Twice the fun
One of the few things I have come to really enjoy about my job is the monthly school trips. I thought as winter arrived they would stop because they always involved a picnic but instead they have just moved the picnic inside.
School trips are always a bit of an adventure for me because I usually don't know where we are going until we arrive. And in the case of the first school trip, didn't even really know what it was about until I got back (link to post here)! They also take me to places that I would never visit otherwise and as they are educational for the children they are often also educational for me.
Last week my third school trip was sprung on me. - Lack of communication at Hogwon's is one of the things that can really get you down. Being the foreign teacher you are always the last to find out about something it can often feel as though they don't hold you in high enough regard to give you notice. - In this case I was informed of Thursday's trip as I put my shoes on to leave on Wednesday night! If the trips were inside normal working hours the late notice wouldn't be a problem. But the trips are only for the kindergarten kids and it means I have to start work half an hour earlier and finish for lunch an hour later, meaning I only get half an hour for lunch, and no extra money.
Not getting paid overtime for trips doesn't bother me too much. The trips are fun and I see parts of Korea that I otherwise wouldn't and it is great to spend time with the kids when you are not in a classroom shouting at them to "sit down" or "be quiet." Plus I am never asked to do anything on these trips. I spend most of my time wondering around and taking photos and occasionally making sure the kids haven't run off.
Thursdays school trip took me back to Deokpojin the same place we had gone on the previous trip, which I still haven't blogged, so I going to combine the two trips into one post.
The first trip involved the kids digging some sweet potatoes. The kids loved it and after being shown what to do were soon getting down and dirty with the potatoes.
Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go.
The kids get stuck in.
"Look what I've got." An excited Brian shows off his potatoes.
After the potato digging it was time to head off for lunch. We ate sat on a raised platform in the middle of a grassy area. You often find platforms like this in Korea, you have to take your shoes off before you can get on them - a good idea cause it means they are always clean.
The kids enjoy their dinner.
After dinner we headed off up a big hill which opened out into Deokpojin fortress.
The sign at the entrance to the fortress read:
This is a military encampment in the Joseon Period built in 1679, a strategic point where one could secure the sea load that headed to Hanseong (Seoul). Here Joseon soldiers fought against the French fleet in 1866 and against the American fleet in 1871.
A website about tourist sights in Korea provided more information. The website can be found here.
The fortress on the Seondolhang Port was a strategic military base since it is located in the way between Ganghwa Island and Seoul. During the Byeonginyangyo (the battle with foreign invaders in the Byeongin year, 1871), there was a fierce battle between Joseon and foreign soldiers.
The fortress was found in 1980 and later restored to its original state. During the excavation, a depot and a place where a fire was kept for artillery were found. Also discovered were small-and medium-sized cannons, artillery shells, and Sangpyeongtongbo (a coin). Five cannons are now displayed at the National Museum and one at the Deokpojin Pavilion. Now there are various facilities set up including a camping spot and a training center for students.
The fortress was really pretty with fantastic views over the water to Ganghwa. The kids loved running around to grassy expanse. However it seemed slightly disrespectful to be letting the kids run riot in a battle location where it is likely many Korean soldiers died.
The view looking down onto the fortress. Each one of those roofs is a small gun point.
Inside the gun point.
The view across the wather from the top of the fortress.
After looking around the fortress it was time to round up the kids and head home.
The second time we visited Deokpojin was much more subdued as the kids visited the educational museum.
The museum was about old fashioned Korean schooling and the kids sat mesmerised at they learnt about they way things were when their grandparents went to school.
Phil ties on an old style school bag.
Josh tries out an old style punishment.
The museum was good but some of the exhibits had seen better days. The inside of the museum was freezing and smelt musty and damp! I was amazed when they lit a fire in the middle of the classroom to keep the kids warm.
Health and safety hazard? Not in Korea!
This exhibit looked like it had seen better days!
There is not really much more to say about the museum. It was a museum full of old stuff and all explained in Korean! But hey, instead of being at school shouting at the kids I was there having fun with them.
I'll post again soon. Bye for now.
A romantic date!
After feeling a bit dodgy on Saturday morning and deciding not to go hiking with Emily, Kat and I decided we couldn't spend all day sitting around the flat and headed to Seoul Tower.
Seoul Tower stands on the top of Mt Namsan and has spectacular views over the city. Our information said there was a cable car dock a 10 minute walk from the tube station, which seemed good as I was still feeling slightly delicate!
Coming out of the tube station we could already see the tower and headed off in its general direction in search of the cable car dock.
This is how the tower looked from the subway station.
According the leaflet I picked up at the tower:
Seoul tower provides the city highest viewpoint. It was Korea first integrated communications tower, transmitting TV and FM radio signals for the metropolitan area since it was constructed in 1969. Nearly 48 per cent of the people in Korea benefit from its antenna for various local and nationwide FM and TV broadcasting services such as KBS, SBS, and MBC.
