Life in Korea

I've lived in Korea for a little more than 3 months now.  It's been quite a full experience.  I am a little shy to share my impressions and feelings about my experiences, because not all of it is pretty.  I've witnessed some very challenging cultural aspects, and I've also continued to be delighted by the warm personalities of Koreans.  It is difficult to give an honest and balanced view of what I am experiencing, because the tone and circumstances are so dynamic.

Anyway, maybe I can tell stories through pictures:

My friend Martina from Germany came to visit, and we visited a beautiful island called Ulleung-do (Hangul: 울릉도).  What a wild place! It was pretty deserted, which was a refreshing contrast to life on the mainland.  The majority of people that we saw were also tourists like ourselves.  This made it interesting for two reasons -- no one really knew how to navigate the island (I think we got an "A" in that department, almost circling the entire island), and being 2 of the 4 white people on the island, we became a sort of tourist attraction.  Koreans can be so funny by their intense curiosity of foreigners.  I woke at 4am to climb the summit of the central mountain, Seonginbong (Hangul: 성인봉), and was greeted by about 100 Koreans on my way up, "Anyong haseo..." (looking down at my feet) "oh my gosh, you are wearing sandals!!!" (in Korean)... That was so funny to me.  If you play ping-pong, you need appropriate ping-pong attire; for gardening, gardening attire; and for hiking... you definitely need hiking attire!  I was clearly unprepared by their standards, yet I summited the peak and made it back without any problem.  I'm not sure what the issue was, but some Koreans informed me that from Chinese Medicine, the health of one's feet are very important (because the feet are energetically connected to every organ in the body), and so it's important to protect those feet!  Makes sense.  Anyway, most Koreans did not think to go from the main port town to the opposite side of the island (about an hour by bus), so we bussed it around the island, stopping in every little town -- each one beautiful and charming in its own way.  We walked along the road, seeing maybe a car every 5-10 minutes.  We were started to hike along a dirt road leading back to the town we started from, but it was getting late, so we circled the island again by bus.  We stayed in a Min-bak (a family's house with some rooms open for travellers) and drank Magoli (막걸리, a milky rice wine) with the Koreans.  Overall, Ulleungdo was definitely a highlight of my time so far in Korea.

Sometimes I feel like I am living on a different planet...