Trip to Yeongyan

This weekend, we went along with a group called "Adventure Korea" way down south on a 6 hours bus ride to a small village called Yoengyan. First, we stopped off at the chili pepper museum. There were lots of different types of chili peppers there, some posters of the "Miss chili Pepper" contest, and many cutesy chili pepper characters to accompany us on our journey into the history of the chili pepper. Among the various specimens encased in plastic bubbles on the walls with nameplates was the "Penis Pepper," which I just assumed was badly translated. Or hoped.

Next, we went on down to the village. Our host families were all there to greet us, though none of them spoke a lick of English. We were staying in extra rooms in their houses. They were very nice, and prepared traditional food for us (all of which was vegetarian, luckily for Carly) Two other couples were staying in the same house as we were, and one of the women was Chinese and she spoke Korean and English as well. She translated for us as we ate dinner with the couple. They said there were about 50 families in the surrounding area, and that all of their children had grown up and moved to Seoul.

In the middle of town was a really nice sauna with massage bed things and some exercise equipment that was open 24 hours. (This would be a good way to spend your golden years, I think!) In the evening on our arrival, we carved some totem poles. I got the honors of drawing our totem face, and ours was the only happy-go-lucky cartoon totem. The other ones were scary. Then, we all drank around a bonfire out on the lawn of the only school in the area, played in relay races against the townsfolk. (I felt kind of bad, an ex-sprinter and all versus the old folks, but we won the box of Soju!) That was really fun.

The next day, we went on a hike to the surrounding mountains (by the way, for the duration of our stay, we were all herded into Hyundai flatbed trucks. It was quaint for the first day with no rain. The second day, it was raining, and we were wearing plastic paunchos, so every time the truck banked hard or hit the breaks, everyone would go sliding into each other.)

The hike was really beautiful. We took a lot of pictures, but we all looked a little ridiculous in our white paunchos.

We all bid our families adieu and got back on the bus for the jaunt back home. It was a really nice time. We watched "Nuremburg," and "Braveheart" on the bus, which, if you haven't seen, I highly recommend. We also watched "Mindhunters," which, if you haven't seen it, consider yourself lucky.

Halloween Korean Style

On Monday and Tuesday, we celebrated Halloween at the hokwon. I dressed up like a vampire (because that's what they gave me as a costume) and Carly dressed up like a witch (because that's what they gave her as a costume.)
We spent both days cooped up in the haunted house room, which consisted of a big curtain that covered two sides of the room. I would wait inside one of the curtains and come out and scare the kids. More often than not, I would get laughed at and punched in the face. (I was wearing a really silly mask. The other kids who were working in the haunted house stole the good evil monkey one. Bastards.)
Carly was hiding in a cardboard box at the end of the haunted house. She would pop out and shine a red laser pointer under her face. She would get some scares, and, on occasion, get assaulted and have to take refuge inside her box. The Korean children tend to have violent reactions to things. One of the Korean teachers was grabbing them through the curtain to scare them, and she got punched in the face.
So, basically, we were stuck in a dark room for 4.5 hours, or 9 hours if you want to cover both days. Additionally, the teachers thought it would be cool to use real pig skin, pig intestines, and squid eyeballs for the "feel the monster's body parts" game. I think they missed the point. But it didn't stop the kids from ripping their hands out of the box prematurely and spraying the lovely juice all over (me).
It was fun when we were released from our entombment to go mingle with the kids. They had been playing the mummy wrappin game in another room, so they were full of energy. Being in a "villainous" costume, I had to have many a showdown with the kids dressed up as heroic characters. I fended off many a plastic sword in the name of the undead.