A note from Madame Secretary...

Last week, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of Friedhelm Illian. Herr Illian is in Saturday morning Korean class. During class, he invited me and some of the other students out to dinner with the Exploring Club. I was a little confused at first and tried to figure out what this "Exploring Club" was. Turns out, Friedhelm and a friend of his, Hyeon-Cheol, made up this club as a way to explore Seoul. Every weekend, they want to go someplace new and have fun. Friedhelm is the president and Hyeon-Cheol is vice-president. ^^ During the first meeting, they apparently ate the world's best Deok Boki (rice cakes) in Anguk-dong. That was before they got a secretary, so it's really only conjecture...
Here are the notes from the 2nd meeting:

President, VP, and Jillian met at the Starbucks outside Anguk Station. After waiting to see if any other students would come, they headed out towards the Somerset Hotel to convene with Susan (Friedhelm's wife) and another friend (Cathy). Along the way, they stopped to help some tourists. Jillian suggested that the tourists should walk around Samcheong-Dong (although she couldn't remember the street name at the time), because they could see traditional Korean architecture and also several cute coffee shops and boutiques. This feat of city-knowledge promptly earned her the position of club secretary and she accepted.

The exploring club met at the Bärlin deutsches Wirtshaus, a German restaurant inside of the Somerset. There was a variety of German cuisine available. The club began the meal with a round of soup and Altbier.  Secretary and VP ordered Wienerschnitzel and Thüringerschnitzel, which came with Pommes Frites (French Fries), Gurkensalat (cucumber salad), and Kartoffelbrei (fried potatoes) for the main dish. In true German style, the club ate their meal leisurely and afterward enjoyed a cup of coffee with dessert. For herself, Secretary decided to try the rote Grütze (red berries with cream).

Although the waiter did not speak German, (he did wear clippies in his hair, however), he was friendly and the atmostphere was open and welcoming. The menu had a variety of dishes from all over Germany, so it was a true sampling of German cuisine. The club members spent a very enjoyable evening there, getting to know each other, and eating delicious food. President instructed that the club must have fun, and the members obliged!

Exploring Club rating: Erfolg! (success!)

Adventure Korea: Cycling on Seonyudo

Last weekend, I took a trip to Seonyudo (Seonyu Islands) with a group called Adventure Korea. Adventure Korea is an organization that organizes weekend trips for foreigners. They go all over Korea, and oftentimes to places that are not so overrun with tourists. I was waiting for the weather to get a little better, but decided in March it was time to get out of the city!

I boarded the AK charter bus early Saturday morning. There were about 45 people total on the trip from all different English-speaking countries. We drove about 2 hours southwest to the port city of Kunsan, in the province of Jeollabak-do. At Kunsan, we boarded our ferry and headed out to the islands! The ferry ride took about an hour and it was so cold. I stayed outside the whole time, but rarely left my seat. The Koreans on board had a grand time of throwing potato chips at seagulls. Apparently, seagulls do not have the same pesky reputation as they do back in the States.

Seonyudo is part of a larger archipelago of about 20 islands. This part is actually the island of Seonyudo connected to 3 other islands (Meonyudo to the east, and Jangjado and Daejangdo to the west). The only vehicles on the island are mainly for carting tourists around or delivering supplies. The main town on Seonyudo is Jin-ri, but there were also fishing villages on the other islands.

Hit "Keep reading" to hear the rest of the trip!

After we dropped our bags off at the "pension," we grabbed our bikes and started pedaling. Our tour guide (Seok-Jin, owner of AK) suggested we bike to Meonyudo first so that we could watch the sun set of Jangjado. I fell in with a big group of girls, most of whom were from Minnesota. It was a relaxing afternoon because we could cycle, but also take time to enjoy the scenery. Seonyudo has 1 large sandy beach and 3 (I think) pebble beaches. We spent the whole afternoon cycling around Meonyudo, Seonyudo, Jangjado, Daejando and back again.
By around 5 o'clock, the tide was out and the town seemed very desolate. Fishing boats were stranded and residents seemed hunkered down for the night (kind of an eery change from Seoul).

