Other Telephone Weirdness

It just occurred to me that, not only do Koreans not have voicemail or answering machines, but they also don't say "goodbye" before hanging up the phone. They just kind of finish what they're saying and hang up. The closest I've seen to a closing like we do is "ne," which is just "yes." It's so counterintuitive. At least they say something in the beginning: "Yeoboseyo?"

Excuse Me

Although there is a phrase, "sillyehamnida," which is always translated as "excuse me," I recently found out that it doesn't mean what we think it means. In English, "excuse me" can be used in a ton of ways: to get someone's attention, to make them move out of the way, as a response to bodily functions, as a way to express disbelief, as an apology, etc. In Korean culture, it's used as a pre-apology, for when you're about to do something bad.

I was discussing this with the Korean boy I met in Seoul. We were getting on the escalator in the subway station, and I stepped onto the left side. Apparently that side is meant to be used for people who are walking only. Standers stand on the right. It's not surprising; they do that in airports all over, but I hadn't encountered that here yet. I guess it's more important in the subway stations, since people are in a hurry. My friend pulled me to the side so this guy could pass. I realized then that he had been standing behind me, probably getting pissed, but didn't do anything about it. I complained about how Koreans always suffer silently when all they have to do is say "excuse me." He said Koreans don't have a phrase like that, and I asked about sillyehamnida. He said that doesn't mean the same thing. It's supposed to be used when you're about to do something that you need to apologize for, and I guess it has to be really bad. Like, "Excuse me while I stab you." I said, well, even though making someone move or get up to help you isn't really bad, we still say "excuse me" to be humble and polite. But he said it's just not the same.

Now that he told me that, I've been noticing a lot more how people seem so rude by Western standards. They push each other in hallways, on elevators, on stairs; yell what they want at waiters instead of calling them over first; and don't give bumping into someone or stepping on feet a second thought. It's amazing living amongst so many people and being able to completely ignore all of them.

The thing that kills me, not really because they don't say anything, but because it's easily avoidable, is that people are constantly bumping into me or brushing by me when I'm completely surrounded by loads of clear space. I want to shake them. Why don't they just walk one foot to the left or something? They really don't see anything, I think, but their destinations. Any soft tissue in the way is inconsequential.

Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever heard anyone say "sillyehamnida" or do anything to replace "excuse me" since I've been here. It's interesting to see how dense populations and a communal culture will affect people. I must say, though, the Borg never run into or push each other like that. Why isn't Star Trek more popular around here?

Chuseok

This weekend was Chuseok, or Thanksgiving in Korea. I haven't been told much about it, but as with many other Korean holidays, it involves honoring the ol' ancestors in the graveyard. I'm sure there's a lot of bowing.

I got Monday off. Public school teachers got Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off. A pox on the private school system and it's not-day-taking-off. This always happens. I decided that since I hadn't made any plans to go out of the country, and I don't have anyone to go backpacking with anymore, I'd better go to Seoul and get some of my souvenir and gift shopping done, since there's not much in the way of traditional Korean gifts in Ulsan.

In retrospect, that was a stupid idea. I did get some shopping done, but this particular weekend wasn't a great time to be a tourist in Korea. Chuseok is one of the biggest holidays of the year, and it occurred to me after I got there that everything I might want to do would probably be closed. I had wanted to go the the famous DLI 63 building, the tallest building in Seoul, because they have an aquarium and an IMAX theatre in there, plus other stuff, but no.

I decided to stay at the Hamilton Hotel in Itaewon, the tourist district. I wasn't too keen on staying there, but I was trying to stay in a hotel with a pool, preferably near to some shopping. Finding a hotel in a pool is very difficult in Korea, unless it's a first class, deluxe, or super deluxe hotel, due to Korean skin exposure inhibitions. The Hamilton has a pool, and Itaewon is pretty much only shopping, bars, and restaurants, so I guess it'd do.

What the hotel's stupid website didn't say was that the pool was closed for the season. I woke up early on Sunday, went looking for the pool, and found it empty and abandoned. I was pretty pissed. I could have stayed in a $20 yeogwon (inn), closer to better shopping, but paid $80 a night for an empty pool. They had a sauna at the hotel that I thought about going to, but I didn't feel like paying for it. I didn't know how much it would cost. Actually, you had to pay to use the pool, too, and for towels, and for patio chairs, but I was going to pay the six bucks to use the pool, and use the ground and a room towel, because I just don't get to swim enough.

