This blog is dedicated to my adventure as an English teacher in South Korea. It will be a totally different experience then what I am used to and I would like to take you along with me on my one year journey.
I recently just bought myself a Hanbok. In hangul it looks like this 한복. If there was one souvenir I wanted to purchase in Korea, the Hanbok was it. Hanboks are so pretty; the fabric, the colors and the design on the dress. Hanboks are the traditional Korean outfit that were wore on a daily basis during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). Now a days, people only wear them on special occasions, such as; Lunar New Years, Chuseok, weddings, and birthdays.
I went to Dongdaemun Market in Seoul to the Hanbok store. Dongdaemun is known for selling clothes and fabric. There are tons of places here that sell Hanboks. The owner of my school is the one that called them for me, and they even met me at the subway station to lead me to their shop. Dongdaemun is a maze. There are alley ways every where. A person can easily get lost in this place. It was a good thing I had someone guide me.
The lady first had me look at a book or different color combinations that I can choose from. When I first opened the book, one of the first color combinations I saw stuck out to me the most. I continued looking through the rest but I kept coming back to that first one. I ended up picking that one, too. The lady next took my measurements. Once she did that, I called my boss and she negotiated with the lady for the price. I ended up paying W140,000 for the Hanbok. I was thinking I was going to end up paying way more than that, so I am happy it wasn't.
Female Hanboks have three different parts to it. The first part is the sokchima. This is the undergarment you wear under the Hanbok. It is similar to a petticoat.
The next piece is the chima. It is the dress you wear over the sokchima. You put on the sokchima like an apron. It is open in the back. You tie the straps in the front. You have to make sure that, in the back, the right or left is on the top. I can't remember which. One way means you are married and the other way means you are single. Then when you bring the straps to the front, you tie it in a little bow slightly to the left.
The last part is the the Jeogori. It is like a jacket. It is the basic upper garment of the hanbok. Once you put it on, there is usually a snap or a tie to keep the jacket close. Then you tie the goreum, which are the coat strings that tie the Jeogori together. There is a specific way to tie the goreum, which is something I'm not very good at. I'll need someone to teach me before I leave Korea.
Here are all the pieces put together.
There are a few accessories that go together with the Hanbok. The first is the bae-ssi-daenggi. It is worn on the top of the head with the straps tied in the bottom back part of the head. The lady only had a couple to choose from but none of them went with my dress, I am going to try to see if I can find one that matched a bit more.
I was also given a pin to help keep the bow together on the jacket. It is a cute little turtle.
Here is the entire outfit on. I really like the colors. I am so happy that I made this purchase. One thing that I also need to get are beoseon. They are a type of socks you wear with the hanbok.
June 9 - It's not a very good photo, but I went to Dongdaemun Market today. I am getting a Hanbok made for me as a souvenir of sorts for my experience in Korea. The turquoise will be the bottom, the burgundy is for the sash, and in the picture it looks white but it is more of a seafoam, is for the top part of the Hanbok.
June 10 - Bought a new shirt today...i'm not sure what it is trying to say but I think it's funny.
June 11 - I hurt the side of my foot when I went to Jeju a couple weeks ago, and it still hurts when I stand and walk on it for extended time. My boss told me I should go get it x-rayed. Well I did and it was just a sprain. So I have to get physical therapy for 3 days. This is my first day of physical therapy, infrared
June 12 - I love to bake. Made some Caramel Chocolate Chip cookies.
June 13 - "Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically." Romans 12:11
This is something I feel I have been struggling with since being in Korea. I had hoped that while being in Korea, my relationship with God would grow but I have been lazy, which is hurting my relationship. I found this verse unexpectedly and it has been a wake up call to myself.
June 14 - I got my hanbok today. I had to try it on as soon as I got home. The bow isn't tied very well, but I love my hanbok; I love the colors and the design on the jacket.
June 1 - Saw the Snow White and the Huntsmen movie. It was okay. Kristen Stewart didn't have a lot of lines but I still was getting annoyed with her.
June 2 - Oh, Korea!
June 3 - They were having some sort of event in my neighborhood.
June 4 - Received this interesting pastry from a co-worker today. It has ham and melted cheese wrapped in the middle.
June 5 - I finished putting up my Olympics decorations in my classroom. It's really simple, but the flags took forever to make. There are 15 more flags that are in different part of the classroom.
June 6 - Was able to get a picture of Venus crossing over the Sun, thanks to the clouds passing by. The small black dot in the top right is Venus. This event won't happen again for another 105 years.
June 7 - Made a treat for my co-workers today. It is a brownie with cream cheese topping. I made them before but one of my co-workers have been wanting me to make them again.
May 22 - I have been working on a project for my summer decorations in my classroom, and I finally finished it today. I wanted to make my summer theme to be the Olympics, so I made 65 flags. It took me a very long time, but I finally finished. Yay!
May 23 - I love going to Starbucks. It reminds me of home!
May 24 - Got a package from home. Thank you mommy!
May 25 - I saw the new MIB movie. I liked it.
May 26 - All packed for Jeju!
May 27 - On a beautiful beach in Jeju with some good friends!
May 28 - 멋지다!
May 29 - What another fun day at the beach and sadly our last day on Jeju.
May 30 - No more retainer for me, yay!!!
May 31 - My feet are super swollen from getting sunburned. The top picture was from a couple days ago and the bottom is from today. I hope the swelling goes down soon.
