MOUNT HALLA!

This past weekend was pretty dismal and rainy and dull, but last week we had a day off on Wednesday for Korea's foundation day, and my friend Cathy and I decided we'd climb Mount Halla, the volcanic peak in the center of Jeju Island.



Halla Mountain is home to all kinds of exotic wildlife. We were continually divebombed by these cute (but deadly??) hummingbirds attracted to the yellow in Cathy's hat - they tried to suck her head nectar on more than one occasion. I caught a picture of one next to a legit yellow flower.



Also, the toilets smelled.



But of course the views were beautiful.



On the way home we passed a horse in the middle of the road. So we tried to creep toward it, but it was wise to us and kept moving away -- this was as close as we got. I think this pic would make a great album cover?!

CHUSEOK ADVENTURES

So this past weekend was Chuseok, a kind of Korean Thanksgiving celebration in which extended families get together and eat a lot of great food and give homage to ancestors. For us foreign teachers this year, it means - vacation! Chuseok is a lunar (full moon actually) holiday, so it falls on a different day every year. This year it fell on a Tuesday, and since the days before and after are travel days, we had a 5 day weekend! Roadtrip?? Yes sir.

Dolharubangs (literally: stone grandfathers) are ubiquitous in Jeju Island, originally they were symbolic guardians and stood at the village gates. Now you see them in front of hotels, restaurants etc. -- or in parks, playing the ocarina:



After finishing the puzzle at Kimnyeong Maze Park (it was hard!!):


With a Buddha-friend, at a very Muslim-looking temple.


My intrepid wheeled traveling companion, and Seungsan mountain at the edge of the east coast.



Moments before sunset on the way home.

So we had a typhoon here on Jeju Island last weekend. I'm okay, but unfortunately one of the professors here at Cheju Uni died while driving ~ the roads were like rivers. The island is still cleaning itself up. Here's the view from my dormitory balcony.

In my kids' class ~~

I'm teaching first graders English. Sorry, that's not exactly true. I'm babysitting a wild bunch of first graders, and I happen to sometimes speak English near them. We were learning "I want" today.

Me: "I want candy!"
Kids: "I want candy!"
Me: "I want a banana!"
Kids: "I want a banana!"
Me: "I want an apple!"
Kids: "I want an apple!"
Me: "I want world peace!"
Kids: ((confused looks))
Me: "..."
One student, his face brightening: "I want pizza!!"

Yep, it's close. ;)

Fukuoka, Japan was brilliant - even though I was only there about 24 hours, it felt just like a regular holiday.



I gave my approval to a number of things in Japan. Me and my friend Ben whom I met on the boat hung out for a bit with some Japanese tourists and we all did crazy pictures. It wasn't my idea, I swear.



Look closely and you'll see a motorbike balanced on a pipe near the roof.



I stayed in a capsule hotel - it might look like a row of laundry drying machines, but they're actually coffin-sized rooms with tiny tvs and very very low ceilings. Super comfy though.



Beer's-eye view of a bar in Japan.



Right now I'm exploring the campus, getting ready for classes (tomorrow -- eeekk!) and enjoying the fact that I have a (semi-)permanent home for the first time since early July.

My new address (send me Reese's Peanut Butter Cups pleeaassee??):
Henry Gerlits
Foreign Language Institute, Cheju National University
66 Jejudaehakno
Jeju City, Jeju-do
South Korea 690-756

And my new phone is:
(from Korea) 010-2062-8664
(from abroad) 82-10-2062-8664

I should be updating this a lot more often now that I'm settled in. I promise. Miss you all!

So we sing these songs at camp. They're super cheesy, and we have these choreographed dances to them, but I realized as I was dancing and laughing with the kids tonight that I actually *like* all of this campy silliness. Shhh ... don't tell anyone. ;) Our dances are way better, but check out these videos and you'll get the idea. Imagine these blaring out of huge speakers at 7:30 AM as the kids line up outside in Korean monsoon rains to eat rice and kimchi for breakfast. Worlds collide.

