Waygooks Wandering

There are a ton of winter festivals in Korea, but most of them are really far up north. If we weren't going to Thailand tomorrow, we would have tried to go to at least one of the big festivals, but we wanted to save our money. Instead, last weekend, we took a trip to the ice festival taking place outside Daegu at Mt. Biseul with some friends.

Gianni and I thought we were all supposed to go on Saturday because that is what we talked about with Maria and Matthew, so we went to Daegok to meet everyone on Saturday. After texting Sian to let her know we were there, she texted back from the ski slopes! It turns out that Maria, Matthew, and Gianni and I had the wrong day! Woops! We decided to wait to go with friends Sunday, and went back to our house together to play Settlers of Catan, which is always fun. We played a few games, and I won twice! We also all tried toast for the first time. Toast is a cross between grilled cheese and a regular sandwich. Gianni got a steak kind, and I got sweet potato bacon. The sweet potato in mine was cooked inside some egg, which was interesting. It was a pretty tasty lunch. There's a video about it on the videos page now.

The next day we tried the festival again. In order to get there, we had to take the train just a few stops to the end of the line and then a bus from outside the station. The bus was terrible! Apparently, it has different routes at different times. Our friend noticed it was taking us in the general direction of the mountain, but it wasn't stopping at the stops she had listed on her phone. Most of the route was through countryside with no taxis in sight, but we got off the bus at a bus terminal in more of a town-like area to try to get a taxi because we decided the bus wouldn't take us to the mountain. We found some taxis to take us, and got to the mountain.

As we were walking up to the festival area, I stopped to get some of the delicious toffee candy that I got in Jinju before. This time, it was coated with nuts on the outside, which made it even better. At the festival, there were a few activities for children, like "ice skating" on a plastic sled-like thing. We had some fun skating in our shoes on the little ice rinks they made for it. There was also an ice slide, but the line was too long to go on it (and it was probably for kids). There were some really nice ice sculptures leading up the mountain a little ways. There was an awesome dragon, some hearts, and a 2014 one. The mountain path that we were on has a little river as well, which is why the festival is located there. They use hoses and spray water over the river so that it freezes in really awesome icicles and icebergs in the river. You could walk along the river, but in one part they also had an ice tunnel on the river. It was really pretty inside. We spent a few hours at the festival, taking in a little winter and eating ramen for lunch.

When it was time to go back home, we decided to take the bus from the top of the mountain because we saw the stop. We waited for like a half hour for the bus to come. It was two stops until the end of the line from Mt. Biseul, so at the end of the line, the bus driver got out for a half hour for his break. It was so frustrating. It seemed like we'd never make it home. When the bus finally got going again, it turned out that it didn't go along a straight route. Instead, it took a few short, loops to pick up people in other areas. It took us over an hour to get back to the train station! Really annoying, but we finally got back after a few hours on the bus. Gianni and I decided to go to red pork for dinner because we were starving. There's a foodventures episode about this restaurant on the videos page, so check it out.


This week, I've been deskwarming by myself since Niall is on vacation. I also got my new external hard drive in the mail from my parents, so yesterday, I got a ton of videos and photos edited and uploaded, so the blog is almost updated again. Yay! Today, we have the day off before we leave for Thailand tomorrow. We spent the morning packing and cleaning, and we're leaving in a bit to see the new Disney movie, Frozen, with Maria and Matthew. After that, we're leaded to taekwondo to take our belt test and, hopefully, get our green belts!

There was a tunnel of pretty Christmas lights at the park.

New Year's Eve in Korea is celebrated in a similar way as it is at home. Many people make their way to Seoul or Busan, the bigger cities, for special events happening there. We didn't realize this until later, so we opted to have a New Year's in Daegu. Wherever you are, it is very common tradition to watch the first sunrise. They do still have special things at midnight, but even more than that, people try to find nice places to watch the first sunrise of the new year. I think that's a really nice thing to do, although we did not partake of it this year. Instead, a friend from taekwondo told us about some things happening downtown, so we went there. We also went to see Ender's Game with Maria and Matthew before going to the New Year's celebration.

