Family Fun Weekend in Busan

Well, it seems like it has been a long time since our last entry and that is because it has been.

The days are getting mixed up and I can’t remember what happened when. I’ll do my darnedest to get a proper post done. This post is about March 22-28, approximately.

Last week was my second week of work (and Scott’s third). So far, work things are going rather smoothly for me. My director and her husband, the manager, have worked hard to make it a smooth transition into my job. They’ve done things they didn’t have to and I feel really fortunate.
For example, they worked really hard to find Scott and I a suitable apartment to move in to. There are numerous horror stories about people having to live in some really unlivable places, so we weren’t really sure how the housing was going to turn out. But, Jackie and Minki came to the rescue and found us a decent apartment. They spent multiple days touring apartments, nixing those that weren’t good, and finally called us to ask if we could come look at the two that they had it narrowed down to. Both were decent, but we decided to go with the second one we saw… mainly because it seemed better cared for. The only drawback is that there is a possibility that Scott won’t be able to stand upright in the shower because the tub to ceiling height is rather short. I think this is somewhat comical (think Bill Murray in Lost in Translation), but Scott doesn’t find it nearly as funny as I do. The best part is, Minki wanted to make sure that we had a bath tub (a rarity in Korea), but his thoughtfulness may turn out to be more of an inconvenience than a convenience. I’m quite pleased to have a bath tub though :) we’ll keep you posted on whether Scott can stand up or not. If he can’t, don’t worry, I’ll buy him a little bath tub chair to sit in while he showers. And I’ll put little grippy things on the bottom so he doesn’t go sliding around in there.

something like this:


Other than the possible shower issue, the apartment is more than acceptable. It is actually larger than either of us were imagining. It has two smallish rooms, a kitchen area, a dining area, and another room that we’ll use for the living room. It also has a small porch, which will house the washing machine (a crazy, clothes eating, singing machine) with some room to hang dry our clothes.

We currently do not have such a porch, so our clothes hang dry from every possible hanging spot in our room. Laundry days are quite interesting. Especially when it rains the day you do laundry, and the next day, and the next day, so it takes about a week to dry your clothes and during that week you have to maneuver through your already small space, now cluttered with drying clothes. We were lucky this last time, we washed the laundry and left for the weekend, and came home to dry laundry!

I think I’m most excited to have a normal size kitchen (still teeny tiny by Western standards), so that we can actually prepare some more meals at home. We’re able to do some really basic recipes right now, but that is about it… there just isn’t room to prep the food. There is literally about 1 1/2 square feet of space to chop things, mix things, clean things, and dry all things kitchen. A kitchen that isn't really conducive to cooking. Huh.

With any luck, we’ll be moving by April 15th. We’re learning that most things and people in Korea are very last minute, or at least you’re notified very last minute (“Hi, do you think we can pick you up in 15 minutes to come look at apartments?”)So, we’ll probably have about 15 minutes notice before we’re supposed to move in. We'll post a video tour when the time comes.

As I mentioned my work situation is going fairly well. And as you may have guessed, Scott’s is not going as smoothly (and yes, I do have a version a survivor’s guilt about it). He had an exceptionally bad day last Friday. I felt terrible for him. His students really gave him a run for his money. They wouldn’t listen, they talked back (in Korean, so who knows what kind of obscenities were said), and insubordination was the name of the game. The worst part was Scott was putting great effort into being a good teacher by making decent lesson plans, researching classroom control, etc. And in return, they gave him hell. He really wants to be a good teacher and positively influence these kids’ lives, but they are making it near impossible right now. Also, it should be mentioned that it isn’t all of the classes, or even all of the students in the rough classes. But, as we all know, sometimes a few bad apples can ruin the whole barrel, or something like that. There may be a glimmer of hope for these classes, but more on that later.

So, just like in the States, we live for the weekend. Well, maybe not live, but we certainly look forward to it. And this weekend was an especially eventful one. We went to Busan to meet and spend time with Scott’s extended family for the first time since being here. In Korea, you don’t refer to your extended family by name, but by who they are in the family. So his eldest uncle (kunsamchon) picked us up on Saturday around noon and drove us to Busan (usually a 40 minute drive, but with traffic it took a bit longer). His English is pretty good, so Scott and kunsamchun were able to catch up (they hadn’t seen each other for ten years) and I was able to get to know him a bit. He was really kind and I was really pleased to be a part of his family.

Once in Busan, we went to Scott’s grandfather and grandmother’s apartment straight away (halabeoji = grandfather and halmoeni = grandmother). They were pretty much cute, old Koreans, who were very happy to see Scott and I. Halabeoji speaks some very basic English so we were able to communicate a bit with him. Halmoeni only speaks a few words of English, so we communicated mostly through smiles and hugs with her. A few things of note about halabeoji: he has a few eye brow hairs that are at least an 1 ½ inches long, he loves classical music, he wanted to be a poet, but couldn’t because he needed to support his family, he was forced to serve in the Japanese military (when they occupied Korea) and was captured and taken prisoner in Siberia for five years, and he is known to give lots of advice. And about Halmoeni: her smile and skin are beautiful, she cooks some mean Jap Chae (noodle dish), she gave us a bunch of stuff out of her home (rice cooker, coffee pot, toaster, canister, two towels, and two umbrellas), and she smells like the inside of the well used rice cooker she gave us. Seriously. And it is awesome. And a few things to remember when reuniting with your very old, traditional, conservative, Christian, Korean grandparents: don’t tell them you don’t go to church (there aren’t many situations in which I advocate lying, but this is most certainly one of them), always serve halabeoji first, then halmoeni, then the next eldest, and the next eldest, and so on, forget trying to explain your eyebrow ring or beard, smile a lot, and eat a lot.

