Photography, goodbyes, and other things we've been up to...

Aaron's really getting into photography.  He especially enjoys taking several shots at different angles and putting them together using some fancy-shmancy computer program to create panoramas (as seen in the title photo above).

In the "Buddha Room" at Seokbulsa Temple.

 

The title photo and the one to the left were taken on an all-day hike up the mountain by our house.  Like I've said before, one of our favorite things about hiking in Korea is stumbling upon peaceful Buddhist temples tucked in the mountains.  This was one such temple. Seokbulsa was actually one of the most unique temples we've ever been to because of the stone carvings and stone buildings.  They even had shrines and meditation areas tucked in caves high up on the mountainside.  It was a beautiful place to rejuvenate after a busy week.

Among other things, our dearest friends Kate and Chaz left for good last week.  Chaz was Aaron's brewing partner while Kate was my fellow English teacher companion who could geek out with me about anything to do with education or language arts. We know our dear friendship will continue across the ocean and soon enough, state lines (they're from Iowa), but in the meantime we feel like there is something special missing in Busan.

On one of their last nights here, we went to our FAVORITE Korean barbecue place along with our friends Kim and Steve.  Not only does this restaurant have the BEST smoked samgyeopsal (3 layered pork) and the BEST kimchi (aged for 2 years), but it also has the BEST adjuma (older, married woman) working there.  Each time we would ask for more kimchi, she'd hunch over and slap half a head of cabbage on the grill with a mischievously giddy grin [and probably thinking, how in the world are these waygooks (foreigners) eating so much kimchi?!].  When Jake came to Korea, he said he wanted to marry an adjuma--well Jake, here she is!

Perhaps the greatest adjuma that ever lived.

And this is how each of us feels after eating her fantastic food.

In other news, both Aaron and I are finishing up our after-school classes this week, have final exams next week, and then will have only 3 weeks until summer English camp begins.  The time is flying!  Aaron is INCREDIBLY excited because he is doing a science camp at his school.  We basically have freedom to teach whatever we want for our summer camps.  He will do experiments, use the science lab and do labs, go on field trips, go hiking, and really teach about what he loves.  I'm thrilled for him.  Teaching English is certainly not his cup of tea, although he really enjoys teaching.  I'm happy he's found a way to teach science and English that is both exciting and educational (and that thrills his teachers and parents which is VERY important in Korea).

I, on the other hand, am busily putting the Daechonli Middle School's English Newspaper together.  This is my big project and it's been fun, but quite time consuming.  I really enjoy working with the students and utilizing my newspaper skills from yesteryear.

Speaking of skills from yesteryear, while I was walking out of school today, some of my 2nd grade boy students were playing soccer in the sandy school yard.  I see them playing almost everyday and it takes all that I have not to join them as I almost always am wearing a skirt or shoes not conducive to soccer. But today, something came over me and although I had a dress and nylons on, I kicked off my shoes and played barefoot with my students for a while.  It felt AMAZING.  I'm not sure if it's the nostalgia associated with touching a soccer ball or what, but it felt so good to kick something again. I had a great time (and the boys got a "kick" out of a girl playing in a dress, nylons, and with no shoes). 

I will leave you with some words printed on one of my 1st grade student's pencil cases today with a picture of a teddy bear and a horse:

"Friendship is the marriage of the soul, and this marriage is liable to divorce."

Until next time... 

Korea, I will miss you.

As our time in Korea draws to a close, I'm trying to appreciate the little things I do in day to day life here much more to deal with my building emotions. This morning I rode my bike to school, as I do most days, and smiled looking at the beautiful roses hugging the white picket fence around an apartment complex.  I love riding my bike to school. As I rode past Daecheonchon, the brightly flowing stream running down from the mountain leading to my school, the lush green trees and flowers calmed my spirits. I felt energized gazing at the fog lurking over Geumjongseong mountain set directly behind my school.  I will miss having this landscape to enjoy every morning.


I'll also miss my celebrity status.  One aspect of teaching in a school where you're the only green eyed, curly haired person speaking a strange language is that you're given a kind of celebrity status. Everyone wants to touch your hair, stare mysteriously into your colored eyes, tell you you're beautiful as they walk past you in the hallway, and figure out what you really do outside of school.  


But yesterday a few of my favorite students took my "celebrity" status up a few notches. Five of my third grade students formed a "Callie Teacher Fan Club".  The first official meeting was yesterday.  They told me a time and place to meet them and proceeded to have a "Q and A" as they called it.  "What's your favorite movie?" "Who's your favorite actor?" "Who's your favorite singer?"  Then, they even drew up a logo for club t-shirts. 


