Jeonju Hanok Village

Hello everyone! We hope that you're all well post-tax season. It was as easy for us to file our US taxes from Korea as it was from our couch in Knoxville last year, so that was a blessing.

This past week, we had a very small group of students from Changnyeong Elementary School. Since the class size for six teachers would have been very few, each couple combined classes and taught together. In Korea, most decisions between children are made playing gawi-bawi-bo, also known as rock, paper, scissors. Keeping with tradition, one representative from each couple played their best hand to decide which level each couple would teach, and Andrew won! Therefore, we taught level 3, the most advanced level. Here's us with our seven students:

Last weekend, Andrew and I took an early morning bus from Daegu to Jeonju, a culturally abundant city in North Jeolla Province. Jeonju was regarded as the spiritual capital of the Joseon Dynasty because the Yi royal family originated there. Jeonju is most known for its Traditional Korean village, Jeonju Hanok Village. There are over 800 traditional Korean "hanok" houses that retain their historical charms and traditions. An estimated 8-10 million tourists will flock to Jeonju between March and October, and we were two of them.

Here are a few photos of the Hanok village from above.

The streets of the village are lined with food vendors, restaurants, and shops. Our trip included copious amounts of food and beverage, as we'd planned for. Jeonju is famous for at least two Korean dishes: bibimbap, rice topped with seasoned vegetables, minced beef, and egg (my personal favorite), and tteokgalbi, a mixture of beef and pork rib meat grilled on charcoal.

We book-ended our trip with these two entrees. Here is Andrew with tteokgalbi, shrimp, and a slice of cheese.

It isn't a Korean meal without banchan, Korean side dishes. As soon as one sits down at a Korean dinner table, you're presented with banchan, side dishes. Banchan is all-you-can-eat, free refills. These side dishes vary, depending on the restaurant, but you can bet that all banchan includes kimchi. These banchan were some of the best we've had in Korea, for not all kimchi is equal. Pictured below is kimchi, jicama, radish, and seasoned seaweed served alongside bean paste soup.

Here is bibimbap and the banchan that came with this meal. Most Koreans eat bibimbap cold with raw minced beef on top. I prefer dolsot bibimbap, which is served in a hot stone bowl with cooked meat.

This banchan included kimchi pancake, one of my personal favorites, probably because it's fried. 

Don't get me wrong, we were totally satisfied after our first meal, but I'm a firm believer that dessert goes to a different stomach. When we walked outside, we saw a stand advertising Ice Beer, draft beer with a shot of grapefruit flavoring topped with slush. Since it was the first weekend that we could comfortably drink something cold outside, we went for it and enjoyed every sip. The silly American in me asked if we could carry it around as we walked down the street. 

Just a few steps from the Ice Beer was dessert. 

From here, I'll tell you about the snacks we ate as we made our way through the village over the course of two days. I regret that we weren't there another day, as there were many foods I'd have liked to try.

Unfortunately, we ate a couple of the items before they were photographed, which included hotteok (garlic filled baked dough) and churros. 

More grapefruit beer and blueberry yogurt filled churros.

"Dragon Egg" - pizza bulgogi (marinated beef). Major upgrade on a hot pocket. 

There was a continuous line out the door for this next item. In Korea, they're called Choco Pies, but think Moon Pie and you won't be far off. Jeonju is home to PNB company, which must be one of the originators of the monster choco pie. Their choco pies are hamburger sized and filled with cream, nuts, and raspberry jam, hence the never ending line out the door. It didn't take long to get inside of the building, as Korean efficiency is top notch. 

We managed to sneak in some sightseeing between our meals and snacks. 

Jeondong Catholic Cathedral built in honor of Roman Catholic martyrs of the Joseon Dynasty. The church was completed in 1914, a time in which Korea was under Japanese rule. 

Located across the street from Jeondong Catholic Church was Gyeonggijeon Shrine. Erected in 1410, Gyeonggijeon Shrine holds the portrait of King Tae-jo, the founder of the Joseon Dynasty. 

Portrait of King Tae-jo:

Less of a King but a better beard:

Tourists in hanbok, traditional Korean clothing. Hanbok today often refers specifically to hanbok of the Joseon period and is worn as semi-formal or formal wear during traditional festivals and celebrations.

Though we didn't do as many tourists and rent hanbok to wear about town, Andrew suggested we try some on for size inside of the shrine grounds. According to Suzi, this was hanbok of the Joseon royals. 

Here are some nice ladies in pretty hanbok that allowed me to take a picture of them.

  

A short climb from the busy streets of the hanok village led to this pagoda, Omokdae. Here, Yi Seong-gye (who later became King Taejo) stopped to celebrate his victory on his way home from war with Japanese invaders at Mt. Hwangsan, located in Changnyeong. This area offered a nice view of the village below. 

Across the street stood Imokdae, where Mokjo, the forefather of King Taejo, played war games as a child with friends.