I'm not going to stay in that hotel again. The rooms and the service were nice enough I guess, but you didn't get anything with it. Not only did you have to pay an arm and a leg for the pool and sauna, but internet access in the rooms and computer room was exorbitant, and you even had to pay for shampoo and conditioner. Good thing I brought my own.

My room faced away from the main strip of Itaewon. I thought this view was of Seoul tower, but then I realized I was facing north, away from Seoul Tower. I was looking at a big map on the strip, and it seems like this is actually Itaewon Tower. They look the same.



On Saturday I had a bus ride that is normally four and a half hours, but due to holiday traffic, took almost six hours this time. I have been corresponding with my first Korean friend, and he was able to meet me and hang out for a couple hours before having to return to do family stuff for the rest of the weekend. That left me on my own for Saturday night, all day Sunday, and Monday morning. I just found out that another friend of mine was also in Itaewon for the weekend, in a hotel right next to mine, at a time we both could have used a friend. Oh, well.

Saturday night I just walked around, nothing special. Sunday I walked around some more and got some gifts. I tried to walk to this park I saw on a map for lunch, but it ended up being too far away. I did find this random Greek theatre kind of thing on the way, though:








After eating my sandwich there, I walked back to the Itaewon strip and took some pictures of this miniature Korean farm village that they have sitting on an island in the intersection at the entrance of the strip. How odd.












Then as I was walking around looking for more shops that didn't have clothing, accessories, or shoes, all of which were just American or European labels (or knockoffs), I started getting bothered by strangers. This first guy started walking with me, introduced himself, said he was from Nigeria, and when could we take some time to have a little chat. He dogged me for about five minutes or so before I was finally able to get rid of him. Then three minutes later another Nigerian came up to me and said he said hello to me a minute ago, but I didn't hear him, so he followed me up the hill I was climbing to talk to me, and pulled the same stunt as the other guy. I asked him if we were in Little Nigeria or something, but he said no and kept trying to get me to talk to him.

Now I was getting tired of this, so I started walking back to the hotel, and once we got to the hotel, I told him one last time that I didn't want to talk to him and went inside. I was glad he didn't follow me, and glad it was daytime. I didn't go out alone at night.

Later in the afternoon, I tried to go to Dongdaemun market, a few subway stops from Itaewon, but was disappointed. As soon as I stepped off the subway, it was nothing but outdoor stands selling stuff, but that stuff was mostly clothing, which I didn't. If they didn't sell clothing, accessories, or food, they sold junk. I did manage to find a trench coat for only about $35, so it wasn't a total waste, but I wasn't going for me.

Actually, most of the interesting stuff I experienced this weekend were just random moments in the subway station. I saw this idiot father walk his tiny toddler daughter onto the subway, but she was too small to realize there was a two inch difference between the platform and the train floor, so she tripped and I watched her tiny pink sneaker come off and tumble into the black abyss.

On the escalators in the stations, you're supposed to stand on the right, and walk on the left. I saw this old guy yell at some girls clogging the entrance to the escalator this morning, presumably because they were in his way, on the walking side. But no, he pushed them all the right and stood on the left himself, without walking, blocking others. Before I knew about this, on Saturday, I blocked the left side myself for a moment before my friend moved me over to the right and explained things. As he moved me, this man who had been standing beside me started walking, and I got mad at the culture and talked to my friend about how this whole culture suffers silently instead of simply saying "excuse me." Then he explained that they don't have an equivalent phrase in Korean. I asked about this expression "sillyehamnida" which is supposed to mean that. He said it's not the same. It's not a way of getting someone's attention or making them do something, it's more like a premature "I'm sorry." It doesn't work the same way.

Another escalator moment that occurred on Sunday was a man called "No walking" a couple times to me as I walked down the escalator. I turned around and gave him a scathing confused look and realized he was just kidding, so I laughed at him.

Anyway, aside from meeting a new friend and buying some gifts and a couple things for myself, the weekend was a waste. I really don't like Seoul very much. It's too much of a city.

Voicemail

As far as I can tell, this whole country operates its telecommunications systems without the use of voicemail or answering machines. It boggles my mind. People don't have answering machines at home, cell phones don't have voicemail, and businesses have to have people at the phone at all times, or no one gets the call. I don't understand how they get by these days without that convenience. So many times it's pissed me off that I've tried calling somewhere and the phone just rang and rang forever. Sometimes an automatic message will come on after 20 rings or whatever, telling you to give up (I assume). And you just have to try, try again.

