The 12th Boryeong Mud Festival

This past weekend, I got to attend the Boryeong Mud Festival down in Daecheon Beach. It was kind of weird to see so many foreigners. But the whole experience was a lot of fun. I did participate in some traditional Korean wrestling called 씨름. Here is what you do.

You both start out on your knees and grab the other person by their belt. (In our case, we just grabbed their shorts by the waist.) You both stand up and begin wrestling. The object is to get the opponent on the ground. I wrestled this one Korean who apparently is some sort of amateur boxer and won! Then, his friend who was a little bigger than me asked if we could wrestle. I said yes and well, he won. After he beat me, he hugged me and said, "It's okay, you are still handsome."

After playing in this tub of mud, we got out and walked around. My friends and I walked to the beach and jumped into the ocean. I was surprised that is wasn't too cold. The wind was blowing pretty hard and made things quite cold, but the ocean was actually a decent temperature. Then, we met up with the others and had some lunch. I am not sure the name of the place because I did not have my glasses on. But it was decent food. Once we were all full, we decided to get muddy again. This time, we got into what they call the "Mud Jail." Here, you stand in this "jail cell" and people sling mud at you. I then hugged my friend, 유정 who no longer had mud on her.

All in all, it was a great time. A good chance to ignore all those times when we were children and told not to play in mud. If you are in Korea around July next year, this is one event you should check out.

My Trip to Japan (Anime in Real Life)

Recently, I had a few days off and decided to travel to another country. I looked up flights, ordered the cheapest tickets I could find, and reserved a room in a tiny hotel.

My journey began around 5 AM where I woke up and got dressed. I hoped on a bus and headed to the Incheon Airport. From there, I let the pilots take over and was flown to Narita, Japan. On the flight over, I sat by a Korean couple and we didn't really talk to each other. We did have a moment of laughing together when we found out we could move our tray (after we had finished eating.) We landed a couple hours later and I headed towards the subway. I boarded and sat down. A few moments later the couple I sat with on the plane walked in. The husband and I saw each other and both stood up. I did a small bow while saying, "안녕하세요" meaning hello. We both moved toward each other and sat down. On the hour and a half ride we communicated with a mix of broken English and Korean. He asked what I did and why I was in Korea. I found out that he was a traditional doctor and just liked to go to Japan to watch a Korean baseball player. Oh and he enjoyed the onsen. We arrived at Ueno and exited the subway station.

I walked to my hotel, which I had to ask for directions because I apparently didn't go out the right exit.

Side-note: If you have to ask for directions in Japan, know that you will probably here something to the effect of, "Go straight and then take a right."

Anyway, I got to my hotel and checked in. I was suppose to meet a friend at 4 and had a few hours to waste. I decided to walk around the neighborhood and see what was around. At 4 my friend showed up and left to see some of the tourist spots.

Our first spot was Asakusa. Here there is a beautiful temple and people selling all sorts of traditional Japanese items. I was taught the proper ways of doing things inside the temple. The whole experience was interesting. After the temple, we headed for Rainbow Bridge. Here you can see a bridge that connects a small island to the rest of Japan. At night, the bridge lights up, hence the name, Rainbow Bridge. This is also where you can see a smaller version of the Statue of Liberty. Still not quite sure why this is there.

On Sunday, I walked around Harajuku, Shinjuku, and Shibuya. These places are famous for the way kids dress. If you have ever read or watched any anime, you will have some idea of how they looked. If you haven't read or seen any anime, look it up. The images you see will be very similar to what is in these cities. To be honest, it is a little weird to see people looking exactly like a comic book or cartoon. But you would even see business men with crazy hairdos. All and all, it was very interesting.

On Tuesday, I walked around the Imperial Palace before my flight. The photo above is the actual palace which no one is allowed inside. From here, you have to walk a nice little distance to enter the East Garden.

This photo is on my way to the East Garden. The Imperial Palace is surrounded by beautiful green grass and assortment of trees. And just beyond the grass and trees are skyscrapers and cranes.

This is an image I took at the Edo-Tokyo Museum. I am not sure why, but I really like the miniatures in some of the museums I have seen in Korea and Japan. This was showing the westernization of Japan.

