Getting out of Seoul: The Green Paradise of Boseong

I don't believe that traveling is necessarily glamorous, specially if moving to a new country is part of it. We still have to work, we still have to make money, we still have to fend for ourselves in similar ways that we would back home, or honestly, anywhere in the world. 

For the last two weeks I have been realizing that I'm finally settling. The end of that sweet honey moon phase of culture shock (something that I have been getting lectures of for the last three and a half years) is nigh. I am getting into a routine: I know my quickest way to school (and the longest too); I know the three major supermarkets in the area; I know the local expat bar; I know how to get from point A to point B on the subway, and I know what to expect from my weekdays and most weekends. I'm adapting, which means that the initial excitement and restless need for exploration of my immediate area is starting to dim down. This, by absolutely no means, means that I am getting bored; this doesn't mean that I've seen everything there is to see in Seoul - in fact, that list keeps getting bigger as the weeks go by - all that this means is that everything is settling into my kind of normal. 

This is why last weekend we decided to get out of Seoul for the first time since having moved here. Everyone, everywhere has that sudden urge of getting out, of doing something out that routine; whether that is going to a new restaurant, taking the back roads or treating yourself to a massage. I really believe that we all have that sometime in our life. Personally, I've always considered trips my way of treating myself and my favorite ways of breaking the routine. 

This last weekend we headed south of country to a small town called Boseong. Originally, this trip was intended to be a two night, three day deal, but in order to save a little bit of money, we decided to leave on Saturday and make it a weekend thing. I had my reservations about that - I don't like to feel rushed, and the idea of spending most of my weekend in transit isn't super appealing. It was an incredible surprise to find out that:

a) The buses are pretty comfortable

b) This country is quite small 

I suppose living in the States, and particularly Texas for 8 years has made me think that traveling outside of any city means at least a 3 - 5 hour drive. And visiting other states? Book a flight. So it's really nice to live in a country where you can go from North to South in about 6 - 7 hours, and from East to West in about 5 or so. Now, when I say small, I don't mean to say that there is little to see: there is so much in this, and any other country, that is worth exploring. I am extremely excited with the possibilities of everything I'll be able to do and see because of how accessible everywhere in this country is. 

First thing to check off, like I mentioned before (sorry, I trail off constantly) was the small town of Boseong. What is this place known for? Green tea? What's my favorite kind of tea? Yes. What's my favorite color?!

The many tea plantations of Boseong are responsible for almost half of the green tea production for the entire country (OMG THAT'S SO MUCH TEA), and as you can probably imagine... the place is absolutely beautiful. And it smells so nice too. 

When we first got to the Daehan Dawon Plantation, I was really glad to see that, although there were quite a bit of people walking around and enjoying the sights, it wasn't necessarily crowded. Also, the day was perfect: not too terribly hot like I had originally dreaded. So everything started off smoothly. When we crossed the ticket booth and made it into the Plantation, you could hear the silence of a place far away from streets and traffic and buildings, as well as some birds squeaking in the distance: it just added so much to the whole setting. And you could immediately get that whiff of green tea before you make it to the actual fields.  

First, you have to go through a small bamboo forest and hike through a small path alongside the Yew Tree Forest (actually, it's very possible that we started our trail the wrong way because we kept walking on the opposite direction of the map arrows). After that you come to a square with shops and restaurants that sell green tea ice cream, green tea lattes, green tea milkshakes... you get the idea. From that square you can start making your way up to the actual Green Tea Fields. Now, the fields themselves aren't massive - in fact, we got through the entire plantation in a little under two hours going at a regular pace. But this isn't necessarily the place you want to rush through. As small as it is, there really is so much you can marvel at - they even got a sneaky waterfall at the back of the fields!

This is the kind of place you want to stop at every turn and marvel at the perfect beauty of it and take it all in.

It was such a refreshing weekend to say the least. 

Food Post Trial, Part One

If anyone knows me personally, you know that there are three things I am pretty ignorant about: 

1) Politics 

2) Rhythm

3) Cooking

Now, over the last couple of weeks I'll admit that I have been taking an interest into those those three particular things. I feel like politics is something that everyone should be educated on, and I think it's crucial to understanding how the world works. Rhythm... well, I just want to prove those who called me tone deaf that I'm not (though, the struggle...). Cooking, well, at this point in my life, I don't think I have another option but to just go ahead and do it. 