Phew. I'm finally in a room with internet. It's been a while since my last post, and in that while I've finished up with Camp Fulbright, done a short weekend camp, and just started another week-long camp in 여주 (Yeoju), a town outside Seoul.

I've learned a few things at camp. Sometimes, without prompting, kids will make paper mache masks of your face.



Nothing really gets down at staff meetings.



"Henry" sounds like "hungry" and apparently that's hilarious.



And not only is my arm hair made of gold, it's "very expensive". I was assured of this by one bright child, nearly twice a day. I heart camp. ^^

Being Activities Director, I've found, is more fun than I expected. Today we did a blindfold obstacle course.



And then, we tied groups of campers together and had them run around. Please note if you try this at home: the little ones fall out! But they're doing it with smiles on their faces. ^^



I never knew there was so much time, I swear. At night, listening to music in my room, songs seem to gain a dimension. I feel like I hear them slower. Maybe I'm just tired. But hell, what a great day.

So one of the camp teachers just knocked on my door. I opened it, and she said, "Henry, there's a big problem at the office. Only you can fix this. We need you right now." A rush of pride filled me. I was needed! My authority was required! I could do this, I could help whoever required my assistance. So I stepped out of my room to follow her, and ... was soundly whacked on the head with an inflatable hammer.

And with that, camp has begun!! The kids arrived today. They're amazing. The end.



One is never too busy to pose with a purple fan.

Camp Fulbright gets weirder.



Camp hasn't started officially started yet, the kids don't arrive till tomorrow, but we're campifying the building quite nicely.



Camp just isn't camp unless you shove the director out the window!



In other news, this game is an interesting exploration of the Korean obsession with "dong-chim" (jabbing your two index fingers up your friend's butt, in the most affectionate way possible). Um, enjoy!!

It's the calm before the storm.

In a day and a half, the students will arrive here at Camp Fulbright, and everything will begin. I feel kind of like a grandmother waiting to hear the pitter-patter of little feet on her doorstep. Here's what we look like, unpacking boxes. Exciting, no?




Vinnie, our fearless Camp Director, gets way into this.



Before I left Seoul, I went out with Jin, one of my students from Boston, and his friend Nuri.



Jin is, by all accounts, adorable.



Now as some of you know, I pride myself on being able to eat spicy food. In fact, I never want to eat anything but. BUT! On this particular occasion, we went out for some beer and ordered "bul-tak" or fire chicken. Let me tell you, whatever they put in this stuff, it made my mouth turn to molten lava for a good 15 minutes with just one bite. We all tried to be macho, but it sat on the table virtually untouched. I have been defeated!!

I'm sipping on a little cup of nok-cha (that's green tea) in my hotel room, Insadong, Seoul, South Korea.

Well, well. I'm back.

I flew out of Boston on Thursday morning and arrived in Seoul on Friday night, a little tired but eyes the size of saucers, of course. Korea, I missed you. My saucer-eyes have been drinking it all in, and it feels almost like the first time I came to Korea. Differences have been jumping out at me these past few days. Like:

- little delights tucked into pub menus (bottled beer, chicken wings, popcorn, dried salted fish strips, whiskey...)

- 50-year-old businessmen holding hands

- handbag shops open past midnight (drunken shopping?)

- a mandatory 15-20 noraebang (karaoke rooms) per city block

The TV in my room is a flat-screen and mounted right on the wall, and it's - get this - approximately 41.5 inches diagonally. I didn't have a ruler, but I used an 8.5x11 notebook thrice on the long side, and once on the short. Mathgenuity. At any rate, it's big. I won't be enjoying it too much longer though, tonight I ship out from Seoul to Chuncheon, the site of Camp Fulbright! I'll be directing activities for a little over 80 middle school campers. Super cute camp pics to follow.

I went on a little hike on Sunday with Forest and Ben ('05 Fulbrighters).

With Seoul between my legs, I went umm ... that way!!

When we got to the top, a black squirrel kept trying to steal our lunch. We only put up with him because well, he's a squirrel. They're hard to refuse.

We found a waterfall on the way down and swam like river nymphs. The end!

One more time --- I'M IN KOREA!! I just had to get that out of my system. :)

I've moved! I will now be updating my blog here:

http://deepochre.livejournal.com

Please update your bookmarks.

THE NEW YEAR

Happy new year everyone!

It's been a great year - the best. I've been awful at keeping up with this blog, I'm planning to start posting again this year. 2007! You know how when the year changes like this, it feels really wrong when you say it, or write it? Well, somehow 2007 seems right. Like I've experienced it before, or something. Omens for a good year.

I'm drinking jasmine green tea right now, freshly bought from Peet's Coffee and Tea down the road from our apartment. Have I mentioned I love Boston? I really do.

I just started a new job last week at CIEE (Council for International Educational Exchange), and this week I'll have access to the databases and I'll start my training. Henceforth, you may refer to me as "Employer Vetting Coordinator". Don't worry, I had no idea what it was either until I looked it up. Basically, I evaluate companies to make sure they are suitable to hire Work and Travel students from other countries. The people are amazing, and it's exactly what I want - a job in the non-profit and international sector. But yeah, I miss teaching. Wish it could have been full-time!

Let's see ... what else? Recently Taehwa and Stu got into a fight, but she totally kicked his ass.



Details to follow. It's good to be back!

EGG GHOSTS

I'm full swing in Camp Fulbright. It's funny how when you have literally no time at all, you find more time to do the things you never get to normally. I like when things fall into different persepctives like that. Today was day one of classes, I'm teaching the second from the highest level, and I only have seven kids in my class. It's ... beautiful, in a word. But I haven't been without a needy child on my arm since 8:00 AM, 15 hours ago, so it's nice to get some alone time. Earlier tonight I took a group on a little walk around campus, and I had a little conversation with one of my tiny new friends. It was really dark out. That should quite nicely to:

Me: Are you afraid of ghosts?
Student: No.
Me: Really? Have you ever seen a ghost?
Student: Yes.
Me: A real ghost? Like ... woooooo? (at this point I'm, I guess, walking around like a ghost and making scary sounds)
Student: No, not person ghost.
Me: Oh, like ... an animal?
Student: No, egg.
Me: An egg ghost?
Student: Yes, egg ghost.
Me: What ... what did it do?
Student: (making egg-rolling-around-motions) It went shing-shing-shing.
Me: And you weren't scared?
Student: I catch that. Then break, and fry, and eat!
Me: Did you like it?
Student: Egg ghost was delicious!

In 40 minutes: officially 2 weeks till I'm back in the States. But maybe, I want to take some of these kids with me?? :)

THE COMEBACK

August 8th, 2006.

But first:

-finish two week lesson plan for Camp Fulbright
-write final report for Fulbright to release my plane tickets
-resist the temptation to watch new eps of Samurai Champloo whilst doing the above
-close out bank accounts, transfer money to my account in the States, transfer money to Stu for the new apartment, cancel cell phone
-goodbye dinner with the teachers
-goodbye noraebangin' (karaoke) with the teachers
-attempt to stay relatively not-passed-out without offending a highly intricate array of alcohol-pouring customs
-pass out
-wake up
-pass out teachers' gifts (vitamin drinks and Kit-Kat bars, a snack made in heaven?) at Thursday's morning meeting
-last classes on Thursday
-clean office
-make CD with teaching materials for new ETA's reference
-PACK. and back up my computer files.
-wake up early
-try not to cry
-kiss the dogs goodbye
-drive to the aiport with SooHee and Mr. Oh
-deliver my luggage to the Fulbright building
-luncheon with Jacob
-find my way to the Lotus Lantern Meditation Center
-4 day meditation retreat
-buy all manner of Korean giftables in Insadong in Seoul
-buy a new suit in Itaewon?
-last night in a jimjillbang
-wake up and pick up my luggage from Fulbright
-train to Chuncheon
-hang out with the orientation kids and the new ETAs?
-start camp prep
-2 week camp with my 13-kid class!! :)
-postcamp madness on the streets of Chuncheon
-wake up, pack up, train to Seoul, bus to Incheon
-1:50 PM August 8th: flight departs from Incheon
-8:30 AM August 8th: flight arrives in San Francisco ... yes, in the PAST!
-7:54 PM August 8th: flight arrives in Boston. Give up trying not to cry.


