I finally slipped away from school at “three half.” By looking at the train schedule, I figured out I was only saving about 45 minutes and maybe twenty cents in leaving so early, but I was through with school for the day. I was taking freedom, even if it meant four hours on buses and trains. At least I’d get to read.
I met my friends—Alyssa, Robin, Traci, Rachel, Aimee, Jonah, and Ryan—downtown (I made it there without any difficulties—the cab driver understood me for once!) and we proceeded to chill n chat on the steps of this big, famous democratic bell. Supposedly Gwangju is this hotbed of democracy—or was, back in the day—and so they have this huge bell monument downtown as a symbol of their commitment to democracy. There are many such items around town, most of them in commemoration of the May 18, 1980 student demonstrations in which thousands of citizens, mostly students, died at the hands of the military government. It was pretty nasty stuff and Gwangju has not forgotten it. Perhaps the lap of liberty was an odd place to gossip and catch up, but there we were and it was lovely. The first night I can remember where I didn’t really need a jacket. It’s definitely spring now!
Later that night, we went out to a western-style bar. A couple of them drank, but I just talked to Aimee Kim, mostly, about her experiences in Korea so far. I hadn’t talked to her since Chuncheon (she missed the Gwangju conference and the Thanksgiving dinner, and I missed her in Jeju), and it was nice to catch up and hear about the places she’s been, where she recommends going, how her teaching’s going, and what she’s doing next year. The conversation I have with everyone nowadays, it seems, but I’m genuinely interested in what people are doing, both here and next year. It never fails to amaze me. I got some good travel ideas for next year, at least! Somehow we were out until 2:30 am and then finally dropped off to sleep around 3 or so. I heard the next morning that Aimee and Alyssa were talking ‘til who knows when, but it evidently didn’t disturb me. Surprising, since I’m normally a light sleeper, but I was one tired girl. I’ve been so exhausted these past two weekends…perhaps I do need to quit this 6 am routine. It just doesn’t suit for the regular world.
Anyway, the next day we girls slowly made our way across town and out to the bamboo festival (the boys went hiking). We had a late breakfast, then went out to the 5/18 Memorial Wall. It is an underground wall, much like what I assume the Vietnam Memorial in Washington must be like (but smaller, of course), and it’s situated in a gorgeous park, complete with green grass, budding trees, walking paths, etc. And then we headed to the bus terminal to find a hotel for the night, which was somewhat of an ordeal but luckily we had a Korean speaker (Aimee) with us, so we managed to strike a bargain. The room left many things to be desired, but I’m not picky so as long as I had a pillow and a mat, I was happy. At least this place didn’t have roaches, like the first one did! Some of my friends are a lot pickier about cleanliness than I am and they were less than pleased with our rooms. It amused me to see their reactions. I suppose there is something to be said for hygiene concern, but I am generally not too worried about it. I figure just about everything I run across every day is just as dirty—perhaps less obviously so, but still…I refuse to spend my life paralyzed by germ fears. I will probably die of some Third World hygiene-related disease at the age of 25, but I’ll have lived!
We finally got out to the bamboo festival (at a little town 40 minutes outside Gwangju) around 3:30. We downed some pajeon and then poked around, trying out the various activities—bamboo stilts and a multitude of throwing games. Robin was a stilts expert, but the rest of us were falling all over the place. We watched a traditional sort of peasant performance featuring samulnori and over-the-top comical acting that even I could get into because the actions were so exaggerated and funny, and then we went on a forested bamboo walk cumulating in a “model poetry village” that had apparently just been built, or was in the process of being built. It was a beautiful place, but a bit strange in that it was so clearly artificial and half-way done. After we ventured back into civilization (the “village” was nearly deserted), we ate some Chuncheon-style ddokgalbi (though we did have some trouble with the waitress, who was a little too wily, shall we say…), and then we wandered, waiting for the promised fireworks. They were late and only lasted four minutes, but it was still nice. The whole atmosphere reminded me of the Fourth of July—it was festive, food abounded, the air was still warm, we were surrounded by families…it made me excited to come home for the REAL Fourth of July!
We met up with the boys, plus Ryan’s co-teacher, plus our other friend Jon, his friend from home, Jen, and Aelee, a former ETA who now works at the embassy in Seoul. They were all rarin to go, but the six of us were beat. We made a valiant effort at being social at LA Hof, a bar featuring stage karaoke (which is actually pretty funny…oh, the things these Koreans do, and for a crowd of strangers, too!). In the end, though, it just didn’t work out and Aimee, Robin, and I went home around midnight. It was a strange sensation, being the first to give up on the night. It used to be that I would be the last to leave, last to sleep…savoring every moment of freedom and rebelliousness. I don’t know what I was trying to prove. Perhaps that I wasn’t as lame as everyone assumed I was in college. Perhaps it was all part of my post-high school “No regrets” policy—to live life to the fullest, to be more outgoing, to engage more in society. Too bad it really just gave me license to become an unapologetic drunk, but I guess I have no regrets about that, either. I learned a lot in the process, and now, at the ripe old age of 23, I know already that I’m not missing out. No more time lost to raging blackouts. At any rate, drinking once a month or once every couple months is good enough for me nowadays. I’m too old and feeble to do any more, even if I wanted to (which I generally don’t). I don’t know how I ever used to go out 5-7 times per week. Sheer madness, I tell ya. Perhaps that’s why I look so elderly now. Anyway, not all of my friends are as old and wise (or lame?) as me, so they were out that night with a sole purpose—oblivion. We were at cross-purposes; thus, it was just as well I headed home. I hope.
