Megan and Ben visit Yecheon

This summer vacation has been a whirlwind of excitement, welcoming friends and family to Yecheon and then saying my farewells. I cannot believe how quickly vacation came and went. Last Tuesday, I parted ways with my brother at Incheon Airport. Later that day, I took the bus back to Yecheon, took a shower at home, grabbed a coffee at Yoger Presso and then went to the Yecheon bus terminal at 5:30 to pick up my Peace Corps friend Megan and her boyfriend Ben.
Megan was a close friend of mine in the Peace Corps whom I haven't seen since serving in the Philippines three or four years ago. She and her boyfriend took two weeks to vacation in Korea and visit friends of theirs now serving in Korea with the U.S. armed forces or as English teachers like myself.
Beyond the company, I really enjoyed their visit as it gave me a chance, arguably my last before moving to Andong later this month, to see Yecheon with new eyes. Most of their time here was spent in Seoul and Busan (and therefor on the subway). They enjoyed the rural pace of things here in Yecheon, the "home-cooked" style of the food here and the fact that we could walk anywhere in town within a matter of minutes. They got to see quite a few things here they weren't able to see in the cities like traditional homes (some predating the Korean War), the Yecheon Insect Bio Expo running all month and rice fields. Well, the rice fields were exciting for Ben. I think Megan, like myself, had her fill while living in the rural Philippines during her Peace Corps service.

The best thing for me about their visit was the opportunity to actually talk about my Peace Corps service. Since I had come home back in 2010, I haven't had the opportunity to meet up with anyone from my batch (267 <3) and really talk about service in a way that would make sense to anyone else. My friends Melinda and Jason have been a wonderful source of comfort and understanding as they served in the Peace Corps in Mongolia, but they were in a different place with different people. I never really realized that I'd never had the opportunity to decompress with one of my own until Megan came. It all felt healthy, the good and the bad, just talking about it with someone familiar with the people, the places.
I had met Ben over Skype once but this was the first time I ever really got to talk to him. One of the prevailing emotions throughout Peace Corps service was loneliness; I was so glad to see Megan happy. Ben is an absolute sweetheart and seemingly an open-minded travel partner. They seem so happy together and, knowing Megan back in the "dark ages", it makes me glad she has found someone who makes her happy and can indulge her wanderlust with equaled enthusiasm.
I just took them to the Yecheon bus terminal; they fly out of Incheon on Sunday. I wish them a safe flight and all the best in their life together in Tampa.
My home has been blessed with friends and family but it'll be nice to relax this weekend and take in a movie or seven.

Saying Goodbye to Colin...again...

Colin, Hayoung and I sat in a tea house in Seoul the evening before Colin was to depart from Korea. The tea house was a great find, somewhere in Insadong. There was writing on the walls, proclamations of love, friendship, napkins drawn on and hung around the walls, sometimes covering the pen on plaster. Throughout the tea house were relics of the past. Old metal fans, kitchen knickknacks, and other jetsam of days-gone-by. As sad as I was that Colin would be leaving the next morning, I was lost in thought, thinking about the antiques. They belonged to people at one point, people whom had gone, people whom had stayed and people whom have passed on. This is the natural process, the motion of us all. We're particles bouncing around this earth and all we leave behind are belongings and the memories, some passed into secret, some still held dear by those who knew the owners.
I started thinking about Colin leaving and having to say goodbye at Incheon Airport all over again. It's hard to put into words but I couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't him leaving as much as it was me who was leaving.
Colin went home this morning. In the grand scheme of things, what's the difference of me taking him to the airport and saying my goodbye as if he was staying in America and him taking me to the airport at MSP and saying goodbye to me as if I departed for Korea? I guess it's relative to the actually location of the parting, but it felt different this time. I felt guilty. Once again, the only Stanhill in Asia; once again, the only Stanhill away from Home, from culture and the family network that spans the U.S. I feel lonely. I feel like I'm the one who left, saying my goodbye all over again. I miss my brother dearly.
Last night, we stayed at the sauna at the airport (Incheon Airport is sort of awesome that way) and sat in the hot pool, the same way we did the night before he left for China August of 2011. It was all so familiar yet all so different, but why? Colin came to Korea last August a young adult, a college graduate and unsure what the future, a year abroad, would bring. Today, when we hugged before he entered the security area, he left a man, a sure-footed traveler and a master of the path which brought him back to me.
Today, I said goodbye to a brother, a friend and, for the first time, a man. That's enough.
Later today, I'll be picking up my friend Megan and her boyfriend Ben. They'll be staying with me for the remainder of the week as they round Korea visiting their friends who are now teachers like myself. I know Megan from Peace Corps; we were batch 267, Philippines and fellow members of the self-styled "Loser Crew".

