jenifer delemont – Page 9

Halloween in Korea

Holidays are a funny thing. We think of them as being universal, but they really aren’t. Most of our holidays are unique to our country and our culture.

Halloween is a wonderful holiday and I have always loved it, but telling Korean kids (and even my co-workers from England and Australia about it) absolutely made me sound nuts.

My students completely refused to believe that you could knock on a strangers door and get candy. They flat out called me a liar. To them, you would never talk to a stranger. You would never go to a strangers house. And even your parents are not likely to give you candy because they are a very health-conscious culture.

So there I was, trying to defend grown adults wearing costumes, taking candy from strangers, and putting up skulls all over your house.

It made me realize that yes, Halloween does sound crazy from the outside. We’re just so used to some things that we consider normal, and so to us, those things don’t seem bizarre at all. And yet, when you take those things out of context, they can actually seem really strange to others.

I found myself defending my culture a lot. Not in a bad way, exactly, but just in the way that you would expect. Children are curious and they ask a lot of hard questions because they don’t really have social boundaries like adults.

Their questions, however difficult, demanded answers. I did my best to be a good ambassador for my country and my culture, and I hope I proved equal to the task.

A tip for teachers: Going as a witch is fine. But if you teach small children, do not go for a scary costume. My zombie costume wasn’t even that good, and I still made a few little girls cry.

Everland Resort and Amusement Park

Everland is basically the Disneyland of South Korea. In my opinion, the best times to go are spring or fall.

In spring, you can enjoy their beautiful rose garden, as well as huge planters full of every flower you can imagine all over the park.

In fall, they decorate for Halloween and that is a sight to see!

It’s located in the city of Suwon, where I loved from 2010 to 2013.

I went several times because it’s a fantastic way to spend a day. Yes, there are roller coasters and other rides! There are games and prizes.

However, there is also a zoo where you can see anything from bears and moneys to an actual Liger (the world’s largest cat.)

For children, there is a fairy tale land with really wonderful buildings.

There are both Korean and American fairy tales included.

And in October, they really do a great job decorating the place as if it’s a Halloween theme park. South Korea may not celebrate Halloween like we do, but they certainly enjoy the decorations.

Admission is around $50 US (you can get coupons from the tourism agency for 10% or 20% off) and it’s a short shuttle ride from Suwon Station.

Make sure that is you go, you stay for the light parade at night.

If you’re looking for a fun adventure for a day, I highly recommend it!

Teaching in South Korea

I moved to South Korea is 2010, in January. Being from Arizona, I really didn’t know how to handle winter. It was a challenge beyond what I had expected and required all new clothes. I had to learn about waterproof boots, long underwear, and insulated parkas.

The bigger challenge was learning to teach. I did get my International Teaching Certification through TEFL, but I didn’t have any classroom time under my belt except for some volunteer experience at The Thomas J Pappas School for the Homeless when I was in college.

I had to develop incentive programs to ensure maximum participation in class, and I had to figure out how to get the textbook material to come alive for the kids.

Later on, I even got the freedom to develop my own classes. The class I am most proud of was the D&D class. The kids love to play games where they acquire items. So, I was able to use Dungeon and Dragons to teach them new vocabulary while feeling like they were playing a game.

It was hard to adjust to the culture and the job, but I think that I was able to do this very well. That’s why I ended up being offered additional contracts after I completed the first one.

I stayed for three years, and it was a really wonderful three years!

Here is a picture of our little Avalon family (above.)

Seoraksan National Park

There is a place on the northeast coast of South Korea called Seoraksan National Park. It is one of the most beautiful and challenging places that I have ever hiked, and I hope you get the chance to go there some day.

I went with my friends Will and Ash. I only had a weekend, which is not enough to do the whole park. But, I did what I could.

There are some easy activities, like taking the cable car up to the top of one of the peaks, or enjoying tea in one of the temples. We did do those things the first day, but we also did the really hard hike to the Ulsan Bawi mountain on the second day, and then climbed the 888 stairs to the top.

It was a very difficult hike, and it took us most of the second day.

On the trail up to the stairs we came upon a temple, a place to refill out water bottles, and some quirky rock stacks.

The views along the trail are really amazing. I did it in October, which is really the best time of year. It’s cool, and the trees are starting to turn. I went about a week to early to see the best of the colors, but it was the only time I could make it.

The picture above is of Dragon Ridge, which you can see from the Ulsan Bawi trail. However, that is a two-day hike and I didn’t have time for it.

Instead, I did the second-hardest hike in the park.

We stopped halfway up to have a picnic lunch that we brought and play a little frizbie. Will is the kind of kid that likes frizbie. It’s not my thing, but I like to make my friends happy.

Sure, there is a temple to stop at along the way. There are places to get water. It’s a great trail that is well, worn.

However, the air is thin and it’s a long hike.

However, if you get to the top, it’s an amazing feeling.

