Pre-Koristmas

I think a lot of who I am as a person (as opposed to what, Dom?) can be attributed to my somewhat uncommon upbringing.  When you look at it ; born in England to Scottish/Irish parents, soon moving to Malta before hopping around between Dubai and Bahrain a few times and finally settling in Canada- it becomes very apparent that my family has become used to a very transient lifestyle.  Each one of the Fegan kids went to boarding school at one point in their youth as it provided a sense of stability and opportunity among the surreal elements of ex-pat living.  Thus, "coming home for the holidays" was something that we all looked forward to as a family, something we craved, something we didn't take for granted as we knew that it would only be a short time before we would be split up again.  I think this has a lot to do with our family dynamic.  Nowadays, I am in South Korea, Roisin is in Switzerland, Mairead is moving to London to be with her husband Andrew who is working at the Olympics, and Matt and Heather have settled in Halifax, a short drive from Mum and Dad in St. Margaret's Bay.  Day to day, I'm certainly not consumed by longing for my family, it's become a feeling I am used to and I sometimes forget to acknowledge it. But, this year will mark the first year that our family won't be together for the holidays and it makes it that much harder when you live in a country that doesn't share that warm and fuzzy feeling towards Christmas.  And to think, all it took was watching Macauley Culkin in Home Alone for me to come to this sublime realization.

Soju Bottle Christmas Tree

Now that the start of my blog sounds like a Coldplay song, I'll fill you in on what we have been up to recently.  With our trip to Vietnam booked, we realized that our weekends in Korea were limited so we had to try and pack in as much as we could before Louise leaves on February 1st.  Last weekend we took a bus to the city of Gwangju.  Since it is pretty far away from Daegu, by the time we arrived in the city we could only manage to squeeze in a visit to the art museum and then watch TinTin at the movie theatre before attempting to find a local "love motel".  These places are all over Korea, you really only need to look up to find the glow of the neon and you will have found a place to stay.  It is very hit and miss though.  Judging by the fact that some of them rent rooms by the hour, you can get a sense of their intended use for a few of their patrons.  But alas, the one we found in Gwangju was nothing fancy: no spinning beds or mirrors on the ceilings and served as our shelter for the evening.  Rising early, we took a bus to Boseong which is the area known for its green tea plantations.

Boseong Green Tea

Since Louise worked at David's Tea in Canada, she has a real interest in seeing where some of their products come from and the methods used to grow and produce their teas.  The perfect rows of bushes hugged the landscape and climbed up precarious slopes.  You could picture them using the same methods of growth and harvest hundreds of years ago and could sense the tradition surrounding the area.  After walking around the plantations and buying some green tea powder, we went in for a taste of their product.  Being close to the ocean, the tea tasted quite salty to me, although I had just had a bag of salt and vinegar chips so that might have had something to do with it.  Louise, the real expert, confirmed my sentiments and we came away very satisfied with our experience.  I thought to myself; "if only I could take a bath in a large cup of green tea... that would probably be really good for my skin!" And lo and behold, the next town we visited had just that; a bathhouse with special green tea baths overlooking the ocean.  It was a great end to a weekend that saw a noticeable drop in temperature and our first sights of snow while driving to Gwangju.  It was also here, that I decided to partake in some personal upkeep and trim my nipple hair.  So, after inspecting in the mirror and coming away satisfied, I got the thumbs up from two old Korean men that were rubbing their nipples and pointing at me. This was followed by uproarious laughter from the other gentlemen bathing at that time.  Great, I thought I had been very inconspicuous about it but I guess not.  Needless to say, the concept of "manscaping" is one that hasn't really penetrated into South Korea just yet.

Merry Christmas!

Gearing up for the "Holiday Season" has been rather eye-opening.  The stores put on sales, there are lights on the trees downtown, coffee shops have their Christmas drinks on offer, and many teachers are planning Christmas lessons as an excuse to sing carols and draw reindeer under the pretense that the kids are learning.  All sounds pretty familiar, right? But to be honest, it all seems a bit forced. Christmas isn't about family or giving here and much less about the birth of Jesus Christ.  Asking my co-teacher if she has finished her Christmas shopping, she said that no one really does Christmas shopping here...so why all the banner ads in the store windows? It's weird but it almost seems like they are only doing it because they think people in the Western World celebrate Christmas like this and so they are supposed to too.   Nonetheless, Louise and I have all of our presents wrapped under the tree that we made of empty rice-wine bottles and we have listened to Bing Crosby's Christmas crooning several times already.  Our advent calendar is dwindling and we are gearing up for what we hope to make a special day for the two of us while we are miles away from where we would rather be; solving the Christmas crossword puzzle in front of the fire surrounded by our loved ones.  If only, right?

Thanks for reading, and Merry Christmas folks.
D

Unraveling Traveler

With any job there are good days and bad days.  November has come and gone and just as was prescribed when we embarked on this journey, the honeymoon moments are becoming fewer and farther between. We have come to terms with our reality and surpassed the stage where everything is new, shiny and exciting.  There are fleeting moments where we just wish we were home, gearing up for the Christmas season and surrounded by friends and family.  But it's not going to happen.  You just have to give yourself a good shake and come back to reality.  It's only then that you realize that you've been staring blankly at your computer screen or stopped in the middle of repeating "my mother likes to make sandwiches" for the fifth time to a grade 6 class.  Mildly sexist textbook curricula aside, one blessing I have is coming home to Louise who still sees this country (and most things in life) through rose coloured glasses.  She is there to pick me up on the frustrating days of being a glorified tape recorder or when I just can't get my head around why they leave every single window and door open throughout the school in the dead of winter.  (Apparently it is to "change the air" so the kids don't get sick....)