The next morning, I was groggy and feeling off due to the drastic schedule and diet changes of the past two days. I am such a terrible traveler. Or at least, a group traveler. I need to stay on a strict schedule…my body doesn’t respond well to change. Therefore, every time I go away, I get all sortsa messed up and feel awful the whole time. I really just need to eat better—going away has lately translated into “eat a lot of shit that’s terrible for you and avoid anything that’s good. Or douse it in salt or sugar.” It’s not a good travel policy, let me tell you. Anyway, I roused myself, found some breakfast, and managed to get myself out to Mudeungsan, a nearby national park. It was not the nicest of days (we’d gone to sleep amid a lightening storm and the day was a bit drizzly), but since I am stubborn and stick to plans, I went, anyway. It definitely did rain some more on me, but I’m still glad I went. First, it was excellent exercise. I spent almost five hours scrambling up and down rocky slopes and my butt definitely feels it today. It makes me a little sad when I think that last summer I went on hikes three times as long and felt no body aches, but what can you do? Hike more, I guess! It was also really beautiful in a mysterious, jungle-like way. It was so foggy you could hardly see, but this made everything look vaguely magical. The trees and plants were dripping, the flowers were blooming, all was lush…it was breathtaking in a fairy-tale way. Usually I would prefer sun and visibility, but it was nice not to sweat much, and as I said, the mist lent the hike some unusual atmosphere.
I got off the mountain around 2:30 and then rushed around town, collected my things, got a snack and a new book, and headed to the train station. My timing was perfect…I got there just as the train was boarding, spent a relaxing two hours reading and eating eggs and a bagel, and then caught the train to Hongsan in Nonsan with five minutes to spare. The bus nearly left me (with my stuff on it!) in Buyeo, when I stepped off to go to the bathroom and buy Choco Digets, but I successfully ran it down and all is now well.
I got home almost in time for dinner and then caught up on my reading and writing and 30 Rock watching on Sunday night. A good end to a great weekend.
The only big bummer about the weekend was the little electronics incident of Friday evening. I had my i-pod on as usual and stupidly and over-confidently went to take it off directly over the toilet in Nonsan. Bad call. I knew as I did it that it was a mistake—my reflexes are anything but catlike. Predictably, down went the i-pod, into the toilet. I got it out right away, but it still wasn’t working. Until this afternoon, when I had the brilliant idea of trying to hook it up to my speakers. Lo and behold, it just needed a jolt of electricity! I am pretty excited to have it back, though I was somewhat relieved to have an excuse to get an i-pod upgrade. At least I’ll have it until I get back to the U.S. Then we’ll see, but I think a snazzy new one that’s smaller and does video is probably in order.
Besides the i-pod recovery and the glorious springtime weather, today was a personal disaster. First, I showed up obscenely late to the morning assembly. I don’t know why they started it early today, but I was the only one that didn’t know and therefore the only one who showed up 10 minutes late. Embarrassing. Especially in light of the fact that I’m not sure how my school feels about me right now. I mean, why aren’t they telling the principal I want to stay another year? Do they want me to go now?
Second, I proved beyond a doubt that I am incompatible with electronics when I accidentally tripped over my USB flash drive and broke it in two. There’s no fixing that, I’m afraid, and I stupidly didn’t make any backups. I’ve only had that for a month, too! There goes a month of hard work. I have hard copies, but still…now I don’t have my follow-ups to each lesson. I’ll have to redo it someday and this just creates a lot of unnecessary work. It really put a damper on my day.
That and teaching in the afternoon in a hot hot classroom to wild wild kids. It did not go well, to say the least. The morning sessions were okay, but the afternoon? I don’t know if it was my bad mood or their apparent liveliness, but we did not mesh well today.
And then I sucked at samulnori. I’m blaming the drum…it just didn’t sound right today. Nothing was flowing like it did last Wednesday. So I gave up early and went home to read before TKD.
I also went on a short run, but it was unsuccessful. I accidentally gave both pairs of my athletic socks to my host mom to wash this morning, and they were still wet this afternoon. Since I didn’t want to run in warm wool socks (it was rather hot out), I decided to run in my Chacos. I hike in them—why not run? Oh, perhaps because they give me blisters. And rub my feet raw. And provide no support or flexibility. My feet are shot to shit, because of course, knowing I’d give up on my run otherwise, I made sure to run in the opposite direction first so I’d have to run to make it to TKD on time. It’s a mess.
But to cap off the night and to celebrate both my i-pod recovery and the bliss that is sudden spring, I am currently downloading audio poetry to listen to on my walks to school. I’m looking forward to it more than I probably should.