chubby chicken couch aerobics

So I've got about 10 different nicknames for Abby, and one of those is chubby chicken, because she has tiny chicken legs in comparison to the rest of her body. This is her fantastic pose during her daily couch aerobics session which generally entails her thrashing around wildly on the couch and then sprinting off meowing.

It finally is spring, and I'm really hoping we don't go straight into summer in a week, summer is my least favourite season. My tomato plants are growing like weeds, so I brought them home some support sticks. And then the support sticks just kept growing.

And today I discovered there are fish in the lake by my apartment, enough to draw in fishers with their families on a sunny afternoon. That's what's in the plastic container, a little bit of water and a whole lot of fish. One of them could only fit in there curled around into a 'c' shape. What a horrible way to spend the last bit of your life.

And there are more murals happening in the neighborhood! I really want to paint a mural at my university...

bibimguksu and makgeolli in jeju

Alright, this doesn't look incredibly delicious, but this is the best bibimguksu (cold noodles, hot pepper paste and vegetables) I've ever had. And the first time I've ever gotten it served premixed. Everywhere else I've had it, it came with half a boiled egg, but it always came eggless in Jeju. And guksu is pretty popular in Jeju, so I saw restaurants everywhere.

Another bibimguksu. This was still good, but not as good as the one above. They were both cheaper than restaurants in Chungju :/

And some orange makgeolli (on the  right) and alcoholic orange... something on the left. They were both good, definitely worth tasting. But if I ever mix anything with magkeolli, it's orange juice, so I wasn't as psyched about it as I was about the guksu.

Jeju is a bit different than the rest of Korea, so it felt like a nice little getaway, even though I didn't leave Korea. And food wise, it was pretty fantastic.

waterfalls, failing students and roots

Here's my lesson learned as a first time uni teacher. If you fail students, you will create a lot more work for yourself. For example, I failed 5 students for plagiarism. They blatantly ripped their written assignments (some 95% or more! Seriously!) off the internet, didn't change anything, straight up copied. Of course, morally, I had to fail them for plagiarism. And apparently my university takes plagiarism seriously... When I submitted grades, the handler of the English department then called them to make them aware of their grades and told them to go talk to me about it to see if I would change it. And then emailed me with this fantastic little nugget:

While you talk with your students having dissatisfactions of his or her grade,
if you want to generously forgive some of them, and decide to regrade their grads, then just e-mail me by the end of April.

Yes, of course they have been contacting me, basically saying they had no idea that plagiarism (while not admitting to knowingly doing so) isn't ok and that I should change their grade. And this is only Friday and I don't teach on Fridays. I'm sure I'm in for all kinds of fun come Monday when I'll be rolling into school and it's the last possible day to change grades...

So I'm a newbie to being 100% responsible for grades, but the impression I've gotten all around is that I'm in the wrong for failing students, not that they're in the wrong for plagiarizing work. I should just look the other way. It's wonderful.

Aside from the sad part of being a university teacher, here's a waterfall!

 Chungju is a whole lot nicer now that it's green! Ok, I'm going to admit it, it isn't the prettiest city. But it does have a whole lot going on for it outside of the main city area. Like this waterfall! You'd have to bike or drive out here, but it's a nice little spot to relax.

Or go fishing, if you're into that. There were some billboards stating that you're not allowed to swim here. But there were some previous bonfire remnants scattered around, so it is a pretty great hang out and possible camping spot. I got a ride from another teacher at my university. So it's a bit more difficult to find, I'm not sure if you could get a bus here (in fact I don't think you could). But you could always bike it! Again, if you're into that. And on to roots!

My favourite root is 더덕 deodeok and I have no idea what the English name is because I had no idea it existed until I came to Korea. You can get deodeok flavoured makgeoli or dongdongju (rice wine) as well as eat it as a side or main dish. My preferred method of eating it is to wash and peel it (usually I buy it with this already done, but this was my only available option this time) cut and rip it into smaller pieces, roll over those pieces with a rolling pin or something similar, marinate and then fry.

I marinated them with gochujang (pepper paste), sesame oil, vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar. I'm not Korean, I just go with the general gochujang mix that I like... Then I fried them and sprinkled some sesame seeds on top once I was finished.

