Shannon's Asian Invasion

Pig cheek?

2008-03-13T23:27:00.004+09:00

I realize that a large portion of my blog entries have to do with questionable cuisine choices; this entry is no different. That's all part and parcel of living in or traveling to new and different countries. In Australia, some people eat kangaroo. In Vietnam, I saw cat on the menu. Here in Korea, I've sampled dog stew. Now I know that it's easy to judge my choices based on America's conception of which animals are "politically correct" to eat, but to some people, eating deer or hot dogs/brats is disgusting. I do have my own "line", just as everyone should. No matter how open minded culturally I try to be, I still couldn't bring myself to eat live octopus. I guess there's just something about it being alive in my mouth that I couldn't bear.

Anyway, I was invited to another strange sounding dinner--one of pig cheek. I guess in America we are "specific" with naming certain parts of animals as well: pork loin, chicken breast, thigh, rump roast, etc...but I guess I just never considered eating an animal's cheek. It creates quite a visual, doesn't it? Anyway, it was good. I wouldn't have known the difference between that and any other part of the pig. It was a good night out with two fun Korean workmates, Seung Han and In Seo.

Korean restaurants definitely follow the "Function over form" rule. Some Koreans think that the shittier the interior of the restaurant, the better the food will be. I read that there's something about remodeling that's bad luck.
Throwing the pig cheek on the grill
Look closely! It's Seung Han's picture! He was on the wall at a local bar--he must be a regular.

Dr. Fish

2008-03-13T22:36:00.003+09:00

There's a new fad in Asia called Dr. Fish. Dr. Fish is a cafe with shallow, warm-water foot pools containing hundreds of tiny minnow-like fish imported from China. For some strange reason, these hungry creatures like to nibble the dead skin off of people's feet! Ewww! Doesn't sound like a good dinner to me. But my curiosity was piqued, so I had to go check it out. It was only $2 for 15 minutes of foot-soaking and fish-nibbling. It felt SO weird! Like ticklish but almost too much stimulation. My friend Kelly and I couldn't stop laughing and it was difficult for us to keep our feet in the water. I soldiered through it and I'm pleased to say that my feet are smoother than ever.

The Land of Oz

2008-03-13T21:34:00.007+09:00

So it's been awhile. I've had motivation issues. Anyway, as many of you know, I was in beautiful Australia for an entire month the end of December through the end of January. We drove from Melbourne up the east coast to Cairns. 3387 kms (2104 miles). To sum up: a country of open roads,bright blue skies, stunning beaches, marsupials, and barbies (BBQs). I'll let the pictures tell the story. You'll have to overlook a slight contradiction in the photos-- first, I'm petting a beautiful kangaroo and then I'm eating one. I'm a complicated gal.

Me and Roo (Before)
Probably a poor choice of photo order
The next logical step...kangaroo steak on the barbie. Delicious. (After)
Our Wicked campervan. Ours was "Smokin' Angels". We slept in there.
Geoff and I on the Bondi-Coogee beach walk
Saltwater pool (they call it a "rock pool"--built into the ocean) overlooking Bondi Beach, Sydney

Nivea and I at Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary Brisbane. And no, I didn't eat her.

Yarra Valley Vineyards
Rolling hills of Yarra Valley (near Melbourne)
Me and 90 mile beach (it was deserted...unbelievable)
Overlooking Bondi Beach in Sydney
The infamous Sydney Opera House. View from a ferry on the way to Manly Beach.

It was an awesome trip. I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Don't burn the day away

2008-02-05T13:27:00.000+09:00

I was listening to some music today, and this song hit me hard.

Oh isn’t it strange
How we move our lives for another day
Like skipping a beat
What if a great wave should wash us all away
Just thinking out loud
Don’t mean to dwell on this dying thing
But look at my blood
It’s alive right now deep and sweet within
Pouring through our veins
Intoxicate moving wine to tears
And drinkin' it deep
Then an evening spent dancing it’s you and me
This love will open our world
From the dark side we can see the glow of something bright
There’s much more than we see here
Don’t burn the day
Away
Don’t burn the day
Don’t burn the day away
Is this not enough
This blessed sip of life is it not enough
Staring down at the ground
Then complain and pray for more from above
You greedy little pig
Stop just watch your world trickle away
It’s your problem now
It’ll all be dead and gone in a few short years
Just love will open our eyes
Just love will put the hope back in our minds
Much more than we could ever know
So don’t burn the day
Away
Don’t burn the day
Away
Come sister, my brother
Shake up your bones, shake up your feet
I’m saying open up
And let the rain come pouring in
Wash out this tired notion
That the best is yet to come
And while you’re dancing on the ground
Don’t think of when you’re gone
Love! Love! Love!
What more is there?
Cause we need the light of love in here
Don’t beat your head, dry your eyes
Let the love in there
There's bad times, but that’s ok
Just look for love in it
And don’t burn the day away
Look, here are we
On this starry night, staring into space
And I must say
I feel as small as dust down here
What point could there be troubling
Head down wondering what will become of me
What concern we cannot see
But no reason to abandon it
The time is short, but that’s alright
Maybe I’ll go out in the middle of the night
Take your hands from your eyes my love
All good things must come to an end sometime
But don’t burn the day
Away
Don’t burn the day away

"Pig"--Dave Matthews

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlVChmTijLk

Joel

2008-01-30T19:13:00.000+09:00

I arrived back in Seoul Sunday, only to get some terrible news on Tuesday. My dear friend Joel was taken from this life without warning Monday morning. Joel and I had some wonderful times together before I came to Korea. Joel is a very giving man, a wonderful musician, and could be a bit scatter-brained at times (he knows it). Joel is very much loved and already tremendously missed by more people than I can count. My heart goes out to his family and friends, who lost him way too soon. I know he's in a better place with his mom and impatient to move onto the next thing. He has a fiercely strong and independent spirit and laughed at my corny, over-the-top jokes. I chatted with him online shortly before leaving for Australia. He seemed happy and as always, wished me well on what he considered to be "the coolest trip he's ever heard of". He always started the conversation with "Hey lady" and I'll miss it.

Joel rockin' out. I told you he was a great musician. He could imitate a song on the guitar or piano just by hearing it once. He secretly dreamed of being a rock star (well, maybe not so secretly)
Joel and I in Cancun, Mexico for his friends' wedding (Corey and Mandy). We had a fantastic night. The best club ever-we agreed. Coco Bongo.
At my cousin Heidi and his brother Brian's wedding in Destin, Florida, May 2005. He was the best man and I was the maid of honor.

Joel will be fondly thought of often by many people, including me.

Herb Doctor

2007-11-19T21:52:00.000+09:00

Although this has been on my list of things to do for a long time, I just got around to going to a true Oriental doctor last Friday. By Oriental doctor I mean someone who practices Eastern medicine. Like acupuncture. What better place to visit one of these people than in Asia?

Anyway, a Korean woman I know and trust took me to him. She's been seeing him on a weekly basis for over a year now, and she swears that she's experienced marked improvements in her energy level and ailments. Sold. For approximately $25 per visit, I can swing that.

The first thing he did was take my pulse with his fingers. Then he asked me some questions and had me lay down on the table. After some poking and prodding on my stomach and back, he decided that my liver is a bit weak (ok, ok, no drinking jokes). I don't know how he deduced that from pushing around on my core, but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. So here come the needles!

He's a special kind of acupuncturist. Not only does he stick needles in, but he also injects some kinds of herbs with the needle. So he chose only certain places (meridians--where the energy flows), about 3 points on my stomach and 3 or 4 on my back, and one right below my neck. The first needle in the back actually made me jump. And that area is still sore 3 days later. The rest of the insertions didn't hurt at all; the needles are very thin. Oddly, only one insertion left a bruise. On my stomach.

After the 5-8 minute treatment, he took my pulse again. On both wrists. He claimed to already notice a difference. Again, I'll buy that for now.

I haven't noticed anything different since the treatment. I was coming down with a cold when I received it, and it still turned into a full-blown cold. But I'm not throwing in the towel yet--repeated treatment was advised (maybe weekly) until I feel a difference. So I think I'm going to try it for awhile and see what happens!

My international Korean class

2007-11-19T21:20:00.000+09:00

Me, Merek (my class partner from Kazakhstan, aka Borat) and the woman from India.
My teacher Ji seon Yang (Korean) in the middle, Guatemala and Venezuela.
Krystal (American) and my teacher salsa dancing to Julio's singing!

As it's been 2 years since I first came to Korea, I thought it might be a nice gesture to the country and my coworkers (who are all Korean) to try to learn a bit of the language. Currently I know bits and pieces; functional Korean, if you will. "How much is it?", "I'd like to order..." "Where's the bathroom", "Help me", "Turn left", "shut your f*cking mouth", etc...you know, just the necessities.

Now just so you don't think I'm an ethnocentric jerk, let me explain something to you: it's absolutely non-essential to speak Korean to get by in this country. I'm here to teach English, afterall, so my job does not by any means require it. And more often than not, I encounter people who would rather practice their English skills than allow me to practice speaking Korean.

Because I don't plan to live my life here (3 years max, I promise!), and because Korean isn't spoken in any other country, I don't feel that it's a great use of my time to learn to speak Korean fluently. The basics are just fine. So I sound like a cave(wo)man--so what? ME SHANNON TEACHER.

This leads me to my first Korean class experience. It's really cool actually. Only 3 American professors (like me) are in the class while the rest of the students are diplomats of various countries! They work at their respective country's embassy in Seoul. Let me just give you a sampling. We've got Guatemalans, Venezuelans, a Pakistani, Kazakhstanis, Indians, Filipinos, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Bangladesh citizens. (sorry if I didn't use the correct label- I really tried).
I sit by a guy named Merek. He's from Kazakhstan. Of course I've had the Borat conversation with him. Evidently their country at first hated that Borat claimed to be from Kazakhstan, but decided in the end that it was good for tourism. (Evidently it put them on the map).

Among all of these ethnicities, I feel decidedly un-exotic. That's surprising, because usually I feel pretty foreign being the only American among all Koreans. Let me give you an example. One night our Korean teacher told us to bring a food or drink native to our home country. The man from Venezuela brought a rum/brandy/congnac made in his country, a man from Kazakhstan brought these chocolate-covered dates with Russian writing on the wrapper, and I brought Dunkin Donuts.

Another interesting tidbit~ the man from Venezuela is actually a famous singer in his country! He brought in his album and let us listen to it. His name is Julio Ceasar Gonzalez. Cool. You should hear the stories I tell them about what I used to be in America....my video just hasn't been released yet.

Anyway, it's pretty cool meeting and interacting with all of these amazing diplomats! How much Korean I learn is secondary...I'm here to socialize, not LEARN! The pictures are from a Korean culture cooking class. We learned how to make "Chap Chae" (a noodle dish). It was fun!

Korea's Britney Spears?

2007-11-14T21:19:00.000+09:00

So I recently found out that one of the most famous Korean pop stars, Lee Hyori, attends the university I teach at. She's even a Communication major (my department). Exciting!

What does this mean for me, you ask? Perhaps a brush with fame. Maybe she'll see me and want a foreigner for her new video. Or a foreign friend. Or maybe she'll just walk past me. Whatever.

Last year when I arrived in Korea, one of her songs, "Anyclub" was really popular and I liked it, so I started checking out what else she sings. I guess you could say she's the Britney Spears of Korea. She even covers one of Britney's songs ('Get Ya').

Just thought I'd share some exciting news and a small part of Korean pop culture. Here's the video of "Anyclub", if you're interested. Culture yourselves, people! For the dudes who are reading this, watch the video. She's pretty hot.
And if I see her on campus, I'll give her a shout-out for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPBe0v7OzBo
Lee Hyori. I'm pretty sure this photo wasn't taken in class.

Manila and Palawan

2007-11-04T20:16:00.000+09:00

My trip to the Philippines was amazing in many ways. I think the best way to go about explaining it to you is in highs and lows.

Highs:
We danced and drank all night with "little people" at the Hobbit House in Manila. It's a bar that's modeled after "The Shire" from Lord of the Rings, complete with a complete staff of "hobbits".

We were upgraded from a beach cottage to "the Villa" (one and only) on Sangat Island. Our 3-story villa was made out of all natural materials found on the island, had 3 hammocks on the porch, and our shower was a cave! Did I mention we had our own private beach?

We did in fact see monkeys. They even took over our porch for awhile. Geoff was surrounded by about 10 of them at one point, but luckily they were nice enough monkeys to back off.

Kayaks were included with our villa (since there are no roads or motorized vehicles on the islands-only walking paths and the ocean). We snorkeled, relaxed in natural hotsprings, took boat rides to neighboring islands (one of which had a freshwater lake!), and napped in hammocks. Truly paradise.

Lows:
The weather in Manila was crap. It rained most of the time. Dirty, dirty rain.

Manila was very dangerous. The gap between the rich and the poor is astounding.

We all got sick at some point. I thought it could be malaria (there is a risk of that). But I was wrong. So technically, this could go in the "high" section.

We had some transportation issues. Almost missed our once a day island flight (14 row plane) and our jeepney (cross between a bus and a jeep) ride through semi-flooded dirt roads was terrifying.

Overall, the trip was fantastic. I would recommend going to Palawan, and specifically Sangat Island. It is very eco-friendly, and not overrun by tourists. There are only 11 cottages on the entire island, and the staff was amazing. Their motto was "Anything is possible". I don't normally say this, because there are too many places I want to travel to, but I plan on going back.

These were the boats that we traveled in. I'm the boat model. Yikes. That pose isn't going to sell anything.
Monkey business on our porch! (you may have to double-click and enlarge the image to see the little guys)
A view of our villa, private beach, and kayaks! This was taken from a stilted over-water walkway used to reach our beach.
Our villa up-close.
Dancin' with a hobbit...just another Saturday night in Manila.
Geoff and I showing off our mad kayaking skills!
Courtney and I taking a shower in our "grotto" after a long day of relaxing.

The Philippines

2007-09-13T18:56:00.000+09:00

Coming up at the end of September is the Korean thanksgiving celebration called "Chuseok". We get 3 days off of work, plus the weekend, so that translates into a 5-day break. Anyone who knows me is well aware that I won't let such an opportunity pass without traveling. Therefore, I'm going to the Philippines with my friends Geoff and Courtney. Courtney is relatively new here (she arrived in June) but we became fast friends. She's from Colorado but lived in the Chicago area for several years (and has family in Paddock Lake!). We talk about things like the Brat Stop and Prime Outlets. Among other things.
We leave tomorrow and get back at 5:30 am next Thursday morning, right before work! Talk about squeezing every last drop out of a vacation....I don't have any appointments until 2pm that day, but Courtney has to be to work by 9. So hopefully our flight will get in on time along with our airport shuttle.

We'll be staying in Manila (the capital city) for 2 days, and on the island of Palawan (specifically Sangat Island) for 3 days. The Philippines has close to 7,200 islands so our selection had to do with the fact that it's a very eco-friendly island (lots of wildlife and nature) and few tourists. If we would have wanted a real touristy place, we could have picked Boracay or Cebu, but I figured they'd be similar to Cancun, Mexico.

Our island supposedly has monkeys on it (woohoo! I'm totally going to hang out with MONKEYS!) and we're staying in one of only 10 beachfront cottages on the island. There's also a hammock involved per cottage (I already called it). We get kayaks upon arrival as a means of transportation since there are no roads on the island. Here's the website link to where we're staying:
http://www.sangat.com.ph/
The 'photoalbum' tab is especially cool. Here's to hoping that the weather is nice!

Other summer festivities

2007-09-13T18:27:00.000+09:00

While I was back in Milwaukee, I was busy everyday seeing people and doing summer things. I went to a Brewer game (and tailgated), Six Flags Great America, summer outdoor brunch with bloody marys, campfires, cookouts, and various parties. Not to mention meeting Sarah Jessica Parker...but that was another entry.

Keri and I drinking bloodies at Cafe Hollander.
My boys tailgating before the Brewer's game. (Matt, Jeff, Josh and Steve)
My girls. (Dawn, Heidi and Keri. Where's cousin Heidi?)
At the game....the boys had much better seats, but we were dangerously close to the Bernie Brewer slide. We considered sliding down....but I've already broken enough Brewer slides for one lifetime (Lakefront Brewery).
Josh's parents had a huge cookout since he was back from Boston. We had a campfire and slept in tents in the yard.

Tribute to Riley

2007-09-05T22:49:00.000+09:00

I was able to spend some time with my new (and only) nephew when I was home. He was 4 months old when I was there. He is soooo smiley and happy. He makes everyone around him happy. When I smiled at him, he'd get this really shy look and sort of look down (quite the ladies' man) I love him! I almost brought him back to Korea with me, but he would have put me over the luggage limit. Photo highlights of the little guy:

Grandpa Gary and Riley. That's his Blue Steel look (Zoolander reference).
Here's Riley with mom (Stephanie). He was interested in sampling his bib. Tasty.

Riley and me on our first date. Look at his shy little boy act! Charming!
Riley with daddy (my brother Ryan).
Riley and Grandma Lynette in Door County.
What a cutie! And Riley's not bad either. See how I make boys drool?

