Hongdae-ing Around

Hello again! So once again I'm not really sure where to start. Every week here is something new and different. Yet at the same time, some of the things that I used to find so strange are suddenly just part of my everyday life and have become normal. I'm not sure when the switch flipped, but somewhere in the past few weeks this foreign country has stopped being so foreign and has started to actually feel like home. Believe me there is no better feeling than walking into your apartment at 7am after a long night out in Hongdae (the University area in Seoul my friends and I frequent on the weekends) and actually feeling at home in this apartment in the middle of Korea. I admit, it took me longer to feel at ease here than any other place that I've ever lived, but now I feel sort of guilty because I'm starting to forget what is "normal" here is not normal to everyone back home and that you all still may want to hear about it. Don't worry though, K-Pop still isn't normal to me and I still think its hilarious. More on that later.

Current mood: Disappointed in those Badgers, but also feeling incredibly smug that its snowing for all you losers in Wisconsin. Sucks to be you. It was 70 here today.

Also, they say a picture is worth a thousand words, right? Well this entry will be fullllll of pictures if that's ok. It really just describes everything better than I could ever attempt to.

This past Friday at school was "field day" or in my mind just plain ol' GAME DAY! No classes. No teaching. Just an entire day filled with games It was grrrreeat. All the homerooms competed against each other. Started off with some crazy human bridge game that involves one student running across the backs of the other students, and then the students have to run to the end of the line to allow the standing person to continue. They had to make down the soccer field and back. Really dangerous. Really funny.

Bridge Game

Here's a video of some of the students cheering. No idea what they're saying, but this class won for the most spirited of the day!

There was also a jump roping competition. This class happens to be my neighbor Sang-Eun's homeroom class. They won. And just FYI - they counted to 21 in the video before they messed up.

The kids were all really into all of the competitions and it was cool to see them so excited about something. Some of the homerooms even had shirts made to show their team spirit. The kids loved it because they usually have to wear uniforms and this was one of the rare days when they could dress as crazy as they wanted. One of my students, Garam, has surprised me by having some incredible photography skills. I've stolen a few of her pics to share with you all, because they're so good.

Also, my neighbor Sang-Eun roped me into participating in the days events because her homeroom is only boys. I may have said this before, but there is a disproportionate number of boys and girls at my school, and on average in a class of 30, there are only 5-10 girls. For the relay races, there needed to be 4 boys and 2 girls on each team. So she was going to be running with her kids, and asked if I would help out their team. The kids totally loved this. The first was a simple relay race, just run fast and pass it on. We didn't win, but the kids thought watching me run was fun and they were surprised by how "fast" I was. Which is really funny because I'm not fast at all - I think women here are just overly girly and don't tend to exercise much.

Sang-Eun's homeroom (my relay team)

The 2nd relay was not so simple and now the students have ammunition to make fun of me forever. For my part, I had to run, crawl in the dirt under a volleyball net, run some more, and then hop for what felt like forever in a potato sack. We all looked crazy but we were playing for playground pride here! Luckily I didn't have to do the 2nd part of the relay which involved some sort of somersault followed by sticking your face in a tray full of flour to grab a piece of candy. And here's some more pics from the day...

Friday night after game day I met up with Sara, Anna, and Rebecca in Seoul for a good old fashioned girls night out. We went out for dinner and then hit the clubs! We made a few Korean friends along the way as well which was fun. The club we went to was pretty insane. Think London meets Acapulco. The music was mostly hip hop which is perfect for me, but they were digging wayyyy back into the music archives. I'm pretty sure I heard TLC's No Scrubs at some point during the night. I also feel like we were all doing the Cupid Shuffle at some point as well (Courtney and Meghan please tell me you know this dance and can demo it for mom and dad because I know they don't have a clue what it is).

The huuuuge dance club

After the club we made our usual stop at Burger King and then hopped on the subway home.

This weekend I also went to Gyeongbokgung Palace. Its the biggest palace in Seoul, and was built in...1396? ish? Maybe? I can't remember honestly. But it was pretty awesome.