So, just a bit of a background - I have never cooked a meal before in my life. No rice, no pasta, no chicken, no nothing. I've fried plenty of eggs and made some omelets; pancakes sure; no problem on sandwiches; cut some fruits, and the basic stuff like that... I have never really been in a situation where I've had to cook for myself (microwaves everywhere!) and was never really interested in the kitchen period. There are two main things that are different now: 

1) I am trying to be more careful when it comes to my nutrition

2) All of the Koreans restaurant have no English menus and no pictures

I have been living for close to two months now, and the cooking adventure began from day one. But since I want to keep things in this blog interesting and Koreanish I'll also include one of the most fascinating and fun things about traveling and getting to live abroad: the local food! So be prepared for the obligatory food blog post!

Cooking at home

It's been a challenge, but I have to say that I am pretty proud of what I have been able to master in this time. The kitchen tends to scare me, mostly because there is fire involved, and knowing myself if I have to wait for things to cook I'll go and busy myself with something else and forget all about the food and BOOM, fire.  But since I have a tiny kitchen there really isn't too much to screw up there. 

I have been solely using a pan and a pot for cooking (leveling up!) and I have mostly stuck with stir frying vegetables, frying chicken and making soup. What I have learned in the process is that cooking isn't really that difficult... preparing the food before the actual cooking is the most time consuming thing, but honestly I am really surprised to see how simple it is - the simple stuff anyway. Not making any cakes any time soon. 

I've also managed enough patience for the boiling of the potatoes and the carrots. Those are not fun to wait on, but they're simple enough to let them do their thing while I work on cutting or preparing something else. 

I have to say that I'm loving it. I'm loving cooking dinner for myself and it does make me feel a bit more... mature? Self sufficient? Prepared? Normal? 

But of course, this not being my first time, there have been some mishaps. 
1) I burned rice. Twice.
2) I smoked the room while cooking chicken that wasn't totally unfrozen. Twice.
3) I didn't totally peeled off the skin from the onions, that was nasty.
4) I didn't stir the soup well enough so it was super lumpy
5) I ruined broccoli 

One of the other things I have been made more aware of is how quickly food goes bad. I tend to try to stuck up on groceries for the week and I've really been amazed at how much food I've had to throw out because it goes bad... 
I'm somewhat ashamed to bring all of these new found insights, since I realize how logical it all. But never too late to start something right? I'm also excited to be picking up recipes to try out back home. One thing that I truly regret about not taking an interest in cooking earlier is the fact that I could have learned how to cook some of my favorite Georgian food, or Chinese dishes so that I am always able to get a taste of those memories whenever I feel like it. But then again, there's always the internet. 


Korean Food

I have a very personal love/hate relationship with Korean food. To start I have to say that it's amazing, and I love it, but boy has it been a journey. 

I remember one of my first days at school we had chicken with some spicy sauce. One of my co teachers warned me about the spicy sauce. My answer: I'm Mexican, I can handle spicy! 
Nope. 
No I can't. 
Well, now I can. 

Seaweed, kimchi and rice
New Obsession

But it was such a shock - that initial meeting of the Korean spicy to my taste buds. Kimchi I love, and I actually really enjoy its spiciness. But there have been somethings that just burn, and they burn with such an intensity that I have never really come across it before. 

Asian spicy is very different from what I'm used to, and from what I'm proud to say I can handle. I had Sichuan food in China and that was also a surprise but I learned that it didn't really burn my tongue, it just numbed it, and the more I ate the more I felt the burn in my lips but not necessarily in my mouth. 

Korean spicy - well, this spicy builds up. At first you really don't think much on it - again, that Mexican cockiness of THIS IS NOTHING makes me feel pretty damn good about it. But the more you eat, the more the burn builds up and then it just hits you out of nowhere.

One of the spiciest things
I've ever had. Ever.

Every time I go to a Korean restaurant I feel it like a personal challenge. That is really what it's all about now:
"Is this going to be too spicy?" No, of course not, and I will prove it to myself and conquer your spices, Korea. 

Koreans also have this really interesting thing called tteokbokki which is basically a small rice cake that sucks in all the flavors and the spices of any dish. It's like a little mushy sponge and every time I've gotten it it's been like one of those surprise flavors jelly beans. It's becoming one of my favorites here in Korea. 

The Bear and the Tiger, a Korean Folktale

One of my favorite parts about traveling is getting face to face with a culture's folklore. I have always been fascinated with culture period, but there is something about the stories and tales of the people that I find mind blowing. I am a firm believer that we live in an age where every story that can be told, has been told; I also believe that making something - even a story that has been told and retold and re imagined countless of times - your own is the beauty of our generation's creativity. Just as full disclosure, I love modern tales and stories and I doubt there will come a time where I won't find uniqueness and creativity in this world in regards of stories. 

But I digress. This is about folkloric tales. 