My favorite part, though, was seeing how the landscape changed with the tide. Once the tide went out, the beach seemed to double. There was a little island off of the sandy beach; when the tide went out then it was possible to walk to the island. In the evening, a few families came out to the beach to dig up shellfish. I enjoyed seeing the "quality time." 

Saturday night we enjoyed a group dinner at a local restaurant. The main course was Sundubu-Chigae (Spicy Tofu stew) and plenty of sidedishes. One of the sidedishes was a cooked fish...it was all there, cut into 3-4 chunks and stacked on the plate. We just had to take our chopsticks and eat it a little chunk at a time! It was really delicious though, and it didn't taste sea-foody at all.

Sunday morning, I got up early to watch the sunrise. However, it was overcast, and we didn't see much of anything (hence, the lack of photos). The day (luckily!) brightened up and turned out to be very sunny. After breakfast, we all headed down to the beach to try our hand at digging out shellfish. This is how you do it: find a hole (you can see little holes on the surface), dig a little bit and pour salt over the hole. When the shellfish emerges, grab it!
The traditional method, though, kind of took a long time. Eventually, Seok-Jin just started digging out big piles of sand to root out the shellfish. This turned out to be much more profitable.

Our main activity Sunday was taking a hike up Mangjubong. Seok-Jin suggested this as an easy hike. However, when we were about a quarter from the top, the path turned into a craggy rock face that we had to somehow scramble up. If this is his definition of easy, I don't want to know what a "medium" hike is. Once we reached one peak, there was a path that led to another peak. The second peak offered some AMAZING views of the island. It was absolutely gorgeous...the type of view you could look at all day. The type of view that's just like, Thank-You God for letting me look at this (and be default, thank-you God that I did not fall off the mountain).

On our way down, we stopped at a pebble beach and climbed on the rocks for a little bit. The tide was coming back, so I spent some time watching as the waves kept hitting a little bit higher and higher each time. By the time we headed back, the island I had walked to the night before was now surrounded by water again and the fishing boats were floating.
I haven't gotten out of Seoul much, but this trip was really worth it. Saturday I was a little skeptical because it was colder and kind of overcast, but it was so gorgeous on Sunday, it was like being on a whole new island. 

The One Where I was in a Movie

A few weeks ago I get an email from a friend saying that there is a director who goes to our church (Jubilee) who needs some extras for his new movie. My friend Taryn and I decided to go for it. We were given very little information besides "dress like you're going to an art gallery opening" and the time to be there.

The scenes they needed extras for took place at night, so we filmed 2 nights at a restaurant called ColaPasta. The first night, a Friday, we filmed from 10pm to 8am on Saturday. Saturday night we filmed from 11pm to 9am the next morning.

Overall, it was a really fun experience! The first night, there was a lot of sitting around...but luckily, I am always thinking and had brought some "coloring" to do. I was not thinking, however, about the weather. We were filming outside, and even the shots "in" the art gallery were freezing because it was not an enclosed space. I did not bring a sweater and so did my best to have thick skin during the shoots. In between shots, everyone hustled under blankets and coats to get a few minutes of warmth. My hand was very definitely frozen in the wineglass-holding position. I hope they didn't get a close-up.

I got assigned to be "friend #1." Most of the time this meant murmuring in the background and looking at paintings. However, around 3 or 4 am on Saturday, I also found out I had actual lines! And not just a quick 1-liner, but a whole conversation! The director places us all and then says, "Ok, are you ready to go?" And I'm like, uhhh, I haven't even seen the script yet! I was supposed to be "ditzy and vapid"...it took a little practice, but I think I eventually pulled it off!

I really enjoyed getting to know so many people from the movie. A lot of the cast/extras go to Jubilee, but I hadn't met them before, so it was a good chance to connect with more people from church. I also got to practice my German with one of the main actors, Pascal. He's German-Korean...and a SUPERMODEL! In fact, he's from the same state I lived in when I studied there.

I know Sun-ho (the director) is planning to enter the film into some festivals, so if it becomes widely available, I'll let everyone know. I'll be in the background, staring at paintings. ^^

My friend Youngen took a lot of photos, so you can see more on her facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/album.php?aid=2376957&id=22417896&ref=mf