Door County July 2007

2007-09-05T21:25:00.000+09:00

This July when I was home for the month, my family rented a cottage on Lake Michigan in Door County, Wisconsin. It was 10 days of perfect weather, cookouts, campfires on the beach, and lots of family time. I'll let the pictures tell the story. I had a GREAT time!!

Heidi, mom and Rita out for a classy dinner on the town. We're sooo Sex and the City...errr, Country. Is that a cosmopolitan I see?
The gang waiting for a true Door County Fish Boil. First one I've ever seen. What I saw, but put more eloquently by Wikipedia:

"The cooking of the Lake Michigan Whitefish is an elaborate presentation. Restaurants typically ask that patrons arrive a half hour early to witness the boiling. The fish and potatoes are placed in a cast-iron kettle. When the water comes to a boil the potatoes, kept in a wire basket, are lowered in.

The fish are then placed in another wire basket and lowered in. When the fish oils rise to the top of the pot, the boiler will add a small amount of kerosene to the flames. The increase in flames causes a boilover, the fish oils spill over the side of the pot, and the fish is done."

Here's my explanation: There was a big explosion and our fish was done. It was yummy.
Ryan, Stephanie, and Riley (my nephew!). Great family photo.

My dad, mom, Uncle Carl, Aunt Rita and Heidi having some wine at cheese at Simon Creek Winery in Door County. Wine tasting is fun. There was definitely no shortage of alcohol that week....

Gorgeous sunsets were aplenty! This was our view every night. Our campfire pit was on the beach...

I have a "line"

2007-08-27T22:08:00.001+09:00

Ok, so what does it take for me to write a new entry, you ask? Well, how about for starters, the dinner I had tonight. I thought I'd seen everything. I've eaten dog (sorry Lassie), been offered "pig lung and various organs" at work (none of which I've eaten), but this takes the cake. Actually, I probably shouldn't use food references here, such as "cake". You'll see why.

To bring you up to date quickly, tonight I went out to dinner with 4 Koreans. I'm giving a talk at a Health Communication conference in early September, so the orthodontist who asked me to speak invited me out to dinner with the board members of the Health Communication Academy. Sounds pretty high-end. Anyway, they just wanted me to get comfortable with some of the participants since I'll be the only English presenter at the conference.

Great. We're going out for Japanese food. Sound delish. And free. I'm thinking sushi, something that I like and no surprises. WRONG!

For the first course, they bring out a delicacy. Sort of like caviar in the U.S., I imagine. Well, it's baby octopus. And the problem, really, is that it's still alive. That's right. It's chopped into little pieces, about an inch or so long (except for the head, which is intact, complete with eyeballs). So, it's wiggling all over the place. And they want me to eat it like that. And they want ME to try it first, as the guest of honor. Well, I've heard of this phenomenon in Korea, and I've even had friends that have tried it. But I've never seen it. Tonight was my first time. So I had no idea what my reaction would be. Keep in mind, I'm in the presence of 40+ year old medical doctors, nurses, and Ph.D's. A little intimidating. And they're telling me to go ahead and eat it, it's a Korean specialty. Well folks, I couldn't do it. They're all staring at me, proudly, like "go ahead, we got you the best", "try it". And I tried to be polite about it, but I think my aversion was obvious. So I laugh nervously and say "Wow. I don't know how to eat this, why don't you show me" (all the while hoping that the wiggling and the "living" stops). So the one woman tries to show me. She tries to pick up one of the tentacles with her chopsticks. This thing is moving all over the plate like it's at a disco. She has to use a spoon to get the little guy. Anyway, after she shows me, I just continue laughing nervously and trying not to vomit all over. I'm not kidding, I was trying not to gag. And I say "I think I have to wait until it dies first....haha....no, really". So luckily another plate of raw fish shows up (dead) so I sort of distract everyone buy playing dumb and asking how to eat the tuna sashimi (which I know damn well how to eat), and it worked! No one noticed that I wasn't trying the live octopus. I mean, I was really in a pickle (god, another food reference). It's almost like saying "God, your culture is disgusting!" if you react in a certain way. I wouldn't have a problem doing that with my Korean friends, but these were new people (and sort of in important positions) so it was really hard for me.

The rest of the dinner was amazing (I can do raw, just not alive). There were at LEAST 6 courses. Mostly raw fish, mussels, seafood stew, king crab, chicken, finally fruit and tea...I kept thinking the dinner was over but it lasted for 3 hours. I was able to take a picture on my cell phone of something I've never seen. It was raw top-grade tuna (that actually was so dark red that it looked like raw beef) and it had slivers of real GOLD on it. No joke. The only thing I can compare it to are the slivers of gold in Goldschlager liquor. The tuna is called Hon Maguro in Japanese. I love tuna, actually, so I ate it. One of the doctors with us was a cardiologist who reassured me that the gold was safe to eat. It was pretty good. So here's some photos of this tuna. In the photos the tuna looks brown, but it was just that dark red. (My cell phone doesn't have the best picture quality).

I hope my stomach is okay tomorrow. Lots of raw. Nothing live though. I've found my line!

Enough of this "being open to the culture".

2 months of slacking

2007-08-08T17:03:00.000+09:00

In response to previous comments...If I weren't so cool and popular, I'd have more time to provide "killer content" on my blog. I just got back from a month hiatus in the U.S. More details to come.

The first and most important thing to ....one of my dreams came true while I was home---I met and conversed with Sarah Jessica Parker at an autograph signing to promote her new clothing line. And rumor has it that she thinks I'm funny. Just ask Heidi.

Surprised? Not really.

They wouldn't let us take pictures with SJP, but we could take them OF her, in papparazzi-like fashion.
Heidi and I waited just over 2 hours in line, and were rewarded with a smiling, personable and energetic Sarah Jessica. We spoke with her for about 3-50 minutes (I was so starstruck that I lost track of time). She told us a story about Mr. Big's name from the last episode, and she spoke a bit about the S&TC movie that's coming out next year. We joked around a bit in true Heidi/Shannon style (I'm surprised I could actually form a sentence, much less be funny).

When I was talking to her, it truly felt like she was my friend or something. And I told her that. Not in a dorky-stalkerish way, but just that she makes you feel so comfortable, as if I talk to her all the time. It was awesome. She remains star-I'd-most-like-to-be-friends-with. Pictures to follow.

Tennis anyone?

2007-06-07T20:49:00.000+09:00

For all of you who've known me for awhile, you may remember that I really like tennis. I used to play on the team in high school (when they'd let me...I wasn't so good). But anyway, I've been wanting to get back into a racket/racquet sport, so after a long search for racquetball courts (it costs like $65 a month), Geoff and I decided to buy tennis rackets so we could play outside at assumedly free courts. The courts at my school are free; however, they are also crumbling and cracked (don't think tennis is too trendy here).

We found some that were halfway between our apartments that were really nice, so we attempted to play there. Some dude was yelling at us and waving his arms in Korean, but that happens enough here for no reason so we just resumed play. Well, he didn't stop making a fuss and since we didn't stop playing, he ran over. Evidently it's $25 AN HOUR to play at these courts, even though it's a university. I tried to pull out the "ME NO SPEAK KOREAN" card, but it didn't work. We still got kicked off.

Fitness is so expensive here! Gyms are at least $60 a month (crappy ones at that) and now they're charging to play tennis outside? Pretty soon they're going to put a toll-booth on the street for when I walk to school.

Anyway, I know it's a city of 14 million, so I guess there's got to be some regulation on public spaces...but it made me angry. I guess we'll stick to playing on the cracked courts of my university. That way I have something to blame when the ball doesn't go where I want (it hit a crack, I swear!). Anyway, here are our sweet tennis poses. Geoff is so hot that he even wears sweat bands.
If you'll notice, my cap says "ME". The back of it says "Sweet dreams are made of me". That's right. That's the kind of quality merchandise you'll find in Seoul. Top-notch.

Summer's here!

2007-06-07T20:26:00.000+09:00

Real excited about our Western-style breakfast!
The massage chair line-up. That's Sarah and Nicole.
My new friends Sarah and Scott horsing around.

Yeah baby! Summer weather is here!! One weekend in May, 6 of us went to the coastal city of Busan. It's 3 hours by high speed train from Seoul. The train gets up to around 190mph. Saturday it rained all day, so we hunted out a place called U-Para. It's a huge game center. Like an adult Chuckie Cheese or something. It has bowling, table tennis, darts, video games, massage chairs and so much more. It was huge! You pay $8 (!) and get use of their facilities for 3 hours. Pay $10 and you can stay as long as you'd like. It was great! I bowled, played some ping-pong, and sat in a massage chair for an hour.
Sunday's weather was amazing! We went to a popular beach that usually gets packed in the summer (umbrella to umbrella) but in May it was pleasant. We sat around and soaked up the sun. My friend Sarah brought her guitar so she played for us on the beach. Geoff and I brought our tennis rackets so we hit the ball around a bit. (oh yeah, I'm playing tennis again...I'll save that for another entry)

Another highlight of the weekend--we found a place that serves Western-style brunch. It's hard to come by in Korea, the land of rice, soup and kimchi for breakfast (vomit). So we thoroughly enjoyed pancakes, omlettes, french toast, bacon, sausage.....

Interesting instance--our group was 6; 3 guys and 3 girls. In Korea, there's an option of an "ondol bang" hotel room. That is Korean style. It means there are no beds, just mats for the floor. That's usually the best choice when you want to cram 6 people into a room. And it's like a slumber party! So as we were comparison shopping for the best price of the beach-front hotels, we got turned away by one who refused to let us have men and women sleep in the same room. They told us that no Korean hotels will let us do co-ed (bullshit). Anyway, it was sort of a strange form of discrimination. It does speak to the conservativeness of the culture, but in most cases they want your business so they bend the rules a bit. Anyway, the next place we went checked us in no problem. Here are some pics. New friends: the blonde girl is Sarah and the reddish blonde guy is Scott. They are super cool.

Happy Birthday Buddha....and Geoff

2007-06-07T20:06:00.000+09:00

May 24th was a holiday. Buddha's birthday as well as my friend Geoff's. So of course Geoff loved that b/c he shares a birthday with a god. Great. I got to hear about that all night. Anyway, we had a celebration for his birthday in addition to going to the Lotus Lantern parade. Not on the same day, but I'm going to combine the pictures. There were some really cool floats at the parade that you just don't see in the States.

I wonder if Buddha would approve of Geoff's celebration....emptying beer into his mouth from a keg...
probably. I hear he's a pretty cool god.

Paintball!

2007-06-03T21:48:00.000+09:00

Me in my gear. God, I look tough, don't I?
Battle wound. Looks worse than it felt.
Scott and I

I tried paintballing for the first time today! I went with my friend Scott and a group called Adventure Korea. They plan outings like this quite often. There's one in the future that involves bungee jumping ...I may attend. Anyway, paintballing was pretty cool. I felt like I was on the battlefield in 'Nam or something (not that I know what that was like...). But after I got over the fear of being hit by the extremely fast-moving, hard paintballs, I loosened up and started taking more chances on the battlefield.

I got hit 3 times; first in the mask (thank god we wear face masks), in the boob (big target i guess, haha!), and in the leg. I took a picture of the leg wound. It didn't really hurt when it hit. It's more shocking than anything, and it felt sort of like a pinch--not unlike ones I would receive from my brothers back in the day. Anyway, it's something I'd like to do again when it's not so hot (I was really sweaty and dirty) and with more of my friends. I would just love to nail some people. But none of my loyal blog readers, of course.

How much have you done?

2007-05-26T09:26:00.000+09:00

This is a pretty cool website. You can check off which countries you've been to and get a percentage telling you how much of the world you've "done".

I've been to 14 countries, which is 6% of the world.
Sigh. So many countries, so little time.

http://douweosinga.com/projects/visitedcountries

Colbert vs. Korea

2007-05-23T08:12:00.001+09:00

This is a hilarious clip. Colbert singin' in Korean. It's about time Rain had some competition!! (p.s. I live in Korea and I don't know who Rain is. But I guess he's pretty big)

Sea "cucumbers" and saber-toothed fish

2007-05-22T22:14:00.001+09:00

Are those human teeth? Jesus.

Doesn't look like a cucumber to me.
I've seen things here that I didn't know existed in nature. Been wanting to post this one for awhile. People actually eat these things. I draw the line at dog.

Keep it clean, Brian Joyce.

Good advertising

2007-05-22T22:10:00.000+09:00

These are the kinds of advertisements you'll find around here. Doesn't make me want to spend my money, that's for sure. I'm pleased to see that I can look just as creepy as the next guy.

i love the 80's

2007-05-14T20:01:00.000+09:00

Magnum P.I. This costume caused quite a stir. Complete with fake chest hair. My mom looooves Tom Selleck.
Tennis anyone? John McEnroe.
Of course there was an 80's cover band. The lead singer/guitarist was an Axl Rose fan, I guess (but really, who's not)? He got a little crazy and played some jams on top of the table.
Geoff was a break dancer. I was just a cool 80's chick. By the way, those earrings were NOT hard to find. Shudder.

What the F?

2007-04-28T12:32:00.000+09:00

So, continuing on my kick of not wanting to become immune to things I see often, I thought I'd share a picture with you. Keep in mind, this happens a lot. Dogs with koolaid ears. And tails. And outfits.

Asian Spring

2007-04-08T22:50:00.000+09:00

Nothing says "Asia" like magnolia trees and cherry blossoms. I took these pictures today on my campus. It's a really famous place that people come in spring to see all the blooms. I'm having a picnic there next weekend so my friends can see it. It even smells good.

Cultural Immunity?

2007-04-07T08:50:00.000+09:00

So, being that it's the second year for me here, I've noticed that certain things about being here don't phase me anymore. Stuff that last year would have left me jaw-dropped and wide-eyed. Now it's become part of the landscape that I hardly notice. Here are some examples:
-When I see a student or coworker on the street, they bow, rather than wave.
-People bump into me all the time without saying "excuse me" (or a Korean version of that)
-There are routinely dancing girls with balloons in a store-front, to signify an opening.
-Quite a few people on the street wear the SARS face-mask. Remember that from pictures back in the early 90s when it was a problem in China and Toronto? Well, no fear, SARS isn't here- it's for people who have respiratory problems or are sick.
-In the grocery store, each counter (meat, vegetable, seafood, etc...) has a yelling-guy who advertises the specials of the day. Because they're all yelling into microphones non-stop simultaneously, it really creates a relaxing shopping experience.
-I have to order a "Banilla Latte" instead of a "Vanilla Latte" at Starbucks because Koreans don't have the letter "v" sound.
Finally, I was in "HomePlus" the other day (a store like Target, but not nearly as cool) and I saw a father crouched down in front of his 2 year old son holding a bottle for him to pee in. Yep, right in the home and garden aisle. Why would you take the escalator all the way to the ground floor when you can simply pee in a water bottle? Actually, this one did sort of catch me off guard, complete with a double-take and "grossed-out face".
I want to remember these things. Because when Korea is a distant memory for me, I want to look back and laugh at all the things that I considered "normal" while I was here.

Seoraksan Mountain

2007-03-24T11:40:00.000+09:00

Over the Lunar New Year holiday (that's big here) my compadres and I took a long weekend to travel to the mountains. Seoul is on the West side of Korea, so we hopped a bus and traveled 4 hours to the infamously beautiful east coast.As you'll see here, there's a beautiful ocean. The name of said ocean is under debate: the Koreans call it the East Sea, and the Japanese call it the Sea of Japan. There's also an island (well, a rock, really) between the two countries called "Dokdo" that both countries claim as their own... Geoff and I enjoying a refreshing beverage on the beach at dawn . We took the night bus, so we arrived at 3:30 a.m. Just in time for some barbecue and beer! We stayed up until 8:30 a.m. Frisbee was played on the beach.
A view of the beautiful snow-capped mountains through the buildings. This city is called Sokcho. Tallest peaks in South Korea.
The crew (Nicole, me, Geoff, Les and Gilles) in front of a ginormous Buddha. We are in Asia! I asked a passerby to take a group photo for us. On the first attempt, she took a nice shot of us, but cut the Buddha out. I thought it was pretty obvious that we would have wanted the Buddha in the background. But you know what they say about people who ASSume....
Les totally ruined the picture below. Sheesh, can't you find some other sacred palace grounds to walk on?
Anyway, we were there for three nights (if you count the first one where we just were on the bus and beach). We hiked a bit. It was nice to get out into the fresh mountain air. We did our share of partying, playing games, bowling, eating, and singing at noraebang. We also went to a true Asian arcade and played some video games in the middle of the night...Dance Dance Revolution was quite a workout! Geoff is oddly skilled at it...he kicked all of our asses. No comment.

My new nephew

2007-03-22T20:41:00.000+09:00

My new nephew, Riley Garrett, was born on March 21, 2007. He is 6lbs. 12oz., oddly enough the same weight that my brother weighed when he was born! He looks so cute here...like "what's going on? Can I go back to where I came from now?"

The proud, tired parents.
I'm so excited to be an aunt!!