These are the stories where everything we know now rooted from. These are stories so old that could have been the first of their kind, and that through countless of oral retelling have, of course changed, but have never died. These are the stories so vital in the foundations of any and every culture. These stories are old - old as hell. 

On every opportunity I have to talk to someone from a different culture than my own I always ask about these stories. Sometimes the language barrier makes it difficult for me to understand them (I usually ask my students), but I'm always fascinated by how the generations of today still hold on to these stories, even if in their own ways.

I had the opportunity to teach a really clever 12 year old about a month ago who told me the tale about how Korea came to be. And it involves a god, a bear, a tiger and garlic. I'll retell it as I remember to keep up with the oral tradition, but I have linked the wikipedia page here in case anyone is interested to get something more structures. 

So, basically God lived in the heavens and he was happy and cool in heaven and there were no humans on earth, just mountains and green grass and pretty things. So then - I am not sure if it was either God or God's son, but he decided that he wanted to go down to where the pretty things were and live there. I think it was God's son because my student mentioned that he had to ask permission - so, God says "Yes, of course, go there and take all these other heavenly creatures with you since it's so pretty down there". 

So God's son - Hwanung goes down with all these other heavenly creatures- who are actually human people, and settles among the mountains and the meadows and the lakes and all the pretty things of this Earth. And they're happy and people are happy, and God's son is happy, and everyone is just merry. 

And then a Bear and a Tiger go up to God's son and they're like 

"Aw man, you're so happy, we want to be people too"
And God's son tells them "That's cool, you just have to eat garlic and this other thing, and eat NOTHING else and stay in this cave out of the sunlight for 100 days." 

So the Bear and the Tiger take the garlic and some other thing and go into the cave. And at first both are feeling pretty confident and they're like 'it's not so bad, we got this' but then somewhere along the way the Tiger gets really anxious and loses his patience and he's all like 'screw this, I'm out' so he leaves, but the Bear stays and completes the 100 days. Hibernation!

So when the Bear comes out, God's son turns her into a woman and they get married and they have a kid who turns out to  be God's grandson and he is called Dangun and he and his people is what started Korea. 

There is more to it. I have read more about the story, and it's really interesting and I would honestly recommend you to read more on it because I think it's cool - but I've written down the exact notes I took when listening to my student tell me the story. And that's one of the things I love about folklore - it's ok to not get it right. Hell, it's lived for ages, who knows what's been changed or left out or added on? 

First Month Shenanigans

It's official: first month in South Korea DOWN! 

It has been everything from confusing, frustrating, enchanting and exciting. Along with everything that comes with moving to a new country - anticipation mixed with anxiety - there is also that adventurous spirit that wants to see and do as much as possible during those first days. I suppose it's my way of explaining that 'honeymoon phase' of culture immersion. So of course, throughout my first week here, jet-lagged and rushing to adapt to a new routine, I was consciously trying to think of all those things I wanted to do as soon as the weekend came along. I thought I had everything laid out, and I was pretty sure I knew what to expect from this first month. But of course, as it's often the case when it comes to life, there were some unexpected surprises along the way. 

So, here's the summary of the beginning of this new chapter:

1. I'm living alone. Totally and utterly alone. 

It really didn't set it that I was going to be living in my own place for the first time in my life until I moved to a second apartment at the end of my first week here. For the most part of my life, I had lived at home with my family. And when I haven't, I've lived with roommates or a host family. My new apartment came in with a bed, a washing machine, a shower head, a refrigerator and a stove. It was during having to buy appliances, taking a desk from the neighbor's trash and setting up a clothing rack that I realized how much in control I was of my living space. And it was exciting and a little bit unnerving. How did this much time go by with me never having my own space? 

I like my little apartment. It's small and a bit ratchet, but it's mine. Totally and utterly mine. 

2. Cherry Blossom Festival at Yeouido 

Now, growing up as the anime fan that I was, am, will always be, I always  knew that cherry blossoms indicated the beginning of spring and every wonderful and magical thing that comes with it. There was always something about those cherry blossoms fly and float in such an enchanting way in those shows that made it all seem like something that could not happen in the real world. 

But thank art for imitating life. Or is it the other way around? No matter. Thank art. Thank life.

I researched the best places to go and enjoy the cherry blossoms and found out that basically, everywhere is where you can go and enjoy the cherry blossoms. They literally are everywhere, and no matter where you get to see them, their delicate way of morphing your view into something so delicate and pure is unmissable.
We went to a park lined with cherry blossom trees called Yeouido. It was crowded and filled with booths selling food, medical care and counsel(yes), art and toys. There were street performers such as dancers, comedians, magicians and singers. It definitely had the essence of a festival. One of my favorite moments were stumbling under this one musician who sat down as the sun was setting to play his guitar. There were multicolored lights under the trees, and as it got darker, they softly started to illuminate the place. So imagine this man under the cherry blossoms, playing his guitar, and the lights palpitating blue, green, red and white. There was something so surreal about the whole thing, I loved it. Plus he was a pretty good guitar player. 

