Adventures in Korea

Hello, I'm Darren McCracken from Turku, Finland and this is my blog of my exchange year in Gwangju, South Korea.

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On the 19th of March we Gwangju kids met at Gwangju Airport where we would catch our flight to the Island of Jeju, an island south of Korea. At Jeju International Airport we met the rest of the exchange students. We said our hellos and jumped onto to the bus. We had a quick meal before we drove to a harbour where we took a boat up to one of the smaller islands. By the island  we went into a submarine and had about a 30 min dive, looking at the not so impressive rocks. The whole concept of being in a bloody submarine was cool though and I’ll not be forgetting that in a while.

After the submarine ride we went to a mountain to see the sunset. As I was climbing up the mountain I thought I heard someone speaking Finnish. So I looked around the crowd and saw a woman with blonde hair amongst the dark haired tourists. I went up to her and talked to her and her boyfriend for a while. It was a relief to talk Finnish to someone after 7 months of not speaking Finnish to anyone face to face.

Later that day we had a nice dinner, arrived at the hotel and hit the sack.

Morning came and as usual we got up onto our bus and took about an hours drive to the coast. At the coast we walked on a path through eroded volcanic rocks and fields of yellow flowers. The weather was really nice, the sun was shining and not a cloud was in sight. On this path we encountered one of the most stereotypical things in Korea: Korean grannies selling their wares right there on the path. After the coast we drove to a circus, which was quite alright. My biggest entertainment was placing popcorn onto Noah’s, Marine’s and our outbound Korean exchange students heads without them noticing. The motorbikes in the sphere was really intense at times, making me munch popcorn like a madman.

Following the circus we went on another bus ride which led us to a cliff side. We walked along the cliffs for quite a long time, taking group photos and in general having a good time. Afterwards we quickly checked out a waterfall and headed back to the hotel. We had to choose between going to sing karaoke or stay at the hotel and have free time. I decided to stay at the hotel and hang out with the ones who stayed. We played cards, mainly bullshit with having Javier yelling “BULLSHIT” at every turn.

Next morning we left for the stables where we rode on Jeju Island Horses. I had a really good time since I’ve never really ridden a horse before, only ponies. But those who had ridden before apparently hated it(*cough*spoiltbastards*cough*).

After we were done riding in the rain the bus took us to a horse circus. The whole circus was horrible, they were whipping and pulling rather violently at the horses, making them do tricks and such. Even a few exchange students left the building.

Anyways, after the not so pleasant circus we went to have our last dinner of the trip, eating spicy meat(typical korea). As we were done with the food we headed to the airport, said our goodbyes and took our planes back to our home towns. The trip was a joyful experience if you make yourself forget the horse show. As I came home I almost immediately went to my room and slept for at least 12 hours.

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Ooh boy. I’ve really let this blog thing slip haven’t I? Well anyways now I shall write everything I’ve done in bulk since my first Seoul trip in December.

January 19th we woke up early to hop onto the KTX speed train to take it to Pyeongtaek where we would join the other exchange students from the north and take a bus to the North Eastern corner of South Korea: Pyeongchang. It is a skiing resort where the 2018 winter Olympics will be held.

The bus ride took about 3 hours, the first 2 and a half hours were quite alright but the last 30 minutes where horrible because we had been given our skiing jackets and pants making it feel like a sauna(which I truly do miss but not it that specific circumstance).

Since I can ski I decided that I would learn to do Snowboarding with the others who had never been downhill skiing/snowboarding before. The snowboarders were divided into two training groups. Our training consisted of going down a 5 degree “hill” while trying not to fall on our faces. I proved soon to be highly efficient at hopping back up the hill with the snowboard stuck on my feet since no one bothered with the hassle of detaching their feet. During the first day we only went down the proper slope once, as a surprise I didn’t fall that many times so I got rather overconfident,  what I didn’t know was what the overconfidence would lead to the next day.

After the snowboarding we went to this mini water park in the resort. What surprised me most was that the Koreans there swam with t-shirts and life vests. It was really nice to swim again. After the swimming we visited the sauna which was sadly highly disappointing(*as someone who has lived in Finland I have the divine right to judge saunas) The hottest sauna was a measly 73 degrees Celsius and had no higher levels to sit on. The cherry on the cake were old men proudly stretching half a meter in front of your face not afraid of showing off where the sun doesn’t shine. Soon I turned a plastic stool upside down, filled it with water and then went to throw it onto the sauna stove rocks but in vain since immediately after I threw the water they turned the whole thing off. Aside from the sauna, it was really nice to visit the spa and feel like a newborn baby when you step out.

We ended that night by getting divided into tables and then competing against the other tables for pizza and cool drinks by singing, dancing and such.

