Going's On

Some things happen here that just make me stop and go 'What?'  So here are some fun(ish) stories.

I think I've talked about Christianity in Korea before, but here's a recap.  Christianity is fairly new here, especially when compared to Europe where my ancestors are from.  So when I'm approached by Koreans, on the street or when they knock on my door, who try to lecture me/convert me to Christianity I can't help but think, 'Yes, I know about Christianity.  My family is from Ireland and Italy.  I'm pretty sure they have known about it for a while now.'  So I usually just run away or shut the door.  And they go in groups where at least one person speaks English and they will, inevitably, shove that person towards me.

Now, the rainy season has started here.  A couple weeks ago I was walking back to my apartment at 10pm in the rain.  You would think that given these facts I would have been safe from the Christians who wander the streets trying to convert/educate unsuspecting pedestrians.  No.  There I was, speed walking home to avoid me totally soaked, and what happens? I get stopped by these people!

Always, they ask "Are you busy? Can we talk to you about the Bible?" And I always say that yes, I am busy.  This night I was heading back hoping to make home in time to skype with my mother.  So I them that, that I was in a hurry and needed to get home to talk to my mom.  Did this deter them? No.  They asked to come back with me to my apartment.  At this point, and this is a little sad, I literally ran away from them.  There I was, with my umbrella at 10 at night, running down the street in the rain to escape these 2 ladies who wanted to educate me about the Bible. 

And I do consider myself Christian.  But I have very strong feelings about forcing your religion on other people.  So, this is getting kind of old.  Especially since they are rather forceful and very persistent when you've made it clear that you don't want to talk to them or listen to what they have to say.

Different topic.  Koreans' believe in something called 'fan-death.'  This is the belief that during the summer if you sleep with your fan on and your windows closed you will die.  There are several theories about how this works.  Here are 2: 1) the fan sucks all the air from the room or 2) the fan acts like the fan in a convection oven and takes out all the air while also making you hot so you die from dehydration. 

I've talked to a couple of Koreans about this, including my tutor and they are all convinced it is true.  The news reports incidents of fan death and it is one of the top 3 causes of death during the summer, along with AC explosions.  Now, you might be thinking this a little illogical and no one would actually believe it.  You would be wrong.  Fan-death isn't a superstition.  It's a fact.  I've been told by several people never to sleep with my fan on and windows closed.  My thoughts when I'm told this usually run along these lines, 'Well, I always sleep with my windows closed and my fans on at home.  Sometimes multiple fans (gulp) and yet I'm still alive.'  So, this is just one of those things that I find amusing but accept as a Korean quirk.  And have learned not to talk about with Koreans. 

Ok, time to change topics again.  I'm currently rather annoyed with my school.  I'm leaving August 13th.  In September they have to give me quite a bit of money for my severance, housing deposit, flight, and last pay.  My school wants me to get an international debit card so I can withdraw this money, thousands of dollars, from an ATM when I get home.   You can only withdraw so much money from an ATM at a time and per-day.  Plus, I would be charged international fees every time I withdrew.  And I need that money in my home account as soon as possible to pay bills.  So their idea really doesn't really work for me.

I even told them I would pay the transfer fee if they wire the money.  Maybe that will help.  I emailed the GEPIK coordinator for the area so hopefully she will be of some help.  I'm tired of this type of BS and it really just makes me want to get out of here and get home.  The miserable, rainy weather also isn't helping my mood.

Good news is that my students started finals today, so I'm desk warming, which, yes, is quite boring, but at least I'm not teaching.  Summer camp is only a couple of weeks away, then I have 2 more weeks of desk warming before I leave.  I think there are things I'm really going to miss here, like how active my social life is, my students, friends, etc, but I'm ready to get on that plane home and back to normality.  And fruits. And vegetables.  Anyway, that's it for today.  Hope you enjoyed the stories and my complaining didn't bother you too much :)

How Winter is Still Killing Me

I've mentioned a few times how the winter here is AWFUL.  Well, I suffered from cold-weather induced laziness during this 3-4 month season and am now paying for it.  I've gained weight and am now way out of shape.  I was pretty happy with myself when I arrived in August, now I'm not and I can't wait to get home where I can have SALAD and other fresh fruits and vegetables.  But this is leading to the coming story.

