Engaged On Namsan Mountain In Seoul

It took weeks of nagging jihyeon, but we finally made it to Namsan Mountain where I had a double surprise in store for her. 

At the underground market located at Myeongdong subway I spotted some cool PSY socks I wanted. Jihyeon ,always looking for excuse buy clothes, bought them for me. 

Namsan Mountain is in the middle of Seoul which makes it super easy to access. As you can see in the map below, there are number well paved walking trails that snake their way up the mountain.

It is only 262 meters tall which makes it climbable for someone even of average fitness, but if climbing a mountain isn't your thing you can cheat and take a ride up in the cable car. Since it was a hot and sticky day and we were meeting up with Jihyeon's friends for dinner that night we cheated and took a ride up in the cable car. Sorry about the poor photos. The high humidity and pollution wreaked havoc on the lighting conditions.

We then had to climb a few more stairs to climb the last few meters to the summit. The first thing we encountered at the top were 4 old chimneys used to warn of enemy invasion. The beacon system of Joseon was a form of long-distance communication by which fires were lit and the smoke emitted on hills and mountain tops warned local people of an enemy raid.

You can see in the background some water on the ground. The picture below didn't capture it, but there were water jets spraying a fine mist of cool refreshing water up from the ground. I really wanted to join the kids that were sopping wet playing in the mist. :(

We then headed to the lookout where I had a surprise for Jihyeon. First I asked a nice American man to take our photo.

The first surprise was the couple rings. I had led Jihyeon to believe that I was too busy to pick the rings up (I was incredibly busy, but I made the time to go and pick the rings up one afternoon). The second surprise a padlock and a permanent marker. A few years ago a Korean TV drama created a new custom. I am not familiar with the exact particulars of the show, but as with all drama's there were two young people in love and they locked padlocks in a public place (in this case Namsan Mountain) and threw the keys over the edge to symbolise that their love will be locked forever. I did some research which suggested this practice originated in China. 

We found a place for our lock

We had a quick look around for any signs forbidding us from throwing keys over the edge. We couldn't see any so we threw the keys as far as we could into the forest below. 

We then spent some time looking at the other locks and messages that people had left behind. Jihyeon was kind enough to translate some of the messages for me. 

In this picture two people put their chewing gum in a box and padlocked it to the wall. Lovely....

People stuck their photos over the lantern. 

This person decided a padlock wasn't enough. A heavy duty bike lock was called for. Too bad they put it in the "no locks allowed" zone and it will be cut off. 

I think these are male and female book ends?

These people wrote on some wooden spoons and locked them to the wall while others write on their mobile phone case and lock that to the wall. 

And every surface has has love messages written on it, even this mailbox (which I believe is only for decorative purposes). 

More messages.

Ahh, it appears there is a sign telling us not to throw our keys away.... They could make it a little bigger. 

Come on, they are practically begging us to ignore the sign. 

More locks and Seoul Tower in the background.

Some lock trees and love seats covered in messages. 

A happy girl.

At the foot of Seoul Tower there is a souvenir shop where you can buy locks and have them engraved with messages (for what I think is quite a reasonable price). 

And there are all sorts funky coloured locks and keyrings that you can write on and lock to the wall. 

If a lock isn't your thing, you can purchase a love tile and write a message on it. 

And stick it on the wall. It will stay there for 1 year. 

More love message graffiti. 

LOL. I found this particularly funny. For the last couple of weeks I have been doing a play with my grade 3 classes called "The Korean Who Hates Kimchi". There is kimchi soup, kimchi pancakes, kimchi fried rice, kimchi pork cuttlet, kimchi mandu, kimchi kimbap..... and now kimchi hotdogs!!!!

This is something I was a little surprised to see. In Korea they have recently passed a series of strict new no smoking laws to control where people can and can't smoke. I was surprised to see that the WHOLE of Namsan park is considered to be a no smoking area. Smokers beware!

Since we had caught the cable car up the mountain, we decided to walk down the mountain. 

Lots...

and lots...

of stairs. Jihyeon told me that there is a game people play on these stairs. They start at the bottom and play rock paper scissors. The winner can go up 5 steps. They then play rock paper scissors again. The first person to the top is the winner. 