The only advantage that I can see from this is that you don't have to scramble to get to the phone before the fourth ring.

Korean Pets

The whole idea of pets is fairly new to Korean culture. Some people still eat dog, for crying out loud. But dogs are still the most popular pet, I assume among the non-dogeaters. Cats are significantly less popular here than in the West. Most cats are feral. There are several that hang out outside my window and yowl all fall and winter. You don't see many cats in the pet stores, but I think they're growing in popularity as people start to realize how much better they are than stupid dogs.

The color of choice for pets is white. I think it's a status symbol. If they have a white pet that stays white, they appear richer or something. Also, it's easier to dye the pet's fur when it's white. Yes, they do that. It's awful. I've seen dogs with pink ears, orange tails, and a lot of dogs with combination dye jobs, mostly pink. It's awful. It's also awful the getups they put these poor dogs in. They put barrettes in their fur, make them wear ridiculous sweaters and booties and hats, and treat them like little dolls in every way possible, it seems. If I were a photographer, I'd do a photo essay on the subject.

The secondary color choice is light brown. Cocker Spaniels are popular. It's pretty rare to see a dog of any other color. I have seen a scruffy looking black and white mutt around my neighborhood, and a few dogs here and there that were dark brown or mixed colors. I saw a black dog in Seoul when I went.

Due to the whole doll treatment, the size of choice is small or even toy-size. They do the whole "carry it in your bag" thing. It's also easier to subject small dogs to all that bullshit, like dying, pedicures, and clothing. I'm so embarrassed for them--the pets and the owners.

There's this one pet store that sells exclusively this one breed of small, white, shaggy dog that Koreans apparently go crazy for. I don't know anything about dog breeds.

When I was in Seoul in April, I saw more of a variety of dogs being walked. There were bigger dogs like labs around, though I've never yet seen any dogs as big as like a golden retriever or a German shepherd. Seoul dogs also came in other colors besides white. On my backpacking excursions, while walking through the small towns, there were a lot of mutts around. Maybe it's just Ulsan that's so silly. I'll have to see what other dogs I see in my next trip to Seoul this weekend.

There are other pets, too. They sell teddy bear hamsters at E-Mart. I considered buying one, actually. But I leave town too much, and it would require getting someone to take care of it. E-Mart also sells fish and these huge beetles. Several times at school, kids would show up with a hamster or a beetle in a small container, and I'd ask where they got it. They'd say they got it at school, like as a prize or something. That's so weird.

Some kids seem to have a lot of the other normal tank/aquarium pets like turtles, mice, and maybe lizards. But they also have kind of bizarre pets like squirrels and tiny porcupines. A few of my kids have talked about either having or knowing someone who had a porcupine. What the hell.

My New Yoga Studio

It's not really new anymore, actually. I've been going there almost three months, but I've been writing about other things since I started there. I figure if any readers out there are interested in yoga for when they get here, they might want to read.

The first yoga studio I went to was a little disappointing compared to what I had in LA, as I mentioned in a previous entry. Each day of the week had its own routine, and it was hardly yoga at all. It was actually a yoga/pilates/etc. mix that the instructor created because she feels that yoga harms some people. My opinion on that: if it doesn't help you, try something else. So although I liked the teacher fine, I didn't feel like her classes were doing me much good.

My boss found another place about the same distance from my house that was a more traditional yoga studio. This one is called Ashram Yoga College, and it's more like a gym than my first studio, and cheaper. They have a locker room with showers; a multipurpose studio for yoga, dance, tae-boxing, and other classes; and a personal training room in addition to a nice lobby where you can have a cup of tea before and/or after class. One time they gave us all a bowl of watermelon before class because it was hot out. You have to bring your own mat to this place, which I like. At the first place, she kept the mats lain out on the floor with blankets on top of them, and I really have no idea how often she washed either the mats or the blankets. It was a little disconcerting. This place also give you a coupon for each month's membership you purchase. You can use the coupons to buy a yoga mat or yoga clothes there at the studio.

AYC has helped me with my Korean, since this teacher knows much less English than my last. She only sometimes counts in English (why bother?) and will occasionally throw in an English word, but I actually think those are cognates 95% of the time, so it's not for me. I feel bad sometimes when I go there, because the people try to talk to me, but I don't know enough to converse with them. They see me understanding everything the teacher says in class, but once anyone's not talking about body parts, directions, breathing, or exercise movements, I'm a little lost.

