A Little Moore Perspective AFTER Korea

The city of Chuncheon is in a basin, with mountains literally all the way around it. Inside the basin are some pretty steep hills (as you can see from Sarah’s walk to school). But there are only a couple real mountain peaks inside the basin. Our apartment is situated right next to one of these mountains, called Bong Ui (bong-ee).

Many people, including some of the teachers Sarah works with, have frequently asked us “Have you climbed the mountain yet?” or said “What are you doing this weekend? You should climb the mountain!” We got to wondering, what exactly is on this mountain? Being from Indiana, land of flat plains, just climbing a mountain seems like a pretty tall order, but around here they treat it like it’s their Saturday morning work out!

So we get up and going one Saturday with a plan to climb this mountain. We strap the kids onto our backs and head out. I’d scoped out the area using Google Earth before we left, and found that there is a paved road leading part way up the mountain that is behind our apartment complex. We followed the road up, passing a field with pipes sticking out of the ground (water processing plant?) as well as what appeared to be a cemetery. We were following behind an elderly man on his way up as well. We came to point where the pavement ended and a man was operating a large back-hoe, apparently carving out the area for the road to go further. We were not sure what to do at this point, but before we could decide our next move, he stopped the machine and waved for us to go past him.

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Before we came to Korea we watched a video about the province we were moving to, Gangwon-do.  It was pretty over the top, and mixed in with all the other thrilling things to do and see in Gangwon-do was a brief intro to our city, Chuncheon.  The man in the video said, “Come to Chuncheon, home of the famous chicken ribs.  Once you find them, it’ll make you forget about…whatever else you were looking for in Chuncheon!” We had several good laughs about other things we may forget about because we were so enthralled with the chicken ribs.  Like one of our children, for example. 

When we found out we were placed in Chuncheon, we knew we had better try the chicken ribs.  Later we found out the Korean name to be dak galbi, which literally means chicken ribs.  And while the dish definitely has chicken, it is only chicken meat, no ribs or bones to be found.

The first night we went in search of it, some of my students helped us and told us one particular restaurant was “safe.”  That was a little weird, to say the least, but we braved it anyway.  In hindsight we think they must have meant that it was less spicy than other restaurants.  The ingredient list alone doesn’t make the dish sound that great, but we actually really like it and would like to try to recreate it when we come home. It’s made of chicken, rice noodles, sweet potatoes, cabbage, mixed with a spicy chili sauce.  We had it three times in the first two weeks.   Ezekiel asks for it by name. 

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One task we still had to perform yet was to get our visas changed over from 90 days to one year and register for our ARC or Alien Registration Card. The ARC is our form of identification while in Korea. Sarah already had a 1 year visa, called an E2 work visa, because she was employed with the school. But Ezekiel, Cadence and I could only get a 90 day ‘travelers’ visa until we had actually entered Korea and changed them over. Korea does not allow anyone to get a visa longer than 90 days unless you are employed by a company, the government, or a dependent of someone who is. In this case we are considered dependents of Sarah, so we are allowed 1 year visas along with hers.

The process itself is pretty easy actually. We only need Sarah’s ARC and a letter from her employer as proof that she is working for the school. The school had taken Sarah to get her ARC a week earlier, so she was set. Soon after, Sarah had talked to an immigration officer on the phone who told her what was needed for the rest of the family and that the cost was 60,000 Won (~$55).

We had withdrawn money to live on when we were back in Seoul, but that was running out, and we had yet to find an ATM in Chuncheon that would withdraw money from our US account. And Sarah did not get paid by the school until the 25th of September, still 2 weeks away. Between the two of us we were able to scrounge up enough Won to pay the fees, as well as a taxi to get us there and back home. After that, I guess we were just going to live on groceries from the store where we could use our credit card!

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We have been here a month and a half already!  Time flies.  We are still loving it.  But I just wanted to update you on what our kids are doing. 

Ezekiel is having a great time here.  He can now respond “Anyongaseyo!” to people that greet him and we are working on “Gamsamnida!” for when he receives one of the many gifts from strangers.  He is growing up so fast and his answer changes daily about whether or not he will please Mommy and just stay little forever.  He is now completely taking himself to the bathroom, wiping, and then rolling up the toilet paper so his little sister doesn’t destroy it.  He is very proud of his big boy underwear.  He speaks in complete sentences (every English teacher’s dream!–J/K) and asks to call people on Skype by name.  Grammy and Papa Bear come in first with “”Du-in and Mea’in” coming in second and “Nina” and Papap making a close third.  Your chats with us really mean a lot to him.  He has been talking a lot lately about his “friend Isaac.”  It’s so cool to me to see what his memory is capable of.  He is learning daily.  We are still working on the ABCs and when we count, for some reason the 4 is always missing…He asks for Dakgalbi constantly, though I suspect that has to do with some fatherly influence.  He loves making tunnels out of cardboard boxes and playing with Mr. Potato Head– especially since Daddy helps Mr. Potato Head come to life.  He is a great big brother and he and Cadence are best friends.  He has a new love for peanut butter and jelly which he constantly asks for if Dakgalbi is out of the question.  He wants to help with everything, which of course includes things that are better left unhelped by a two year old.  But I can always count on him to help carry the vacuum cleane, and he loves to help me hang and put away laundry. 

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