Winter to Spring in South Korea

Now seems a good a time as any to update you on these last four months. So let's jump right in.

Christmas evening saw snow in Seongnam but we were so fueled up on soju that it is barely remembered. The celebrations were very unusual this year and this was to be expected. Christmas is not largely celebrated in Korea and, in fact, we only had Christmas Day off from work. This was enough though as my friends and I were not really in the celebratory mood what with us being so far away from family.

 

  

Not that our Korean students understood. In Korea, Christmas is a day that is spent celebrating with your better other half and not with your family. The joke goes that if you are single (or "solo" as the students would put it) over Christmas then you will spend the day alone with Kevin from the movie Home Alone.

So my Christmas was enjoyed with some great friends doing the usual Christmas traditions that we are used to, such as drinking, eating, watching movies and playing games. This was coupled with some more unfamiliar Christmas events such as eating chimaek (fried chicken and beer), drinking soju and going to a noraebang (karaoke) as the early hours of Boxing Day had arrived.

The Korean winter is brutal. January regularly saw temperatures of -13C at 1pm and as low as -22C at night. My apartment is simply not equipped to deal with these sort of temperatures. The only heater I have in my room is on the ceiling and, as heat rises, it is pretty much completely pointless unless you are directly below it.

It was so cold at night that I would wear two t-shirts, a hoodie, two pairs of pajama bottoms and socks to bed. I'd then curl into a ball, pull the quilt over my head and try to sleep until morning. 

 Vietnam was a blast and much warmer than Korea. Although it was still only February, Hanoi was seeing temperatures of 20C and this was a very welcome sight for me and my friends in Korea. We headed to Vietnam for the Lunar New Year and spent four very enjoyable days in the south east Asian country. Hanoi was our base and this city was so much better than I expected. Anyone who has been to Hanoi will tell you about the mopeds and I am no different. The shear number of mopeds whizzing down narrows streets was enough to get the heart racing. Just crossing an Hanoi street got the adrenaline pumping almost as much as the bungee jump did.

Ha Long Bay

The food and drink was also fantastic. Pho noodles were sublime and the fried rice dishes we tried were also very delicious. The beer was cheap and tasty and I even enjoyed their coffee, despite not being a big coffee drinker.  Vietnam cuisine gets the big thumbs up.

Waking up to this

During our short stay in the country, we made a two day trip to Ha Long Bay. This was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of new people. During the tour we stayed on our own private island, waking up in a bungalow with a view of the sandy beach and blue sea. The highlight had to be the kayaking though. Kayaking through the caves and rocks of Ha Long Bay is something that I will never forget.

Kayaking through Ha Long Bay

Just last week we went to the Jindo Sea Parting and visited the Green Tea Fields in Boseong. The Jindo Sea Parting happens when a small section of the East China Sea parts and splits apart from each other. This then leaves a very sandy and very wet path, through the sea, that joins two separate islands. It's a fascinating phenomena, all thanks to the moon, and it was a lot of fun to experience.

The next day we visited the Green Tea Fields. This was also a lot of fun. We could explore the fields and bamboo forests at our leisure and some of the scenery was very spectacular. It was green tea everything there! We had green tea bread, green tea ice cream, green tea smoothie, green tea rice and, of course, green tea tea! There was also an opportunity to learn how to serve tea, Korean style! The process was far more complicated than slapping on the kettle and putting your feet up with a few chocolate digestives in front of Jeremy Kyle. In Korea, they sit on the floor and the whole serving process is done by following strict rules and etiquette based on politeness. It was very interesting to see how different the Korean tea making culture is from back home.

Bamboo forest

Cherry blossoms

Some more cherry blossoms

Korean green tea serving

Green tea fields

So they are just a few highlights from the last four months. I could write more but I will run out of time and bore you silly. Plus, some things are best to just keep in the old head anyway.

Over the weekend, I'll hit you with another post summarizing my thoughts on Korean culture and teaching. As my final month in Korea approaches, I want to get my thoughts out while I am still embedded in the experience. So, until then, annyeong!