Since it was opened to the public in 1980 as a hybrid recreational / cultural complex the tower has become the symbol of Seoul and has played a role as the city’s most recognisable landmark and popular tourist attraction.
We climbed some steep side streets before seeing a couple head up some steps directly underneath the tower. We figured they were going the right way and followed them.
At the top of the steps we came to a road, the couple turned left and we followed them. We walked for a bit then realised it had already taken us much longer than 10 minutes and there was no sign of the cable car dock! However the road was heading up the mountain so we decided to keep going for a bit longer in the hope the cable car was around the next corner.
Another 20 minutes or so passed and there was still no sign of a cable car dock. Already having walked a fair distance and not knowing if we could find the steps back to the main road if we turned around we decided to keep going.
The road was still taking us up the mountain and we had found a series of maps beside the path with two points marked on, one appeared to be at the bottom of the path and the other at the top. We figured one point was the bottom of the mountain and the other was Seoul Tower, the maps were in Korean and we couldn't actually read them, it was all guess work!
Still not entirely sure if we were heading in the right direction and taking frequent breaks to nurse my still delicate stomach we walked, and walked, and walked a bit more until eventually, after almost an hour, we came to some steps leading directly up the mountain. We walked up the steps until they came to a crossroad where some men were selling food. Confused we stopped and looked around. One of the food sellers shouted over: "Seoul tower?" And pointed up the steps beside us. Finally we knew we were going the right way. We just hoped it wasn't much further.
We reached the top of the steps and realised we were at the entrance to the tower, just one more mega steep hill to climb before we could get inside and chill out.
Standing underneath the white of the tower against the black of the night sky looked amazing. But that was nothing compared to what we would see from the top.
The tower looked pretty cool from underneath.
Inside the tower there were two observation floors at the top. On the first floor, written on the windows, was where each window pointed to and how far away it was. Kat and I headed straight for the window with London marked on it and posed for some pictures.
Kat points to London
The next floor had points around Seoul marked on the window and some information about each place. It was a great way to learn more about places we have visited and find some new places we want to visit.
And of course the views from the observation floors were spectacular. You could see the lights of Seoul stretching far into the distance.
But once you had walked a round a couple of times you had seen all there was to see and after about an hour we headed back down, being sure to note where the cable car dock was!
The lighs of Seoul stretch as far as the eye can see.
Early on in the evening that Kat and I had noticed that we were almost the only people at the tower who weren't in a couple. There were couples everywhere taking pictures of themselves in front the observation windows, snuggling up in the chairs whilst waiting for the lift and keeping each other warm in the queues for tickets. Check out the picture below. At first glance it looks like any normal queue, but when you give it a second glance you realise that everyone is stood next to someone of the opposite sex!
A romantic night out!
After marveling at the fact we really were the only single people at Seoul Tower we squeezed ourselves into a cable car full of courting couples and headed home for a good nights sleep - alone!
The view from the cable car as we descended back into Seoul.
Sick
DO NOT read on if you are eating food or a weak stomach!
Ummm, There is beginning to be a theme to my latest posts. Last one I promise.
After leaving school on Friday and spending the whole of Friday wishing my body would at least let me drink some water I was feeling better by Saturday evening, so Kat and I decided to visit Seoul tower. There is a post about this coming to a blog near you soon. This post takes me to yesterday (Monday) and proof of just how unhygienic this place can be!
I arrived at work yesterday still feeling a bit iffy after walking to work able to feel my breakfast giggling around inside my still relatively empty stomach.
My first class went fine until it was almost time to finish! I'd given the kids some colouring so I could have a quiet lesson after Friday's ordeal forgotten I was feeling better. As time to end the lesson approached I began getting the kids to pack up as normal. Then as I was talking to one of the kids about their colouring the whole class went quiet (always a bad sign) and became distracted by something on the other side of the room.
I turned around to find Cindy - such a cute kid - with brown sick bubbling out of her mouth and running down her chin adding to the large pile already on the table. Realising I didn't have time to stare gormlessly as I tried to figure out what to do so I sprung into action desperately wishing a Korean teacher would come into the room and take over the situation - no such luck!
I grabbed some toilet roll and wiped the vomit from her mouth and face. As she turned to face me she put her arm in the pile on the table scooping it all down her clothes and all over the floor. Watching the other kids wildly running around the classroom excited by this distraction from the lesson I decided to minimise the damage and get her to the toilet immediately.
Holding the toilet roll under her chin incase there was more on its way up I walked her to the toilet where luckily I found one of the Korean teachers. I left Cindy with her and headed back to the classroom. By this time the kids were running around the school screaming in Korean that Cindy had been sick. As I got back to the room and began wiping the floor with toilet roll, wishing this had happened on any other day but today, one of the Korean teaches came in armed with cleaning materials. It was then that I realised cleaning materials consisted of rubber gloves (more than I had) and toilet roll! There was no wiping the table or the floor with water, no bleach or disinfectant, just wipe it up and get on with it.
