Figured it might be nice to give you all a short update:

I'm sitting in Josh's house in upstate NY right now, relaxing and eating leftover Easter jellybeans.

My flights were smooth and were great for me, although the flight to Detroit got a little scary as one passenger had a pretty serious medical emergency midflight. They actually did the "if there's a doctor or nurse on board, please come to the front of the plane!" thing.

SO for those playing along at home: I left Incheon at 520 on June 2nd, and then thanks to some speedy flying and tailwinds I arrived in Detroit at 430pm. I felt like a Time Lord.

I had a long layover in Detroit which was mostly spent feeling dazed. I did get some Wendy's for dinner, for one because it just felt right to eat America fast food. It was also my cheapest option. While I think Korea's inexpensiveness is exaggerated, it was kinda annoying to have to pay $2.30 for a bottle of water instead of the 70 cents I got so used to paying!

Suffice to say I'm very happy to be back. It was great to wake up at 4am this morning and hear birds. I'll probably get sick of that really fast. But birds and the occasional coyote is a welcome change from cat fights, dog fights, revving motorcycles, and of course: early morning construction.

I feel as though this will probably be it for me, as far as posting goes. Maybe I'll do some comparisons here and there as I think of them, but my journeys ended.
To quote an amazing children's book ('Pigs in the House): Although it had been fun to roam, it was good to be back home.

Thanks for reading along, I hope you enjoyed it!
~Hannah

Korea In Retrospect

This is it, my last day in Korea. I leave for the airport tomorrow morning, and my flight to Syracuse (via Detroit) leaves at 520pm. Today is my busy day bouncing around and getting things done. Well, I've done all the outside things: I got my pension from the Korean government (you pay into a pension from your pay check every month and then if, like me, you're not retiring in Korea, they give you that money back), I canceled my cellphone (they seemed very to confused as to why I would want to cancel my phone), and then I closed my bank account and transferred my last paycheck to America. What's left now is just a lot of cleaning and some last minute packing!

Since the DMZ trip I've just laid low and tried to organize my life. Packing, shipping, and cleaning. Last Friday was my goodbye lunch for the office at a really nice vegetarian restaurant. Saturday night the lovely ladies in the photo at the top of this entry surprised me with homemade fondue and a night at Gwangju's most infamous spots.

I made cards for all my coworkers and exchanged email addresses, so hopefully they will keep in touch. It was sad leaving some of my students (mainly my third graders and two particularly awesome 7th graders) but most of the students seemed as apathetic to my leaving as they were to my existence. I did get some sweet and heartfelt letters, some chocolate and two very thoughtful gifts: a little beaded fish from a third grader who remembered how much I love the animals, and some blue nail polish from the aforementioned seventh graders, who somehow managed to remember that blue is my favorite color. I was also given a wilted clover, but that will not be coming back to America with me.

My time here in Korea has been roughly a bajillion times harder than I ever expected it to be. I know now that one of my biggest mistakes was not allowing myself to build a support system until it was too late. I hid much of my unhappiness from absolutely everyone, both here and at home and that meant that when I finally snapped there was no going back. I'd let myself be too miserable for too long without telling anyone what was happening. I thought people only wanted to hear about the good, so that's the only thing I focused on, but I wasn't doing a good job of convincing myself that what I was saying was true. If I've learned anything from this experience it's that I can never keep myself that closed off again. Despite what some people might try to tell me it's not worth acting happy all the time if you don't mean it. I think it's far better to be honest with your feelings, because then people can help you. I convinced myself that no one wanted to listen to my negative feelings and allowed myself to fall into a very, very deep depression that no one realized I was in because I put all my effort into showing up with a smile. Now I know better than to EVER do something like that again. It was possibly the stupidest thing I have ever done in my life.

I have met some very amazing people while here, and I will miss all of them. My coworkers were fantastic people, and even just some everyday people at my favorite places. Like the packing genie at the post office, or the Paris Baguette girl who made sure I always got my favorite blueberry pastry, even if there were none on display and even if I didn't ask.

