Boryeong Mud Festival

21st July

The mud festival is held annually at Daecheon Beach, Boryeong, on the west coast of Korea. It's only 1hr 15mins on the train from Cheonan.

We arrived and wondered around for a while deciding what to do - there were food stands, cocktails and drinks stands, a "rock" concert going on on the beach, another stage with some "sexy" Korean dancers wearing next to nothing, mud painting, coloured mud painting, stands where you could make mud soap and mud candles... and in the middle of it all were a load of inflatable slides, obstacle courses and mud wrestling.

We got ourselves ready and painted ourselves with mud then we played on the beach for a while waiting for our session to begin on the slides. The beach was lovely but so crowded, I imagine on a normal day when there are fewer people it's really nice. The sea was warm, and it was nice to cool down and have a swim.

Whilst we were in the water we spotted a Korean man walking waist deep in the sea wearing a shirt and trousers! Behind him his entire family were following - fully dressed! Very strange. One man even had a waterproof jacket on!

By the "rock" music stage there was a giant water cannon that sprayed freezing water at the crowd of "ravers" - that was pretty fun. The heavy use of inverted commas is because the rock music was just a cover band singing The White Stripes and Bon Jovi, and the ravers weren't really raving, they were just trying to get wet - the PA system wasn't nearly loud enough.

I liked the mud fest, it was fun and cool to see but I wouldn't go again for the following reasons:

1. It was too busy. We bought a wrist band so we could have unlimited goes on the slides and inflatables but there were so many people there that we queued for 45 minutes to go on one slide then gave up.
2. There were lots of large groups of loud obnoxious Americans who were showing themselves up by being too drunk and too annoying.
3. Somebody stole Ric's flip-flops, and that really pissed us off.

Here's the pics:

Muddy mob.

Some of the slides.

Daecheon beach when we first arrived. Later on you couldn't even see the sand .

Muddied-up. Check out the supercool free visor I got ...

Our First Month

We've been in Korea for a full month now, its gone really fast. Here's 5 of the things we've learnt so far:

1) Koreans work really hard. Whether its kindergarten students who study harder than A level students at home, adults who work 90 hour weeks, or university students who have classes from 8am to 11pm, everyone works hard, and doesn't complain about.

2) The reason for the incredible work ethic is that Korea has had to fight so hard to be where it is today. 60 years ago it was still at war with the Japanese over its independence, a war that went on for centuries. Once it gained independence the country has struggled and fought to compete with China and Japan to be a rich, powerful country. Now Korea has one of the best quality of life ratings in the world - scoring higher than the US!

3) Public displays of affection are frowned upon here. Holding hands is about as far as it goes. If you're caught kissing its very embarrassing for all parties involved. As a result, affection has been outcast as something seedy, and there are plenty of seedy places you can go to get some: "love motels" which charge by the hour, private karaoke bars, private booths in most bars, private cinema rooms, lots of strip bars, massage parlours...

4) I like teaching. I really didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I do. I don't dread going to work in the morning. I think the best bit is that the day goes really fast. My lessons are either 45 or 55 minutes so I'm frequently changing students, classrooms, course books and topic. I work longer hours than I did in the UK but I have more breaks and I'm not just sat at a desk for 8 hours a day staring at the same computer screen.

5) Because Korea is 80% mountains there is very little living space, even though the population is almost 50 million. This means that there's a lot of people in the small amount of living space available,which is why there are so many sky scrapers. There's also very little land left for farming. Consequently, almost all fruit, veg and meat is imported - and is very expensive!

My First Nurey Bang

Nurey Bang is Korean karaoke. Only its not in a bar in front of lots of drunk strangers. You get your own private room, song list and hi-tech karaoke system.

I went expecting to hate it. I can't sing, I know I can't sing, and I take no pleasure in demonstrating this to other people. Much to my surprise, however - I loved it!

