Korean Chess

There is a version of chess native to Korea called Janggi (장기). Despite the fact that Korea claims this game, it is based around the battle between two Chinese dynasties, the Han and Cho. The pieces in the game include elephants (象), horses (馬), chariots (車), soldiers (兵), cannons (包), royal guards (士), and Han and Cho kings (漢 and 楚, respectively). In terms of moves and compared to the chess you and I are familiar with, elephants and horses are similar to knights, chariots are similar to bishops, and soldiers are similar to pawns. Cannons, royal guards, and kings are unique to janggi.

Cordia and I, having seen old men playing it on sidewalks, have always found it interesting, mostly drawn in by the attractiveness of the Chinese characters engraved on the pieces. On our most recent trip to Seoul, we visited a park full of retired men spending their afternoon socializing and practicing their janggi strategies, needless to say, a favorite park of ours. This time we were approached by a man well versed in English, and I expressed my interest in the game. He offered to teach me.


We rented a game board and pieces ($1 for a 24-hour rental) and grabbed a bench. For the next 90 minutes, I was a student, and he taught me the legal moves of each piece and basic strategies. Soon there was a crowd of curious Koreans around our bench watching the action. With his guidance, I was able to beat him 2 times. Then he decided to take a break and a new challenger sat down. Instant defeat. It turns out you need more than the knowledge of legal moves and basic strategies to beat these people.

I made a promise to practice and on my next trip to Seoul bring more competition to the table. Given that I leave for my final trip to Seoul in exactly 7 days, I had better start practicing.

One for the road

Last night one of our managers took us out to eat after work. The seven of us stuffed ourselves full of samgyupsal (grilled pork), boiled egg, dwenjong jigae (soybean soup), rice, beer, soju, and coke. After a 2 hour party in the restaurant, our bill was only around ₩100,000 ($100). In Korea it's customary for restaurant owners to bring service (free) soju, beer, or coke to customers who stay a while, come often, or spend lots of money. We had been getting service drinks throughout our meal, and when we were paying out, the owner offered us some more soju. Instead of taking him up on the soju, we asked for a discount. Sure. He gave us a little discout.

This is normal in Korea. And there's no tip. Can you imagine this happening in America? Shoot no! Free drinks, a discount, and no tip...?!

This is just one thing we will miss....

Packing Up

Our time in Korea is coming to an end quickly, and while we're excited to see our families, friends, and some real texmex, we can't help being sentimental as we pack our year into boxes and put them on a boat to Texas. We have grown quite fond of this little country and its strange ways, and leaving it brings the same anxiety and sadness that leaving home brought. In an odd way, we've become comfortable being out of our element. This year has been full of lessons, tears, laughs, and love. We have been confused, lost, homesick, bewildered, stared at and laughed at so many times this year and have learned a lot about ourselves, our relationship, people, traveling, and of course Korea.

But not only will we be leaving behind a beautiful country with friendly people and delicious food, we will also have to say goodbye to our compadres. We've stuck to Mike and Diana since the day we met them (Mike in January, and Diana in August), and they've become two of our closest friends. We've gone on trips, eaten mandu, played cards, laughed about work, looked like weird foreigners, danced, sang in the noraebang until 5:30am, and drank tea together. They're both incredible people and great friends, and we'll be sad to move away from their neighborhood.

Our last day of work is December 16. Mom and Lindsey will be here December 18. We will depart Korea on December 22.

Let's eat lots of kimchi and mandu in the next two weeks!!

Names

The majority of Korean names are 3 syllables. The family name comes before the given name instead of at the end like we're use to. Some of my students names are Kim Min Hee, Bae Dae Gun, Park Soo Jin, Lee Young Min. I call them by their given name...Min Hee, Dae Gun, Soo Jin, and Young Min. Getting use to saying and memorizing names like this was a real challenge when we first got here, but now the names sound normal to us. They often have an English name that they use during class, and some common ones are Jenny, Sally, Tom, Peter, Kevin, and Julie. While the English names are much easier to remember, I would rather them use their Korean name in class...I think they're cool.