This is a famous street in Harajuku. Here, you can hear people yelling (with boys and girls sounding strangely similar.) to come see the sales they have at the moment. I didn't spend too much time here. The main reason was to get away from the voices, haha.

I wanted to save this part for last. This was the highlight of my trip. I was introduced to a friend who got us tickets to the Ghibli Museum. Here are some facts about Ghibli Studios if you have never heard of it. Ghibli Studios was founded by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. They have made such films as "Howl's Moving Castle," "Princess Mononoke," "Spirited Away," as well as many more great films. The animation tell great stories so people of all ages can enjoy. If you haven't seen any of these films, I would recommend you to watch one or all. You won't be disappointed.

Well, they decided to create a museum with Hayao Miyazaki involved in the whole process. I guess I was a bit impressed. I spent over 3 hours in the museum and had no clue. To get here, we had to take a subway to Mitaka. We left the subway and got on the bus you see below. This bus took us directly to the museum.

This is the robot soldier you see in "Castle in the Sky." It stands at the top of the museum in a garden. When you are in the museum, you are able to walk up some stairs and up to this spot. Just around the corner, you will find the Keystone, another character in the film.

They have even made faucets in the shape of a cat. The whole place was like this. Everything was very unique. A lot of thought went into the making of it. They wanted different themes throughout the museum. I believe they really captured the inner child in everyone.

A miniature "Moving Castle." This is seen as you walk into the museum.

This is the front of the museum. You can also see a stairwell that leads up to the robot soldier. (I had to duck the whole time walking up these stairs.)

I am not sure how to really describe the museum. I spent a lot of time in one room watching a three-dimensional zoetrope called, "Bouncing Totoro." In the same room with "Bouncing Totoro," they have a set of "Panorama Boxes." Each box contains 7-10 painted glass panels that are placed in rows from front to back. They have added some lights to create depth in the photos. You also get a chance to see one of a few short films that are only shown at the museum. Words can't really describe the museum. If you are ever in Japan, I think this is one exhibit you should not miss.

A Small Update

Last weekend I was given a few days off and decided to spend them in Japan. I was there from Sat. June 27th - Tuesday, June 30th. I am currently working on the photos that were taken while touring around Japan. Some photos have just been posted on my flickr site which can be seen here. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jbland/

I will be writing about my trip to Japan and just wanted to keep everyone updated. Sorry, this isn't the actual blog about the trip. That is to come soon.

A Korean Church

This past week, I was invited to my friend 창선's church. I accepted and went. The church was inside a building next to some retail stores and restaurants. We walked into a hallway and to an elevator. My friend punched the number 7 and we began upwards. At this moment, I didn't really know what to expect. I was a little nervous. I was going to be the only foreigner.

We walked out of the elevator and walked over to some of his friends. We introduced ourselves in some Korean and some English. It seems most of the conversations that would occur would be in both languages as I only speak a little Korean. Sometimes, a person would find out I spoke a little Korean and would begin to speak to me as if I was going to know everything they said. It usually ends with me saying I don't know in Korean.

At this point, I am beginning to expect a very traditional church. I thought the worship would be old hymns or something to that effect. After a short time of meeting new people, we went into the sanctuary. They began to practice for the service. Boy was I in for a surprise. The worship was not that of a traditional Korean church. Then, the service started. Everyone began singing, including me. I didn't know what I was singing nor do I know if it was correct. I was simply following along the words and trying to do my best.

The funny thing is, I could feel God. I wasn't worshiping in English, but in a language I didn't know very well. But God knew my heart. He understood the words. And He thought it was beautiful.

After the service, they asked everyone to come closer. My friend and I moved a little closer and after one person speaking, they asked me to come up in introduce myself. I was not prepared for this. I was extremely nervous and I am quite sure my face turned bright red. I said, "안녕하세요. 제 이름은 자니입니다." Which means, "Hello, my name is Johnny." Then my friend took the mic. and told what he knew about me.

Afterwards, his parents invited me over to their house. They greeted me and made me some plume tea. At least, that is what I think it was. We spent a few minutes at the house before we left to go have dinner. They took us to a restaurant that served mainly fish. The fish was good, but too many bones.

