Hiking to the Hidden Wall

i went hiking last weekend to the Hidden Wall in Bukhansan National Park, which is on the north side of seoul. it was one of the best day-hikes that i've ever been on. not to mention, i took a subway and a short bus ride to get there....the topography of seoul is amazing. gorgeous peaks, rocky terrain, freshwater springs, and seas of treetops below. this was the kind of trail that goes either straight up or down and where you have to scamper over rocks on all fours, and rely on roots and your own ballsyness. and on another rock face, we spotted several climbers who were far more ballsy than we were. we were on the trail all afternoon and i forgot that i was anywhere near the city...until i looked over and down from a high peak and saw the massive concrete jungle itself in the distance. at the end of the trail was a buddhist temple and a stone buddha statue. so nice to be able to light an incense after such an event. many thanks.

I [heart] tteok-bokki

here in korea, tteokbokki (pronounced dawk-bow-kee) is EVERYWHERE. it's a very popular dish; one that you will likely find on a corner of just about every block in the city. it's cooked & served out of carts on the street, just as you would buy hotdogs in nyc. i'm happy to report that i like it. ...so what IS it? well, it's a dense, chewy, glutinous rice cake that's been rolled into a thick round noodle and then chopped up into pieces (about the size and shape of penne pasta, only solid). these 'noodles' are stewed up in a hot pepper sauce w/ green onions, fish cakes & some other spices. it's spicy, yummy & filling. so i finally gave a go at making it at home, a vegetarian version. i threw in a couple of extra vegetables and extra spice.... it turned out really good, but i may have overdone it on the spice. i'm breathing fire!

new wheels

check out my new wheels! i've been dying to get a bike since the first day of spring, but bikes are so expensive here; even not-so-good ones. plus, it's not so easy to find a used one either. i decided to hold out until i found that $50 used bike--- nothin' fancy, just a reliable machine.
also, i've been looking into buying a folding bike for a few reasons. first of all, you can fold them up and take them on the subway and the bus. also, certain ones can go in checked luggage on airplanes w/ no extra charge. something like that would be perfect for the most epic adventure ever---can't you imagine? crossing oceans, mountains, alleyways, dirt paths, villages, cities countrysides, entire countries...with a bike. (this is exactly what my beloved friends, jess & mikelanjelo will be doing soon, and i envy them. so awesome, really.) however, a bike that is made for such an adventure comes w/ a price.
anyway, one morning, as soon as i got up, i had the urge to check craigslist (which hardly ever has bike postings) for a bike, and VOILA! there it was. $50, folding bike. =D and now it's mine! i love when life works out beautifully like that.
i know that i have not biked enough in my life...it is so exhilerating. to me, the feeling must be comparable to flying...self-propelled by the beating of my heart, rather than my wings. i become a lowland bird, sweeping through alleyways, swerving through pedestrians and drifting along waterways. smells pass through me and i recognize them as they have just vanished. a soundtrack plays in my head. my vision is like a nature show played in fast forward. i feel more powerful than those on foot, but also superior to the cars on the street. unstoppable. ....and then my chain pops off. doh! haha. what can i expect for $50? so i fix it and continue on w/ black fingertips. life is excellent. wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

Uke post #2....ha, i'm trying

Blogger: Seoul Seeking - Create Post

ukulele master

a little documentation of myself, learning to play an actual song on the uke. (sorry, iz--rip--for the chop job) i'll get there one day. =)

this and that.....