A Favorite Meal

A Strange Halloween

We spent October 31 doing a particularly strange and spooky tour of the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between North and South Korea. We took a tour with an American company which was lead by Koreans for part of the way and American soldiers for the other part.

Not only were we able to go into the DMZ which stretches across the Korean peninsula and is 4km wide (2km on either side of the border where no Korean civilians are allowed), but also we were able to step foot on North Korean ground. Before entering the DMZ, we were given a Visitors Delcaration to read and sign, stating that we understood that we were "entering a hostile area and [there was a] possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action." We had to follow a strict and conservative dress code, and we were warned more than once not to make any kind of gesture or body communication towards North Korea. We were taken right up to the actual line that divides the two worlds. On one side of the line stood South Korean and American soldiers on guard, and 50 feet away stood North Korean soldiers on guard. When we arrived to this area where North and South Korea both have buildings, we were taken into South Korea's Reunification Building, built for divided families to come and meet. However, this building was entirely vacant, and it has never been used save for the third floor in which the Red Cross has an office.

In this picture, you can see tourists, South Korean soldiers (in the black hardhats), American soldiers (in camo), and North Korean soldiers (taking pictures of us). You can also see the cement line that divides the Koreas. The building on the left is a conference room where meetings between N. Korea and the UN take place. Half is on N.Korean soil, and half on S.Korean. We were able to go into this building.


Before entering the building, a S. Korean soldier takes special measures checking the security of the room: locking the door into N. Korea, and standing guard the entire time visitors are present.

While in the conference room, North Korean soldiers came up near the windows to take pictures.


This guard is standing in a "modified Taekwondo stance" with half of his body behind the blue building. He is always on guard when visitors are there, and he stands in that position so that he can take quick cover if he needs to.


After leaving the dividing line, we were taken back out to the edge of the DMZ to a place where one of four tunnels into South Korea dug by North Korea have been discovered. We went down into the tunnel. Usually, when you do stuff like this, it's part of a history exhibit or something that is of the past. This is not of the past yet. Tourists are required to turn around and head back south about 170 meters from the border at the first of 3 barricades in place to keep North Koreans from entering South Korea. Soldiers expect that there are more tunnels being dug at this moment, but they don't know where yet.

We have limited pictures because of all the rules, but I think these give a pretty good idea of how intense the situation is. We even saw the world's most dangerous golf course!

Fall

It is certainly fall here now. The leaves are changing, and the air is no longer thick and humid. It's chilly and crisp. We took a trip to a Korean traditional folk village last weekend called Hahoe (pronounced Ha-whay). With the fall colors and the traditional housing, it was beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful place I've seen in Korea. The rice fields were golden, the air was clear, the trees were changing from green to red and yellow, the houses have thatch roofs and neat stucco walls and walkways. While we were there, we were able to watch a Korean Mask Dance, during which, of course, we the foreigners were called to the front to dance with the actors. We had fun dancing like fools in front of a couple hundred Koreans all laughing and taking our picture. Since we were all involved in the entertainment, we weren't able to capture on photo or video our sweet moves, but don't worry, our crowd was pleased :)





Mitch and Diana discussing the sweet dance techniques we used during our performance:



We made wishes and tied them to line that surrounds this tree that is over 600 years old:



Traditional housing with thatch roofing:



Our puppets!



What? We always walk like this:



Standing in the rice fields with Mr. Turnip Head:

China!

Hey! We went to China a few weeks ago, and we still haven't told you about it! It seems like there was a lot to to when we got back, and we both felt a little under the weather. Anyways, we'll still work on a posting, but until then, we've posted some pictures to our picasa website. I tried to label some of them, but I'm not finished with that yet.

Click here for the pictures!

Black Belt Test

Enjoy!



-Us

Things to do today...

