Tea and Trainwrecks.

When you're not feeling your best a little green tea goes a long way, right? If that's the case why not go to a tea field? That's exactly what we did. At 8:30 on Saturday morning (I know, right?) we headed off to Boseong county which is famous for its nok cha or green tea. The tea fields were beautiful. I had imagined a big field but with some tea hedges. Wrong. There were hedges but they were going all the way up these huge hills. Mountains by Rhode Island standards. Before we started our climb we stopped in a little cafe at the bottom for some fresh from the source tea. The next hour or so was spent climbing up the hill, lurking in the tea bushes, and taking pictures. This time in Korea the leaves are turning so it was really nice to see the reds and yellows surrounding twisting rows of green. After the treacherous climb down the hill we had some awesome green tea ice cream (despite the fact that it was 50 degrees out). For lunch we went to a nearby town and had lunch at a pork place where the pigs were fed local green tea leaves.

Saturday night was an 80's party at LSG. 80's is probably my least favorite party theme. I have no idea what a good 80's costume is (beyond some movie characters). Furthermore, girls at an 80's party look like trainwrecks. I don't know how I was conceived in the 80's if everyone looked the way they do at an 80's party. Too bad Yeosu doesn't have a Savers I can go to for some cheap old clothes. Instead, I went as Alvin. From Alvin and the Chipmunks. Worked for me.

On the 11th day of the 11th month...

...South Korea celebrates Pepero Day! Pepero are thin cookie sticks that are dipped chocolate and sometimes more. Strange that when the US and Canada are remembering the fallen on the day of the WW1 armistice, Koreans give each other cookies. There are 2 theories to the coming about of Pepero Day. Some say that it started in Busan when middle school girls would give each other the cookies so that they would "grow to be tall and slender like a Pepero". The other, more realistic theory is that the Pepero company wanted to boost sales so they decided that "hey, the number 1 looks kind of like a Pepero!" and that what better day to celebrate a 1 shaped cookie than on 11/11. That sounds like a pretty good marketing strategy to me. It worked too. 55% of all Pepero sales occur in the month of November. Gotta love corporate designed holidays.

One of the teachers was giving out boxes of Pepero to all the other teachers, and then on my desk I found a box of almond Pepero with a note on it in Korean. Too bad I'm allergic to nuts because the almond ones look really good. In my extra class one of my 3rd graders (9th grade) gave me a Pepero stick. Its really funny, this kid will give me some sort of candy every few days.

In addition to getting snacks, the students are also good for figuring out things on TV that I can't understand. There is this cell phone service called NATE advertised on TV and the commercial plays a really catchy song. I tried searching for it on youtube and various other ways to figure out what the song was called. When all else failed, I just asked Jason Statham (yeah, one of my studetns gave himself that as his English name) and he was able to figure it out. The video reminds me of one of those random parties at 241.

Bank transfers and tea leaves?

One of the most convenient things about Korea that I have noticed is how easy it is to pay for things. Things you buy or sign up for online. On the weekend of November 29th when the US is still recovering from turkey coma, I'll be going on a temple stay at Beomeosa. Beomeosa is a Buddhist temple in Busan. A temple stay is pretty much everything it sounds like. On Saturday at noonish you arrive, change into your provided monk training clothes (I'm serious) and spend till Sunday afternoon living the ways of a Buddhist monk. You'll learn how to properly do the 108 bows, make some prayer beads, eat a vegan meal...all the good stuff. I'm really excited to see how this goes. It'll be a really interesting and unique experience.

The convenient thing about the temple stay is that to pay for it (50,000 won) all you have to do is go to any ATM. Beomeosa's website has its bank and account info listed and when I book the stay, all I do is punch the bank code and account number into an ATM and select how much money I want to transfer. Presto. Paid. Most Korean internet companies allow you to do this. Its so easy.

This saturday a few of us are going to a tea farm. I'm not sure what to expect with this one. From what other people have told me its a HUGE field of hedges. Thats got to look pretty cool at least. I hope we get some samples. Regardless, I'm definitely gonna buy some fresh from the source green tea. This is what I hope it looks like:



Even better news, my winter break plans are more or less finalized. We settled on an rough itinerary and it goes soemthing like this:

• Depart Korea to arrive in Bangkok, Thailand on January 21st. Chill in Bangkok and making our way down to Koh Phangan for the full moon rave on January 28th.
• Travel back up through Thailand, go through Cambodia (Angkor Wat is a major priority).
• Eventually make it to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by February 17th for a flight to Hong Kong.
• Spend 4 and a half days in Hong Kong then fly back to Korea.

