The One thing you need to know before moving to Korea

*Disclaimer*: I began writing this piece a few months ago when I started to make new friends who seemed to be more my speed and with whom I could have long-lasting relationships while in Korea.  After speaking to a friend who is leaving in the next couple of months, I felt like this was something that should be shared.

People are disposable.  You may have experienced this back home by using Tinder or any online dating website/ app, but truly: people are disposable.  I discovered this to some degree back in Vancouver having used Plenty Of Fish on occasion, and in Toronto on Tinder.  You meet someone, they're great, but you could probably do just a little bit better.  You have no mutual friends with this person, so if you brush them off you really owe them nothing and if you behave less than admirably - who's going to know?  While you're rationalizing to yourself, the guy or girl sitting across from you is thinking the exact same thing.  Fortunately, you can always fall back on your network of friends - a highly curated group of beautiful, talented individuals with whom you have tons in common.

Flash forward to Korea.  Everyone has a degree and everyone is from one of a selected few Native English-speaking countries (Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, or South Africa).  You're new here and are automatically sorted into one of two groups: "Wanderlust" or "LBH".  

"LBH" stands for: "Loser Back Home" - the kind of individual who has trouble making friends back in their home country, and even more trouble finding a career (a job beyond "Barista with a Degree").  They do tend to make friends here often out of necessity, but more often than not they're guys in their mid-twenties who have never had a girlfriend and seek to be the novelty foreigner on a hot Asian girl's arm.

"Wanderlust" is the name I've coined for the other category based on the number of tattoos with this little word in as many fonts as I can name on English Teachers and Travel Bloggers alike.  These people have an insatiable thirst for worldly knowledge.  Their ultimate best friends are the wanderlust guilt (love you, miss you Mom and Dad!) and their well-stamped passport.  Outgoing and friendly, they make new pals very easily and cultivate fun, intellectual, entertaining relationships.  Many of these people have had satisfying and impressive careers back home, but ultimately have given them up to traverse the globe.

That's the thing - the wanderlust people (well, we wanderlust people) are used to making sacrifices.  With these sacrifices comes a certain comfort over time and ease of picking up and leaving.  I've lived in several places thus far, leaving Toronto for Italy, Italy for Toronto, Toronto for Kingston, Kingston for Port Hope, Port Hope for Vancouver, Vancouver for Toronto, Toronto for Atlanta, Atlanta for Toronto, and Toronto for Korea.  Each time I leave it becomes easier to turn off the painful sense of going away, preferring to simply remember the good times I've had and the great things I've learned from all the wonderful people I've been fortunate enough to meet.  This also makes it very easy to find a new shiny friend and neglect important "classic" relationships.

In any situation that employs a large number of expats and immigrants (that's right folks - I'm both!) there's an opportunity to get welcomed (or stuck!) into a foreigner community.  Because this community is in a bubble, there's more opportunity for drama to occur and with that comes a lot of hurt feelings.  When we create immediately strong bonds with new people in our community we often forget about the people who made us feel so comfortable and special when we first arrived (the classics, if you will).  They become disposable, and in turn so will we be.  Most people that come to Korea from one of the aforementioned countries only stays for a year or two.  Three years and you're pushing it.  Beyond 3, you're a lifer.  With all of these people coming and going in the revolving door of recruitment it's tough forming real attachments knowing the person may leave before you, or that you'll be jet-setting elsewhere before they're finished their contract.

It's important to cultivate new relationships, but make sure to put in the work on your old ones (remember - the classics).  You never know when someone with whom you swiped right might get bored and decide to un-match.  In our digital society time is fleeting and everyone is disposable - even you.

When your friends leave Korea

Well, it happened.  Much earlier than I had anticipated, way earlier than I'd hoped, and so much earlier than I'm ready to understand.  It was bound to happen.  I had read many articles about it.  Most foreigner friends don't plan on staying in Korea for more than a couple of years, if that.  I just didn't expect my closest friend in Busan (in my neighbourhood, no less) to be leaving for good in 5 days.

So this (^^^) was my first my reaction when my confidante, cheerleader, and co-captain told me she was THINKING of leaving.  I can completely understand.  I won't go into detail on Hagwon horror stories, but I do encourage you to look them up if you're thinking of teaching here.  The Facebook groups are also a good way to see the dark side of working here.  I've been REALLY lucky and am really happy, but that's not always the case.  Vet your recruiter and the employer thoroughly before your arrival.

(This is how all of Hwammy feels about your news, by the way...)

My sad food isn't even good.  I went and got pasta (my go-to when I'm upset).  Tortellini isn't a thing here (too much expensive beef or cheese, I suppose) so I settled for "Cream Chicken Pasta".  I think the chicken may, in fact, have been creamed because the pieces were TINY.  The sauce was pathetic.  I tossed it in Pepper, Chili Flakes, and Frank's Red Hot to make it palatable.  

I'd like to go ahead and place the blame on Mercury in Retrograde: "Mercury Retrograde or Mercury in Retrograde started Monday, May 18, according to astrologers, and doesn't end until June 11. Astrologers who believe that planetary positions affect our everyday lives see Mercury in Retrograde as one of the few times a year when the planet Mercury rotates at a slower-than-usual pace, giving it the illusion that it's moving backwards. This backward-seeming illusion has its parallel in our lives, they say, creating problems in communication, travel and even technology, hence its reputation as the planetary troublemaker.

"Mercury in retrograde has became the default explanation of what’s wrong with our world," writes oneastrology debunker. "Don’t start a new job. Don’t close a deal. Avoid traveling. Don’t buy anything. Interestingly, Mercury’s retrograde is an illusion. This optical trick is a perfect metaphor for what astrology does to our brains: It gives order to a seemingly random universe. That doesn’t meant it’s real, however.""

I don't know if I'll feel this way when each friend finishes their contract and leaves, but if it doesn't get easier then this is going to be a brutal run.

I'll miss you.

xox

Haeundae Beach Holi Hai 2015

Last weekend we celebrated Sunday Funday at a Festival called "Holi" down at the famous Haeundae Beach in Busan, South Korea! 

"Holi (pronunciation: /ˈhoʊliː/; Sanskrit: होली Holī) is a spring festival, also known as the festival of colours or the festival of love.^[3][4] It is an ancient Hindu religious festival which has become popular with non-Hindus in many parts of South Asia, as well as people of other communities outside Asia.^[5]

The festival has, in recent times, spread to parts of Europe and North America as a spring celebration of love, frolic, and colours.^[6][7][8]

Holi celebrations start with a Holika bonfire on the night before Holi where people gather, sing and dance. The next morning is a free-for-all carnival of colours,^[5] where participants play, chase and colour each other with dry powder and coloured water, with some carrying water guns and coloured water-filled balloons for their water fight. Anyone and everyone is fair game, friend or stranger, rich or poor, man or woman, children and elders. The frolic and fight with colours occurs in the open streets, open parks, outside temples and buildings. Groups carry drums and musical instruments, go from place to place, sing and dance. People visit family, friends and foes to throw colours on each other, laugh and chit-chat, then share Holi delicacies, food and drinks.

Holi is celebrated at the approach of vernal equinox,^[5] on the Phalguna Purnima (Full Moon). The festival date varies every year, per the Hindu calendar, and typically comes in March, sometimes February in the Gregorian Calendar. The festival signifies the victory of good over evil, the arrival of spring, end of winter, and for many a festive day to meet others, play and laugh, forget and forgive, and repair ruptured relationships.^[5][12][13]"

We arrived at Haeundae Beach around 10 AM and decided to go ahead and register formally for the festival.  For KRW 10,000 we received a Holi cap, a bag of coloured powder, a soda, and 2 delicious samosas!  I had been craving some Indian spices and this was a great (albeit unconventional) breakfast we enjoyed wearing shorts and a t-shirt while sitting on the beach.  Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I was enjoying beach time mid-March!

At noon the festivities truly began, and after some Makgeoli we headed over to the area where we would be throwing the powder.  There was a countdown then boom - colour everywhere!  

I was very glad to have my sunglasses on because the powder went everywhere: down my shirt, in my hair, in my mouth (I had green teeth for a bit...), and could have well gone in my eyes.  The vibe was like an outdoor club - EDM playing, people dancing, and everyone having fun.  I was nervous to head home on the subway after the event (I had coloured powder and sand all over my clothes), but I had strength in numbers as a friend of mine from Hwamyeong was heading into the subway at the same time as me so it was nice to have a friend on the ride home.

Taking Chances

Google Image Search has made it easy to travel the world in the comfort of your own home safely behind a keyboard.  It's also increased my list of desired travel destinations drastically.  Having traveled to Sasang (an area of Busan where the intercity bus terminal is located) a few times I decided to check out the list of available buses.  There was, of course, Seoul (I believe that's 8 hours on a bus - I'd much rather take the 5 hour "slow train" that I can catch near my apartment in Hwamyeong), Gimhae (I hear they have outlets there - once I get paid you better believe I'll be blogging about that, baby), Daegu, Masan, Changwon, and Jinhae (where next weekend we'll be checking out the Cherry Blossom Festival!),  Knowing that Changwon, Masan, and Jinhae are a trio of cities west of Busan, I decided to check out some of the Temples on the list, and after looking up Ssanggyesa Temple I knew it was one I would have to see.

I organized a trip for a few of us girls (several of whom worked late Friday night and slept in Saturday morning...sad!), so K and I made the trek on our own.  There are several ways to get to the Temple from Busan.  The website says that you can only get from Sasang to Ssanggyesa direct at 1 PM or 4 PM.  That is simply not the case.  We took the 10 AM bus from Sasang (Busan) heading to Hadong, but it appears we could have stayed on the bus and continued along to Ssanggyesa just fine.  I had found some blogs talking about the wild green tea fields of Hadong, and I wanted to check them out and go to the Cultural Museum.  

 














Upon arrival in Hadong, after a 2 hour trip, we were surprised to see a small, dark bus terminal with just 1 ticket booth.  Our bus from Hadong to Ssanggyesa wouldn't leave for over an hour, so I figured we could go try to find this Cultural Museum in what really just seemed like a one-horse town.  I was really worried the trip would be a bust and we would have wasted our entire Saturday, but K was positive that things would either turn up or we'd have a story of survival in rural Korea.

After sussing out the village a bit we had our concerns, but with one turn we ended up on a street lined with fruit and vegetable vendors, and with another turn - a fish market!  I'm always amazed looking at live eels wriggling around in tanks (and plastic basins, in this case), and we also saw individually wrapped octopus.  I'm not a huge seafood fan, but it was a pretty interesting sight to behold.

Hearing English is unusual, especially in rural areas of Korea, so when a group of girls beckoned us over to their fried banana stand we had a chat.  Turns out they were from Manila (shout out to Rey!) and wanted to know where we were from (keep in mind that other than the Filipina ladies we were the only foreigners within what I would assume to be a very large radius so we stuck out).  We decided to grab a couple photos, a banana, and figured we'd ask about the cultural museum.  We were told to grab a taxi (at an alleged cost of approximately KRW 15,000), but it wouldn't have been enough time to get back to the bus.

With quite a while still to spare we wandered along the one major road.  This is what we saw.  Please understand my concern for the remainder of the afternoon:

This concern was completely unfounded.  Once we hopped aboard the bus to Sanggyesa (a bus that stopped numerous times along the way to allow hikers to get to various paths, and which ended up going to the Hadong Market as well as the Cultural Museum and Green Tea spots for which we had been looking!), a street lined with cherry blossoms came into view and my anxiety was released completely.  Halfway through the 50 minute bus ride, sparse and wild green tea came into view, followed by more developed fields - the kind I was so hoping to see!

The lush, green, sprawling landscapes were exactly what we had been missing living in the city.  We finally got the overwhelming feeling of: "Wow - I'm living in Korea now".  Since K and I came to Korea around the same time (almost to the date in late February) we got to experience this awesome feeling and the amazing sensation that we're on a wild adventure that a lot of other people will never even consider experiencing.

