Goheung Again

So I'd like to talk this week about Goheung. We've been here for just shy of a year, and recently had the opportunity to show it off to Cody and Caley. Showing someone a place makes you look at it a little differently. Things that are significant to you and are quintessential to the place might be just another strange thing in a strange place to someone who is experiencing it for the first time. That meant that for a town like Goheung, with very little going on in the first place, we spent a lot of time just talking. Sitting in coffee shops, relaying our experiences verbally and catching up. But looking at this town, a year later, through the eyes of someone seeing it for the first time again while having the memory of a life here was a really interesting exercise. And then of course there are all the things you wish you could've shown if there were more time, more energy, a car, etc.

We started by introducing our guests to the expat community here. That's always an interesting way to start an introduction to a foreign place because it reveals that some of the most significant parts of a foreign place are those things that aren't actually all that foreign. As much as I'd love to say that we assimilate fully and completely embrace everything different, the reality is that you cling to those little things that remind you of home, and that's okay. Especially in a place like Goheung where the small-town feeling, relative lack of English or English speakers, and cultural removal from all things foreign, mean that assimilating and embracing Korea happen to varying degrees whether you like it or not. And if you really don't like it, the contracts are only a year long. So our foreign family met our foreign friends and a few of my local friends. I won't pretend like introducing everyone together like that didn't give me pause. It's overwhelming to introduce anyone, and I become very nervous when I blend the various cultures I participate in. You never know how these things will go. This one went relatively well, and I was relieved at the pace of conversation that indicated everyone was engaged and enjoying themselves.

The next few days we tried to focus on Goheung and it's Goheung-ness. Being a wildly different place from the city, we enjoyed the locally made rice-wine, rice fields, and well, meals made entirely of rice in every conceivable form. I enjoyed getting to cook for family again. I've missed making more than a two-person serving. It was also nice getting to introduce Korean food in a way that wasn't the toss up that ordering a foreign meal at a restaurant can be. We hiked up the mountains on either side of town, excitedly pointing out all the landmarks that have come to mean something to us, while trying desperately not to say "look the hospital" when you know that doesn't mean a damn thing to someone who doesn't know the friend you have that works there who you take coffee too regularly.

In classic fashion, as soon as we were without our guests I started mentally listing all the things I wish I would have thought to share with them about this place. Why didn't we go to the bay? Why didn't we try a nori-bang (singing room)? They should have eaten neng-myeon! Can they really say they know Korean food if they've never had neng-myeon? So the process will evolve. Fortunately we'll be here long enough to see more waves of guests and perfect the demonstration. Further, we did go the bay, just days after Cody and Caley left. It was a surprisingly cool evening for the summer here, and we played cards and had a few drinks with our foreign friends. It was a great way to wind down and remember where we are after the excitement of visitors. I took a few pictures so I'll post one below.

 

And so I have even more respect and love for this place now, while simultaneously missing home more that ever. I can't wait to see everyone again, and I hate knowing that we won't see Cody or Caley outside of a screen for over a year, but I am so, so very glad we are here.

 

Have a great week everyone!

-K

Family & Seoul

Hello, everyone. I know it's been a while since we posted but it has been a pretty crazy month around here. I'll start with our trip to Seoul with Cody and Caley. As many of you know, Jamie's brother and my friend came to visit us, and it gave us a much needed excuse to finally spend a week in Seoul. It was a trip that was long overdue given that we've now lived in the rather small country of South Korea for ten months without visiting the capital.