They have a slightly meaty texture. Definitely my favourite root to eat in Korea, but a little on the pricey side. More root recipes to come in the future!

street art and loveland in jeju

I've only lived in Chungju, and formerly Daegu, and neither really has that much art, or much of an artistic vibe. So it's always nice visiting someplace that does. If you go to Jeju, naturally you're going to see lots of these guys all over the place, 돌 하르방 dol haruebang / stone grandfathers, protecting the island.

Ranging in all different kinds of sizes, but the main ones are usually the size of the stone guy in the top right.

But what I appreciated most of all, were all of the murals everywhere. Here's a scuba diver with an unopened can and bottle of beer.

Really awesome mural, incorporating some recycled/found object sculpture people atop a scene of kids playing. Perfect combination.

A cartoon 해녀/ haenyeo / sea woman. There was actually a whole section of murals on the female divers, former bread winners of Jeju, but it was too dark to get any decent shots. Since I didn't make it out to the museum this was all I got. It seems like there's a museum for everything out in Jeju, so you either need a lot of time, or go for what you can.

And a great big angry face sculpture out on 'Mysterious Road'. We have something similar in Canada, called Magnetic Hill. If you put your car in neutral while facing downhill, your car will roll uphill instead. It's essentially an optical illusion. I was pretty nonplussed when I experienced it out in New Brunswick and the Jeju experience didn't really change that.

Mysterious Road also featured Loveland. A love themed park filled with sculptures made by graduates of Hongik University in Seoul. I wasn't really interested in going, but since it promised lots of decent quality sculptures, and probable weirdness, I opted in. And it was what was to be expected, lots of sculptures having sex, a sex toy museum/display and shop, little dioramas of random scenes, etc. It looked like each artist made a few sculptures based on a chosen sex theme. Some stuff was a little sketchy, but that's to be expected at any love themed park anywhere. It was worth the 8,000 won admission, but it is what it is, another tourist trap.

chungju and cheongju

When I think of Chungju, I think of Hoam lake, it has a nice walking path around it, badminton courts, exercise equipment, a few restaurants, strawberry farm, monument, and all kinds of nice stuff. Plus, I can see it from my apartment, and it was the first place I walked when I moved here. Now that I've spent a bit more time here, I think of the bike paths, parks, dam, pagoda, and Chungju lake (which I plan on ferrying across soon).

This weekend, I got a flight to Jeju from Cheongju airport. Chungju and Cheongju sound similar, and sometimes there are variations on how things are translated into English from Korean. If I didn't live in Chungju, after flying out of Cheongju airport, I would think they were both the same place. And according to this apple tower outside of Cheongju airport, "If one thinks of Chungju, One thinks of apples." There are a lot of apple orchards and sculptures around here, but I think they're selling themselves a bit short by just sticking to apples.

Ad for Cheongju airport, in the airport, with Good Chungju fruit, chestnut and makkeolli (rice wine) seats below it. One of the reasons I would think they're the same place. But Chungbuk is a more rural province, so maybe they're just trying to sell everything they've got, since there isn't as much as other provinces?

Either way, it's nice having an airport close by. There's a direct bus from Chungju to Cheongju airport that takes a bit over an hour and is under 10,000 won, not a bad deal. Except there are only three trips available per day. The airport itself is pretty small, located outside of the city so there isn't much else around, except for a military base. They have some mini exhibitions of information and cultural artifacts about Chungbuk province on the second floor, along with a mini sculpture park outside, but otherwise not much else if you've got time to kill.

 And then I was on my way to Jeju! I feel like this picture sums up the experience pretty nicely. And my memento from my rainy trip is a sunburn, but only on one arm. I have no idea how I managed that.

midterms week is complete

Cherry blossoms are out in full force. It was pretty cold and windy here for the longest time, but it has finally warmed up. No more scarfing it to work every day.

The view on the way into school, absolutely beautiful. I have no idea what the yellow bushy guys are, but they definitely add a lot to the cherry blossoms. It's so much nicer biking into this, rather than colourless trees.

I'm glad spring is finally here, although I'm already dreading summer. Cherry blossoms (and subsequent festivals) have always been such a big part of my spring experience in Korea,  and I'm really happy to finally see them.