There is still a lot of routine involved. That's partly just the culture rearing its head. Every class after the little meditation, stretching, and warm-up we do a couple extended sun salutations, which takes about twenty minutes, then we do actual yogic stretching and balancing poses, which vary somewhat daily. Only this last week did the instructor change the sun salutations portion--now we're doing a salutation closer to what I would do back home, and she made the routine harder, so that's good. Then after balancing and stretching, we do one more of the usual sun salutation before winding down. I'm not sure if she's just changing it for a little while as a break, or if she's advancing the class.

The only downfalls of going to this new studio are that the classes are shorter and the timing is a little awkward. I was going to classes that lasted about an hour and fifteen minutes, but now my classes are only 50 minutes. In LA, I would go to 90 minute classes, so it's kind of a big change. I'm not sure I could do 90 minutes of the same thing three times a week, though. This class also starts at 10:30, which puts me back home at 11:30, giving me only an hour to eat breakfast, shower, eat lunch, and get to work. It's going to get worse when I move to a new apartment and when my work moves to a new building shortly after that, since I'll have farther to walk both to and from yoga and to work. I might have to switch to the 9:30 class, booooo-urns.

One more thing I didn't like about either studio, which seems to be the prevailing tendency among yoga studios here, is that you can't just go to one class to check it out, or once you decide to go there, you can't go sporadically, unless you're okay with wasting your money. It's a membership thing, and you have to purchase at least a month at a time. You even have to tell them which time and days you come, though I was told it's okay to come any day if I'm in the 10:30 class. I find the whole idea pretty limiting.

Downfalls aside, my point is, it's possible to get real yoga in Korea, as long as you don't mind repetition and commitment.

Gyeryongsan National Park

During the Independence Day holiday weekend, starting August 15th, Kent and I went backpacking again at Gyeryong-san National Park. This is a park only a couple hours away from Kent, in the northwest, outside one of the major cities, Daejeon. So Friday I stayed with Kent so I wouldn't have to travel so far on camping day, and we went down to the park together on Saturday morning.

Getting to this park was easier than Byeon-san Bando. We took the subway for a half hour to Cheonan, then a bus to Gongju, a small town outside the park. The bus from there ran into Gyeryong town, and I think the ticket lady was trying to tell me to tell the bus driver that we were going to Gap-sa Buddhist temple, since it's right outside the park, but I thought at the time she was telling me that that's where we should get off. So the bus driver called out "Gyeryong-san" to us when he stopped there, and after kind of screwing around for a few minutes trying to figure out where we were (conclusion: middle of nowhere), we started walking toward what looked like the most likely direction of the park. Then we saw a sign that said it was five kilometers away. We saw two taxis, but there were going the wrong way. Taxi drivers hate turning around in this country, even though it's not a major problem. So we walked it.

Here are a couple pictures of the view along the way:



When finally we reached the park in midafternoon, we paid our combo national park/temple admission fee (only like 2000 won, I think--a couple bucks), bypassed the temple (boring), and started onto the trail. We soon realized, unlike the last park, that this one is made up almost entirely of rock and water. Almost all the dirt is taken up by the trees. Can't waste it on trails. The trail followed, and sometimes became part of, a stream, which was pretty cool, except for the occasional wet shoe part.

We stopped and had lunch on rocks in a stream again this time. The big rock in the middle below is where we sat:

We got a lot of laughs as people walked by. I think it was because it was harder to get to these rocks than the ones at Byeon-san. We actually had to take off our shoes and wade in freezing water to the other side. I doubt most Koreans would have thought of doing that.

Here's more stream:


Is this part of the path? I don't remember. It must be.


Sometime in the late afternoon we hit one of the big waterfalls in the park, Yongmun waterfall. It was cool, but not nearly as big as Jikso Waterfall was.


The is one of the smaller falls that shoots off from the pool above:


And I think these are the lower falls below that:


Within the cracks of the cliff to the side of the waterfall, on the path, are these little rock piles Buddhists put up:


Some dude asked Kent to take his picture by the falls, so we asked him to to the same for us:


We didn't stay too long, as it was getting on in the day, it was very cloudy, and there didn't seem to be much chance of finding an out of the way campsite very easily. Remember, camping is illegal in Korean national parks. Try at your own risk.

So we went up the rocky, often wet, trail, keeping an eye out for someplace to get off the trail and find a clearing or SOMEthing. Then it started raining a bit. We pulled out my bag's attached water barrier (or whatever you call it), but Kent had to put a trash bag over his bag. We climbed a helluva steep and unending slope, up rocky stairs and on rocky ramps. The ramps are supposed to make for a smooth climb, I guess, but really they're just dangerous, because they get slippery in the rain and they provide no traction or support anyway. Stupid trail builders.