I also took a video since my pictures really don't show how massive this place is. Even the video doesn't quite capture the magnitude of it.

Inside the palace walls were pond, gardens, trees, multiple buildings, and a towering pagoda. It was pretty awesome. It also is especially beautiful because there are mountains visible behind the grounds of the palace. We were there in late afternoon and it was the perfect fall day.

After the palace, we walked around the City Hall area and Cheonggyecheon stream. Always great places to visit in Seoul. Then we got a brilliant idea to go up in the Samsung Jongno tower. This tower was the one I described wayyy back in August when I first ventured into Seoul - it was literally the first thing I ever saw in Seoul. So without really knowing whether or not we could go there, Sara, Rebecca and I decided to just go for it. We went up to the top floor, which is 33 for this particular building. At the top was an amazing view and an absolutely beautiful restaurant. They were really nice and allowed us to go in so we could take pictures, but we were so captivated by the view that we decided to stay and have a glass of wine at the top of this beautiful building to watch the sun set over the mountains. The pictures obviously don't measure up to how amazing it actually was, so for those of you who come to visit I'm going to highly recommend a sunset dinner or drink at this restaurant, appropriately named Top Cloud.

We decided to make reservations here for November when we'll be celebrating Sara, Rebecca, and Anna's birthday all in the same weekend - so I'm looking forward to going back.

Next weekend I'm planning to go to Busan with the usual crew to see a fireworks festival! Last weekend Busan hosted an international film festival and I think I saw on the news that Josh Hartnett was in Korea for it. He's such a babe. Its my first real weekend traveling out of Seoul - unless you count the DMZ but I don't really since I practically live next to it. If all goes as planned we will be taking the bullet train out of Seoul on Friday night, and it will take us about 3 hours on this high speed train across the country. We're still looking into hostels/love motels but we really want to stay near the beach. Its nice enough here still where even if we can't lay out or go in the water, it will be comfortable to at least walk around or play some games on the beach.

As promised, here is your weekly dose of K-Pop. This song always seems to be on in the grocery store near my house, and once I hear it I can't stop singing it. Limited English, as usual. "Sorry sorry" and "shawty shawty" is about it. The song is called Sorry Sorry by Super Junior. Super Junior has 13 members with ages ranging from 15-18. And is it just me or do they all have the same haircut? With the exception of the tutting part, the dancing in this video is so atrocious that I had the whole thing down by the time I had watched half of it. They literally just do the same moves over and over and occasionally reverse them. Having an obnoxious amount of people in k-pop bands is pretty common here. I have no idea who thinks that is a good idea but somehow they make it work. Completely ridiculous. But awesome. Here it is: Sorry Sorry by Super Junior.

School is going well. The kids are still continuing to amuse and frustrate me but its always entertaining. I'm looking into volunteer opportunities with several North Korean Human Rights organizations in Seoul. I'm working on getting my friends involved as well. Human rights is something I became really interested in during college and took several classes on. Its something that is a really important cause to me so I'm looking forward to getting involved and hopefully working on building a resume that is directed more pointedly at what I want to do with my life. Especially after visiting the DMZ and stepping into North Korea, I am even more dedicated to this particular cause. North Korea is guilty of some of the worst human rights violations in the world, and I want to help raise awareness and do whatever I can to help victims of this incredibly oppressive government. This is a link from Amnesty International about only one area of the many North Korea is guilty of violating. Please read it.

I'll be back next weekend with updates from (hopefully) Busan.

"It's my life, and I'm not sitting on the sidelines watching it pass me by. I'm leaving you my legacy. I gotta make my mark, I gotta run it hard, I want you to remember me. I'm leaving my fingerprints..." --Katy Perry

Every Wanna Pretty

Hello again! Quick shout out to my friend Nicole who just got engaged this past weekend. Congrats Nicki and Jens...I'm excited for you both :) But please no getting married until I'm back in the states!

Is it ok if I give another (and maybe even bigger) shout out to Wisconsin for WINNING against Minnesota and keeping the axe for another year. I was nervous and also fell asleep before the game ended at 4am, but don't worry...a few true fans stayed awake for the entire time over here.

Dedicated Badger fans...thanks ESPN for streaming overseas :)

Shortly after my last blog post, I received a message from my co-teacher, Jin, telling me that the father of one of the teachers at my school had passed away. I was supposed to go to the funeral. Surprisingly it wasn't entirely different from what I know of funerals in the U.S. The women were in black hanbok (traditional Korean dress), and the men had bands around their arm to signify they were family. Mostly it was just a lot of eating and drinking. Sitting on the floor Korean-style of course. There were a few differences, but nothing entirely notable so I'll save it for another day.

I'm nearing the end of my little vacation from school, and its been pretty good. Tuesday-Thursday of this past week I was in Osan City with my fellow Badgers and all the other GEPIK teachers. I was hoping to meet some cool people in my area, since most of my friends live south of Seoul, and I'm north, but everyone was pretty much off-their-rocker crazy. I'd like to know what's really going on with them. Like old greasy men that I just don't really get why they're here. Overall the "orientation and training" was completely useless but it did give us a chance to miss school for a few days so now that its over, it really wasn't so bad. We spent most of our nights teaching all the other people how to have a good time, so at one point we began a game of Flip Cup, Wisconsin vs The Rest of the World (and by the rest of the world, we meant everyone else in America and then...well the rest of the world). We did, admittedly, have to brush ourselves off once or twice, but overall we completely dominated and I think we proved that Badgers may just be...the best drinkers in the world!

After that, it was out at our usual spot in Hongdae for a typical party til the sun comes up kind of night. We did have to take a short cat nap in a Burger King, but please don't be alarmed, the chairs were comfy and everyone else was doing it. Such a bizarre culture, but its sort of acceptable to sleep anywhere over here.

This weekend was Chuseok. Its sort of the Thanksgiving of Korea. Its probably the biggest holiday here, so everything shuts down and even crazy busy Seoul becomes deserted because everyone goes to their hometowns for the weekend. Because of this holiday I was given Friday off of school and Monday. On Saturday, a group of us went to the Korean Folk Village in Yongin, near where Anna lives.

Pokemon!

사랑해요 (sarang hae yo) = I Love You!

Rebecca, me, Isabelle, Sara

We saw a few shows, traditional houses, precious little kids dressed up in hanbok (한복) and ate some yummy Korean food.

Little girl in a 한복 on a swing

Rebecca, me, Sara, and Isabelle in our "traditional" clothes.

Tightrope walker

Overall, it wasn't entirely authentic because its pretty commercialized, but some parts of it were worth seeing. Others I wouldn't recommend, but either way I'm glad I saw it. On Chuseok, you are supposed to "pray your wishes" to the full moon, and so we all wrote our prayers and wishes on little pieces of paper and tied them to this big...rock? or something, and hopefully they will come true :)

Praying my wishes..

Also visited the World Cup Stadium this weekend with Sara and Rebecca.

We were unable to get into the actual stadium but may look into a tour for another day. The stadium was really nice though and has a beautiful view of the mountains. The stadium was opened in 2001 and was built for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Now its home to the FC Seoul team, and I read somewhere that it can hold over 65,000 fans. Leland, you said you read this thing sometimes right? Why don't you come play soccer over here? You don't even need to learn Korean!

FC Seoul

And finally, as promised, I will leave you all with some K-Pop songs. A favorite among my friends and me is a song called Pretty Girl by KARA. Part of the chorus goes like this: "If you wanna pretty, every wanna pretty.." and then goes into Korean that no one can understand. We are all incredibly confused because we don't know how anyone can want to pretty. Maybe they mean if you want to BE pretty? Or if you want a pretty girl? I don't know. But its hilarious and kind of catchy. I may need to teach my high schoolers, however, that its not really possible to "wanna pretty". Another favorite that is incredibly catchy is called 가라 가라 (Gara Gara) by the group Big Bang. G-Dragon (remember the cute blonde from a few posts ago?) was formerly a member of this band. See if you can pick out which one he is with the group. Hint: he's not blonde yet at this point. Click here to watch!