Colin in Yecheon...AGAIN!

As I sit here typing this at Yoger Presso, my brother is sitting across from me, reading. This feels like the old days at Hard Times on Riverside, though arguably the cafe is better lit and is playing K-Pop (neither of which are good things). I have seen him three times  this year, a record, damn near. 

I met up with him in 청주 (Cheongju) where he was staying with a Korean friend he met in China. We met up near the bus terminal and we spotted each other from across a busy street. We both went to the nearest crosswalk and as we waited for the lights to change, he was gearing up to dart out into the street as soon as the traffic cleared. I LOVE the way he hugs; it doesn't matter if it's been five days, five months or five days. Before he darted at me like a magnet, his yellow, longish hair waived in the breeze, his torso rocked with energy. The the light turned green. I love the hugs I get every time. 

We spent an evening in Cheongju with his friend, Sunny and then came back to Yecheon together. We have spent time with friend whom he has met before and friends I have made since his last visit last August. Last night, I took him to 안동 (Andong) to see the city to which I will move next month. There, he, Zach and I went to HomePlus (like WalkMart) and then went my Ryan's (the dude in my band) house for some beers and dry, broken up ramen chunks. Once Hayoung got off work, we all went out to 샤브샤브 (shabu shabu), a kind of make-your-own-soup at your table restaurant. Afterwards, my other bandmate Jonno showed up and we all went out to a local park and played guitar for about an hour and a half. I really wanted Colin to hear us play and I think he had a good time (he danced a wild dance to a couple songs). I love playing in public in Korea. Koreans are typically too shy to do it but they always appreciate it if other people are doing it. We drew a bit of a crowd but the best part of all was singing the last song of the night, "The Weight" by The Band, a Korean kid came up to us as sang along with the last chorus. He had no idea what the words were but he was really into the music!

Today, Colin showed me some of his artwork and we're going to go back through and look at the pictures I took in China, I think.

Right now I am happy. That's enough.

Colin in Yecheon...AGAIN!

As I sit here typing this at Yoger Presso, my brother is sitting across from me, reading. This feels like the old days at Hard Times on Riverside, though arguably the cafe is better lit and is playing K-Pop (neither of which are good things). I have seen him three times this year, a record, damn near.
I met up with him in ?? (Cheongju) where he was staying with a Korean friend he met in China. We met up near the bus terminal and we spotted each other from across a busy street. We both went to the nearest crosswalk and as we waited for the lights to change, he was gearing up to dart out into the street as soon as the traffic cleared. I LOVE the way he hugs; it doesn't matter if it's been five days, five months or five days. Before he darted at me like a magnet, his yellow, longish hair waived in the breeze, his torso rocked with energy. The the light turned green. I love the hugs I get every time.
We spent an evening in Cheongju with his friend, Sunny and then came back to Yecheon together. We have spent time with friend whom he has met before and friends I have made since his last visit last August. Last night, I took him to ?? (Andong) to see the city to which I will move next month. There, he, Zach and I went to HomePlus (like WalkMart) and then went my Ryan's (the dude in my band) house for some beers and dry, broken up ramen chunks. Once Hayoung got off work, we all went out to ???? (shabu shabu), a kind of make-your-own-soup at your table restaurant. Afterwards, my other bandmate Jonno showed up and we all went out to a local park and played guitar for about an hour and a half. I really wanted Colin to hear us play and I think he had a good time (he danced a wild dance to a couple songs). I love playing in public in Korea. Koreans are typically too shy to do it but they always appreciate it if other people are doing it. We drew a bit of a crowd but the best part of all was singing the last song of the night, "The Weight" by The Band, a Korean kid came up to us as sang along with the last chorus. He had no idea what the words were but he was really into the music!
Today, Colin showed me some of his artwork and we're going to go back through and look at the pictures I took in China, I think.
Right now I am happy. That's enough.

Summer Vacation - Ready, Set, Sweat!

Summer vacation officially started today for me and my friend Zach, who teaches at the middle school on the same campus as the high school at which I teach. We met up around 11:30 and went to the gym. Now, some of my readers may find this surprising. In fact, I have been going to the gym with some regularity for the last few months (excluding June). I figured that if I spent a modicum of time maintaining my body as much as I spent maintaining my laptop, tablet and phone, I may just live a longer, more comfortable life in the future. There is a community (read free) gym that is very adequate that Zach showed me months back. We spent about 50 minutes sweating our asses off and headed off to one of the local saunas.

