SEOLLAL

AKA: Korean New Year
AKA: 5 days off work!

Seollal is usually referred to the most important holiday in Korea which isn't surprising considering everyone in the country turns a year older. Age is a seriously confusing topic in Korea, a level of confusion that is only matched by it's importance. The older you are, the more important you are. I'm pretty sure I turned Korean age 25 (American age 23), because all you have to do is pop out of your mother's womb and VOILA! YOU'RE ONE. Adding extra years seems a bit rotten, but then again, it must have taken a lot of work growing, thriving and sleeping in such an enclosed environment. Perhaps we deserve that year. (please sense my sarcasm)

Seollal celebrates the beginning of the Lunar calendar and sparks a mass migration throughout the nation. Everyone travels to the countryside to see the eldest members of their family, eat food and participate in a traditional ceremony to honor thy ancestors.

As a Korean told me on Friday, "Don't move. Don't leave Gwangju. Movies... okay! No bus. No train."

On my last day of work before the holiday I was teaching my highest level students about American Thanksgiving. Their book properly explained that American's stuff their faces with turkey, turn on football and then inevitably fall asleep on the couch in a calorie induced coma.

I thought many times about my plans for the long weekend and I decided all I really wanted to do was RELAX.

And while there was no turkey and no football, I certainly fell asleep in the middle of the day a good percentage of my days off. Because that's how we celebrate where I come from. We take naps!

The only activity that competed with my laziness is my new fantastically exciting addiction: climbing.



I'd expect more on this topic.

DAY JOB

FEATURING: "OM BOY YO"


Here's a nice list of the things I know how to say in Korean.

My name is Mara. I'm a teacher. I'm from America. I'm 23 years old. Go straight. Turn right. Bring me two beers. Stop. Bring me some kimchi soup. I love you. Where? Take me to the supermarket. This is delicious. You are beautiful. This. That. Duck. Little sister. How much? I have. I don't have. Keep your arms straight. Really? No. Yes. AND &*^$ you.

Most of these things I've learned from keeping my ears open in useful situations. But the phrase I hear most often, with such a frequency that I can barely stand the sound of it, is "OM BOY YO."Translation: "I CAN'T SEE."

Every day I am surrounded my a number of (charming, cute) rugrats who sometimes think I'm their best friend and other times mistake me for a a moving target.

SIDE NOTE: The newest toy on the market is an angry bird pen with a SLING SHOT on the end. If you're ever really pissed at your sister, buy these pens for her children. The slingshot itself is not actually that powerful, but the inspiration it induces is remarkably, devastatingly ANNOYING.



Every day I come in to class, I ask what the day is, and then I write their homework on the board. EVERYDAY. And EVERYDAY, for the entire two minutes it takes me to scribble it down, I hear "TEACHER. OM BOY YO!" repeated over and over and over and over.

Fortunately, as the day goes on and the level of English in my classes increases, this phrase slowly morphs into "I CAN'T SEE."

But the kicker is, it is ALWAYS said in such a way that it seems appalling that I am not invisible.

Like,

TEACHER. HOW DARE YOU FOR ONE SECOND POSITION YOUR BODY IN SUCH A WAY THAT I CANNOT SEE PRECIOUS HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT #8 THAT I DON'T REALLY WANT TO WRITE DOWN ANYWAY BUT IF I DON'T, YOU'RE GOING TO SCREAM AT ME, SO AS PRE-REVENGE I'M GOING TO MAKE YOUR LIFE MISERABLE BY SHOUTING THESE THREE LITTLE WORDS IN TO THE AIR AND HOPE THAT YOU SOMEHOW LEARN TO EXTEND YOUR BODY IN SUCH A WAY AS TO NEVER INCONVENIENCE ME AGAIN.

NOM NOM NOM

Chomchee kimchi jjigae from the kimbap nara: 4000 KRW ($4)

JANUARY HIKE

For all the griping I've done about the winter, last Saturday was not only bearable, it was sunny, mild and gorgeous. I cancelled my afternoon plans and went on a hike around Mudeung with a couple friends. These photos were all taken and edited on my phone.