3. Sandulsori Botanical Garden

One of the perks of working at my school is that every Thursday we have either a field trip or an event in school. Which means, a) I get to see some cool places for free, and b) No teaching! 

One of these trips were to a botanical garden about 30-40 minutes drive from the school. Which that on itself was a plus, because even though you're out and about chaperoning 30-35 children, the fact that you're away from the school really does something to the mood of the kids and the teachers: it's way more relaxing, I feel. The kids were excited and it was a very nice day to be outside. It was the first time I got close to a mountain while living here (and if you know me, you know that I'm all about mountains and dragons). It was so beautiful. 

The kids watching the tadpoles 

It was nice to see the kids outside the classroom setup. It was nice to get to socialize with the other teachers also, since we don't really get that chance during regular school hours. And what a place, honestly. It had all these enchanting nooks where I just wanted to get lost in. There was a small river covered with cherry blossoms that went I'm not sure where, but would definitely love to go back and explore. 

4. Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP)

I had read about this place before coming to Korea. What made me want to go here was the fact that they have 20,000 LED lit roses 'planted' on their courtyard. Why wouldn't anyone want to go see that? 

It's basically this wonderland of lights and roses that could almost pass as beautifully fallen stars. It's breathtaking.

The view at night was enchanting, but I was also really pleased to explore the DDP during the day. The whole plaza is basically an art exhibit and a small historical museum. I learned a little bit about the history surrounding the Seoul wall (didn't really know that was a thing) and got to see small bits of archaeological sites around the plaza (which is always a win in my book no matter where). Walking through the corridors and hallways of the plaza itself is pretty trippy. I just had never really seen something like that before, so of course all of the visual senses were on overload. 

5. Lotte World

This was a happy accident. We were supposed to have a field trip with the school to a farm but the forecast said that it wasn't going to be a good day to be outside. So we were told that we were going to go to an amusement park instead. 

"Ah, ok, because rain in amusement parks in Korea is not a big deal. Got it."

Well, this turns out to be an indoor amusement park... which that in itself was something I didn't know existed either and was really curious to see what it was all about. Well, not only is this the biggest indoor amusement park in Korea, but it's the biggest one in the whole world. 

So, of course, because we were chaperoning little people, I was pretty limited on which rides to get on. But I did get to see a roller coaster that seemed to go through two floors. Oh, there's six floors to this place, by the way. There were also this 'hot air balloons' that went through the entire place which I would have loved to get on, they seemed pretty legit. We rode the Sinbad ride, which... we probably should have read or asked someone about it before hand because the kids were petrified through the entire thing, and I had to do the whole momma chicken with her chicks under her wings thing with three of the kids.

But anyway, it was fun. It was pretty massive and didn't really get to see all of it, so hopefully somewhere along the line I'll find myself back there. For the big people rides of course! 

6. Donggureung Royal Tombs

I really feel like this in itself deserves its own blog post. I might do that eventually in the future... This has definitely been one of the highlights of my time here. It's basically the graveyard of nine of the kings and queens of the last dynasty of Korea. And it's pretty much in the middle of the city of Guri, but once you step in, it feels like you must have driven at least an hour outside of any form of civilization. All of the tombs are surrounded by a thick forest and it really shuts down the noises of a busy street and city outside. 

While walking up to one of the tombs we got a glimpse of the city outside this little bubble of times past

The tombs were something I had never pictured before in my life. Then again, considering these were pretty major kings and queens of the very last dynasty of Korea, there is no surprise of them being so majestic. There are only a couple of hills open so that you can actually get to see the tombs closely. Most of them are off limits though, but I did read and it seems that most all tombs have the exact same set up; a mound surrounded by at least 9 statues. 

I loved this place. Although it's really well organized, it also gives the opportunity to get lost in the woods and get off the beaten path. We actually did that, and it was so much fun! But then we saw a sign that we're pretty sure meant 'Be careful of wild boar' so we decided to get out of the forest, because boars are scare. But we did get to see a doe running through one of the mounds!

Baby doe barely visible, but he's there!

So... I'm going to stop it here. It's been a busy month, and the beginning of the second is not looking any quieter so far. I'm really happy with what I've done and gotten to see so far. This city is... so not like anything I had prepared myself for it to be. And I'm loving it.