Giant Elvis and Michael Jackson puppets

Korean Jamaican...?

Korean Indian...?

At the park that we did the sharing life festival, Guk Chae Bosung Park, there is a big bell. They had a big stage set up next to the bell. From 9 to 12pm, they had all kinds of musical performances. There was dancing, opera, musicals (Mama Mia and Les Mis), and much more. There was one act involving 70's style dancing with massive puppets of Michael Jackson and Elvis, both of whom had nothing to do with the 70's really. There were also some dances from other countries, like Jamaica and India, performed by Koreans. Another attempt by Daegu to show it's "cultural diversity" despite the fact that all of Korea is homogenous. It was cool, but sometimes comes off a little racist because it's like...."do you actually know anything about the country whose style you are dancing in?" This made Maria coin the term "homogenous diversity," which I think pretty much hits the nail on the head to sum up certain aspects of Korean culture. The MC for the evening chose some people from the audience to help ring the bell, which they do every new year. Everyone in the audience (and there were a crap ton) counted down the New Year. It was kind of anti-climactic though because after the countdown, the mayor and some officials spoke, and then the bell
was rung and then there was a short fireworks display. We had a really good time, it just seemed like the last few things should have been done in a different order. After the fireworks, there were so many people trying to leave the park, it was almost impossible to walk. For some stupid reason, the police left up the barriers, so it was a bottleneck to get out. So annoying! Luckily, we got a taxi quickly after we got out. Our taxi driver avoided a lot of the traffic, and we got home easily. We stopped at kim pasa, Korean fast food, for a bite to eat before going back home. It was kind of weird to be in 2014 when most of the other people I know were still in 2013.


On New Year's Day, we didn't have school. I use the term "school" loosely because, technically, it is school vacation. During school break, we typically have a week of English camps, where we have a small class of students, and we get to do whatever we want with them. The rest of the time, we are just sitting at our desks. This period of time is called "desk warming." Sometimes we lesson plan, but most of the time we are just sitting, doing nothing, but we still have to be at school because them's the rules. Oh well. My English camp doesn't start until next week, and there weren't enough students to have 2 camps as we planned, so Niall and I are splitting up the days. I am doing a Harry Potter and a Sherlock Day, and we are both doing a cooking day where we are making ice cream. We also randomly have 1 week of classes the first week of February. It's graduation week for the grade 3's, but we are teaching all our classes for a week then the kids get the rest of February off too. I don't understand the Korean education system sometimes, but whatever, I guess it's their call. So anyway, it's desk warming now, but we had the day off for New Years.

Water Park area inside and outside

On New Years Day, Maria and Matthew came to our neck of the woods, and we went to Elybadin spa to have a nice, relaxing day. Spas, or jimjilbangs, are a really popular thing in Korea. More traditional ones will separate gender and are basically bath houses and saunas where people are totally naked. Additionally, they often provide you clothes to go into a resting area where you can read or sleep or whatever. This place was like that, but also had some extras. You get there, and you pay to get in. It was $27 per person, and we got the combined ticket to use the jimjilbang and the water park. Next time I go, I don't think I'd use the water park. It was ok, but it was small. The water is sulfur water, which is supposed to be good for your skin. It was nice warm water, and they had a play area for kids, hot tubs, and an outdoor area. I'm glad I tried it, but I don't think we need to go again. After you pay to get in, they give you a bracelet which you can scan on things to buy them, instead of using money while you're in the spa. We put our shoes in special shoe lockers then went into the changing room area where everyone was walking around naked. I mean there were old people, young people, babies. It was pretty crazy to see a culture that just embraces nudity when you're from somewhere that is so shy about it. In the changing area was the bathhouse and everyone in that room was nude. This area was the only gender segregated area at the spa. First, we got changed and spent a little time in the water park area. After that, we rented some jimjilbang clothes (a loose fitting, canvas or cotton shirt and long shorts) and went upstairs where there was a DVD room, a food court, an arcade, mini karaoke rooms, a resting area, saunas, an ice room, a comic book reading room, a massage clinic, and massage chairs. It was pretty incredible. We got some food and then went in the massage chairs (15 minutes for $2) for a bit before laying some mats down and taking a nap and reading for a few hours. You can stay in the jimjibang for 12 hours, so some people use it as a place to crash for the night when traveling because it tends to be really cheap and there are so many of them around (if you are just paying for the jimjilbang and not the water park, it is less than $10 to get in). After our naps, we went back to the massage chairs, got some milk bing su (shaved milk with red beans...delicious!!!), and went in the saunas and ice room. A little Korean kid went "OH! WAYGOOKIN!" when we came in to the ice room and proceeded to dance for us. It was pretty silly. My coteachers had warned me about going to a jimjilbang so close to school because they

