My life in Seogwipo is starting to feel more like I belong here and less like I'm a guest here. The past three weeks I've spent a lot of time just doing whatever the host family did. Sometimes that is realllyyyyy boring. Often on weekends the kids will just sit at home all day. I think this is a symptom of having parents who own a business- they are so glad not to be working at the shop that they just want to lounge around all day. This has also resulted in me going with them on a 10k "marathon" race, to a culture festival, bowling (I sucked), and to sports day at school. My host dad is on...the school board? I don't think that's the correct term but I'm not sure how else to put it. I did learn that everyone at my school is basically in love with my host dad because he comes to school events as part of his tenure and then brings tons of meat. Anyways, the title of this post is in honor of the most *daring* thing I have done thus far: eat raw meat and raw egg. Together. I felt like it was worse than stepping on a crack. I expected my mother to telepathically know I have broken this cardinal rule...but alas I did not die. Sorry my pictures are such poor quality, I haven't really been "in" to photography lately but I realize y'all want to see pictures so here you go. Blah. enjoy.
So I'd like to begin this post with a note about the future of this blog. I will be taking a hiatus from blogging for the next few weeks as I begin what I have dubbed "the fall travel season". While I have so much love for Seogwipo and the island in general, there are some sites on the mainland that I would really like to see while the weather is still nice, thus I will be traveling during the weekends. Be sure to tune in again in later for updates and pictures as I am sure the backlog will be immense. My life in Seogwipo is starting to feel more like I belong here and less like I'm a guest here. The past three weeks I've spent a lot of time just doing whatever the host family did. Sometimes that is realllyyyyy boring. Often on weekends the kids will just sit at home all day. I think this is a symptom of having parents who own a business- they are so glad not to be working at the shop that they just want to lounge around all day. This has also resulted in me going with them on a 10k "marathon" race, to a culture festival, bowling (I sucked), and to sports day at school. My host dad is on...the school board? I don't think that's the correct term but I'm not sure how else to put it. I did learn that everyone at my school is basically in love with my host dad because he comes to school events as part of his tenure and then brings tons of meat. Anyways, the title of this post is in honor of the most *daring* thing I have done thus far: eat raw meat and raw egg. Together. I felt like it was worse than stepping on a crack. I expected my mother to telepathically know I have broken this cardinal rule...but alas I did not die. Sorry my pictures are such poor quality, I haven't really been "in" to photography lately but I realize y'all want to see pictures so here you go. Blah. enjoy.
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Last Friday was the National Foundation Day of Korea and thus, I had the day off to explore my lovely island. Except I actually left my island for another, much smaller island named Udo. There are a good number of small islands off of Jeju but many of the ones I have seen are either too small or to difficult to live on. Although, I guess that didn't stop people from living on Dokdo (but that's another story). I went with Claire, the constant companion, and I can honestly say it was one of my favorite days in Korea thus far. We took the ferry to Udo (about 15 minutes and only 4,500 won roundtrip!) and immediately upon exiting we went to find some of the famed peanut ice cream. After having some of really good ice cream we rented bikes for the whole day. The first guy we talked to about bikes definitely tried to rip us off because we're foreigners but when I whipped out some Korean he quickly changed his tune. I took that to be a bad sign and we moved on to the next guy who priced us right off the bat at a much lower rate than the first guy. We then proceeded to ride our bikes around Udo, stopping for pictures and what not. It was nice to be able to leave our bikes and not worry about people stealing them- oh the island life! We parked our bikes in order to climb the hill where the lighthouse is. Sadly, we couldn't get very close to the light house, but from high above the views were gorgeous. We rounded out our day by stopping at a little korean restaurant to have a late lunch. I ordered seafood soup which ended up having live abalone in it! I guess I can check that off my list now! On the ferry ride back we grabbed a bottle of the famous peanut makgolli and made quick work of it. All in all, a wonderful day. It isn't often that I post pictures of food (not trying to make y'all jealous) but I had some blueberry bing-soo (milk + shaved ice) that was too good to not show the world. My friend Claire (the one who's in all of my pictures) took me to a bing-soo place in Jeju-si that was so good. It had chunks of cheesecake and was drizzled in condensed milk and blueberry sauce and in the middles was a scoop of ice cream. yummm. Blueberry was their "summer" flavor so I can't wait to see what's next. In the mean time, enjoy the food porn.