After the sick was cleaned I headed to the toilet to wash my hands to avoid any of her bugs getting anywhere near me. I passed Cindy on her way back to the classroom; the Korean teacher had wiped the sick from her clothes with water and sent her back to her next lesson in the same, but now wet, clothes. Is it any wonder I keep getting ill in this country? To top it all off there isn't any soap or towel type device in the school toilets, so whilst I was able to run some water over my hands I wasn’t able to wash or dry them. Ummm perfect way to breed germs!
Anyone who knows me will understand what a horrific experience it was for me to have to deal with child sick, especially in my already delicate state!! Why did I not consider the possibility of child sick when I took this job? I certainly never thought I would be cleaning it up. I always leave all the grose stuff to the Korean teachers!
Right I promise no more mention of illness, dirt or sick for a while.
Over and out.
Ill
Time for a rant......
Anyone who regularly reads this blog will have noticed that once again it had been devoid of content for a few days. Well that is due to this filthy, dirty, disease ridden (well at least it seems that way) country.
After initially being impressed at how clean the subway system is - compared to the London underground - I have now realised that this country is well... grubby!
I bared witness to Korean standards of cleanliness when I moved into both of my flats here. The first with filthy and over run with insects; whilst the second was just filthy. When I was moving into the new flat the school director explained, and demonstrated, that only one of the gas rings on the hob worked. Looking at it I decided it needed a damm good clean anyway. To my astonishment, after scrubbing away a few millennia worth of grease, all four gas rings work. They were just so dirty the gas couldn't get through! Even Mark's kitchen at uni wasn't that dirty. Yuck! (Sorry dude).
To compound the dirt the weather in South Korea can't quite decide what to do. One day it is freezing the next pleasant. I am constantly stripping off layers then putting them back on and walking out of boiling hot buildings into freezing cold air or not so cold air depending on the day! Plus I spend most of my time in the school freezing due to the kids being allowed to run riot through the teachers office always leaving to door open and not being allowed to wear shoes to work (it's the Korean no shoes inside thing).
Also Koreans will turn up to school or work regardless of how ill they are. I was told that if you are Korean you are either in hospital or at work! Subsequently germs in this area are rife and they all appear to be taking up residence inside me!
I had a cold about three weeks ago that I never properly got over because I could only take half a day off work. It was Daniel's last week and the school has to have a native speaker at all times so there I was working despite being ill. Then last week the cold returned with a vengeance. Conscious of my half day off a few weeks ago I tired to work though it, but last Tuesday morning I woke up knowing there was no way I could face a school full of screaming kindergarten kids. I took the morning off, taking my sick time total to one whole day, and dragged myself in for the afternoon shift. I managed to teach - well sit in a classroom and say the right things - through my headache, sore throat, drowsiness, runny nose, sneezing and coughing. Nice!
Then, on Friday, just as I recovered enough to agree to go hiking with Emily at the weekend my body decided to provide a home for yet more lonely bacteria. Friday lunch time I wolfed down my usual lunch from the bakery across the road from school then as I walked back after my break I realised I felt a bit ... dodgy, so to speak. I headed back to school and made a cup of green tea thinking that would sort me out, but instantly regretted it. I spent the rest of the afternoon feeling incredibly sick but knowing there was no way I could ask to go home. By five o'clock my stomach had had all it could handle and I had to sprint from my lesson to for a lunch date with the great white telephone. Ummm lovely!
After my lunch removed itself from my body I only had one more 25-minute lesson to teach so I decided to ask if I could leave early. A reasonable request in the circumstance you may say. Not if you have my boss! After a fifteen minute 'chat' he told me that he has to think of his school and I must not be ill again, informing me that if I were he would have to "think seriously" about my position! Cause I enjoy being ill, having a cold is my favourite pastime, I deliberately ate something dodgy for lunch so I would throw up in school and get to go home early. But then if thinking "seriously" means, as it implied, getting sacked - then Australia here I come!
Aaaaarrrrragggghyhhhhhhaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!
Bloody hell. Just wrote massive post and lost it. Really annoyed now. Going home to sulk. Sorry.
11.11
Here was me thinking that the 11 November signaled the end of World War I and was a serious event across the world about remembering those who fought and those who gave their lives in armed combat. Well, it seems, not in Korea!!
The 11 November is Peppero day and unofficial holiday when (most young people and couples) give and receive Peppero chocolate sticks! It is a day of: "romance, gaudy cardboard packaging emblazoned with butchered English love lines, and massive fortunes earned by convenience stores and Wonka-esque entrepreneurs." (Source: someone writing on Wikipedia)
Peppero is a cookie stick dipped in chocolate, they taste a bit like the chocolate dips I used to eat as a kid but the dipping is already done for you!