The eating/PC/arcade/DVD area

said my students might be there, but actually, Gianni's students seemed to all be there. Either that or his students said hi to him and mine didn't. Anyway, at least he wasn't naked when they said hello! That would have been awkward. Next, we went back down and changed to go into the water park again. We spent some more time in there, wadding around in the sulfur. We spent a good 6 hours or so at the spa, so we decided to head home after that. Maria and I got up the courage to, separately, go into the naked area and wash up and get the sulfur off of us, which is apparently an

The resting room with saunas

important thing to do here. In the bathhouse area, there were showers, stools that people were sitting on and using shower heads to wash off, a sauna, a bath, hot tub, and an area to lie on with heated floors. I got a few stares, but I don't think people really cared too much. After a few minutes in there, I'd had enough though, so we got changed and left the spa. It was a really pleasant and relaxing experience. I'm glad I got to see a little more of Korean culture. It was also kind of expensive--around $100 in total for Gianni and I when all was said and done. I think I'd definitely do it again. Also, there is a really cute bakery outside of the spa that we tried because I couldn't resist. They bake their own delicious bread, and we got an almond cake thing that was amazing! I can't resist some tasty carbs. I also got a coffee, and it was my first coffee with a design in it :). Adorable.

So it was a fantastic New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. Getting the year started off right. Happy 2014 everyone! I hope you all stay healthy and happy.

I wanted to wait until all the Christmas festivities were finished before I posted. Also, I was trying to wait until I got a new external hard drive for my computer. Seems my laptop is completely full, so I can't post any more photos or videos at the moment. I tried to wait, but it might be the end of January when I get the drive, so I thought I'd post the writing now, and the pictures and videos later.

Our little Christmas tree

One of the light displays downtown

First a few words about what Christmas is like in Korea generally. It's a couples holiday. It's worse to be single on Christmas than it is to be single on Valentine's Day. They only ever have fake Christmas trees. They only know that Santa brings presents to children, but they know very little about the background story of the myth. I had to educate my kids about it during class. They don't know Santa brings coal to bad children. They don't know he lives in the North Pole or that Elves help him make toys. They also don't know about Frosty the Snowman. They know a bit about Rudolph because they have the song "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" that is the same tune and lyrics but in Korean. There are a few other songs that are the same tune with Korean lyrics as well. They have Christmas light displays and a few lights on trees downtown, but more displays to take pictures with than anything else. They only get Christmas day off from school and work, and all the shops and movie theaters and restaurants are still open. The movie Home Alone is always played on TV on Christmas, so all my kids associate that movie with Christmas. I showed them Jingle All the Way during class as a Christmas present to them, and they seemed to really enjoy it though.


