Spring Fever

The last few days on the island have felt like anything but spring. I was sure we were in Seattle, with the 40-degree weather and constant rain and drizzle. Luckily, things turned around today. It was actually the first time the sun had been out in 4 days. Apparently, this threw Derek off, because I woke up this morning to him shaking me telling me we over slept. I looked at my phone and saw it said 5:50 a.m. and couldn’t understand why he woke me up an hour early.

When we left for school it was beautiful and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We’ve wanted to go look at the Cherry Blossoms for the past 4 days, but obviously with the horrible weather we haven’t gotten a chance. So we made plans today to go look at the Cherry Blossoms after school. My co-teacher gave us directions, and after school we finally went to see them. As we walked up the hill, we passed a huge temple we didn’t even know was on the island. As we passed the temple and went up a second hill we immediately realized what the big deal was about.

It was beautiful. The trees lined both sides of the street and with the afternoon light it was stunning. We followed the road around and found the “North Gate” of the old fortress that was built on the island. We went for a short walk past the gate and a nice Korean man pointed down to a resting point where we could get spring water. Then we decided to make our way back to town.

Although it didn’t take long, it was a great way to spend the afternoon. And, we got some much-needed Vitamin D after the long and gloomy week. We are going camping this weekend on an island south of Incheon. It’s supposed to be great weather (low 60s) so we’ll have a new blog post up in a couple of days, hopefully with some funny stories and great pictures!

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Again, sorry we’ve been so bad about updating the blog! We have an exciting couple of weeks planned so hopefully we will have some interesting blog posts ahead.

A couple of weeks ago, the entire Incheon group planned a trip to Seoul for the annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Apparently, this has been the coldest spring in thirty years and by the beginning of April there were still no flowers, or anything green for that matter. We wondered how they were going to have a Cherry Blossom Festival without any flowers, but went ahead with our plans. Of course the festival was cancelled but we still wanted to see this park and figured there would be some Cherry Blossoms to see.

We arrived on Yeouido Island, on a gray but actually somewhat warm (50 degrees I think) Saturday. As we predicted, there wasn’t anything blooming or green. So we decided to go look at the park on the Han River. While exploring the riverfront we could see Seoul Tower, the 63 Building (once the tallest building in Korea) and the entire skyline of Seoul. It was very pretty even with the gloomy day. We spotted a place where we could rent bikes. Having nothing else to do we paid the whopping 3 bucks for an hour long bike ride along the Han River. It was a nice bike ride, with the river on one side and the 63 building and other skyscrapers on the other. We actually spotted 15 Cherry Blossom trees too. Unfortunately, we only paid for an hour so our trip was over quicker than we wanted.

After the bike ride we were starving and hopped in a cab for the short ride across the river to the Yongsan District of Seoul. There is a huge electronics department store Derek had been dying to check out but first we had to eat. We ate in the food court and they had a variety of food from traditional Korean to burgers. I of course went straight for the pasta with all the cheese I could get!

We made our way into the electronics department store and it was like Best Buy on steroids. It was actually overwhelming. It was seven levels of electronics from DSLR Cameras, TVs, video games and cell phones to hairdryers and curling irons. I wanted a new DSLR camera, but was just too overwhelmed to make a decision. One of our friends bought a Playstation and some video games and I could see the wheels turning in Derek’s head. Instead we bought a game for our Korean Wii which ended up not even working.

We finally decided it was time to head home but on our way out I saw the most beautiful sight! At the bottom of the electronics store was a real department store and the bright lights of the Clinique counter were calling my name! I immediately went straight to the counter, picked out my makeup and checked out. The woman was very nice, and actually gave me several samples of different products. The price was about the same too. Yongsan quickly became my new favorite area of Seoul!

Sofa City

So this won't be a long post but we wanted to post pictures of the apartment now that we have furniture!

As you know we didn't have furniture when we first moved in. And since a couch isn't in our contract we didn't receive much to fill up our spacious apartment. We've been sitting on a mat that is supposed to be used for "Korean style" bedding and have been looking forward to getting a couch. I asked my co-teacher at the beginning of last week thinking that it would take several weeks to actually purchase and get the couch. My co-teacher immediately stopped what he was doing and helped me order a couch online and paid for it himself and said I could pay him once we got the couch. It came yesterday and we were so excited! It's nothing big, but for just the two of us and the price we can't complain!

The apartment actually feels kind of homey now. So here are some pictures of the living room, the main bedroom and the "guest" bedroom. We have another bedroom but use it as a laundry drying area since we don't have a dryer. Everything else looks the same as the pictures we first posted. Oh and I am watching Friends! They have it on the Korean cable network!

Ain't No Mountain High Enough

A couple weeks ago the lady who drives Beth to school on Thursdays offered to show us around the island and take us hiking, so on a bright Sunday afternoon we hopped in the car with her and her husband and son. The 15-year old obviously was not happy about spending his day with us. He slouched in the back seat and his parents said he is very angry and held up devil horns. Well this should be fun.

They showed us Guindol, the great dolmen that’s famous here, a large stone structure that was built some thousands of years ago. Turns out the island is famous for these dolmens and has around 150 total on the island. The one pictured below is the biggest.