HANSEN FAM IN THE ROK // SEOUL

I'm not sure how I've managed it, but I've been to Seoul three times since September. In a nation the size of the US State I am from, it's pretty easy to maneuver this country. You can jump on a bus and arrive at your destination sometime in the next four hours.

I like Seoul. It has good shopping, excellent international food and a vast assortment of neighborhoods.

Therefore, in the handful of times I have visited, I don't think I've eaten a single Korean meal. Mediterranean, Indian, Italian, Chinese, American... CHECK. But I get so much scrumptious home cookin' in Gwangju that I am eager to delve into anything that doesn't involve rice and kimchi.

With visitors from North America, I knew Korean food was on the menu and ladies and gentleman, I give you KOREAN BARBECUE.

Dinner and drinks for 4... $34. (We ate here two nights in a row.)

I'm sure there are a number of ways to eat it, all of them right and delicious, but the owner was very adamant that we ate it THIS was.




ONE TWO THREE: Take a piece of meat, dip it in the sesame sauce and place meat inside a piece of lettuce.
FOUR: Add some greens.
FIVE: Add some red spicy stuff.
SIX: Add some kimchi and some garlic.
SEVEN: Shove it in your mouth in ONE bite.
EIGHT: Tilt your head back, close your eyes, and enjoy that yumminess.
NINE: Take a swig of Makgeolli (Korean rice wine) and REPEAT.






How do you get here? Get off at Ewah Women's University. Take exit #1. Walk straight and turn right at the Missha (maybe two minutes?!). You should see APM on your right side. Take the second left and walk about half a block. It's on your left. 010 7774 5015

HANSEN FAM IN THE ROK // PANMUNJOM (DMZ)

DECEMBER 30: DMZ TOUR

The Demilitarized Zone, or DMZ, is the stretch of land that runs roughly straight through the middle of the Korean peninsula. It serves as the border between North and South Korea, and it is the most heavily militarized border in the world. The term "border" hardly seems strong enough to describe this 4km wide buffer between the north and the south, especially since it's enactment sort of seems like it was supposed to be temporary until they could, you know.. "work. it. out."

So, WWII.

A few days following Hiroshima and with a hunch that the Soviets were looking to become Korea's newest occupier, the Japanese-occupied Korean peninsula was surrendered.

To whom? The Allied Forces, but it was still a bit muddy.

The Soviets headed south through the Korean peninsula and feeling the same hunch as the Japanese, the United States headed north.

To keep the armies administratively separate, it was proposed that a line be drawn down the middle of Korea at the 38th parallel. The border was sketched on such whim that it's creator actually drew it on a small map of Asia in a National Geographic magazine.

At the completion of WWII, the Soviets and the United States were to monitor the fall of the Japanese invasion in North and South Korea respectively, and were to oversee Korea as it worked to become an independent nation.

As we know, the Soviets and the United States eventually decided that they actually didn't care for one another too much (read: Cold War), so agreeing on what to do with Korea didn't quite come to fruition.

The Soviets pushed their socialist influence on the north and the United States opted for the establishment of a Western-style government in the south. So became the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) and the Republic of Korea (South Korea). This was 1948.

In 1950 the Korean War began. As the front of the war pushed it's way south, international forces got involved. Stealing three million lives, an Armstice Agreement was signed in 1953 that enacted that both sides withdrawal troops 2km from the border, hence the name "Demilitarized Zone." The countries are technically still at war as a peace treaty was never signed.


In case you've been hibernating, "The Great Leader" died just a week before I planned to take this tour. (And so you don't think I'm insane, I booked this tour previous to that fact.) I asked my family if they were still keen to go, and everyone agreed we should do it.

We took the USO Tour, as unless you are accompanied by a US or South Korean soldier, you cannot go to the Joint Security Area, or JSA. This is the only place on the DMZ where soldier's from both sides stand face to face.



The entire time my group stood here, a visible North Korean soldier kept us under surveillance through binoculars. In fact, there were a number of places on the tour where we were informed we were being watched.



Inside the left blue building pictured above:


South Korean Solider


In this picture, I am technically in North Korea.