I really thought we'd never get to the top. It seemed so far away. Then it started raining some more. We were almost there. There was no GORP to eat along the way. I was pissed. Then Kent got to the top, finally, and I believe his exact words, after we had gone through all this rock and hadn't seen any flat clearing, only deep inclines, were, "Holy crap, it's a friggin' FIELD!" And I laughed and repeated, "It's a field," becase that seemed so impossible. But it was a field at the top. This, I think, was Geumjandi Pass.

Here is the view of the stairs from the top. Notice how they drop down out of view:


This is the view from the top of the stairs of the field:


Here is the field from the side. I don't know what the symbol in the middle is for.


Because we were now in a large clearing on top of a mountain, it was very windy and rainy. That sucked. We were tired, it was cold and raining, and it was getting dark now, and we had no other prospect for a campsite, so we had to emergency camp next to the field. Right next to some picnic tables, haha.

Here's our campsite, the next morning:


Luckily, there were some densely grown trees between the tent and the field on the side we came from. If hikers came from that trail, they couldn't see us at all, unless they looked back as they passed. Anyone coming from the other side would see us, but since that was the longer, harder trail, it was less likely anyone would come from that way. Just the same, we set the alarm for 7:30, figuring no one would get up that high much before then.

As it turned out, there were a few extreme early risers. Around 6am, still wide awake from my inability to sleep pretty much anywhere but home, I heard a hiker come upon us and laugh. Then, I think to warn us that Korea was awake, he started making a bunch of guttural noises and such that didn't seem to be natural or personally necessary. They seemed to be just for us. So I woke up Kent and said we'd better get up before some park ranger passes by or something. I was glad to be up, even at dawn. I was freezing. Rough night.

Next on our agenda was to climb the rest of the way up the nearest peak, which I thing was Gyemyeongjeong-sa. It was about 786m above sea level, as I recall. I think that's the highest I've ever been on the ground. It was kind of hellish getting up. Very steep.

Here are some views from the peak. We could actually see the clouds moving through the mountains, which was pretty cool. The ridge below is why Gyeryong-san gets its name--the name refers to the ridge on the neck of a rooster. We had planned on going over at least part of the ridge as we looked at the map, but having gone up that first peak, I decided my body wasn't going to make it over all those others. I just don't have enough practice, plus my backpack is missing a support frame, which I may have mentioned in the last backpacking blog. This causes the weight to go into my shoulders, not my hips, and the bag to go over to Kent. I could carry his bag all day.






After visiting the peak for a few minutes, we reevaluated our plan for the day, and decided to go back down the way we came for a little bit, then take a trail toward the entrance at the east end of the park. We had entered at the west end and had planned to make a big loop and go back there, but it was going to take too long and be too much work.

Here's me going down the last set of stairs before the peak. I think there were about five or six stories high, in three zigzagging sections. Super.


Along the new trail, we encountered a Buddhist memorial? There was a little wood and glass case where you could light candles (there was a wooden box full of them).



There was also another rock pile site next to the tower:


We met another one of those old Korean guys who speaks good English because he went to the US. He started telling us about the peak we had just been to, and said we should follow him, but we told him we had just been there. Not realizing we had done most of the work the day before, he was pretty impressed.

Here are a couple pictures of a little stream we walked beside for a while. You can see how rocky the trails are next to it.



Here we stopped for a few minutes to rest. You can see a dirt trail in the picture, and I got a little excited for a minute to be leaving the rocks, but no, that was not our trail. We still had to walk on the rocks in a slightly different direction.



This is a sideways picture of a stream that I didn't catch on my picture rotating rounds before posting. Just turn your head to the right.


Water, water, water.



Here is me, somewhere in the park, on Saturday. I wore my glasses on Sunday.


Here is me, somewhere in the park, on Sunday:








Kent took this extended-exposure picture. He loves that shit.


Here is the second, smaller set of falls we saw on the trip. We had wanted to go to another big waterfall that was slightly out of the way of the trail to the exit, but on the way I decided to not try for that, because I had a headache and was tired, and Kent was getting grumpy from having to carry my atrocious backpack. These falls were good enough, though. We had lunch on the rocks again, below the bridge.



Here are some videos of the waterfalls, streams, and a bird's nest we saw: