Hwaseong – The Fortress we thought we'd never find

One thing I'm learning about Korea is it's a very small world of foreigners. It's amazing what happens when you tell someone you're in Korea and they say 'Oh, I know someone who's there, or I'm going there too..'. Come to find out a guy who I went to Chapman University with and who's also from Portland just moved to Korea about 2 weeks before I did. He messaged me on facebook and we decided to make plans to meet up and go visit Hwaseong Fortress in Suwon. Well, needless to say this was a bit risky as neither of us have cell phones yet. So, we decided to meet up at a specific Subway stop and go from there. It took me about 45 minutes to get to this particular stop. I decided to sit in the main waiting area and play 'spot the foreigner' to find him. 30 minutes later, no sign of Eric anywhere. Well shoot I'm thinking to myself I came all this way for nothing. I decided to go on a quick walk around the city and then return to the subway station. I came back and still no sign of him. I decided to just throw in the towel and head back home, but as I was headed to my subway line there he was sitting right in front of the exit area. He had been waiting the entire time I was there so we think we must have just missed each other. Now that we found each other it was time to figure out where this fortress actually was.

We weren't really sure where to go, but decided to just start walking in the direction we thought and look for food along the way as we were absolutely starving. Well of course when you're hungry you can't find food anywhere. We were getting really frustrated at this point, but luckily we kept walking and finally found a small Korean restaurant to eat at. Luckily, I had eaten at a similar restaurant previously with one of my co-workers so I knew how to order 2 things off the menu. Felt pretty cool ordering in Korean for the first time by myself.

After we ate we had to keep walking to try and find the fortress. We stumbled upon this awesome area that was basically a big market place. Lots of street vendors selling all sorts of random stuff and lots of activity and people. P.S. There are people EVERYWHERE in Korea. So many people it's ridiculous! We came upon this traffic circle and in the middle was a walled in mini temple thing that had construction stuff going on all around it. We were thoroughly disappointed and saying to each other 'this cannot be it...we came all this way to see a traffic circle sized temple under construction'. We decided to keep trekking along, because according to my guidebook this fortress was supposed to be extremely long and have tall stone walls and be totally awesome.

 There are people and cars everywhere...all the time!

 Entrance to a big open marketplace area.

Finally we arrived and it was definitely worth the journey. 

We had to walk for a while around the wall to find an entrance.  Hwaseong is over 5 kilometers in length and the wall averages nine meters high. 

These lookouts were all along the fortress wall.

There are buildings, houses, a road, and much more within the walls of the fortress.

This is another pavilion area along the fortress.

Looking out from inside one of the command posts.  Kind of cool to think about the soldiers in the fortress years and years ago who would spend there days looking out to see if any enemies were approaching.  Hwaseong Fortress was building in 1794 to give you a time frame.

It's hard to see but there's an outline of a cool looking temple atop the mountain. 

There is beautiful artwork and design inside the lookouts and pavilions.  The colors are really beautiful.

It's really crazy to look at an old fortress tower and behind it see numerous high rise buildings and in front see large buses. 

Say 'Kimchi'!  This was one of the larger pavilion areas.

Haha, some old Korean guy was walking around with his dogs.  Pinky and Orangey...their ears and tails are literally died those colors.  Seems like animal abuse to me.

More cool artwork on the sides of the towers.

Another picture of the mountaintop pagoda.

Hwaseong Fortress was designated a World Heritage site in 1997 and is undergoing some renovation.