I went with Ric, Min our Korean friend, and Marissa - a Candian teacher here. The room was big and had couches, a table and a huge flat screen TV where the lyrics were displayed along with some really random images that had nothing to do with the songs or artists (ABBA S.O.S was accompanied by football highlights from the early 90's!) I was intimidated at first and I definitely didn't want to sing but it was dark and I realised the others weren't amazing singers either (although Ric thinks he is), they were just enjoying themselves.

I plucked up some courage and eased myself into it by doing a duet with Ric, singing a classic piece of quality English music... Yellow Submarine! The thing I don't like about karaoke is the way people take themselves so seriously - as if they're actually doing justice to the song they're butchering. So, not wanting to take myself too seriously, I chose to sing Stan, by Eminem. I thought the irony of a very non-ghetto English girl rapping along to Eminem was hilarious, especially the role reversal of Ric doing the girls parts where Dido comes in on the chorus. At first our fellow karaokers were encouraging, but they're smiles soon disappeared when they started to read the lyrics... I guess the language in the song isn't exactly acceptable in Korean culture, especially when used by a lady. The topic of the song [a guy killing himself and his pregnant girlfriend] didn't go down too well either. Guess I can add that to my list of faux pas.

Ric and Min choosing the next song

The happy Nurey Bangers

Nurey Bang is good fun though, and cheap - it cost us £5 for the private room for an hour, and that was split four ways. I might have to be a little more careful with my song choice next time though!

You're Not My Friend

I was so surprised when I said to a girl in one of my classes "ask your friends" and the entire class responded by saying "nooooo, not friend, little sister". Turns out they weren't all related, she was a year younger than the rest of the class.

Koreans think age is really important. Only people born in the same year as you are considered to be your friends. So even though Stacey and Jenny, my two best friends, are in the same school year as me in England, I couldn't call them my friends because they were born in 87' and I was born in 88'.

They take it so seriously that they have different names for the people older than you, as a sign of respect. I couldn't call Stacey by her name, I would have to call her 'onnee' which translates roughly as 'older sister'. When this was explained to me I assumed it was a formality that was dropped once you know a person well, but no. Even if you're friends with someone for 40 years, see them everyday, you still can't called them by their name. You have use the formal 'older sister', 'older brother'.

To make it even more complicated, the words are different depending on what sex you are:
A girl speaking to an older female would call her 'onnee'.
A girl speaking to an older male would call him 'opa'.
A man speaking to an older female would call her 'nuna'.
And a man speaking to an older male would call him 'hyong'.

It's considered very important and is part of Korean politeness.

The Independence Hall of Korea

The wings that symbolise Korea's freedom and independence

The 24 hours of solid heavy rain on Friday and Saturday marked the beginning of the rainy season here in Korea and even for a Manchester girl it was an impressive amount of rain.

Luckily on Sunday it cleared up enough for us to venture out to the Independence Hall. To get there we took   the 400 bus from Cheonan station, it took half an hour and cost a whole 60p each. I'm loving the cheap public transport here, beats paying £4.50 for a 20 minute bus into town at home!

The Independence Hall is the biggest museum in Korea and is set in acres of gardens with plenty of picnic benches, flowery shaded areas and quiet paths leading into trees and up hills. At the entrance you can hire buggies, tandems and electric scooters - we're definitely going to go back and do that one afternoon! The statue at the entrance is a pair of wings that represents Korea's freedom. 


The museum is spread across 10 different buildings each telling a different part of Korea's fight for independence. It's pretty gruesome, especially the bits about the horrors committed by the Japanese - torture, war crimes, and general awfulness. The main hall boasts the biggest tile roof in Asia (if you're interested).


We didn't see every exhibit as it really is too big and we got tires, but the general impression was that Korea has fought long and hard to get to where it is today. It fought for independence from the Chinese, from the Japanese, and then went to war with North Korea. It seems the country has been fighting for independence since its very beginning. Lucky the English didn't find Korea because we probably would have colonised it too!!

The awkward photo

Coy carp are cool

                                 












     The only really  awkward part of it was when a security guard stopped us and started talking Korean at us and pointing to my camera. I thought he was trying to tell me cameras weren't allowed but when I went to put it in my bag he took it out again. After 5 minutes of puzzled non-conversation he ushered us over to some random rock and took our picture by it. I'm still not quite sure why.