Some different types of Peppero.
I only found out about Peppero day last Thursday and it was the 11th on Saturday, this was despite the massive displays in shop windows - I STILL can't read Korean!
When Friday afternoon arrived I was amazed to realised how massive it was. In the morning, teaching kindergarten, it had barley been mentioned other than the Korean teachers decorating boxes of Peppero to give to each of the kids. But as the afternoon took hold it was everywhere!! Kids were arriving with bags full of Peppero to give to their teachers and friends. The amount and type of box you were given appeared to directly related to how much you were liked by that particular child! The Koreans teachers went into every class armed with boxes to bribe the kids with and got loads of pretty looking boxes in return. Not having had any warning of the days enormity Kat and I only had the Peppero we had been given by the kids, so nothing to use as a bribe!
But seeing how much Peppero was being distributed around the school Kat and I decided to have a competition to see who could get the most Peppero by the end of the day. My first box came from Amy, whose mum teaches at the school, she gave one box to each of the teachers, which put me and Kat on one box each. Then fist lesson arrived and Kat gained two sticks to my one in lesson. The day carried on along the same lines until one of my kids, who barley says a word in class, gave me a box, which I thought was very sweet of her, and edged me into the lead. Then in my last class of the day (a class of girls that I really like) I scored the ace getting two whole boxes, one of which I shared with the class and Kat. Leaving me with a total score of four boxes, four wrapped sticks and three individual sticks, to Kat's one box, ???? wrapped sticks and ??? individual sticks. Crowing me the overall winner!
After all this I'm sure your wondering, as we were, where did Peppero day come from? Wikipedia has two conflicting accounts about how Peppero day came about. I'd like to believe the first but I'm sure the latter is true.
The one I'd like to believe:
Peppero Day was started in 1994 by students at a girls' middle school in Busan, where they exchanged Peppero sticks as gifts to wish one another to grow "as tall and slender as a Peppero" (Peppero means "thin like a stick").
However, I'm not sure I'd like to aspire to be tall and thin as a Peppero, it'd be an impossible challenge!
The one that’s probably true:
Peppero Day is a marketing idea invented by the makers of the popular snack. On this day, people buy boxes of Peppero to give to their lovers, teachers, classmates, coworkers, and pets.
The date was chosen because November is the eleventh month of the year. The numerical date for November 11th (11/11) resembles four Peppero sticks. Shop windows are decorated with hearts and "Give Peppero to the special people in your life" signs.
In Japan, a similar Pocky Day was held on November 11 in 1999, which was the 11th year of the Heisei era. The date, 11/11 of the 11th year, resembled 6 sticks of Pocky. According to Korean sources this day was based on the Peppero Day.
The Peppero phenomenon certainly worked as a marketing ploy, in the lead up to the 11th the shops were full of it and as we traveled around Seoul on Saturday (the 11th) there were people all over the place with massive amounts of Peppero. But what amazed me was that it is supposed to signifying growing tall and tin like a Peppero yet is such a fattening snack! I guess as long as the chocolate makers are rolling in the proceeds they don’t see the irony behind it.
A meal worth having!!!
After saying I'm going to blog the present I'm going to take you back over a week to last Friday (03/11/2006)
Having promised to take Kat for Galbi since she arrived I arranged to meet with Caroline after Kat finished work and head to a Galbi restaurant - Galbi is probably my favourite traditional Korean food.
Galbi is a traditional Korean dish usually of seasoned Pork or Beef that is cooked BBQ style at your table. You eat it by wrapping a small piece of meat in a lettuce leaf and adding seasoning as desired. You are usually given a tiny bowl of salt mixed with soy sauce, some hot red pepper paste (you get this everywhere), and garlic along with other side dishes depending on the restaurant..
But all was not as it seemed.... Having the now familiar ordering problem (no pictures) and the Koreans not understanding what we said when we asked for Galbi (despite saying it the same way the Koreans do!) we ended up with some kind of pork, but not seasoned like normal Galbi! It was still good and we soon polished off a plate, but whilst we were eating Katrina and Caroline spied something that looked good on a nearby table. From my seat I couldn't see what it was, but they assured me it looked good: "Like crispy pork of beef, from the Chinese," Kat said. I agreed that I liked the sound of it so we pointed to the table and asked for some of that.
Five minutes later the waitress, looking worried, appeared with a plate of uncooked meat in a red sauce. She paused, before she putting on our grill, as if to ask if we were still sure we wanted it. She scraped the meat onto the grill and began spreading it out. Dumbstruck, Kat, Caroline and I looked at each other before anyone dared to speak: "Is that what it looks like," I asked? Sure enough it was; we had just ordered a portion of chickens feet! Euuuaaaggghhhhh!! After much hilarity taking pictures of each other posing with a chickens foot in our chopsticks we realsied we had to at least eat some of it.
