Journey to Japan, Part 1: The Seven Hells of Beppu

On Friday night, after my evening classes at BCM, I met Nick and Shannon at their ridiculously spacious loft of an apartment in Uijeongbu, along with their friend Kaitlin. We ate a late night dinner at their favorite galbi restaurant, then stayed up into the wee hours of the morning, drinking, sharing work stories, and watching youtube videos, until we had to leave for the airport in Incheon. By the time the bus pulled up at the gate, a blizzard was underway, and we were relived to be leaving the stinging sub-zero temperatures of Seoul behind for the "sub-tropical" climes of Beppu. Little did we know, we would shortly be braving life and limb (and bank accounts) as we faced sulfurous pits full of scalding water, boiling geysers, giant reptiles, icy cliffs, a scourge of killer monkeys, man-eating dolphins, and dastardly foreign exchange rates.

View from the plane window, prior to liftoff : the rising sun on the snow blanketed runway.

Snow-flecked peaks of Japan, as seen on the drive from Fukuoka to Beppu

Statue commemorating Beppu's "father of tourism."

Apparently, he liked to fling babies around on his coattails.

Our hostel: not just any hostel, but a "Spa Hostel", featuring our own private onsen, or bathing facility supplied by natural subterranian spring water.

The hotspring gremlin, mascot of Beppu's "Seven Hells". I forgot to pick one up at the gift shop on the way out. My one and only regret.

Me, Nick, Shannon, & Kaitlin take our first dip. Hot-diggity-dog.

Tired, but eager to see the sights, we ventured into the first one of the seven "Jigokus" or Hells that Saturday evening. We weren't dissapointed. Exotic colours and sulpherous smells... ahhh!

Night view from Beppu Tower, downtown core.
The city is far larger than my camera permits.

Nick & Shannon brave another gate of hell...

Devilish brew

Notice the gremlin waterspout in the background

Little shrines are a common sight everywhere you go.

What a friendly sign!

Chillin' in the foot bath.

Aarrgh! The bog of eternal stench.

Your worst nightmare!

Feelin' hot, hot, hot!

Wait, did you say something about crocodiles?

Hey Mr. hell spawn! Yeah, I'm talking to you.

Hey guys? Can you pull me up now? They're looking peckish...

There was a sex museum opposite the entrance to Oniyama Hell hotspring, boasting an eclectic mix of classical erotica to not-so-classy exhibits. Fitting location. We couldn't resist a peak.

These compact vehicles and mini-mini-vans were everywhere.

After descending into Hell, we took to the heavens via Gondolla...

...and discovered a snowy paradise.

Onsen time! This one was outdoors, with a view of the entire bay, and featured several pools of varying temperatures. The hot water and cool air provided the ultimate in relaxation-sensation!

Journey to Japan: Prelude

Two weeks earlier...

What a reprieve! I finally got some much needed r&r. BCM didn't schedule me for any extra classes after I finished teaching at the children's winter camp. So, aside from my evening classes, I had the rest of January to spend as I pleased. For my first week off, I slept in until noon, watched movies on my laptop (Quantum of Solace, Slumdog Millionaire & more) read a novel (The Girl with a Pearl Earring), chatted to friends online, and studied Korean.

The first Thursday off work, I went out with Jihyun and an old hometown friend of hers, named Yugiong, who is in Seoul temporarily, taking a teaching course. We had a grease-drenched meal at Bennigan's (the western-style food here leaves a little something to be desired). Yugiong joked to us about her early curfew (yes, you can still have a curfew at the age of 22 in this country), advised me on the romantic needs of Korean women (apparently, you can never send enough text messages), asked me to assess her understanding of common English expletives, and addressed my confusion over the Korean educational system (they have an unfamiliar "three tier" setup here). I'd recently received a call from Yung-Jin, the manager of CulCom, inviting me to one of their monthly events, this time at his cafe in Sincheon. Yugiong helped me convince Jihyun to go to the party, despite her initial reluctance. Good friend indeed!

