Dr. Susie Hatmaker
Durham County

“We arrived in Busan yesterday, making today our first (and only!) full day in the city, exploring its cultural sites, and returning to the hotel to sleep before returning to Seoul tomorrow afternoon. 

I woke quite early, as I had every day of this program. I looked out the 28th floor hotel window at the morning fog hovering the mountain tops. I cracked the windows, and the view combined with the coastal sea salt breeze flowing across the peninsula’s edge reminded me at once of both the great Smoky Mountains of my youth and the San Francisco Bay area of my late 20s. These two environments shaped my spirit, which felt comfortable and content in this new, yet familiar environment. I appreciated the shades of gray, the cloud and fog formations, and below them the vibrant homes and apartment buildings nestled into the base of the mountains. Faded by sun and salt, pastel blues, yellows, pinks, greens, and oranges formed a mosaic buffer between deep forest green mountains to the north and gray high rise apartments to the west. Everywhere I looked, a tapestry of dwelling greeted my senses. I sat down next to the windows for a cup of green tea and gave my mother a call. Back in her time zone, in California, I tried to convey to her the beauty and comfort I had found on this, my first visit to her country of birth. 

Through this program grant, I gained a unique opportunity to return to a land that shaped my mother’s, and my own, heritage, but which we had never been able to return to – until now, through me, through my efforts and choices in life and career. The significance of this was profoundly felt throughout the cultural immersion offered. But with little time for the depth of reflection needed, I got ready for a day that promised rain and adventure. I boarded the tour bus with the others and headed for our first stop 감천 – Gamcheon Cultural Village. 

Our tour guide, Jackie, let us know about the history of the village during the Korean War/6.25. Refugees fleeing the North and from Seoul came to Busan and created the village in a very steep area alongside a mountain, a bit separate from the locals. The refugee camp became a community; however, by the 1970s and 1980s, the children of these residents left for Seoul city, leaving behind an aging population and eventually several abandoned houses. Around the early 2000s the local Busan government created the cultural village it exists as today. Its houses were restored, streets lined with shops for souvenirs, clothes, artisan products, food, drink, and snacks. It is a lovely place to stroll, with an observation deck over the village with a view out to the water. Our group shopped, strolled, and snacked. I had a treat I’ve never seen before, a “vegan water mochi” – a perfect sphere of colored jelly (I chose purple) with two fruit syrups (I chose mango and kiwi) topped with a sprinkle of crushed peanuts and sunflower seeds. 

From there, we traveled to Jagalchi fish market. Wow, what an abundance of diverse sea life! Squid, octopus, eel, clams, sea squirts, abalone, fish, huge crabs, all still alive and swimming. The building smelled deeply of the ocean: saline, alive, and fresh, just as the fish are in their tanks. 

Later, a few new friends from the program and myself ate an amazing lunch upstairs of scallion pancake, clam stew, grilled seasoned eel, and makgeolli. Everything was fresh, tender, lightly sweet, and perfectly balanced. This was probably my favorite meal of the entire stay in Korea. But soon, we needed to hop up and board the bus to stay on schedule. By this point, the rain became a downpour and our last few planned activities were rained out. I suggested, and some group members agreed, that we would like to return to Spa Land, which we had visited the previous night, albeit with not enough time to fully experience all it had to offer. On our second night there, we had more time at our leisure to experience various treatments, mingle and bond with one another, and eventually returned to the hotel, relaxed, restored, and quite sleepy. Before bed, I visited the hotel’s rooftop bar and restaurant for a nightcap and a mountain of fried chicken and shrimp chips, as I had not eaten a proper dinner yet. And thus ended one of the best days ever.

For this experience and all others throughout our cultural immersion program in Korea, I am grateful to have received the Borchardt Award that funded the majority of trip expenses. It has made possible a life-changing experience abroad that will certainly influence all aspects of my teaching as a global citizen.”