1. Clean the bathroom
2. Wash the dishes
3. Finish The Hobbit and Two Towers
4. Pay the bills
5. Get our black belts in Hapkido

what's been on our plate

Our friend Mike, who arrived to Korea the same time we did, told us that we have 14 weekends left in Korea. 14 weekends!!@## There's so much to be seen still! It's coming to an end quickly, and we've been ridiculously busy for the past month which makes the days go by too fast. Here's an idea of what we fill our days with:

1. planning a trip for October 3-11 to Beijing and Xi'an in China. wooo.
2. reading The Lord of the Rings
3. studying Spanish and Korean
4. hapkido- may have our black belts by the end of the month!
5. planning our vacation in December/January before we head home. We'll pick Debbie and Lindsey up from the airport on Dec. 18, head to Vietnam for ~3 weeks, from there go to Tokyo for a few days, then TEXAS around Jan. 15!
6. talking to Lindsey on Skype (it's her first semester in college :)
7. work
8. still keeping to our vow to travel somewhere different in Korea every weekend
9. searching for jobs in Costa Rica
10. eating lots of ice cream while its still hot here

The best part about all of these things is that we're doing them together! It's so much fun making big plans with your best friend. :)

It's Nice To Have Some Familiar Shoes At Our Door

Well, our friends left Korea last Thursday morning after an almost 2 week stay here. We had an awesome time hanging out with some familiar faces and seeing parts of Korea that we had never seen before. Below is a photographic journal of our vacation.

Day 1: Bukbu Beach in Pohang. Since most people swim fully clothed, we enjoyed taking our shirts off and sprinting into the water just to turn some heads...


This picture is from just 40 minutes of the cumulative 5 1/2 hours we spent in noraebangs (karaoke rooms) across Korea...


Day 2: An early rise in the Motel Hole In One...


Mingling with the locals, waiting for the bus to Sokcho outside the terminal...


On the bus to Sokcho with some tasty dried squid...


Rest stop...


Finally, after 4 1/2 hours on the bus, we are in Sokcho eating "dog mandu" and kalguksu...


Noraebang!!!


Day 3: Seoraksan National Park, with its Buddha statues, temples, and waterfalls...


Shhh... Don't tell anyone we swam here...


The raw fish market in Sokcho. Point to the fish you want, negotiate the price, then watch it get scooped out of the water and bashed on the head with a baseball bat...


Our choice: shellfish smorgasbord...

Day 4: On the streets of Seoul...


Day 5: Walking around Gwanghwamun square...


Changdeokgung, an ancient palace in Seoul. A nice escape from the city in the middle of town...


Day 6: The train ride to Dacheon Beach on the west coast...


We are inspecting a dead starfish we found in the surf...


Waiting on the train to head home, and, once again, mingling with the locals...


In order to save floorspace, Hadden and Will created bunk beds with our air mattresses.


Day 7 or 8: We hiked to the top of Hamji Mountain (the neighborhood mountain). Once at the top, the sun decided to go down, and we had to hike down in the dark, losing Will in the process. We found him a few minutes after getting to the bottom, once again, mingling with the locals...


Having these two here along with our break from work and the chance to see a lot of Korea was completely refreshing. We really loved having them here, and look forward to going home in January. Korea is great! But it's not home.

Peace!
Or, in Korean, "Soju!"

Rafting Trip

We went with Nick and Mike on a rafting trip this weekend. In Korea if you want to go on a trip--whether it be sightseeing, hiking, or rafting --you go on an organized tour. It's not necessary for all things, but most people do it. We do most things independently, but this weekend we signed up to go on a rafting tour. They picked us up in this fancy bus, gave us rice cake for breakfast, took us to do some sightseeing, fed us lunch, and took us down the river for less than 50 bucks. Pretty good deal, we thought! We were the only foreigners on the tour, so we were watched after all day and asked by numerous people to have their picture taken with us. It's weird how you just get used to all the unwanted attention you receive here for being a foreigner. This is the last weekend of summer vacation for the schools and companies, so the river was packed! It was a lot of fun though. The river wasn't too big, but it was so beautiful. I wish I would have been able to bring my camera on the boat (we had a few close calls though, so it's good I didn't have it). One thing we thought was interesting (and a little funny) was that not only was nobody wearing their swimming suit, but about half the people there were wearing jeans. Our favorite though was the girl wearing a skirt and high heels. Korean women do love their heels, but wearing them on a raft might be a little overboard.



