Out Of The City (or, Jeju sans Si)

Following my first week (or half-week) of teaching, I finally had my first free weekend in far too long, and was able to go out and explore a bit more of the island. It was the first time I was able to leave Jeju City proper, and I found out that the areas outside of the metropolitan area are very beautiful, even if it often smells like a farm. The EPIK teachers who were unlucky enough to end up living 20 minutes out of the city at the rural Foreign Language High School dorms threw a party on Saturday night, on their roof. Despite providing us with an opportunity to meet up with some of our friends from orientation, there were certainly a number of drawbacks to a country rooftop party. First, it was incredibly dark outside, this being quite dangerous, when combined with beer and soju, due to the lack of a railing on the ledge and a fifty foot drop to a thorny lawn below. But even worse was the wildlife, the insects drawn to the lonely light coming out of the trapdoor we crawled up through. They were relentless in their swarming, and seemed to really want to sample whatever food or drink we had in our hands. Here is one of the bigger moths, and though I know this picture provides little scale, trust me when I say that it looked like a little bird.


We did see an amazing thing up in the sky- and I call it a "thing" because I don't know the name for it- which somewhat resembled the Northern Lights. A bunch of vertical lights stretched out across the sky, like little candles. It was all at once that the partygoers seemed to notice them, and everyone stood quiet for a minute looking up at the unusual phenomenon. Of course, it was impossible to photograph.

As soon as everyone realized that going out on the town was a lot more fun that spending a few more hours on a roof in the middle of nowhere, we departed for the primary foreigner bar in the city, the Blue Agave. Despite being Korean-run, they had some of the best quesadillas I have ever had, and the beer was inexpensive and varied. It is a rather surreal experience to be in a bar surrounded by Westerners but knowing that just outside there is a bustling Korean city. It feels a bit like home until you look out the window.

On Sunday we finally made it to Hamdeok, one of Jeju's highly praised beaches, only to find it deserted. Apparently, Koreans come to the beach in droves during a so-called "beach season", and once it has concluded they stop coming altogether. The deserted beach was beautiful nonetheless, though the water springing out of the volcanic rock into the ocean was absolutely freezing. The sky was overcast in the morning, and unfortunately it only cleared up 5 minutes after our camera ran out of batteries... so here are some photos which despite being slightly less impressive than the beach later appeared should still provide an idea of what it looked like (Click to make them bigger):



This last one is of the swarms of "beach roaches" (not actually roaches, but looked a lot like them) that covered all the lower-level volcanic rock. Our friend left his black bag near the rock, and they quickly migrated over to it. They left our white plastic sacks alone, seeming to only like dark colored objects, to stay camoflauged.

We had our first non-Korean meal in quite some time last night, going to a Chinese restaurant instead. Now, the last time I ate Chinese food overseas, I ended up in the hospital being rehydrated intravenously. This time I had better luck; the food was some of the best I've had here. There is something distinct about the way Chinese food smells, much different than Korean food, and much more familiar to me and probably most Westerners. They have a fixed price menu that includes abalone and shark fin, which though it is quite expensive at $60 per person, I hope to have the chance to try it before I leave. Other than that, I have still been branching out culinarily, and have found the wonder that is galbi- simple, marinated grilled meat- and it is definitely one of my favorite foods.

I am about to go get my alien registration card, which will allow me to open a bank account, get a phone, and otherwise enable me to live a more normal life. I will try to write more when I get a chance. Bye for now!