It's been a challenging year with A LOT of changes all across the board in my life. It's been a huge challenge. I'm not sure if I'd come back and do it all again, but I know that leaving know is undoubtedly the right decision. I may miss my adorable little third graders calling me a hippo but leaving now is a decision that I'm very at peace with, and very happy about. Of course, I still can't believe it's ONLY been ten months! I feel like I've been here for three years!

To quote the Grateful Dead, a band I've never actually listened to: What a long, strange trip it's been. To quote Lykke Li, an artist I listen to a lot: I'm good, I'm gone.

Hannahfish out!

DMZ

Busy, busy, busy!

I'm in the last 10 days of this great big adventure, 7 of them teaching. I've got all my souvenirs bought, my bags almost packed, I've got my flight itinerary set and things are going smoothly.

Last weekend was the group DMZ trip. Everyone mentioned in the Busan post went up to Seoul on Saturday and then Sunday we toured the DMZ. We didn't go on one of the trips that takes you to technical North Korea, which is of course a bummer, but it was really neat to see the observation towers and what not. It's weird because you don't usually think about it, but the Korean war is still, technically, on going. So visiting these places you aren't visiting the remnants of a war gone by, like when you tour civil war battle sites in the states. There are a lot of restrictions about where you can go and what you can photograph, and theres a large military presence, because the war is really only at a pause.

The coolest part of the tour was walking into the giant infiltration tunnel that was (supposedly) dug by North Korea. I say supposedly because each side says that the other did it.

While In Seoul I was able to visit the National Folk Museum, which was tiny and kind of a bummer. However the National Palace Museum is pretty cool, even though their wasn't much in English. I was not able to see any of the Palaces, I almost went up to Seoul this weekend to see one, but rain was forecasted. It didn't rain in Gwangju, I sure hope it rained in Seoul.

Unfortunately I'm really uninteresting now, unless you want to hear all the trials and tribulations of suitcase packing, which I'm sure you don't.

I'll do a round-up post before or right after I leave here.
Take care everyone!
~Hannah

Busan

Blogger is currently NOT letting me upload any pictures, so I apologize, I had a really nice one to head this entry with. I'll try to edit it in later.

Also, this entry might get a bit long, there's a lot to catch up on!

We'll start with Cinco de Mayo, which we had off, because in Korea it is Children's day! There's no school, and apparently the children get presents. I enjoyed having the day off. Unfortunately I had to work that Friday, while my friends didn't. We were all heading to Busan for the weekend and they got to head out a day early. I left for Busan immediately after work and arrived at about 1 am.

Busan was the first time since I'd been in Korea that I was reminded of South America. Coming into the city and seeing colorful buildings creeping up the hills reminded me of Quito. The city on the beach reminded me of Rio, right down to the wave pattern on the sidewalk. Of course I felt about 1000x safer in Busan than i did in either Quito or Rio.

I met up with Mieka, Shanna, and Angel at our love motel, where I promptly went to bed. Love motels are for one of two things: prostitutes or a cheap place to stay. Our love motel seemed mainly to cater to the latter. It was actually pretty nice. It was right on Haeundae beach, which is a big foreigner hangout in Busan.

Saturday I woke up with a sore throat and a stuffy nose. Two advils later I was up for a delicious American brunch and then a trip to the Busan aquarium. Rather than bore you with all the fishy details I will say that the highlights for me were the silver arrowana and the oceanic sun fish!

From there we went to Haedong Yonggungsa Temple. This temple is unique because it is built on the rocks overlooking the ocean, as opposed to the traditional forest and mountain locations. Because of Buddha's birthday (which is today, the 10th) the temple was decorated with hundreds of brightly colored paper lanterns, which added to the amazing visuals of the temple. Ironically though, the lanterns proved problematic as they blocked the view of the East Sea (or Sea of Japan, if you're not in Korea) and of the temple's golden Buddha statue. Even with large crowds of people surrounding me, this temple still felt serene and peaceful, and it is right up there with Mont St. Michel on my list of incredible places.