My name in Korean, is a bit different than in English. In Korea, I have a cookie name (yep, I'm a cookie in Korea) and you drop the first r. I always end up being mah gah rait. Which is totally cool, I don't care, nor do I mind when I get my name misspelled on a regular basis. Although it was kind of ridiculous when my co-teachers (English teachers) did it, but it is pretty awesome being Magaret Pro now. My all time favourite misspelling of my name goes to Mag-art for sure though.

And on that note, although it was awesome getting to sleep in each day (I have less classes during midterms), I'm so glad midterms are over. There's only so much 애교 aegyo (people acting cute to over the top proportions) and ᅲᅲ (crying emoticons) that I can take in a given time. It was one thing when my middle school students did it, but getting it from university students is a whole different beast.

And now on to Jeju!

sunday night midterms dread

It's another Sunday night, and midterms start tomorrow. So far I've only gotten one "Dear Margaret, ..." email, so things are looking good. Or maybe I'll be waking up to a whole lot more of those from the procrastinators.

It was another nice, sunshiny day, perfect for bibimguksu (cold noodles with pepper paste, vegetables and an egg).

I finished my painting and sadly it wasn't as successful as I hoped. Just in case anyone wanted to know, painting on fabric used for hanbok just warps it. I've decided to scratch my painting series and will be making something else with the hanbok fabric instead. It didn't help that I kept thinking of star trek as I was making this painting...

And thanks to midterms week, I'll get to sleep in every day! In my wonderful new bed, which I've aptly decided to name Sweden. Featuring Abby, spending copious amounts of time in her favourite country. And on the weekend, I'll finally be going to Jeju. I've been in Korea for way to long to have never visited Jeju.

chungju dam cherry blossom festival and creepy clown dude

Balloons carrying banners, it's the only way to go when your festival is out in the mountains. I'd already been to the dam, but my students informed me that there would be a cherry blossom festival there this weekend. I was a little surprised since Chungju seems to be severely lacking in cherry blossoms right now... But it was about 10km biking from where I am, it was nice out and my friend wanted to go for a bike, so why not?

Military guys directing traffic. All Korean men have to enlist for two years, so why not put them to good use? What else could they possibly do?

Food selection, there were many vendors but they all had the same/similar food to choose from. Hotdogs with various coatings, meat on a stick, bugs and snails. And my personal favourite, corn on a stick!

After some snacks, we settled on some janchi guksu and beer. I didn't really understand what you were supposed to do when you got there. I guess just enjoy the performers, eat some food and take some pictures with the (depleted) cherry blossoms? But it was nice and relaxing. It just didn't seem to have a whole lot going on for the crazy amount of traffic that was going through.

A video showing a bit of a performance at the stage area.

And then then we wandered a bit and happened upon this:

 A creepy clown dude, aka your worst nightmare as a a foreigner. As soon as he saw us, he beckoned us closer, in front of a captive audience and everyone couldn't help but stare, fascinated by the clown / foreigner interactions. Both of us hesitated, we were being propositioned by a freaking clown, no less, in front of an audience. You get enough stares as a foreigner, you don't really need added clown attention. Sensing our hesitation, he bribed us with some candy. Yes, we were bribed with candy by a creepy clown. He spoke a little bit of English, and thankfully we managed to escape, miraculously, unscathed, only being asked where we were from and if we were a couple. Pretty harmless in the end. But all of the horrible possibilities were running through my head...

The clown pretty much signaled the end to the festival and we decided to head back. The walkway across the dam was closed, so we had to bike down the road (with an insane amount of traffic) but at least there were a lot of cherry blossoms along the way. Definitely made up for the lack of them at the festival spot. All in all, another beautiful day for biking. I'm going to be so sad when summer humidity hits.

bikes are good for _____________

Carrying your bottle of soju (cheap Korean liquor) to the park. Thankfully my friend pointed it out, otherwise I would've missed out on this awesomeness.

Or if you're me, bikes are good for transporting you and your 뽀로로 balloon 10km home from the cherry blossom festival.