The pictures below are of Jeonju Hyanggyo, a Confucian school that was established during the Joseon Dynasty. This was the national education center during the Joseon Dynasty. 

Pungnammun Gate, the only gate left standing of the four original gates from the Joseon Dynasty (1768).

The gate to China Town.

We also had some fun with the street art.

Everybody was Kung-Fu-Fighting.

A little Taekwondo practice. 

Thank you for adventuring with us as we continue to explore Korea. In just 11 days, Andrew's parents will be visiting us from Illinois! We are looking forward to our time together as we catch up and show off our new home. Blessings on your coming weeks.

Gyeongsang Spring

Easter greetings to all of you. It has now been over five months since we arrived in Korea and we are now feeling thoroughly settled. Spring is in full bloom throughout Korea, nowhere more than in South Gyeongsang province, where we live. Cherry blossoms are covering the country at the moment; these are on our school's campus.

Since the weather has improved, we have enjoyed exploring the local area more, both on foot and on our scooter. We have also had the chance to take several more weekend trips to Seoul, Busan, and elsewhere. Here is an update on some of what we have been up to the last couple of months.

We had the chance to go skiing a couple of times before winter ended, once up near Seoul and once down in our southern region. Rachel started out as a beginner but made terrific progress.

The second time we ski'd, we went at night and were even treated to a snowstorm during it.

Some weeks back, we finally had the chance to hike some of the mountains that are right in our area. The trailhead for Okcheon, the rocky peak pictured below, is within walking distance of our home.

There is a Buddhist temple near the base of Okcheon.

From Okcheon, we hiked along a snowy ridge to Mt. Hwawang, the highest and most important peak in this region. Hwawangsan (san, 산, is the Korean word for "mountain") towers over the town of Changnyeong. At the top is a fortress wall that is many centuries old. Though the exact date of construction is unknown, the wall is thought to have been first built during the Gaya period. The wall goes up four distinct prominences, enclosing a flatter area in the middle.

Here's Rachel in front of one corner of the wall.

And at the highest point.

One side of the wall, looking southeast.

Looking northeast.

Our hike was bookended by beautiful temples, as there is another at the base of Hawangsan.

We have continued to be fortunate with our students here, getting an enthusiastic new batch of Korean kids to teach every week. I have finally been in the classroom, since the beginning of March, and have enjoyed getting to work with children face-to-face, rather than just over the computer in cyber school (as I had been doing our first several months).

Here's Rachel with a group of her students from a girls middle school.

Me shooting some hoops on the new court that our bosses had built. Notice the new fitness equipment in the background, as well. Equipment such as this is found in many public parks and other spots throughout Korea.

Our bosses, Richard and Suzi, on Suzi's birthday.

Rachel with yet another group of students.

This was the first group of kids that I taught in the classroom. These kids were from a local farming community and did not speak much English. We had a lot of fun, though!

A different week's group, in our school's "Hospital".

Although we encounter very few disciplinary problems, students do occasionally misbehave. When this happens, sometimes one of the Korean staff members at our school instructs an out-of-line student to do a little downward dog until he gets his mind right.

Socks in Korea come in all variety of prints, and are available all over the place, usually for under $1/pair. One morning recently we sported some new purchases.

On occasion, our teachers' room becomes a spot for a bit of stretching. Suzi is helping Rachel get more flexible.

One thing that has helped us with our flexibility lately is taekwondo. We started at the beginning of February and spend four mornings per week training.

Some snow provided for a photo-op, one morning.

Taekwondo students progress through levels indicated by a series of belts, beginning with white and culminating in black. So far, we have had one test and both successfully moved from white to yellow. The man in the middle was the judge for our test.

Rachel even got some taekwondo practice in on a street in Seoul, one quiet Sunday morning.

We continue to have interesting and varied culinary experiences, particularly in our small town of Changnyeong. Below we are enjoying freshly grilled chicken hearts, with a side of silk worms. At least the beer washes it down nicely.

This pretty pagoda is in a park in Changnyeong.

The Blue House, in Seoul, where the President lives.

Seoul Tower, in the Namsan area of Seoul.

Gyeongbokgung Palace, Seoul.

Statue of King Sejeon the Great, the most revered king of the Joseon Dynasty and the father of the Hangeul system of writing.

Jongno District in central Seoul.

A self-parody in Gangnam.

Richard and Suzi took us to a playoff basketball game in Changwon featuring the Changwon LG Sakers and the Goyang Orions. It was very exciting, and the home team won!

On Easter Sunday, we joined Richard and Suzi along with our friends/coworkers Josh and Lauren in running a 10K in the nearby town of Bugok. Rachel took third place among all female runners! She turned a lot of heads that day, and not only with her speed.

After the race and lunch, we jumped on a bus to go up to Daegu for church, changing into our church clothes in a subway station. We might not have looked so great, but we were there. Our little church, however, looked very beautiful.

As always, thank you for being interested in our life in Korea. We miss you all dearly and think of our friends and families at home continuously.