Hoegi-dong

2007-03-13T21:11:00.000+09:00

I'm settled into my new neighborhood. It's called Hoegi-dong (or "the Hoe", as my ever-so-creative friends like to call it). It's a 10 minute walk from work, and because I work at a university, I live in a university neighborhood. Fantastic! I have all the restaurants, bars, cafes, shops, and whatever else you can think of outside my front door. Plus, I can actually see the subway station from my window. This is a big deal because last year I had to walk 10 minutes from the subway to get to my apartment. It's ever-so convenient. I have a supermarket and a cheon won (dollar) store directly across the street. In this next shot you can see my apartment building. Look for the tall one in the middle that says "Osvill" (you can click on the picture to make it bigger). That's my building. I live on the 6th floor. And look! It's right next to Pivo Skybar. How convenient. There's also a noraebang right next to the entrance of my building. It's fate.
Down below you can see the entrance gate to my university. I walk through it everyday. My work building is right on the other side. My office and my classrooms are in the same building.

Although I've only worked about a week and a half at my new job, I think I'm going to like it. I have 2 classes (that each meet twice a week), and the students have been really great so far. It's SO nice not to have to worry about discipline like last year. These are actually mature-ish university students! In addition to teaching, I'm advising. This entails meeting one-on-one with students and Korean professors who are teaching or taking TTE (Teaching Through English) classes. I help them with their writing, speaking skills, and teaching/learning strategies. I'm also developing some workshops for them to get some hands-on experience. It's pretty cool so far.

Oh, and did I mention that I get 8 weeks of vacation? Alright, I'll shut up now.

Back in the land of the sweet potato latte

2007-03-13T21:03:00.000+09:00

That's right, you read correctly. Koreans looooove sweet potatoes. I thought I'd seen it all when sweet potato came atop my pizza (along with corn), but I was wrong. Standing in line at a coffee shop ("coppee shop-uh" to the Korean tongue) today, I saw nothing other than an ad for a sweet potato latte. What WILL they think of next???

Another oddity at the coppee shop---they will not, for the life of them, fill your cup to the brim. There's always a good inch and a half of emptiness in the cup. Now why did I just pay $3 for half of a Cafe Mocha? I asked a Korean friend, and she said "It's our culture not to fill the cup." Sigh. Some things I'll just never understand. This photo shows my newly purchased mocha, before taking a sip. That's right. Fill 'er up!

What's with me and singing lately?

2007-02-14T16:16:00.000+09:00

So my last night at home was also full of singing. My family had dinner together, and then my cousin Heidi busted out the PS2. She has Karaoke Revolution, as well as an American Idol Playstation 2 game. It's awesome. Randy, Simon and "Laura" (evidently Paula didn't sign on for it) are the judges, and you can have as many players as you want go through the audition process, complete with eliminations. 6 of us played: Heidi, me, my mom, dad, Ryan and Jeremy. We took a lot of time to create each character....you can modify hair style/color, clothing, body type, facial structure....it was hilarious. We made characters that looked eerily like each one of us. My grandma was there watching the whole thing and I can only imagine what she was thinking. (These kids and their video games nowadays!) One of the funniest parts of the night was in the final round, when the game selects the final round song....my brothers had to sing a song by the Pussycat Dolls called "Stickwitu" and they got all but booed off the stage. The game also uses Simon and Randy's real voices so it's especially funny to hear what they say when they judge you....if you ever get the chance to play that game, DO IT! :)
The pictures are from 2 different nights....Heidi, Heidi, Keri and I had a girls night and played Karaoke Revolution, and the other ones are from my last night when I played with the fam.
...and just so you know, Heidi and I were being dramatic on purpose. Really.

Last Days in the States

2007-02-14T15:56:00.000+09:00

I had a great last week in the States! First, I went to a Korean restaurant on Milwaukee's east side with some of my friends, cousins, and brothers. It's called Han Kuk Kwan, and they actually make really good Korean food! We ate dinner there, and we tried a lot of things (my favorite dishes in Korea). Everyone really liked their food. We talked a lot to our waitresses and found out that at 10:30 pm, the restaurant turns into a noraebang! This is a dream come true for me. For those of you who aren't hip to the lingo, a noraebang is a Korean style singing room. It's like karaoke, but in Korea, you and your friends get your own little room to sing in so you don't have to share it with strangers. Unfortunately the restaurant didn't have a bunch of little rooms, but there weren't many people there so it worked out just fine. My friends and I were the only people there initially, so we dominated the mic. The songs were an array of English and Korean songs (it's actually the same song book that they have in Seoul). A little later a bunch of Koreans in their 20's came in for a birthday party so they were singing Korean songs and mingling with us. I felt like I was back in Korea with all my friends! It was awesome!! We were also drinking Korean beer (Hite, OB) and Korean liquor (soju). It was a great last weekend out! Here are some pics.

Milwaukee Friends

2007-01-31T01:47:00.000+09:00

I have to say it's been great seeing all my friends since I've been back. Here are some highlight pictures.
1) Dinner at Oakland Trat with my S&TC girls.
2) With my friends Matt and Josh on Josh's 30th birthday.
3) Heidi, Erin and Jeff. Erin's the one I lived with in California. She was back for a visit.
4) Heidi, Heidi and Keri on New Year's Eve! Party at Keri's pad.
5) Dawn and me on NYE.

Master Plan

2007-01-21T07:28:00.000+09:00

Well, I finally decided on one of the university jobs in Korea that I was mulling over. I will be starting work at a university in Seoul starting March 1, but I'll be leaving to go back February 10 so I can get settled in and adjust to jetlag before I start working.
My job has 2 parts. I will be teaching english to university students for 6 hours a week, and the rest of the time (I don't know how much yet) I will be an advisor at the Center for Teaching and Learning. I'm really excited about this because advising was always something I thought would be cool to get into. I really like working with people one-on-one. This advising position also includes giving one or two workshops/presentations a month to the other English instructors and English course students.
I am really excited about this job. It sounds like it leaves a lot of room for creativity on my part and flexibility. Another great thing about it is that it has 8 weeks of vacation! Yeah! So more traveling is in my future (did you have any doubts?)
Another cool thing is that the university has a beautiful campus. There are so many cherry blossom trees that they have a cherry blossom festival every spring. Here are some pics I pulled off the web. It's also very close to where I lived/worked last year, except a little bit closer to downtown (which is good). Since the city takes about 2 hours to cross by subway, I'm really glad I'll be close to my friends and familiar parts of the city!

Biloxi/Gulfport Disaster Relief

2007-01-21T07:18:00.000+09:00

Well, I’ve arrived back unscathed from my time in Mississippi, and with only a blister to show for it! (For those of you that know me, I’m pretty klutzy so that’s pretty amazing).

Some observations:

I can’t BELIEVE how much damage there still is after a year and a half. Hurricane Katrina happened August 29, 2005, and I would have thought it was more recent by the looks of things. I guess I don’t know how long it “usually takes” to clean up after a disaster of that magnitude, but it was pretty shocking to me. There are still so many buildings/resorts/houses that haven’t even been touched since the storm. You can tell that people haven’t even set foot inside, or on the lot for that matter. I saw a huge hotel standing at sort of a slant with the side ripped off, so you could see inside the rooms. There was still furniture in there: beds, tables, and chairs overturned by the winds. That was not an odd occurrence. There were also so many damaged signs and billboards that are still standing, for things like “The Waffle House”, “McDonalds”, beach resorts, etc…but with an empty lot behind it. The beach was beautiful, of course, long, with white sand. But the boardwalk was ripped apart. This was the way it looked along the whole coast that we drove, probably 20 miles at least. Some communities were hit harder than others, but for the most part, they were all still in shambles.

After seeing this on my first day there, I prepared myself mentally to do some pretty hard, disgusting work. I was thinking I’d be gutting out destroyed houses, picking up debris, and things like that. However, that wasn’t the case. I was able to work on 4 different job sites while I was there, and none of them were actually that bad. I guess there is A LOT of red tape involved with this. Our disaster relief group needs to do assessments on certain homes before they can send us there. I think they also need to see which individuals qualify for our help (I don’t know the criteria). They are only able to send us to job sites that they have approved for work.

Much to my dismay, the first house my group of 6 was sent to was almost finished. The home was really nice; new furniture, all the floors were installed, already painted, etc… I was thinking “Why am I here?” Our assignments were to install some baseboards, doors, and window trim. I was pretty shocked that we actually were working on something like that when so many people are still living in F.E.M.A. trailers and don’t even have a start on rebuilding. That night, I spoke to the leader of the camp about it. She said “So many organizations start a project and leave the homeowner at 75% finished; we take it 100%”. Ok, so I do understand. And after having lunch with the homeowner of the first house, we got to talk to him and find out his story (listening to their stories was the best part of the trip! He and his wife lost everything, because their house flooded with 3.5 feet of water. They also did not have flood insurance; the insurance company denied them coverage because they technically were not in a flood plain/basin. The man did most of the work thus far all by himself, and he shared that he had lost his momentum and stopped a couple of months ago because it was so overwhelming. He shared that having us there working on stuff rejuvenated him, and sort of reenergized him to continue working. So even though we thought we weren’t really helping much, it helped him mentally to have us there. The other homeowners throughout the week had different stories, but all were equally touching and devastating. I helped build a deck at a house another day. The homeowner there was up in a tree for 8 hours with her dogs to escape the flooding! We heard stories like that all week.
Anyway, I'm really glad I did this. I would recommend it to anyone. I worked with cool people, got to meet and speak to homeowners who lived through this tragedy, and felt pretty good about myself after I got done helping. The hard thing about it is that if you have a traditional job, with 2 weeks of vacation a year, it's almost impossible to do something like this. You'd need a vacation to recover after it! But if you ever get the chance (even when you retire, as there were lots of retirees there), do it!
Here are some pics of the devastation...also a picture of my workgroup with a homeowner.

2007 already?

2007-01-02T13:45:00.000+09:00

Happy New Year everybody!
I can't believe 2006 came and went already. Overall, it was an awesome year for me. Lots of travel, adventure, and life-enriching experiences. I hope 2007 can be as good.
Although the overall year was good, the last couple of weeks have been filled with ups and downs. First off, I was offered not one but TWO university positions in Seoul. The timing was a bit off, since I verbally accepted one, only to get a better offer from a different university less than a week later. We're still working out the details, but within the next day I'll know which job I'm taking. It's actually been really stressful deciding between the two of them, because of course there are pros and cons to each (not to mention I gave my verbal acceptance already, so I'll have to let someone down). Either way, I'm going back to Seoul in February for another year!! I'm really excited about it. A better job working with university students, 6-8 weeks of vacation time, new people, old friends, and more travel!
In other news...January 6-12 I'll be flying down to Biloxi/Gulfport Mississippi with a group of people (including my aunt and uncle) to help clean up some of the hurricane damage. Even though Hurricane Katrina and Rita happened a year and a half ago(!), there is still so much damage and rebuilding needed. It really pulled at my heartstrings when it happened and I would have really liked to have gone down and helped right away, but they were really discouraging untrained volunteers from going. The mess was just too big. Now that so much time has passed, it's a little less crazy down there so finally I'll get to go help out! We'll be doing some debris removal and possibly some home rebuilding. I'm not really skilled in those departments, but I'll do what I can since I'm not working right now anyway.
Another interesting happening....the apartment I lived in for 2 years near Brady Street on Milwaukee's East side burned down on Christmas Eve! I was watching "It's a Wonderful Life" on TV that night, and the local news came on with that as a top news story. I was absolutely shocked. A little over a year ago it would have been me in there! Luckily everyone got out alive, but the apartment is VERY damaged. A few days later I went to have a look at it and it was really depressing. The whole front wall of the house was gone (like a dollhouse), and I could see directly into my old apartment!! Sad.
On a lighter note, I've been able to spend a lot of quality time with my closest friends and family lately. It's been wonderful! And like I said, it's like I never left!
I hope you all have a wonderful new year and thanks for keeping up with my asian invasion! There will be more to come in 2007!

Back in the USA

2006-12-13T04:10:00.000+09:00

Hi all--
I'm finally back in good ol' Franksville, WI. I've been back for about 3 weeks now, after traveling to China and Thailand with Heidi. It was a great trip, full of travel ups and downs. Highlights were the Great Wall (and yes, its name is very fitting) and riding elephants through the jungles of Thailand. I have over 300 pictures, so I'm going to be making a highlight CD and then I'll post the link .
Anyway...since I've been back, I've been able to hang with friends and family which has been really great. With most of my friends, it's like I never left. We just hang out like old times, no awkward silences or pressure to sum up an entire year in one sitting. Thank you for that.
I'm staying with my parents, who are gracious enough to put up with me using their cars and eating their food. I feel a loss of freedom here, because of the lack of public transportation (mainly) and the disconnection from a big city. Despite my lack of car, I've made it up to Milwaukee several times and have been amazed by all the changes that have occurred over the past year. It's great. The city really seems to be on the up and up (whatever that means). New restaurants, condo developments, retail, museums, etc...Having been away for a year and then seeing all the changes at once was really dramatic. I *heart* Milwaukee.
As for what's next, because I won't be living with my parents forever: My plan is to stay here through January and then head back to Seoul for another year-long contract. I've been applying for university jobs, but if that doesn't pan out, I'm fine with going back to a job like I had last year, sans the kindy kids. Now, I did love those kids the most, but teaching them was more overwhelming and out of my league. Maybe it would have been different if I would have had ONLY kindergarten, so I could have really focused on learning how to teach that age group, but in the long run that's not where I want to be. So next year I hope to teach some older kids, whether they be university (fingers crossed) or middle/high school.
Why do I want to go back? many people have asked me. Well, at this point in my life, it's what I feel I need to do. In Seoul, I was able to travel, save money, and have the adventure of meeting new people, experiencing a new language and culture. It's thrilling to me. I wouldn't have that opportunity here. I know I'm not ready to settle down into a mediocre-paying job with only 2 weeks vacation and a committment for an indefinite amount of time.
Maybe someday, but not now. I'm excited for more travel, more new experiences, and more visitors! (no pressure, of course) :)
I know a lot of people don't know where I'm coming from but it's just a feeling I have about where I need to be and what I need to be doing. Going to Seoul last year was one of the best things I've ever done!
Anyway, I hope to see everyone while I'm in town.
A quote to leave you thinking:

"Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness." -Samuel Clemens

1 more teaching day!!

2006-11-02T00:55:00.000+09:00

Hey everyone! Well, I still haven't been able to catch up with all the stuff that's been going on. But exciting news, I only have ONE teaching day left!! I have mixed emotions. I'm really sad to leave these kids (and coworkers) that have been my life for the past year, but I'm also excited to embark on my next adventure...
Heidi arrives on Friday evening! We'll hang in Seoul for the weekend (so she can meet my friends and see the city I've lived in for a year) and then on Monday we leave for China! We'll be in the Beijing area for about a week and then it's onto Thailand for another week. We'll stay in Bangkok for 2 nights and then go to the island of Ko Chang for the rest of the week.

I'll be back in the States on November 20!! I'm really pumped to see all of you again!! :)

Kyoto

2006-10-22T22:08:00.000+09:00

The second part of our trip, Nicole and I took a train to Kyoto, which is only about 2 hours from Hiroshima (by bullet train). Kyoto is the sort of the historical mecca of Japan, so we thought it would be neat to see more of a traditional city.
We stayed in a hostel so we shared a room with 3 other people. It was fine the first night but the second night I thought I was going to freak out. 2 of the girls in our room had to leave at 5 am to catch a train, so they were up til like 2:30 am packing. At that point the money we had saved by staying in a hostel didn't mean a thing. With Hiroshima fresh in my mind, I had to force myself to think about peace. Peace. Peace.
Anyway, Nicole and I saw some very beautiful things in Kyoto. First, the Golden Pavillion, a gilded temple built in the 1200's! It was striking. It was a bit rainy outside, but that only made it look more beautiful and the gold more shiny! On our walk to the temple, a most exciting thing happened: we saw GEISHA!!!!!!! Now, I don't know if you have read the book or have seen the movie "Memoirs of a Geisha", but it sort of was an obsession of mine that I see a real geisha in Japan. We saw 2! It was like I spotted Brad Pitt or something. We casually (but quickly) changed our direction to follow them so we got some pictures from behind and the side. Yippee!! They looked just like I imagined (and in the movie!)

After seeing the palace, we had tea in an open-air teahouse in the palace garden. It was beautiful sitting on the floor, drinking green tea and gazing at the greenery. And boy, was it green!
That night we walked around downtown Kyoto and found some quaint little streets...one had a sort of canal (looked like I imagine Venice to look). Then we walked to Gion, an area that is supposed to have the highest population of geisha in Japan. I don't know if we were in the exact right area of Gion, but it was full of trashy sex shops and hostess bars! We definitely did not see a geisha there! I'm so glad we saw 2 that morning....
The next day we went to a temple called Nanzen-ji. It was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. There were so many plants and trees....it was so lush and green. Our pictures definitely don't do it justice, but it's the Japan of the movies. Amazing.
Kyoto was gorgeous. As you can see in the pics, geisha, the golden palace, and bamboo trees!

