Whew, what a weekend! Considering I had absolutely no plans as of the middle of my week off, it turned out pretty well and I got to see a new part of the country, coming ever closer to my goal of visiting every Korean province. I have already visited or lived in five now—Chuncheon is in Gangwondo, Seoul is in Gyeonggido, Hongsan is in Chungcheongnamdo, Gyeongju is in Gyeongsangbukdo, and now Mokpo is in Jeollanamdo. I only have three left—Gyeongsangnamdo, Jeollabukdo, and Jeju Island. This is totally doable by Christmas!
Back to Chusok…as you are all aware, I was feeling pretty down that I had nothing concrete to do with myself for my only week off the entire semester. I guess it’s the Protestant ethic in me, demanding that I make something of myself and my time. At any rate, I am rarely happy doing literally nothing and inactivity even has an adverse impact on my physical well-being. I start to feel more tired than usual and often have headaches. Hence my elation when Kyoung He Sam called me midday on Thursday to invite me to Mokpo to visit her family. I jumped at the chance to see a REAL Korean Chusok, travel to a city I’d been curious about, and to spend more time with this teacher I have grown to like a great deal.
While I was waiting for her (they were stuck in traffic for 8 hours!), I made dok of some sort with my host mother, Ye Eun, and Eun Ho, as planned the day before. We went to the house of one of my fourth grade students and made some with the mother and her sister. The dough, which came in green and white, was already made—we were only responsible for shaping it and filling it with pockets of chestnut or some kind of bean (kong). Given the fact that this was my first foray into the kitchen in quite some time and I am weirdly enthralled by mindless physical tasks (aka knitting), I was really into it. I actually had a pretty good chat with the aunt while we were working because her English was excellent and she even translated some of my host mother’s comments and concerns about me. I found out that she did indeed volunteer to house me and that she thinks I am very polite and helpful. I was really glad to hear that our home situation is indeed working for both of us and I wasn’t missing some subtle hints that I wasn’t so welcome anymore and was becoming a nuisance. And, of course, they fed me. Too much. This Korean obsession with food is going to be the end of my youthful figure, I swear. Either that, or I will finally learn to say no!
Kyoung He Sam and her daughters picked me up and after eating some food themselves, we set off for Mokpo. Along the way we saw a gorgeous red sunset over the wide open rice paddies. That valley was the most level place I have seen in Korea so far and reminded me how I used to love to watch the sun set across the Gallatin Valley back in Montana. We also played what they called the Chain Game—someone would say a word, and the next person had to say a word that began with the letter the previous word ended with, and so on. It was actually a bit humiliating…the oldest daughter, who is only 11, has a better English vocabulary than me! True, I choke under pressure, but I am also losing any claim to knowledge of the English language. It’s so pitiful. I suppose that if anything, this journal will chronicle my descent into the abyss of incoherent sounds and mumblings. It’s heartening to know that I will be struggling to retain my command of the very subject I am to teach!
Mokpo, by the way, is in the southwestern corner of Korea. It is a seaside town of approximately 280,000. Kyoung He Sam graduated from a girls’ high school here back in the day. There are also at least five or so Fulbright ETAs here, but I didn’t bother looking any of them up because I figured I was there to spend time with the family, not frolic around with American kids I’d just seen two days ago (if they were even there…)
That night, we stayed at Kyoung He Sam’s mother-in-law’s house. There was another daughter-in-law and her children (a boy and a girl) there when we first arrived as well. I was never told names, only relationships, and vague ones at that. It was all a bit confusing to figure out who the children were all related to and how. Anyway, after a late dinner their father showed up and took us out on a midnight tour of Mokpo. We started off by driving through myeongdong (downtown), which was lit by arches of light. Then, we climbed a mountain in the middle of town, a popular activity if all the lights and late-night hikers are any indication, and had a fantastic view of the city and the sea. After that, we drove to the seaside itself and looked around, particularly at Dragon Island, which was illuminated by a series of multicolored lights. It was pretty spectacular. And after that, just when I was thinking we MUST be headed home, considering it was past 11 and I was with some kids who couldn’t be more than six years old, we went across town to a waterfall that was lit up by lights that changed color every few seconds. It was pretty cool, but I was definitely exhausted by then and went to sleep as soon as we got home. Of course, I got the only bed in the tiny house and even had the room to myself…oh, the perks of being a foreigner and honored guest!