And then, at the end of the day, one of my adorable first grade students showed up with a cup of something that smelled like a stir fry of sorts.  She had a toothpick in hand, and amidst asking "Callie teacher will you----" she excitedly shoved the mysterious food in my mouth.  It was a Korean stir fry dish that she'd made in her home economics class.  It was actually pretty darn good, so when I told her I really enjoyed it, her entire face lit up and she said quite emphatically, "THANK YOU Callie Teacher! Ahha!" and literally went skipping into the hallway where I heard her boasting to her friends that Callie Teacher said her food was delicious.


Everyday after school five of my third grade boys come to my desk with their mops and brooms in hand and ask me about my day, what I'm doing, and if I'm happy. They call me "Callie Collie Colie Teacher." I hear them yell it out the window when I'm walking into school, meet them in the hallway, or when they're walking towards my desk. And every time, it makes my whole being smile.


But alas, I only have 3 months to bask in my celebrity status. ;)  When I go back to the US, my students won't care if I have green eyes, if my hair is curly or if I can speak English.  They will expect it.  But here, I'm an alien of sorts, and I think, in a strange somewhat selfish way, I'm going to miss being one.

Happy Birthday Buddha!

Pajeon with seafood.

Today is a misty, rainy day.  On these kinds of days, Koreans eat pajeon (Korean style pancake). It is basically a mixture of flour, water, green onion and seafood. You can also order kimchijeon which has kimchi instead of onion/seafood (it's my favorite) or gamjajeon which is all potato.  They drink it with a traditional rice drink called makgoeli. We must just indulge in some tonight.

Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.  -Buddha 

Lanterns outside of a temple near our house.

 Yesterday was Buddha's birthday and we had the day off.  Over the past week, lanterns have appeared lining the streets, buildings, and walkways around our neighborhood like Christmas lights.  It's a wonderful time to visit a temple.  On his actual birthday, many temples give free vegetarian food to visitors and the temple is illuminated in color. And as most temples are set up in the mountains, the lanterns are even more beautiful when set against the lush greenery fringing the temple. Temples are going to be one of the things I miss most about Korea. The idea that a place of meditation and spiritual peace should be isolated in a beautiful forest or up on a mountain top just makes sense to me.  They're one of our favorite places to go on a weekend or when we just need a break from city life.  In celebration of Buddha's day, I made "Buddha burgers" (lentil burgers) and carrot cake (and despite Buddha's teachings against overindulgence, I thoroughly overindulged in the carrot cake).  Maybe this will be a new tradition to bring back to the states?

View of the beach from the top of the mountain.  

THE FOG comes
on little cat feet.
It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

-Carl Sandburg

On the weekend prior to Buddha's birthday we went camping on Gujora Beach about 1.5 hours away from Busan.  We played games around a campfire, ate way too much Western food, did some yoga on the beach, climbed, and enjoyed the ocean and mountain views. It was nice to get away.  

While there, Aaron, our friend Jake, and I went on a motorcycle ride to the other side of the island.  It was eerily creeping with fog and silence.  The only noise you could hear was the lapping of the waves against some docks and abandoned fishing boats.  But, we did find some beautiful rice paddies and an enormous pile of clams that had been cleaned and strung onto strings.  We'd never seen anything like it.  Clearly Korea must ship these somewhere, but we're not quite sure where or why. 

THE FOG comes

on little cat feet.

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

-Carl Sandburg

Hooray for spring!

I remember reading this poem in my Comparative Literature class in college and thought I'd share it.  It's a beautiful spring day here in Korea--about 75 degrees, everything is blossoming in shades of green, and the yellow dust is gone! Enjoy.


Spring and all its flowers by Hafiz


Spring and all its flowers
now joyously break their vow of silence. 
It is time for celebration, not for lying low;
You too - weed out those roots of sadness from your heart.


The east wind arrives;
and in deep resonance, the flower
passionately rips open its garments, 
thrusting itself from itself.


The Way of Truth, learn from the clarity of water,
Learn freedom from the spreading grass.


Pay close attention to the artistry of the east wind, 
that wafts in pollen from afar, 
And ripples the beautiful tresses
of the fields of hyacinth flowers. 


From the privacy of the harem, the virgin bud slips out,
revealing herself under the morning star,
branding your heart and your faith
with beauty.


And frenzied bulbul flies madly out of the House of Sadness
to unite with the flowers;
its love-crazed cry like a thousand-trumpet blast.

It's climbing season!