Hiroshima

2006-10-22T21:06:00.000+09:00

Today it was rainy all day so I just layed around and did absolutely nothing. It was glorious. I'm going to sort of bring you up to speed bit by bit. First, my Japan trip. I think I have to dedicate this post to only Hiroshima, because there is just so much to tell about it.
Nicole (my friend from grad school who is now teaching here in Seoul with me) and I flew to Japan for a week over the Korean holiday Chuseok. It's like their Thanksgiving.
I was really surprised when we arrived in Hiroshima. I guess I didn't know what to expect, but you'd never be able to tell that 61 years ago the city was flattened by an A-bomb. It's beautiful and green with 7 rivers running through the city. There is also a street car system (like trolleys). The city has such a good, strong energy to it. We stayed at the World Friendship Center (WFC). It was founded by American Quaker peace activists in the 60's, and it serves as a guest house (sort of like a B&B) for visitors to Hiroshima. It was run by a couple in their 60's...it was great, like staying at someone's house! It was Japanese style so we slept on pads on the floor in our own bedroom. Older couples from America sign up (through their church) to work at the WFC for a year's time...what an amazing experience, to come to Japan and work at an organization like that! The WFC is also very active in the community (teaching English, cultural exchanges, and international peace initiatives). One of the staff (Don) was really informative about the city and he set up a free private tour with a Japanese woman for us to see the Peace Park. It was amazing. So much history. Nicole and I went to the Peace Memorial Museum, learned a bit of the history of the attack on Hiroshima, and saw a lot of really moving pictures and read some personal stories of some of the victims. The next morning, a little Japanese woman named Michiko gave us a tour of the Peace Park. There are so many monuments like the "Flame of Peace" (which will not be extinguished until the last nuclear weapon in the world is destroyed!) and the A-Bomb dome...the remains of a building that was all but destroyed by the bomb (pictured). The park is in the hypocenter where the bomb hit. There is a river running through the park and our guide told us stories about how the river was just filled with bodies after the explosion. I learned so much about the effects of a nuke, it was so sad and disturbing. I couldn't help but cry as she was telling us the stories of the families and people who were affected.

One story in particular was very striking. It's about a girl named Sadako. She was exposed to the A-bomb when she was 2 years old. Ten years later, she developed radiation-related lukemia (as many people did). The Japanese have a legend which says that anyone who folds 1000 paper cranes (origami) would be granted a wish. Cranes are a sign of longevity in Japanese culture. Sadako diligently began folding paper cranes in hope that this would cure her sickness. She folded over 1000 before her death 8 months later. Her classmates continued folding paper cranes in her memory and there was a monument erected in the Peace Park dedicated to Sadako and all the children (the most innocent of all victims) who died as a result of the A-bomb. When we were there, a class of children came carrying armfuls of paper cranes which they hung on the monument. It was amazing.

In addition to learning about the bombing, Nicole and I also went to an island close to Hiroshima called Miyajima. (it was far enough away that it wasn't affected by the bomb). It was beautiful! After arriving on the island (by ferry) we were approached by several deer who were completely tame! It was wild! They were like dogs or something! We were petting them and feeding them deer food. They were just strolling around the island, intermixing with the people. We were able to see a beautiful shrine with an orange grand gate called "O-Torii" (pictured below). It was very beautiful. Here are some pictures of our wonderful stay in Hiroshima...

The Countdown Begins! 11 teaching days left!!

2006-10-19T11:16:00.000+09:00

To all loyal readers (or semi-loyal....all 2 of you)! Sorry for the lack of updates! There's so much to tell, and it continues to build. In short, over the past month:

-I went to Japan twice. Once on purpose, the other time for a two day/one night visa run. Hiroshima, Kyoto, and Osaka are awesome, and have only confirmed my love for Japan further! More to come with pictures.

-I did an overnight Buddhist temple stay. This was also very cool, a day in the life of a monk. I was able to learn a bit about the Korean style of Buddhism.

-My friend Geoff's contract finished and he's back in Canada. Korea isn't the same without him.

-North Korea got all crazy with some nuke tests. There isn't a state of panic here, but we're sort of awaiting the next moves (along with the rest of the world).

-I only have 11 teaching days left!! November 3, my cousin Heidi is flying to Seoul. We are going to Beijing for a week and then Thailand for a week. What a great adventure before I come home on November 20!!

This weekend I plan to sit down and write some longer entries about the experiences I've had lately. Stay tuned...... Cheers!

Rock Star Party

2006-09-24T18:14:00.000+09:00

So the Scavenger Hunt was last Saturday, and this Saturday we had a Rock Star party (we can't get enough of costumes!) at a local hotel. None of our apartments are that big, and we don't all live close together so it's easier (and nicer) to just pitch in $20 each for a nice hotel room (actually it's a suite, with kitchen, living room, etc) for a fun night. We end up spending less than we would going out anyway. So we decided to have a theme and come in costume. I was Madonna (circa "Blonde Ambition tour") so I made some cones to put over my boobs and I had a platinum blonde wig. BTW, I do NOT look good as a blonde. Geoff was a sort of Kid Rock/Aerosmith early 90's rocker, Nicole was Anna Matronic from the Scissor Sisters, Gilles was a punk...and some people were lame and didn't dress up. No Rockstar party is complete without noraebang (singing room) so of course we ended up there!! Here are some funny pictures.

Scavenger Hunt

2006-09-24T17:37:00.000+09:00

Last Saturday a Canadian-themed bar called "Rocky Mountain Tavern" put together a scavenger hunt for their patrons. My friends and I go there every Monday night to play trivia and poker so a couple weeks ago we noticed that this would be going on and signed up. There were 5 of us on each team, and I think about 8-10 teams participated. Wearing costumes was optional but our team wanted to dress up so we were superheroes (ones that we made up). We were given a list of 50 tasks with 3 hours to finish them. We were restricted to a certain neighborhood, which was pretty busy on a Saturday afternoon, so we got some stares running around in our costumes, that's for sure! We were allowed to be creative and interpret the tasks in different ways, but we had to take pictures on a digital camera with our whole team in the picture to prove that we did them. Some examples of the tasks are "Ride a horse" (we found an antique store with a stone horse that we rode), "have some hair waxed professionally", "drive a bus", "take a bath", "get a hotel room key", "sing a group song and pan handle for change in front of the subway station", high five a hooker, have a shot at the bar that hates Santa Claus (there is a bar in that neighborhood called "Scrooge"), collect the home country flags from the people on your team (we had Canada, USA and Korea), get measured for a suit or dress by a professional tailor, take over cooking duties for a street food vendor....and et cetera. I'd really love to list all the tasks because they were all so cool and unique. We were certainly a site to see running around town in our superhero costumes asking things like "could you let us drive your bus, and can we get a picture of it?" I was utterly amazed at how accomodating people were. We only had one Korean on our team, so she was pretty much the official translator!
It was such an awesome time, I can't even tell you. I've never done anything like that, and we really had to use our brains together to get these tasks done in only 3 hours. I felt like I was on the Amazing Race or something. Each task was assigned a point value, so we sort of prioritized that way. There were some that we couldn't get done (because of time constraints or we just had no idea what to do for the task) but we felt like our team did pretty well overall. When the bartenders finished scoring (going through the pictures and checking off what each team did), we found out our team was just 5 points behind 2nd place! Even though we didn't win the scavenger hunt, we won a prize for best costumes!! That day will go down in Shannon history. All the pictures had to be on one digital camera, so I'll be sure to post some after my teammate sends them out!!

Going to Japan....again!

2006-09-08T09:24:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I couldn't let my 6 day October break come and go without leaving the country....so Nicole and I are going to go to Japan! (Nicole is my friend who visited me in March and decided to come back here to teach. She arrived 2 weeks ago). This time, instead of going to Tokyo, we're going to fly into Hiroshima, stay there for a couple days, then travel to nearby Kyoto, stay there for 2 nights, and spend one night in Osaka. We've already booked our flights and hotels.
Chuseok (a sort of Korean Thanksgiving, when everyone goes home to their families or travels)is why I have this break, but because everyone in Korea has off work, flights to everywhere in Southeast Asia are at peak prices. Lucky for my pocketbook, many Koreans don't want to go to Japan, as there are still some hard feelings about the 50 or so years that Japan colonized Korea in the early 1900's.
In Hiroshima we're staying at this place called the "World Friendship Center", which is run by antinuclear activists. They give free guided tours of the nearby Peace Memorial Park, and they also set up meetings between their guests and A-bomb survivors. Nicole and I are going to try to do that.
Fall is one of the best times to go to Japan because the weather and the colors will be beautiful. 2 weeks away!! Yipee!

Sommerset Palace

2006-09-05T23:19:00.000+09:00

For the second time since I've been here, a bunch of friends and I decided to rent a hotel room in Seoul for a night to party. (the first time was for the World Cup) It's nice because when split among 12 or more people, it only comes to about $20/head. We stayed in absolute luxury this time. It was a "residence" rather than a hotel, so people usually do long-term stays there. It had a kitchen, living room, dining room, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It was amazing. The best part was a rooftop garden, swimming pool and 3 jacuzzis! It was great! We got to enjoy them for awhile before it started to downpour for a few hours. We ordered in (Chinese food, which is waaaay different than American Chinese food) and by then it had stopped raining so we went up to the roof again and hung around outside (and it the pool until about 2 am). I got eaten alive by mosquitos. Little did I know that Korean mosquitos like American blood.....We went back down to our room and proceeded to play poker and another card game called "Inbetween" until dawn. I finally crashed around 6 a.m., but the guys decided to continue the game until it got ugly (over $200 in the pot!) Glad I went to sleep when I did....and of course we had the obligatory hotel pillow fight. Those crazy Koreans. Ok, so it was our idea.

Fruit Soju

2006-08-29T01:19:00.000+09:00

The next couple entries are going to be catch-ups, but I find them timeless.
So. there is a delicious summer drink I'd like to inform you of: fruit soju. Now, if I haven't mentioned it before, soju is the national drink (liquor) of Korea. It is made from rice (hard to believe there's any rice left, since they eat it like 3 times a day), and it goes for $1 per 12 oz. bottle. It's about 20% alcohol, so that's right folks, you can get drunk for a mere dollar. (one of the many draws of Seoul). So anyway, it tastes sort of like a weak vodka, and therefore can be mixed with just about anything. When Keri was here we went to this place that hollows out the insides of fruit and fills them with the fruit/soju concoction. That night we tried the watermelon, pineapple, and when we went back for Thomas' birthday (a week or so ago), we tried every other flavor: honeydew, orange, and apple. Delicious!
Also, their menu of food was interesting. We ordered a pumpkin that was baked with seafood and cheese inside. It was soooooooooo good!! Here are some pics of the seafood pumpkin, Keri with the pineapple, and Gilles, me and Julie drinking out of our hollowed-out apples and oranges....

End of contract plans

2006-08-17T22:15:00.000+09:00

So, my contract is up here November 2. That's still 2 and a half months away, but I need to start planning for the trip I'm taking after I'm finished here. My beloved cousin Heidi is flying to Seoul when I'm finished and we're going to travel to China and either Vietnam (south this time) or the Philippines for 2-3 weeks. I want to be home in time for Thanksgiving. This is a call for all information you have regarding the aforementioned countries. Any must-see places? Of course the Great Wall is in our plans but we want a well-rounded trip with both historical/sight-seeing and laying on a beach (lord knows I need it after working with these kids everyday). More traveling, yippeeeeee!
I also have a 6 day break coming up in October....I really want to use it to go somewhere but it's the most expensive time to travel from Korea, as ALL Koreans have this time off....it seems like such a waste to NOT use it to go somewhere. All right people, I admit I have an addiction.

Any tips (other than Travelholics Anonymous) would be great.

An Inconvenient Truth Amendment

2006-08-17T00:42:00.000+09:00

Ok. Let me be more clear, after reading some of the comments to my last entry (an individual or machine named "ANONYMOUS"who never actually saw the movie makes a credible and compelling case, I'm sure, thank you for your input). I don't give a flying f*ck about Al Gore. I voted for him, sure, but that was not the point. Mr. Rogers could have made this film for all I care. I am not saying you should buy into every little fact that Al presents. Be a critical consumer of this information as I hope you are of all information you receive. I could care less if you are liberal or conservative. MY POINT is that this movie will get people thinking about something important and useful (unlike a lot of other movies that we ---including me---watch).
There are some interesting facts presented that will get "some" people thinking. I'm sure many people aren't open to this sort of "environmental propoganda"....understandable. I can see how the earth has been trying to screw us over for years (sarcasm intended). Regardless, after watching it I felt better informed and concerned about global warming. That is why I requested that you watch the movie.
Unfortunately, Al Gore's name attached to the film will be detrimental as some of the more conservative members of society will refuse to see it because they will look at it as a piece of liberal propoganda. That's really sad, because the content should be important to all of us who share this world. If it benefits Gore in some way for us to see the film, fine. Just like we're putting money directly into the pockets of Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise with every box office hit they've been a part of, those self-interested bastards.
Whatever political agenda may be behind this, I'm sure everyone who watches it is not going to run right out and by a hybrid car. When I saw it, it made me think, hmmmm, maybe this is something that we all need to be a little more concerned about than we have been. I don't think the demise of the planet as we know it will be here in 10 years, (neither does he) but I think it's important for us to start thinking about how we've been pissing on our planet and maybe make a few minor changes. How can you argue that we haven't done any damage?? The extent of the damage may be debatable, but there's no question that if we continue to damage the earth at the pace we have, we are screwing things for the future generations and possibly for ourselves.

Furthermore, I didn't mean to directly compare Milwaukee to Seoul. By size of the cities alone (not to mention the giant Korean population), there is no comparison. I love Milwaukee and I've seen the steps it has made towards a more environmentally- friendly existence. I had a car in Milwaukee, because you need one to get by there. And I recycled in Milwaukee, as I'm sure you all do. My point (which I seemedl to have failed in making) in talking about Seoul and how it treats the environment was to be informative. I have never lived in another city for this length of time and I am noticing that they do things differently. It would be ignorant of me not to notice these differences. I thought that sharing them with you would be interesting and informative, not offensive. My apologies for that. You know that Milwaukee and I are close friends.

Now I'm going to go smoke up with the rest of the hippies. Peace.

An Inconvenient Truth

2006-08-15T11:26:00.000+09:00

Go see it. I just watched Al Gore's documentary on global warming and it's shocking. It's scary. But it's accurate. I think that it really clarifies things for the layperson, and it is a call to action. I find it so sad to see how far behind the rest of the world the U.S. is when it comes to being environmentally conscious. Here is the website: www.climatecrisis.net
Hopefully the rise in gas prices will wake people up (it's not the destruction of our world, but the harm to one's pocketbook that opens eyes??? sad but true).
Gas prices have always been as high or much higher in other countries of the world. When I was in Europe and Scandinavia, I was seeing gas prices triple what the U.S. pays. Here in Seoul, gas prices are over $5 a gallon. I am SO glad to not have a car anymore. Taking the subway is great. I wish Milwaukee had that option. It's nice not to have to worry about driving....I can just sit there and daydream or read a book. And when it's winter, I don't have to worry about scraping my windows or digging my car out of 6 feet of snow before I nearly get into an accident by sliding into another car on a slippery road (it's happened to me before).
Anyway, I know that cars are a necessity to many people. It was to me in Milwaukee. The public transport just isn't there in a city of that size. Having never lived in such a large city before, I was very surprised to see how environmentally conscious Seoul is. All of our garbage is separated. We recycle everything....bottles, cans, plastic, paper, cardboard--even public receptacles in the subway and in fast-food restaurants have you separating things (you dump out your soda in the "liquid" area, put your cup in one area, lid and straw in another area).

They don't have garbage disposals so we throw our leftover food into food bins (and boy does it stink). The lighting everywhere is flourescent. Homes, schools, restaurants (yep, even there). It's harsh and unattractive but much better for the environment (they use 60% less energy than a regular bulb--IKEA sells 'em!). It's just interesting to see how much more advanced Seoul is in taking initiatives to be nice to the world.
Anyway, I'm done ranting and raving....as a global citizen, I ask you to go see the movie. It will hopefully get you thinking.

Tantalizing Tokyo

2006-08-08T23:47:00.000+09:00

So, I've arrived back from my trip to Japan. And what a trip it was. My friend Keri arrived in Seoul from Milwaukee on Thursday evening (July 27). I had to work Friday, so she hung out in Seoul in the rain. The rainy season should have technically ended by end of July, but I guess weather doesn't pay attention to technicalities. So unfortunately she got a taste of it (it's a nonstop downpour all day--my friend at work actually wears those aqua socks things to walk in outside, it's that bad). Saturday morning we left on a train to Busan, South Korea, which is about 3 hours away by bullet train (it's on the other side of the country). From there, we had reservations to take the Hydrofoil ferry (it actually runs on a jet engine and sort of skips over the water) to Fukuoka/Hakata, Japan. That was also a 3 hour trip.
THEN, after successfully arriving in Japan Saturday late afternoon, we picked up our Japan Rail passes and hopped their Shinkansen bullet train (186 mph)to Osaka. Why all the travel, you ask? Well, because it's high season for travel in Korea, all the flights to Japan (which is a brisk 1.5 hours away by air) were around $600. While Geoff and Gilles opted to fly directly to Tokyo, Keri and I decided to take various forms of transport (Ferries, Trains and Automobiles, sans Steve Martin and John Candy) and see the country while we were at it.
It was cool. We stayed in Osaka (about halfway to Tokyo) the first night, and hopped a morning train to Tokyo the next morning. Despite the conflicting web information on which is a bigger city, Tokyo and Seoul have similar populations, so I was pretty comfortable navigating the city. The subways work a little bit differently, but it was really no problem. We were all a little worried that the reputation Tokyo has for being one of the most expensive cities in the world would ring true, but it really didn't. Some things were more money, like the subways (in Seoul it costs about 80 cents to ride each way, where as in Tokyo it was double), but other things were similar (maybe a little bit more) such as food and drinks. But rumor has it all wrong....don't let it stop you from experiencing one of the world's great cities. DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE PEOPLE!
Tokyo has some great neighborhoods that we were able to check out. Our hotel was in Shinjuku, which is really the Tokyo of the movies. Glaring jumbled neon lights blinking and flashing at all hours of the day; a sea of faces pushing past you on the streets; fast-paced and hectic. Someone with ADHD would not do well here. Or wait--maybe it's made for them. So much going on at once; sensory overload. You don't know which way to look first. And then you look again and it's gone. The subway station we stayed next to is the busiest in the world; 2 MILLION people pass through every day. Wow.

