The Post That You've Secretly Been Waiting For

This will be my post about things I really hate about Korea. Or at least Jeju. Jeju is its' own self-governing province, so to compare it to the rest of Korea is a little unrealistic. Jeju has less English than the rest of the mainland, and they are more conservative and set in their ways than the mainland. To what extent they are different, is hard for me to gadge as I haven't spent any time on the mainland. But after complaining to my Seoul friend about the things in Jeju, it was clear that much of it was a Jeju thing. That I wouldn't find these problems in Seoul.

Things I HATE About Korea!

Mosquitoes. They're not like Canadian ones. They're smart. They don't make any sound when flying and there is always ONE hidden in my room. Hello mosquitoes bites on my ass, breast, knuckles, palm.... you name it. Today it was the face. ARG! Why my face!? And where are you hiding!?!!

I Smell Like Kimchi. Once you start eating the food here, every bowel movement, every natural scent from your body smells like fermented ingredients of kimchi!! My farts, my pee, bowel movements, EVERYTHING smells like bloody fermented kimchi. If you think this is disgusting to hear, it is disgusting to experience! It is one of the most disturbing things I have ever witnessed.

I Have to Mispronounce my Own Language. That 'French Kiss' sushi roll I so love is now ordered as French-e Kissu rolle. You know how westerners always get those Chinese tattoos thinking it looks super cool? Same with Koreans and the English written language. So there is a lot of English, but they pronounce it so completely different that for me to pronounce it correctly would lead to confusion. Sometimes I just want a bloody hot chocolate without struggling to figure out which retarded mispronounciation they'll understand...

Korean Driving Is The Most Frightful Thing I Have Ever Witnessed. Jessssus Christ. Yes I have almost been hit by scooters and cars multiple times WHILE WALKING ON THE SIDEWALK. Scooters are the worst. The damn drivers always slip past all the cars so that they're at the front of any 4-way, and they think that a sidewalk is just a shortcut. I've actually been warned to not walk down the sidewalk while listening to music, or I may not hear the scooter from behind me and get out of his way. I can't explain it... It makes one too speechless to put it into words.

Finally the #1 Thing I Can't Stand About Jeju!

I am Stared at like an Animal in a Zoo. Anywhere you walk in Jeju, people stare at you. Older men tend to be the worst, and definitely hit a level of creepy I don't want to describe. I've had old men suddenly stop walking and start watching me randomly in the street. Some people stare because they're curious, but often there isn't the most friendly expression behind their eyes. The worst is at night, when the men have been drinking. I've been walking home alone at night and have had 2 drunk men start slurring out English to me and laughing. Very creepy. In Korean society it IS rude to stare, so it really pisses me off when they stare at us. Particularly since, while English teachers is rather new, there are TONS of us around. We aren't the first white person they've seen.

There you go. I know you all wanted to know this secretly. There are other things, but I tried to keep it light-hearted and not too serious for the most part.

Chuseok!

Chuseok is the Korean Thanksgiving. While it doesn't celebrate the Brits and Natives finally getting along, it is a basic Korean celebration of the harvest moon (or at least according to wikipedia). In the weekends leading up to Chuseok, families go back to their ancestral tombs and pay respect to their beloved lost ones. Ancestral tombs are usually just walled in mounds with a tombstone infront of it. You can find these tombs almost anywhere, from hillsides filled with them, to just a random tomb in the middle of a tourist area. Most of my students ended up studying or visiting their grandparents house to cook traditional Korean food for Chuseok.

For Chuseok I ended up getting Friday off, and originally planned to visit an island to the east. However due to less-than-favorable weather forecast, my friend and I opted to drink too much soju the night before. So when we slowly woke up around noon on a beautiful Friday afternoon, we decided to shop. I'll skip explaining the shopping experience because it was less than thrilling or fruitful; however, we did stumble upon a beautiful set of recreated Korean government buildings. And literally stumble, because we came out of the Underground mall and suddenly there they were. In the middle of a city...

Jejumok-Gwana

Sadly these buildings were burnt down multiple times throughout history (including a nasty burning during the Japanese occupancy of Jeju), so the buildings we saw were rebuilt. To say they were gorgeous, would be a terrible understatement. Sadly my camera was only once able to capture just how vibrant these gorgeous paintings were. The colors alone left me absolutely breathless. Because of Chuseok the government buildings had local Koreans visiting and flying kites there. We decided to join in and, I would just like to say, we represented westerners' kite flying skills very well!

On Saturday, my friend Justins' friend from Seoul was down visiting. So we took her to the south of the island to check out an old Dutch ship. The ship itself is rather boring, but when you walk inside it explains the history of a Dutch ship that came ashore at that very beach.

The Story

There was a group of Dutch traders sailing from Thailand over to Japan; however, their ship crashed off the coast of Jeju, killing about half the crew. After crawling ashore and asking for help from the government, they were forced to perform manual labor for about 7 years. During this time they tried multiple times to escape and steal food, which resulted in brutal beatings. Finally after a well planned escape, they found a way over to Japan where they were unfortunately imprisoned for a full year. It was only after that year, that they managed to finally make it to the Dutch trade outpost and freedom.

Not the luckiest men as you can see. The two top floors told us that story, while the bottom floor was just a history of the soccer stadium Jeju island has. Which was dull to say the least.

We then headed to the beach and the beautiful rock penisula that the ship is beside. While I can't remember the name of the formation, from up the hill the penisula looks like the back of a curving dragon. It actually is very neat! But mostly it was a delightful and relaxing walk! After that, we headed home!

On Sunday we headed out to check out the Teddy Bear museum and the Sex & Health museum. Which I shall discuss in another post!