I don't look impressed at what has just arrived at our table!
I really didn't want to eat one but knew that if i didn't I would forever wish I has tried one. Caroline being brave went first and reported back on the taste. "It's fine'" was about all she could manage. Next Kat managed to get one down without being too grossed out. Then it was my turn. I picked up a small one in my chopsticks trying not to think about what it was. The longer I looked at it and thought about it the less chance I had of actually eating it! Quickly I put it in my mouth and began chewing, and chewing, and chewing, and chewing. The taste was fine, it didn't really taste of anything and the sauce was really spicy so that was the only thing you could really taste. Bit it was really chewy, kind of like eating gristle. Eventually I swallowed it and can now say I have eaten chicken feet! Yuck!
Kat makes rude gestures with a chickens foot!!
VIDEO: http://www.mediamax.com/j150vsc/Hosted/DSCF2977.AVI A video of Caroline eating a chickens foot.
After eating just four between us we sent them away and decided we needed something tasty to finish up with. Getting out the phrase book and pointing to Galbi we managed to give Kat her first taste of proper Galbi, and mighty fine it was too...especially after chickens feet!!
The following morning I woke up after dreaming about eating chickens feet. Then as I realsied I had actually eaten them the night before, I felt sick. Speaking to Caroline and Kat they both had similar experiences of being more grossed out the following morning than at the time!!!
At least we can say we tried. And it’s one random food to tick off the list and remember never to eat again!!!
Skip to the end .......
Well the present.
Having spent ages catching up on blogging from early last month what is happening in the present is being rapidly forgotten. So I have decided to skip a few blogs and go back to them (if I get chance) at a later date.
I got mega behind after moving to my new apartment in the middle of October - it's like a royal palace compare to my last apartment! But in typical Korean style it was filthy when I moved in, so I spent a week cleaning in preparation for Katrina's arrival. Then, of course, Katrina arrived and I spent the next week showing her around and making sure she knew how to get places. Thus the blogging got a bit forgotten. But hey I' back now! So regular updates from now on.
Note to self: To do:
Andong temple
Wedding
Kimpo trip
Give me Candy
Written on 31/10/2006.
Well I really must update you on what has been happening in Korea over the last month. I promised myself tonight was the night and I would at least finish off blogging Andong. But it's not going to happen!
Today has been exhausting! Very long, very hard work and I am way to tired to try and recall information from the depths of my weary mind. So instead here is more about today.
Being the 31st of October the school celebrated Halloween. Halloween is not normally celebrated in Korea, but the Hogwons (private English schools) celebrate it because they seem to think Halloween is American!!
They also seem to have slightly missed the point of Halloween with all the kids turning up in fancy dress but only a few of them as witches etc. Today just seemed to be about giving the kids as much 'candy' as possible.
For those of you not familiar with the origins of Halloween here is what I found on Wikipedia, click this link for more information.
Halloween originated as a Pagan festival among the Celts of Irelandand the British Isles, with Irish, Scots and other immigrants transporting versions of the tradition to North America in the 19th century.
According to what can be reconstructed of the beliefs of the ancient Celts, the bright half of the year ended around November 1 or on a Moon-phase near that date, a day referred to in modern Gaelic as Samhain ("Sow-in" or alternatively "Sa-ven", meaning: End of the Summer). After the adoption of the Roman calendar with its fixed months, the date began to be celebrated independently of the Moon's phases.
As October 31st is the last day of the bright half of the year, the next day also meant the beginning of Winter, which the Celts often associated with human death, and with the slaughter of livestock to provide meat for the coming Winter. The Celts also believed that on October 31, the boundary separating the dead from the living became blurred. There is a rich and unusual myth system at work here; the spirit world, the residence of the "Sídhe," as well as of the dead, was accessible through burial mounds. These mounds opened at two times during the year, Samhain and Beltane, making the beginning and end of Summer highly spiritually resonant.
The Celts' survival during the cold harsh winters depended on the prophecies of their priests and priestesses (Druids), and the accurate prediction of how much food would be needed to sustain the people before the next harvest. They believed that the presence of spirits would aid in the ability to make predictions about the coming year.
The exact customs observed in each Celtic region differ, but they generally involved the lighting of bonfires and the reinforcement of boundaries, across which malicious spirits might be prevented from crossing and threatening the community.
Like most observances around this season, warmth and comfort were emphasized, indulgence was not. Stores of preserved food were needed to last through the winter, not for parties.
Onto today.
