Yutnori (윷놀이)

At MT, I was introduced to a traditional Korean game called Yutnori (윷놀이), or sometimes simply Yut, as nori means game.

Yutnori is a game of both chance and strategy involving four wooden sticks, called yut (윷), which are tossed, much like dice, to determine how far and in which direction a player's tokens, or mal (말), may be advanced around a board.

If one stick lands face up, it is called do (도), meaning "pig," and this results in a player moving a token one space. 2 sticks is called gae, which means "dog" and allows a player to move two spaces. 3 is geol (걸), or "cow," and 4 is yut (윷), or sheep, resulting in 3- and 4-space moves, respectively. If all 4 sticks land flat-side down, this is called mo (모), or "horse," and a player's token is moved 5 spaces.

These, of course, are just the basics. There are many more complicated rules and variations involving tokens riding piggy-back, "pregnant" token spaces, tokens getting sent back to the start, and the always fun "back do." For more detailed rules, click here.

Here's one of my students getting ready to toss the yut.

Traditionally, Yutnori is played on Lunar New Year's Eve.

M.T.

"MT" stands for "Members Training," which is a Konglish term used to describe an overnight outing for a club or a group of students in the same academic department, usually as an initiation, though in our case it was to mark the end of the semester. We stayed in a rented pension about an hour east of Seoul. The official purpose of any MT sounds very wholesome: to build community and encourage camaraderie. But in reality it's pretty much just an exuse for 24 hours of partying, singing, talking, and drinking games.

Though I don't think professors are typically invited, my Evening B class invited me to join them. It was great fun. I came with a later group, so we missed out on the wake-boarding and swimming.

But I came in time for the food...
...and the many party games led by our energetic class clown, Julie, who presided as Master of Ceremonies.

Yes, she really wore a mic' even though there were only about 10 of us!

Most of the games involved winners and losers, with the losers having to choose between drinking or doing something embarrassing.

We talked until the wee hours of the morning about everything from language teaching and regional dialects (no surprise), to Korean politics and history. I learned a lot about 5.18 (or "오일팔") and regional prejudice in Korea, and I heard a lot of strong opinions about current president Lee Myung-bak's policies towards education, economy, and N. Korea.

The next morning, after sleeping in rather late, we headed out to visit one of the local attractions near Ungilsan: Namyangju Studios.

Namyangju Studios, which is the largest film studio in Asia (according to its website), is home to several reconstructed traditional village sets, which made for some fun photos.

[coming soon -- blogger's photo uploader just pooped out on me.]

It is also the site where much of JSA, one of Korea's highest-grossing films, was shot and edited. JSA stands for Joint Security Area, which is the official name for a particular area within the the DMZ between North and South Korea. (It is the location where the pruning of a poplar tree almost sparked World War III in 1976.)

All in all, it was a fun and memorable weekend.

More Busan Photos

Anyone for a little fresh seafood?

Jagalchi Market: no words necessary!

A Weekend in Busan

The day after graduation, Victoria and I took Korea's high-speed train, the KTX, to the southern part of the peninsula to city of Busan for the weekend.

The purpose of our journey was to attend the wedding of one of my students. Her family was kind enough to put us -- and seven of her classmates -- up in a condo in a high-rise, right on the water. Not a bad view, eh?

Two of my students whom we stayed with brought their 3-year-old children with them, which made the trip...uh...memorable. Doesn't get much cuter than this:

Before the wedding, my students took us out for brunch to sample some of the famous foods of Busan, inlcuding pufferfish soup.

As far as fish tastes, pufferfish soup, or bokguk, has a very mild, pleasant taste. Definitely not what I'm used to for Saturday morning brunch, but delicious, nevertheless. Oh, have you ever wondered how Koreans teach their kids how to use chopsticks?

They call them "Einstein Chopsticks."

After brunch, we headed to the wedding. Here's a picture of the beautiful bride and her handsome new hubby:

The kiddos were tired:

And then after the wedding, it was out for more famous Busan food. Now, bulgogi is perhaps Korea's second-most well-known dish (after kimchi, of course), and there are many types and varieties. However, I have to say that Eonyang Bulgogi (or bulgogi prepared in style of Eonyang Province) is, by far, my favorite. Yum!

The second evening, Victoria and I bugged out and did our own thing. We walked the beach...

...grabbed some imported beer at a fun little pub...

...and then relaxed in a jjimjilbang, or Korean public bathhouse (sorry, no pictures...obviously).

The next morning we hit up the Jagalchi Seafood Market, but more on that in a separate post!

All in all, a fabulous weekend.

SKKU Graduation Day

Congratulations to the EB Spring Class of 2009!

There were the requisite handshakes.
And more than a few hugs and tears:
And plenty of proud certificate displaying:

(Sorry MD class! My graduation pictures of you didn't turn out. Send me some !)

Following graduation, the S-G TESOL faculty and staff gathered for a year-end celebration and a goodbye dinner for me. sniff sniff...

EB class hits the 'Noraebang'!

(That's "Karoake Room" for all of you who don't speak Korean.)

Katie gets the room a'rockin'!

Jennifer and Violet provide some great tambourine and handclaps:

They begged me to bring the guitar to the noraebang, so I sang a few.

This one (of Soyeon, Jennifer & Julie) was actually taken at the pub before hitting the Noraebang, but it was so priceless that I had to include it:
Oh, Jack! Why do you "gotta be a bad, bad boy"?

Sadly, no one snapped a picture of me doing "Sweet Child o' Mine."

Last day of classes!

Last week marked the end of my short tenure at SKKU. It was a fun week, and a great way to end a great year with the Sungkyunkwan-Georgetown TESOL Program.

The last day of classes before graduation is always set aside for reminiscing, taking pictures, and then -- of course -- partying.

Here are some fun pictures from my wonderful Morning D class:

And some from my outstanding Evening B class:

Yeah, Evening B, they were a really serious bunch of students!

Gardening in Seoul

You live in Seoul, a crowded city of millions upon millions, but you want to grow your own vegetables. What do you do? Well, here's what some of our neighbors have tried.

The balcony garden:

But my favorite has to be the potted plant sidewalk garden:

Yesterday, I walked by and there were no less that THREE people out weeding and watering this one. So bummed I didn't have my camera.

Nom Nom Nom at Nom

OK, so this one isn't so much about Korean culture, but there's this cute little Italian restaurant in our neighborhood (near Sungshin University) which we've become big fans of. It's called Nom.

From all appearances anyway, it is staffed and managed completely by twenty-something young men. (Did I mention that Sungshin University is an all-women's university?) Judging by the crowds, it seems to be doing quite well. Go figure.

Vic likes the chicken risotto:

And their pasta alfredo, well, let's just say when I get a plate in front of me, it disappears pretty fast.

No, I mean REAL fast. Like, Flash Gordon fast. Or Tom Blackford fast.

Don't believe me, check out this photo:

Anyway, for all of you in the Seoul area, Nom can be found right on the roundabout one block in front of the main entrance to Sungshin Women's University. And for those of you who prefer reading in Korean (or who just want more photos of the decor and food), feel free to check out this Korean blogger's post.

And Bulgok Mountain itself...