Unfortunately by the time we finished the temple I was fading fast. I now know I have a sinus infection, and that's what was knocking me out, but at the time I just felt inexplicably horrible. We all headed back to the hotel and while everyone else got ready for a night out I lay down and felt awful. I pulled myself out of bed to get dinner with the group. We went to an Irish pub where I got fish and chips and would've enjoyed myself and the food immensely were it not for the fact that I was starting to feel feverish. As soon as I finished I gave Mieka the money for my portion of the bill and went back to the hotel, where I was in bed by 10.

I felt better on Sunday, but do to cosmic shenanigans we didn't get the chance to do anything. Still, I would consider my first and only trip to Busan a success.

We had to work on Monday, but we have today, the 10th off, because it is Buddha's birthday. I thought about going to one of the local temples, but it's been really rainy, and I have a lot of things that I can get done here around the apartment. I also need to rest up and get healthy, because this weekend is my final trip to Seoul and a DMZ trip with the aforementioned friends. I really don't want to be all sick for that! It's back to work tomorrow. I only have 23 days left in Korea! Exciting!

I'd also like to just send a small note out to the Elmira College community. Dr. Kiskis was an amazing man and fantastic professor. The school will truly not be the same without him, he will be dearly missed. I hope that everyone is holding up well, and you're all in my thoughts.

~Hannah

May 18th

Statue at the May 18th Memorial Park

I've been so busy trying to complete the dreaded grad school funding applications that I haven't really done ANYTHING since my last post, except write letter after letter after letter. Well, I have started packing, shipped boxes of stuff back to America and slowly but surely began to clean and sort through the apartment and my stuff. In the very near future (IE any minute or so!) I'll be getting a new desk, courtesy of Mr. Kang. I only have 32 days left, so I don't really care about the new desk, but it will be nice for the next person. It also gave me the forced motivation to clean the entrance way, and do a complete clean of the bedroom, complete with dusting, sweeping, and mopping.

Yesterday Mieka and I took advantage of the nice spring weather (even if it was SO WINDY) and crossed another site of my 'things to do before I leave Korea' list. We went into Sangmu and visited the May 18th Park. Both of them.

A little bit of history: May 18, 1980 is the day that pro-democracy demonstrators started taking to the streets in Gwangju to protest the corrupt government. The protests quickly turned very, very violent, with thousands of people of all ages (including children and the elderly) imprisoned, tortured, and killed by the local military. People who had no involvement in the protests were still taken into custody and tortured until they confessed. It was a horrific time in Korean/Gwangju History, and in the 90's the government came forth and decided that the sacrifice of these people needed to be recognized. No longer where they rioters, the people who died on and because of May 18th are labeled as martyrs, people who sacrificed their lives for what they knew was right. The government acknowledges that this happened and is making sure that the history is remembered. I'm thinking of some other governments that could learn from this example (Hi, Turkey...).

There are two May 18th parks, something neither of us knew when we started this adventure. We began at the May 18th Liberty Park, which is the restored site of the police barracks where the prisoners were held and tortured. It's not really much of a park, but it does have a nice visitor center that gives a chronological recount of the events surrounding the May 18th protests. Neither Mieka nor myself new any details about the history, just that something had happened, so it was great to actually LEARN about the event. We were then given a guided tour of the barracks by a kind old man who didn't speak English, and communicated almost entirely in gestures. Fortunately each building had a placard that was translated in English, telling exactly what each building had been used for. After we finished there we got directions to the May 18th Memorial Park, which is where we had intended to go in the first place.

The Memorial Park is much more of a park, with pagodas, flowers, and fountains. It also has two monuments, one commemorating the May 18th events in general, and a second honoring the middle and high school students who were killed. From the monuments you can hike up to the top of the hill and then climb the observation pagoda, which looked out over Gwangju. From there we hiked back down to the city and searched for dinner.

We ended up eating at a delicious restaurant that served Naju Baehanwoo (if I'm remembering correctly) which is a traditional soup from the city of Naju (if I remember I'll replace this text with a link to the blogpost where I talk about Naju). It was pork in a broth with TONS of delicious vegetables, cooked at your table a la galbi and sangyapsal. It was incredible!! After eating Mieka and I parted ways, and I managed to catch the bus right as it started to pour! Good timing!

