One of the most interesting parts of living where we do, in a very rural place (by Korean standards), has been watching the agriculture processes up close. The picture below, taken out our back window about four weeks ago, shows workers harvesting and bagging onions. Changnyeong County is famous in Korea for its onions, and for a few weeks huge bags of them were piled everywhere awaiting delivery to different places.
These, believe it or not, are also onions. I think they look like something from a Dr. Seuss book.
Now, rice grows in these same fields. During and just after its initial planting (first picture below), the rice was flooded by the irrigation canals surrounding the fields. They have dried out somewhat since. The reservoir just up the adjacent mountain, which feeds all the fields in this area, is looking rather dry.
The golf course up the hill from us is also looking verdant these days.
The arrival of summer has given us a number of chances to visit the beaches in Busan. Although getting there involves rides on a motorbike, bus, and subway, this is still by far the closest either of us have lived to the ocean. So, we try to take advantage as much as possible on the weekends. The young woman in the picture below asked for a picture with Rachel because "you are so beautiful".
(She's right.)
The Gwangan Bridge runs across ones field of vision at Gwangali Beach, several hundred meters out. Luckily it's quite pretty to look at.
It looks good at night, too.
Busan is a particularly beautiful place during the summer. Because it is surrounded by water, it tends to stay a bit cooler than further inland. We recently visited an island in Busan that had great views of the city from the highest point.
The island is also famous for the Gamcheon Culture Village, home to the hundreds of colorful hillside buildings pictured below. I've seen this place referred to by some as "Korea's Santorini" -- a bit lofty a comparison, I think, but it's beautiful in any case.
We returned there on July 4th, and in honor of America's 239 years of freedom, they served pulled pork sandwiches. God bless the USA.
Also on American Independence Day, we had the chance to take in some sort of beach wrestling by adolescent boys. Korea -- you just never know.
We also joined several hundred other (presumably American) revelers in shooting off some fireworks on the beach.
We also continue to find new places to explore locally, and are often surprised by how rich our area is in both natural and cultural treasures. On a recent Saturday, we did some exploring near the town of Yeongsan that we frequently travel to on our motorbike. This stone bridge was originally built in 1780.
There was a Battle of Yeongsan during the Korean War, that is commemorated by this memorial. I guess we shouldn't be surprised that we, as Americans, are treated well here.
About 45 minutes of hiking beyond this point brought us to the following spot. It continues to please us how much this area looks like the parts of Appalachia that we've spent so much time hiking (and miss dearly, of course).
The last weekend in June, as a bit of a birthday celebration for me, we went to the island of Geoje Island, just off the southern coast of the peninsula. This is Korea's second-largest island (after Jeju), and is home to a couple of large shipbuilding operations. Because of this industry, there is a large foreigner population in Geoje, mostly Europeans. We were quite surprised by this, but pleased with the additional options for Western food that were present.
I'm always pleased to see cargo being transported by the American Presidential Lines, which bear my initials.
In the last decade of the 16th century, Korea was invaded on multiple occasions by Japanese armies. (We've covered this in a couple other places on this blog, including our visits to Jinju.) One significant naval battle during this war took place just off the coast of Geoje. Here, the Korean Admiral Yi Sun-shin led the homeland to an undermanned -- and undershipped -- victory, using "turtle ships" of the sort pictured below. There is a large park and memorial to Admiral Yi on Geoje, replete with a shrine.
Not content to just sit on their history, Geoje apparently hosts a variety of cultural events these days. I'm unsure what the International Penguin Swimming Festival is, but it's apparently a thing.
We had a very comfortable stay at the architecturally interesting Radiance Hotel.
Despite the presence of so much heavy shipbuilding industry, a great deal of natural beauty remains. The second day we were there gave us better weather, so we got in some hiking as is our wont.
Surprisingly, we do find time to do the actual work that brought us here, too. One recent highlight was getting to teach Kindergarteners for two days (normally the youngest we teach are fourth graders). They were appropriately adorable.
You're never too young to learn how to throw a peace sign for pictures.
And you're never too old for a fun hat!
On a few other occasions, when the overall number of students in a given week is small, we team teach one class, rather than each having our own. This was a particularly fun group.
Finally, we've continued our practice of taekwondo. Last week we earned our green belts.
It's hard to believe that we have now been in Korea for over eight months, and that we are two-thirds of the way through our contract at Changnyeong English Village. To say that it's been a fascinating experience thus far would be a rather extreme understatement. We've made a lifetime of memories in this time and have learned a great deal about a culture and people that we had hardly any knowledge of previously.
Although there is a great deal to love about South Korea -- and indeed we do love it -- there are, of course, shortcomings of Korean society and a great many things that we miss about home. (And I'm not only thinking of Chipotle burritos.) Free speech is not valued to the same extent here as it is in the United States, and social conformity is often prioritized over individual expression in ways that are rather tiresome. Often, it feels as though the unofficial motto of the Republic of Korea ought to be "hurry up and wait", because so much Korean behavior seems motivated by such a mindset. The Korean word 빨리 (pronounced "ballie") means "quickly"; not for nothing is that one of the most commonly heard words, and one of the first that all expats learn.
Nevertheless, Rachel and I have found Korea to be a delightful place to live and it will always occupy a special place in our hearts. Though we will not be renewing our contract at CEV, we would not rule out living here again at some point in the future. Right now, we are very much looking forward to coming home in mid-November and spending a couple of months back in the States, celebrating the holidays with our families and catching up with old friends. Neither of us seem to have Asia out of our systems yet, however, so we're currently searching for a new opportunity to begin in this part of the world in early 2016. We hope you are all having a safe and enjoyable summer!
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