It's pretty normal for strangers to say hi while I'm biking by them. But when you add in a balloon, the exchange gets even better. "Aaah... Hi! WAH BALLOON!!"

Besides, who doesn't like balloons?

here in chungju, we appreciate our bikers

The fountain is out, it's officially spring. All the cherry blossom festivals reinforce that as well.

And voting day happened. As a foreigner, I don't get to participate in elections in any way other than watching ajummas dance on street corners, which is sadly no more. They did have polling booths in my apartment building's lobby, it was quite strange to walk through and get bowed at on the way in and out of my building.

Another thing that spring has signaled for me, is that Chungju finally feels like home. I may not have as many cool spots to go to as my old neighbourhood in Daegu, but with things finally turning green, Chungju has really grown on me.

I remember the first day, back in late February, that I biked into the city (I didn't really know where I was going I just wanted to explore). It started to rain/snow and everyone had out an umbrella, except for me, but I refuse to use umbrellas for snow. It just isn't going to happen. I was waiting for the light to change to cross the street, and a suited up ajeosshi stepped up beside me and shared his umbrella. It was my first heart warming moment in Chungju.

My drawing to commemorate that memory.

And recently, while biking the fantastically long trail around Chungju, I was stopped by a man on a scooter and thanked profusely for unknown reasons. Maybe it was just for biking, or enjoying Chungju? Either way it was awesome.

And another time, while waiting to cross at an intersection, a city worker shared his orange with me. Maybe it's just that I ride my bike a lot, but people here seem much kinder to bikers than I experienced in my past two years in Korea. It has definitely helped make me feel at home. To the point that I've finally accepted "good" as being the word to describe Chungju. Sure, it isn't dynamic Busan, colourful Daegu, or hi Seoul, but it is its own special little place. And to that, I have to give a whole lot of thumbs up.

lead up to the vote

The past couple of days in pictures:

Downtown spy dog.

Market meat store, that sells dog meat, but has a cat in the cage out front...?

Red bean and cream cheese stuffed crust. Something I need to try, along with pumpkin pizza.

Cheese dolsot bibimbap. 

:/ Is this supposed to be some kind of political/social statement, or just a case of bad English?

And my bed. So my school mistakenly got me a small bed when I first moved in, but no one bothered to correct or acknowledge that mistake and maybe hoped I would ignore it as well? Which made for wonderfully uncomfortable conversation that finally led to them agreeing to get me a bigger bed, since they were supposed to in the first place, even though they really didn't want to... Well, here's that bed, just hanging out in the hallway. Maybe one day it'll be in my apartment. And maybe one day I'll get some chairs for my kitchen table, instead of being stuck with chairs from my university's classrooms. One can hope.

But at least this gives Abby a chance to say goodbye to the old bed, since she refuses to get off of it. She didn't mind at all that I was pulling off the covers and sheets from under her.

sunday cattle call

Today it was nice and warm out, it's finally feeling like spring. I've been craving bibimguksu (cold noodles with pepper paste and vegetables) for awhile now (and generally like eating a lot of it in spring/summer) but have always been settling for bibimnaengmyun (cold chewy noodles and vegetables) and it just isn't the same. Today I decided it was time.

I came across a bunch of tofu places along the way, but happy tofu wasn't quite what I was looking for.

Some other time happy tofu, some other time.

 Finally, I found a noodle place that advertised bibimguksu. It looked like a pretty decent place from the outside, but after ordering and receiving my meal, I was left unimpressed. It wasn't horrible, it was just average. I don't know, some food tastes a little different in Chungju than it did in Daegu. Maybe I'm just a little pickier now than I used to be? It always seems to come down to the gochujang or red pepper paste...

Either way, I was inspired to pick up a plethora of rainbow guksu in preparation for spring, or as I think of it, my personal bibimguksu food season. The best way to avoid disappointment is to make it yourself, then you can make it to your own personal taste.

And some pictures from my leisurely bike around Chungju:

 I live in farmland, so biking outside of the city always involves lots of farms, fields and creepy scarecrows.

Vast expanses of fields, orchards, mountains and a tiny house.

A lonely looking dog waiting outside a budongsan (place to find apartments). The place was closed, so I hope someone eventually stopped by to take the little guy home.