Don’t go for just one day. The mountains make it very hard to predict what the weather will be like, and there is way too much to see in a day.

Instead, go for a weekend, or even an entire week. It’s a huge park with far more trails than I was able to do, and you can easily spend a week just hiking around.

Here is me with the flag on top of the mountain. Such triumph!

Camping is permitted, but I stayed in the nearby village of Sokcho and took the bus in each day. I didn’t have a tent and all the gear needed to camp since I moved to Korea in suitcases.

No matter how long you go for, try to do one of the hard hikes. I didn’t have time for Dragon Ridge, but I am told it’s amazing as well. It’s really worth it for the views, which on a clear day extend all the way to the East Sea (or outside of Korea; the sea of Japan.)

Work Trip to Nami Island

In South Korea they have a custom where you are expected to go out for meals and drinks with your coworkers, and occasionally take vacations together.

You are supposed to spend a lot of time with your “work family” to build strong relationships.

I didn’t really mind this most of the time, except for the pressure to get really drunk. Some nights my boss kept us out so late that she ended up buying us breakfast and cabs home.

Don’t get me wrong, Jinah (above) was a wonderful boss and I adored her. I haven’t really had a bad boss yet, actually. It’s just that I am a bit old (in my opinion) to get home after sunrise.

Anyway, for one of our work trips we went to Nami island. It seemed like an odd choice, because it’s sort of a love-themed island where people go for dates.

However, at that time, Jinah was falling in love with her then-boyfriend (later husband), and I think she wanted us all to feel it too.

The hearts everywhere were a little weird since we were all walking around as co-workers. But what can you do?

It was a good adventure. I guess the most surprising part was how Koreans travel in groups. We had a two room hotel with one room for the boys, and one for the girls.

We all laid out our mats on the floor and slept together. It’s not weird in Korea, but to an American it was a little unusual.

Overall, it was a fun trip and we saw a lot of cool things. We definitely bonded as co-workers, and I guess that is what it was all about.

If you do go to Korea, I recommend Nami island. It’s a fun little place to spend a weekend.

The Trick Eye Museum

There are a lot of great things to do in Seoul, and one of them is the Trick Eye Museum.

It’s just a bunch of walls painted so you can take pictures with them, but it’s a lot of fun.

It’s best in a group, because some of the walls are better with two or three people in them. But it’s fun to do the ones that are just for one person as well.

Some of them walls have holes in them so you can more easily become part of the picture.

It only takes about an hour to walk through, and it was about $12 to get in.

If you are ever in Seoul, I definitely recommend The Trick Eye Museum.

Tokyo

I love big cities, so of course I had to hop over to Tokyo while I was living in South Korea.

Here are some Geisha (above), who were on their way to perform traditional tea ceremonies at a tea house.

This is from a traditional Shinto cemetery that I stopped at. I enjoy the different death customs from other cultures.

In a Shinto cemetery, they have sticks that knock against each other in the wind because the noise is meant to keep the dead company. I thought that was a nice thought.

This is Uneo Park, which I enjoyed visiting. There is a little zoo there that I saw, and of course, the swan boats were a good time as well.

It was spring, so the park was ringed with cherry trees. I missed the best of the blossoms, but there were still some left.

In my hotel desk drawer, there was a book. In the USA, it would have been a Gideon’s bible. But of course, this was Tokyo. So to my amusement, there was instead a book on the teachings of the Buddha.

I took it with me (the hotel assured me that I could) and it was a good read. I can’t say I agree with all of Buddhism, but there are some good points.

Everything under about $10 US is coins, which is a difficult adjustment. I am so used to thinking of change as not being very important, but change in Japan can easily add up to $50 if you’re not paying attention.

I guess my point is, don’t just give your spare change to the homeless (a habit of mine in the US) because you might need it.

There are vending machines all over Tokyo. Even in little neighborhoods where you wouldn’t expect a vending machine, they always seem to be there.

This one had Kit Kat soda. I was amused to discover that the Japanese are in love with Kit Kats, because the sound of the words is similar to the sound of the words for good fortune in Japanese.

Jenifer DeLemont in Tokyo

This is Arisugawa-no-miya Park in the Rappongi Hills. At one time, it belonged to the royal family of Japan, but now it is a public park where all are welcome.

The Rappongi Hills are notorious for being a great place to party at night. There is a wonderful night life. But, I went to see the famous shopping and the sights.

In Asia, you run into shrines everywhere. Some of them are really beautiful. It felt disrespectful to take pictures inside, because there always seemed to be people praying.

I did take a lot of pictures of the outsides of the temples, because they are impressive in detail and I love the colors.

Here’s a shot of me by the pond near my hotel. I had a lot of fun, and I hope you’ll all consider a trip to Tokyo if you are able to.

Around Busan City

Busan is a port city in the Southern part of South Korea. It’s a wonderful place to go on a weekend trip. I have taken the KTX (high speed train) down several times when I had a few days free.

