what's buggin me about south korea

too many koreans! haha! just kidding, the koreans are great. if anything i want more of them. no, you see, the title of this blog post wasn't simply meant to invoke curiosity in the minds of my readers ("i can't wait to find out what it is! i'm going to read this right now!"), rather, it was also a clever pun as to what is actually the source of my frustration. my enemy has a name and it is drosophila melanogaster. or, as it's more commonly known: the fruit fly.


fruit flies are one of the most commonly used insects in the study of biology, genetics and physiology because they have short life spans, breed quickly, and lay more eggs than china has people. for these same reasons they are the worst house pest ever. i feel like my tiny little hole in the korean wall is especially suited for their reproduction - it's tiny so they can cover the entire area quickly, it's full of condensation for mysterious reasons i've yet to figure out (my jeans never get dry. i have to take an iron to them to finish them off and then they smell like stale water afterwards), and the lid to my food waste is an easy-to-penetrate swing top.

i guess it's my own fault. unaware of the looming fruit fly menace, i left some rotting fruit in my food waste bin maybe a few days too long. when i went to fetch the bag to put it in (the appropriate green colored) container outside, imagine my shock and horror to find the inside crawling with little uninvited guests that immediately shot out at me for invading their feeding/breeding grounds. i spent the rest of the night in bloody combat trying to rid my room of every last one of them. and when i did i was so happy. i thought i could rest. i thought i was done with it. lesson learned.

no! at the slightest sign of weakness they strike back with a vengeance! it's like they're storming the beaches of normandy, wave after wave, throwing themselves at me. and for what? so they can poop out a bunch of babies before their 10 day life span ends? 10 days! what is the point of anything that lives 10 days with the sole purpose of breeding?

if there is a silver lining to this whole experience, and there usually always is, it's that i've become extremely proficient at using this blue inflatable tube to eliminate the never-ending hordes of fruit fries. imagine, if you will, me pacing about the room with striking similarity to the lightsaber kid of youtube fame, swinging and stabbing and thrusting a blue tube through the air at invisible pests. it is as sad as it sounds.

anyways, for anyone else who has or is worried about having the same problem, here's an easy and effective fix to the fruit fry problem (god, i sound like some sort of nazi conspirator when i put it like that):

1) drink a bottle of beer/wine/coke - something with a long neck and small opening

2) put about an inch of coke/apple juice/vinegar/some kind of sweet liquid into the bottle

3) add about 3 drops of dish soap to break up the surface tension

4) leave the bottle in a "problem area"

5) wait a few days and then look inside the bottle, which should now be a mass grave for fruit flies.

6) repeat as necessary

♫: otis redding - these arms of mine (1964)

i can't believe i haven't made an otis redding post yet. have i? i'm pretty sure "i've been loving you too long" was meant to be the inaugural music post on here but i guess it slipped through the cracks. and now look what happens! i go and choose a completely different song. how i came about chosing this song is actually kind of funny. i decided to take a nap after returning home from the lantern festival yesterday and left the tv on. when i woke up a korean movie was playing. in the particular scene, a korean man was making love to a disinterested woman who was staring blankly at the ceiling. the music that happened to be playing during this awkward love making was this song, "these arms of mine." which is weird, because this song is not at all about awkward love. it's love is passionate, a little desperate even. my favorite part is the addition of the surfer/garage rock guitar that shows up in little teases throughout. (okay so i guess thats not really ha-ha funny...)

fire on the water, bulls on parade

before i begin this post i would simply like to comment on the fact that the weather here in south korea has been just about perfect lately. a mild cool that's suitable for both t-shirt and sweater alike, depending on your mood.

as mentioned in my previous post, this weekend i went to jinju for the jinju namgang yudeung (lantern) festival. it's sort of like mardi gras in that there are a lot of floats made out of paper, but its not like mardi gras in that its not really dirty, girls aren't flashing their boobs everywhere and all the floats are actually doing what their name suggests - floating on a river. this trip was organized through my school's "singles club," which sounds slightly sexier than the reality of it. its basically just an additional reason for all the non-married people at school to get together and get drunk. its as good of a reason to start a club as any. from what i understand, most book clubs are ran this way as well.

we left immediately following school on friday and made the 3ish hour drive to jinju. it started raining about half way there and, much to my chagrin, barely let up the whole night. my camera sucks at night as is and the rain certainly didn't help, so most of my pictures ended up looking like blurry blobs of light. here's what made the cut:

this was the area right before the lantern part. it was kind of like maifest - bunch of crafts and food stalls - except there were these low hanging tarps to stop the rain, which is nice if you're a 5 ft. something korean, but anyone breaching the 72 inch mark has to lean over the whole time.

everyone wrote their wishes on the latern. there were also small, normal sized lanterns you could buy and write a message on to float down the river. more on that later.

lantern tunnel painting everything in its fiery glow. or maybe it was just a river of blood.