Here we are sightseeing and following around our tour guide. We had no idea what she was talking about, so we mostly just goofed off in the back of the crowd.



Here's a glimpse of how much commotion was going on on the river. The river was crowded, and they squeezed 12 people in each raft.

Will and Hadden will be here Friday! We're so excited, we could wet ourselves!

Beaches

Sorry we've been lazy with our posts. It's not because we've been idle...quite the opposite. The past 2 weekends we have visited a beach on the east coast--Bukbu Beach-- and a beach on the west coast--Daechon Beach. Both were really nice and pretty.

It was a little chilly at Bukbu, so Mike and Mitch were the only two who braved the water in our party. Nick and Cordia Stayed ashore. We like this video because of the epic music in the background. There was a sound system set up all along the beach playing this sort of music all afternoon and evening.




After hanging out on the beach for a few hours, we enjoyed some fresh seafood. Yum!

To end this excellent day at the beach, we were treated with a fireworks display.


The next day we went hiking along a river with lots of waterfalls. It was a gorgeous hike.


At Daechon we took it easy. The weather was so perfect that we just laid on the beach, read, and napped all afternoon. It was exactly how a beach should be. Except that they had a loud speaker with some woman calling names and phone numbers the entire time (we thought it was for people who were lost, but maybe it was lotto winners).

Hapkido Red Belt Test

We got our red belts this week. Here's a video of the test we took for them. The last bit is a martial art that we've been practicing called Taegukgwon. It's supposed to help your body maintain rhythm and patience. Enjoy!

Cordia's Crazy Class

I took this video of my kids yesterday. This is one of my more rambunctious classes. They are Intermediate 2 level which is one level above the beginners. You may recognize some of the from the video of the 4 boys singing and dancing. They were being pretty good until they noticed I was videoing them...then they got a little crazy.



The "magic tricks" that they were showing off are a regular part of class...they think they're so tricky. Also, little Jung does his eye trick every day while I'm teaching them. He's also the kid who always taps the girl next to him while I'm teaching to show her his muscles....as you can see, they're quite big.

Beating the Heat

So we're not living in Texas heat anymore, but Daegu's weather is definitely what I would call "muggy." Combine that with mid-90's highs, and it's enough to make me sweat just stepping out the front door. But since we spend most of our time during the day indoors, we needed something to beat the heat in the apartment. We spent a couple of nights with the air conditioner on, which made it nice and chilly in here, but we couldn't help wondering how much our electric bill would go up from that. Solution! Buy a fan. Sounds simple, right? Well, it turns out that buying a fan in Korea may make you sweat even more because, suddenly, you have to worry about Fan Death.

Popular media sources (and even a statement from the government) say that Fan Death is one of the top 5 most common summertime injuries. According to these, when fans operate in a closed room, they can be responsible for suffocation, asphyxiation, and even chopping up the oxygen molecules in the air, making it useless to breathe. Even with adequate ventilation in a room, they can be responsible for hypothermia and hyperthermia if blown directly on the future victim.

So, it is believed to be extremely dangerous to sleep with a fan on in a closed room. This belief has even led to the addition of a "life-saving" device included on most fans sold in Korea: a sleep timer. Just like the clock/radio you have beside your bed, you can program your fan to turn off after up to 2 hours of running. If you feel so inclined, there is a wealth of information about this topic on the net just waiting to be read. Give it a look, and decide for yourself.

As for now, we will continue to live on the edge and sleep with our fan on. Full blast.


Here is one of the many warning messages inside the operator's manual supplied with the fan.



And thank God for this thing. The knob on the left is the life-saving sleep timer. Up to two whole hours of non-threatening breezy bliss.


-Us