As many of you may know, Aaron LOVES climbing.  Lately he's been doing it outside every weekend and training on the week days (I usually am a 2 or 3 times a weeker).  Korea has some fantastic places to climb and many are about a 20 minute bus ride from our apartment.  This past weekend Aaron went to a "Meet and Greet" for all rock climbers in Korea.  It was about near Gwangju, about 4 hours away from Busan.  I already had plans so I wasn't able to make it, but he had a great time.  A photographer at the "Meet and Greet" took this amazing picture of Aaron and I thought I'd share it. I have to say, I'm happy I have those "guns" to protect me. ;)

Photo by Jonn Jeanneret

School Lunch: What Korea has and the US Needs

As many of you know, I love food.  I mean, I love tasting it, cooking it, smelling it, serving it, and anticipating it.  And, I really enjoy Korean food.  The soups are fantastic, the rice is prepared perfectly, and the fermented veggies, well, most of them, are decent. :)  So most days the thing I look forward to more than anything is, believe it or not, school lunch. 

Growing up, I almost always brought my lunch to school.  I'm not sure if it was just the fact that my mom enjoyed making my lunch and enclosing a little note to surprise me or if she knew that eating school lunch meant horrific nutrition, but I always brought my lunch.  And most of my friends did too.  We'd sit at the lunch table and trade for whatever we could get that our mom's wouldn't pack for us.  It was part of the lunchtime fun.

But being in Korea has shed a new light on school lunch.  I never bring my lunch to school.  In fact, if ANY student or teacher were to bring his/her lunch to school, everyone would be asking questions.   In Korea, the students, teachers, staff, and principals eat the same lunch.  There are no choices.  Everyday there is rice, a soup, a main dish (prepared tofu, pork, fish, chicken etc.), a side dish (vegetable, greens, yogurt, fruit), and of course, kimchi. Everything made fresh and almost 90% from scratch.  And all delicious (minus octopus/squid days)! Some days I have an entire fish on my tray, other times it's duck or chicken.  Today we even had quail eggs mixed in with our pork.

Serving lunch is different too.  Each week a group of students is assigned lunch duty and serves the other students.  Every student must bring his/her own chopsticks and spoon. If they forget it that day, they don't eat (or borrow their friend's if they're nice).  When they're finished, they dispose of their food waste in a separate food bin that goes to be composted.  Nothing is plastic wrapped, frozen, from a bag or a carton.  Koreans believe drinking with their meal is hazardous to digestion so there's no drinks either.  Students can get their own water from the filtered water available on every floor of the school.

Thus, every time I sit down to slurp up my warm, soothing soup with chunks of juicy pork and fresh veggies, I wonder what went wrong in America.  Was it our need to save money? Was it our desire for independence and choice?  Was it lack of accountability?  Was it our work ethic? Was it trying to take the easy way out?  Was it our cultural diversity?  What went wrong?

Now I know there are a lot of people working on this issue back home.  Michelle Obama and TV star Jamie Oliver are on a large scale while parents and teachers are working on it on a more local scale.  There are good things happening.  But more needs to be done.

So one of the most influential aspects of Korean education that I will carry with me is the power of lunch.  It is a necessity that we take a critical look at what our kids are eating at school.  If school is a place for learning math, English, and science, shouldn't it also be a place to learn what good food means?  And not just by memorizing the food pyramid--I mean practicing what we preach.  I was lucky enough to have family and friends who taught me the power and simple delight of a home cooked, nutritious meal. But many of our poor and wealthy families give into the ease and quick clean up of fast-food or pre-packaged everything.  Whether we realize it or not, what students are served in school will directly affect their futures--whether it's what they chose to cook or what they expect from a meal.

Ultimately, there is power in having a fresh, well-cooked meal that not only is nutritious for the students, but is something the cafeteria ladies can take pride in.  Take a look at these lunches from around the globe.  Korea is number 2 although our lunches look pretty similar to Japan's as well:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/what-school-lunches-look-like-in-20-countries-arou

Baseball Season Begins

Aaron's panorama of the stadium.  

Saturday was the opening day for baseball in Korea and we were so excited! We went to the Lotte Giants' (our local team) game and enjoyed cheering, chicken and a fantastic baseball game (we won 6-0). Here's a taste of why we love going to these games so much (aside from the fact you can bring your own food and beverages into the stadium).  This is in the 5th inning.

Busan has the GREATEST fans in the world. People make pom pons out of newspaper and put plastic Lotte bags on their heads to show their team spirit.  And there's a cheer for every player and EVERYONE in the stadium knows them. This one's for Kang Min Ho.