The next day was started by hitting the slopes once more, but this time I did it with the snowboarding veterans David and Gui. At first we went down casual slopes which all went nice and smooth. Then someone got the great idea of going on the longest slope of the resort. As we went down the distance was building between all of the three of us, so naturally I decided to catch up and thus I sped up my pace greatly. Little did I know what was about to happen next: I turned a corner at high speed and the snowboard’s edge cut into the snow sending me quickly with great force onto the side of my right arse cheek making  bruise and a limp that would last for a few days. As that was not enough I still had a ton of momentum from the fall which led me into falling onto my stomach and smashing my face into the slope. Lying there with my face in the snow was a well earned humbling experience. I would pay to have caught that not so graceful fall on camera. A few slopes after that infamous fall we quit and went to our room to have a warm bath while listening to reggae, a huge contrast to going down the windy slope with ice cold snow melting on your face.

During the bath it started to snow. Once again we hopped on the bus. Our plan was to visit the DMZ and a few other places but that as well as the other plans was totally obliterated by the snow which had rained in surprising amounts in Korean standards leading to them not being able to plow the roads. We ended up sitting in that bus for over six hours being tortured by watching Fast and Furious movies. Luckily we did have a stop in the middle of the motorway where we could get out and have a brutal free for all snow ball fight and make some snowmen and other sculptures.

All we had time to do as we came to the hotel was eat and have a pathetic 1 min presentation of our country.

The next day we went to a Buddhist temple in the mountains and took a cable car to one of the peaks. After that we had our last meal and took the long bus ride to Pyeongtaek and from there the train to Gwangju.

I truly did enjoy this trip even with it’s minor setbacks.

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Once again I have not succeeded in delivering these blog posts in time but let’s get to it.

So I was in Seoul with my fellow exchange students about three weeks ago and we stayed in Seoul for three nights.

The bus ride there took about 4 hours so I was rather tired on the first day but we still did go sightseeing. We visited Gyeongbokgung Palace a traditional Korean village and the local downtown near our apartment.

The next day we went to Gangnam to look around and eat at this burger place named Shakeshack. We waited for about 30min but it was well worth the wait since the burger was bloody good(not quite as good as Aussiebars tho). Later that day me and Noah wanted to get a break from the homogeneous country and decided to visit Itaewon which has a foreign block or two. We enjoyed some well earned kebab and bought some snacks from the international markets. I even spotted some Finnish berry power there. It was rather refreshing to see some foreign faces speaking English. After the foreign quarters we took the metro to the biggest shopping center in Korea where we spent a lot of time in the electronics shop where there even was a tabletop football table. We had agreed to meet up with the rest of the group at the famous fish market where there was tons of fish, some half severed and still moving. Quite a stinky and brutal place but still interesting.

The next day we went shopping in one of the downtowns and wandered around there for some time which led to us crossing the Han river. Which was quite some bit bigger than the legendary Aurajoki. After the river we went to Seoul Tower but never climbed up to the top because it was raining and we weren’t up for paying the entrance fee.

The fourth day was all about to getting back home to Gwangju. We spent a few hours at the station waiting for our buss and finally got on, slept for 4 hours and arrived in Gwangju tired and depressed thanks to the familiar and not so pleasant sights of Gwangju. The adventure did not quite end for me there yet… I hopped onto a buss which I presumed would go to Hwasun(a small town outside Gwangju where I live) since I’ve seen it there before. Fast forward 40 min and the bus driver drops me off in the middle of nowhere in the pitch black. With no data on my phone I couldn’t see the bus routes so I waited for about 15 min in the darkness and a hopped onto a buss which I presumed would take me nearer to home. Which it did but not quite home, so I spent another 20 min walking through Hwasun until I stumbled onto a bus stop which took me the remaining two stops home. I arrived home tired but satisfied and didn’t hesitate to hit the sack.

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Got an amazing weekend behind me! We finally met up with the other exchange students in Korea and went on a three day trip to Busan and the surrounding area. On thursday morning we left for Gyeongju in South Eastern Korea were met the others. If I remember correctly we were 42 together. Having several different nationalities: french, brazilian, australian, german, swedish, american, mexican, taiwanese, japanese and finnish(only me). We Gwangju students were introduced to the rest by walking into a bus filled with the other exchange students and I couldn't have asked for a better welcome. We were greeted like friends one has known for years, with hugs and such. On the first day we the went around in the ancient town of Gyeongju and looked at it's sights. In the evening we went to the hotel were we had a small party where we sang songs, danced and ate chicken. On the next day we headed for Busan but on the way to Busan we stopped at a Hyundai factory and got a tour there, showing how their cars are made. (Even spotted our i30 there) We arrived in Busan and went to the beach which the city is famous for, it was a nice change of view from the mountains I've been staring at for the 3 months(I love them though). After the beach we went to this small village where we had free time to just roam around and just let the view sink in. The village was amazing, it was riddled with small one meter wide alleys with the walls having a wide array of colours and art painted on the walls. After we were done with the colourful village we went to Busan downtown where the was a night market going on. We had some free time and just walked around downtown, looking around and sadly(I confess) we ended up eating at Subway. Then we were done with the day and went to the hotel where we ate raw fish called sashimi and played cards in one of the hotel rooms. The next day was the last, we woke up early and headed for the coast where we hopped onto a ferry which took us to this beautiful yet confusing island. It was confusing because it had a somewhat european architecture with marble statues and classical music. Apparently this island was also the southernmost island in Korea discluding Jeju. The day came to a quick depressing end when we were told that those living in Gwangju and Daegu will get off the bus on get on their own buses that would take them back home. I really enjoyed this trip, especially meeting and mingling with the other exchange students. I had a blast and can’t wait for the next trio where we head to the north and go swimming and skiing.