Some of the attractions are very unique. For example, Busan has the only UN cemetery in the world, because many of the allied soldiers who died defending South Korea in the Korean War are buried there.

It also has a bustling fish market, as you would expect in a port city. I am told that there is also fabulous shopping, but shopping has never really been my thing.

However, my very favorite part is the area part of Busan called Haeundae. This is where you come to see the beach, and it is a beautiful beach.

There is also a wonderful wooden path along the cliffs where you can see statues of mermaids, lighthouses, and other great stuff.

I wanted to go to the Busan Aquarium, and you would think that would be pretty easy. The map said it was right on the beach, but I admit, I missed it on my first pass. The entrance is a little shark statue, and the entire rest of the aquarium is under ground.

The Busan Aquarium is reasonably priced and has a good range of things to see, from turtles to fish, and even a shark tank with a tunnel through it.

I could spend an entire day there myself, but I really love watching fish swim around. There is something so peaceful about it.

One tank (which is huge) is all full of different kinds of coral and fish, and it has amphitheater seating around it so that you can just get comfortable in the air conditioning and enjoy the view.

I definitely recommend dropping in to give it a look.

Another wonderful thing to do is hop a bus to the temple near Haeundae beach. They have a sunrise ceremony, which I managed to catch only once. But the rest of the day it is just a beautiful place to enjoy ocean views and see awesome things.

Some people will tell you that if you have seen one temple, you have seen them all. I do understand this attitude, but to me, they all have their own personality and unique features.

I find the buildings peaceful and relaxing, the monks welcoming, and the crafts for sale to always be beautiful.

At this particular temple, they have a special place by the sea to practice rock stacking. This is a Buddhist practice that is supposed to be calming, and I admit, I did find it to be a nice activity on a windy afternoon.

If you go to Busan and you are looking for things to do, there is certainly no shortage. These are just a few things that I did, and that I thought were fun.

Oh, and I have to add this billboard because I think it is hilarious. In Korea, it is okay to put cuss words in advertisements as long as they are not in Korean. (We do the same thing in the US. I could own a business named a Korean cuss word and no one would care.)

So, here is the Mini Cooper billboard I saw in downtown Busan.

Thoughts On The Southwest

I was driving across Nevada, and I had the opportunity to think about just how big the US is. When I was a teacher in South Korea, I used to try to explain the scale of the US and just how spread out everything is.

However, I never seemed to be able to convey to my Korean students or my European friends just what it means to drive for 900 miles in one day and still not be where you are going.

The railroads crisscross the country, and so does the highway system.

By the way, both of those projects were huge and impressive. When you take into account the scale of the US as a country, it’s incredible to realize that rail lines and highways go all the way from the Atlantic to the Pacific ocean.

I guess this is sort of my tribute to wide open spaces. That’s the thing I probably love most about my country.

It’s true that there are wonderful public transportation systems in Europe and Asia. The level of infrastructure is often daunting, in fact.

All countries have their good points, and of course there is too much to list that a person could love about a country they come from.

But for me, it is the wide open spaces and the nature that I love best.

Anasazi Cliff Dwellings

Before there were Blackfoot and Navajo and Ute, there was the Anasazi. Current Native American tribes recognize the Anasazi as their ancestors; though no one is sure of exactly what happened to them.

Once, they lived in fabulous cliff palaces like the one pictured above. After this, there is no history telling us of them except for current tribes calling them ancestors.

As for me, my great-great grandfather was a man named Richard Wetherill. He fought to preserve the Anasazi cliff dwellings for future generations, and so there is something of my ancestry in the park as well.

In fact, that is what brought me to Mesa Verde. I went as their invited guest for the 100 year anniversary of it becoming a National park.

Sadly, my great-great grandfather didn’t live to see the land designated for conservation.

However, park officials credit his letters to Washington and the collections of artifacts that he sent to the Smithsonian as the reason that Mesa Verde is a protected area today.

Richard Wetherill was primarily a trader and rancher, and his fight for preservation of land was a hobby for him.

As a child, I didn’t really know any of that. I just remember the Navajo blankets in our home, and I remember hearing the stories about coyote and the other tricksters from Navajo legends.

As an adult, I have to say that I am pretty proud of his work fighting to preserve land for the future. I have always felt strongly about conservation, and so national parks are a favorite thing for me.

In addition, I hope that we can all agree that leaving our history for our children and grandchildren to see is valuable.

That’s what is so wonderful about Mesa Verde, because it is preserving land and history at the same time.

I hope you’ll all go to Colorado and see the park some day. It really is breath-taking.

In fact, even the drive there is impressive.

People miss a lot of the most wonderful things in the US by flying over the land. But, if you drive across it, you really will see some amazing things.

Just a tip from someone who has been all over the west coast, and seen some pretty dramatic scenery along the way.

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