I think that's all for now. Currently deliberating on what to be for Halloween. They don't celebrate here, but we figure there's enough of us Wisco kids here who are notorious for throwing the best Halloween parties ever. Plus - there should be plenty of Americans between all the other English teachers in this country and the military guys running around. Costume ideas so far include : stealing outfits from our students and being Korean schoolgirls, 2NE1 (another huge K-Pop girl band over here), Girls Generation (K-Pop band with about 13 members), annddd that's about all. Any suggestions?

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures we can have if we only seek them with our eyes open." --Jawaharial Nehru

Staring Down the Enemy

Ever since I knew I was coming to South Korea, and I think for most of my friends here as well, there was always this voice in the back of our minds saying “North Korea”. Currently from my apartment, I am about a 45-minute drive away from the most heavily guarded and fortified border in the world. Yesterday I went with 6 other friends of mine to the DMZ through the USO (United Service Organization). We all signed up for a tour, and luckily they had spots available for this weekend – we wanted to go before it was too cold since much of the tour takes place outside.

Quick blurb about this for those of you who don’t know (or just didn’t read my first blog entry): The DMZ stands for the Demilitarized Zone and is at roughly the 38th parallel. It is the dividing line between North and South Korea, who are technically still at war. The Korean War ended after 3 years and 1 month (1950-1953) in an armistice, which is basically just a loose cease-fire. The DMZ is 4 km wide, and spans from coast to coast of the Korean peninsula. Directly in the center of the DMZ with 2km to the north and the south, is the MDL or Military Demarcation Line. This is the official line that separates North and South Korea. The 2km on either side of it belongs to the respective countries, but the territory is considered neutral. There is not much to see as far as “lines” goes. Fences delineate the DMZ, but the MDL is really just a bunch of white posts every few meters, and are about 1 meter high. In some of the taller grass they’re difficult to see, and you can really only see them from up close.

Once we arrived at the USO office in Seoul (felt like home…American signs, newspapers, and the Yankees vs Red Socks game on ESPN) we checked in, showed our passports, paid for the tour, and boarded the bus.

The drive took about one hour, and as we headed further north, it was obvious that there was more barbed wire and more watchtowers. It felt like we were heading into no-man’s-land. Soon enough, we were at the DMZ...

Our first stop (after going through a security checkpoint on the bus) was Dora Mountain lookout point. The drive to get there was up a winding mountain, with yellow steel barriers with spikes on them standing out against the grey concrete. Trees lined the road on either side, with ropes strung along the trees nearest to the road. Hanging on the trees were signs warning “MINE”. Definitely no hiking allowed through that forest. Like I said, it’s the most heavily fortified border in the world, and landmines are plentiful.

Here we were given a quick rundown of what we were about to look at, and rules to follow. We were allowed to take pictures only from a secured area behind the yellow line. Binoculars were available if we wanted a closer look, but no pictures hanging over the edge of the lookout point. Once the group cleared, I was able to get my first real look at North Korea. I was surprised. I had expected to see something different on the other side, but it was just a city and some scattered buildings. Mainly what I was seeing was a propaganda village. Its basically just a shell of a city to give the impression of wealth and vibrant life, but it really doesn’t have anybody fooled.

That's North Korea RIGHT THERE!

North Korea also has the tallest flagpole and the biggest flag in the world. They built it to compete with South Korea’s flagpole just across the MDL. They hated that the south had a big flagpole, so they built a bigger one. Our tour guide told us that the average monthly income in North Korea is around $20. The people make about $60-80/month, but most of it is taken by the government. We talked with a South Korean soldier for a little bit. Turns out, he had lived in Iowa most of his life so he spoke perfect English, but he had chosen to serve out his military service for his country. In Korea all men serve a mandatory 2-year service to the army. Located near this lookout point is Dorasan Station, which is a brand new fully operational train station (the last stop before North Korea) that literally just sits empty. The intention is that the line will connect Seoul to North Korea's capital, Pyeongyang. It was built at a time of greater hope for unification as a symbolic gesture towards the north by South Korea. Until that day comes though the station sits there just waiting…