They took us up Bongchun Mountain, a pretty good hike (we were struggling by half way up, but luckily they packed water and snacks), and from the top you can see North Korea. That part was kind of surreal, staring at this oppressed and isolated land, being able to view a small North Korean town just across the Han River.

From the peak you could also see all of Ganghwa - our apartments looming in the distance and the city and plumes of smoke rising from farmers burning the stubble and straw on the ubiquitous rice fields. We took the easy way down the mountain with stairs and a rope. We passed several mounds of rocks that are called prayer rocks. The structure at the top of the mountain is a religious monument built during the Joseon Dynasty (1392 – 1897) so there are many religious structures around the mountain.

After the hike, they showed us the waterfront in Oepori, a part of the island where crab boats were docked and you can catch a ferry to the other small islands to the west.

They took us to dinner and then back to their apartment for coffee and tea, and there they decided that we should hang out with them more and they grabbed a calendar and began planning more excursions for us. We politely declined the next couple of weekends, explaining that we already had plans with friends. But, we set a date for a couple of weeks later, and again are going hiking with their family. This time we are hiking up Mt. Manisan (1628 feet above sea level), which is the tallest mountain on the island. Apparently there are two trails up the mountain—one for experienced hikers and one for average hikers. Let’s hope they pick the latter.

Doctor, Doctor, Give Me The News

So, this blog post is coming a little late, but better late than never! As you can tell from the title, Derek and I have both been sick. Of course he was sick for three days and I am still getting over whatever I had two and half weeks later!

I started feeling sick in the middle of the week about two weeks ago. Derek and our usual group of friends went to Seoul for the weekend and I stayed at home to try and rest. By Monday Derek and I both had full-blown colds. We went into work, not wanting to call in, I mean we had only been here a month. My co-teacher immediately asked why I didn’t go to the hospital. I told him I didn’t have my insurance card yet and figured it was just a cold and it’s not serious enough for the hospital. He insisted he take me to the hospital after all of our classes were done at two.

I didn’t want to go to the hospital to have a Korean doctor laugh at me and say I have a cold. But I didn’t feel like arguing with my co-teacher either. At two we walked to the hospital. Turns out what he called a hospital was really just a two-story doctor’s office. If we were back home, I wouldn’t have even walked near the place. The outside looked old and dingy with dead vines crawling up the building. I am sure it is probably nice looking during the summer with ivy or flowers growing up the side of the building but during winter it just looked scary. We walked in to a small waiting room. Again, it was dingy and there were medical books scattered on random bookcases and stands. The blood pressure machine was in the middle of the waiting room and looked just like the one I use to play on at Food World while Mom was checking out. Still, I sat down and smiled while my co-teacher talked to the receptionist and I assume took care of whatever paperwork needed to be done.

We waited about five minutes until I heard someone call my name, well she said “Elizabess.” Close enough. It was a small room right off the waiting room, and it had a completely different feel than the doctor’s office back home. It wasn’t a sterile white room, there was no bed with paper I could draw on, or jars of tongue compressors and cotton swabs. It was just a room, with a shady looking bed, desk and computer. She sat down at the desk and I sat on a little stool in front of her. My co-teacher told her all of my symptoms in Korean and she nodded and then sent him outside. She actually spoke English well and asked what my symptoms were. I told her I had a fever, sore throat, stuffy nose and head/body aches. She took my temperature then listened to my breathing and that was it. She stood up, said to put on my jacket and went and got my co-teacher.

He was already standing in line at the receptionist desk. He spoke to her in Korean, told me to give him 6,000 won (about $5.25 or something) and said we can go. Then he said I have to drink hot water several times a day. Seriously? I just went to the doctor to be told I have to drink hot water three times a day? I was completely embarrassed and was sure my co-teacher thought I was a hypochondriac. We start walking towards another building and he said we were going to the pharmacy to get my medicine. Really? I actually have something? We walk in and he handed a slip I didn’t know he had to the Pharmacist. I sat for about two minutes and then she came back with a bag I can’t read and a plain plastic bottle full of pink liquid. My co-teacher told me I have to take all the pills in the individual packet three times a day along with the syrup-looking thing. That’s cool, but what do I have? He then said to give him 3,000 won for the medicine and to take one packet of pills now. Again, that’s cool, but what do I have?

Then he says I should go home and rest, and he will see me tomorrow. And that was it. 9,000 won and thirty minutes later I was at the apartment laying down completely confused. I had no idea what I was taking or what I had. Derek came home about an hour later with pretty much the exact same experience. His packet of drugs looked the same as mine only he didn’t have the same pills or any pink syrup. The only pill we had in common was a Tylenol ER, which we looked up and found out that just means Tylenol Extended Release. None of the other pills had anything on them and we still don’t know what we took.

Overall I can’t complain much. I wish I knew what I had, or what I took. But for 9,000 won and only thirty minutes of my day wasted how can I?

Here are two pictures that I took of the medicine. One is just of the medicine and one is of the bag that the pills came in. I have no idea what it says, hope I’m not releasing personal info all over the Internet but here they are…