Author: Margherita Medri

I have an excuse for my lack of blogging. I haven’t really done anything, but work, for the past month. It seems that anything worth doing has been planned on the exact day I have a Saturday class and therefore rules me out. It wasn’t until this past weekend that I realized how out of touch I have been. There haven’t been any festivals or celebrations lately, which also keeps one inside. It has definitely gotten colder too, so I think the Koreans are starting to hibernate. It is not as cold as New Jersey, but it’s enough that people are starting to pull out their winter wear and show concern for my health and sanity because I don’t wear long-sleeved sweaters everyday. The cold isn’t quite as bothersome for a New Jerseyan. I haven’t felt the need to use the ondol (floor heating) just yet. Some of my Californian friends have been using theirs for over a month now. I did test it out this weekend though, to make sure it worked before I found it absolutely necessary. It’s a semi-slow process. The floor becomes a patchy hot and cold checkerboard, and I didn’t leave it on long enough for it to really start making a difference in the room.

Oh you know what I did actually do was go to a Fly to the Sky concert. That would be old school k-pop if you’re  not familiar. I went with a couple hardcore fans/friends and they were having a blast. I just wanted to get in some kind of concert before the end of the year and I actually knew about this band so it worked out well. It was entertaining. There were the choreographed dances and exaggerated emotional ballads, but it was cool. The audience had glowing wand things that they were waving about like one would do with a lighter in the 80s. They had chants to go along with the songs and they did the unnecessary screaming I expected. What was unexpected was the ban on photography. There were people running around the entire time telling people to put away the cameras. Of course we still managed a few photos and videos, but it required great stealth.

These are two of the better picture I managed to get from the nosebleed seats. Even though Brian Joo (the blonde one) is Korean American, and from Jersey!, he didn’t say anything in English, so I was lost during most of their conversations with the audience, but the humor still came across. It was all fun though. Definitely go to a k-pop concert if you have the opportunity. Well that is all I have for now. 

Well then…until next time.

I have learned that hiking is basically Korea’s number one past time. Or at least it’s Gwangju’s. My apartment faces a mountain, more of a baby mountain (still not a hill) but still a mountain, but there are constantly people walking by in full out hiking attire. Of course, hiking attire seems to be acceptable anytime. It’s like the fashion forward athletic gear akin to yoga pants in the US. And this isn’t hiking clothes like in the US either, it’s bright colors, hats and a Korean version of hiking pants I’ve never encountered before. (Note: I did not take the below photo, but it is exactly what you’ll see.)

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Either way they love to hike and I have gone hiking several times now. First I went with a coworker from my main school. She was decked out in the full hiking gear, minus the sticks, but still she looked ready to brave the wilds for a week. I wore running shorts which was apparently weird. We hiked Geumdang Mountain, which is the one my apartment faces. It took about an hour and a half. So not bad. We ended at the Pungam Reservoir and went for a walk around it before heading to lunch. The reservoir was rather low though because apparently it’s a low rain season. I have since hiked the path a few more times.

The second place I went hiking was Mudeung Mountain. This is a legitimate mountain. I was invited to go hiking by another coworker from my main school on National Foundation Day, which basically like Independence Day, and a day off from work. So we left at 7:00 am, which is really early. When we got there, people were already there and some were even finishing their hike, which is insanely early. You see, the trail we did takes five hours to ascend and descend. This was my first real hike I would say. I’ve done nothing like it before. It was difficult enough to necessitate the hiking sticks. Without these I assure you I probably would have died tumbling down the mountain. My coworker and his wife didn’t know English, so they brought their daughter along to translate and enjoy the hike. She had only hiked Mudeung once before a very long time ago, and thus was not ready for what was in store for us. I don’t think I was ready either to be honest. My coworker and his wife hike the trail EVERY weekend. He didn’t even break out the walking sticks for a while. Meanwhile I was using them from step one.

While the mountain is about 1,200 meters to the top we got to the 900 meter summit and then made out way down again. It was really cold and windy at the top and I was glad to have packed a jacket, and worn hiking pants I had managed to get for free at a swap meet. I have to say it was all worth it through. The sights were absolutely beautiful and I would like to do it again…maybe next year. I was sore for a solid four days after the hike. I like to think it’s a testament to the difficulty of the mountain rather than how out of shape I am. At least my coworker passed on the word of how intrepid a hiker I am. It’s more like I’m very competitive and wasn’t ready to admit defeat. When I got home after a much needed lunch, I passed out for three hours.