We passes this super old set of apartments on the way down the mountain. Jihyeon said this was one of the first apartment buildings in Seoul (which makes sense, we were in the very middle of Seoul). She said she had seen it on TV and that it looked scary. That settled it. We had to go in ^^.

The corridors were very dark. It took our eyes quite a while to adjust. Night mode on my camera did its job well considering how dark it was. 

Exit

Finally, a store that blows up cats.

Many of the streets in Seoul are super narrow and have blind corners. 

You can see Namsan Mountain and Seoul Tower in the background. 

More narrow Seoul Streets. 

We then met up with Jihyeon's friends across Seoul for dinner. The food was great. It was a blend of Korean and western food. 

And then we went to a Korean pub to drink Makgeolli, a traditional Korean drink which is served in a bowl. 

After drinking many bowls of Makgeolli we the left to find somewhere different. 

We stopped at another bar and look what was on the menu.

After a few more drinks we were all very tired and decided to head home. 

Korean Wedding Hall

After meeting with Jihyeon's parents to get their permission (click here) the wedding planning ball started rolling pretty much immediately  Her parents did the leg work for us and checked out a bunch of wedding venue's in Iksan and recommended one for us to go and look at. The building is almost new and just a short walk from their apartment which makes it super convenient. 

In my 365 days in Korea album I posted this picture a few weeks ago. You can see the wedding hall in the background. This is one of the things I find interesting about Korea. Everywhere there is rampant development going on as cities continually expand and build new buildings and roads but it is still not unusual to see a farmer tending his field on an empty block in the middle of the city.

Anyway, I digress...

In Korea wedding halls fully cater to all the needs of the bride and groom. They have photographers and professional makeup artists available for a small fee and also have a range of wedding dresses and suits that the bride and groom can rent. There is also a dining hall attached which serves a buffet meal both during and after the wedding (more on that later).

The wedding hall invited us to check the place out while they had a ceremony there. It was nice to see the place filled with people rather than a large empty room.

To the left is a dedicated makeup artist/hair dresser room. Straight ahead is a room where a professional photographer takes photos of the family, bride and groom before the wedding, and to the right around the corner is the purple themed hall pictured below. 

  
After looking around the hall, Jihyeon's parents took us out for lunch to a famous cold noodle place in the old downtown area of Iksan. In Korea it is normal to see a set of scissors on the table. These are used instead of a knife to cut the food your are eating, be it vegetables, meat or noodles. 

After lunch we all drove to Geumsansa temple which was about 1 hour away. I have written about it in a separate blog post <here> (coming soon).

We forgot to check out the dining hall, so we went back the next day when no on was there. The woman giving us the tour told us that for people that were in a hurry and could not stay long, they video the ceremony downstairs and project it live on a screen in the wedding hall live so that people can choose to eat and watch people getting hitched at the same time. Everyone in Korea is always in a hurry and never has enough time. At my EPIK orientation one of the lecturers said "1 year in Korea is equivalent to 3 or 4 years in a western country". I reckon he was about right. 

We decided it looked nice and the price was reasonable, so we put down a deposit for the 16th of November. 

Meeting The (Korean) Parents

I had already met Jihyeon's parents on a few occasions, but since we have decided to get married it was time for an "official" meeting. A couple of weeks after purchasing the couple rings (click here) I met with Jihyeon's parents to get their permission to marry their daughter. Before I could meet with them though, I needed to buy some gifts for them. What does one buy a Korean father to convince him that you are suitable for his daughter? It turns out alcohol is all that is required.

And for her mother a nice flowering orchid did the trick.

Finally the day arrived. Jihyeon had told me I needed to wear a suit which I wasn't looking forward to since it was a stinking hot humid day. I decided it would be best to throw on some shorts and a shirt to make the trek from Daejeon to Iksan (about a 2 hour journy of walking/catching the subway and then the KTX). Once in Iksan I met Jihyeon at a Paris Baguette store (the things are freaking everywhere in Korea) and got changed in their toilets..... they wern't particularly clean, had no air circulation and were hot, small and stuffy. 

The toilet was in a secret room between floors.

Then down some steep stairs into the dungeon. 

How delightful.