I don't know how much I'll be blogging. I have so many pictures to show you guys, but they may have to wait till I'm Stateside. Until then! Miss you all, and see you soon. :D

I'm in the Jeju newspaper today! Check it out:
http://www.jemin.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=153010

THE RAINY DAY WONKTA BLUES

I've made it no secret that I've been extra homesick lately. I'm almost rounding out a year, and the constant pandering to Confucianism, fake smiles and exasperating language mishaps can be just plain exhausting. Skyping and letters to home at times can make you feel FURTHER away I think - it's like letting a hungry person smell a big ol cinnabon but not letting him actually get a taste, and thinking that somehow the smell satisfies almost as well. Yes, to all my family and friends out there reading this: I want to taste your cinnabons.

Anyway. Today was no different, and with the rain and the clouds and the fact that I'm still recovering from mild food poisoning from my trip to the mainland, I wasn't exactly pickin' daisies. But I decided to get on up'n'out of this funk, and took a walk down to the cinema to check on the times for the Da Vinci Code tonight.

First though, let me give you guys a little background on the word "wonkta". I don't know very much Korean, but from what I do know, a wonkta at least in the classroom setting is nothing short of a pariah. There are a couple of wonktas at my school, and they sit alone in the cafeteria, have the saddest expressions on their faces, never speak a word at any time, and I've actually been prevented by my coteachers from including them in the activities. I was a little mad at first at such blatant discrimination, but I guess it was done with the kindest of intentions, to shield them from further attacks from the students. Though if they're never called upon in class, they'll never have a chance to prove themselves, or to climb out of their wonkta status through academic recognition from their peers. It's a tricky issue. The very fact though that Korean has a word that fully encompasses the concept seems to me to be a tacit approval of the wonkta's place (or lack thereof) in society. We have the terms "outcast" or "social reject" but those terms can mean other things - we can refer to an entire group of people as being outcasts in society, or we can refer to a lone wolf as being an outcast in wolf society, or we can use reject as a verb in other situations. As far as I know, wonkta only refers to people, and only in the situation of extreme aloneness.

One of my friends over here was trying to explain the Columbine shootings to her advanced class last fall, and to try to deliver her point mentioned that the gunmen were wonkta. She was chilled when the class said "no no teacher, there were two of them! they had a friend!" Wonktas are totally and completely isolated. And unlike America with its almost limitless youth sub and countercultures (particularly in this case, goth), the kids don't have any identity to turn to when mainstream society spurns them. Even Japan has seen the rise of weekend cosplay displays, popular mostly with high school girls who are taunted during the week. Without a subculture to identify with, the wonkta is left utterly alone.

It was in that state that I, turning a corner, passed one of our Daesin Middle School students. She was standing on a corner waiting to cross, and she was crying. It wasn't just tears - this was full-on, shoulder-heaving ... sobs. It was a singular moment - my mind had been flitting back and forth through all the things that I had to complain about - missing family and friends, feeling constrained in a homestay, feeling like an alien in Korea. But I'm a traveller in another country, all of that is understandable. Here was a girl whose own culture had bitterly rejected her. Lord knows she had everything in the world to sob about.

