Jay's first comic!

We're hoping that this will be the first of many, but here's a short comic that Jay wrote... It illustrates (haha, a pun) our situation  here quite well.

Flu season and Hagwon prioritiesIlsan, South Korea

It’s cold. It’s very, very cold. Below freezing temperatures, an exhausting work schedule (I - Jessie - had an extra two classes daily because it’s winter “vacation” and that’s what they do here), and a general bout of sicknesses among our children culminate in... the flu.

By “the flu”, I of course mean crippling fatigue, fever, nausea, dizziness, coughing, and misery. All of which is contagious, as Jay was hit with all of these symptoms a mere two days after I first collapsed into my pillow after work on Friday. Come Monday morning, however, I was up at 9 to teach her intensive classes. Sure, it took all my willpower to move my feet down the street to work, and sure, I may have been dizzy, coughing, and very contagious, but the class must go on. Jay and I taught. Without interruption. We simply donned lovely white masks for the first few days to try to prevent our coworkers and 80+ kids from getting sick. Why did we work through it? Was it loyalty to the company? Hell no. Dedication to our students? I don’t think so. Masochism? Possibly a remnant It’s-in-your-mind-so-push-through-it mentality in my case, courtesy of Pio Swimming, but no.

We went to school and worked because we had no real choice in the matter. Our school (and all other Hagwons for that matter) operate under the general idea that you should load up your teachers’ schedules to make them as full as possible, and never expect any sick days. So, if one person is deathly ill, the manager will grudgingly come in and take over his/her classes (after dragging the poor, probably dying teacher to the hospital to make sure he/she is really miserable). If two are sick, as in our case, there’s not a lot they can do short of passing the classes on to other (already overworked) teachers. We realized this and considered that, given the fact that we could technically walk to the hospital, we probably would not be seen as sufficiently sick to warrant such a hassle, so we told the bile to stay put and went to class.

A week later, we’re both feeling much better, but it’s frustrating to have to teach all day when you can barely stand up. Knowing that a system exists (substitute teachers), but that Hagwons don’t like to think in realistic terms simply drives home the fact that we cannot do this for very long. Even extending our contract for a short time may be implausible without many vacations or (any) sick days. We’ll see how we feel in a few months.

Other than that, things are going well. We are enjoying our classes, exploring more of Korea, and enjoying the little free time we have for our own pursuits (Jay is practicing the bass guitar; I’m trying to learn Korean) and exploring Korean cuisine.

Buddhist Temple StayNaesosa Temple and Byeonsan National Park, South Korea

Our excursion to Naesosa Temple, a Buddhist residence in Byeonsan National Park, started with a visit to Chaeseokgang, a coastal park known for its unusual rock formations. We walked along the coast for a while and then explored the town - it primarily featured traditional seafood restaurants and hotels, but we also stumbled upon a mini-theme park with a few rides. The locals got a kick out of seeing the funny-looking waegukin (foreigners), and Jay enjoyed the chance to talk with people were so intrigued by us, even if it was just idle chatter as we were warming up next to a small firepit.

We then made our way into the mountains of Byeonsan National Park. We approached the temple through a path lined in (among others) pine trees, which smelled amazing. We then had a bit of time to explore the beautiful temple grounds before settling in.

After we'd had the chance to explore we were given clothes to wear - large pink-ish jackets and beige pants in the style of the monks outfits (we assume the lowest-ranking ones), but not the same colors as the traditional attire. Layering was not a problem, as these clothes were large enough to fit over whatever we were wearing (legging, jeans, 2 sweaters, a jacket). Once we were all dressed, we put away our bags and were told about the temple rules courtesy of a local translator : eat everything on our plates, clean our own dishes, bow if we cross paths with a monk, walk with your hands placed upon one another in front of you (not behind, and no pockets), and other "be respectful" things. We were taught how to properly bow in ceremonies (a full 9-step maneuver reminiscent of yoga salutations to the sun, but much simpler) and ate dinner. One of the rules was "silence while eating", so everyone was either awkwardly glancing at each other, or simply looking at the food and eating in silence. Afterwards, as we went outside to wash our dishes in the 3 buckets of cold water, we discussed our impressions - I found it peaceful and felt that the silence allowed me to concentrate more fully on my meal, but Jay states that it was how he imagined a first night in prison might be like. Silence seemed to have distressed the majority of our companions, one of which bursted out with "Oh my god, weren't you all just dying to talk in there?" once she'd cleared the dining hall's doorway.