As for our Christmas celebrations: we were having coffee on the weekend before Christmas with one of my coteacher when I noticed a poster for Nanta. I see the posters everywhere, and I wasn't totally sure what it was. Turns out, it's basically like Stomp or Blue Man Group but with a plot that centers around cooking. I said I'd like to go, and it was playing in Daegu. My coteacher knows someone who works at the venue, so she got us tickets to see it on Christmas Eve. So after school on Christmas Eve, Gianni walked over to my school to meet us. One of the other teachers at school drove me, Gianni, and Hyun Joo to Suseong Artpia where Nanta was playing. It's a small but nice venue in an apparently quite wealthy area of Daegu. We picked up the tickets and then went out to dinner before the show. We ended up at a really fancy Italian restaurant where the entire staff like to remind you that "there is no MSG in the food!" It is a really common thing for people to put in food here, and good luck asking for food with no MSG. We got 4 cheese pizza and a pasta dish. I think the chef might have studied in Italy or something. I've heard of a few restaurants in Daegu where that is the case, and it shows because it actually tasted like real Italian food. It was very delicious. After dinner, we headed back and took our seats for the show. We were sitting on the lower level because we were told that area was more interactive. Although this was the case, it was more the area in front of us that was interactive, so I don't really think we needed to pay the extra money for the lower level tickets. I would have liked to sit up towards the front instead of at the back. Still, we were right in the center, so we could see everything. The show is basically a comedy show with cool drumming and chopping and that kind of thing, but the plot is about a group of 4 chefs who are trying to quickly prepare food for a giant wedding that is taking place. It was pretty funny and really awesome, visually. It's really a great family show. There isn't much talking, so it was not a problem to understand what was going on. When they did talk, the few phrases were in English also, which I thought was kind of funny. It felt really nice to be at a play on Christmas Eve.


On Christmas, we woke up pretty early to talk to our parents. My mom and dad were at Gianni's parent's house, so we got to talk to them all together on their Christmas Eve and our Christmas morning. They watched us open our presents from them and for each other, and Gianni's parents opened their gifts from him. It was a nice long chat. The weekend before Christmas, Gianni and I decided to just give each other $100, go to the underground mall at Banwoldang, and go to town. It was kind of funny actually. I like speed shopping. Maybe it's a tradition we'll have to partially keep, even when we go home. I ended up buying him 2 Simpsons stationary sets and a fantastic Simpsons sweater that even fits him! I was totally proud of my purchases, and I think he likes them. I also got Gianni a winter hat and a ton of other random things. Gianni gave me an infinity scarf like I wanted, a scarf and bracelet I picked out at a store, socks, and lots of other nice things. We let them get on with their Christmas Eve dinner, and we made pancakes, eggs, and bacon for breakfast. Yum! After we ate, we headed to Daegu Station to get the train to Busan. We hadn't been to Busan yet, and our friends, Maria and Matthew, heard about a special Christmas thing that was going on there, so we decided to tag along with them for Christmas Day. Busan is a city on the southern coast of Korea. It's the second largest city in the country. I'm fairly certain everyone had the same idea to go there on Christmas Day because Busan was sooooo crowded! It was the most crowded it has felt in Korea so far! It was nuts. We didn't sit down once on the trains when we were in the city, and it felt like we were on the trains most of the day. First, we went to the largest department store in the world (actually-it has the Guinness world record), Shinsegae Department Store. There is a movie theatre, a skating rink, a grocery store, and so much more actually inside the department store. There was even a dinosaur, pirates, and africa themed children's play area on top of the store. Insane! Department stores are too expensive, so after looking around there, we decided we'd rather just buy cupcakes at their bakery. We got some delicious treats to enjoy on the train back home. They were so cute decorated with snowmen and Christmas trees, and they tasted great too: black tea, strawberry, and caramel. After the department store, we went down to where the Christmas thing was supposed to be. I guess it was just that there are light displays set up all over the downtown shopping area and at different times there are musical performances. The light displays were kind of cool, but good luck trying to get a nice picture. We could barely even move because of how many people there were, so I'm guessing we walked into a ton of people's photos, and I was afraid of being trampled. It was insane! We stopped for dinner at a pub. It was kind of a bust, but at least we tried to do something cool on Christmas, and we spent it with our good friends. We ate our cupcakes and chatted all the way back to Daegu, which is about a 2 hour train ride. It didn't feel the same as Christmas normally does, but it wasn't bad either. We got presents, saw our families, and spent some time with good friends. What more could I ask for? I talked to my parents again on our Christmas night and their Christmas morning to watch them open their gifts from me. I think they liked everything. I tried to choose things that fit personalities. I got Dad a Seoul Starbucks mug, and I got Mom an amethyst necklace. I got them a few other things too. I tried to get Ben to wake up to see him open his gifts, but he wouldn't budge.





