Field Trip: Traditional Korean Dyeing

We took three buses filled with 4-6 year old Korean kids to the mountainous countryside on the outskirts of Gwangyang for a field trip. At first, it sounds a bit crazy but in reality, it was one of the most chill field trips we've been on since the kids were actually doing something and not just running around like maniacs.

First we all sat and listened to a woman explain (in Korean) what sorts of natural materials they use to make different colors. She would get out a length of cloth and then ask the students to guess what was used to make it. Well, at least that's what I think was happening.

Then they handed out white handkerchiefs for us all to dye. We wrapped rubber bands around them in different patterns just like tie dyeing.

After we tied rubber bands around them, we headed outside to some plastic tubs filled with different color dyes. There was yellow, red, purple, and green. My group squatted around a tub filled with dye and told to wait. Then the kids got bored and started throwing grass in it and I told them to stop and be patient. Obviously, this is hard for a five year old because when I looked away, one of the kids spit his gum in it!

Finally we were given the go ahead to dye. The kids were a little apprehensive at first but I just shoved mine in and they soon followed suit. We had to let it soak so we got to play in the colored water for a while. I was strict about splashing since it would obviously stain clothing. I saw some other kids later with big colored splashes on their clothes. I'm sure their parents weren't happy about that!

After we soaked them in the dye, we dipped them in some clear liquid. Then we wrung them out and hung them up to dry while we went to eat lunch under some of the most grand, beautiful trees I've seen in Korea.

After lunch, we collected our dyed and dried handkerchiefs and bused back to Wonderland. Easy, peasy! :)

Sometimes, I think the key to being a good kindergarten teacher in Korea, is making a total fool of yourself. The above picture is just a tiny snippet into the crazy things I do to make the kids laugh! :)

The McDonald's Voyage

We've made a rule. If we want McDonald's, we have to walk there and it's really far away. Like, 2.2 miles one way according to Google maps. It usually takes us over three hours to walk, eat, and walk back.

We don't go very often but when we do, we get to see all kinds of new things in Suncheon. McDonald's is in the "old downtown" and we live and mostly stay in the "new downtown". There are some great things on the other side of town and we often get lost trying to find our way, which is good for making new discoveries.

We always try to remember which way to go for the next time we decide to urban hike at night to eat fast food but it never works. It's simultaneously exhausting and exhilarating because it feels like we are truly exploring--one of the greatest pleasures in life.

On our latest McDonald's trek we took some pictures to document the experience. I don't have a lot of experience with night photography (none, really!) but I think a few of them turned out pretty good. I hope you enjoy!

lanterns up to celebrate Buddha's birthday

a thumbs up statue! just what every city needs

small temple

look at that teeny fire hydrant!

play ground called "sik-holz" ....looks like some foreigners might have written that

some people were setting up for a little festival along the river and we walked through this marvel

the roses are exploding everywhere right now

an empty lot FULL of red poppies, it was so beautiful

lights off the Suncheon river

a bad ass motorcycle and a timid little kitty sticker

happy truck is happy

Korean BBQ

My favorite Korean food is definitely barbeque. The best part is, you cook the meat yourself on a grill built into the table. It's fun and you get to cook it exactly like you like it! It's great for me because I like my meat cooked well, with some black on it. Of course, this always causes the wait staff to think that we're just silly foreigners who don't know how to cook and they come over and "fix" it for us. :)

After the meat is almost done cooking, you use scissors to cut it up. It's super efficient and way easier than knives and forks. The restaurant we went to mixes egg and chopped kimchi to sort of bake on the sides of the grill. It's delicious!

We also got sides, kimchi soup, and beer. Everything you need for a good night out in Korea! :)

Here you have (starting top left and going clockwise) pickled radish, kimchi, some kind of oily/spice/sesame seed mixture, garlic, Korean red sauce (YUM! Suncheon is known for its good red sauce), and I can't remember what the powder stuff is.
 

the best kimchi soup in Suncheon

We also ordered kimchi soup because this restaurant has the most delicious kimchi soup I have had in Korea. It's spicy and kind of almost creamy, like tomato soup. It's amazing.
 

It's hardly a night out to barbeque if you don't have some beer. The little glass is for mixing beer and soju but we didn't drink any soju that night since it was a school night. Can you imagine being hungover while trying to teach this lot? No, thank you! 

A big thanks to our friends Rachel and Jonathan for introducing us to this restaurant. It's one of our faves in Suncheon!

Our Side of Suncheon

Like almost every city in Korea, Suncheon has a Bongwa mountain. Back in the day, it would be the lookout mountain for invaders and would have signal fires and stuff. Today, it's just a place to hike and take in the scenery.

Suncheon is divided into the "old downtown" and the "new downtown" by our Bongwa mountain. We didn't hike all the way to the top but we did get to see some great views of our side of Suncheon, "new downtown." Most of those tall rectangular buildings are apartments. It's amazing how many people can live here in such a small space and it's all due to those monsters.

On the way down, I spotting these purple beauties and couldn't resist taking a couple photos. Korea has tons of great flowers blooming now.

Also, this very big, very scary bug.

Lat but not least, here is Spencer hula hooping with a very large and heavy black hula hoop. I couldn't do it. It was too heavy!