We then attended an evening of devotional chanting (yebul) in the main hall. It was beautiful - an intricately carved wooden building with an amazingly detailed roof, paintings on the walls, a giant bell in one corner, and a giant platform in the center with 3 gold statues of Buddha - the primary Buddha and 2 bodhivistas of wisdom and compassion. These statues were backed by an incredible painting of Buddha, complimenting the others on the wall. We entered through the side door (as the main door is for the monks only), half-bowed to the Buddhas, and walked along the wall, behind the statues, to pick up cushions to sit on. We then continued around to the other side of the statues and sat in the main area, leaving space in the center for the monks (2-3) to enter and sit. Candles were lit, incense was burning, and it was beautiful.

A monk soon came in and made his way to the giant bell in the upper left corner of the room, where he kneeled and began singing, occasionally chiming the bell. Another monk came in and stopped before the statues. He sang as well and we mimicked his movements - many full bows and half bows and more full bows - and then we stood, praying, while the monks sang in harmony. The song was absolutely beautiful. They sang for perhaps 5-8 minutes, then we all bowed more and departed in silence.

We able to learn more about the bowing after we got back to our "dorm" - one of the monks came to explain some of the ideas of Buddhism and answer questions through the translator, himself a Buddhist-in-training. He/they explained that Buddha is not considered a god and the practice of bowing is not so much in reverence as it is an act of humbling ourselves. Additionally, Korean Buddhism has a strong emphasis on wishes (or prayer, perhaps), which is apparently not as emphasized in other strains of the philosophy. There is an idea that if you bow (fully, the whole 9-steps) 10,000 times, whatever wish you focus on will come true. When asked whether Buddha himself grants the wish, the monk replied that Buddha guides you through the process at first (as given form through the first 5,000 bows or so), but after that you are more empowered to help yourself and it is you yourself that provides the strength to fulfill your wish. The exact answers were not always clear, as our translator’s English was not perfect, but it was an interesting experience nonetheless.

After the question and answer period, the monk led us in a short meditation before he left. We then made lotus lanterns before going to bed early in order to survive the 3:30 wake-up the next morning. After we woke up for the very pre-dawn yebul the next day, we were not as confused about the ceremony, but we were significantly more sleep deprived than we had been the night before. Regardless, it was still a beautiful and slightly haunting ceremony.

Next, we had another short meditation before a monastic meal ceremony for breakfast. We cleaned our dishes and had some free time for about an hour (I napped). Our next activity was to make prayer bead strands: 108 sandalwood beads, which we were to string into a necklace. Monks who do this must bow for every bead they place, concentrating on a wish they want fulfilled. However, as we were newbies and we didn’t have all day (our hike was scheduled to start in less than two hours), we were instructed to bow only once for every five beads. Maybe this means only one fifth of our wish comes true - I’m not sure about the specifics. I enjoyed the exercise, as the smell of the beads was wonderful and the room was very quiet. Jay, on the other hand, had a bunch of particularly difficult beads that had very small or only partially made holes in them. So, in an oh-so-Buddhist-fashion, he took a pocket knife out and spent most of his time jabbing the beads into submission until he learned to burn the string into a needle-like tip for easier threading.

When we had all finished our bows and beading, we left for the nearby national park to enjoy a stroll through the beautiful mountains and lakes. We got a few strange looks from other hikers, as we were still in our highly flattering monastic outfits, but the walk was nice and the sights were lovely. When we returned to the temple, we had a short lunch, packed, and cleaned out our rooms before heading back towards Seoul. It was a very interesting and lovely weekend and, although neither of us are willing to become monks any time soon, we enjoyed the experience.

Seoraksan National Park, South Korea

Seoraksan National Park is a beautiful mountain range in Eastern South Korea. Our bus ride took about 5 hours to reach it. Once we arrived in the general area, the traffic became horrible, as many people had flocked to the park to get out of the city for the weekend. We arrived in the afternoon and walked to the park entrance, as it was faster than sitting in traffic. We passed a huge statue of Buddha, some beautiful trees, and split up. A few people took the cable car to a waterfall hike, but most of us (including Jay and myself) took the Ulsanbawi rock course.

This hike was not steep at first and led us up along a river to a huge rock that can be wobbled if pushed (this was easy to recognize due to the large crowd of people lining up to push it). This area was strange in that suddenly there was a large group of people, places to sit, and a small store selling food and souvenirs. We watched the rock-pushing for a while longer and then continued on towards Ulsanbawi.

From here the trail got steep, with hundreds and hundreds of steps (some rock, some steel, some so vertical that we were really climbing ladders). It was very cold and windy and it got colder as every bit of progress we made took us a little bit more out of the rock's shelter from the wind.

We finally made it to the top and admired the gorgeous view while attempting not to be toppled by the wind. The rock formation was beautiful and, although we've seen similar formations on other mountains in Korea, it still stuns us with how very different it is from mountains in other parts of the world.