On the Friday after Christmas, we went to our taekwondo Christmas party. Master Hwang had some random taekwondo videos, seemingly from youtube, playing on the screen while we all ate and talked. Everyone brought in food, pot luck style. I brought in ginger snaps made from Mom's recipe. I didn't hate them, but they were different than hers. I had to use dark molasses, for one, so they had a really strong flavor. Apparently, cherry tomatoes are dessert in Korea because someone put them on the dessert table. We had a ton of Korean food, and we learned that our friends in class are actually really great cooks. One of our friends brought his adorable little son who is almost 2 years old. I taught him to say "hi" in English, and I chased him all around and played with him. He even gave me kisses on the cheek. He was the cutest thing ever. After dinner and dessert, we all went out bowling together! It was awesome. I'm fairly sure it was my first time bowling the traditional way. I didn't know that candlepin bowling was a regional thing, but none of the Koreans or even our American friends know what candlepin bowling is, but that's all we did growing up. It was an interesting realization. Even the lighter balls are really hard to hold when your arm is extended backwards in regular bowling. Koreans are really in to bowling. Master Hwang kept asking what our averages were beforehand, even though we didn't know. Also, a few of the people at the bowling alley were wearing things around their wrists to help them bowl better. No one on either team sat down the whole time. Everyone was up and cheering for each other. Yes, it was competitive, but not aggressively so, and everyone was trying to be really encouraging, even of the other teams. I found it really challenging, but it was really fun. One time, I dropped the ball accidentally and threw it backwards! It was hilarious. The first game, a practice game, I did a really good job for a newbie. I bowled a 117! Gianni didn't do that well. The next game, we switched around the teams and played to see which team would pay for bowling. Unfortunately, I only got a 65 that time, but Gianni's score improved. Our team ended up losing, and we had to pay for everyone's bowling, but it was still a really fun time. Master Hwang was nice enough to give us a ride home.
The next day, Gianni and I spent cleaning the apartment thoroughly. We were having our Christmas party that night, so I wanted it to look nice for the first event we've ever hosted together let alone the first event in our Korean apartment. It's small, but we have the couch and enough seating for over 10 people. It was a joint party of Koreans and our EPIK teacher friends. Everyone except Da Eun brought a dessert food, which was fine. She brought really delicious fried rice. On Christmas, I used a recipe I found online to make Italian anise cookies, and I served them at the party. I had to bring at least some of my traditions from home to Korea. They tasted delicious and were pretty moist for those cookies, and Matthew, another Italian, really liked them, so I was thrilled. Lysa brought some amazing apple pie and Matthew and Maria brought buckeyes, which are a no-bake cookie of peanut butter surrounded by chocolate that were really yummy and melted in your mouth. Everything was so tasty! We also did a yankee swap, and I think everyone really got in to it, including the Koreans. Everyone brought 2 presents $5 or under each, so that we could go around twice and make the game a little longer. I explained the rules to our 5 Korean friends who showed up earlier than everyone else. I'm really glad we've been making friends with Koreans in school and in taekwondo. It's really nice to know people who are from this country. It was Master Hwang, Da Eun, Gee Eun, Ju He, and Ju He's boyfriend, Jeffery (English name), that came. Like I said, everyone seemed to have a great time with it. I ended up with a beautiful Korean coin purse and some random daiso things, including a pencil case that reads "I Love Pussy. I havea very good time." It was hilarious! I think Gianni was the ultimate loser. Somehow, he ended up with sexy, purple bunny ears and a thing you put on baby's heads to keep the water out of their eyes when you bathe them. HAHAHAHA! Good try Gianni, maybe next year. Someone bought jenga as a gift, so we played it afterwards. All the teachers had to leave around 10pm to catch buses and trains home, and the Koreans hung around for a bit. I then suggested we go bowling again mostly as a joke, but they said "yeah, let's go!" So we went bowling at a place around the corner from our house with Master Hwang, Da Eun, and Gee Eun. It was pretty fun, but I didn't bowl very well. My arm was kind of sore from the bowling the day before. It was a really nice party and evening.



So our Christmas was a combination of Korean and our own traditions, but we got to see family and spend time with friends. I'd definitely call it a success.