One of the things that really stood out to me (mostly in contrast to Seoul) was the diversity. I've commented on this before, how on the surface, in Seoul, most people are cookie-cutter. Japan is the Baskin-Robbins of Asia. Everyone had their own individual flavor. The sub-cultures were overwhelming --goths, punks, skaters, fashionistas, gangsters and more....this is exemplified in a particular area of the city called Harajuku (Gwen Stefani actually has a song called "Harajuku Girls" that really hits the nail on the head). On Sundays there is actually a "freak parade" where people come out to strut their stuff and really just get attention. Harajuku was my favorite part of the city, not only was there diversity (so great people watching!) but there was also good shopping. One of my favorite stores from Europe was there! Another interesting thing that I wasn't expecting was that some people actually wore kimonos on the streets. I thought they were completely "old Japan" but not at all....there were a decent amount of people wearing them in the city. True kimonos are silk and pretty heavy....they are beautiful though. Some people were wearing "summer kimonos" which are made of cotton. They are called "yukatas". I actually bought one for myself. They are beautiful!

One weird thing I noticed was that there were a lot of things that Japan seemed to rip off of other countries, for example, "Tokyo Tower" which looks a lot like the Eiffel Tower (and is actually a couple of meters taller). We went to the top and saw a great cityscape. There is also a fake Statue of Liberty. I didn't bother going to see it, not that interested. Keri and I went to a famous Buddhist temple one day. It was really pretty. There was also a more traditional area of the city (in stark contrast with the crazy, flourescent lights of the modern part) we went to with a market near the temple. It was neat because they had a lot of traditional Japanese goods and foods.
The food was good, overall. Of course I had to eat sushi several times while I was there, which was great! Rather than the wasabi being on the side (to mix in with the soy sauce), it was built right into the pieces. Yum. And I had some sake to wash it down.
One night the four of us went out to dinner and the menu was all in Japanese (of course), so we just pointed at things that looked good. Later, after realizing that my "beef" was a little chewy, we were reading the chopstick covers and I read that what I thought was steak was really BEEF TONGUE. Yikes. Needless to say, I stopped eating it. :)
We also went to a karaoke bar one night (kinda had to, since it originated there!) that we *think* was the same one that was in "Lost in Translation". It was awesome. We were on the 9th floor and there were windows in the room that overlooked the city! We originally planned to only go for an hour or two, but in true noraebang style, we stayed until the sun came up! It's like a time warp in those singing rooms, I swear! This one was a bit more expensive ($40/hour, whereas in Seoul they are only max $20/hour). We had SUCH a good time! To keep with our "Lost in Translation" obsession, we also went to the Park Hyatt Tokyo for a drink (this is where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansen stayed in the movie). The Park Hyatt was actually directly behind our hotel, so we had a view of it. We just had to have a drink there....it was beautiful but a martini was $18! I guess we were paying for the view....
I'd better wrap this up before it becomes the longest blog entry of all time. I could say so much about Tokyo....I want to go back! I was wondering about teaching English there....but I've heard that they don't treat their teachers as nice as they do here (no free housing, less of a salary). It's too bad because I would love to dig into that city for a year! Here are a few pictures of Tokyo...

Back from Tokyo!!

2006-08-08T08:57:00.000+09:00

So, I've dropped off the face of the earth lately, because my friend Keri was here (she just left yesterday) and we were in JAPAN!!
I need to write all about it, because it was great! (and just because I would write about it anyway, even if it sucked) So as soon as I get a chance to go through my pictures and reflect, I'll post a ridiculously long entry.
Just wanted to let you know that I'm still alive!

A venting session

2006-07-25T23:00:00.000+09:00

The last week or so I've been particularly busy. The end of the month always is with work, because we have to write evaluations on each student (so for me, that's around 100). It's sort of like a monthly report card for their parents to see their progress. I'm used to that, although it's time-consuming.
In addition to that, our school was chosen among the many YBM ECC's in Korea to be video-taped. Certain classes that they film will be posted on the website for prospective students to watch. Lucky me, my class was chosen to be taped. I wasn't too happy about this, as the class they wanted to tape was my 5 year olds (really about 3 years old American). I love my kids, but they can be hard to control and are less than attentive at times. So this was a big stressor for me. I had to prepare a phenomenal class for them to film, because it was a pretty big deal. There was a sort of "test run" on Monday and the final cut was filmed Tuesday. Let me just say that it's not gonna win any awards. Did I mention that I hate being video-taped??

In addition to even that, summer classes started on Monday. Most children get vacation from their "public schools" for about a month in August. That means extra work for people like me who work at "private" institutions (hagwons). My school is something they do as an extra-curricular activity, so when they're off of school, they still come to the hagwon and even more: they'd like us to provide extra classes, (aka: baby sitting services). So, all of us teachers have to work overtime by teaching more classes than normal. So, yippee for me, I get to be at school for 10 hours a day.
For those of you who really know my work ethic, I'm pissed. Work, I'm fine with. I do my best when I'm there. It pays the bills, I get the warm fuzzy feeling like I'm helping out the world at times. Great. But it's when work starts taking over my life that I REALLY have a problem with it. So, needless to say, I've been pretty upset the last couple of days. Not only am I writing evaluations outside of my normal work hours, preparing for my video debut, but I'm also teaching extra classes.
So, I was ready to go postal on Monday. Now, I'm not saying I have the worst situation in the world. In fact, other teachers (mainly Korean) at my very school have it worse than I do. But, I have to say, I didn't sign up for this. That's what's gets me about it. Our contract spells out pretty plainly about what is expected of us, but it happens to be ever-so-vague in many areas. It's not just this time either. "Something" always seems to come up to get us to put in more than we've bargained for.
I guess that's ultimately my fault for not going through it with a fine-toothed comb, but live and learn, I guess.
Now that I'm done with my evaluations and video-taping, I feel a bit better. My friend Keri is coming here from Milwaukee on Thursday evening. We are heading to Japan (!) on Saturday, and we arrive back in Korea on Wednesday. I have a break from work! Thank you! My friends Gilles and Geoff are also vacationing in Japan, so we'll get to hang out. Our plans so far include Tokyo Tower, Mt. Fuji, Imperial Palace, and a singing room (of COURSE I have to compare their singing rooms with those of Seoul...).
I can't wait!!!

Odd Beach Behavior

2006-07-14T09:29:00.000+09:00

So, I went to the beach again last weekend (but a different one). This time about half of us were Korean teachers, and half were foreign (there were 13). We took the train about 3 hours to get there. It was further down the coast. It's funny, all the beaches here are complete with little beach towns. They have TONS of hotels/motels and restaurants practically on top of each other right on the beach. All of the restaurants have the same cuisine, seafood (of course). They eat quite different seafood here, and they prepare it differently than we would back home. There are lots of clams and mussels, and seafood stew. Most of the places specialize in barbequed seafood, so there are grills on each table and you cook it right there. They are also big on squid and octopus. I'm not a fan of the octopus. I don't like seeing the legs with the suction things on them. It freaks me out. It's also waaaaay to chewy for me! Will the chewing ever stop???! There are also restaurants where you can get "fresh" octopus, meaning they chop it up live and you eat the legs while they're still squirming. NO THANK YOU. I hear that the little suction cups on their legs can still work so they can get stuck to the inside of your mouth or throat. Disgusting.
Seafood is really a part of their live even in the city, where every convenience store has dried squid and fish/shrimp flavored snacks, like chips. Anyway, that's another blog entry.
So, we of course ate some barbequed seafood at the beach.
"Different" beach behavior that I noticed: No one really wears swimming suits (except the foreigners). I, of course, was in my bikini, along with the other foreigners who were wearing normal beach attire for back home. It was fricking HOT out, so of course we were. Well, I went for a walk down the beach and I did not see ONE other person in a swimming suit. Everyone had on clothes. Even people in the water. WHAT? So, you'd better believe I was the object of everyone's stares. There was even a person who took a picture of me as I was walking because it was so odd to see someone in a swimsuit. Well, don't worry, cause I took a ton of pictures of the "crazy dressed people on the beach". When I came back from my walk I was so shocked and a little embarrassed that I threw a skirt on over my bikini bottoms. I asked my korean friends (who were also wearing clothes, but at least they had swimsuits on under them) what was going on. I thought they were going to eventually take their clothes off, at least when they swam. But no, all of them swam in their shorts and tops. HUH? So I guess the deal is that they are modest about being that naked in front of others. Nothing like America. What's funny is that on the streets, I've seen some of the shortest skirts of my life. So I guess they're not that modest.
So anyway, I'm sure I looked like a big whore being on the beach in a bathing suit. (I never thought I'd say that).
Also, there were a lot of people who pitched tents on the beach. They'd sit in them with their families. Wow. That must be really hot.
There also were a lot of people jet-skiing and boating, but there wasn't a boat landing, so people would just drive their cars or tractors (yes, you read that right) right on the beach up to the water to pick up their boat or jet ski. SO weird!
Finally, since we stayed at a hotel on the beach, we went and hung out at the beach at night. Everynight there are fireworks and people hanging out. Drinking on the beach is legal (as is drinking anywhere outside, even in the city), so you've got the crazy drunk people shooting off fireworks on the beach at all hours of the night. Scary. The beach was lit up by different colored lights. One section of the beach was green, one section was pink, one was yellow, etc...it was a great way to ruin nature. That's one thing I notice overall in Korea: They just can't leave a good thing alone. It seems like they try to "enhance" nature but it always ends up looking overdone and tacky. (another example is when I was at Jeju Island and there was a waterfall that dumped into a river....they dyed the river turquoise blue, so it looked like the Carribbean or something, but it was a river)
Here are some pics of the weekend: my clothed Korean friends, a tractor on the beach, and our seafood dinner.

My 28th Birthday

2006-07-09T21:14:00.000+09:00

My birthday was last weekend. It fell on a Sunday, so I decided to go to the beach for the weekend with some friends. The closest beach to Seoul is on the west coast (on the Yellow Sea). It's about 2 hours by train to get there. In my guidebook, it said it was one of the nicer beaches on the west side of the country (evidently the East Sea/Sea of Japan) is a bit better. But it's further away, so we stayed close. There were 6 of us. It's monsoon season here, so the weather wasn't that great, but we still had fun. The beach wasn't exactly what I would call "nice". There were some really weird things that were lying on the beach, like rusty pipes, for example, that I didn't really understand. Not exactly the Carribbean. Oh well, we got over it and were still able to enjoy ourselves. Not many people were at the beach, so it was nice that it wasn't crowded. My friends really came through with some great gifts and cards, which I wasn't expecting at all. They are kind of like my surrogate family here, so we go out of our way to make the holidays good for each other since we are all away from our friends and family back home. I got some really funny t-shirts from Geoff. Because he is Canadian and I am American, we have a little rivalry going there. He bought me a shirt with a maple leaf (Canada's flag) on it and it says "Pure Fuckin Canadian....Born in Canada...Made in Italy". There are also a lot of shirts you'll find in Korea that have English writing on them (because that's the cool thing to wear), but a lot of times, it doesn't really make sense. I got a nightshirt that says "Happy Virus....Sweet! Happy summer! Have a happy day!" What??? I got a tshirt that says "I agree with the cosmetic surgery". Priceless. As you can see, weird. I also got some more "normal" gifts from my other friends.
We shot off some fireworks on the beach that night and watched a scary movie in our hotel room. We also had a massive pillow fight which I haven't done in quite some time.
It was a good birthday! Thanks to all of you who sent cards in the mail. I know some advance planning went into that. :)

Field Trip

2006-07-09T20:54:00.000+09:00

I got to go on a fieldtrip with my kindergarten students. We went to a place that teaches traditional Korean manners, such as bowing, sitting, and wearing the traditional clothing (called Hanbok). I was asked to wear hanbok for the day. I think most Korean people have this. They wear it on holidays and special occassions. I think to look good in it, you really have to be Asian. :) My kids look soooo cute. I think the dress does a good job of making me look pregnant. I promise, that is NOT the case.

Summertime

2006-06-28T09:01:00.000+09:00

Ok, so I'm getting waaay behind in my posts. Summer is in full swing here, so just like back home, it seems like every minute is filled with activities. Some of the highlights: I went on a Han River boat cruise. The Han River is a giant river that cuts through the city and pretty much divides it in two. It's very beautiful (however dirty it may be) and there are lots of parks and trails lining it. There are also several places to hop on a boat cruise. We went on one at night when Geoff's sister was in town. It was nice. Nothing like the booze cruise in Milwaukee, but it was still nice. :)
This past weekend was another World Cup game for Korea against Switzerland. It was a crucial game, determining if Korea makes it to the second round. Since the games are being played in Germany this year, the times are all inconvenient. This game was at 4 a.m. on Friday night/Saturday morning. Since it was a weekend, about 10 of us decided to get a hotel room downtown in the midst of the action. We all live in the city, but the last game we watched from downtown we had to walk an hour and a half to my friends house afterwards because the public transportation was impossible. Couldn't get a taxi either for the life of us. Guess that's what happens when 640,000 people are watching it from the same location in the streets.
So anyway, we wanted to watch it outside in one of the squares again so we got a really nice hotel only a five minute walk from City Hall Square. Since it was a Friday night, we decided to just stay up all night to catch the 4 a.m. game. We went swimming in the hotel pool (which was the nicest pool/swim area I've ever been allowed to use) and then partied in our room as well as busted out the body paint---we were going alllll out for this game. We got out there around 3:30 am to be greeted again by masses of people in red. However, I don't know if it was the time or the way Korea was playing, but this game just wasn't as fun as the first one I went to. The crowd wasn't into it. It also didn't help that Korea lost. So that was a real letdown. The sun was coming up by the time the match was coming to a close. We even left a few minutes early as it was obvious Korea had lost. I crashed as soon as I got back to the room, but all of the guys we were staying with decided to go for a 6 a.m. dip in the hotel pool. I'm a tiny bit glad that Korea didn't win, just because I don't know if I could have mustered up enough energy to watch more games!
This weekend for my birthday we're going to check out one of the beaches on the West coast. I hope the weather cooperates!
Pics are from Han River and obviously the soccer game. And YES, I DO feel like I need to deface the Korean flag everytime I go out. (insert evil laugh here).

GO RED DEVILS!!!!!!!!

2006-06-15T10:57:00.000+09:00

WOW! World Cup MANIA has hit the city!! In 2002 Korea hosted, so I can't even imagine how that was if it's like this now. The first game was on Tuesday night at 10pm (since it was played in Germany) against Togo. We were allowed to wear full battle gear to school, since many of us were going to watch the game after. Right after work, a bunch of us went downtown to City Hall where 640,000 people (that's right) went to watch the game. That's how many people live in the city of Milwaukee. Woah. There are huge TV screen on buildings all over (like in Times Square or Miller Park) :) Everyone was wearing red and so many glowing devil ears....They closed off several lanes of the street (but kept 2 open) and it was really interesting to watch the crowd behavior. We arrived about 2 hours before the game, and it was already packed (to be expected). People that were in the street were expected to sit down on the dirty pavement. WHAT?? But the people on the sidewalks can stand. We were standing and then all the rows in front of us started sitting by request of the riot police so we had no choice. Luckily, there was a Korean flag already on the ground so I just sat on that, but was quickly berated by a Korean sitting next to me so I replaced the flag with a piece of newspaper. ("but the ground is diiiiiiirty....") After sitting for about 5 minutes, my friends and I realized that we weren't going to want to watch the game sitting down, so we took off to find standing room. No problem. It was great. The Koreans have many chants and they use "thunder sticks" (balloon-like rods that make noise when you hit them together). "Tae-han-min-gook!!" was a really popular one, meaning "The Republic of Korea". In addition to watching the game among 640,000 of my closest friends, Korea WON, 2-1, so it was CRAZY after. Red devils dancing and chanting and singing and shooting off fireworks. Soooo many people stopped us (the foreigner Red Devil Fans) to get pictures with us, and thank us for cheering on their team. We really, really felt like celebrities. It was insane.
A funny side note: I got a Red Devils bandana to wear....and oddly enough, it says "We are twelfth" on it. Huh? I'm thinking, who would broadcast that they are ranked 12th?? But later I found out that there are 11 players on the soccer team, and 12th means that the fans are like the 12th player. Ok. Get your grammar right next time you print a million bandanas.
The rest of the games are at crazy times (like Friday at 4 a.m.) so I doubt the crowds downtown will be quite like they were on Tuesday. I'm glad I got to be a part of the mania (and it was just to watch the game on TV)!
If you look closely in the group shot, you'll see me in the middle! The other white people are Geoff and Gilles.