We made our way down quickly, pausing only for freshly baked waffles filled with honey near the wobble-rock, and soon made it to the bottom - just as it become too dark to see where we were going.

Once everyone had returned, we took a short bus ride to our hotel for the night and set out to find dinner. Jay and I went to a traditional Korean restaurant where he had bulgogi and I had duenchang jjigae. We went to sleep, ready for another hike the next day.

In the morning, we were cold but surprisingly not in any pain. Apparently going hiking every weekend, rather than destroying our knees actually gets our bodies into a mildly decent state of fitness. Hurray! Either way, the hike for the second day was much easier than the Ulsanbawi course. We walked along a rocky river for a while, enjoying the trees (just losing the last of their fall leaves), the water and the rocks, not to mention the crisp, fresh air.

The end of the walk was not as impressive as Ulsanbawi, but it was relaxing; a short waterfall over rocks and some small pools of water. Some people stopped to have a snack, others turned back to explore unknown parts of the park before lunch, and some (including us) took pictures until our hands were numb. We then headed back for lunch before getting back on the road for a long bus ride back to Seoul.

An alternate realityGeumgangsan, North Korea

Our trip to North Korea was a surreal event. As we passed into the DMZ, we had to hand over our cellphones and were not allowed to take pictures while the bus was driving. When the bus reached the 38th parallel, the actual divide within the DMZ, we left our cellphones and the bus behind, taking all of our things with us through immigration where they inspected our passports and cameras before letting us pass through and board a new bus. We were officially out of South Korea as our passports stated, but we were not officially in North Korea. We would be simply gone until we reappeared in South Korea and got our passports re-stamped. Perhaps this is a method of preventing difficulties for western travelers whose home countries are not on good terms with North Korea, but I have to say, even US officials would probably be able to figure out that a two day sojourn from South Korea with no location in the meanwhile is not physically possible. Oh well. Now we were in North Korea, if officially nowhere. We boarded the new bus, and were informed that we must never take pictures or even look at our cameras while the bus was moving because North Korean guards were placed along the roadside with a flag in one hand and a very big gun in the other. If they saw someone take a picture, they would board the bus and confiscate the camera. Also, for fear of heavy fines, we were cautioned to be careful not to provoke the soldiers in any way, such as pointing from the bus. When there is a man in an army uniform with a gun pointed at your bus, you do as your told.

We passed through the DMZ, observing the beautiful scenery. Aside from the occasional tank and the still-posted sign stating: "Number one enemy: USA", the DMZ is a very beautiful place. Having been allowed years to flourish without human presence, the area has become a wildlife refuge, full of vegetation and quite beautiful in contrast to the tanks and checkpoints.

Eventually we reached the main square near Geumgang Mountain: A tourist hub with restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, and an acrobatic theater. We slept and ate in this area and took designated shuttles to other places: the beach, various hikes in the mountains, hot springs, etc., but we were not allowed to leave the square on our own, or a North Korean soldier would follow us (gun included) and politely suggest that we return.

We went on two hikes in the mountains - the first was a trek through a very steep area with many impressive jagged cliffs rising above us, and the second was an easier climb to a waterfall and then to a high peak over looking a series of blue-green lakes below. Both hikes were beautiful and strikingly quiet - the lack of cellphones, plus the enforced rule that people come on shuttles led to hikes on which, if anyone was nearby, it was most likely a large group that would either pass you or you could pass them and then you were alone again.

The hiking was beautiful and the trip was amazing, but it perhaps raised more questions than it answered - what is the life of a North Korean like? What do they think of us, the tourists who come in with a lot of money and eat at restaurants that serve full meals in a country where most of the population is starving? What do they know about us, or about other countries? How do they feel about North Korea’s relative isolation? Do they have family in the South? How would their lives change if the Koreas reunite again?

Although the trip was expensive and most of the money will go to the government and not to the people of North Korea, we are glad that we had the opportunity to see the country - even if we only saw a tiny portion.

On our way out, our guide informed us that we could wave to the North Korean soldier who stood just on the northern side of the 38th parallel. So as we passed, the entire bus of about 40 westerners leaned to the right and waved to the soldier. He did not blink, smile or react at all, but remained standing rigidly straight, gun pointing straight ahead. Comforting. As we passed the divide, a South Korean guard was on our left side. We all leaned to the left and waved at him. He waved enthusiastically back, gun at his side. I can understand why the North always seems to be more on the offensive, and even more powerful than the South (without the help of other countries), but I have to say, we liked that southern soldier a whole lot more. It was good to come back home.