I have finally found my way to the beautiful Jeju Isalnd. A trip to Korea is not complete without going to Jeju, especially if I am going to be here for a year. I went with five of my co-teachers, three of which are Korean teachers and the other two are native teachers. We have all been planning this trip since March, so I am happy that we were able to finally go. One of the Korean teachers, planned the entire trip for us. She worked very hard for us so that we would have an awesome time and she succeeded. I appreciate her so much for how much work she put into it. She booked our plane tickets, she booked our hostel, she booked our tours, she did everything for us. Thank you so much Monica! <3
We left for Jeju on a Sunday because Monday was Buddha's Birthday, so we had the day off, and we also had Tuesday off because our boss wanted to give us a longer weekend. We went to the Gimpo Airport and arrived in Jeju around 12:30 pm. The flight from Seoul to Jeju is only about an hour. Not a very long flight at all.
View from the plane
This is what we experience as soon as we leave the airport
For out first day there, we didn't plan on doing a lot. We wanted to get to out hostel and then go to the beach. We were staying in a city called Seogwipo, which is located in the south. It is about an hour from the airport, which is located in the north. We checked into the hostel and then got a taxi to go to the beach. We went to Jungmun Beach. We chilled there for a while and then decided to explore the area a bit.
Jungmun Beach
That night, I went to a norebang for the first. A nore means
song and bang means room; it is where Koreans go for Karaoke. I have been in
Korea for 10 months now and I have finally made my way to one. Not only did we
go on the first night, we also went on the second night, too. It was really
fun. I cannot sing on key whatsoever but it was fun to just dance around and
sing. In norebangs, you rent a private room and it is about W10,000 for an
hour. They have Korean, English and Japanese songs to choose from. The video below is my friend, Sandy, rapping away to a Korean song.
Our second day was packed with stuff to do. We hired a
driver and car, through a tour program, that took us all over the island to the
popular tourist destinations. It cost each of us W25,000, which is super cheap
especially because he took us around for 10 hours and did a lot of driving. We
first went to Hallasan; this is South Korea’s highest mountain at 1950 meters.
We didn’t go to the very top, which has a crater lake, but we went as high as
we could by car. From the rest area we
stopped at, it would’ve taken an additional 10 hours, round trip, to get to the
top, which we didn’t have time for. We walked on the trail for a little bit,
but it offered no views, only trees.
We then headed to Saryeoni Forest, which was a short drive from the rest stop. In the forest, we were able to try on a pair of traditional Korean shoes and walk around in them. Without socks, the hay was poking my foot, so they were not that comfortable.
Sandy and I walking around
Here are the shoes
We then headed to Sangumburi Crater. It is a green volcanic crater that is the second largest on the island. It is 350 meters in diameter and 100 meters deep. It is the crater of an extinct volcano. It exploded quickly and did not spew much lava, as opposed to the other two on the island. It has been designated as a Natural Monument 263.
The crater from the side
Our next stop was to Seongsan-ri (Fortress Mountain Village) , which contains another extinct volcano called Ilchulbong (Sunrise Peak). The summit is 182 meters high and is shaped like a punch bowl. It rose from under the sea in a volcanic eruption over 100,000 years ago. The crater is 600 meters in diameter and 90 meters high. There are 99 sharp rocks surrounding the craters and makes it look like a gigantic crown. It is also a 20-30 min steep walk up to the top, which I did. It was tiring but it was worth it.
From the bottom
Made it to the top, the crater is behind us.
A view of the island from the top.
Our next stop was Seopjikoji. "Seopki" is the old name for the area, and "Koji" is Jeju dialect meanind a sudden bump on land. They also filmed a famous Korean drama here called "All In." There is a path that lead to a lighthouse. We strolled along the long path but we didn't wander all the way to the lighthouse. It was a really pretty area.
The church on the left is were they filmed and the white spec in the middle is the light house.
We headed to a late lunch after this to have some pork belly. The pork belly was made with the Jeju Black pig, which is a breed of domestic pig found on Jeju. This kind of pigs is said to have a unique taste distinct from other breeds of pigs. Pork belly is a boneless cut of fatty meat that comes from the belly of the pig. It was really good, a bit fatty but good.
The restaurant we ate lunch at
Cooking our meat
After we had lunch, we headed to Seongeup Folk Village where we were able to see the traditional Korean houses. We were able to learn how they used to live and how some people on the island still live. We also met a new friend, a Jeju Black Pig. It was kind of funny that we went there just after we ate one of his relatives.
Walking around the village
Hello little friend
There are walking paths all around the island called Jeju Olle-gil that people can get sea views and enjoy a nice stroll. It has 24 routes that was aides by the recent "walking boom" in South Korea. Our driver took us to take route 6, which is near the city we were staying in. On this route we were able to view a famous site, called Oedolgae (Lonely Rock). It is 10 meters in circumference and 20 meters tall. It is a volcanic basalt pillar. It is said, in Korean legend, that a Korean general scared away Mongolian invaders by dressing the rock up to look like a giant soldier. This was also the last stop our driver took us to. So we headed back to the hostel after this.
Hanging out on the rocks
Walking down the path
Oedolgae
Once we had gotten back to the hostel, we headed back out to a local tourist site, Cheonjiyeon Waterfalls. We decided we wanted to go there at night after seeing pictures of it during the day and the night. The waterfall is 22m high, 12m wide, and 20m deep. It is designated as natural monument 27.
The waterfall
The next day, our last day, we wanted to relax a bit more after the long day before. Our flight was at 5:50 pm, so we had plenty of time to do something relaxing. We decided to head to the beach again. When we got there at around 11, it was very empty compared to the time before. We then realized it was Tuesday and not the holiday anymore. People are at work or school and are not on vacation. It was nice and relaxing. It was also very sunny out.
The sand was really pretty and colorful
Sandy enjoying the water
We are about to leave the beach
The trip was very fun. I went with a good group of people. I loved Jeju and happy I was able to finally go there. I hope to go there again one day. More picture can be found on my Flickr account.