What was I going to do? Our eyes never met, I don't know if she saw me. I wanted to hug her, I wanted to tell her it would be alright, I wanted to do something - but honestly if I had approached her she would have run away in shame. And things won't be alright for her. She's going to have to wake up tomorrow and deal with it all again. I truly do not understand how this goes on in Korea. In Korean society, wonkta might be treated as less than human - but I think this girl's weeping was the most singularly human act I've witnessed all year.

FAIRY TALES: ALIVE AND WELL IN KOREA

So my homestay mom made homemade jam yesterday. The jar is now sitting on top of the kitchen table. I'm fixing myself a snack and my homestay brother comes in and wraps his arms around it. "It's my jam!" (He likes to claim things. Everything.)
"Oh yeah?" I say. "Yeah!" he replies. "His name is James." I laugh. "James, can I eat you?" I laugh harder as he puts his ear to the jar. "He says yes! I will drink your blood! James, you are so kind!"

I was in the cafeteria when I noticed one of my students had a name written on her gym uniform sweatshirt that wasn't hers. I point it out and ask, "who's that?" She replies, beaming, "my boyfriend!" Me: "Yeah? Wow! How long have you been dating?" "Two days!"
"Oh, so short! When did you meet him?"
"Once upon a time!" :)

halcy0nX: at my college religion was sociology without the statistics
halcy0nX: philosophy without the accountability
halcy0nX: psychology without the experimentation
sethzeren: which leaves what...
sethzeren: ??
sethzeren: :-D
halcy0nX: yeah, thats what we were trying to figure out ;-)
halcy0nX: but somewhere along the line
halcy0nX: i graduated
halcy0nX: and then got a fulbright
halcy0nX: and then ... a scholarship to study this ephemeral something further

This past Saturday I was out with my friend JiHyoung and we decided to have a little campfire on the beach and drink some hot tea before we went down the road to the newly built Lotte Cinema to see MI3 (don't see it - that's my review). The beach was a small one, at the end of a walking trail by the southern cliffs of the island - rocky, secluded, and perfect. We got one going despite the wind, and it was just dying down when a group of maybe 5 people with backpacks came down the stairs, shining flashlights around and generally acting very confused. They settled down at the base of the cliff and we decided they must be a group of ajoshi out for a late night soju picnic. Just then, full moon peeked out from behind a bank of clouds and in that picture postcard moment a gong sounded maybe a hundred yards up the shoreline from us. One of the group had snuck down there with a kkwaenggwari . We put out the fire and crept closer. A group of ajummas were setting up for a shaman kut! I had seen a kut (ritual) before, but in the formal confines of a ... fish warehouse in Jeju City, with distinguished members of the community there, video cameras, and all the huzzah huzzah Korean culture buzz going all around. If we hadn't been there, these women would have only the sea as their witness. One of the women circled burning incense sticks above her head, another woman bowed to north south east and west, and another lit candles among the rocks. The gong continued to sound from the shoreline and we could make out chanting from that same direction.
Some of the peripherary members sitting on rocks could have been men, it was hard to tell in the moonlight. The women were just ... Korean women - they were wearing track suits and baseball caps, and one of them was texting on her mobile. But they were here, among the volcanic rocks and the sea and the gorgeous big full moon. Watching them felt like being invited into another world, one so close to ours that it might be separated by the most transparent glass. And that night, by some crazy twist of luck and fate, that I passed right through that glass for a moment.

So, I guess that's what religion means to me.

THE HOMESTIZZLE

Lemme tell ya, I have a lot of fun here. At times it suprises me. :) My homestay brother Kyeong-Hwan is such a great kid, and I dare say a lifelong friend. This weekend we went to the PCbang (PC gaming cafe), where we played a really addictive game called Chaos, which is a mod of Warcraft (a Korean version of DOTA). Here's Kyeong-Hwan contemplating his imminent defeat:



But let the record show that last time, it was ME weeping in utter Warcraft ruin.

