Nongong Anywhere

Originally written mid-September 2010

A play on words, but I’m not going anywhere. It’s been two months since I’ve been living in Nongong-eup, the southern region of Daegu that’s almost an hour and about 25 miles away from city center via public transport. At first, I was entirely apprehensive and a bit lonely when realizing that most of the people I know are situated closer to the center of Daegu. It took me a week or so to realize, however, that I really do have it better in Nongong at times.

After sleeping for more than nine hours (I really don’t remember, but I would be ashamed to give the exact number.), the confines of being in a small, campy town make it that much easier to be less stressed out from everyday pressures. I worry about many things as it is such as my health condition, job and life after my teaching contract ends, and not being a good teacher.

I take my job really seriously to the point that I even worry about my performance during the weekends. Luckily, Chuseok came at the perfect time.

I went to Seoul for a couple days. The original plan was to go to Seoul just for one day, but when the KTX, the high speed rail, was completely booked for Thursday, my friends and I had to take the Wednesday morning train and book a night at a hotel. We would rather save some money and not go early, but we also reasoned that it may make a relaxing transition before our arduous hiking on 3 days at Seoraksan.

Not being Korean, I felt so left out. I would rather have a traditional Chuseok with a Korean family even if it is boring. I wanted to really experience it and feel like I was back home remembering ancestors at the cemetery or having a good family dinner during Chinese New Year. However, I wasn’t going to let that get the better of me and it should be a time to get the most out of this special time--vacation time should not be taken for granted, especially here.

Chuseok started for me on Monday evening, which of all sorts didn’t exactly go as planned. School finished and on my walk home back to my apartment, my ICD shocked me. It had worried me for much of that evening that I didn’t want to go outside or talk to anyone and instead, I slept in for much of that day before emailing my doctors and electrophysiologist back in San Francisco and the emergency contact in Daegu. On the other hand, I was relieved that the ICD went off for two reasons, a) I had not been feeling well after the Samsung Lions lost to the SK Wyverns on Sunday. On the walk home, I had been short of breath and had difficulty sleeping. It even extended to Monday when I felt breathing was slightly difficult even though it didn’t bother me while teaching my classes. So the shock came as a relief and alleviated my symptoms for the most part. b) I know NOW that the ICD works. Sometimes you just wonder if what’s been implanted does the job as it had been quiet until now. I just hope that since I’ve woken the “sleeping giant”, the ICD does not misfire.

On Tuesday, I calmed myself down and looked forward to this week and beyond. I did my lesson plans and other chores before my trip. Then I went to the Samsung Lions vs. LG Twins game that night. After 0-3 in watching baseball games that the Samsung Lions have all lost, it was a bittersweet situation in which the Lions won 6-2. However, the Lions really didn’t need to win this game as they are already in the final four for the playoffs. It would’ve been nicer if they won the team title, but at least they are in for the championship series. My friend and I got back to Nongong kind of late, with him rushing to pack before our departure in the morning.

On Wednesday, we caught up with other people from the EPIK orientation at the KTX station and we were on our way to Seoul. However, the day appeared dreary as the clouds loomed. Fortunately, the storms were pretty much over. I heard that Seoul was in pretty bad shape with many areas flooded; President Lee Myung-Bak authorized government assistance and visited many residents who were affected by the disaster. Unfortunately, it was still cold and I made a stupid last-minute decision to not bring my North Face jacket. Upon arrival at Seoul Station, we navigated the subway to Jongno 3-ga and check in at Hotel Cats. It was probably the heavy crowds during Chuseok and the many foreigners (white people) in Seoul that made it feel different this time around than in March. I really didn’t find Seoul that exciting this time around. My friends and I went to Gyeongbukung palace, Gwanghwamun, Kyobo Bookstore, and a nice BBQ lunch near our hotel.

Finding our hotel was a bit of a journey. We had to ask cops at the nearby police station and they confused us a bit more with their Konglish. And then we went through some alleys that had love motels that seemed a bit sketchy. But soon enough, we collected ourselves and got good directions from one love motel front desk employee. We had to pass by two gay bars, one of them called M&M Bar (Man & Man) to get to our hotel. It was nice, but at 141,000 won it is a bit pricey even when it was split between myself and my two friends. The hallway to our room was a bit creepy. It was dark with red carpeting and music from dead artists were played overhead such as Selena.

On Thursday, we had a breakfast at Dunkin Donuts and the Green Tea Latte made my heart feel a bit funny. I should stay away from heavily caffeinated products for a while. But anyway, we would take the subway to Express Bus Terminal to the Marriott that was subsidized with a bunch of credits from my friend, Bill. Thanks! it was a really nice place and I felt guilty for being treated so nice. There was a lounge on the 30th floor where you can help yourself to all the snacks provided. I had no motivation to venture and explore Seoul and I proceeded to sleep in till dinner time.

For dinner, we met with Bill’s friends in Itaewon. The Itaewon district was an area that made me dislike touristy hotspots even more. I knew that it is near an army base, but I didn’t know it was a culmination of high end restaurants and bars similar that reminded me of Marin County as well as the crappy T-shirt stores and vendors that sell crap like those found in Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a decent dinner, but we had a great time hanging out together and having good conversations all around.

Early Friday morning, we had breakfast at the Marriott, which was a bit pricey, but we felt we deserved a decent breakfast that we lacked for the past month or so. Then we met at the designated spot to get picked up for out Seoraksan hiking trip.

We were met by an unenthusiastic tourguide who’s American and has been in Korea for four years. She was negative and exuded a feeling that she did not want to be on this trip. Other people on the bus felt the same way about her as well. She lacked motivation and no one could really understand why. But as a client, she is not providing an optimistic and welcoming environment. The ride up to Seoraksan in Gangwon province from Seoul took 3-4 hours.

The group in our bus is very diverse. With most of the contingent from the United States and Canada and spread far and wide. There was also a Russian couple and a Korean and a couple from Taiwan/China.

We were stuck in standard Korean ondul floor sleeping conditions, but most of us couldn’t see how the line-item costs factored into Adventure Korea’s group tour pricing. I, however, believe that the bulk of the cost goes toward the tour guides for the hike. So you better go on all of the hikes provided in the tour and not sit on the beach all day and waste your time (yes, this was an option too!).

After three arduous days of hiking in the mountains, I had a great time. I won’t spare you the details of how pretty the scenery was. I will set them up in a Flicker/Facebook page for perusal. Eight in our group, including myself, received a free T-shirt for our efforts during all three difficult hikes. It was a pretty cool surprise, but my shirt is a little small. Out of 80 in our group, 8 were able/wanted to complete all of the hikes.

Even though I would have liked a traditional Chuseok with a Korean family, no matter how boring or fun it would have been, I still had a great Chuseok!