The 36 Hour Vacation

The restless sighs and Korean equivalent of "ho-hum" are just one indication of students' most stressful and least-anticipated time of the school year: Test Time! In Korea tests mean big business, because in Korea tests mean everything. My elementary babies and middle schoolers studied for over a month in preparation for midterm tests, some of which span two or three days and cover just about all the major subjects. (Imagine taking the SAT twice every year beginning in elementary school. Sounds fun, right?) To make sure they rock the midterm while keeping their brains intact, many students were absent from my ESL class last week. Now, this is totally understandable...but they missed MY achievement test. So here's a test for you:

Q: What is the Korean solution for missing a test to take a test?

     a. make up the test the following week
     b. make up the test on the holiday weekend
     c. say "oh, well!" and miss the test

If you chose answer choice B you are correct! Public schools were closed on Monday and Tuesday in honor of Children's Day and Buddha's Birthday, but to get the party started for kids we opened our doors on Saturday and Sunday to have test make-up. Hurray! My teacher friends from other schools planned a long weekend trip to the Geoje Island off the southern coast of Korea and I'd be damned if I missed it, so after wrapping up the achievement tests (giving kids strict instructions to play outside that afternoon) I met my friends downtown, purchased my $12 bus ticket, and began the two hour commute to the island. 

We arrived in Geoje at about 7 o'clock Sunday evening and planned to rent a room in a love motel. The brightly lit neon signs and strange English phrases make them easy to spot. To Koreans, love motels are a cheap place to do the dirty. To foreigners, they are a cheap place to crash when traveling. The rooms are garishly decorated (a friend said her most recent love motel had a realistic mural of a woman wearing a G-string painted above the bed) and available for rent by the hour or the night. Super convenient for a nap or a full-night sleep! I was eager to see what interior decorations awaited me in Geoje, but apparently every other person was too. For over an hour we walked in and out of motels looking for an available room...Nothing! Not one. Things began to look bleak, but we kept our spirits up knowing the worst case scenario would probably leave us sleeping in a church or a 24 hour DVDbang.

Then, in the distance, we saw it. The 24 hour jimjilbang. Hallelujah! Perhaps better and cleaner than the love motel (although debatable), the jimjilbang offered us with a sauna, pajamas, pillow and blanket for the unbeatably low price of $8! Now, I've sauna'ed before in Korea and feel fairly comfortable traipsing around other Korean women in my birthday suit, but this was my first time actually sleeping overnight in a jimjilbang. The whole process is, like many things in Korea, very confusing. Aside from the men and women's sauna and locker rooms, there are co-ed community rooms where people can lay around doing things they would probably do in their own home: watch TV, play cell phone games, argue. But here, you can do it as a family in someone else's space wearing someone else's pajamas. (Uh...what?) Anyway, it was perfect for my crew, and I was lucky enough to partake in the first ever sauna for Beth and Jae. So proud of them!

Jimjilbang Queens!

The group packed up and moved out fairly early Monday morning in search of a fulfilling Korean breakfast. There's nothing like sunshine, yellow dust, and bibimbop to get the day started! Normally I crave something sweet like cereal or fruit for breakfast, but a night of jimjilbanging culminated in roughly 5 hours of logged nap time rather than a solid night's rest. Mentally, I had been awake for hours and could absolutely stomach something savory for my first meal. 

Bibimbop is possibly the most well-known
Korean dish, and it's definitely my favorite.
Cheap, filling, and easily made vegetarian.
Mmmm.

Dunkin Donuts is possibly the most well-known
Korean donut, as well as Michael's
second breakfast.

Fat and happy, we found a taxi willing to transport all five of us to the beach. Although it's illegal, some cabs will let crazy waygooks puppy-pile into the backseat. This is especially true if the cab has a plush, checkerboard ceiling cover and Pororo window decals like ours. Keepin' it classy. Cab transport is usually a quiet affair since most of the foreigners don't speak Korean, but my friend Jae is Korean-American and received an ear-full of Geoje history from our driver. To me the conversation sounded something like this:

Old taxi man: korean korean korean korean
Jae: "Ne."

Old taxi man: korean korean korean korean korean korean

Jae: "Ne."

Old taxi man: korean korean

Jae: "Ne, ne."

Old taxi man: korean korean korean

Jae: "Neee."

Old taxi man: korean 

Jae: "Ne."  *giggles*

Old taxi man: korean korean korean korean korean korean korean korean korean

Jae: "Ne. Ne."

All I understand is yes and a giggle. Story of my life.

Twenty minutes later, THE BEACH!

Geoje Island, Gujora Beach

My post-marathon feet really needed 

some all-natural sand exfoliation.

Take One

Take Two

Got it!
(Jae, Beth, Lauren, moi)

Beach sleep > Jimjilbang sleep

Various shades of white people.

Secluded sand castles...

...until these Koreans chose to do jumping 

pictures right behind my friends
and their castle.

A glorious day with Baby Jae.

Thanks to my flexible friends, good weather, and one sweet jimjilbang owner, the 36 hour vacation was a complete success. Ulsan is a great location for weekend trips like this, especially on short-notice, with little time, and for little money. Having the opportunity to experience new places is something I am always grateful for, but new places are not nearly as memorable without new friends. And new double-chin pictures.

Photo posted without Beth's permission.
Shhhh.