Headin' Down to the 'Po

It's great to be a high school teacher in Korea, especially during the fall/winter semester.  It seems like every other week there's some sort of cancellation or day off.  Unfortunately, my free time always comes at the expense of my poor students.  This week was no different.  I taught Monday classes, according to schedule, but then I had the next 4 days off from school due to final exams.  For my 1st grade students, all their hard work and sleepless nights come down to this dreaded week. 

I recently learned that the grading system in Korean high schools is very similar to that of American universities.  Midterm grades usually count for 40% of their total grade, final exams another 40%, and the remaining 20% is divided according to some algorithm of quizzes, participation, projects, and overall attitude.  Mostly unsatisfied with their midterm grades, my students are taking their final exams very seriously.  So as they mentally and physically set off to endure hell week, Danielle Teacher gets to sleep in and enjoy the time off.  Quite cruel, isn't it?  Anyway, being that we had nothing to do, JR and I headed down to Mokpo on Wednesday and Thursday to visit 6 of our close Fulbright friends.

Located on the southwestern tip, Mokpo is pretty damn far from Daejeon; quite possibly, as far away as one can get in mainland Korea.  By train, it took us 3 hours to get to this small port-side town.  Having grown accustomed to my city-slicker life, I, admittedly, didn't expect much from this visit.  I was looking forward to seeing my friends, but I assumed that we'd be out in the boonies, far away from civilization or entertainment.  Boy, was I mistaken.  Mokpo proved to be a charming, adorable city with all the amenities and faculties of urban Daejeon, just on a smaller scale. 

That's the thing about Korea.  It's so incredibly urbanized that even this lively town with a population of 250,000 people is considered rural/borderline suburban, according to Korean standards.  Coming from America where the term "rural" evokes visions of isolated farm towns with one traffic light, I was definitely taken for a loop.  Once we arrived, we met up with the lovely Emily, who would be my host for the visit.  She walked us around the old downtown area, and then we all sat in a coffee shop and chatted for a while.  Being that she's so far away, I don't get to see her as often as I'd like.  It was nice to finally catch up and hear about what she'd been up to.

After lunch, we parted ways with Emily and took a cab to a co-ed high school on the other side of town, which is where our other friend Henry works.  There, we got to see Henry Teacher in action and sit in on 2 of his afternoon classes.  For his lesson, he split his students up into 2 teams and launched into a game of Konglish Jeopardy, in which a Koreany-English word was presented and students had to think of the more accurate English term [e.g., 핸드폰 (hand phone) = cell phone]. 

Henry elected to make JR and I captains and gave each team the chance to pick their leader.  I wasn't surprised when the second class's all-girls team chose me as their captain.  But it was pretty hilarious when the first class's all-boys team chose me, the pretty girl, instead of their fellow bro.  Haha, JR's never gonna hear the end of that one...  As teachers, it can get pretty monotonous doing the same lesson 20 times in one week.  Therefore, we all have ways to keep ourselves amused.  Henry took this to another level by introducing JR to the first class as Rafael, and the second class as Demetrius.  It was all pretty ridiculous.

After school, JR went to Henry's homestay and I headed over to Emily's apartment to drop of my bags.  It's clear that Emily has a great relationship with her homestay family.  I got to meet her homestay mom and sister, both of whom were so kind and welcoming.  It looks like we both lucked out with our families.  Emily's homestay mother runs an after-school English tutoring class from 3-8pm every weekday. 

When I arrived, I was shocked to see 20 little elementary school kids sprawled all throughout the living room.  Immediately they ran over to me and at the insistence of Emily's hostmom, began practicing their English.  I bombarded with a chorus of "Hello, how are you?  What is your name?  Nice to meet you!"  It was absolutely adorable.  Later on, we heard them singing Christmas carols together.  Soooo precious!!  The picture and graphic below pretty much summarizes our relationship.

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After settling in and catching up on girl talk, we met up with the entire Mokpo crew around the new downtown area.  There, we walked alongside the water and ran into the Gatbawi rock figures, which are one of Mokpo's more notable tourist attractions.  It was a nice, leisurely stroll and a vastly different scene than anything one can find in land-locked Daejeon. 

Then, we all headed to dinner and gorged on delicious barbequed meat.  During dinner, we had the bright idea to have a pepper-eating contest.  The premise of the game is simple - choose one of the skinny green peppers, eat it, and then from everyone's reaction, judge whose pepper was the hottest.  What a dumb mistake.  I'm pretty sure that I tied with another friend for the hottest pepper award.  Although everyone was visibly affected by their potent pepper, the two of us were crying, sweating, and panting for air.  I lost feeling in my tongue and lips for nearly 20 minutes.  Never again!

After dinner, we ended up at a bar and just hung out for a while.  It was so nice to see everyone together.  Usually, the Mokpo crew makes the trek up north to visit us; so it was only fair that we reciprocated the favor and made our way down south.  I'm so glad we did.  The company and atmosphere of the evening were great.  Mokpo has a lot of character.  I especially love the quaint, locally owned coffee shops and beautiful lit-up decorations that line the streets of the downtown shopping area (Photo Credit: the uber-talented Morrow).

The next morning, we slept in, ate breakfast, and met back up in old downtown around the train station.  For the entirety of the 3-hour train ride back, I slept soundly.  All in all, it was a perfect day trip.  I got to see some familiar faces and cool places, but the visit left me wanting more.  I've been told that Mokpo is even more charming when the whether is warm and one can spend the day soaking in the outdoors.  Can't wait until springtime, so I can visit again and hang out on the pier, overlooking the water.  Here are some photos of what I have to look forward to.

Mokpo was a nice retreat from the hustle and bustle of city life.  It has a much more laid-back and calm feel to it.  That being said, visiting this seaport town made me realize how nice I have it in Daejeon.  Everything is at our fingertips, and it's so easy to travel and get around the country.  One of my priorities coming to Korea was seeing as much of the country as I possibly could.  I'm confident that living in Daejeon has enabled me to do just that.

As I was saying goodbye to the Mokpo crew, I realized that this would be the last time seeing them for a while.  Winter Break is about to begin and we'll have 2 months, free of teaching duties, to do what we please.  From heading back to America to traveling in and around Korea to taking language class, the world is our oyster.  Fortunately, I have plans to meet up with 2 Mokpo-ites in the near future.  In mid-January, I'll be traveling to Malaysia, Thailand, and Cambodia with David and then finishing out the month with Emily in Hong Kong.  Can't wait to embark upon more adventures together!