Cycling to Suncheon Bay

Spring is here and the weather has been gorgeous. There are sunny blue skies, fresh breezes, and flowers blooming everywhere. We are loving every minute of it and trying to fully enjoy it before the horribly hot, sticky summer arrives.

A couple weekends ago we took our bikes out to Suncheon Bay. We heard it was a nice, easy ride and good for a day trip. We've been to Suncheon Bay once before but we've heard the reeds are always changing and so it's cool to go at different times of the year to see the changes in the environment.

The bike ride down was easy and relaxing. It took us about an hour but we stopped a few times to take pictures. They are currently doing some construction (installing a monorail) and going through the construction zones was a bit rocky. Most of the time, we had a nice path like the one below.

 
Most of the land along the river was left wild and we saw some cool birds and men fishing under big umbrellas.

The path got a little nicer and then we were there.

We got in half price since we live in Suncheon. Score! :)

I'm no sure if they stepped up their game since the Yeosu Expo just opened or it's like this every year in the spring, but the flowers were amazing!

California poppies! :) a little taste of home

Spencer with the fountain

water garden in a pot

The first thing we did was eat lunch in this super cool little hut.

Then we were off to go hike the little mountain to the look out point. We walked through the mud fields of reeds on raised wooden walkways with all the other people out enjoying the beautiful day. There were groups of screaming kids, a tour group of elderly people, young couples, old couples...just about anyone and everyone, really.

You have two options when hiking up to the lookout point:

Here's both trail heads:

We chose the mediation path which is more of a big ramp up the side of the mountain. On the way up we spotted a traditional Korean graveyard.

The view from the top is great and I wish we could have stayed a bit later in the day. I think it would be an excellent place to watch the sunset. However, we still had to bike home and wanted to do so in daylight.

Here's a panorama picture I took using the Photosynth app on my iPod touch.

Happy Anniversary Lover

Happy Anniversary to us. This year has been glorious.

Making and Breaking Plans, Left and Right

Before we moved to South Korea, I wanted to do the Peace Corps. I had to wait because I wanted to go with my then boyfriend (now husband), and only married couples can serve together in the Peace Corps. Then I found out we would have to wait even longer because it's Peace Corps policy that couples must be married for at least a year before their departure date. That changed everything.

I was stuck in a paper pushing, cubicle job and hated it so much that I would sometimes go cry in the bathroom by myself. I was getting nowhere fast and hating 40 hours a week of my life but I was making big plans to make travel and the expat lifestyle central in my life.

I did tons of research at work. I explored so many options. I read travel blogs, and I searched for overseas job opportunities. I gushed about all the choices and opportunities we had to Spencer after work every night and we made a plan.

At this time last year, the plan was to get married, teach English in South Korea for a year, apply for the Peace Corps, and hope the timing worked out so that our year long contract in Korea was over before our departure date. It would have worked since applying for the Peace Corps is a long process, especially when they are trying to place two people in the same place.

This is not what happened. As we got to South Korea and started dealing with living in another country, we forgot about the plan. We pushed it aside. There are so many other opportunities in the world! We want to do a work/holiday visa in Australia but you have to be under 30 so we only have a few years left to do that. We want to travel SE Asia. We want to spend a year living in Europe. We want to eventually have kids. We have to make sure we have enough savings or make enough money for our expensive student loan payments every month.

All I keep thinking is: how are we ever going to accomplish everything? We don't have enough time! Life it too short! We must get out there now!

We need to stay in South Korea because we can save a lot of money here and we need the money for those aforementioned student loans but I can't help but feel like we are wasting time. We are only going to be under 30 for so long. After that my baby maker clock will be ticking. It's scary to think I only have four and a half years left until I'm 30. I don't really feel like I'm a real adult yet and honestly, I don't ever want to feel that way. 

Maybe I'm planning too much but that's what I do. I'm a planner. I like having a five year plan, even if that plan changes every 3 months...or weeks (which it often does!). I like knowing that I am headed in some kind of direction and what that direction is.

Unfortunately, I think my planning tendencies have backed me into a corner with Spencer. He wants to follow the plans we made previously, but I want to change them. I don't want to stay in Korea through November.

I've been reading a lot about development recently through books and blogs and I've discovered, for the second time, my desire to help people through aid work. I want to do the Peace Corps but first I want to have some kind of experience and knowledge that I can use to actually help people. If I don't have any valuable skills or knowledge to teach people, what would I be doing there? Nothing. I want to help people but I want it to be meaningful and real. Good intentions are nothing without something substantial to back them up.

I want to move to India to do volunteer work or move to Australia to get experience working on organic farms. I want to begin my on the ground training to be an international aid worker and I want to start NOW. (I've never been very good at being patient.)

So, these are the thoughts floating around in my brain right now. I'm not sure what will happen next. It seems like a lot rides on being able to pay our student loan payments, which is disheartening. Spencer wanting to follow our plan to stay in Korea is based on that sad fact. If we stay, we will be financially secure and able to sustain our semi-nomadic lifestyle longer. If we leave, we can start our adventures a few months earlier but might be hard strapped for cash sooner.

I know Spencer is right. It makes the most sense to stay and I have to remember that a few months is not really that long. I think the payoff will be worth it in the end but it's so hard to wait while there's so much to learn and do in this world! People always say, "good things come to those who wait." I sure hope they're right.