Hometown friends: Yugiong & Jihyun

Preparations underway for an ice sculpture festival in Hyehwa

Saturday night at the party, I met some fellow Canadians: Nick, Shannon, and Kaitlin--my future travel companions. All three are first-time English teachers (and long-time friends) from Halifax, who had been working for the past five months in the city of Uijeongbu, bordering Seoul on the North. Nick and Shannon had been hired to teach young children, from dawn to dusk, for a private Hagwon called Edubox, after obtaining their degrees in Canada. They'd faced their share of difficulties here, similar to the ones I'd encountered since arriving in Seoul. However, they were in good spirits; they'd just booked their plane tickets to Japan the night before, in preparation for a four day trip, to take advantage of the upcoming national holiday: lunar new year. I was feeling restless, because Jihyun was heading south to see her family for the week, Jared had just returned from his trip to Jeju island the week before, and Sean was leaving the rest of us at BCM for the promise of a new job, on the other side of Seoul. The Nova Scotianers must have noticed the glint in my eye when I said I'd love to join them for the ride. They told me they were game if I was: all I needed was a reentry visa for Korea and a plane ticket.

Shannon, Nick, Kaitlin, & yours truly

I decided to sleep on it. Jihyun had won a pair of tickets for an ice skating event through her cell plan provider, SK Telecom, and invited me as her guest. The ice rink was outdoors, behind a five star hotel, overlooking the Han river. The whole place was surrounded with painted murals, and coloured lights. The tickets for the event included free lunch, dinner, and desert, not to mention electric foot massages! Being the more experienced skater, I gave Jihyun some tips and dragged her in circles around the rink. I started racing around the rink on my own, and immediately bailed when two 9 year old girls crossed my path in different directions at the same time. Jihyun told me that her friend from her dorm had just been skating the day before, when her date crash-landed on the ice and broke his arm. Since their encounter in the hospital ward on the following day, they'd become an item. Go figure.











Jihyun helped me find the immigration office and left the rest to me, but told me that she was also trying to score a free stay in Japan, come next August. The students who make the grade on a national English equivalency test get invitations to stay in Japan or the USA for two weeks to visit 'sister universities' scouting for foreign applicants, and sit in on classes. Free room and board is provided for the duration of the stay.
As for me, I've been considering staying in Korea a few months longer than planned, on the condition that I get a better deal if I renew my contract with BCM. Either way, I decided that I might not get another chance to travel before August, and that I needed this escape for my mental health, to hell with the cost. So, on Wednesday, after a one and a half hour wait at the crowded immigration office, I finally reached the application officer. I'd applied for the multiple reentry permit, rather than the single one, and asked the officer if this would allow me to leave the country as many times as I wanted. He replied in perfect English with a barely concealed smile: "Well, if you have lots of money, you can visit many places. If you are a poor man, you have to stay here." He stamped my passport and returned it to me with my alien registration card. "You're free man now."

Winter Camp, Soccer, Jazz, & Raw Fish

January 9th: last day of my two week stint teaching English at Deokam Elementary winter camp. I taught a group of 19 students from grades 3, 4, and 5, most of whom attend different schools during the year. My group had the lowest level of English proficiency (out of the three classes at winter camp), so my Korean co-teacher, Jennifer, and I sometimes had to simplify the lesson material provided in the course manual. Despite their shyness, the children staged a performance for their parents on the last day of camp: each student presented a holiday of the year, and described how people celebrate it. The other classes also sang or performed skits.

One lesson involved making PB&J sandwiches, following the recipe in English.

Another involved rudimentary geometry activities in English - using Tangrams!

My favorite time: Story time! (The books my co-teacher provided were priceless.)

Above left: Maggie, another new English teacher and CulCom student, from Chicago.
Above right: Lana, Maggie's teacher on Saturday and now one of my two new teachers, ever since I decided to swap my Thursday evening class time for more accessible Saturday afternoon. Plus, my old teacher, Bohyeon, is now working full time, 7 days a week, at two jobs. Busy guy!
Bottom center: A brief visitor from Kentucky on a whirlwind tour through Southeast Asia and beyond. He got lost trying to find his residence for the weekend in Seoul.
Bottom left: another friendly CulCom member, who rescued said visitor off the street and offered his guidance for a couple of days.

James and I visited the World Cup Soccer Stadium and the adjoining soccer history museum, along with his friend. I managed to communicate with her in a halting fashion, with Jame's help, since her English was at about the same level as my Korean. In the evening, we had pig's feet for dinner with Monty, another old friend of James'. I was a little wary at first, but the meat was so tender and tasted surprisingly like turkey! James' family just arrived from Newzealand, to pay him a visit in Seoul, before the lot of them fly back to their new home in Sidney, Australia, in a week or so. For several years now, James has been a traveling agent on behalf of language institutes in Newzealand and Australia, that cater to Korean students studying abroad, as well as potential immigrants.

