It's an odd place, but somebody's gotta live here

There's a man outside my little apartment building, walking around in the street, screaming something in Korean. There's not much I can do about it - my windows do little to stop the noise, and even closed, this occurrence happens so regularly, it's ridiculous to try and stop it.
It's about the right time for this to happen as well - mid week, midnight. Just as all the business men are headed home from the bars and their precious soju. I used to hate it until one night last week the drunken man stumbling around the street was singing opera rather than yelling obscenities. It was amusing.

Some of my other favorite odd things about Tongyeong:

I have now seen this occur 3 times: A mother will be with her young boy (think 2 or 3 years old) on a busy street, holding his pants down so he can pee onto the tree planted in the brick sidewalk. The last time I saw it, I managed to snap a quick cellphone pick and have been endlessly trying to figure out how to get it on here, but alas, no luck.

I'm not sure why there are painted white crosswalks because not once has a car stopped for me. Maybe they think they look nice.

The school system has some things going for it that a country like the grand ol' US of A could pick up on.. The lunch system they have here is something I really admire. These students and teachers, all 2000+ of them, eat school lunch every day at a cost of a dollar I think. For lunch we are given a bowl of soup (changes daily but always contains either seafood, chicken, beef, or tofu and is generally broth based), a protein side of the same variety, a vegetable, rice, and kimchi. And every student is required to show their empty tray to their teacher before they leave - they have to eat it all. Of course, they are given smallish portions the first time around and can go back for more of anything if so desired. You could probably multiply the calories found in a korean lunch by 3 or 4 and that would be the equivalent to school lunch back home.
Not only that, but students are served baked fish - bones, tail, etc still intact, and are assumed to be able to eat it without choking on the bones. There is no liability for serving food like this. You either figure out how to de-bone a fish using chop sticks, or you look like a fool. (I can finally do it).
This whole lunch routine here has made me realize how quick we are to blame others for our own incompetency. Point: I really appreciate lunch.

haha.. we get a foreigner's discount at the North Face store. How ridiculous.. but I'm not complaining.

Although there are no McDonalds or Burger Kings here in Tongyeong, there is no shortage of fast food. You're hungry at 2am? go to the corner restaurant and order a roll of gimbop (like sushi but not raw and often not fish) for 2,000 won (less than 2 bucks). Or head over to the hangover soup, open 24 hrs I believe (spicy noodle soup with a bone of pork meat). Either way, "fast food" here manages to be both fast and healthy. An interesting concept..

I'm sitting here with one of my favorite students, Mangil. He comes to my office every tuesday and thursday without fail to get extra help with his english. He's smart and determined. And poor. Hence why he comes to me rather than going to a hagwon after school every day. I have come to really appreciate him and the hard work he puts into learning. If only all my students cared as much..

side note: I'm headed to Shanghai next weekend to play in an Ultimate Frisbee tournament with some players from Korea. Pretty pumped. Wish us well.
Adios

Picture Update

This is Yeonwha-do Island. About a 40 minute ferry ride from Tongyeong. I'd say about 2 weekends a month the clan here heads out to hike an island or find a near by mountain to scale. This might be the coolest island we've found yet.

More of beautiful Yeonwha-do. We managed to figure out a way off the path and down to the waters edge. When we got there, we discovered there was a path down. We felt adventurous, so not a total loss.

Steve and I in the morning of the ferry to the island. As cool as these islands are, the terminal only schedules approx. 4 ferries a day. Meaning, you have to catch the earliest there and the latest back in order to have time to hike. This equals packed boats.

I wanted to show you what "sack lunch" looks like here. This is the teacher's fare.. all food made for the teachers by their class president's mothers. Not your typical PB&J.

The above pic is me looking off the cliff just shy of the summit of Mireksan Mountain (which is redundant because "san" means mountain so the actual mountain's name is only Mirek). This is the day I took 300 of my most favorite 6th graders hiking. I kicked their butts. Seriously.

Here's a group of them. Sweaty, exhausted, annoyed that they are forced to hike, and yet still throwin out the peace sign. Good kids.

These 2 pics are from the Jeju Gnarly Nines 2009 international frisbee tournament. Jeju is a very large island off the southern coast of Korea where this lovely tourney is held every year. We played of plush grass fields (there's no such thing in Korea, so this is big time), ate free meals, drank free beer, and threw some discs around in the sun shine. Korea A took home the gold, Shanghai the silver, and I believe either IKU from Japan or Big Brother from Beijing took the bronze. Please note the 2L water bottles filled with beer rather than water.