The World is so small

2006-06-11T20:32:00.000+09:00

My friend Maria just moved to London. It's amazing. We met in University and have been friends ever since. She moved to Chicago after graduation, and I'd visit her once in awhile over the past several years. When I was thinking about coming to Korea, she was dreaming about moving to England. Within the past few months, she found a job there and now she's there, living her dream. Amazing. I just called her and when I got ahold of her she was standing in front of Buckingham Palace! London is a wonderful city. I've been there once, and now I have a reason to go back (not to mention a place to stay)!

Speaking of people who live in exotic locales, my friend Geoff's sister is in Seoul right now visiting. She's a native Canadian who got a job transfer to BERMUDA. She's lived there for a year and last night we were talking about how interesting it is to live in another culture.
I think it's incredible that we have such opportunites, to travel and see the world and live in other places (especially overseas)! I am amazed on a daily basis how much I am learning and discovering. It's like the world is my classroom! Few people in this world have such opportunites, and I'm so grateful that I do and I have taken it. It's scary at first and it takes a lot of courage but now that I've done it I don't know why I hesitated for so long! I still can't believe I live in Seoul, South Korea.
Life is good. :)

Diversity

2006-06-10T08:47:00.000+09:00

One thing that really blows my mind about Seoul is the lack of diversity. I'm sure you've gotten the picture when I say that people stare at me more than the burn victim on the subway, but when I sit back and really think about it, it's not just racial diversity that's lacking. It's also social class diversity. Last night I watched this PBS Frontline documentary (you can watch 'em for free on their website) that followed around 2 lower class teenagers from an eastern Kentucky trailer park. It made me think of just how diverse America is. That really isn't present here. There aren't huge gaps (that I'm aware of) between the classes. I'm sure there are to a small degree (like working class and white collar), but it's not as apparent as it is back home. In a city of 18 million (including metro areas), there really isn't the token "bad" neighborhood (slum or ghetto). I asked my Korean professor from UWM about that before I moved here. I wanted to steer clear of the bad areas, but he said there really isn't any, and I do believe he's right. It's pretty crazy. In a good way. Now, I don't mean to say that there aren't any homeless people here (because there definitely are those people begging for money) but it's a REALLY small percentage of the population. Any other big city I've been too (NYC, Paris, London, San Fran, etc...) the numbers of beggars I'd see was waaaaaay higher. And regardless of how you measure it, this is one of the biggest cities in the world.
Although I don't think social class diversity is a great thing, I really do miss the diversity of America, in OTHER ways, like people who dress differently and express themselves in different ways. Like just thinking about a normal highschool back home (which is sort of a microcosm of American society), you'd get the jocks, the preps, the burnouts, the skaters, hippies, computer nerds, not to mention all of the different races, etc...stereotypical, but true. Here, people don't really stand out or express themselves. Seoul is like the private school that requires the students to wear a uniform. Everyone here pretty much dresses the same and looks the same. It's rare to see someone with piercings, tatoos, bleached hair, or individual style of any kind. It's kind of sad that people don't feel free to express themselves in terms of their appearance, especially in such a MASSIVE city. The society is just so conservative that it's not really socially acceptable to do so, whereas in America, it's almost expected or weird if you don't. I think it will be much different when I go to Tokyo over summer break. It will be fascinating to compare such large Asian cities.
Just an observation. A little deep for a Saturday morning.

Welcome to Penis Land

2006-06-08T09:44:00.000+09:00

Ok, so this little excursion happened on the way to the rafting trip, but I thought it was important enough to deserve its own entry. You make the call.
So, we're driving along through the countryside of Korea and we see a giant cock. That's right. So we pull over (duh). Talk about a Kodak moment. Anyway, if that wasn't bad enough, we go inside this large building to use the bathroom, and it's basically a penis museum. Am I in Amsterdam, or socially conservative South Korea, where people wouldn't even think to kiss in public??
It was quite an inconsistency. But it was hilarious. We were like kids in a candy store (or adults in a penis store). We couldn't stop laughing and pointing and taking pictures. There were things like penis salt and pepper shakers, mugs and glasses with penises inside, (would you like a cocktail??) penis statues, etc...the list goes on. It wasn't like a nasty porn shop either (not that I've ever been...) but it was all very arty and (sort of) tasteful. Anyway, I think the pictures speak for themselves. Beware of the angry penis.

Rafting Trip

2006-06-06T22:16:00.000+09:00

I went rafting this past weekend with 12 people from my school (6 Koreans and 6 foreigners). Despite a string of bad luck, we had a blast! The bad luck:
1) We took 3 cars. On the way to pick us up, one of the drivers got into a small fender-bender. Although it wasn't serious, the person she hit decided to go to the hospital and milk it for everything it was worth. She was on the phone with her insurance company most of the day Saturday.
2) We had a campfire Saturday night. Thomas decided to take some logs that were evidently from a special garden that the townspeople had constructed/planted. We didn't know. This turned into a big ordeal when the owner of the pension we stayed in yelled at our group in Korean for 30 minutes.
3) One of the guys in our group broke his toe on one of the rocks in the river.
4) A normally 3 hour car ride on the way home turned into an 8 hour ordeal on the way home because one of the car's radiators overheated (and cracked) so we had to get it towed. Then we were forced to shove 12 grown people into 2 small hyundai's. After doing that the traffic jam got so bad that it took us 2 HOURS to drive 11 kilometers. That's like 7 miles. I'm not exaggerating.

But REALLY, REALLY, it was still fun. Hard to believe but the people I went with are so fun and positive that we turned all of those situations into a good time (even, well, especially being crammed into the backseat of a car for 5 hours).
Rafting was awesome. The river's water level was pretty low, so it wasn't a tough course, but it was great. I had never gone rafting before. Each of our boats had a guide so that was pretty helpful. We also got to swim in the river on both Saturday and Sunday. The weather was absolutely perfect, sunny and about 80 degrees. It was so beautiful where we were, about 3 hours out of Seoul. It was so green and mountainous. It was wonderful to get out of the city, even though traffic going back in SUCKED. I really have never seen anything like it.
Here are some pictures. Unfortunately, my camera isn't waterproof so I wasn't able to take it on the raft. One of the guys had one so when I get those pics I'll post them.

Everland

2006-06-01T22:12:00.000+09:00

We had a day off on Tuesday, so I went to Everland with some friends. It's a big amusement park comparable to Disneyland. There are several in the Seoul vicinity, but we decided on Everland because it was voted by Forbes as one of the world's best amusement parks. I've been to Six Flags Great America (of course) and Busch Gardens, but I haven't been to Disney. I'm more of a roller coaster person than people dressed up in cartoon costumes/parades/kiddie rides kind of place. Everland was more of the latter. It was still lots of fun, because they did have a few coasters and nice rides (like a giant bobsleigh and some water rides). They also have a zoo inside, which makes it pretty cool. In addition to that, there is a "Safari" ride where you take a ride into a large protected area and can see lions, tigers, bears, zebras, elephants, giraffes and "LIGERS" (lion - tiger hybrids) roaming around. All the animals were pretty lazy because it was a sunny, warm day. It was great!! But I still do love Great America with all the coasters....
Here are some pics. Baby tiger....awwww. Beautiful lazy lion and me and Gilles.

Geoff's Birthday

2006-05-24T10:14:00.000+09:00

It's my friend Geoff's birthday today....He's one of the funniest people I know (myself excluded). You can only imagine how we try to outwit each other.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEOFF!!!

Teacher's Day!

2006-05-23T09:27:00.000+09:00

Teacher's Day was last week, and boy, some of the students really go out of their way. (I guess it's actually the parents I should give credit to). My kindy class was a gold mine. I got $100 from one student (what??!), a $200 watch from another student, Bobbi Brown makeup from another, a bottle of wine and cheese from one, and assorted bath products from several other kids. It's not unusual to get such elaborate things. Many of my colleagues got $100 gift certificates, and one teacher even got an MP3 player!
Lesson learned: I can be bought!
(insert evil laugh here). :)

More of the lovely island

2006-05-18T23:47:00.000+09:00

Jeju-do

2006-05-16T08:51:00.000+09:00

I went to Jeju Island ("do" means island in Korean) last weekend! We had Monday off of school, so 6 of us from school hopped an hour-long flight to the sub-tropical island just south of Korea. This island has the highest peak in South Korea, Mt. Halla, which is a volcano (inactive). The island is the top holiday destination in Korea, and it's called "Korea's Hawaii".
We rented a car, but it was a bit of a problem since Thomas just got his Korean license. They didn't want to rent a car who had a Korean license for under a year (even though he's had his Canadian license for 10 years!) After a lot of hopping around from one car rental place to another, we finally got one and drove to our condo. The place we stayed was a pension (or timeshare) on the top of some hills. It overlooked the ocean and beautiful mountains. We didn't even pay anything to stay there since it was owned by a friend of Angie. It was Korean-style, meaning it only had one bed and mats for the floor (fine by me!).
Even though the weather wasn't exactly hot (in the 70's all weekend), it was still really nice. We went to the beach and the guys went for a swim in the ocean (crazy) while Kristen, Angie and I laid in the sun. The second day we went to a different beach, which had a really low tide, making it the biggest beach I've ever seen. There were lots of little shallow pools of warm water in the sand where we found a ton of hermit crabs. We stayed at that beach for a long time, playing around in the sand and just lying there. Again, the guys swam in the cold ocean, while I was wearing cropped pants and a t-shirt. And sure enough, I was thrown into the water fully clothed. Actually, I didn't put up much of a fight. It was hilarious.
In addition to going to the beach, during the days we saw some waterfalls, toured some caves and botanical gardens. There At night we played badminton and drinking games and sat out side. It was soooo nice. All in all, I had a fantastic weekend.

Too busy living to write

2006-05-11T23:58:00.000+09:00

Ahhh! I have SO much to write about, but I haven't had any time lately!! My friend Heidi was in town for the past week, and she just left Wednesday. We had a BLAST! We did sooo much stuff, and I'm confident to say she fully experienced Seoul. It was Buddah's Birthday on May 5, so there were tons of festivities for that. Parades that made me think "I am totally in Asia". Big fiery dragons and such.
We experienced a public bath (jimjilbang). Everyone is naked and relaxing in pools of all kinds. Totally "Garden of Eden" experience (although there were no apples involved). We got a naked exfoliating scrub-down and oil massage while we were there....what an experience. It was great, and only $25. I am soooo proud of Heidi because even though we lived together for 7 years, this is the first time I've seen her naked. (and btw.... Matt, you are one lucky guy! ) ;) Don't worry, they separate the women and men (.......damn)
Of course we went to noraebang (singing room) and also DVD bang (DVD room) AND gamebang (game room). It was a weekend of BANGS! Heidi, I had a great time!

This weekend I'm flying to Jeju Island, the Hawaii of Korea with some work friends. I've got a 3 day weekend.....yay....I know I'll have a great time there too....
If I didn't have to work, I'd totally have time to keep this blog updated. Why does work always get in the way of my social life????

P.S. Check out www.rachaelyamagata.com. You can listen to her songs. I just love love love.

Going to Japan!

2006-04-29T10:25:00.000+09:00

I am planning a trip to Japan over my summer break. Nice! Keri is coming then, and we were trying to figure out where to go. Originally Thailand was the winner, but it's rainy season there and we don't want to risk it. It's gonna be f'ing hot in Japan too (as it will be in S.K.), but what can you do, that's why they call it "summer break" right?
So I think we're gonna go to Tokyo and Kyoto. There is something called the Fuji Rock Festival going on there when we'll be there...we're looking into going. Over 46 bands from all over the world (including the Chili Peppers and Snow Patrol, yea!) are going to be playing at the base of Mt. Fuji.
http://www.fujirockfestival.com/
If anyone out there has any recommendations for frolicking in Japan, drop a comment.

Bukhan Mountain and a broken ankle

2006-04-28T08:51:00.000+09:00

Hello!
Mom and her friend left on Saturday. All in all we had a great time! The weather was pretty crappy on some of the days, but they seemed to find positive things in all the situations. They ate a lot of Korean food (of course), observed some of my classes, went out to dinner with some of my friends, went to the DMZ, went to a nonverbal performance (Korea's answer to Stomp!). On their last day here, we decided to hike/climb the nearby Mt. Bukhan (around 1700 ft) which is in the city. That day we had perfect weather, in the 60's. I could only go a little way up with them, because I had to leave to go to work, but it was beautiful!! Waterfalls and streams and blooming flowers......ahhhh. To think, I could go there every morning before work if I wanted to!
Unfortunately, on their way down, my mom's friend Sandy spained her ankle. She was able to make it down, but it really swelled up and was black and blue later. She iced it and everything, and luckily it was their last day here so they didn't have to do much walking. She got it x-rayed when she got home and found out she broke a bone in it! Ahhh! Well Sandy, at least you have an interesting story to tell when people ask you how it happened...."I was in South Korea, climbing a mountain..."
Here are some pictures from that day.

Mama's here!

2006-04-18T08:55:00.000+09:00

Well, I know I'm still in the doghouse, so to speak, with some of you from my last post (heehee), so here's a new one to take away the memory. (Pun intended)
My mother's here with her friend Sandy this week! They were supposed to arrive on Friday night, so we could spend the weekend together. I had all of these plans for us to go to the coast and stay over night away from the city (since my mom isn't much of a city person), but of course, their flight had some "mechanical difficulties" (always fun to think about) and they ended up having to stay Friday night in Tokyo. Oh well, at least they got to see a little bit of Japan. So anyway, they didn't arrive here until mid-afternoon on Saturday, foiling my plans.
Sunday we got out of the city, but it was a closer location. We went to Nami island. It's a famous island in the middle of a river about an hour away from Seoul. We took a train there, and were unable to get seating tickets, so we had to stand on the train the whole way. The island was beautiful with a lot of cherry blossoms and other sorts of trees and wildlife. They also had the weirdest squirrels I've ever seen. They have tallish, pointy ears. They look like devil squirrels. Strange!
I've had my mom and Sandy try some very traditional food (of course) and wine. Yesterday we went to the most famous palace in Seoul, Gyeongbukgong (the "Palace of Shining Happiness"). It was beautiful with all the trees in bloom. Mom and Sandy are on the DMZ tour today, so they are really packing their days full. We have plans to eat dinner with some of my coworkers tonight.
Here are some pictures. The one with the metasequoias (really tall, thin trees) is from Nami Island, and the ones of the palace are pretty obvious.

How much is that doggy in the window???

2006-04-14T22:09:00.000+09:00

Ok. So I know I'll probably get a bunch of hate e-mails from you all after you read this, so if you have a weak stomach or are an animal rights activist, you may want to skip this entry.
There is a soup called boshintang that literally translated means "healthy soup". It contains dog meat. Eating dog is NOT something that TONS of people here do. It's mostly done by older men, because it's said to be good for virility. It's not something you can necessarily find all over, but it's not served in dark alleys either.
There are dog farms where dogs are raised specifically for food. They feed them a special diet and they are never anyone's pets or dogs that they find on the street. They are very lean.
Anyway, one of my friend's dad was here this past week, and one of the things he wanted to do to explore the Korean culture was to go to a dog restaurant. So Thomas rounded up several people (mostly foreigners) and we all went to a dog restaurant.
SO, I ate dog.
It looks and tastes like any other type of meat. Sort of like a "gamey" version of beef. I only ate a piece just to try it. Most of my friends liked the taste but it's not something we're going to make a habit of. It's also very expensive. For one serving it's $18 because it's pretty rare.
One thing I found funny is that there was a lot of religious paraphenalia on the walls. Jesus posters and such. Jesus watched me eat dog!
I told some of my older classes that I was going to eat dog and at least 3 students in each class had tried it at some point. A lot of the kids really were against it though.
Anyway, I did it as a cultural experience and I don't plan to do it again......But when in Rome........
P.S. Angie made the above drawing...notice my name is spelled "Shanyun". That's because "nyun" in Korean means "bitch", and it just fit in so nicely with my name...how sweet of her...

Cherry Blossoms

2006-04-14T21:59:00.000+09:00

Welcome to Asia. Once spring hits, thousands of Cherry Blossom trees bloom. It's beautiful, and it smells great too! Who said there can't be nature in a city of 14 million people?
There was a Cherry Blossom Festival downtown this week. There is a little island called Yeouido (supposedly the "Manhattan of Korea"--the business/financial district). There is a 7km stretch of Cherry blossom trees--1400 of them to be exact. So a bunch of us went down there to see the sights. We went at night after work, so they were all lit up, some even in different colors. It was pretty cool to see. Here are some of the photos. They didn't turn out so great cause it was at night....but here are some of my Korean friends--Julie, Hannah, and Jay (of course those are not their real names, but at my school all the Koreans have to take English names).

