2023: January

It’s hard to fathom we are already in February! January flew by. I had 1.5 weeks of school remaining, followed by 8 English grammar camp days at my middle school, a week of holidays and vacation time to pack (ㅋㅋ), and finally the ever-exciting desk warming period.

Throughout the final 1.5 weeks of school, I was saying tearful farewells to students, and receiving lovely handwritten notes from them. One of my elementary third grade classes even sang a Korean traditional farewell song. Yes.. I cried!

Bundang + Gangnam

The first full weekend I went to visit H and her family in Bundang. They gave me a local tour of 강남 (Gangnam), the southern area of Seoul which many recognize from the K-Pop start Psy’s song “Gangnam Style”.

We visited the modern, picturesque 별마당도서관 (Byeolmadang-Doseogwan: Starfield Library), which is nestled within the COEX mall. The library holds thousands of books which tower above you on the high bookcases. It definitely feels less like a library, and more like a bookstore, as you have cafes, vendors, and shoppers in and around it. Regardless, it was an impressive site to behold, and I felt like I was in a K-Drama!

After some browsing and ice cream, we headed out to enjoy a delicious Italian dinner, with the best tiramisu I think I’ve ever eaten!

We then stopped by the 한강 (Han River) to see the glistening city’s night view. We ended our evening visiting a friend’s wine bar.

H and her family are always introducing me to new and beautiful sites (and foods!!) whenever I visit!

English Camp

I returned to Daegu, trying to mentally prepare for 8 days of 4-hour long English grammar classes for middle school students. Perhaps I was trying so hard to be mentally prepared, that I made myself sick (although I’m pretty sure it was food poisoning!). That Monday, I was out for the count. All I did was go to the doctor, get my medicine, and go home and sleep all day.

Tuesday, I finished my last school day at the elementary school. The sixth graders had their own graduation parties in their own classrooms, and other grade levels were doing their own winter break celebrations. It was a bizarre feeling, thinking how this could be the last day students are in the school, and I didn’t really get a chance to see them. A few students stopped in my office to say goodbye again. I wish I could give each student a bear hug… and convey how they will always be in my heart.

On Wednesday, the English grammar camp began (for me). The students, lower-level English, did a wonderful job staying active, even though they were in school during vital vacation time. We worked on sentence structure, verb tenses, and played as many board games as I could find in the auxiliary room. I was meant to be an aid for my co-teacher, as students really need the explanations in Korean, alas… my co-teacher was out sick for most of the English camp, and I had to improvise…for 6 days.

The final day of camp, my co-teacher (returned and recuperated from his illness) told me he had some things to handle with the students first thing, and would let me know when I should go to the classroom. I thought it odd, but didn’t want to bug him with too many questions. I sat at my desk, and finally, a student came and spoke with my co-teacher. He smiled, nodded… turned to me and said, “Okay. You can go to the classroom now!”

The students had drawn a lovely sign on the blackboard, and created a photo zone to say goodbye to me *insert cartoon sparkling puppy eyes here*. They even wrote me letters! So, we watched a movie, took pictures, and shared chips for our final camp class! It was so sweet and unexpected!

Sunshine Studio

As the month was speeding by, I only had one final weekend with my blue Chip, before I would sell the car to a friend. I decided, within 10 minutes of actually leaving, that I was going to the Sunshine Studio (선샤인스투디오).

I am, by no means, a Korean Drama (K-Drama) fanatic, but I have watched many since I decided to move to Korea. One such K-Drama was 미스터 션샤인 (Mr. Sunshine) from 2018.

A friend had suggested I watch it, but they did not prepare me for the emotional investment I would be putting in to it… The series is historical fiction, based in the late Joseon Era (1800’s to very early 1900’s) when Japan was slowly and (not so subtly) taking control of Korea. The story focuses on various Koreans, and the roles they choose to play in the Korea-Japan power struggle.

**Korea and Japan have a very long, painful history, which I will not get in to*

Like most K-Dramas, there is a love story or triangle.. but this story’s main female protagonist’s character development is filled with personal growth and her fight for societal and national freedom. She never plays a damsel in distress, and doesn’t let a love interest get in her way.

If you’re into historical fiction, people coming together to fight for independence, and don’t mind reading subtitles, you should definitely watch it! Just be forewarned… You will most likely get emotionally invested, and may not want to watch a K-Drama ever again when it’s over.

Okay,… back to Sunshine Studio, where the series was filmed…

For ₩8,000, it was really nice to walk about such familiar settings, even though it was around 25F and there were some snow flurries. I would hop in and out of the open buildings to explore what trinkets and furniture they had staged. I walked around for about an hour, grabbed a coffee in the Glory Hotel, and then headed home.

I sold Chip the following Thursday, to my friend A, who is moving to Busan with her fiancé. I can’t wait to see what adventures she will take in her new (old) wheels!

Yeosu

My final trip during January was to Yeosu, with my friend HJ. We left Daegu very early in the morning, and drove 3.5 hours southwest to arrive in the seaside city.

Our first stop was to the Arte Museum Ocean, which was a mixture of modern and classical art, digitalized and animated, projected onto walls. There were many rooms, each with a different theme, and background music. It was a maze of colors and sounds as we followed along the lit paths. I couldn’t stop taking videos of the moving art surrounding me. There were times where the movement and lights were overwhelming, but it was beautiful. This adventure cost ₩19,000.

We then walked around a small island before grabbing a simple lunch at the local market.

After lunch, we drove to our hotel took a quick nap time, and prepared for an evening of sunset-watching, and delicious dinner.

Our sunset viewing was on the Yeosu Cable Car, which carried us over the city. As the sun set, the boats and bridges lit up. My friend HJ mentioned that Yeosu is famous for it’s sea night time view. There is even a popular old song named “여수 밤바다” (Yeosu Night Sea).

After finishing the cable car journey, we went to a famous area for seafood. In our large hot pot, there was crab, shrimp, and other various fresh fish and shell fish. It was full of flavor!

We finished the night buying egg bread, that I was very excited to try. Alas… this bread (similar sweetness and texture to madeleines) had an actual boiled egg in the center, which was not something I was expecting. I quickly decided it wasn’t really my cup of tea… HJ even said it was different from egg bread she had eaten in the past.

On Sunday, we drove south to 향일암 (Hyangiram Hermitage), which overlooks the sea. Parking was an adventure, as many people had the same plan we did… but once we finally parked and left the car, we had to climb up a small village road, and many MANY stairs, to reach the entrance of the hermitage. At the entrance, we were warmly greeted with more stairs… and more climbs as we walked through the various doorways. The view was nice, to be sure, but I was exhausted.

Before leaving, we did a final climb to an scenic overlook which was a mixture of steps, and sharp rocks. We made it to the top, after what felt like an hour, but if we’d had clear blue skies, it would have been worth it!

Exhausted, we climbed down, hopped into the car, and drove back towards the city to grab lunch. After eating the best kimchi “fried rice” I’d ever had ( it was gat kimchi, and there was a smokey flavor to the meal that I loved), we made our long drive back to Daegu.

It felt strange to acknowledge this was probably our last time together before I leave for the US.

Daegu visit

My friend D and his wife MJ drove down to visit me in Daegu, the final Saturday of January. We enjoyed a nice lunch in Gachang, and then headed into the city to explore the large second-hand clothing market.

It was a lovely day, filled with good friends, food and makeolli! A perfect “until next time” to the newly weds!

The rest of January involved desk warming and finalizing travel plans for the February family trip. Stay tuned for February adventures over the next few weeks!