I have not spent much time on the blog dwelling about saunas, one of my favorite places to go. Korea has a long and extensive public bathhouse culture. The process is quite relaxing and very rewarding after a long day standing and teaching a bunch of apathetic teenagers (hyperbole). Every sauna has a little different setup but the following is more or less the process: upon entering the men's sauna (남탕), you enter the first of two rooms. This first room is the locker room. You put your shoes in a locker and find a locker for your clothes (sometimes it's assigned). Once as naked as the day you were born, you enter the actual sauna room. There are a series of pools, each one a different temperature, from searing hot to nearly ice cold with assorted personal pools with jets. The pools are not for swimming but for soaking. Some pools are unique in offering different bathing experiences. Some pools are made into a giant brew of rooibos tea while others are artificially mixed with the same minerals and elements as found in the Dead Sea. There is an endless variety of preparing the pools. There are also dry and steam sauna rooms around the perimeter of the pool area. These also vary, with, for example, miserably humid Philippines-style 70 degree C room to dry rooms where the walls and the floor is made of sodium rock and you cook at an even 50 degrees C. After showering with an exfoliating rag at a row of showers, the series of dips begin! Zach and I tend to the following routine: shower, warm pool, cold pool, hot pool, cold pool, steam room, cold pool, shower. And how much is this luxurious experience? About $4.50 each. So far, this morning of health and fitness has cost us just under $5 each.

We then hit up our favorite Korean-style Chinese restaurant for some fried rice and egg drop soup. We're now at $9 each for the day's activities, and we head to our favorite cafe, Yoger Presso, which is where I find myself now.

I'm not sure how this summer vacation will go but I like where it's been so far. My brother will be here in less than a week and Megan (whom I know from Peace Corps) and her boyfriend will be arriving the evening of the 31st and staying until the 3rd or 4th. I go back to school on the 2nd but I'll be able to spend some quality time with them before my apartment ceases to be a transient motel and life in Yecheon goes back to its quiet ebb and flow...until I move to Andong later in August!

All Sorts

My band had another performance yesterday. The Andong Volunteer Association (AVA) held another event of carnival games, a bake sale and live music (my band, The Band From Out Of Town) to raise money and awareness for a local orphanage. The AVA is a great organization and one in which I plan to participate when I move to Andong next month. The organization is composed of foreign English teachers and Koreans who meet and act in their free time to do charitable volunteer work, such as organizing activities and game days at the orphanage, picking up trash along the river and the like. SO that was really fun last night. Jonno, Ryan and I played guitar for a solid four hours. The music drew many people to the event and we helped entertain the volunteers as well. I love playing at their events because of the energy. Most of the volunteers have heard us play quite a few times and now sing along with some of the songs. It's a great time.
Foreigners get a bad wrap in the media most of the time.

We are depicted as unreliable alcoholics who prey on innocent Korean women on MBC (Korea's equivalent of FOX News). To a small degree, this image has merit and is shared by foreign English teachers and US soldiers stationed in Korea alike, mostly in cities like Seoul, Daegu or Busan. However, participating in the AVA improves our image.

About two weeks ago, some of the foreigners in Yecheon were given the opportunity to shoot some arrows at a nearby archery field. Yecheon has actually produced an Olympic medalist and she was shooting right next to us for a while.

Yecheon is famous for archery, hence why our bridge is shaped like two lit bows and arrows, as you an see. I suppose these are the kinds of events I never really think to put up on my blog but would be the kinds of stories people would find interesting.

In another thrilling episode in my pursuit to gross out my family with exotic foods, I ate 되지 막창, pig intestines, with Zach and my coteacher, Mr. Do. I emailed the picture to my dad to which he replied, "what's it stuffed with?". To his dismay, they were au naturale. They were quite good. As we sat there eating, I tout about the meta nature of ingesting an animal's intestines with my own. How much further up the food chain can a species get?

This last week, students prepared for final exams, scheduled for next week, which means I have been deskwarming, sitting in the office eight hours a day doing nothing. One might think that this sounds like a dream job but it gets really monotonous. But it beats the hell out of a cubicle job wherein I wouldn't be able to get up and walk around at least. While I have be deskwarming, I have watched a few movies, started editing my novel I write last November and read the first book of Game of Thrones. When my novel is finished, I plan on self-publishing it to the Amazon Kindle store, Barnes & Noble Nook store and the Apple iBooks store for about $3. However, I will offer a PDF format of the novel on my blog for free. Boom.

In other news, my plans to go to Jeju island for summer vacation were cancelled due to extenuating circumstances and I will remain in Yecheon for the duration of my vacation. I'm okay with this for a few reasons. First, I will be able to save money. Secondly, I have had plenty of opportunity to travel with my last three vacations (Philippines, winter 2010, Jeju, summer 2011, China, winter 2012). Thirdly, my brother and a Peace Corps friend are coming in late July and will be able to spend part of my vacation with them!

New Song From Vicious Delicious & DJ Grandalf (me and Zach)

Note: This music is intended as satire. Bad language.