Coming home, I decided based on a map in Korean that it would be faster for me to take a bus home versus the subway, because the subway route was very out of the way. It took a bit of time, and luckily there was a bit of English on the bus route sign that said 2 different buses would be heading to my city (Bundang). I had no idea where it would drop me off and the bus system is mostly in Korean and when they saw the stops it's all in Korean. So I decided to just hop on and see what would happen. I asked the bus driver 'Bundang? Bundang?' and after a few times of my terrible Korean accent he nodded his head yes. Well...alright then here I go. Side note – Something I find really humbling is when I ride the subway or the bus and I'm the only foreigner. It's really interesting to feel like the minority and opens your eyes to how many people are treated in America and all over the world. Anyway, so I'm on the bus and it's been about an hour which I assumed it would take roughly that amount of time. So I just started looking around for street signs (which are written in English) and any landmarks or things that might be noticeable about my city. I was sweating bullets the entire time, because I don't have a cell phone and taking taxis isn't easy for me yet. There it was....in all it's glory..a sign that I understood for a subway station in my neighborhood. WOW, I've never felt so happy in my life. I got off and new exactly where I was and had only a few block walk to my apartment. It seems really trivial how excited I got from riding a bus home, but let me tell you it's real difficult..so I gave myself a few pats on the back for that one.

Lesson Learned from today - Perseverance is the key. Just keep going even if you think it's not going to work out.

First week of school!

WOW, quite a whirlwind of a day for me. My first day of teaching at Worwick Institute flew by, but was incredibly exhausting and overly stimulating. The kids, however, were absolutely adorable and so cute. I pretty much was thrown right into the thick of things with no training, or orientation. I arrived about 30 minutes before the kids got there and was given my schedule for the day and the materials I needed to teach. It was kind of sad though because my classroom was so devoid of color and fun unlike all the other classrooms. Basically I ran around like a chicken with my head cutoff just trying to keep up and handle the kids and figure out what I was doing. At the school we teach the kids all sorts of subjects, they are just all in English. So I taught reading, did a science project, did a cooking class, and taught phonics and speaking all in one day. Talk about a 180 from my previous job. I don't have a moment to stop and rest and think at all. I felt so lost and out of it, but thankfully the other foreign teachers were there to help me as much as they could. It's going to take a while for me to get used the process and everything. It's definitely exhausting and that's going to take some getting used to as well. I was given a computer to use at the school, but everything on it is in Korean so that's interesting trying to remember which button I normally clicked to print something on my old computer.

After school was a much better time because I went to have my first traditional Korean food called Galbi. It's where you cook the meat at the table and they bring you a ton of side dishes to eat with it such as kimchi, spicy green onions, garlic, lettuce, onions, etc. So delicious!! I was in heaven after the crazy day I had.

So yummy!!  You just order the meat and all the side dishes are free and you can get as much as you want of them! 

Me and Kelly (Foreign Teacher from Ireland)

Other Foreign Teachers I work with (Angie, Dan and Andy)

I can't say enough how lucky I've been so far with the help and support I've received from the other foreign teachers at the school. They've all been in Korea for longer than a year so they are total veterans. It's so hard, because the most basic things are difficult to do, like go to the grocery store, because the one I need is two bus stops down, but I can't figure out which bus to take...that sort of thing. I'm scared to go the wrong direction somewhere because I have no idea how to get home. I'm in a developed enough area, however, that I'm sure I could find someone that spoke English to help me.

I feel bad and somewhat pathetic because of how much help I need, but I just have to keep telling myself that I've been in Korea for 4 days and they've been here a lot longer. I'm on information overload with how much I've learned in these past few days, but I still feel incredibly lost.

2^nd Teaching Day -

I'm sitting here in my empty apartment sitting on the floor with my mini ironing board as my desk, but don't worry there's a glass of wine right next to me so I'm doing just fine! My second day of teaching was still overwhelming, but definitely went better. I just need a few weeks to get used to everything, but the kids seem to like me at this point that's all I can ask for!

Apparently it's really easy to learn how to read Korean Hangul (the Korean alphabet) so that's my next goal! There are a lot of things in English, but a lot more in Korean, so at least if I could read a bit of it and then use my handy dandy phrase book I will be better off than I am now.

There's so much going on in my head all the time, and there's just so much I want to do and see in Korea that I'm so anxious to get out and do it! More adventures to come :)

Me and Jin (She's my Korean supervisor). Jin is so awesome and she speaks fluent English so she's a big help with just about everything. 

Me and Yuni (she works at the school). Yuni drove me to get cleaning supplies and has helped me with lots of stuff.  She's so nice!

Mia (left), Me and Kelly.  Both are Foreign teachers at my school. Mia has been in Korea for 4 years! She's really awesome and a wealth of knowledge on all things Korean.

This is AK Plaza in Seohyeon which is two subway stops from where I live. It's a huge area of high end shopping, bars, and restaurants.  At night it's all lit up because all buildings have signs all over them.  Everything in Korea is built up. So a building might have a restaurant on the first floor, a clothing store on the second floor, a dentist office on the third floor, and so on.  Very interesting.

This is AK Plaza during the day/early evening.

The clouds were really pretty.

A is for Apartment (I'm teaching the letter A right now in school :) )

Where to start with the apartment. Basically I live in this 3 building high-rise apartment complex called Acrotel. It's really bland and all the hallways and doors, etc. look exactly the same. The coolest part, however, is you don't need a key or card or anything to get in the apartment. It's done with a keypad entry system and password. That is so awesome, because I'm sure in my current state I would forget my keys all the time and trying to get back in to an apartment when the security guard only speaks Korean sounds like a nightmare.

My Apartment!

Cool sitting area outside my apartment.

Cool artwork outside the apartment.

Super boring hallways.  Looks very institutional..hospital like.

Keypad entry!

Pretty nice view from my bedroom.

View #2

Entry way and the living area with sliding doors to separate my bedroom.

Washer in the kitchen!! 

Silverware sets in Korea are spoons and chopsticks.  You have to search for forks and knives. They provided me with this set and cutting board with a few other kitchen things when I first arrived.

My bed with an awesome air conditioner above it, because HELLO HUMIDITY.  It's so humid in Korea it's unreal. I've never sweated so much in my life throughout the entire day.

 

I arrived late on Sunday night, so I didn't get a good look at the apartment, I just saw the bed (which fit me by the way for all of you wondering if the bed would be long enough for me). Side note – I've been told I am very tall many many times since I've arrived, also that I have a BIG Face which is an insult in Korea.....awesome...Big Face White Girl is my new name I guess :) All that was in my apartment when I arrived was a bed frame, a single mattress, and some bedding. Luckily I had brought my own sheet and blanket, because the sheets/supposed 'comforter' they provided are not only baby pink colored, but terrible quality and thin. I put all the sheets, etc. they provided under my sheet to add some extra padding and that seems to work well.

My apartment in Korea is a bit smaller than my old one back home, but I'm used to small so it's no big deal. I have a really cool window and separating doors to make it into an actual bedroom and living room area. I also have a bathroom with an actual shower unit, whereas most Korean bathrooms just have the shower nozzle above the sink and the entire bathroom is your shower. I have a pretty small kitchen with a washing machine in it, but that's an upgrade from home where my washer/dryer were in the basement. Dryer's are not common in Korea, so I have this wall attachment that turns into a clothesline to dry my clothes. I haven't tried the washer yet because all the instructions/buttons are in Korean.

My apartment was pretty dirty when I arrived. I guess it's not normal for them to clean the apartments before a new tenant arrives. So one of the first things I did was buy cleaning supplies and try and deep clean the apartment. It wasn't fun doing all that cleaning, but it was nice because after I started to unpack some of my stuff and start making it feel more like home. Such a difference it makes when you start to unpack and put things the way you like them. Makes it feel more real, more like home.

All in all I'm happy with my apartment, it's close to the school (walking distance), clean (now), and plenty of space for me :)

I may not have furniture but I have wine...all I really need :)

There's a beautiful river/park/walking/biking trail called the Tancheon river that runs all the way from my city to Seoul. 

It's so beautiful because it cuts right through the city and goes under the roads.