Skepticism is high.. from both sides. South Koreans are very rarely allowed to take the USO tour, because they are not allowed to go to the JSA without extensive, multi-month background checks.



the 3rd tunnel, discovered October 17, 1978

South Korea has discovered a handful of North Korean dug tunnels in the past 50 years. You can actually walk down into this one, but unless you think it's fun to walk hunched over like an ape for twenty minutes or you think hitting your head repetitively on rocks is an enjoyable past time, I would skip this if you're over 5 foot 6.



If you look really closely, you can see the Panmunjom flag pole. At 160m, this thing flies a 600 pound North Korean Flag in the Korean village of Kijŏngdong. It's commonly referred to as "Propaganda Village" because it was created to ensure the rest of the world that North Korea is prosperous country when observation from the South highly suggests that the buildings you can see are floorless, empty, shells.







Dorasan Station is now the northernmost stop on the Gyeongui Line that used to connect North and South Korea. The station looks like any other international train station, except this one is no long in use after North Korea accused South Korea of some nonsense in 2008. The station is now only open to tourists, but many hope that one day this railway will aid in the reunification of North and South Korea.

SIGH. ALL THIS HISTORY. I'M TIRED.

The vague mumblings I've overheard about the future of Korea have involved both hesitation and hope and if you were to ask me how I feel about the situation, those emotions hold spots one and two on my list.


JSA, DMZ

HANSEN FAM IN THE ROK // GWANGJU - GYEONGJU

Until you hit middle school, it is common knowledge that your parents are the greatest, strongest, smartest human beings on the planet and it is irrefutable that your father is super man. Then you get to middle school and instantly your mother and father become an uncool and pesky bauble and their company is certainly an undesirable asset to just about any situation that involves being seen in public.

Seamlessly, however, it does seem that this (too) all comes full circle because as an adult, your parents once again become super humans. It turns out all that time you spent dissociating and building up your uncompromising, independent image was rubbish because you don't even know how to cook a chicken.

SO MUCH FOR BEING COOL.


Ladies and gentleman, my family came to the ROK because they are awesome.


My parents arrived on the 26th. We headed straight to a kimbap nara, or Korean diner, to inject the kimchi IV. I had to work the next day, so we all stayed in Gwangju that night and the next.

Although a number of people told me this was the stupidest idea ever, I decided we could all stay at my milk-box sized apartment to cut out language barrier logistical errors the following day (read: taxis). Also, it is not uncommon for Korean families to sleep together on the floor in one room and I was just throwing in a (free, I might add) cultural experience! My parents slept in my bed and Alie and I slept on the floor space that makes up the rest of my apartment. I neglected to considered that they were all going to have large rolling suitcases or that 50% of my family snores but, well, we're now all a little more Korean because of it.

After a mishap in planning on my part, we spent the 28th at the Gwangju Bus Terminal dragging our bags around, seeing a film in English and eating traditional food of the land, TGI Fridays. We boarded a bus to Gyeongju, a city on the east coast, early evening and arrived happy and tired. Gyeongju was the capital city of the ancient kingdom of Silla and therefore is full of historical treasures. The entire city was registered by the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage and houses large concentration of Buddhist art.

Bulguksa temple
Some historian will probably shoot me in the foot for saying this, but albeit impressive, all temples kind of look the same. However, as you can see by the number of people in the photo, this one is rather well known. It is home to seven national treasures and is head temple of the Jogre Order of Korean Buddhism.




Gyeongju Cheomseongdae
OR, the oldest astronomical observatory in East Asia.





ETC.




After a day exploring the country side, we took a late bus to Seoul.

P.S. My dad turned fifty two days before he arrived in Korea. We bought him this cake and atop placed one candle for every decade he's been alive. Perhaps he's wishing his daughters will eventually quit moving across the world so his holiday travel expenses will quit quadrupling in price?

TWO THOUSAND TWELVE

My new years resolution is getting a bit redundant, but after a year where a lot has changed, I find comfort seeing my life come full circle.

This year...

I'll do whatever it is that I want to do.

2012, I have no idea what you are going to bring, but I ask for health, strength, transcendence, peace, love and plane tickets.