I have, since winter ended, been going to the gym fairly regularly.  Some weeks I go almost everyday, some just one or 2 times.  Jess and I, hoping that we had gotten ourselves back into reasonably decent shape decided to try hiking Seoraksan with Warren.  Ok, Seoraksan is supposed to be one of the hardest mountains to climb in Korea and Warren, who runs the trips we go on, is crazy and a hardcore hiker.

This was the type of hike I did in the fall without too much trouble.  We left Seoul at 11:30pm on Friday and arrived at the mountain at around 2:30am Saturday.  
We started hiking with our head-lamps on at 3am. To start were the stairs.  Now, I hate stairs.  I would rather climb my way up nature then climb stairs. This was the first clue I had that this hike wasn't going to go well for me. The stairs were never ending. And they were big, like king-size steps.  Eventually, after about 30-45mins (though it felt like HOURS) of climbing stairs, we conquered them! However, by this time it had started to rain. Not just a gentle sprinkling either.  I was cold, I was wet, for whatever reason I was having trouble breathing, and it just wasn't fun. Also, I was REALLY far behind the group.  Picture: me in a bright purple poncho, wearing a head-light, hiking up this miserable mountain in the cold rain. Alone. I was not loving it.

Two others from my group had passed by me and told me that they were so far behind because one of their friends decided to turn around and head back to the bus.  Now, this sounded like a great idea to me, so I got that guys number, checked that the bus was still there, and turned around.  I called Jess to tell her what I was doing and she decided to come with me as she wasn't really enjoying herself either.  So then I stood in the rainy, dark woods and waited. And waited.  I kept picturing all the animals that could come out and kill/eat me. Thought about ghost stories and all the bad things that can happen when your alone in the woods. I managed to spook myself a little bit in the 20mins it took Jess to reach me.
 

We continued down together and eventually made it the bus where another 2 from our group were.  By that time it was around 4:30-5am, so naturally we curled up as best we could on the seats and went to sleep.  We got up a few hours later and went on an easy hike for maybe 3 or 4 hours.  It was quite nice and was only raining off-and-on. By the time we got back to the bus it was raining pretty steadily.  There was also a hot spring by the bus where we sat and soaked our feet.  That was probably the best part of the whole trip.

A while later another few people had made their way back to the bus.  Did I mention we were supposed to camp on the beach that night? Yeah.  It sounded like a lot of fun when we signed up, hiking/camping in the sunshine on the warm beach.  Not nearly as appealing in the cold rain.  So, Jess and I, along with another 4 from our group, decided to catch the bus back to Seoul that luckily stopped on the road we were on.  We made it back, caught the train back to Ilsan, and I went home and passed out. It was definitely an interesting day.


This weekend is a long weekend, memorial day or something is on Monday.  Saturday I'm planning to go to Suwon to see a fortress with Mychaela and Sunday were going to try rafting.  Fingers-crossed that it doesn't rain on me again.

Everything else is going pretty well.  I got my plane ticket home!!! August 13th!!! Can't wait! I want fruit, vegetables, real Mexican food, and to get back to a regular diet. And, of course, to see my family and friends! And watch Phillies games!!! But I will miss South Korea, my school, my students, friends, Lake Park, and, of course, kimchi-jjigae.

As of right now, I'll arrive home at around 10pm on the 13th, if everything is on time, anyway.  On the 16th I will have Law School orientation at Temple and on the 23rd classes will start.  Sometime before classes start I want to 1) go to at least 1 Phillies game and 2) possibly find somewhere in the city to live, though I can commute for a while, but there is a good chance that with no car living at home could get old fast. Plus, nothing is set yet and I tend to change my mind about what I want to do every 5 minutes, so we'll see what actually happens :-)