After lunch (bibimbap!), we went to the 3^rd Infiltration Tunnel. We watched a short video on the DMZ, which to me felt more like propaganda than accurate information, but was still interesting. It briefed us on the Korean War, and then explained how the DMZ has been positive in some ways other than just to prevent another devastating war. It acts as sort of a nature preserve, being home to wildlife and plants. With tensions rising, it was clear that the video was made at a time when things were better in Korea. I thought the positive message of the video was about the furthest thing from the current reality, but I think it’s a message that many hope will return soon.

Group at the DMZ. Nothing says "peace and love" like a military helmet and a flower connected by barbed wire...right?

The plaque in front of this statue reads: "Unifying Earth: This piece of artwork expresses the people's hope to realize peace and the reunification of the Korean peninsula. The arches over the two hemispheres represent the Seoul-Sinuiju railway that will extend into Europe. The divided sphere symbolizes a lasting Cold War vestige - the divided Korean peninsula. Statues surrounding the leaning halves are elements that work together to reunite the Korean peninsula."

After that, we were led to the entrance to the 3^rd Infiltration Tunnel. There are 4 known tunnels that were dug by the North Koreans after the Korean War ended, in order to launch a sneak attack on Seoul. More are suspected but have yet to be discovered. The first one was discovered in the early 1970s, and the last one was discovered as recently as 1990. The 3^rd tunnel was considered one of the most dangerous because it is the closest to Seoul.

The tunnel is only about 2m high, and so we had to wear hard hats and crouch down. We walked down into the ground in a cramped dripping cave-like tunnel. It was pretty uncomfortable (although I didn’t have to crouch as much as some people) and an example of what war can make people do. Cameras weren’t allowed here, but I snuck mine in and was able to get a few grainy pictures without the flash.

"Here I gooooo"

And towards the end, I snuck in a few with the flash, just for good measure.

Sara, Rebecca, and me in the tunnel

When this tunnel was discovered in 1978, the North went to great lengths to paint the tunnel black to make it appear to be coal, in order to convince the south that the tunnels were part of a coal mining operation. This defense fails however, because the rocks underground here are almost entirely granite, and there is no coal in this region. It seems to me that the north goes to such great lengths to cover things up, wouldn’t it be easier to just play by the rules? I don’t get it. We were stopped about 150 meters from the actual MDL (so technically we were within the boundaries of the 4km of the DMZ) by the first of 3 blockades that cut the tunnel off. Just on the other side of this steel barrier is a minefield. I was dying to get a picture of it, but there was video surveillance on us at this point, and I wasn’t about to risk anything. So if you want to see it…guess you’ll just have to crawl down into that dark drippy tunnel in the DMZ yourself.

Once we were out of the tunnel, we boarded the bus, and head for what was, in my opinion, the highlight of the day. We were driven to the Joint Security Area (JSA) or Panmunjeom as it is called in Korean.

The JSA is at Camp Bonifas, which is named after an American soldier who was murdered in 1976 along with another soldier by the North Koreans. There was a poplar tree blocking the view of North Korea, and when they went to chop it down to free up the view, they were ambushed and murdered…with axes. Incredibly gruesome, and also part of the grim reality of this divided country. The JSA is guarded primarily by the ROK soldiers (that’s Republic of Korea…aka South Korea), U.S. Military, and UNC (United Nations Command) soldiers. Guarding the other side? You guessed it, North Korean soldiers, and Chinese volunteer soldiers.

The bus was boarded by an American soldier, who checked our passports, upon our arrival to Camp Bonifas. South Koreans are not allowed into this area. We were driven to the JSA building where we had to fill out a declaration form. The first line? “The visit to the Joint Security Area at Panmunjom will entail entry into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action.” Um ok…where do I sign?

We also had to wear a UNCMAC Guest badge, that we were instructed to keep visible at all times.