Gangchon

2006-04-10T23:26:00.000+09:00

I just had such an awesome weekend. The company I work for rocks. One of the teachers suggested we go to Gangchon for the weekend, and it morphed into this trip with 25 of us in the South Korean countryside. We rode one of the ECC school buses there, and stayed in a huge condo with a fire pit out back. We rented ATV's and were able to ride up a mountain! School paid for everything, including all of our food, drinks (and there were lots, lemme tell you), ATV's, condo, etc...each teacher only pitched in $10 for the whole weekend!!
We rode ATV's and bikes, went to a little carnival, played lots of games, drank lots, at sam gup sal (like bacon galbi), had a bonfire, lit fireworks, stayed up really late, and went sightseeing at a lake the next day. I had the best time. I just love the people who I work with. They are so funny! I also learned a lot of new korean words this weekend. Most of them are vulgar. Ahhhh, the culture....
Here are some funny pics.
I'm the one in the back of the ATV line. My great friends Geoff and Angie--don't they look badass, like Beyonce and Jay-z or somethin yo?

Visitors Part Deux....again

2006-04-07T08:48:00.000+09:00

Did anyone else see what happened?? I posted about my aunt and uncle's visit, then I posted about my kindy students, and the first one disappeared! So now I have to try to recreate that first post about my visitors. Dammit! All that work for nothing!

Anyway, as I was saying (before it got so rudely erased), my Aunt Lila and Uncle John visited Seoul last week. They came on the same day that Nicole left. The first day they were here was a weekend so I was able to hang out all day. We went on the city bus tour, and we saw lots of things I had never seen before. Because of the extensive and efficient subway system in Seoul, I'm used to being underground when I travel, so it's pretty cool to actually see the city while I'm going somewhere. We were able to get on and off the bus tour wherever we wanted, so we went to a Korean Folk Village (this one was in the city), Insadong (an area of downtown that has a lot of traditional Korean stores and restaurants), and Gyeongbokgung Palace (built in 1394--the oldest palace of the Joseon Dynasty). I didn't have my camera there but the palace is amazing--I will go back and capture it for y'all. I guess the name means "Palace of Shining Happiness"--isn't that nice??
So anyway, my aunt and uncle really did a lot when they were here. They are world travelers, so they weren't afraid to really explore the place. And yep, they said that it was a typical Asian city--you know, crowded, lots of Asian people (really??!), neon lights, markets....
One thing that they noticed was how friendly the people are. People were coming out of the woodwork to help them, especially if they were looking at a map. Or even if they weren't. Also it's very safe here. You could set your purse down on a table and leave for an hour and it would be there when you got back. So that's always nice for a tourist to not have to be super paranoid about your belongings when you're here.
Lila and John also knew 2 Korean professors here, Joe and Dr. Cho. They usually meet at conferences in other countries, so Joe and Dr. Cho really enjoyed showing them around Korea. I was able to have dinner with them a couple times. It was great--we went for my favorite dish, galbi (pork or beef rib meat cooked over a grill on the table). The Korean professors really made sure Lila and John got the "Korean experience". On their last night here, they found it imperative that John try soju, Korea's national liquor. The "right' way to drink it is to take it as a shot, and then tip the shotglass upside down over your head when you are finished to show that you drank it all. Way to go John! You are soooo Korean! Here are some photos of that moment as well as Lila and John enjoying a traditional Korean dinner--sitting on the floor and using the chopsticks.

My babies

2006-04-06T23:34:00.000+09:00

March is the start of the new semester in Korea. To me, that means a new schedule and new students. My schedule is pretty good. I don't have to be into work until noon, or sometimes 1. I leave around 7 or 8 pm. That means I have NO excuse not to work out in the mornings! (unless of course I go out the night before) ;)
ANYway, I got a new kindergarten class. They are the youngest kids at the school. Brand-new 5 year-olds. If you remember anything about Korean age, that means they are a mere 3 years old in America. Basically fetuses.
SO, of course they don't speak a lick of English. The entire 80 minute class consists of them babbling to me in Korean (expecting me to answer of course). They call me song-sang-nim, which means teacher in Korean. They are soooooooooooooo cute, and I do love them. They don't pose quite the behavior problems that my previous kindy class did; the problems lie in their young age. They have the attention spans of gnats, which I understand--they are only 3. So I really put on a performance in that class to keep them interested. I am waaay over the top when it comes to voices and facial expressions. It's pretty fun (because of their reactions, they really get a kick out of it) but it's tiring. In addition to their short attention spans, they also aren't used to sitting at a desk for doing workbook pages for 4.5 hours a day. So I get the occasional desk-sleeper, which is also understandable.
Here's the thing that I just can't believe or understand--they can't wipe themselves yet. If you ask me, isn't TOILET TRAINING a little higher on the list than SPEAKING ENGLISH??? Hmmm...Now, not to be insensitive or anything, but in my contract, it says NOTHING about wiping the ass of another human being. Last time I checked, "teaching" didn't involve the bathroom. So anyway, to make a long story short, one kid peed his pants in my class, another kid shit his pants, and now I have an aide. It's great. She's Korean, helps the kids in the bathroom, and also helps translate. I'm in heaven.
Here are some pics of a few kids that I may steal when I leave the country. I love love love them. Pictured here: Edward, Denis, Ryan, and Cara. I get happy just seeing their pictures.

Back!

2006-04-03T22:10:00.000+09:00

After a whirlwind of March, I am back writing on the good ol' blog. I had guests for 3 weeks. It was great! An overview....My friend Nicole from grad school came over her spring break for 16 days. It was nice that she was here over 2 weekends so we were able to leave the city. We went to another city, Busan, which is on the east coast of Korea. We took the KTX there, which is a high speed (bullet) train. It travels 300 km/hr (approx. 180 mph), so we were able to cross the country in a little under 3 hours (South Korea is about the size of Indiana). Busan is on the East Sea, so it was beautiful. We walked on the coast and had some Korean style seafood (seafood baked into a pancake). It was really good! The restaurant owner talked to us for at least an hour about Korea, traveling, and life. He spoke really good English. We stayed overnight there and walked around the city the next day. Here are some pictures of Busan....

I got to see a lot of things I hadn't seen yet when Nicole was here. We went to a Korean Folk Village, which was great. There were traditional performances like tightrope walking, a seesaw routine (women on either side propel each other into the air and do flips), Korean traditional dance, etc...it was very interesting. They also had a lot of shops and restaurants.
Nicole was able to see where I teach and meet some of my students, as well as the teachers I work with. We all went out to dinner and drinks when she was here. Nicole was also able to participate in noraebang (a MUST-see in Seoul). We stayed out until 6:30 am on St. Patty's Day (there is an enormous Irish population in Seoul) haha, just kidding.
It was great experiencing the city with a good friend. And to top it off, now Nicole is thinking of coming here to teach this summer for a year. Assa! (remember, that means "awesome" in Korean) Here are some pictures of her visit....

Visitors!

2006-03-19T09:22:00.000+09:00

Sorry I haven't written in forever....my friend Nicole is here! Yay!
She arrived a week ago on March 10, and will be here until March 25. My aunt and uncle arrive on March 24. They will stay for a week.
It's great having a friend here. Last weekend we went to Busan, which is a city on the east coast of Korea. I got to see the ocean (the East Sea). It was beautiful!
Today we are going to the Korean Folk Village. It's supposed to be a great replication of how life in Korea used to be (probably a little like "Old World Wisconsin", if you're familiar).
The weather here has been gradually getting nicer. Yesterday was in the 50's. It feels SO good to have spring on the way!!
I will write more soon.

Namsan Park/Seoul Tower

2006-03-03T09:40:00.000+09:00

Wednesday, March 1 was a national holiday here. I think it's "Freedom Movement" day or something. Anyway, I had off of work, so I decided to do some sightseeing. I went to Namsan Park, which is a huge park at a mountain downtown, where at the peak is Seoul Tower. It sort of looks like the Space Needle in Seattle. You can take an elevator to the top and have an unobstucted view of the city. I thought I was taking the right way to reach the cable car to the top, but evidently I was wrong. I ended up walking up the whole mountain. It wasn't bad, but it took me about 2 hours to get to the tower. It has been getting warmer here (maybe 40-50 degrees), but on this particular day, it had snowed the night before and in the mountains it was even colder and snowier. The weather was fine actually, as I was exerting myself walking up that mountain. It was quite a foggy/smoggy day, so the view wasn't the best, so I need to go back when it's clear. But here are some pictures of the city...and the mountain trail.
One thing I found funny was that at certain points along the way there would be gazebos for people to sit back, relax, and enjoy the view...well, many of the gazebos also featured full-length mirrors. HUH? You're out in nature, climbing a mountain, and bam! there's a mirror! (I took a picture of it)
It's a testament to just how appearance-based this culture is...mirrors are everywhere. And did I tell you I had to submit my picture with my resume/job applications?? Sooooo illegal back home. Gotta love it.

Kindergarten Graduation??

2006-03-03T09:02:00.000+09:00

Hi everyone...
It's been awhile since I've written because things have been busy here. The new semester in Korea for all students is March, so that means I will get new classes and new students. Some of our kindergarten classes have graduated, and our school held the most extensive kindergarten graduation that I have ever witnessed. It was more elaborate than my university graduation, I think. Everything is for show here, so god forbid an occasion goes by without a big hoopla surrounding it. The kindy kids (all of them, not just the ones who graduated) were involved in memorizing lines from songs, acting skits, and memorizing speeches. No kidding, I had to help 2 of my 4-5 year old students memorize a speech that went a little something like this "Hello everyone, and thank you for coming. Our friends have prepared a wonderful performance for all of you today. Please join us in watching them show off their talents to you.Turn off your cell phones, sit back, and enjoy the show...etc..." YEAH. Come on. Then they had to stand in front of a crowd of like 200 people and give their speech.
The costume changes were unreal. Every skit/song had a different outfit, so picture 7 foreign teachers who don't speak Korean and 7 Korean teachers helping 50 kids in and out of their clothes every 10 minutes. It was crazy. The little kids were soooo cute, but they were like programmed robots or something. Plus, they were wearing stage makeup, even the boys. The kids on stage even wore those little headband microphones, that sort of wind around their face. They looked like tiny pop stars. Check out the pictures...they are just so cute, but why do they work 'em so hard???

Spam and a ten dollar pear

2006-02-12T20:49:00.000+09:00

It's been a couple weeks since Lunar New Year, but I wanted to write an entry on it anyway. It's a really big holiday here, probably one of the most important. Everywhere you go shopping, there are massive and expensive gift sets for sale, and some of them I found quite amusing. Our school gave a gift set to each teacher, and the foreign teachers got different ones than the Korean teachers. Thank god. The Dove gift set is what the foreign teachers got, and the spam/olive oil set was what the Korean teachers got. Koreans LOVE their spam. Seriously. It's sooooo funny. Also, they have pears here that are the size of softballs. I got one of those. I took a picture of it next to the wine bottle to show it's size, but it still doesn't do it justice. It was huge. Then I saw them in a gift set at the supermarket. There were 9 pears (of that size) wrapped in a pretty box, and the price was 90,000 won. That is $90. No shit. I didn't even like it, it tasted watery and no normal person could possibly finish it by themself, it would take me days to eat it. I took a couple of bites and threw it away. A $10 pear. Some of the parents gave the teachers gifts...I got a case of seaweed. 12 packages. WHAT? I guess the Koreans use it a lot in their cooking and they make sushi-like rolls at home. Except here there isn't raw fish inside, it's called gimbap. I really like it actually. Instead of raw fish they put radish, spam, carrots, cooked tuna, and some other unidentifiable things inside the roll. It's really good. I eat it several times a week, and it's only $2 for one whole roll.
One more thing--one of the mothers gave all the female teachers a face exerciser. It looks like a cell phone (that's what I thought it was at first) but you charge it and use it on your face. I guess it's supposed to keep you looking young. I haven't used it yet because the instruction manual (and DVD) are in Korean. Crazy high-tech. Here are some pictures of the gift sets, pear and face exerciser...

Ski trip

2006-02-12T20:28:00.000+09:00

Last weekend I went on a ski trip with 10 people (from school and some friends of the Korean teachers). 2 of the Korean teachers (Jay and Julie) are big snowboarders and go quite often, so they invited some of the foreign teachers to go skiing/boarding with them at a resort 2 hours outside of Seoul. Both of them have cars. Korea is a very mountainous country, so there are ski resorts everywhere. Skiing is also very cheap (by Western standards) so our lift ticket and rental for the full day was $50. We also rented a condo to stay the night. It was only 2 rooms (with 2 bathrooms), and there was no furniture in it other than a TV, computer (only in Korea) and an armoire with a lot of blankets and sleeping pads. We were sleeping Korean style, on the warm floor.
I haven't been skiing in a really long time (college), so I was a little shaky at first. I did the bunny hill quite a few times before switching to a more difficult run (which still wasn't bad). It was beautiful in the mountains. We went out for dinner that night for galbi (which you make at your table and share) and then we went back to the condo where we proceeded to play some Korean drinking games. It was awesome. First things first--rock, paper, scissors is really popular here. But they call it gawi, bawi, bow (obviously the korean words for the aforementioned objects). So the drinking game involved beating members of a team in gawi, bawi, bow...it actually is pretty complex, but really FUN! The losing team has to share drinking (chugging rather) the cup of beer in the middle (but instead of a cup we used a soup bowl cause it was bigger). We ran out of beer towards the end of the night but were having such a good time that we used COKE in the bowl, which is actually WORSE to chug than beer because it's so carbonated and thick. YUCK!
But anyway, it was a great trip. Here are some pictures....the ski group, beautiful mountains, playing gawi, bawi, bow, and eating galbi for dinner.

HOW much??!!!

2006-02-07T09:12:00.000+09:00

I'm pissed. I got my heat bill for the month of December and it was $400. WHAT?????? That can't be right. I figure it must be for 2 or 3 months. So I take it into school (our bills are in Korean, so the school takes care of them--they just tell us what we owe) and they said it was right. Well I talked to the other foreign teachers and they don't pay nearly as much in heat, so something must be wrong with mine. I live in a fricking 2 room apartment so it's not like they're heating a palace or something. They sent the heat guy out to check it and he says everything is ok.

Here's the deal---in addition to my thermostat on the wall, which I figured controlled the heat (which I turned to zero everyday before leaving the house)---evidently there is a covered HOLE IN THE WALL that I was supposed to uncover and reach into and turn off these faucet-like things everyday before going to school. WHAT???????????
#1: how the HELL was I supposed to know that?????
#2: heating my 2 ROOM house at a mere 68 degrees constantly for one month is $400????!!!!!!!
#3: what else am I doing wrong??? Am I also supposed to turn my refrigerator off during the day as to save electricity?
#4: Since I didn't get the December bill until the end of January, I did the same exact thing last month, so my January bill will be just as much, if not more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Goddammit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some pictures to let you know that I am really not a moron. My thermostat, and then the hole in the wall that I was supposed to be tampering with.....

Note to self: If I ever live in another country, please check with heating company for correct control-operation. This was an expensive mistake.

Vietnam trip

2006-02-06T22:14:00.000+09:00

Hi all-
Sorry I haven't written in so long. I was in Vietnam for the Lunar New Year. It was awesome. Photos are below. The pretty water ones are of Ha Long Bay, which is just gorgeous. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There are over 3000 of those islets. We took a 2-day ferry trip to see the Bay. It was insanely cheap--only $30 including our transporation (2.5 hour drive) to and from Ha Long Bay, 4 meals (seafood), the boat trip, a cave tour, and our hotel at night. Unbelievable. It was a great excursion--many people from all over the world who were traveling Vietnam were on the boat. Norwegians, Germans, Koreans (and I thought I'd escape them), Vietnamese, South Africans....you name it. The crazy thing was that the common language was English. We are SO lucky to be from an English speaking country. I felt very privileged to be speaking my first language while everyone else there (including the Vietnamese tour guides) had to speak their second language, English. Unreal. It made me really see how wide open the world is to English speakers. We are very lucky and should take advantage of it.

The capital city of Hanoi was very interesting. Not only was it very poor, crowded, and dirty, but it was very also touristy, which I didn't expect. So many people trying to sell us things, even little children. Things were also incredibly cheap. DVD's for $1, one hour full body massage for $6 (I took advantage of that), a full seafood meal for $3, beautiful silk scarves and dresses for $3-$10, an HOUR long ride in a bicycle rickshaw for $2.50....it was incredible. It's funny because a lot of those prices are upcharges...you are expected to bargain. I felt "Westerner guilt" quite a bit of the trip because I know people look at us "white folk" differently because of the position of wealth we are in. Able to travel the world, have luxuries surround us...I didn't like the way that made me feel in a country such as this one. These people are just as "good" as we are, but because of where they were born, they are not afforded the same luxuries we are. Ample health care, nice houses, extravagant food and drink, cars, etc...it's really quite depressing.
Another interesting thing--as you can see in one of my pictures, motorbikes are everywhere. It's like Milwaukee during Harley fest (but no one had Harleys). People squeeze families of 4 on them!! So there are motorbikes zipping around everywhere, and there are virtually no traffic laws. Riding around in a cab is scary. People honk every 2 seconds (literally, I counted). Cars and the bikes weave in and out of traffic, and turn into oncoming traffic. Another scary experience was crossing the street. Since there are few crosswalks and rarely any breaks in traffic, the way to do it (we observed the locals to figure out how the heck to get across) is to walk INTO oncoming traffic. Yup. Even our guidebook on Vietnam said so. It's wild. And you can't run- you'll get hit. Just walk slowly across the street and the vehicles will swerve around you. It worked!
The food there was great. Of course a lot of spring rolls, noodles, and rice, but also a lot of seafood. Yum. And like I said before, it was CHEAP! Most of my meals, complete with a Vietnamese beer (Tiger or Ha noi beer) were under $3. We saw a couple of very strange things, like the skinned chicken (photo below). We actually saw 2 of those, I think they were special treats for the Lunar New Year (the holiday is called Tet in Vietnam). We also saw many bottles of liquid with snakes inside...it is snake wine...for strength. The last restaurant we ate at in the city (a very nice floating restaurant on a Lake in Hanoi) had a very extensive menu. Underneath their "Wild Animal" portion on the menu were "Cat", "Snake" ,"Porcupine" and what looks like mis-spelled "penguin" for market price. Yikes! Don't worry, I didn't try it. I am still trying to decide whether or not I want to eat dog in Korea...
All in all, it was a great trip--nice weather (in the 70's), beautiful scenery, and lots of learning about a new place. I can't wait for my next trip! Let me know if you want to see all the pictures, I can email you the shutterfly link.

