The Second Final Dinner

One year ago, Fulbright held the closing ceremony for the 2012-2013 grant year. I wrote in my blog then that the event was nice, but didn't feel so much like the end of everything for a few reasons: it was still a few weeks before the actual end of the grant, the programming was filled with talks and performances, which left little time to reminisce with friends, and, most importantly, it wasn't actually the end. Last year's "final dinner" was actually just the midpoint of my Fulbright grant period. I left the event knowing that although I was saying goodbye to some of my friends, I certainly wasn't leaving Korea: this country and I still had a whole entire year ahead of us

And now that year is over.

This past weekend was my second Fulbright Final Dinner, and it was also the last. Was it different? Surprisingly, I think it was a bit less nostalgic and emotional. I mean, it was largely the same as last year's ceremony, but I knew even fewer people. Still, as always, I enjoyed seeing my friends and having a blast in Seoul for a short weekend.

I was foolish enough to bring my camera but not my battery, so I couldn't take any nice photos over the weekend! I guess I'll have to use thousands of words instead. Haha, kidding, here are some highlights:

1. Volume 7, issue 2 of the Fulbright Infusion was released at the dinner! It is a beautiful magazine, and I'm excited to share it with my students and colleagues. Check out the website, too, to see some of my photos and pieces that were published!

2. A Fulbright Korea alumnus who did his grant year about twenty years ago was a guest at the final dinner, and even though he is a complete stranger, he came up to me and asked, "Hey, you write a blog, don't you?" Apparently, I have some dedicated readers who aren't just my Facebook friends! This little surprise made me very happy.

3. I went back to Acousticholic! Unfortunately, we only caught the tail end of my friend's performance that night, but it was great to catch up with him afterward. This guy is working for JYP Entertainment as a songwriter. I swear he's going to be really big one day...

Food from The Beastro in Hongdae (#6). Also, I'm about to stab my 삼겹살 sliders. Photo courtesy Neal Singleton!

4. A fundraising organization called Running 4 Resettlement, which was founded by a group of current Fulbrighters, held an event at a new restaurant in Hongdae called The Beastro. Donating money to help North Korean defectors adjust comfortably to life in South Korea? Check. Good drinks and company? Check. Chilling in on an open rooftop terrace in Hongdae on a cool summer night? Check.

5. That night, I stayed at a 24-hour sauna called Siloam (신로암), near Seoul Station. It's an amazing sauna, far better than any I've been to (though I haven't yet paid a visit to SpaLand in Busan...). I tried all the different hot baths and steam rooms, including one with walls made of charcoal and one that was like a pit of heated salt rocks. My friends and I chatted in the steam rooms and played Contact until three in the morning! (I may write more about this sauna at a later date, although it's too bad I didn't take any pictures!)

6. Lunch at The Beastro on Sunday morning. This restaurant is amazing! Need proof? Check hungryinhongdae. Also, more ice cream at Fell+Cole, where I finally redeemed the stamp card I've been using for a whole year. 

Katelyn, Clara, and me at Fell+Cole.

7. Followed by shopping -- I got a new shirt (and am now worried about what I'm going to do with all the clothes I've accumulated in this country over the past two years) and a nice afternoon 노래방 (karaoke room) session with friends.

And just like that, a too-short weekend came to an end. Final exams at my school begin tomorrow, which means I will still have nothing to do all day besides input grades, take care of administrative stuff, and... get things ready for the Fulbright teacher who will replace me next semester. Whoever they are, they will say hello to South Korea in one week. (Orientation begins for the new Fulbright class next Monday.) And one month after that, I will say goodbye!

The Best 밀면 in Busan: 할매가야밀면

A large bowl of 밀면 from 할매가야밀명 in Busan. Just five bucks!

Amy knows where all the best food in her part of town is; I trust her completely with recs for noms when I'm in Busan. There's a popular restaurant located down a side alley in Nampo-dong, one of the busy shopping areas, that specializes in 밀면 (milmyeon). Milmyeon is a kind of cold noodle soup; the noodles are made from flour and potato starch, and they are served in a tangy chilled broth -- it literally has ice in it -- along with chili sauce, vegetables, a boiled egg, and some pork. This version of traditional Korean 냉면 (naengmyeon) originates from Busan.

I very clearly remember the first time I ever had 냉면 -- two years ago at a run-of-the-mill restaurant in Goesan. I was rather unpleasantly surprised by the fact that there was ice in my bowl. But I soon grew to really love naengmyeon, especially in the hot summer months. Milmyeon is just as good. As Amy would put it, "It's SOOOOO GOOOODDDD!!!!!!!" And my friends can attest to how much I liked it: despite having eaten a large lunch, I still downed my bowl -- the one you see in the photo above -- in five minutes flat. I mean, I finished before my two friends, who were sharing the same bowl, had even gotten halfway through theirs.