And those are my hiking stories.

Other things I have been up too include festivals.

A couple weeks ago I attended the International Kimchi Festival, conveniently located in Gwangju. Ok, I do not go crazy over kimchi. I can only take the smallest amount of spice, but it was a social gathering and i needed to get out of the house. It was actually quite fun though. There was music and dancing and awful contest for foreigners to be the best at singing and dancing to Korean songs. I felt bad for the butchering that occurred. My friends decided they wanted to do the brief kimchi making class, so I was the only one that decided I did not need the lifetime supply of kimchi you end up with and opted for taking pictures of everyone in their orange aprons and bandannas. Of course, the woman doing the teaching couldn’t leave me out and gave me the kimchi she made while showing everyone the steps. So now I have a big bowl of kimchi in my fridge and no hope of finishing it in the next millennium. At some point I will donate it to the people at work. Perhaps I’ll take a stab at making kimchi pancakes.

The other festival that I went to was the Chungjang Festival. This is a festival on the mainstreet (Chungjang-ro) of downtown Gwangju and is huge. It is a celebration of 70s and 80s culture. They erected a massive stage that showcased some notable k-pop bands/singers as well as some other shows. One day there was even a parade. There were other small stages set up around the area as well. They had dancers, singers, and even a group of Native Americans from Ecuador that played “Let It Be” on Native American instruments. They seemed pretty popular though. There street artists as well and tons and tons of food. This was absolutely huge and lasted for five days. I went on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Saturday and Sunday I needed to rest, and it also rained, so I opted out. I ran into so many students. In the middle of a crowd I’d here “Teacher! Hiiiiii!” Then in school the next day “I saw you!” So that was fun. It was also a lot of walking so I really just needed to relax this weekend and did some basic shopping and apartment organizing. Oh and of course what is becoming a weekly music lesson from my landlady who is randomly teaching me ukulele even though I wanted to learn piano, but oh well.

So there you have it, what will probably be my post for the next three weeks.

So I wrote this about two weeks ago and forgot to post it. So here you go…
So in between all of the madness of building a life in Korea, I have done some exploring. I have to say that my neighborhood, Pungam-dong is quite nice and suits me quite well. It has the necessities like grocery stores and shops along with a giant outlet mall by the World Cup Stadium that I only just had a chance to truly roam around.

Of course, there is something that the downtown area will bring me out of my quaint little neighborhood: the cat cafe and the dog cafe. Yes it is real and it is amazing. Mind you, the cat cafe could probably use a bath in bleach because it is quite obvious that the male cats spray their territory, but they have kittens and it’s worth it. There was a Scottish Fold kitten that just decided my lap was its new home and I would have stolen him if I didn’t have conscience.

The dog cafe was definitely less smelly, but the dogs weren’t all as friendly. I don’t know if they had something against foreigners who couldn’t coo at them in Korean, but they would just tease you as they walked by but wouldn’t commit to any long term relationships. If you’re interested in the pricing of these establishments: the cat cafe has an admission fee of about $5.00 and then drinks are only $2.00 while the dog cafe does not have an admission fee but has higher priced drinks probably around $4.00 and up depending on what you get. Either way these places will be acquiring a good portion of my pay check.

Downtown is also host to about three billion cafes as well as shops and movie theaters. There really is a lot to do in Gwangju and I’m enjoying it so far.

During Chuseok, which is essentially the Korean Thanksgiving we had off three days from school, which is a fantastic thing when you are just moving in and want to get to know the area. I know a lot of people went somewhere, but I opted to stay because of the heavy traffic due to the holiday and a lack of money to do something with. (Note when you come to teach in Korea, you do not get paid immediately and unless you want to pay the international fees of credit/debit cards, the money you bring with you is what you have until you get paid.) So I roamed around and got to know the area a bit more. Basically I nested and tried to get basic necessities and wish lists for a time when money is more available.

My landlord and lady also took me to take photos one day because we share the hobby. My landlord has a fancy giant Canon that puts my little Nikon 5100 to shame. Some day once again I’ll add the photos.