Today he saw me writing letters and getting things from my art box, so he dug around in there till he found my sticker letters. Our dog Jeong was quite pleased.





Boshintang anyone?

It has certainly been a while. I ... went to Japan! Now I'm back. Man, do I have a lot to catch up on.

It isn't often when something lives up to and even exceeds your expectations - even less often when that something is travel related. To all those Japan-o-philes I've known in my life - Chris Langevin, I'm talking to YOU - you were right all along. Korea is the "hot ham water" to Japan's thick, viscous, giblet-filled Thanksgiving gravy. The temples were beautifully minimalistic, the gardens were gorgeous, the anime was nudie, and the fashions were insane. Oh and the sake was good too. Sushi tastes best from a conveyer belt. Chilled green tea tastes best from vending machines, located approximately 50 feet from each other (this extends well into densely wooded countrysides). I want to learn Japanese so I can live in a manga internet cafe for the rest of my life. :) Yeah, I loved it. There are maybe a hundred new pictures on Flickr.

The legendary Ryoanji Zen rock garden in Kyoto:



Sunset over Tokyo skyline:



Rachael has an educational experience at the Yebisu Beer Museum:



Shibuya station is more city than I've ever experienced ...



Mist, temples and giant trees in Nikkho, north of Tokyo:



Me and a torii in Meiji, Tokyo:



And perhaps most important, to Japan's gardens and really everyone, is the VIM (very important moss). In comes in many varieties, as you can see here:



Despite my torrid love affair with Japan, it is nice to be back in Korea. I think my kids have been extra adorable lately. The sun is warm, the air is clear, and life on the island smells GOOD. :)

I came out of the library just now and walked through the park bathed in spring-tree-smells ... if I knew anything about botany I'd be able to say things like the lush musk of rosewood, the rich stink of cherry ... let's pretend it was just like all that. Anyway, heady and gorgeous. Ran into some of my third graders, confident and shining from their basketball game and smiling all sort of English greetings my way. And genuinely really happy to see me - that never, ever gets old. It's only a two minute walk from the library to my homestay, but it was definitely the best two minutes of my entire week. :)

Some other life-snippits:

One of my dogs, the little one named Jeong, has recently started sneezing compulsively whenever I come back home, and only for maybe the first ten minutes of seeing me.

I can't believe it's taken me this long to read Dharma Bums (thanks to Forest for the loan).

I'm hungry now, so I'm gonna go reheat some of that whole baby octopus and beef stir fry in the fridge. Mmmm! ;)

Well, a lot of things have happened in the last week or so, but I haven't done much bloggin'. ;) The weather's been beautiful, and I've been outside every day playing jumprope with the girls (and getting laughed at), running around with the boys (and getting laughed at), and teaching class (... yes, and getting laughed at). ;)

Last weekend JiHyoung and I went to the cherry blossom festival in Jeju City.



I am now of course fully Korean and feel the need to make this pose whenever possible:





Later we visited Ham-deok beach, played some frisbee, and just chilled out. Then we climbed a little oreum (small mountain - okay, small hill) which was in fact another crater. We found this little guy living among the magma:



Then it was out for traditional Korean rice wine (macoli) and some earnest pub-atmosphere-inspired contemplations:





Perfect day? Yes.

In other news, I heard yesterday that my school, Daesin Middle School, has been recognized as having the best English program in ... all of KOREA!! We were also told that some government officials would be coming down to videotape my class, some of my extra programs like the advanced class and my lunchtime program, and some of the other English classes. And that this tape would be shown to the ... president of Korea?? I don't know how much of this is just Daesin propaganda, but ... !! :) Amazing, just amazing. I definitely never thought I'd have school pride, but now I've got it bad. The English department is next to mad with preparations. As for me, this weekend will be devoted to relearning to tie my tie again. I think routinely forgetting it is my last shred of punk-music-teenage-rebellion holding on for dear life. ;) Hello, real world?