But alas, this blog is not intended to be an outlet for all of my life's frustrations but rather as a means to communicate to the world all of the adventures and misadventures that have come my way.  I live for the weekend and the job allows me to do that.  This blog will mostly revolve around two separate trips I took to Busan, a city just south of Daegu on the coast (about 40 minutes by KTX train).  On my way back from the Gyeongju field-trip a few weeks ago, my friend Maurice and I decided to venture to Busan to meet up with friends and catch the last night of the International Fireworks Festival.  Everything was hunky-dory until we stepped off the train in the city and were met with heaving crowds in the subway stations, all vying for spots to the Hyundae and Gwangali beaches where they could watch the show.  The military police had been employed to keep order in the stations but mostly to ensure that as many people were crammed into each carriage as was physically possible, pushing hard on their backs just as the doors closed.  Limbs seemed an afterthought.

Busan from Above

Arriving at the correct Subway station, Maurice and I stepped out into the pouring rain.  Great.  We had made the trip and now we weren't even sure if the fireworks would go ahead.  But we started the walk towards the waterfront along with thousands of other people, trying to ignore the street vendors.  Every alleyway was a sea of hoisted umbrellas.  After giving up the effort to meet our friends in the crowd, we staked out a spot on the street and waited for the show to get underway.  When it finally did, it was definitely worth it.  Even in the rain and and a partially obscured view through the branches of some trees, the spectacle blew me away.  It went on for about 45 minutes, each section bigger and brighter than the last and all set to music.  There is something special about fireworks that is unlike anything else.  Fireworks haven't really changed drastically since they were invented, yet mention that there is gong to be a show and the people will show up en masse.  They appeal to people of all ages.  For the young, they incite wonder and awe, for the old; they give a taste of simpler times.  Even in today's technology driven society, we are able to stop everything for those few moments to watch some exploding bright lights in the sky.  It's so simple, yet awesome.

Our second trip to Busan was just this past weekend.  Louise and I seized the opportunity to head down on Saturday morning since I had a soccer game the next day against Busan (3-0 win for Daegu Devils!).  Without a specific plan in mind, we picked up a tourist map and decided there and then that we would check out Yongdusan Park and Busan Tower to get a bird's-eye-view of the city, a large port and trading hub.  It was a clear day so it afforded us a great view of the water on one side and the mountains on the other with a sprawling city-scape below us.  From there, we went to the largest fresh fish market in Korea which was right by the water.  We took in the sights and sounds often with mouths gaping open. The vendors were set up on either side of two large rows. Cold fresh water flowed over all of the fresh seafood, which seemed to reduce that fishy smell that I had been dreading on the walk over.  We had never even seen pictures of some of the stuff they were selling.  There were things moving and crawling out of their baskets that we didn't think were even remotely sentient. If something delicious (or suspicious) caught your eye, the vendor would grab it out of the basket and behead it, shuck it, skin it, gut it or descale it right there and then in front of your eye with lightning quick efficiency.  They have probably been doing this their whole life, so their technique had become second nature.  They were easily able to carry on a conversation with their neighbouring stall or eye up their next customer (or victim) all the while passing a razor sharp blade down the length of an eel. What many people tend to do is take their purchases right upstairs where a series of restaurants will prepare a meal for you;  Sashimi style or BBQ, whatever your taste-buds call for.

Jagalchi Fish
 Market

After that, we headed to the Busan Museum of Modern Art for a change of pace to check out the free exhibit, walked along the coast to the famous Haeundae Beach and found a Thai restaurant which proved it's worth and left us satisfied. Having been to the city before (but mostly at night) I knew that the buzzing night-life was mostly around the Kyungsung University area so we took the subway over to try and find a bar to watch the soccer game at - Newcastle vs Man Utd.  We reserved spots at a hostel that I had found online and settled down with a beer.  When the game was over (great 1-1 result for NUFC) , we hailed a cab and attempted to explain to the driver where the hostel was.  No one seemed to have heard of it and they were unwilling to trust the GPS map I was showing them on my iPhone which showed exactly where the hostel was.  it was a frustrating end to a great day but we eventually found the hostel which was weirdly in a large apartment building with no sign or clue as to where it was located.  But alas, we found it eventually and settled down for a few hours sleep.  We awoke at 6:30 am to hike up to the cliffs of the nearby park to watch the sunrise off the coast.  It was a really awesome experience as the waves crashed on the rocks below us and ships crawled across the bay, more and more becoming visible as the light increased.

Our most recent news will surely lead to a host of other blogposts as we just booked a 2 week holiday to Vietnam in January.  We are both really stoked to take on another country, get off the beaten path and live by the seat of our pants for a little while!  My blog recently passed its 1000th hit which I think is quite an accomplishment!  I swear it's not me just hitting refresh over and over again... but I really appreciate that people are taking the time to read up on my travels. Hope all is well with you.

D