Another American soldier gave us a quick presentation and explained how hostile this environment is. They literally stand face-to-face with their enemy every single day. Next we had to board a secured UN bus, to take us….to the border. The actual MDL border. We arrived and were made to get into 2 single file lines behind the officer giving the tour. No bags were allowed. We could bring our cameras, but couldn’t even have them in a small case. We were given strict instructions not to wave, talk to, provoke, or interfere with in any way any of the North Korean soldiers that we may encounter. We were led through a building called the Freedom House. Just on the other side of that was the MDL.

The scene before me on the other side of the Freedom House was the eeriest moment of my life.

The previously chatty and light-hearted tour group I was in, was suddenly completely silent. I don’t even know if any of us were breathing for those first few seconds. Facing the Freedom House was the “welcome center” to North Korea, literally just a few meters away from where we were standing. Welcome Center is quite deceiving though, because I felt the complete opposite of welcome in this place. Staring at us through (completely unnecessary) binoculars was a North Korean soldier.

Several small buildings separated the Freedom House and the North Korean building. The blue buildings belong to the UN/South Korea, and silver buildings are the property of North Korea. The concrete slab you can see running through the center of the buildings, where the ground changes colors, is the MDL.

We were literally just feet away from North Korea. The grey building on the right is the “recreation” center for North Korean soldiers…which is ironic because apparently there is no recreational equipment in that building at all. North Korean soldiers like to look out the window and make vulgar gestures to US, UN, and ROK soldiers and especially like to try to provoke people like us who come as tourists. They will flip you the middle finger, or make slashing motions across their throats as if to say “we’ll kill you”. Completely terrifying.

Surveillance cameras on top of Freedom House

We were led into one of the blue buildings where we were allowed to cross the MDL…INTO NORTH KOREA. I did it. I went to North Korea and lived to tell the tale.

Behind enemy lines

3 ROK soldiers, who apparently are hand selected to work at the JSA, guarded the room. I can see why. Its not every day you see a 6’1” nearly 200lb Korean man. These guys were huge. Extremely intimidating, but it was also somewhat comforting to know that they were the “good guys”. They were on our side.

Rebecca and me hanging out in North Korea...no big deal or anything.

On the wall in this room are several small flags in a glass case. These flags used to be out on the tables, but when North Korean soldiers went into that very same room when former President Bush was visiting several years ago, they used the U.S. and South Korean flags to shine their shoes and blow their noses.

So the flags were placed in a glass case in order to prevent any unnecessary conflicts. After we walked out of the building and turned to look at the Welcome Center of North Korea again, we were surprised to see that the front of the Welcome Center was now crowded with North Korean soldiers all staring at us.

That was pretty much our cue to get out of there ASAP.

The tour was basically over from there and after a quick stop in the gift shop, we peaced out and went back to Seoul.

On the ride home, I had a sort of overwhelming sense of gratefulness towards the U.S. and the fact that I have been lucky enough to have never had to experience such horrible conditions. I had stepped into a Communist country, a country with egregious human rights violations, where propaganda is part of everyday life. Families are torn apart by this division, though the division is not between the people, but rather the people in power. This isn’t what the people want. They want to be unified. I’m not sure I’ll see it in my lifetime. Things have been this way for close to 60 years. The hope of unification is strong…but until then, we’ll just have to wait.

I’m sorry this entry 1) is so incredibly long and 2) reads like a depressing history report. But the reality of this divided country is sad and seeing some of the things I saw didn’t give me much hope, especially understanding the politics and history as I think I do.

On the bright side, however, only Monday classes this week! Then on to Osan City for 3 days for “orientation” aka go to yet another strange Korean town and drink with a bunch of other English teachers. No school Friday or the following Monday in observance of Chuseok (sort of the Korean Thanksgiving). It’s a pretty big deal here, so we all plan to make the most of it by continuing to be as touristy as possible because the holiday really has no significance to us. So we’re going to hit up the Korean Folk Village hopefully, and do some other things we might not have time for otherwise. Say hello to my 2^nd week of paid vacation since my arrival...

“The use of traveling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking of how things may be, to see them as they are.” –Samuel Johnson.