I arrived at the school wearing as much black make-up as possible - a fairly normal occurrence from me, and the one occasion when Kat couldn't moan about it! (I am regretting it now as I sit in this PC room with massive black bags under my eyes!) All of the kindergarten kids were looking adorable in their costumes although I'm not sure the two Spiderman’s, the princess or the bunny rabbit had completely got the point of Halloween! My first lesson was supposed to be a normal storybook lesson but knowing that the kids were going to be wildly excited about the impending Halloween party I had already prepared plenty of Halloween themed colouring to keep them quiet for forty minutes!
The so-called party began with the kids being preened and positioned and made to pose for pictures (photos below). Each individual child, then each class, had their hair put in the right place, their costume and hands molded into the correct position before a perfectly posed photo was taken.
The Koreans spend ages carefully constructing the appearance of each photo, but the children don't appear to be told to smile. So the result of their efforts is a photo of a perfectly posed but miserable looking child. I'd be pretty annoyed after being told I was having a party then spending ages waiting to have my photo taken, having my arm moved five times, a hat stuck on my head and my clothing needlessly adjusted!
L to R: Amy and Brian
L to R: Cindy and Eric. (I think these two are brother and sister).
L to R: Jack and Jane.
L to R: Jim and Josh.
Josh is fast becoming my favourite student. He's just so cute and incredably bright!
L to R: Paul and Kandy.
L to R: Phil and Rebecca.
These are probably two of my least favourite students, just because they play up in class the most.
L to R: sarah and Irene. Sarah had to win the award for cutest looking child of the day.
Alex.
It took until lunchtime for the photos to be taken. Then I was ushered out of the classroom as the kids sat down to their usual Korean lunch.
After lunch the party got into full swing. The kids were lined up in teams and told to jump down to a table and pick some 'candy' off a try with their teeth. I guess it was their version of apple bobbing! Some amusing moments ensued as the kids buried their faces in candy desperately trying to pick it up with their teeth whilst their frantic efforts spilt candy all over the floor. Every time the slightest bit was spilt the Korean teachers leapt forward with a brush to sweep it all up! Me, I just stood watching and taking photographs!
Jane and Phil bob for candy.
After the game it was time for me to dress as a witch - well don a hat and a broomstick. Each of the kids had to come to me say: "Trick or treat," and I had to give them a handful of candy.
I'm still not sure if it was a compliment or an insult that I was the one chosen to dress as a witch especially as none of the Korean teachers had made the slightest effort.
I then got a half hour break - not long enough to go out and buy lunch - before it was time to prepare for the afternoon lessons. Having been told yesterday that there was no time for games Katrina had abandoned her 'pin the fangs on Dracula' idea. That was until they decided today that actually there was time fore games and why hadn't we prepared anything?!!
We decided the easiest way to make the game would be to enlarge a picture of Dracula on the photocopier and colour him in. This worked, eventually! After what felt like hundreds of attempts at enlarging the picture, only for it to be in the wrong place on the photocopier and the page to emerge blank, we managed to get two sheets that we could stick together. The fangs proved another challenge. We needed something we could stick to paper without it ripping. Easy you may say, use bluetac - but Korea doesn't have bluetac! Luckily the crayons we coloured it in with were greasy enough to stop celotope ripping the paper! Result - one pin the fangs on Dracula game for use with ages eight to 11.
Now the real work began. Once again I donned my witch costume but this time I didn't feel quite so silly as Katrina was also dressed up - and had even borrowed my black eye shadow! But once again none of the Korean teachers had made any effort at all.
The children arrived in three shifts. 3:00pm, 4:00pm and 5:00pm. The first lot was the youngest and they were made to get up in front of everyone and recite the book, or sing the song they'd learnt in class. Then one child from each class was chosen to participate in our mega fun pin the fangs on Dracula game. The children seemed to enjoy the game, laughing merrily as they pinned the fangs on in some ridiculous places.
Katrina helps one of the children play Dracula.
We then went round and gave each kid some candy before they sat down for a, kind of, indoor picnic, gorging themselves on sweets and biscuits brought from home. All this whilst my stomach was madly rumbling after not having time for lunch! Luckily some of the kids took pity on me offering the odd morsel to see me through the afternoon. And later the slice of Pizza from the older kids and Sushi from the teachers quelled my appetite.
The rest of the day followed pretty much the same pattern and for some reason was absolutely exhausting! By the time it came to leave all I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and sleep. The last thing I needed was an argument with my boss - but that's another story...!
Watching the Hahoe Pyolshin-gut T'al-Nori
After boring you with information about the Hahoe Pyolshin-gut T'al-Nori ot Hahoe maskdance drama it is time to get back to real life and our experiences of watching it and possibly one of the most embarrassing moments of my life!!!
Because we had watched Malaysia we had managed to get some good seats for what turned out to be an incredibly popular performance. Slowly the arena began to fill up, even the steps to get back to the top of the theatre were packed with Koreans eagerly awaiting the performance. This made my all-to-regular trips to the toilet something of an adventure. The Koreans stare enough anyway, you can't help wondering what they are thinking as you clumsily pick you way up the steps trying not to stand on anyone!