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Today I was woken up at 06:30 and was told that we are going back to Jisan where Grandma lives to make some Kimchi. As we arrived we dived straight into the buisness. You simply rub this bloody hot sauce which the local grandmas mixed up onto cabbage and you are done. It is simple but you glt a ton to do when you realize that you need to do it to hundreds of cabbages. They cabbages that we made into kimchi were actually the cabbages we harvested a week earlier. Also once again I was asked if I was a girl but 5 minutes later I was asked if I had a wife by one of the grandmas(Korea can be confusing af).Overall it was a nice day but 18 degrees celcius in Novemeber is a bit too much for my taste.

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Once again time has passed and I have failed to post regularly but here we go.

A lot has happened since I posted my last post. I’ve moved, celebrated Halloween, climbed more mountains and played a ton of pungmul(too much)

I’ve now moved into a small town named Hwasun, just outside of Gwanjgu. The family I live in is a family of 4, a mum, a dad, a host brother who is as old as me and a host sister who’s favourtie pastime is constant crying. Apart from the crying and whining(which I am listening to right now as I’m writing this) I really like this family. It is something new and it spices things up for me, I like change.

Halloween came and it was a blast. I made peoples confusion of my gender even stronger as I decided with Noah, to borrow our mates dresses, apply some sexy makeup and be girls for Halloween. The amount of people pondering and asking what I have between my legs has skyrocketed for some reason. It is mostly older people who ask and they don’t beat around the bush like they would in the western world, they just tackle the question head on. Which I appreciate of course, it makes life easier when they just ask. I find all of this rather entertaining and hilarious. How feminine am I really?(it is the long hair)

I have been doing(saying it truthfully) a sh*t load of pungmul with fellow exchange students. First doing it for 2h every tuesday in a basement and then going to events every now and then. Pungmul is traditional Korean drumming where you walk in a parade, hit your drum and do your best to impress the audience by doing twirls, hops and kicks all while wearing these strange clothes with a massive paper flower on your head. Pungmul is nice if you manage to filter out this small brass gong called Kkwaenggwari which emits the most terrible, ear deafening, dreadful noise. But in truth you don’t manage to ignore it so I have written down ‘ear buds’ on my to buy list and recommend everyone who is near a pungmul show to do that. Aside from the Kkwaenggwari, pungmul is quite enjoyable when you don’t do it every weekend.

Today we arrived from a day of harvesting and eating kimchi at my host grandma. We left for the town of Jinan yesterday and as we arrived we went into a small room filled with over 40 Koreans. This came around the corner for me as I expected to see a small hunched over grandma but instead got a room full of people staring at me. I soon found out that this was actually a family meeting and after we had eaten and mingled with the people we left for grandmas house ad went to sleep. The next morning I was presented a “milk carriage”(don’t know the name) and was told to pull it to grandmas farm where we would harvest turnips and cabbage which would be then made into kimchi. So we harvested and pulled the carriage full of cabbage up and down through town the whole morning and midday. It was a nice experience and I enjoyed it, it was nice to work for a change.

Alright, from now on I’ll try to post regularly when something worth of a post comes up, instead of posting long post now and then. Maybe this time I am true to my word.

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Alrighty, nearly two months have floated by and haven’t made a single post so I thought it would be about time I made one. I arrived in South Korea the 27th of August and have lived all this time in the south of South Korea, in a city called Gwangju. I have 5 fellow exchange stundents staying in Gwangju with me, two Taiwanese and three from the US. Alot had happened during this my stay here and as the lazy fart as I am I really can’t be bothered to write down everything that has happened. But in short, I have been climbing mountains, been misstaken as a girl several times(they even gave the womens key to me at the spa), attending school where I’m treated as a god and called handsome at every corner, done some taekwando, played a hell of a lot pungmul and eaten probably a lorry full of food. In the not so distant future I will be updating this blog regularly(hopefully). So without further ado: Welcome to my blog and I hope you have a blast reading it.