Scott’s cousin Joe (his English name) made the trip down from Seoul and met us at halabeoji and halmoeni’s, so we also caught up with him a bit. He actually lived in New Zealand for a good chunk of his life, so despite speaking fluent Korean, he still feels like a foreigner in Korea… very interesting. And also comforting to have another young family member around who also feels like a foreigner (although he's well-versed in Korean customs and culture, whereas we're still learning).

After visiting with the grandparents for a while, we left with kunsamchon and Joe and went for a drive along the ocean side. Despite being a bit overcast, the views were great. It was really nice to see the ocean again. We love Denver, but its biggest downfall may be how far it is from the ocean. We stopped at a light house along the way, took some photos and walked around. We were able to get to know Joe and kunsamchon a bit more and it was a nice "relaxing" ride. You may have noticed that the word relaxing is in quotes there. This is because Korean drivers are completely off their nut. This is not a mean stereotype; this is the truth. Fortunately for us, kunsamchon was actually a good driver (by Korean standards), he only ran a few red lights (rather than all) sometimes he looked when changing lanes (rather than never), and he was able to see when another driver was about to hit us. Good God.


kunsamchon and his old friend, the ocean


us and cousin Joe


That evening we met at a traditional Korean restaurant near kunsamchun’s home. We were joined by some other family members, as well as two of Jung's (Scott's mom) closest Korean friends. We were honored to have everyone there with us. We had a little private room, where we sat on the heated floor (on little square pillows), and ate from a table about a foot off the ground. We are both still getting used to sitting on the floor cross-legged like this, but Scott especially has a tough time with those long inflexible legs of his. Even though one of my legs inevitably falls asleep – I rather like sitting on the floor.

Sitting on the floor was the least of our worries though… because this restaurant’s speciality is Hongeo (홍어) which is FERMENTED fish. Yes, FERMENTED fish. I am going to go ahead and call this half rotten fish. Half rotten skate fish. So, to review, it is half rotten sting ray fish (which most people won't eat when it isn't rotten). Holy moly. It smells just about how you would imagine (ammonia, cat pee, fishy). But, it's look is so deceiving - it looks like regular fish. If kunsamchon hadn't warned us, we wouldn't have known from looking at it. And it wasn’t cooked, so it was raw, rotten fish. Now through some kind of fortuitous chance I was able to avoid trying it. I happened to be sitting next to the wife of a different uncle, who spoke very little English, but was able to communicate that I didn't have to try the fish and to just go ahead and avoid it. Poor, poor Scott was not so lucky. His halaboeji kept offering the fish for him to eat... and when halaboeji offers you can't really say no. He tells me it was like the smell of ammonia in your mouth. "It was effing terrible." Others have described it like licking a urinal. Gorden Ramsey ralphed after eating it. This isn't just one of those dishes that Western palates don't enjoy. A lot of Koreans think the stuff is disgusting too. Kunsamchon told us you have to eat it ten times before you start liking. I don't and will not ever work that hard to like food. As many of you may know, Scott will eat just about anything placed in front of him, usually happily, but this was, in his words, "the worst things I've ever eaten."

this plus this = dinner

how about something happy:


halabeoiji and halmoeni


everyone

After this close brush public gurfing, we headed to kunsamchon’s apartment. And let me tell you, this was easily the nicest apartment I've ever been in. I may have imagined that such apartments existed, but never would have thought I'd be staying in one. Now, don't get the wrong idea, there wasn't gold wall paper or diamond chandeliers... and my perspective may be slightly off-kilter because of the shoe box we're living in, but this place was nice. Big kitchen (by Western standards), nice living room with a great view, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, hard wood floors, a personal elevator call button, and a video screen of who is ringing in at the main entrance (perfect for my spying eyes). And then they've furnished and decorated the place quite elegantly.

The post is going on forever. I need to pick up the pace.

Kunsamchon's wife made us an "American" breakfast the next morning. This consisted of a variety of pastries - good. Some donuts from Costco - okay. Bagels with Camembert cheese - haha. Baked sweet potato - okay, only slightly weird. And lastly, canned clam chowder! As we all know, breakfast in America just isn't complete without canned clam chowder. It was a valiant effort on their part.

Before driving us home, kunsamchon gave Scott a brand new Nike windbreaker jacket thing that was apparently too big for him. Then he took us to the Nike store and told me to pick out something. Now, I don't know if I'm paying or he's paying or what in the sam hill is going on. So, I start out by picking out a jacket. Then he tells me to pick out shoes. So, I pick out shoes. Then he pays. Phew.

Later that day we drove back to Jangyu ("Scotty, you need to live in Busan, Jangyu too far"). We ate lunch at a galbi house (Korean barbecue), kunsamchon just kept ordering more and more food, and we just kept eating and eating. We ate numerous variations of beef and pork... and it was all very good. And kunsamchon paid for everything. Woot woot.

Our family fun weekend in Busan was really terrific. We felt so loved and taken care of. Moving to a foreign country can be daunting, and at times completely overwhelming, but having family and family friends here has made our transition so much easier. There are people here that love us - people that we can really trust. We feel very fortunate. Spending time with family can also be really stressful at times, the language barrier can be really rough, and there are just so many social/cultural norms that we need to learn... we never know if we are accidentally offending someone (grandpa and grandpa especially). Overall though, it is amazing to have such a loving family here.

Alright, so I literally wrote this post over the course of a week. So now, there is a whole 'nother week to write about. That'll come soon enough.