Sounds like a plan to me!

Oh Kimchi

Kimchi. Not just a food, but a way of life. Korea's national dish. Fermented cabbage covered in chili paste. I know that doesn't sound like something you'd want served with every meal, but stay in Korea for any period of time over a month and you'll come to not just love it, but to expect it with every meal. 90% of Korean meals are served with some type of kimchi. Yes, kimchi comes in many different styles and flavors. The most common being Chinese napa cabbage with chili paste. It ferments for a few days and can be eaten at any stage. My favorite is fresh kimchi (yes I can tell the difference between fresh and day or two old kimchi). The longer kimchi sits, the more sour it gets. Even better than standard kimchi is Gat Kimchi, or Yeosu's own special kimchi. It is made with mustard leaves and scallions. I can't even describe the flavor. Kimchi varies by region and even by family. Every family makes theirs a little differently. One of my favorite restaurants here serves you 4 different kinds of kimchi with your meal. Its heaven. I'm sorry to say that I missed the National Kimchi Festival. I'm really going to miss kimchi when I leave. Kimchi withdrawl is a common phenomenon. An American POW from North Korea, upon returning home, told his wife that she NEEDS to learn how to make kimchi. Its powerful stuff. Don't trust me? Ask the Koreans.

Kimchi is a wonderfood. Eat enough kimchi, you'll never get sick. Sometimes they go so far as to put a piece of kimchi on a wound to let the cabbage do its miracle. I don't know about that one, but so far I've been healthy and I eat kimchi at least once a day. They claim its also good for your heart. That I believe. How can it not be good for you. All it is is raw cabbage and sometimes other vegetables, and chili paste. I'm told its good for my heart so, cheers to you kimchi!

LSG is sponsoring a Kimchi Party however. I can't even begin to describe how excited I am. Matilda, one of the Korean owners, is teaching us how to make kimchi and we even get to keep some for ourselves. Matilda treats us like her own children. She cooked a feast for us on Chuseok and now she's providing us with free kimchi lessons, kimchi supplies, and dinner that night. She's great.

halloween and...fishing?

As much as I love Halloween, I think one of my favorite parts of this weekend happened on Friday afternoon as I was walking to my scooter. One of my 3rd years (9th grade) was standing by a little shop next to the school. This is the kid that I could see every 5 minutes for 3 hours and he would still be excited to see me and to talk to me (teaching in Korea is definitely an ego boost). When I told him to have a good weekend, he made a "thinking very hard" face and said "this weekend i...fishing. I have reel. I go with my dad to seashore and fish. Fishing must have patience. I have many patience." I can't even tell you how excited he was to fish and to tell me he was going fishing. For a culture that is taught to more or less stifle their emotions, these are some of the most interesting kids I've ever met.

Onto Halloween. What a day. There was only a few hours where I wasn't on the go, and that was between 7am and 12pm. Halloween eve (and most of the early morning) was spent at LSG where the usual was going on. My friends Jack and Geoff made a music video about life in Yeosu and premiered it that night.



It was hysterical. I guess to completely get it you have to have lived here for at least a month.

Most of Halloween day was spent pulling together various parts of peoples' costumes. Mine and Wendy's Snow Miser/Heat Miser costumes came out pretty awesome for shopping in a country that doesn't really do Halloween.


The party was great. I won a little twisted wire ship in the raffle. Afterwords we went to noraebang. But not before trying to make friends with every Korean I saw. Keep in mind that my Korean is more or less limited to hello/goodbye, are you doing well, and friend. I was basically asking everyone I saw "Hi, How are you?" then pointing at them then me and saying "friends?". Not many people were that into being my friend.

Next came one of the top three korean food inventions. The Cheese Donkas. A cheese donkas is a deep fried pork cutlet served with gravy, rice, kimchi...etc. The genius part is that the cheese is underneath the fried part. You cut into the crispy breading and the cheese oozes out. It is only second to I-Zone, Fat Jacks, or Island Deli when it comes to drunk food.