잘 한다는 말을 믿지 못 하면 한번 스카이프 해 줘요 --거기도 '아이 디'는 trutherous 이에요.
Last October 2009 I went back to visit Korea for the first time in 25 years.
Life became very busy after marriage, and though we had always planned to visit Korea together something always came up. My wife and kids went a few times but I was stuck working, or there wasn't enough money for us all to go. But in the last few years I lost 3 co-worker friends to cancer and heart attack and this loss brought me to grips with my own mortality. I began feeling like I would never see Korea again. Moreover, I had only seen Korea in the dead of winter and I wanted to see the autumn leaves I had always heard so much about. Finally I made up my mind I would go in 2009 no matter what,,, and sure enough something came up.. If I wanted to go I would have to travel alone because my wife could not get away from work and our daughter could not miss 3 weeks of school. I decided to go anyway.
My first stop was 이태원 at the second sister-in-law's house. Not much has changed there, it's still a kind of dirty area that reminded me of downtown LA. Well I did have a good time anyway. Overall I walked 15K the first day, back and forth over the city of 서울... the next day I spent the better part of the day riding the subway all over town. Just riding was really a blast - sounds strange doesn't it?
My next stop was 원주 where I stayed a few days with the 3rd sister-in-law. I also met up with a young man I met over at livemocha.com and had dinner at his parent's restaurant. If you go to 원주 be sure to eat at 백악관 숫불갈비 and have the pork. I climbed 치악산 with another friend, then we came down the other side into a quaint farm community. We met up with a couple nice ladies on the way down and shared our lunches near a small creek. They were a bit freaked out by my Korean speaking at first but soon enough we were talking just like old friends. We waited for a bus in front of a tiny store, one of the typical ones that can be found in every Korean hamlet. While waiting we drank beer and I wound up invited to the table of the self-proclaimed village elder. We talked for quite a while and apparently he had lived in the village his whole life and had taught himself Chinese characters and was at one time the village teacher. I am giving a rough translation of course.
Next I went to 이천 and met a very famous ceramic artist. I also do ceramic art so this was of particular interest to me. I was introduced through one of my nephews. We had tea and I receive a very precious hand carved ceramic gift. I plan to see this artist again and bring him some handmade teacups of my own design. This artist was also impressed by my Korean but he spoke such 사투리 that I could barely understand him... did he say he came from 경산도? 강원도? -I forget. He was especially impressed when I talked about the gas tanks he used to fire his enormous kilns, because I asked if he didn't have a problem with them "icing up." Only someone who has done this type of operation would know about that.
After we left the ceramic shop we went to the tomb of King Sejong --if you study Korean you better know who he is! I wanted to give a big bow at the top of the burial mound but I felt like it might look odd for a white guy to be doing that -- so I just nodded my head and whispered "제 말을 들으신다면 '고바습니다'" After all, I am also grateful for his contributions to Korea -- especially 한글.
Next I took KTX to Busan, and finally I was free of the relatives for a while... not that I dislike them, but they kept feeding me till I thought my stomach would burst. I stayed in a hotel across from Busan Station for a few days and checked out the sights locally with a HS teacher I had met on the sharedtalk.com site. Busan 사투리 is not that hard to understand but unlike most Busan people who enunciate with some force, my teacher friend spoke very softly and that made it a little hard to understand her words. Still no problem with communication though, I just had to ask her to repeat things a lot.
Jeju Island - I flew there of course (forget that 12 hour boat ride). The island sure is beautiful but it was the most expensive part of my trip, mostly because I stayed in the Jeju Grand Hotel. I traveled around the island a bit each day, and made a day out of climbing 한라산. I took the easiest route because by this time I already had blisters on several of my toes from all the walking and hiking during this vacation.
I returned to Busan and visited my teacher friend one more time. On the previous visit her husband and I had become 형/동생 (I am the 동생) and conversed for hours (with a mild amount of drinking), his 사투리 was strong but his voice crisp and clear so it was fairly easy to understand most of what he said. We also had dinner at his wife's parents house and that was great. I find it much easier to talk to older people because they don't use all the abbreviated words the younger people do.
Next I took KTX to 천안아산 (?) and from there I was going to take a bus to 서산 but I was tired so I took a taxi all the way -- expensive yes, but the cabie was great conversation. In 서산 I climbed 팔봉산 but I only went as far as two peaks because it was biting cold and I wasn't dressed for it; my feet were also raw but that never seemed to bother me when I set my eyes on the beauty around me. I spent 2 days with the #1 sister-in-law about 20K outside of 서산, once again being fed constantly. Her house is really really really a traditional Korean country house -- so just about everything for a westerner is a little uncomfortable. I was okay but I was bored, despite the beautiful farms all around.
I returned to 서울 and spent the last 3 nights in a hotel, which the 2nd sister-in-law couldn't understand. I enjoyed the freedom to come and go and spent the last few days catching up with all the tourist sights around Seoul. The last day I went to 교보문고, a huge book store right near the new statue of King Sejong in 광화문, and purchased a dozen or so Korean study books before heading to the airport.
and that was my trip -I wished I had about 5 years longer..
now in keeping with the graphics on this website I thought I should post this little photo:
