We’ve had our first visitors from abroad! I’m thankful that
I’ve never had to spend a major holiday alone – four years ago, I was in Chile
for Thanksgiving, and Tony visited (and proposed); this year, my whole family
came to Korea to spend some time with us.
My dad, brother, sister, and nephew landed in Incheon last
Wednesday evening. They spent Thursday touring the DMZ and seeing parts of
Seoul, like Gangnam and Itaewon. The DMZ turned out to be one of their top
highlights of the trip, and I can’t believe they beat us to it! We have yet to
go, but now we know it’s definitely worth the hype.
After one night in Seoul, they taxied into Pyeongtaek, where
we live, and Erica checked into her second hotel of the trip (Matt and Dad were
crashing in our living room for a night). We met them at the train station and,
after dropping their luggage in our apartment, treated them to dinner at our
favorite spot across the street, which we visit weekly because it’s cheap,
delicious, and somewhat healthy. There, they sampled a true smorgasbord of
Korean cuisine: mandu (dumplings), kimbap (a sushi-like roll without the raw
fish), bibimbap (a mixed rice dish), donkasse (pork cutlet with a barbeque-like
sauce), tteokbokki (rice cake in spicy sauce), mandu ramyan (ramen noodle soup
with egg and dumpling), along with the typical (and plentiful) Korean side
dishes – dried fish, lotus root, kimchi, pickled radish, boiled quail egg, etc.
They really enjoyed the dumplings and ramyan, though I was disappointed they
didn’t like the texture of the rice cake – my favorite! I was pleased, however,
to find that for the first time ever, my spice tolerance has surpassed that of
my father! We were happy to welcome them to town by footing the bill – but it’s
easy in Korea because the food is so cheap. All of that for around $30 fed five
hungry adults and one picky child; not bad!
Next, we stopped at Paris Baguette, a ubiquitous bakery
chain all over the country, for a birthday cake for Dad’s belated 60th.
They threw in some candles, matches, and party poppers for free, and we headed
back to the apartment to celebrate. After some cake and plenty of catching up,
Erica and Vinny eventually caught a cab back to their hotel and agreed to meet
us in the morning for breakfast, so that we could take the family to school
with us to see where we work, meet some of our colleagues and students, and so
that Vinny could join us on our field trip!
Friday was the best – we arrived at school around 9:30, and
the students were buzzing with excitement because we had told them that an
American boy their age would be coming to Kids College to visit! He was
initially so shy, he wouldn’t leave Erica’s lap. I was nervous he’d be too
anxious for the field trip, but after touring the classrooms where Tony and I
teach, seeing our office, and meeting our workmates, Vinny suddenly overcame
his shellshock and nearly ran toward the bus without turning back to wave
goodbye. He would be just fine.
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| Bus buddies |
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Vinny fit in perfectly with my kindies
His friends ate kimbap for lunch, but luckily his Aunt Meghan packed him a PB&J
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| How perfect are they!! |
Vinny had the time of his life on the field trip, and fit
right in with my kindergarteners, the Starfish class. He played and sang and
snacked with them, and by the end of the day, when I said “Starfish, raise your
hand!”, he raised his own as well. While we took the kids to a space exhibit
and a palace, Erica, Matt, and Dad visited Main Gate, an area near the Air
Force base, for touristy shopping. Our principal Heather, her parents, and head
teacher Fallon took my family out to a barbeque lunch which they have yet to
stop raving about. After that, they visited a superstore called HomePlus,
checked out the markets near our apartment, where locals sell street food,
produce, exotic (live) seafood, and other goods, and returned to the apartment
and passing out.
But there was no time to rest! Soon we were back from school
and threw our luggage into a van taxi, squeezed into the limited seating, and
were on our way to Gimpo airport. This should-be 1.5 hour voyage cost us 3
hours and $130 USD, and if our flight hadn’t been delayed, we likely would have
missed it. We ran through check-in and security and sprinted to the gate at
8:05, the cut-off for the 8:25pm flight. I’ve never been relieved that my
flight has been delayed before, but there’s a first for everything.
Soon, we were island-bound. After our hour-plus flight, we
landed in Jeju, the premier island destination in Korea. Heather had set us up
with a student’s grandfather, Iwon Gi, who owned a beautiful, brand-new
guesthouse on the island and offered to drive us to all the must-see points of
interest for the whole weekend for a small fee. The accommodations and guide
cost us about $700, split among 5 of us (plus Vinny). Especially after seeing
how nice the house was where we stayed (though our expectations have been
lowered since the pensions we stayed in in Ulleungdo and Deokjeokdo), it was a
very fair price.
All day Saturday, we saw an EcoPark, a lava tube cave, and a
forest, along with a delicious lunch and decent dinner. It was a chilly and
damp time to be on the island, which is famous for its outdoorsy activities –
beaches, hiking, sightseeing – but we certainly seized the day. The lava tube
was amazing; it took about a half hour to walk from the entrance to the
hardened lava column at the end, the source of the cave’s creation, where we learned
that it is the tallest lava column in the entire world! By the time we returned
to the house, everyone was exhausted. Within two hours, everyone had fallen
asleep on the floor, although it was only 9 o’clock.
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| Half our gang with our leader and guide, Iwon Gi on the train |
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| Serene landscapes at EcoLand |
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| The awesome lava tube, Manjanggul Cave |
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| Posing in front of the tallest lava column in the world, at the end of the Geomunoreum system! |
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| Exploring the misty Bijarim Forest |
The next day, we awoke early and packed up our bags once again.
Iwon Gi, our guide, took us on our next round of sight-seeing, which began with
an extraordinary visit to a modest home among an enormous expanse of tangerine trees. A friend of his had invited us to a morning tea, where she taught us the
proper method of drinking tea and shared various treats with us. What an
authentic experience, and such hospitality! After tea, the couple encouraged us
to pick some tangerines off their trees and take them back to the mainland with us
– we took home at least two dozen delicious and juicy Jeju tangerines. Next, we
were on our way to stroll around a National Park and take in the sights of a
cliff along the coast, which boasted geometric forms in the hardened lava rock.
After a lunch of Jeju-famous black pork at a barbeque restaurant, we were back
to the airport to return to Gimpo.
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| Enjoying the flowering tea, traditional snacks, and hospitality in a local couple's home | |
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| Stuffed sweet juju, frozen tea powder cookies, sweet radish flowers, syrupy rice cakes, and candied tangerine |
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| An intimate, once-in-a-lifetime cultural experience |
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| Picking tangerines |
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| Found the summit at the Hallasan National Park |
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| Amazing views of the Jusangjeolli Cliff |
Before we knew it, it was time to say goodbye again. It was
6 o’clock on Sunday evening, and we had to journey our way back to Songtan on
the subway before returning to work the next morning. How those three days
together had flown! It may seem silly that family spent almost as much time on
an airplane as they did with us, but we were so grateful that they used their
holiday time to travel across the globe to see us and learn first-hand what we
do each day, and they were so open-minded about it all: the food, the customs,
the language! My incredible dad had even been secretly studying Korean since we
left the States, and I’m proud yet embarrassed that he knows more than I do!
What an amazing and supportive family I am so blessed to have, I am reminded of
how fortunate I am during this time for being thankful.