The restaurant, called 할매가야밀면 (Halmae Gaya Milmyeon, or Grandma's Gaya Milmyeon), also serves enormous 왕만두 (wangmandu, or King Dumplings), which I love. Another perk is that instead of water, patrons get complimentary warm soup, in order to balance the overwhelming chill from your noodles. The service was quick and the place was very busy, so you know it's got to be good. I'm going to share a Fulbright Infusion restaurant review with you in a bit, so you know where to eat lunch or dinner the next time you're in Busan on a hot summer day!

My Work Published in the Fulbright Korea Infusion

The Fulbright Korea Infusion is Fulbright Korea's literary magazine. Its winter issue was recently published and can be found online here.

I am one of the magazine's co-editors for photography this year. Neal and I worked our butts off and spent hours in video conferences to get everything together; the bulk of the editing process happened while both of us were traveling in Southeast Asia. That said, I'm proud of our work and of the excellent work done by the designers, managing editors, and EIC.

In particular, I'd like to draw your attention to three pieces:

First, "Where Do I Begin", by Helen Li, a first-year ETA. Helen keeps a great blog, and I admire her writing and poetry. Her piece captures very well the happiness students bring into their teachers' lives. I paired it with one of my favorite photos of my students, taken last year on Sports Day.

Second, "Sea & Clouds", a poem I wrote but never published on this blog. The poem was inspired by my recollections of going to Haeundae Beach in Busan (haeundae/해운대/海雲臺 means "sea and cloud pavilion").

Third, "08.18.13", which longtime readers of my blog may recognize as a slightly-edited version of a letter I wrote to a student last August and published without a title. It was featured in Infusion vol. 7 issue 1 alongside a photo taken by Thomas Owens.

I hope you enjoy reading Infusion!

Thanksgiving Weekend

Busan Fireworks Festival. Note the smartphone screens...

Highlights (and a lowlight) from an all-around great weekend:

• Thanksgiving Dinner with Fulbright and the US Embassy was quite nice. I ate lots of turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes with marshmallow, and pumpkin pie, and I caught up with friends and colleagues. I also performed a short demonstration of taekgyeon (right in front of the American ambassador!) and only endangered the life of an audience member one time. I'll post a video of my performance soon.
• Celebrated a friend's birthday with cake and beer while a legit thunderstorm raged outside.
• Caught up with a Swattie friend and talked extensively about books for our students. I love books, and last Friday I submitted an order for a few dozen more for my school's English library. Also, I baked snickerdoodles and the aforementioned friend got to try one for the very first time.
• Walking around Seoul with my 장봉 felt only slightly incongruous. A lady mistook my stick for a handgrip and used it to steady herself as she took a seat on the subway.
• Transportation fail: having left my wallet in a hostel, I had to borrow cash from a friend to take a taxi across the city, and I accidentally took a yellow cab, whose rates are twice as expensive as the normal taxis. I gave the driver all the money I had, apologizing profusely. Miraculously, I was only one dollar short of the fare.
• Transportation win: I never book bus tickets in advance (I don't even know if it's possible), so sometimes earlier buses sell out. I arrived at the terminal at 5:30 and the next available ticket was for 8:15. I bought it but then went straight to the gate to see if I could snag an empty seat on an earlier bus. Just before the 6:00 bus left, I asked if there were any seats still available, and voila, I got right on.
• I obtained the position of photography editor for Fulbright's literary magazine, Infusion! Our staff had its first meeting today at a cozy cafe in Hongdae. I'm very excited to work on the magazine this year.

Picture is unrelated: I took that at the Busan Fireworks Festival, which was a few weekends ago. I absolutely loved it. Despite the frighteningly large crowds, the beautiful, mesmerizing show really made my whole weekend.

A Celebrity Gay Wedding in South Korea

Here's some big news: last week, film director Kim-Jho Gwang-soo (김조광수) married his boyfriend of nine years in a public wedding ceremony meant to galvanize social awareness of LGBTQ rights in Korea. About one thousand people were in attendance at the ceremony held by the Cheonggye Stream in Seoul.

From The Hankyoreh

The LGBTQ community in Korea is not in a very enviable position. Centuries of traditional ethics imposed and strengthened by Korea's Confucian and Christian roots push sexual minorities way into the margins of society. In a society where even discussing normative sexual issues is taboo, many have adopted the struthious approach and simply declared that homosexuality is a "Western world's problem" that has nothing to do with Korea. But the controversy can't be waved away for much longer. While same-sex marriage has not been actually outlawed, it is not yet legally recognized. Thus, this high-profile wedding ceremony of two fairly well-known figures in the entertainment industry is something that will test the country's attitude toward the issue.