Jihyun and I had dinner at a classy little Spanish restaurant in Hongdae, a district whose University is well known for its art and design programs. The place is littered with trendy bars and ethnic food restaurants, as well as some live music venues, though they can be hard to find! I I noticed how Jihyun's ginkgo leaf-coloured overcoat matched the rice dish and sangria.

We stumbled upon a live Jazz club, after being turned away from the crowded Giocat or "cat cafe" (more on that later). The young musicians were superb: their timing faultless and their improvisation impressive. I reveled in all the jazz standards and classic love songs: the same ones that Mr. Woods, my old piano teacher, used to teach me. It was my first time seeing a good live music performance since arriving in Seoul, and I hope it won't be my last!

The whole gang again, eating out at a raw seafood restaurant, to celebrate Jared's birthday, as well as Cia's, Sean's girldriend. Jared just returned the night before from an enviable trip to the more temperate Jeju island, south of the Korean peninsula: the first place we originally applied to work as english teachers. You can follow the link to his blog to see plenty of cool pictures from the Jared and Cholong's trip! (Jared has January off work, as stipulated in the new contract he signed with our employer at BCM.)

See those red tentacles on the lower right of the appetizer plate? They still wiggled!! Eew!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Christmas is past, and we're already forging ahead into the new year. A belated happy holidays to all those reading my blog! I hope everyone had a wonderful time celebrating the season together. It was great to receive so many cards, emails, and gifts from family and friends: thankyou Mom, Dad, Carla, Oma, Grandma, Heather, Marcia, Bonita, Lisa-- and anyone else I forgot to mention! It was a blast to finaly see and talk with the family on Skype, on Christmas eve. Don't be strangers, you guys. I'll try to write back or call you, individually, when I have a chance.

The good news is that, over here, in Seoul, though we all miss our families something fierce, no one is spending the holidays alone: we made sure to celebrate in style, with our coteachers, girlfriends, and honored guests. Not to mention plenty of good food. Though turkey is scarce in these parts, the duck at Mr. Kim's place was melt-in-your mouth delicious. The bad news is that new foreign English teachers working for private hagwons usually don't stand to get much in the way of time off. The term ended at Kwangwoon the day after Christmas, and Sean and I were sent to teach winter camp classes at a new school, starting the following Monday. It did turn out to be a relatively rewarding job however, as we got to work with the same group of students day in and day out, with the help of a Korean coteacher, getting to know them and observing their progress in a way we couldn't always manage at Kwangwoon.

Me and my girl at Christmas dinner
One month and going strong

Cholong, Jared, Jihyun, Me, Ty, Baskin Robins Icecream cake

Sia, Sean, Ty: Christmas dinner at Mr. Kim's restauraunt

The sunday night between Christmas and New Years was Julie's last night in Seoul before heading back to teach kids in Honduras. It turns out we share at least one idiosyncrasy: we both enjoy reading to people, and having other people read to us.

It was also Amanda's first night of her brief visit to Seoul. She's a friend of Sean's, currently teaching English in Busan, and pictured below abusing my new scarf with Ty's help. Furthermore, Sean and I were to start teaching at a winter camp the next day, at Dokam elementary school: our new morning job for the next two weeks. We said our hellos and farewells at a local bar.
Jihyun and I on our way back from celebrating New Years with Jared and Cholong, at Ashley's, an American buffet. I gorged myself silly, but try as I might, I couldn't keep up with the human vaccum cleaner that was Jared. The final tally: 6 1/2 plates of food consumed to a meager 4 1/2 plates on my part. Instead of splitting a cab ride home, we decided to walk off our dinner in the bitter cold for a good half hour. My new scarf, Jihyun's Christmas gift to me, was more than long enough to warm two necks at once.

I conquered Buramsan (Buram Mountain), for a second time with Jared, on January 3rd. My "New Years resolution hike". The trail up the mountain is only a 10 minute walk away from my apartment. The mountain itself is a pretty humble height, compared to Seoul's other peaks, although the steep climb still gets the heart pumping. More views of the mountain ridge below.

My 5-1 C (blue) class, wishing you all happy holidays!