This was a good day. I enjoyed the people I encountered and hope to spend more time with them.

거제도 Part III (외도)

We woke up around 6 in the morning to a phone call from 사장님 saying we needed to be ready to leave by 7. We all got up and began to get ready for the day. We made sandwiches once again to take with us. Around 7, we walked out our door and met up with my 선생님(teacher). We walked down stairs and packed into a car.

We rode to a harbor where we would take a ferry to our destination. Today, we would be seeing 외도(Oedo Island). This place is a private owned island with many flowers, trees, and statues. Needless to say, it was beautiful. But before we get to 외도, we have to talk about the ferry ride there.

We were all lined up to board a boat. As we boarded, we were each given a tag that is suppose to be able identify us for when we leave the island. All but 정길 got one. They told him children didn't need one. (He eventually got his right before we got to the island.) Anyway, we had our laughs and headed on our way. While we were on the ferry, a man was telling everyone about what we were doing. He also asked people to clap and if you clapped, you were suppose to live a good life. He made jokes the entire ride, none of which I could understand. My friends were laughing, so I take it he was funny. On the way to the island, we came across a rock formation in the middle of the sea. At one point our ferry went into a crack in this "mountain" and then backed out. I must say he was a good driver to get us in and out of there without hitting anything. We circled the rock and headed for 외도.

I am not sure how to really describe this place. All I can say is that it was really beautiful. At one point you get to this look-out cliff and can see the ocean with mountains in the background almost hidden in the fog. The only bad part of this trip was that we only had an hour to walk around the whole island. I do not think an hour is long enough to really experience 외도. We walked through the first part slow, taking our time to try and take it all in. Then, we realized what time it was and sort of rushed through the last part of it.

We boarded the ferry once again and headed for the port. We got off the boat and decided to climb a mountain nearby. I think if we knew how much walking we would have to do, we might have thought twice about it. On the way up 선생님, her friend, and I played 가위 바위 보 (rock, scissors, paper) to see how many steps you could take. The first one at the top, won. Well, I won. As we were walking up, a person told us there was nothing at the top and not worth it. We decided to continue up and got to the first look-out point. We asked if the next one was far and were told that is wasn't. They also said it was much better than where we were. So, we all decided to head up. We got there and it was quite the view. We were surrounded by the sea with mountains out in the distance. I think one of the things I like most about Korea is that almost everywhere you look, you will see mountains in the distance. We rested, took some photos and made our descent.

When we got to the bottom, 정길 and I decided to go climbing on the cliffs. On one side, I saw a man take a starfish out of the water. I am still curious what he wanted to do with the starfish. We climbed around and decided to eat our sandwiches on the side of one of the cliffs. We could feel the ocean breeze as the waves would crash next to the rocks. While we were sitting there, we noticed two girls who we thought were on the bus the day before. We asked them to take a photo of us and then asked if they were on the bus. They were. We saw our friends waiting for us and decided to go. When we got to our friends we told them who the girls were and they insisted we go talk to them more. So, we did. Apparently, the whole thing was quite funny to watch. 정길 thought they were from 서울(Seoul) but turned out to be from 부산(Busan). He was pretty shocked because people from there tend to have a different accent but these girls did not. After a few minutes, we said our goodbyes and left.

We decided to walk to another rock beach. This beach was extremely small. To be honest, I am not sure you could even call it a beach. Well, after walking up hills, we finally made it. We sat down on some rocks and decided to rest. The place was quite peaceful. You could hear the sound of the water rushing up against the rocks. After a little bit of sitting there, we decided to head back to our pension. When we got back, we realized we were pretty exhausted from the day. 정길 and I ended up falling asleep and waking up around 7 or so. We walked downstairs and cooked our dinner. We met up with my 선생님 and began eating. We took a few photos with 사장님 and then headed to our rooms.

The next morning we woke up and got ready to leave. We said our goodbyes to the owner and got into a taxi. We arrived at the bus station and headed back to 분당. This trip was a lot of fun. This experience has made me want to see more of Korea and work harder at learning the language. I look forward to seeing more places and writing about them as I do.

