  We arrived around 9am and they allowed us to check in already, which was great so we didn't have to lug around our bags.  The two nights there cost us $100, so $50 bucks a night, not bad.  It's just off the main street with an E-mart/Lotte Mart/McD's nearby for budget eating, for those who don't want to eat all your meals out at restaurants.

First day, we hit up the East side of the island visiting Seongsan Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak) and Seopjikoji.  We used public transportation to get there.  It cost 3,000 KRW o/w--but the ride is a bit long (about 1.5 hours).  We didn't mind it too much though, as it was nice to look out the window and also to catch up on some sleep^^.  I want to recommend printing out this blog post on The Lost Wanderer.  The writer took great care in explaining public transport on the island and we found it really helpful. We didn't have enough time for Udo Island and we skipped the caves because 1) it's winter and we didn't want to go down into colder temperatures and 2) we've both seen caves before.  Day 1 was my favorite day to be honest.  I loved the blue skies, the sunshine and the vast and beautiful sea crashing against the coastline. The Sunrise Peak was beautiful and it was really interesting to watch the women divers.

Day 2 was meant to be our hike up Hallasan.  It was easy to get to from Jeju-si, only about a 35 minute ride, but we got there around 9:30am, which didn't give us enough time to get to the peak.  We only made it about half way up, which was a bit disappointing.  They close access to the peak from 12:00 in the Winter to give hikers enough time to get back before dark.  However, we did manage to reach one of the two craters on the mountain.  The thing is, the weather was so snowy, that you couldn't see anything, which makes me think, even if we got to the top, the view would have been similar.  The wintery scenery was beautiful though.

What we were supposed to see.

What we saw.  If it wasn't for the sign, I would have had no clue what we were looking at.

So, we didn't make it to the top, but Christmas Day was still enjoyable.  We had a nice meal and hit up a cafe and played some card games and ended the night with a movie on our huge TV in the hotel room.

Day 3, our last day, we checked out of the hotel and took a taxi to the airport.  We dropped off our stuff at the luggage holding area (it cost us 7,000 KRW for 12 hours) and then we took the airport shuttle 600 to the south side of the island to Seogwipo.  It was a super comfy, convenient ride.  It cost 3,000 KRW to take us to the Convention Center, which is where we could see the Jungsangjeolli Cliffs.  The south side of the island definitely has a more tropical feel to it, with clementine trees everywhere and warmer temperatures than Jeju-si, but to be honest, the three waterfalls that they advertise in the area are overrated.  I've seen much better ones in other places.  I'd skip them my second time around and just enjoy time walking along the coastline.

We took the airport shuttle back to Jeju-si, had some lunch and still had time to check out the much talked about Loveland, the erotic theme park.  For those who are curious what it is, here's a more detailed post by another blogger.  Personally, we found it disappointing.  For 9,000 KRW per person, it wasn't worth the money or time.  What I found more curious than the exhibits themselves, were the other people visiting.  I expected to see young people and/or couples, but there were whole families visiting with grandma and grandpa in tow, not to mention a group of six older Ajusshis in their 60s hanging out there together. 

After that we took a taxi back to the city and had a cup of coffee in a cafe before heading to the airport.  

There are loads of touristy things to do on Jeju, we chose to focus more on nature and taking it easy.  We had a great time and would love to go back again and hike some more of their Olle Trails and experience Jeju in the spring or summer.  You can find cheap tickets on budget airlines such as Air Busan, Jeju Airlines & East Star Jet, especially if you book in advance and during the week, so your trip doesn't have to be costly if you don't want it to be.  Actually, we budgeted for a lot more than we actually spent.  For the two of us, we spent around 250,000 KRW for food, transport, entrance fees and whatever else we bought for the three days, add to that our 100,000 KRW for our hotel, and around 150,000 for our tickets and we had a three day vacation on Jeju Island for around 500,000 KRW. 

* * *