Also for those of you from Indiana, I should mention that Claire is a fellow Hoosier and hails from South Bend. The chances of two Hoosiers hanging out on an island in South Korea? I guess pretty high :) This past weekend I attended the 15th Annual Jeju Women's Film Festival. I was only able to attend on Saturday, but I wish that I had been able to attend more of the festival. Both of the films I saw were really moving and gave me a better understanding of Korea. I would recommend this film festival to both Korean and foreigner, man or woman. The staff was very friendly and helpful and all of the films on the schedule looked really interesting. Plus the films had English subtitles, which makes a huge difference when your Korean is elementary. The first film I saw was Han Gong-ju, an indie film that gained a lot of popularity in Korea after it premiered at BIFF last year. The film is a retelling of a famous gang rape case that happened in Korea in 2004. When I say "retelling" I would hasten to say that, from information gleaned, this movie was made in the same vein as an episode of Law and Order: SVU. In other words, this is a story "ripped from the headlines" but not a strict retelling. It was an extremely violent film, and I would not recommend it for younger audiences, but the movie just had so much depth to it that I think it should almost be required to watch for those who want to understand Korean culture better. Women in Korea face an uphill battle and this film was a very visual representation of just how difficult that battle is. Korea has one of the lowest gender equality rankings in the world, ranking 111th out of 136 countries analyzed by the World Economic Forum. Additionally, Korea's legal system is woefully behind the rest of the developed world in providing equality for women. The movie also gave you the feeling that those laws that are down on the books are not exactly being followed. This movie then, was like seeing everything culminate into the "perfect storm" of gender inequality. Again and again and again the protagonist (Gong-ju) is let down by every male around her, police officer, friend, and father alike. There is not a single male character that does not at one point or another let her down. And many of the women are not much better, the culture being so pervasive that in the end, no one is there for Gong--ju but herself. The film itself was very beautifully done and the cinematography was stunning. I am still processing how I feel about this movie and the message it sends. I left this movie feeling so resigned to acknowledging that that was an accurate portrayal of the barriers women here face, but I also left hopeful that things are changing for the better. I hope that being a part of WYLD I will be able to make at least a very small difference in changing things. The second film I saw was undoubtedly a lighter film than the first. It was titled Spirits: The story of Jeju Island's Shamanistic Shrines. The film was made by a foreigner who has lived on Jeju for considerable amount of time and after getting interested in jeju's unique take on Shamanism, he decided to make a documentary about it. I have lived on Jeju for a very short two months and so seeing this film was like discovering another layer to the Island that I never new existed. I learned so much about Shamanism and how it is practiced here on Jeju. I will be on the lookout from now on for Shamanistic shrines as I travel around Jeju. The film also profiled some of the Shamans of Jeju. I was surprised to find out that most of the Shaman were women. I was also surprised to learn about the close relationship that the Henyeo (female divers) share with Shamanism. Due to technical difficulties the movie was not played in full, but I would recommend anyone interested in Jeju, or Shamanism to see this film. After the film was over there was a question and answer session with the director and and one of the Shaman's highlighted in the film Kim Dol San. Overall, I had a wonderful time at the 15th Annual Jeju Women's Film Festival and I hope I have the opportunity to attend the 16th Annual!
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Author안녕! I'm Emmy and this is my blog detailing my life in Korea with Fulbright mainly through pictures. Feel free to contact me on my about page. TTFN Archives
June 2016
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