We had heard so much about Hahoe maskdance drama we already had a good idea about the gist of the story. Once again this was a good thing as we couldn't understand any of the dialogue!
Basically a butcher cuts of a bulls testicle and tries to sell it to an aristocrat and a scholar. Then the aristocrat and the scholar fight over it, before an old woman ridicules them for fighting and then .... the play ends!!
In the first act a man appeared with a woman on his shoulders. According to the Click Asia website this act is more or a sacrificial service than a play. The website said:
In this act, a young lady (or bride depending on which website you look at!) (Kakshi) appears, dancing on the shoulders of another performer and asks people to make offerings for their blessing and wealth.
Kakshi is believed to be the personified local goddess, so she must not tread on the ground, but must always stay on the shoulders of a man.
By welcoming Kakshi, the villagers please the goddess and pray for peace and an abundant harvest.
The woman under that costume was tiny!
Them came Act two where two Lions (or totem beasts) fought with one claiming victory. According to the Click Asia website:
A male and female Chuji (lion or toem beat) appear, dancing and playfully fighting. The female lion wins, promising the village high productivity and an abundant harvest for the year.
Then Ch'oraengi (the meddler) enters, chases the Chujis away, and dances alone. This act sanctifies the place where the play is to be performed by driving away demons and evil spirits.
After these two slightly random acts the performance kicked off. As we settled down, as best we could on concrete, to watch a traditional Korean play but to mine and Emily's shock, after all the place was packed with kids, act three began with a bull walking onto the stage shooting water (supposed to represent pee) from what could be clearly identified as his ..... errhumm .... you know what! In my state of shock I unashamedly spent ages trying to line up the photo below to show 'it' in its full glory - if you know what I mean?!
At a show full of kids!! Only in Korea!
It wasn't long before the bull had peed on everyone in the front of the audience and he was due to meet his demise at the hands of Paekchong the butcher.
The bull is soon to meet his maker as Paekchong lunges at him with an axe.
Paekchong offers the bulls testicle to the audience.
The Click Asia website says of this act:
A butcher (Paekchong) enters with a straw bag containing an axe and a knife. He dances with the bull, then kills it with his axe and cuts out its heart and testicles. He asks the spectators to buy them. When it thunders, he gets frightened and exits. The act satirises the authoritative attitudes of the ruling class toward sexual life, removing the sexual taboo.
This causes the spectators to laugh, and the butcher wins their sympathy.
It certainly had us giggling but more from shock at the blatant nature and use of the bull’s private parts, then the violent and barbaric way the bull was killed!!! I can't help but compare things like this to what you'd get away with in the UK, I'm pretty sure with kids in the auditorium neither would have been allowed!
Next Halmi (the old widow) appeared on stage with a hand loom. (act four)
Halmi and her hand loom.
After speaking and weaving for a while she got out a pot and asked a man in the audience for some money, he declined but she stood in front of him patiently waiting until someone else put some money in her pot forcing him to put his hand in his pocket.
Soon loads of people in the audience were offering money, but I don't think the performers were prepared for what followed! A barrage of children, who wanted their five minutes of glory, putting 1,000 won (about 0.60GBP) in the pot, came running onto stage. After a few minutes the kids were still coming and the audience and the band erupted into laughter. Halmi, in jest, sat on the floor and let it continue for a few minutes. Then as she tried to resume her dancing and script yet more eager children legged it on to the stage prompting the band to start playing and the act (at least appear) to be cut short!!!
Halmi asks an unwilling man for money.
The children just kept coming and coming.
The hilarity caused by the children put a light spin on what is supposed to be a fairly serious act about the conflicts between social classes. Click Asia says:
An old widow (Halmi) appears with a white scarf around her head and carrying a hand loom. The granny became widowed only three days after her wedding at the age of fourteen.
She weaves for a little while, then gets up and dances alone, bewailing her ill-fortune and begging the spectators for donations.
The mask of Halmi reveals the poverty and visage of a woman of the world.
The act symbolizes the conflicts between social classes and the pain of life for the common people.
The next act (act five) seemed innocent whilst watching and not having a clue what was going on, but reading up on it now I realise it was actually well.... a bit wrong!!! I am having problems getting over the fact that there were sooo many children watching this play who, unlike us, were able to understand exactly what was going on!
I found a website with detailed information about the play. It can be found here. According to this website:
Pune (the flirtatious woman) appears performing a dance, looks around making sure that nobody is nearby, squats down and then relieves herself. At that moment a wandering monk (Chung) watches her urinate, and is aroused by the sight. He dances with her then runs away with her on his back and is seen by Ch'oraengi.
This act criticizes religious corruption of the day.