거제도 Part II (Journey to the Abandoned Park)

Before we went to sleep the night before, we all decided to wake up to see the sun rise. Well, around 5:30 in the morning, the alarm went off and was turned off just as quick. I simply rolled over and thought there was no way I was going to get out of bed. We were all pretty exhausted from the day before, so I decided to just sleep in. Good thing too. My friend Amy said she got up and went to watch the sun rise. Apparently it began to rain and was too foggy to see anything anyway. I guess you can say I was happy with my decision to not get up at 5:30 in the morning.

Around 8 am, I woke up and began to get ready for the day. Everyone else was still asleep until 9 or so when the TV turned itself on. 정길 and Amy woke up and began to get ready. We made sandwiches for lunch so we wouldn't have to spend money while we were out. We decided to head north along the coast. We got on a bus and began our 40 minute ride to a small flower garden with a few statues and what not. While we were there, my friend 정길 began talking to a family. They were telling us a few places we should go.

I, however already knew where I wanted to go. I wanted to visit the abandoned amusement park in 옥포 (Okpo). 정길 asked about this but they said it had been completely demolished. They were also very curious why we would want to visit an abandoned amusement park. Even 정길 was curious why. We decided to head to 옥포 and see if the park was still there.

After a short bus ride to 옥포 we had to climb this amazingly tall hill. We finally reached the top (and not knowing if we had just climbed for nothing) and saw the gate to the park. We moved back some of the barbed wire and made our way through it.

Side-note: The park was at one point owned by a corrupt business man. When 2 children died, the park was closed. The man ran off and never paid the family for any damages.

We walked around the park, climbed onto some of the coasters, and were able to take a few photos. It is kind of a shame the park ended the way it did. From the top, there was a nice view of the mountain leading into the sea. You could also see 옥포 shipyard. I think the park is going to be turned into an apartment building for the shipyard. While we were in the park 정길 looked at me and said he now understood why we wanted to visit that place. I tried to explain before we got there, but he along with so many other Koreans, just did not understand.

After the park, we went to another hill to sit on a pagoda, or at least that is what it reminded me of. We ate some food and just relaxed for a bit. We talked to another family with a really cute kid and headed back to the bus stop. We got on the bus and headed back to our pension. On the way there, we saw a beach and decided to get off. I am glad we did, because this was the only time we got to see the sunset. We stood on the beach and watched the sun go down behind some mountains. While we were standing there, 사장님 (means owner) called us to make sure we were okay. He then informed us there were no more buses coming our way but that he would be happy to come pick us up and take us home.

He arrived in somewhat of a small car and took us home. When we arrived to our room, we decided to make some 호떡 (hotteok) which is a kind of Korean pancake with a cinnamon filling. I think you can put whatever you would like in it. After they were done, we gave some to 사장님 and my Korean teacher who arrived while we were out. After the 호떡 we decided to go to bed, because we had to wake up around 6 the next morning.

More on that in the next chapter.

My Trip to 거제도 Part 1

This past weekend I went to an island off Korea called 거제도(Geoje Island). I am not even sure where to begin with this blog. The place was amazing.

Well, Friday night after work, I met with my friend 정길 and my new friend Amy. My co-worker Simon gave us a ride to Nambu Station where we would take a bus to 거제도. We thought the bus ride was going to be about 5 hours and ended up only being about 4 hours. So, we arrived at our destination a bit earlier than expected. When we got to the island, it was about 4:30 in the morning and we had some time to kill. We went to a PC room to check on a few things before we started to venture around the island. We tried to find a coffee shop to waste some time, but nothing was open. We decided to take our luggage to the pension and leave it with the owner. None of us wanted to carry around our heavy bags.

By the time we were able to check into the pension, we were all pretty beat. We bought some groceries for the weekend and headed to the pension, which was about a 40 minute cab ride. This cab ride only cost us 20,000 won. We checked into the pension, took a nap, and then cooked our dinner. I was able to introduce grilled chicken to the pension's owner. He liked it, so 정길 told him how I prepared it to be cooked. After dinner, we went back to our room and went to sleep for the night.

(In fear of making one really long post that people would get bored reading, I am going to post about my trip to 거제도 in separate parts. The next part will be posted soon. Hopefully along with photos in each post. Maybe a video too.)