After a long stop in traffic we were told that it was the last stop - everybody out.  We were on the side of the road quite unsure of where to go next.  As luck would have it, there was a Ranger station in the opposite direction of the Temple (we're smart...) but the Rangers spoke English and told us it would be a 10 minute walk across the bridge and up to the Temple.  From where we were standing it just seemed like a random collection of assorted convenience stores, a restaurant, and a bus stop.  We crossed the bridge and headed up the winding ramp of a roadway leading to a finer selection of restaurants, but still no Temple in sight.  Tucked away beyond the restaurants and beside a small brook, the ticket area to the Temple was found.  Tickets were KRW 2,200 each - a bargain for what we were about to see.

K's awesome selfie skills (no selfie stick required) captured our excitement - after 2 long bus trips, and some questionable Korean-speaking skills by yours truly, we made it!!

The walk up to the entrance to the temple was short but fairly steep.  It was a bit muggy out and considering I had popped on a maxi-dress under my sweater (for modesty purposes - we were, after all, visiting a Temple) I had a bit of a sweat going on.  Even though the walk up is a short one I would definitely suggest wearing running shoes as some of the stairs can be quite steep to get up and down and there's not much in the way of hand rails anywhere.

For those who haven't researched the Temple, Wikipedia says:

"Ssanggyesa (Korean: 쌍계사) is a head temple of the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. It is located on the southern slopes ofJirisan, southwest of sacred Samshin-bong Peak, in the Hwagye-dong Valley of Hwagae-myeon, Hadong County, in the province of Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea.

The temple was founded in 722 by two disciples of Uisang named Sambeop and Daebi. It is said that they were guided to the location by a Jiri-sanshin in the form of a tiger, after being instructed by him in dreams to look for a site where arrowroot flowers blossomed through the snow. They had travelled China for study, and returned with the skull of and a portrait of "Yukcho" (Hui-neng, the Sixth Patriarch of Seon [Zen] Buddhism) which they respectively buried under the Main Hall and enshrined in it (the skull was later dug up and enshrined in a stone pagoda, which is still there).

In the 9th century the temple was renamed "Ssanggyesa" (Twin-Streams Monastery) by Jingam (Meditaition-Master Jin-gam-seonsa, 774-850). He is also credited with creation of Beompae (Korean-style Buddhist music & dance) after having studied Chinese Buddhist music in Tang Dynasty China. He composed "Eosan" [Fish Mountain] with paleumryul [eight tones and rhythms] while watching fish swim in the nearby Seomjin-gang River, and therefore the spacious lecture-pavilion still dedicated to Beompae performance and education at the front of Ssanggye-sa is named Palyeong-ru. A stele dedicated to Jingam-seonsa and written by Choi Chi-won still stands in the temple; it is designated Republic of Korea National Treasure 47.

Most of the rest of the temple dates to the 17th century or thereafter, because all its buildings were burned to the ground by Japanese invaders during the Seven Year War."

I found the musical aspect particularly interesting, and in my photos you'll see some of the statues of Gods holding instruments.  The Temple grounds were enormous - you can actually walk an 8.8 KM hike to the peak, but sadly we didn't have enough time.

It was tough to take a bad photo at this Temple, so get ready for a ton of them - these are only a selected "few".

As you can see, there were many different areas to check out.  My favourite, however, was Buddha Hall where various Koreans went to pay respects and to pray.  I was ecstatic to finally see the golden statues I had researched online, and even happier so see the Buddha carved in stone.  What a day.

After buying a souvenir (some power beads - yes, I do remember the early 2000's- these ones even had a little dangle of the snake and the rabbit - K's and my birth years) we headed back down the hill to the bus stop.  The bus was scheduled to leave at 4:10 - it didn't even arrive until at least 4:35, so don't take the website at face value since only one of our buses actually left on time yesterday.  We returned to Sasang at 8:30 and actually managed to go home, shower, change, and head back out for a friend's going away party.  No adventures today, just a trip to the park and some sweet dreams about an incredible Temple experience yesterday.