Lots of highrises where I live.  I live in Bundang which is one of the most affluent cities in South Korea.

Street signs written in Hangul (Korean alphabet)

“Everyday is a Holiday at Everland”

Let's just say my first full day in Korea was pretty awesome, considering I spent it at Everland theme park the 2^nd happiest place on Earth (next to Disneyland of course :) ). Everland is the largest privately owned amusement park in Korea. It's full of rides, themed villages, a small zoo, parades, musical entertainment, restaurants, a beautiful four-season garden, and the world's tallest vertical drop wooden roller coaster (definitely did not go on that...my stomach dropped out of my butt just from looking at it!). Even though everything in the park is a Korean version of Disneyland, it's still a beautiful park because it's nestled in the hillside of there's trees and flowers everywhere.

Probably the only downside to our day was the ridiculous 3 hour bus ride we took to get to Everland. All weekend and through Tuesday were a national Holiday called Chuseok (see full description below) which causes the worst traffic jams I've ever seen in my life. All the Koreans visit their ancestors' grave sites and therefore traffic does not move in or around those areas. So, obviously, the bus we needed to take to get to Everland had a stop at a cemetery. For the better part of 2 hours we were stuck in completely stopped traffic and managed to go about a half a mile. The best part being we had to stand that entire time, because the buses were so packed. I tried to take it with a grain of salt and realize this is probably the worst bus ride I will have in Korea, so anything after this will be a huge improvement!

We finally arrived at Everland, with about every other ethnicity in the world, except Koreans (they were all celebrating Chuseok). Everland offered a foreigner discount for the park that day, so 1) it was extremely full and 2) there were so many different nationalities, it was crazy, but really cool to see that much diversity.

We rode many rides, saw a few shows, admired all the Asians wearing crazy bunny or animal ears on their heads and the matching couples outfits (this is a big thing in Asia I guess, couples will wear matching outfits...I'm assuming it's mostly the girls' idea).  I remember sitting on one of the rides and just feeling so awesome thinking that I'm on the other side of the world with people I met less than 24 hours ago and how wonderfully freeing it felt.

After many hours walking around we decided to go back home and pass out.  It had been a long long day.  When we got back from the bus we had to take a taxi back to our apartment and it was soooo incredibily cheap.  It was only about $2.80 which would have been about $10 in America.  Pretty awesome!

Welcome to Everland

It was all decorated for Halloween already.

This was the buzzer we received when we got food at the park.  We will page you...IF the food is ready.

Kelly and Andy - two foreign teachers from my school.  They have been so friendly and helpful with everything!!

The character on the right is Pororo the little blue penguin.  Apparently he was created in North Korea, but kids in South Korea love him.  I'm not entirely sure on the dynamic behind that.

Don't they look super thrilled to be working!!  All the employees (cast members) walk around waving both of their hands like spirit fingers, but their expressions are dead.

What you can't see is that we are sweating from head to toe.  It was so humid we were so sticky and sweaty and my hair was getting bigger by the minute.

The flower gardens. 

Holland Village - aka Europe land

Beer - called maek-ju in Korean. Beer here is not good at all, but at this point we didn't care so much. We just wanted a cold cheap drink.

Ridiculous!

Tallest vertical drop wooden roller coaster in the world.  Needless to say I did not ride this!

Korea's version of Mickey and Minnie Mouse....on drugs..

Every girl and guy (forced by their girlfriends) were wearing animal ears.

Don't worry...you can ride a camel in Korea..no big deal.

-Chuseok is celebrated on the 15^th day of the 8^th lunar month (whatever that means), but it's Korea's most important traditional holiday. This holiday is basically the equivalent of Thanksgiving Day in America. It's a celebration of the harvest and thanks for the bounty of the earth. It's also a day for family members to visit their ancestors' grave sites which affirms the importance of bloodline and kinship. The belief in Korea is that the spirits of your ancestors still affect what goes on in the world which is why it's so important to give thanks and provide offerings to them.-