The next day was actual Chusok. I woke up early and opened my door, only to find the topless mother-in-law lounging around. I looked down in embarrassment, but she just smiled and greeted me. It was so strange! The women, now joined by either another sister-in-law or an actual sister (I think it was explained to me, but I forget), were hard at work finishing food preparations. Kyoung He Sam had already showed me the many dishes they had made before we arrived, in amazingly large proportions—pounds of vegetable dishes and many whole fish, not to mention boxes of pears, apples, and grapes. It was a pretty fabulous spread. Personally, I didn’t find the food that delectable because it all tasted vaguely fishy to me, but I swallowed it down anyway. Kyoung He Sam was stuffing my face, as usual, but I got out of it pretty easily this time. She must have been distracted. Anyway, before we actually ate they prepared platter after platter of food that was placed on a long table, after which we bowed three times to it. Presumably it was an offering to the ancestors or gods. I’m not really well-versed in Korean belief systems, so I’m not sure. I’d assume they are Buddhists of some variety, but I can’t say that with absolute certainty, and even if I could, I’m still not sure what their actual religious practices, if any, would be. Of course, they clapped and cheered at my clumsy bows (clumsy because they were full, forehead-to-the-ground bows of utmost respect to something) and it was embarrassing. After we living animals had brunch, we went out to the father-in-law’s tomb, which was far away from the city, and went through a really odd ritual. We brought food and drinks and water. After placing the food in front of the tomb and bowing to it in turns, we ate some of it ourselves. The brother-in-law also lit a cigarette and placed it in front of the grave…I guess to allow his ghost to smoke? We also literally poured soju over the grave! Nothing like pourin out a little liquor for a homie, I guess. Meanwhile, the kids watered all the plants around the tomb.
After we came back to the city, Kyoung He Sam took me and her girls to her parents’ home. Oh, and after the traditional transfer of funds to the little ones. Each family gave 10,000 to all the cousins and the grandmother gave the same amount to all the grandkids, including me! Anyway, Kyoung He Sam’s partents are very nice people, too, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time there. It was a little less hectic and I could tell the girls liked this hamani (grandmother) better. We ate an early dinner, since we had evidently starved ourselves by only eating one meal, technically, earlier that day. I nearly died of food overdose, but it was cool, because after meeting Kyoung He Sam’s brothers and their families, we went back to the seaside and rented bikes. It wasn’t exactly strenuous, keeping up with 11 and 9 year olds, but it was fun. Too bad I think that’s where I finally lost my sunglasses. Oh, well…they were scratched and broken, anyway. Good riddance. Then, we drove around to the exact same places we’d been on our tour before, only this time with Kyoung He Sam (she hadn’t come the night before) and a camera! It was fun, but again…soooo glad to finally hit the hay!
Yesterday, Saturday, was our last day in Mokpo. After breakfast, Kyoung He Sam took me back to the mountain and we hiked up almost to the top, where we had turned around before. We headed across a maze of paths (perilous in my flip flops) to a greenhouse and flower garden. It was pretty nice. I get the feeling you could spend a lot of time figuring out all the paths around this mountain, and it’s something I’d do if I lived there for sure! After that, we went back to the harbor and took a boat tour around some of the nearby islands. There are a ridiculous number of islands here and this is also something I’d like to explore. There’s a huge marine national park in the area I could easily lose myself in, I think. It’s truly amazing to me to see so many islands, since even with my limited exposure to the sea I’ve rarely seen them. We left later that day after trekking back and forth across the city, saying goodbye to the mother-in-law, then going back to the mother’s house to pick up the box of whiskey her brothers bought for her husband, then going back to give the mother-in-law an ankle brace…it was truly ridiculous. But I did get another 10,000 and a bag of big grapes out of the deal, so I wasn’t too unhappy. We had dinner at a huge, Korean-style rest stop with an enormous cafeteria and the dolsot bibimbap was delicious! I finally got home around 10 pm and lo and behold if my host mother didn’t cook me another dinner! I was so stuffed already, and what with my concerns about becoming a blimp I didn’t really want to stuff my face, but like the savvy obedient cultural ambassador I am I realized she went through some trouble to prepare a meal that was clearly just for me, so I ate. And it was delicious, of course. It definitely didn’t digest until midday today, but still…it was worth it!