Prior to adventure we stopped in the Gwangju cat cafe downtown, where beleaguered cats looked cranky as people harassed them. It was kinda sad, but really nice to actually have the chance to pet a cat. One cat decided that he was just going to eat my paper shopping bag, and he did a pretty good job of it.

I don't know if I mentioned this in my last blog, but I'll be flying out of Korea at around 530pm on June 2nd and arriving in Syracuse, NY around 1130pm on June 2nd. Then, slowly but surely, I'll be working my way across the northeast to NH!

I'll see you all soon!
Hannah

Yeouido Flower Festival

Saturday the 16th I day-tripped to Seoul. I went to the Yeouido flower festival and saw the cherry blossoms in full bloom. along with some amazing displays of experimental flower art. It was a beautiful day, sunny and in the mid sixties, and it was fantastic to walk through all the wonderful flowers. I started my day in the Yeouido Park, where I enjoyed a picnic lunch of takoyaki (the delicious octopus batter-balls I tried in Japan). They weren't as good as the ones I ate in Japan, but still tasty. I walked along the park before walking through the canopy of cherry trees that line the Han river, before finally finding the REAL flower festival and working my way backwards through it.

I was at the flower festival from about noon until 3 just wandering about, and then I decided that to make my trip to Seoul worthwhile I would go to the National Museum and cross something off my "to-see" list! It was a bit of a haul on the subway and I got a little bit turned around, but made it safely to the museum around 445. Luckily the museum was open until nine, so I was able to walk through and see the entire thing before walking around the gardens on the grounds at sunset. Then I headed back to the subway, then to the bus terminal, and then back to Gwangju. It was a busy day, but amazingly relaxing and I am so glad that I went!

Sunday I went into Damyang, which is on the other side of Mudeong Mountain with a group of friends. We took the bus up and around the mountain and then went to a beautiful little tea house where we relaxed and enjoyed a traditional Korean tea. We also walked partially down the mountain until we came to a bus stop and enjoyed walking through the cherry blossoms! We took the bus partially back but stopped at a restaurant up on the mountain with an observation deck and we were able to snack while over looking the whole city of Gwangju. Then, being the adventurous folk we are, we hiked the rest of the way down and into the city before taking taxis back to our apartments. Another beautiful day!

In other news, I'll be flying back into the states on June 2nd. I'll arrive in Syracuse around 1130pm on the second and will be spending some time with Josh before heading to Elmira and then back to New Hampshire. It will be a lot of traveling, but I'm excited to be coming home!

~Hannah

Giraffe-Teacher and the Battle of the Hippo

One of my students may or may not be short an eye...
He came into class the other day with his right eye covered in bandages. When I asked what happened I was told "I fell and hit the corner of a desk. Now it's gone." It wasn't an April fool's joke as he was clearly drugged up on something. I'm hoping that "it's gone" is just an exaggeration/over-reaction. I guess we'll find out the answer in a couple of weeks. This past week was alarmingly full of children with injuries... mostly just bleeding, but yeah.

I'm involved in an ongoing battle between my B-week third grade class, well, with one boy in my b-week third grade class. He made the 'H' association between Hannah and hippo, and has begun calling me hippo teacher. Now, I find nothing insulting about being called a hippo. They're adorable creatures that are also very capable of putting you in your place. But I am not a hippo, I am a giraffe. In fact, most of the students in the school "believe" that my mother is a giraffe. After a week of us arguing (the girls were on my side) I wore my giraffe-ears headband to class. Hopefully I won. We'll see.

I really enjoy the B-week third-graders, as they are making clear progress. The A-week third graders aren't doing quite so well. Part of that is because they have a very short attention span. They're not even at the point where we can play games together yet though, as their English is so limited.

Not much else is happening. I'll be leaving sometime in June, but I don't know when. I have found my replacement, which is nice. I've started packing (winter clothes only) and trying to organize my next two months as much as possible so that I'll be able to get everything done that I want to without feeling too stressed right at the end.

It's already nice and springy here, hopefully the weather holds! If there's one thing I can say about Korea, it's that I really do enjoy the weather (except the thunderstorms). Sorry for all of you stuck in the snowy northeast! I hope spring comes to you soon.

~Hannah