Depressing history and overwhelming size aside, it's a really lovely place to walk around and many of the people there were simply enjoying the scenery and the outdoors. I particularly liked the coy carp that were en masse in a pond by the entrance, and the "flag garden" - 815 Korea flags flying neatly in lines.


The best thing about the Independence Hall is that it's free. Definitely something that can be enjoyed over and over again on our small budget.

Gakwonsa Temple

Today Ric and I visited our first ever Buddhist temple, the Gakwonsa Temple, on the outskirts of Cheonan.

The pond at the bottom of the mountain,
the temple is just visible in the mountains

Getting there was really easy, we took the 24 bus from outside Shinsegae in the center of town and got off at the end of the route. It only took 15minutes on the bus but once we off it felt as if we were hours away from the city. The temple is wonderfully enveloped by mountains so that the skyscrapers and traffic of Cheonan are completely hidden from sight. Instead all you can see are forests and  mountains. A short walk up a rather steep hill lead us to the temple.


The temple is spread over several beautifully decorated buildings, some are ornate shrines and prayer rooms, others were accommodation and study rooms for the monks.


Once we'd entered the main hall, removing our shoes as usual, and sat to take in the beautiful artwork, a monk came in dressed in robes. He began to chant and ring bells and the people around us started praying; they bowed, knelt, placed their heads on the floor and offer up the palms of their hands and then they stood and repeated the ritual over and over. It was very interesting, I've never seen anything like that before. The closest I've ever come to a Buddhist temple is the arch in China Town in Manchester. It was really exciting seeing something so completely new to me.

Me and Ric with our roof tile

The temple is still undergoing reconstruction and people had written messages of peace of the roof tiles that will be used. Me and Ric wrote our own little message and its cool to think that it will be put up in a temple in Korea and will stay there for possibly hundreds of years.

Amita-bul

Just above the temple buildings there is a 15m tall bronze statue of Amita-bul, the Budda of universal light. And then there are 203 steps to go down to get back to the road (I'm glad we chose to go down them and not up!)

At the bottom of the 203 steps

The main hall with the monk chanting

One of the shrines

Cheonan Football Stadium

After our cringeworthy swimming expedition we thought we'd have a look around the rest of the sports complex and see if there were any sports that didn't involve swimming caps and public hair.

The volleyball team is called the Sky Walkers and they have a pretty decent stadium, there were also tennis courts and squash courts. The most important part (for Ric) was of course the football stadium. As we approached we realised that there was absolutely no security and that the gates to the stadium were in fact open! We walked through the stands, past offices and laundry rooms and a kitchen (?) and then found ourselves a gate that opened onto the actual pitch. Now I'd like to point out that this isn't Sunday league I'm talking about, its a professional team with a massive stadium! We even went on the pitch and I had a nice sit down while Ric practiced his diving skills!

More like ballet if you ask me...

Swimming in Korea

Swimming in Korea was the most awkward experience of my entire life. I have never, ever, made so many faux pas in such a short space of time.

On Saturday me and Ric walked half an hour out of town to find ‘Cheonan Sports Complex’ – a huge area containing the city’s football stadium, volleyball stadium and an Olympic swimming pool. We thought it would be nice to go swimming as we went regularly back home.

We were doing well, we’d found the pool, managed to pay (£2.50 for both of us) and were all ready to swim, only when we got into the changing rooms things got weird.

First of all, everybody was naked. People were blow drying their hair – naked, chatting to their pals – naked, talking on the phone – naked, showering – naked, weighing themselves – naked! I had wondered whether it would be possible to get a wax done here in Cheonan – not anymore!!! Korean women definitely favour the natural look!

Once I recovered from the shock of walking in on a 70’s porno I quickly got changed and headed towards the pool, only to be stopped by a naked woman who told me “no cap no swim” and pointed to her head. After getting dressed again, going to reception, going to the swimwear shop and almost making a phone call to the absent shop owner from a Korean pensioner’s mobile, I found a lifeguard who told me “boyfriend two cap” – Ric had found me a swimming cap and was waiting in the pool.