oh.....let me see....what have i been up to lately? i've been keepin' myself busy....i bought a new ukulele, whom i have given the name, rosie. i have been practicing my chords and strumming and plan to get my first full song down this week.this past week i've been on a coupla bike adventures w/ smilja....cruised to a temple in the daytime and through back alleys & over the han river at night. while wandering in the wee hours, we stumbled upon the local hip-hop/skater scene & drank free beer and danced all night at some guys birthday party. good times. i only have pics of the temple though...a couple of weeks ago i hosted my first couch surfer here in south korea. couch surfing is awesome, so if you don't know about it, check it out (www.couchsurfing.com). my guest, jaume, was this great guy from spain who has traveled all over the world and is now living and studying in kyoto, japan. he was just in seoul for a couple of days to renew his visa, so we had some fun exploring new parts of the city together. anyway, here's jaume...awesome guy.
and just the other day i met up w/ another couch surfer who's living and teaching in seoul...funny enough, it turns out that this guy and i have led very similar lives up to this point; working on environment and political campaigns for the same organizations, working in haiti and traveling through costa rica. some strange coincidences. anyway, we checked out these cool tombs, built between 1494 and 1544 for 2 kings and a queen, which happen to be right in my part of town. they are situated right in this awesome park full of trees and flowers...i can't believe i didn't know this was there......and i'm still enjoying my job. my kids are feeling more and more like my own as the weeks go by. so i've been blessed w/ the duty of planning and teaching art at my school & this week i had a lot of fun. i decided to make dinosaur eggs w/ all the kids. we mixed up our own clay out of dirt, sand, flour, salt and water & sculpted our eggs around little plastic dinosaurs. they loved it. what kid doesn't like those 2 things, dinoaurs & playing w/ mud? i also lucked out w/ my after-school class; i get to teach CHESS once a week for an hour! i'm still pretty new to the game, but i'm no doubt improving my game each week by teaching and playing w/ the kids (i have 4 students in chess). this week it was super nice outside, so we played outside on the terrace. what a rough life, eh? here's a recent shot of me & my crazy kids....and today has been everything that a sunday should be. it was a gorgeous and slow morning...a bright, warm and sunny day, i walked around the neighborhood in search of ingredients for something to make for the vegetarian potluck picnic this afternoon. i decided to go w/ 2 dishes; one that i make all the time (veggie pancakes), and one as an experiment (vegan chocolate mousse w/ sliced fruit). the picnic was in a peaceful park right beside a couple of buddha statues from the 10th & 11th century. there was a good spread of yummy food & my two dishes went over well. thanks to jonna, there was also hula-hooping!after the picnic, jonna, ben (her squeeze, as she calls him) and i headed out to the garden to plant some tomatoes. when we got there, the lady who manages the place was happy to see us as usual. we showed her that we had bought some tomato seedlings to plant and then she showed us that she had some for sale, which were already blooming. she gave us a few of them for free, plus about 6 other plants (3 of which i think are eggplant, and the others i have no idea). sweet lady. so once again, the sun went down soon after we got there and we were gardening at night. i added some fresh scraps to the compost bin & noticed that it's pretty ripe & juicy in there. i'm gonna go on a mission to find some worms next.sooo.....that was one long, jumbled & rambly update. i've gotta go back to work tomorrow, but then i get tuesday off for children's day. i'm thinking CINCO DE MAYO. :) aloha all. missing you.

gardening at night

my friend, jonna, and i have a plot in a community garden, which is just a few stops away by metro. it's amazing how much green space just appears out of nowhere here in this massive city. i mean, out where our garden is, it feels rural. there are some 500 plots around ours.
so we went out there after school the other day, just as the sun was setting, to set up a compost bin*, plant a few more seedlings and give the plants a nice drink of cool water. (*we had been storing our kitchen scraps in bags in our freezers, which were full to the brim. so we set up a bin by the garden to throw our scraps and cover w/ dirt. hopefully we'll find some red wriggler worms to throw into the party and speed things up a bit.) in our garden, the edamame had started to climb and our leafy greens were just going off. the woman who manages the garden came over while we were working to tell us (in her 99-miles-per-minute korean) that our greens were ready to eat. so before we left, in the dark, we picked a variety of every leafy plant in the garden. it wasn't until i got them home, under some lighting, that i saw just how healthy and gorgeous these greens were. vibrant shades of green and purple. mmmmmmmmmmmm......... nothing better than eating something that you put in the ground and nursed to maturity.