Pune: In this picture she almost looks sweet and innocent!
After being blissfully unaware of what was actually happening in the last act, Pune and her antics left the stage and Imae the fool came on stage and danced for a bit, looking joyful and drunk.
Imae looking pretty happy.
Following Imae's dance there was a bit of a break in proceedings as he appeared to be asking for someone to come up on stage. Not having a clue what was being said Emily and I took this opportunity to look around the theatre and realised it had filled up even more during the performance. Spotting two other westerners in the front row and realising the four of us we were probably the only westerners in the place I took some pictures to document just how surrounded by Koreans we were.
We were sat in the middle, this was the view of the audience firstly from my right then left.
We returned our attention to the play and realised after much persuasion Imae had got a Korean woman up on the stage. Remembering our experience earlier in the day of being projected onto the big screen and all the Koreans turning to stare Emily and I both commented on how incredibly awful it would be to be in that poor woman’s position right now: "But at least she was Korean." As soon as the words left our lips the spotlight was suddenly shining in our faces. The Korean woman who had been coxed onto the stage explained that Imae wanted us to join them. The terrifying realisation dawned that he had asked for a Korean who spoke English and one of us was going to have to subject ourselves to the braying crowd. I sat with that spotlight in may face for far too long refusing to move but there was no way they going to give up and leave us in peace. Emily snatched the camera: "You go," she said, "I'll take pictures." What choice did I have, shaking with embarrassment I began to pick my way through the mass of Koreans and onto the stage.
As I reached the bottom it became clear that Emily wasn't about to get off that lightly, I was told: "Your friend too!" I turned, facing into the crowd and the hundreds of cameras taking my picture, and waved Emily into the stage. Determined not to subject herself to the same ordeal she resisted claiming she needed to take pictures. Luckily for me a Korean man stepped into the photographer role giving Emily no choice but begin the long and intimidating walk towards the stage where there was no escape from the constant flashing of Korean cameras. I guess the flashing of the cameras must be something like walking up the red carpet on Oscars night, but without the adoration of the fans, just hundreds Koreans who seem to have never seen a white person before!
We safely made it to the stage turned our back to the crowd and waited for the ordeal to end. Imae and his English speaking Korean assistant got an Australian girl (one of the other westerners in the audience) out of the crowd to join us and his line up was complete. After asking for names and where we were from he turned to me looking at my lip ring and asked (in Korean): "Does that thing in your lip hurt?" At which point it was time to crawl under the stage and wait for everyone to go home - Koreans don't do piercings!
Then as if we hadn't been humiliated enough already it was time for the final assault. We had to dance with him!!! Not being one for dancing at the best of times, feeling red-raced with embarrassment and shaking with fear was not going to be the best time to show-off my skills. But what choice did I have, the assembled crowd of hundreds was already roaring with laughter and clicking away on their cameras it couldn't really get any worse!
We show off our dancing skills.
When the dancing was over we were rewarded for our efforts, each being given a mask necklace. (Emily and I had been eyeing them up two nights before when they were being given to Koreans as competition prizes. At the time we thought out inability to speak the language we ruin our chances of getting on, as it happened it was out foreignness that earned us one!)
The whole experience suddenly seemed much less scary and much more worth while as we left the stage knowing it was over! We had our mementos and a story that would entertain a few people, along with the memory of the time we had to dance in front of hundreds of Koreans roaring with laughter, that would undoubtedly stay with us forever!!!!
My mask necklace is placed around my neck as I am rewarded for my humiliation!
Slowly recovering our composure, we sat back in our seats and enjoyed the rest of the performance.
Act six was the final act of the play and where all the action seemed to happen, the website I linked to earlier explains it as:
An aristocrat (Yangban) and a scholar (Sonbi) appear and each takes pride in his knowledge and status.
Paekchong approaches the pair, asking them to buy the testicles of the bull. At first they think it would be indecent, but they then quarrel with each other about buying them when the butcher says the testicles strengthen their sexual energies.
The granny (Halmi) enters again and criticiss their behavior with humor and satire, and then helps reconcile their differences. Ch'oraengi joins them, and all of them dance joyfully. When they are told that a tax collector is coming, they all scatter around and exit in a panic.
This act allows the ruling classes to reconsider their real place in society while the lower classes let off a little steam. The act is intended to alleviate conflicts between classes.
I am guessing this is where Yangban and Sonbi take pride in their knowledge and status.
They fight over the bull’s testicle.
Halmi ridicules them.
After watching the play everyone was invited down onto the stage to meet the performers and have a dance. The Koreans flocked to the stage in their droves. Obviously dancing with them is quite an honor - I wish it had felt like that at the time! As the man who took our photos made his way to the stage he tried to persuade us to join him, but having had quite enough embarrassment and being stared at for one day and nursing a banging headache we decided it was time to head home.