Unsurprisingly, there were some detractors, including two self-identified Christian wedding crashers who disrupted the ceremony on separate occasions. One of them jumped onto the stage and scattered garbage and food waste on it. Very Christ-like, I'm sure.

On a more positive (and perhaps surprising) note, the couple's marriage registration form was accepted by the district office, saying that the law stipulates nothing against gay couples who submit an application, but the legal process of family registration will be left to the court's interpretation. So, there's still a ways to go, but things seem to be looking up.

Here is one more article that does a good job laying out the history and current political situation regarding same-sex marriage in Korea.

I'm very curious about what my students might think of this. As soon as my college prep classes begin in a few weeks, I'll have them debate hot button issues such as this one.

P.S. And just for kicks, here's a link to a piece my friend and fellow Fulbrighter Jake wrote for Fulbright's literary magazine, Infusion, about the slowly changing attitude toward gays and lesbians in Korean society, propelled in large part thanks to exposure through media and entertainment.

Final

Feeling nostalgic... and thus in the mood for odd Photoshop filters. This is a bunch of photos with Fulbright friends overlay-ed on a sunset view of Seoul from the 31st floor of the Hotel President.

Final exams (학기말시험) begin tomorrow at my school. What this means for me is four days of no classes and plenty of time to get other work done. Or, it could mean four days of deep reflection and looking back on one year in Korea with Fulbright.

This past weekend, the 2012-2013 Fulbrighters had a last hurrah in Seoul: our Final Dinner. Held just two weeks before the grant year concludes and two-thirds of us return to the United States, it was the designated time for us to spend quality time together, say our goodbyes, and, of course, take care of last-minute administrivia. But it was mostly about the goodbyes.

Now, I'm not a terribly emotional person. I don't cry over goodbyes. After commencement last year -- after the culminating finale of a truly life-changing and unforgettable college career -- I had to throw all my stuff into the trunk and hightail it off campus with my family. I barely saw anyone, and I didn't even have time to shed a tear. This year, the Fulbright Final Dinner felt like its own sort of graduation ceremony. We had no robes, but dang, everyone looked sharp; no diplomas, but many people won awards. We even had a "commencement speaker", the ever-inspiring Sam Morrow, and slideshows of smile-filled photos set to really great music.

There were also reports from the amazing projects my fellow grantees had done over the year, which were inspiring and impressive. Fulbright is not just about standing at the front of the classroom to which you're assigned; we began cooking clubs, hosted language exchanges, held sports events for underprivileged students, sent pen pal letters around the world, and founded nonprofit educational organizations. (By "we" I mean "they", my colleagues who are much more proactive than I.) In addition, the hardworking staff of Fulbright Infusion, our six-year-old literary magazine, presented this year's beautiful issue.

What with all these speeches, presentations, and formal niceties, I realized long before the evening was over that I wasn't actually being given much time to interact with the hundred friends with whom I'd gathered. Not even the ones sitting at my table eating delicious catered food with me. (Dining chatter was interrupted by a program of very nice and nostalgia-inducing performances by ETAs, including myself and Katelyn.) And then, we were finished, and it was time to take photos and hustle out of the hotel.

It didn't feel very final, because, once again, I was just being rushed from one place to another, and the whirlwind of quick goodbyes and random promises to "meet up again soon" wasn't cutting it for (what I realized with some surprise was) a strong desire to "end things" properly, with the right amounts of gratitude, humor, and hope.

I suppose that that's just the way things had to happen, though, and at the very least, I'm glad I got the photos. The rest of the weekend was filled to bursting with great moments with these same friends -- I'll write about them presently -- and perhaps even more pleasant than the classy affair were these absolutely normal hours spent eating, talking, and not being even remotely sad.

Now that I'm back in Changwon for a solid two weeks -- and I am quite sure I won't see any Fulbrighters for that duration -- I'm looking at a good amount of time for retrospection. I'll be filling out evaluation surveys and thinking back upon what, if anything, I've accomplished since July 2012. No doubt the weight of the realization that I won't see many wonderful friends for a long, long while will too find time to settle into my heart and grip it with nostalgia or melancholy. I guess I ought to welcome it, because a new chapter is about to begin, and since I'm not the one turning the page, resistance to it might be painful. Plus, it's better to read slowly but savor every memory than to skim through your emotions and only pick out the parts you enjoy.

Okay, I've got to end this post before the metaphor becomes any more overextended. Goodbye, Fulbright 친구들! In the wise words of Ammy Yuan, "I'll see you when I see you."