one of my co-teachers, ji won, striking a pose with a tiger's head and a korean soldier.

the festival commemorates when the koreans were at war with the japanese in the 1500's. korean soldiers would send lanterns down the river to send signs to their families. they were also used to make it difficult for the japanese to move during the nighttime. here are some koreans beating down on some japanese invaders.

joining the war effort.

ji won getting friendly with the waygook lantern.

these were lanterns created by students of various ages/grades.

teletubbies.

hanging out with my friendly neighborhood spider-man.

here's a video, which i think actually does a little better job of showing what the lights looked like than the pictures:

here's one of the personal wish lanterns i mentioned earlier. i would tell you the wish but then it might not come true. let's just say it had to do with a midget, a donkey, and some scented candles.

the next day we went to watch the bullfights, because, well why not? they were there. so were we.

here's kind of a boring video of a bullfight. they weren't all this lame, i just happened to take a video of one of the lame parts:

those of you about to die, we salute you! (note: no bulls actually died)

this was just outside the stadium. i thought it looked nice.

edit: i forgot to mention on sunday i was invited to a korean wedding for one of the teachers at my school. that makes two funerals and a wedding i've been to so far and its not even been two months. my head co-teacher is also pregnant so it looks like i'm going to see all the major life milestones celebrated korean style during my stay here.

korean weddings, for those interested, are quite the spectacle. a strange mix of american wedding ceremony, fashion show, laser light show with a little bit of game show thrown in. first the groom walks down a raised catwalk to the front altar type (but not really an altar) area - fist pumping is optional but our groom decided to go for it. then the bride. then there are things said in korean. all the while a man is speaking over a pa system, providing what i assumed to be color commentary on the event. everything seemed well coordinated with its own lights and music. my favorite part was during the cake cutting, which started off with some nice mood lighting and soft music, but as soon as they sank the knife into the cake it turned into some kind of 80's action movie score with crazy dancing strobe lights. afterwards everyone gathered into a large buffet style dining hall, which i think mixed parties from different weddings. the food was good though. i hear the newlyweds are off to hawaii for their honeymoon. i hope they bring me back a souvenir.

chuseok pt2: seoraksan

or, chuseok: we built this city on seorak and roll. when we last met, i had stumbled back into my seoul hostel with 2 hours of sleep between a drunken levity and the seoul crushing (haha!) sobriety that was a 5 hour hike up the side of a mountain. our story continues...

6am obviously came too soon. in a mad, hazy rush i did my best to collect my things, collect myself, and make my way to the bus terminal. the only casualty was my $7 umbrella left hanging on the rail of the bed. fortunately, the bus ride afforded me a 4 hour nap to our next destination: seoraksan national park. seoraksan is the third highest peak in south korea and, from what i understand, the second most visited. aside from hiking, the area is full of spa resorts with jimjilbangs (large, gender-segregated bath houses).

obvious statement: koreans are tiny people - in both height, bulk, frame, whatever. they're just built compactly. surprising statement: koreans are hardcore hikers. when i was thinking of a korean hiking trail, i was thinking of a nice walk through tree-lined clearings. maybe there would be a stream. birds would sing to me. sunlight would leak through the trees and pour onto a little blossoming flower. i was wrong. aside from the surprising addition of fire-escape-like staircases (read: dangerous-looking/potentially life threatening) at different points, most of the trails were huge bolders and loose rocks, stacked at steep inclines which sometimes offered poor footing. or in other words: it wasn't easy. and yet, all along the trail, as i was grunting and sweating, there would pass little old ladies with hiking sticks and even smaller children playing about like it was the gently rolling slope of a city park. korea was making fun of me. i probably deserved it.

this peak was at the entrance to the park. if you look closely you can see some cable lines going up. as part of our trip we were offered two options: the hike, or the cable ride. for some reason we chose the hike, which turned out to be a good thing because those who chose the cable ride never got to go on it due to tickets being sold out or arriving late or something. i dont know the details. i just know if life was a game then i would be up one point for having made the right decision. sorry max and chelsea.

this giant buddha seats peacefully at the park's entrance.

it really is giant.

the start of the hike wasn't too bad. pretty level. nice views.

but then...this picture doesn't give the incline justice. also those are the stairs i was talking about. there's around 800 steps. built right into the rockface. i was nervous.

this peak is called ulsanbawi. bawi means rock in korean. korean rock, paper, scissors is kawi, bawi, bo. koreans play it whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. i did not see anyone playing kawi, bawi, bo on top of ulsanbawi, however. here's the story of how ulsanbawi got it's name:

ulsanbawi came from the city of ulsan, in the southeast region of korea. as kamgangsan was built, ulsanbawi walked north as a representative of the city. by the time it got there, however, there was no more room left for it to stay. sad and ashamed, ulsanbawi began it's long trip back home. one evening it decided to stop and rest in the seorak area. when it awoke the next morning it was so captivated by the beauty of seoraksan, it decided to stay there forever. the end.