We then jumped in a taxi and made the 2 minute trip to her house where here mother was waiting nervously. I found it amusing watching her mother run between the kitchen and the window every minute to see if Jihyeon's father had arrived home (he was picking up Jihyeon's sister at the station). 

Once her father arrived home, Jihyeon had her parents sit on the floor so that we could do what is called a "big bow" to them. It involves getting down on your knees and putting your head in the floor. I didn't feel terribly comfortable doing this because I felt it was humillating, but for the sake of keeping the peace and earning mega points with her parents I did it. Once that was done (it took all of about 15 seconds) I gave the alcohol to her father and the orchid to her mother before sitting down to the feast her mother had prepared.

After eating is when things got serious. Her father fired off some questions at me which Jihyeon translated into English. "How much do you love my daughter", "How long will you stay in Korea", "Where will you live in Korea", "Where will you live in Australia", "How much money do you earn", "Will my daughter be happy with you in Australia, a long way from Korea, her family and her friends".... There were more but I can't remember them now. Her mother, father and sister would have a short discussion in Korean after each answer before her father fired off another question. I must have said and done the right things because her parents gave us permission to get married. 

Couple Rings In Korea

In Korea when to people are in a relationship they will often do things like wear matching shirts, wear matching wrist bands, buy matching phone cases, set matching ringtones, wear matching shoes. My understanding of this custom is that it is all about boasting to the world "we are together" and ,I am guessing, was probably started because it is frowned upon to show too much affection in public. 

Couple rings are an extension of the "look at us, we are together" custom and shouldn't be throught of as engagement rings. That said, because Jihyeon and I are in a mixed custom relationship we treating the couple rings as engagement rings. Traditionally in western culture only the woman wears an engagement ring. According to my research Korean couples buy a couple ring after they have been together for 100 days. 

Initially I was tasked with choosing and buying a set of rings all by myself which resulted in a severe spike in my stress level. Like 99% of men on earth, I know nothing about jewelry. In Australia it would be difficult enough, but in Korea it seemed impossible. I couldn't speak the language, I didn't know who was a credible
retailer, I didn't know how much I should spend or even what design I should get. Luckily for me Jihyeon had a change of heart after talking with a coworker who convinced her that sending me out into the wild to buy something was a bad idea. 

One Saturday morning we headed to a department store in Daejeon that had been recommended to me by some other teachers at school. They had a whole floor dedicated to jewelry with a multitude of different designs and price points. Jihyeon and I set about visiting every store to see what designs they had and what the prices were. 

Jihyeon found something she liked at the first store but I insisted that we spend the time to look at the other stores. I mean, what is the chance that the first thing she looked at was exactly what she wanted? We spent the next hour visiting all the stores only to find ourselves back at the first store. 

We had another closer look at the first rings we looked at and had our sizes measured and placed an order. In Korea if you pay with cash you can often get a 10% discount. I don't understand the intricacies, but the government is trying to encourage people to use cash instead of plastic. Maybe it has something to do with the bad credit card debt many people ran up soon after plastic fantastic was introduced to the country. In any case, I made my way to an ATM to withdraw the money. The machine was out of 50,000 won bills (the largest denomination) so spat out a very large wad of 10,000won bills. The ATM took a bloody long time to count the money. I thought it was going to run out. Not wanting to walk through the department store waving a huge wad of cash about, I stuffed it in my pocket and made my way back to the jewlery counter. Once I handed over the cash, we were told that the rings would be available in 10 days.

Debate Contest

I have been a little slack in updating my blog. My school decided to enter a team into the debate competition in Daejeon a couple of weeks ago. In the two weeks leading up to the contest I stayed back at school late in the evening with the team to help them prepare. 

And we ordered Pizza :)

The two weeks went by quickly and before we knew it D-day had arrived. We packed into the head English teachers car and she drove us to a nearby school where the competition was to be held. 

This is the gymnasium at the school. The finals would be held here, but the first few rounds would be held in classrooms located below the gym.

This is the competition draw. We didn't find out what team number we would be until after the opening ceremony. 

And here is the list of debate topics we spent the last two weeks discussing. The topics were randomly assigned to different rounds and the final battle for 1st place would be a mystery topic drawn out of a hat 5 minutes before the students had to debate. 