Our first day, Monday we picked up Cody from the airport, which involved a lot of me pacing back and forth on the arrival floor for an hour before he finally made it through security. After that, organizing something to do to capitalize on our time in the capital while being aware that Cody had just stepped off a 36 hours of flights was tricky. We started by checking into our Airbnb (note to those travel to Seoul, Airbnb is everywhere in the city) and swinging by a PCbang to relax and pass the time. When dinner rolled around, we met up with my Korean friend River who happened to be in town, and could show us around Seoul. When we asked for a Seoul experience on a budget for dinner, she recommended a take-out dinner on the banks of the Han River. The Han is an enormous, and very important river that runs through the northern part of the country. Along it's banks in Seoul are big parks where people picnic, play, and even camp on warm summer nights. You can rent bikes, watch the nightly water show off the bridge, order food directly to the park, or grab take-out from one of the many food trucks. We enjoyed chicken, ramen, and beers while River watched us all with great amusement as we tried the extra spicy noodles she had persuaded us to buy. Needless to say, none of us had more than a bite or two before giving up.

On our second day, Cody and I woke up bright and early to pick up Caley from the airport, making for our third and fourth trip on the train to the airport (no small feat, as it can be an hour of standing in a crowded subway). Once we had met up, we had an excited reunion at the apartment we had rented, where Jamie had just woken up. After catching up for a while, naps, lunch, and excitedly planning the next few days, we decided to check out the largest underground shopping mall in Asia, which is located in a neighborhood of Seoul called Gangam (you might recognize the name from that Kpop song "Gangam style" that caught fire a few years back). The mall was three (maybe four?) stories below the surface, with tall ceilings and lots of lighting, such that if it weren't for the lack of windows, you'd never know you were underground. As nifty as it was though, we did give up after just a few purchases, since half our crew was jet-lagged and getting hungry. After introducing our guests to korean barbeque and soju, we turned in for the night, crashed early, and got ready for another big day.

On our first full day all together, we began with Chinese dumplings for breakfast (Koreans don't really do breakfast food in the western sense). Then we split up so the brothers could have some time and the girls could get manicures. Caley, having just left Cambodia wanted to deal with the cracks and creases in her nails, and I loved the excuse to go to a fancy Korean nail salon. When we met back up, we got gussied up and headed up the mountain (literally hiked in our nice clothes) up to Namsan Tower, a landmark in Seoul. Namsan tower sits on top of a mountain in the middle of the city and has multiple stories of restaurants and shops at the top and bottom of a toothpick looking structure. Having introduced Cody and Caley to some Korean foods, we indulged in the fact that the city actually offered some decent western options and had burgers and milkshakes for dinner. The view was fantastic, and well, I'll tell the rest through the pictures below (see captions).

The view as we hiked up the mountain at suset

Couples leave locks on the fences around Namsan Tower

On our final full day in Seoul, we headed toward the historic districts of town where we visited a Hanok village, the remnants of a traditional village mingled with the modern city. The landscape of traditional tiled roofs and skyscrapers working together was a cityscape I hadn't seen before. We've been to Busan, but it definitely can't boast the same coexistence of old and new the way Seoul can. People walked around the Hanok village in rented traditional clothes taking selfies, and most of the museums, galleries, and craft vendors are also clustered in the area. There are also two palaces in walking distance, one of which we visited. Entrance was cheap and the complex was huge. We could have spent hours wandering around, but after a couple our feet were sore (even after a nap in the lawn) and we made our way toward a younger area of town to see a movie.

On that same day, we found what was called a "Meerkat Café" which was something like a mix between a coffee shop and a petting zoo. There were meerkats, yes, but also an 8month old Wallaby, an arctic fox, cats, and whatever that spotted/striped thing is in the bottom picture. It was absolutely wild. I was worried when we looked it up, but it was surprisingly clean, well lit, and the animals were really well cared for. We spent about an hour here just playing with the animals, giving them treats and taking pictures. Animal cafes, it is worth noting, are very popular and common in the cities here.

Finally, we took a train out of town on Friday morning and wound up with standing tickets on a 2.5 hour trip through the entire country. Fortunately the rice fields had been planted, the day was gorgeous, and the scenery was to die for. I'll talk more about the second half of our reunion, which we spent in Goheung, next week.

Happy Father's Day!
-K