view from the top. that's the east sea in the distance.



this was the steepest part. again, it doesn't look that steep and you'll notice the little girl walking down like its no big deal (little brat), but the guy in the foreground is double-handing that rail with good reason.

i was having a blair witch moment. this is how scared i was.

after reaching safe ground we had some time to kill so we stopped by this little temple.

and everyone fell asleep. i'm not sure, but i'm guessing that using holy ground as your own personal bed is not a good way to be cultural representatives.

i guess i'm sitting on a rock? why am i showing this picture? later that night we ended up trying out the jimjilbang that was close to our hotel. there was one in our hotel that was free but it was a little ghetto and we didn't mind paying the 6000won to relax in style. the hotel in general was a little bit ghetto. before arriving we had talked with one of the adventure korea coordinators about getting a 6 person room. unfortunately, what we did not know is that the 6 person room was basically a large empty space with paper thin mats in the closet for sleeping on. was. not. comfortable. but the jimjilbang was. so i guess the one thing to know about jimjilbangs is, as previously mentioned, gender-segregated. they do this because everyone gets naked and then climbs into baths together. now i'm not the most uninhibited person you'll ever meet (especially when you're going in with a british guy with the build of a soccer player), but after hiking for 5 hours (on 2 hours of sleep), i was ready to show a little skin in exchange for a little r n' r. and it was totally worth it. especially the outdoor hot spring. and the sauna that looked like a giant kiln with a little door you had to crawl through to enter.

the next day we had two choices: an even harder 11 hour hike or a nice day at the beach. which is a little like saying you can either stick your hand in these burning hot coals or have an ice cream sandwich. it's not really a choice so much as it is a rhetorical question. naksan beach was about half an hour away from our hotel. our tour guides told us it was one of the nicest beaches in south korea which i'm hoping is not entirely true. it's a nice beach and the weather was even pleasant enough for us to go swimming, but it was almost as trashy as coney island (in brooklyn, not cincinnati).

we started off with lunch. at first we were a little startled by the price - 80,000 won for a four person full service meal (so around 20,000 a person). but then we got the food. and kept getting more food. and more food. a four person meal can feed a modestly hungry party of eight. lesson learned. it was delicious though.

this is documenting a stupid bet connie made with francoise. she told him if he would eat that tiny bit of wasabi she would buy him drinks for an entire night. he of course ate the wasabi.


batman, a coca-cola and thomas pynchon on the beach. a winning combination?

max and francoise out for a dip. later on a police officer informed us swimming was not allowed as there was no life guard on duty. whoopsie daisy. after a bit we decided to rent some mini-bikes (like child-sized; comically small) and cruise the streets. i have no picture of this. nor do i have a picture of the awesome high-five between max and myself while riding in opposite directions. but i assure you, both of these things did happen.

there was a temple nearby so we slowly made our way up the hill, taking advantage of the photo opportunities the view offered.



that man is farting on me.

views from the top. really ugly country. just terrible. who could live here?

i'm not actually sure what this is a statue of...we were running out of time before the bus picked us up so we just sped through the temple. it sure is impressive though.

the other side of the beach.

on our last day we had another hike - this one supposedly easier than the first. it may have been shorter but i don't know if i would call it easier. the terrain was even rockier and it was a constant climb straight up the hillside. not so many small women and children this time around. of the two hikes i will say this one was my favorite.

this waterfall is named after a woman's bodypart. i will let your imagination fill in the blanks.

the view from the top. it was about a 10 minute extra hike from where our group stopped. you can see them through the trees in the picture below.



this rock formation is named after a man's bodypart. i'll let your imagination fill in the blanks.



there were several waterfalls but this was the nicest. we were not allowed to go into the waters however. there was a 500,000won fine for anyone who dared try.





there was another small temple at the end of the trail where we stopped to rest. after getting back we had about an hour to pack our things and leave for seoul. before leaving they made a big hurrah about the people who did all 3 big hikes - took their picture, gave them t-shirts. the rest of us got to sit and watch. i'm all for observing accomplishments but at least take a group picture? make everyone feel included? i'm no tour leader, so maybe exclusion is the best policy. afterwards we all loaded up, took the 4 hour trip back to seoul, hopped on the ktx and arrived in daegu around 7:30pm.

overall, i would say the trip was a success. the sights were really phenomenal and i'm pretty sure everyone had a lot of fun. was it worth the 141,000won (my mistake, i only paid 140,000 of that - and you'll never see that extra 1,000 - suckers)? yeah probably, but i also feel it was a bit over-priced. our accommodations couldn't have cost more than 10,000 for the 6 of us, only 2 of our meals were paid for, and we didn't get any sort of care package from them. so where'd it all go? the bus? the expert guidance? who knows.

this coming weekend i will be going to the jinju namgang yudeung (latern) festival and the weekend after that is the busan fireworks festival. big things are happening. big things.