My pretty blue shoe covers.

My students doing some last minute preparation before the opening ceremony. 

And... some wonderful speeches...

Our team number was assigned (Team 8) and the first topics were chosen. My students knuckled down even harder and practiced there arguments right up until they entered the competition room. They were really nervous to the point where they couldn't stop shaking. I told them no matter what happened, I was proud of how hard they had worked. I wasn't allowed into the classroom (students and judges only), but before I was ushered away from the window I managed to snap this photo. My students are on the left. 

The judges took bloody ages to make a decision. They called our final speaker in (the boy pictured below) and told him the result. I don't know how he did it, but he managed to keep the straightest face I have ever seen before saying "WE WON". We were all super happy to say the least. 

They continued on and made it to the semi finals where they were finally beaten. I felt sorry for them because they had worked so hard and had they argued the "pro" rather than the "con" position I think they would have won. Sadly it often comes down to luck of the draw. They would be battling it out for 3rd place in the gymnasium. 

And here they are (on the right) in the gymnasium. 

Unfortunately they drew the short straw again and were arguing "con" for Topic 1: are school uniforms necessary. They still came 4th (out of 14 teams) which is quite an achievement. I had a great time working with them. It was a real joy to work with students so enthusiastic to learn and improve their English. 

Korean DVD Room

Thursday last week was a public holiday here in Korea so I traveled to Iksan to visit Jihyeon. We went to.... a DVD room. In Korea because people live with their parents until they get married there is a market for places such as this. There are small private rooms where couples can go and watch a movie together and have some private time together. Jihyeon got very embarrassed if I said "DVD room" too loudly because anyone that might overhear would immediately think.... "oh... i know what you will be doing ;)". In Korea anything more than holding hands in public is frowned upon. 

When you walk in it looks a little like a video shop. For two people, it cost 10,000 won ($10) to rent the movie and use the room to watch the movie.

We walked down a dark narrow corridor with lots of doors which lead to private rooms. It felt really seedy. At the end of the hall was the door to our room. You can see there is a large projected movie screen in front of a leather sofa bed. They even provide some coat hangers on the wall for you....

Just above the sofa is a phone you can use to call the front desk and get them to adjust the volume or report any problems with the movie.

The room was quite comfortable and once the lights were out the screen was excellent. They had a 7.1 sound system set up which sounded great in the small room.

After the movie we headed to a pool hall to play some pool before I headed home.

Surprise

Thank you to the teacher who left a surprise for me in the printer this morning. 

At the start of the year I made a promise to all my students that I would be in class ready to start when the bell sounded. So far I have done a pretty good job at keeping that promise which is something I am proud of. I made the promise to emphasise the importance of being on time and that I expected them to be on time too. You respect me, and I will respect you kind of thing. 

I slept in a little today and arrived at school a little later than usual. I was still 15 minutes early so I set about booting my laptop and copying the worksheet for my first class this morning to my USB key so I could print it on the office printer. I then raced to the printing computer, opened the worksheet and hit print. The printer started to spool up…. and then….. nothing. I checked the printer to see it was flashing a red light and displaying a message saying “paper jam”. I frantically started ripping the printer apart, looking for where the paper was stuck. I finally found the jam hidden behind a panel on the back of the printer that would pop off if you held your tongue out while standing on one leg doing the hokey pokey. Now that the problem was fixed it churned out a copy of the worksheet and I photocopied it (luckily there was paper in the photocopier today, that is a story for another day) before racing off to class. 

I arrived at the classroom to find it was still locked (not unusual) and that there were no students waiting outside it (a little unusual, but not out of the ordinary). I unlocked the door just as the bell rang and proceeded to get ready for my students. 

I sat and waited a couple of minutes. No students arrived. Now, this was not the first time I had found myself in this situation. There have been numerous occasions where a class has been cancelled and nobody has told me of the cancellation. I went for a walk to find another English teacher who confirmed my suspicions. 

The moral of the story? I’m not sure. Whenever things like this happen I remember one of the lecturers at my EPIK orientation telling me “Korea is dynamic”, meaning things change without notice and you will be presented with unexpected challenges. Once you accept this and go with the flow your life will here be much easier.