Now I’ve never worn a swimming cap before in my life; nor have I ever tried to squeeze my particularly large head into a condom but I now realise the two are the same. As soon as I started swimming it pinged off and nearly took out a child’s eye.

Swimming cap adjusted, I realised that not only was I the only 6ft tall western woman among the 300 people in the pool, I was also the only woman wearing a bikini. All the other women were much more modestly covered up; costumes, t-shirts and shorts!!! Now that’s embarrassing.

At first I wondered why no one was actually swimming in the pool so big I couldn’t see one side from the other, but I soon learnt that in Korean swimming baths you can only swim for 50 minutes at a time. Then you have to sit at the side and have a rest for ten minutes. Public safety.

Additionally, the water was 50% chlorine 50% bleach, it stung my skin and eyes. The Koreans swim to one end of the lane and then queue at the other before setting off again.

We were both cringing so much that we barely lasted half an hour before getting out and re-entering the chamber of bush to get dressed and run home in shame.

Dressing I made yet another massive blunder. After showering (not naked) I went over to my locker to get dry and dressed again, only once I was there I realised that everything and everyone around me was bone dry – I was the only wet person by the lockers and I was leaving a big puddle everywhere I went. You’re supposed to get naked and dry yourself with everybody else in the communal drying area! Could have been worse though – Ric did exactly the same only he had a group of little children tugging at the towel around his waist and trying to shoo him back into the drying area.

I wont be in any hurry to go swimming again in Korea!!!

My First Week Teaching

I survived my first week teaching! It's Friday and the week has flown by.

My first lesson was on Monday at 10am. I was really nervous - there's so much to remember; my kindergarten classes have 4 books to get through every morning, plus snack time and all the messing around they do. It went well though and so did all my other classes that morning. Every time I made it through a lesson without any massive blunders I got a a real buzz - by lunch time I had to go for a walk to get rid of all the adrenalin!

After that the rest of the week went smoothly and now I feel like I've worked there for ages. The kids are good, most of them are really motivated to learn and they are so bright; my kindergarten are amazing, they're 5 years old and yet I can talk to them as I would talk to a 10 year old English child and they understand everything. I can joke around with them and they joke with me too. It puts the English education system to shame but then again, I think the children in Korea are massively overworked. The older children go to normal school from 8am to 3pm then go to English school (that's my school) for 2-3 hours, then after that they will go to maths school, music school, art school and sports school - some of them don't actually stop studying until 10 o'clock at night.

I think I'm going to enjoy being an English teacher, its a lot more interesting than the job I had proof reading in England before I left, the children keep me on my toes. And it pays double - WINNING! :)

Korean Magic Toilets

I’d heard about these toilets in Asia that sing and dance and do all sorts of tricks, but I wasn’t expecting to see one. I thought they were a myth, or something you only find in the most high-tech areas of Tokyo. But they’re actually quite common here!

We were in Shinsegea, a huge department store in the centre of Cheonan (not actually shopping, just enjoying the air conditioning) and I found the most high-tech of toilets I have ever seen. It had a panel of buttons: some had pictures, the rest written in Korean: heated seat, music, water spray, blow dry and one button with a picture of lightening on it - I didn’t press that one!

I was very excited and wanted to take a picture to show my friends, so I bobbed down and pressed the water spray button, ready with my camera. I was expecting a gentle spray of water from the little pipe that popped out of nowhere – not the raging torrent that came out! The water shot over my head and hit the door behind me, rebounding and soaking all of my back, before rushing down the door like a waterfall and forming a river on the floor which flowed under the door and out into the rest of the room. It wouldn’t stop!!

Soaked and ashamed, I rushed past the queue of people waiting to use my cubicle and ran straight out of the toilets. I sped straight past Ric, telling him to “run!” on my way past and then burst out laughing.

Just as the torrent hit my back

So many buttons!

Mortified, I realised I had left my sunglasses in the cubicle and had to go back and revisit the scene of the crime.