So Steve and I found this little neighborhood in our own Tongyeong that made our jaws drop. Up on this hill overlooking the harbor we found a row of houses covered in murals by artists from all over Korea. It was amazing.

We're funny... Looking. Funny looking.

Long Time Gone

Oh goodness, it has been a while hasn't it?
I guess when the ice starts to melt away and the cold dissipates, staying indoors on my computer just doesn't hold it's charm. It's now the end of April and Tongyeong is coming to life once again with sun shine, heavy rains, and beautiful flowers.
The best time of year here - before the humidity and mogis (mosquitoes) set up camp.
People are out about town with their matching track suits, white gloves, and visors; struttin their stuff like winter never even happened.

I am happy to report that it is indeed playing outside that has kept me away so long. I have finally managed to scrape off my mud encrusted cleats and take them for a play date with other frisbee loving cleats. And they are happy. Been playing some pick up in Seoul when I get myself up there, and 2 tournaments thus far: a surf and turf hat in Ulsan and the illustrious Gnarly Nines International tournament in Jeju-do. The Beach hat is next in Busan. As expected, the people that come along with finding these games have been a sight for sore eyes. I now claim buddies all over this great country (and have discovered there are some flatballers near me!).

With the start of spring has come intense exploration of my dear town. Such a small place, and yet a new nook and cranny pops up every day. The latest endeavour? Island hoping and off trail hiking (this sounds normal, but in Korea, we are the only people that do it. We are also the only people to ever hike in jeans, w/o hiking poles or compasses, all while letting the sun actually shine on our faces). We are crazy people. Yeonwha-do, the dragon island, found us sharing rocky mountain tops with families of goats, and sitting on rock formations that disappear into the clear, cold sea. It was breathtaking.

On the ferry back we were accosted by 2o-somethings trying to snap our photo without actually getting caught doing it. Not the best stealth skills. Finally they just came right up and asked, bumping colleen and I out of the pictures so they could stand in next to Steve and Adam. Sweet girls. The best part was as soon as they were given the green light, 5 other people appeared in front of us to take a few pics themselves (they were taking pictures of Koreans they didn't know getting their picture taken with foreigners they also didn't know. I don't get it).

As soon as the weather warmed and the sun started making a regular appearance, I knew the only true way to experience this place was by boat. So I was off on a quest to buy a kayak - cheap, used, still floats. Rather than purchasing one, as people here seem not to be interested, I met a teacher who's husband is a member of the wind surfer's club in town. Not only would they like me to use their kayak (longer, skinnier dingy. Not a kayak) whenever I want, free of charge, but they want to give me windsurfing lessons! I'm more than a little nervous, but we shall see... no sense in not trying right?

At the semester I was pained to find out that my beloved co teacher Crystal would be leaving for a 6 month English training course in Busan, and that I would be assigned to a new teacher. I wished her well and told her i'd have done the same, but secretly pitied myself endlessly. Well, My new co teacher, Angela, is definitely a change of pace. Some days she is so nice, and others I am infuriated with her beyond belief. She is very laid back about most things (encourages naps in the afternoon(+) and never stays a minute past 4:30(+)), and then rigid about others (will not volunteer her time to do anything outside of what her job entails). It's comical actually. We found out we didn't have to teach all day, and when word spread, a 6th grade teacher asked for help judging a science contest. An Sun said no of course, and then came back to our office and was mad that this teacher assumed she had nothing better to do with her time. Then she put her headphones on and continued watching her episode of desperate housewives..

A thought on food: Raw fish is both plentiful and expensive here, so I don't get to have a full meal of this good stuff unless an adult offers to treat me. (side note: raw fish does not mean sushi, it means, the body/meat of the fish is filleted and served in a pile of thin slices. Best eaten dipped in soy or chili sauce on a leaf of lettuce). The other night, Steve's boss took us out for a really nice meal including 3 coursed of raw fish. When the last plate came out, they served the fish like so: body still intact - head attached to the tail, middle gutted, stuffed with a bed of lettuce, and sashimi on top. As I'm digging into the slices of sashimi, Steve nudges me and points at the platter... The fish's gills were flapping back and forth in a last ditch effort to stay alive. We covered the head and continued eating.
Now that, ladies and gentlemen, is the good raw fish.
It's not fresh if it's not questionably dead.

This weekend is both Buddha's birthday and children's day, so in celebration of the kids, I will promise not to think about them once while I spend the weekend hiking through Jirisan National Park, Monday watching the International Triathlon, and Tue/Wed laying about in an act of sheer laziness. It's bound to be wonderful.

Pictures to come..