Vietnam photos

2006-02-06T22:03:00.000+09:00

A monumentous occasion

2006-01-24T22:09:00.000+09:00

SO, it finally happened. After almost 3 months of teaching kindergarten in Seoul, one of my students peed her pants in my class.
Backstory on bathroom breaks-- In my class of 5 year olds (so really, they are like 3 and 4 years old), certain kids ask to go to the bathroom every time I set foot in the classroom. I'm sure you know, we've all tried it, to get out of a boring lecture or as an escape (why they'd want to miss even a minute of my stimulating class, I'll never understand).
When they do actually go to the bathroom (as a group), it's like a ten-fifteen minute ordeal. First, they have to line up. This alone is a challenge. Trying to direct 11 ADD Korean 4 year olds to get into a straight line without hitting each other or eating crayons is a real task. So then, we walk to the bathroom where the boys split off from the girls and end up locking themselves into the stalls in pairs and all you can hear is giggling and little voices speaking in Korean. After much prodding from the mean American teacher (aka, Shemen teacher), they exit the stalls and get up on little stools in front of the sinks where instead of actually washing their hands, they think it's a great idea to splash around and get soaked. So needless to say I usually don't take them to the bathroom when I am teaching (the Korean teachers have more control over the students).

So, as I mentioned before, I'll get the random student asking me once in awhile to go to the bathroom by themself during class. It's always a risk to let the 3-4 year old child go to the bathroom alone. They may never return. So when this little girl asked me to go, I said no (thinking that she really didn't have to go). If the child asks me more than once, usually I'll let them go. Because they have attention spans the size of gnats, I figure if they remember that they have to go to the bathroom 5 minutes later, they must really have to go.

Anyway, the pee-er's name is Pink. She's a little slow. She's very sweet and everything, but a coworker and I think she's on drugs. She is off in her own little world more times than I can count and is the type to stare off into space and you can just tell she's thinking "look at all the pretty colors........."
So she asked me once to go (which I denied), and then the next thing I know she has her hand raised and I go over to her (forgetting all about the fact that she asked to go to the bathroom) and there was PEE all over the floor and chair. We were making construction paper crowns that day so there was some pieces of construction paper laying in it too. Nice touch. So I immediately remove her from the classroom and tell my supervisor what has happened. Everything got cleaned up rather quickly and Pink was given new pants...but I couldn't stop laughing.
When you've gotta go....

More Barbie pics

2006-01-15T21:36:00.000+09:00

I'm a Barbie girl, in a Barbie wo-orld

2006-01-15T21:30:00.000+09:00

I went to the Seoul Barbie exhibit with my good friend (and supervisor) Angie. She is my best friend here, and she is truly awesome. She speaks English really well, and is soooo funny and helpful and just great.
Anyway, there were over 2,000 Barbie dolls displayed. There were so many different themes, and outfits, it was amazing. Many famous designers designed outfits for Barbie (Christian Dior, Bob Mackie, Burberry, Vera Wang, Gucci, etc...) some of the dresses on the dolls were valued at over $200,000! It was amazing. There were also Barbie dolls in traditional Korean hanbok costume, Harley Davidson barbies (I was so excited about that one) and every imaginable display you can think of: Barbie at the gym, pregnant Barbie (although her body was still skinny, just big belly), wedding Barbies, Lord of the Ring Barbies, 1950's thru the year 2000 Barbies, Hollywood barbies (Audrey Hepburn, Cher, Elizabeth Taylor, etc...)and even trans-gender Barbie--(or at least that's what he/she looked like) It was truly amazing. They even had Barbies that look like real models (Giselle, Kate Moss)...I took soooo many pictures, so I will let them do the talking. Can you guess which one is transgender Barbie?? Hopefully it's not too difficult to figure out.

Ah-sah!!! ("Awesome" in Korean)

2006-01-15T19:30:00.000+09:00

Friday night, I made an appointment at a spa for a facial. I have been looking into massages or other relaxing things here, but evidently the Korean massage is not so relaxing. They pound you and pull you around, and that's not my idea of a relaxing time, so I decided to try a facial. It was recommended by my trainer at the gym. I went there Friday night after work. It was a very nice spa--soft lighting, waterfall statues in the corners, nice smelling...so I go in and the lady instructed me to strip down and put on a robe. Then I went into the room where I was to get my facial, and laid down on the table. It was heated, and it felt sooooo good. The hour-long process was wonderful, so many creams and masks were put on my face, and they all smelled so nice. They massaged my face and head a little bit too. And they played relaxing music--or at least tried to--there is a bar next door called "Sexy Bikini Bar" so while I was laying there I could here their rap music being played! It was ok, since I liked the songs that I heard. It was just funny as I was laying there being pamered, to hear Ludacris.
To top it off, the hour-long experience was only $10!!!!!!!! Back home it's at least $60/hour. So I will be sure to get many many facials while I'm here. It was fabulous!

The doctor

2006-01-10T19:30:00.000+09:00

Well, I made my first trip to the doctor yesterday. I've been getting sick almost every week since I've arrived (maybe it's because kids wipe their snot on me...hmmmm), and this time it felt like a sinus infection. I decided to kick this thing once and for all and get some antibiotics. I went to a doctor across the street from my work building. You just go in, give them your insurance card and alien card. The receptionist didn't speak English, so that was fun. I got right in to see the doctor--there was no wait, and I hadn't made an appointment. He didn't speak English either, so I just sort of acted out what was wrong with me. I pushed on my face around my nose and under my eyes, and made a "blowing nose" motion. He looked in my throat, then shot some spray up my nose and looked in it. Then he said "nasal infection". Ok. fine. The doctor called the nurse in, and she ushered me into the next room, where she proceeded to pull out a needle. She motioned for me to PULL MY PANTS DOWN and bend over the table. Sweet. A shot in the ass. Haven't had one of those since I was 5. I had no idea what they gave me. Then I went back to the front desk. I had to pay 3,000 won ($3). Then, after noticing that I can't understand a word of Korean, the nurse took me by the hand and dragged me down the street with a piece of paper. She brought me to a pharmacy where luckily, the pharmacist spoke English. He gave me a 2 day supply of pills, which they neatly package into each dose (see photo). Evidently they usually only give you 2 or 3 days of drugs, and then they ask you to come back to see the doctor in 2 days (unlike the U.S. where they give you a whole bottle of pills). So I am supposed to go back tommorow. That's fine with me since the whole process took under 15 minutes.
The pills and the shot didn't really seem to help the first day. I went home after work and slept from 8pm until 7am the next day. Today at work my face hurt. There was a lot of pressure. Tonight I feel a little better.
The whole experience is funny, it just shows how much trust we put in doctors. I have no idea what I am taking (for drugs), but just because I acted out that I have a sinus infection I assumed that he understood. And I guess the shot in the butt is standard practice. Unfortunately, I didn't get a Snoopy band-aid.

Vietnam

2006-01-08T13:57:00.000+09:00

I just planned a trip to Vietnam over my Lunar New Year break. I have a 4 day weekend, so I wanted to take advantage of that time. It's at the end of January (28-31). Everyone in Asia seems to travel over that holiday, so prices are higher, but I think we found a pretty good deal. I am going with a girl Kelly from school, and her friend Jen (from another YBM school). It should be great. We are trying to take a boat trip along Ha Long Bay, which is famous for its beautiful scenery (see picture). There thousands of limestone mountains in the water. Hopefully I'll get to take pictures like that....it's sooooo beautiful.
The more I talk to people who have traveled in the Asia area, the more I hear that Vietnam is one of the favorite destinations. Everyone I talk to say how beautiful it is, and how friendly the people are!
Things seem to be insanely cheap there, from what I've seen in my research. A 2-day boat tour including meals and one night lodging is $18 US!!! Almost too good to be true!!!

If any of you have been to Vietnam or know people who have, any pointers would be appreciated!

Conflicting messages

2006-01-08T13:35:00.000+09:00

Here are some funny things I came across recently....

First, the sticker. I found that sticker in a store and couldn't resist buying it. Wow, what great encouragement!! Such positive attitudes! Can you believe it?

Second, the sign. That was on a street corner. Hmmmm, I guess the toliet and KFC are both necessities. Or maybe they are correlated somehow. Go to Kentucky Fried Chicken, and you'll need the toilet...

Fireworks are not illegal

2006-01-02T21:37:00.000+09:00

Wow. My New Year's Eve was awesome. I didn't know what to expect, because Koreans don't celebrate the December 31/January 1 New Year as much as they do for Chinese New Year (which falls at the end of January this year). Of course, we planned to go out anyway. To put the icing on the cake, I had a 3-day weekend. Perfect.

The regular group of foreign teachers, their Korean girlfriends, and my supervisor went to the city center to celebrate. On our walk there from the subway, there were people everywhere selling these long stick-like fireworks. We bought some, of course. They shoot up about 30-40 feet in the air and there is a small sparkle. They closed off the main street around 11 pm, and people started going crazy shooting their fireworks in the air for the next 2 hours. Nonstop. The air was thick with smoke and bright shooting fireworks. There was also a traditional Korean band dancing and playing their instruments in the street close to where we stood. At midnight, the city shot off big fireworks off the top of one of the taller buildings. We couldn't see them too well, but the street we were on was so amazing and filled with fireworks going off that it didn't matter. I took some pictures but it doesn't do it justice. I also took video with my camera. I wish I could share that with you...
Oh, by the way, it's also legal to drink in the streets of Seoul. Anytime. Even when shooting off fireworks. Weird.
It was an amazing site. Thousands and thousands of people were in the street, and there were big TV screens up on the buildings (like Times Square in NYC) so we could see the crowd. These are pictures of the crowd shooting off fireworks, and the backside of one of the Korean bandmembers.
I hope you all had a fabulous New Year's celebration and may 2006 bring many enriching experiences!

Happy Birthday to all Koreans!!

2006-01-02T21:29:00.000+09:00

Weird. So I just found out that in addition to the weird aging system that Koreans are 1 year old the day they are born (not after a full year of life), all Koreans turn a year older on January 1 of each year, NOT on their birthdays. All the kids in my kindy class today were saying "teacher, I am 6 years old now" and I'm thinking "god, all their birthdays couldn't have been over the weekend". So I asked and yep, the Korean system of aging keeps getting weirder and weirder.
So here's a thought...a kid who is born on December 30 is 2 YEARS OLD 2 DAYS AFTER S/HE IS BORN. True that. Double true.
So, even though I am 27, I am 29 Korean. Too confusing for me...

You heard it here first folks. Who knew?

Turkey and chopsticks

2005-12-30T10:55:00.000+09:00

Sunday for Christmas, the foreign teachers and I (my surrogate family) decided to order a big homestyle turkey dinner from one of the Western hotels here. Two of the guys picked it up and we met at Geoff, Thomas, and Gilles' house (3 of the foreign teachers from Canada). Since the 3 of them share an apartment, their place is bigger and more equipped to hold the festivities. 15 people were there, all of the foreign teachers from my school, as well as some of the foreign teachers who used to work there and their significant others (several of the guys have Korean girlfriends). It was great---the dinner and the company. Our dinner consisted of turkey, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, corn, mashed potatoes, brussel sprouts, and fruit salad. I made chocolate covered pretzels to bring, and Christmas cake is a really big thing here so we had one of those. I drank this raspberry Korean wine, which another Korean at the party told me it's supposedly good for a man's stamina. Who knew?? Carving the turkey was interesting...none of the people there had actually done it before, and all they had at the house were steak knives, so a couple of people were just hacking away at it. There wasn't enough silverware to go around, so several of us had to eat with chopsticks...
We played games, drank, and ate. And of course, the night ended with a trip to the noraebang...it was a really fun Christmas. Not religious in the least, but fun!!

Titanic

2005-12-30T10:27:00.000+09:00

To recap, my Christmas weekend was great. Friday night was our work Christmas party, where all the teachers, Korean and English went to a nice restaurant for drinks and dinner on the company. We got the whole restaurant to ourselves (there were only like 5 long tables) and everyone sat on the floor at long tables. There were burners built into the tables (as many restaurants have), and a pot of oil was boiling at each burner. Then there was the massive spread of food, side dishes as well as beef, mushrooms, carrots, onions, broccoli, cabbage, and more to put into the boiling oil. (see picture of Korean teacher stirring our dinner). When the whole pot came to a boil, you could reach in with you chopsticks and pull out the food. It was great!! And not spicy at all.
As far as alcohol goes, most restaurants only serve beer and soju (vodka-like drink). Not many choices. Koreans love their soju, and you'd be hard pressed to find other types of liquor here. It tastes like really cheap vodka though, so I don't think it's great. So anyway, the foreign teachers were pretty much at one table, at the far end of the restaurant, and the other end of the restaurant was getting loud and crazy. We didn't know what was happening, so a few of us got up to take a look, and we realized that the Korean teachers were doing shots! One of the two Korean men that work at our school is a bartender on the weekends, so he was pouring beer into mugs, and then dropping a shot glass with soju into the middle of the beer mug. They call it "titanic" here because the soju shot glass sinks into the mug of beer and it mixes. Kind of like Jager bombs back home. Anyway, one teacher would go (slam the concoction) and they would choose the next person to go (and yes, I got called to go). By the end of dinner, everyone had done one. What was cool about it was that most of the teachers at our school are these conservative little Korean women, who weigh about 90lbs. And they ALL DID IT!! Everyone would chant the name of the person drinking. Even the manager of our school (she's sort of like a principal) was chanting. It was great!!! I guess this is very normal when Koreans go out for a night on the town with their work crew. Wow.
So, the foreign teachers and I thought it was just awesome. We were expecting a really conservative, wholesome, and boring night, and it was far from that.
After dinner we went out to noraebang (karaoke) to sing, which is also typical for Koreans. It was funny though, many of the Korean women were singing these slow Korean love ballads, and Geoff (Canadian) teacher and I did a rendition of "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns 'n Roses. We probably scared them. It was a blast.

Merry Christmas!!

2005-12-28T23:37:00.000+09:00

Hi Everyone!
I hope you had a great holiday...I sure did. I haven't had time to type all about it this week, but I will post a nice long one this weekend complete with pictures. I have Friday off for the New Year weekend.

And by the way...Koreans sure can drink!! (And that said by a girl from Milwaukee!!)

Holiday spirit

2005-12-21T08:45:00.000+09:00

Nice! Christmas is this weekend!! I sure wish it would have fallen during the week, so we all didn't get screwed according to vacation time. So here, I don't even get the Friday or the Monday off. Given, Christmas isn't as big of a deal here as it is back home. Imagine, not seeing Christmas decorations right after Halloween??!! Shocker. Here they start all the retail showiness of Christmas about 2 weeks before, which is about right, if you ask me. Only about 30% of the population is Christian here, so that's why Christmas is more low-key.

As for my holiday plans....Friday at school it will pretty much be all-Christmas-all-the-time. Sweet! The students have something called a "cookie party" where they will all bring in their store-bought, generic tasting cookies. Baking isn't a big thing here, because lots of people don't have ovens. I have to come up with other creative ways to bake cookies. Since the floor is heated here, I figure throwing some raw dough on it and letting it sit for a few days should do it.

Since the foreign teachers (that's me) don't really have any 'family obligations' on Christmas, we are all going to hang out together. We are paying a hotel $200 to make us a turkey dinner with all the fixin's. Yippee!! Then of course there will be eating, drinking and merrymaking. It's great that we all get along.

We're doing Secret Santa at school this week...I pulled the name of a Korean teacher who is great with child (aka "knocked up"). I don't really know her that well so I didn't know what to get her. I went to a place similar to The Body Shop back home (although they have those here too), and was looking at buying one of those fragrance pots that you drop oil into that makes the room smell nice.
***A note about shopping here*** "Aggressive sales people is an understatement. In a store the size of a bedroom, there are literally 6-8 sales people. As soon as you walk in the door they pounce. The entire time you are shopping, they are at your heels the whole time, watching your every move. It's like that shadow game we all used to play when we were young. Good God, I hate that.

Anyway, I think I have it a little better; because I'm foreign, the sales people are a little more timid with me because they know they'll have to whip out the ol' English skills. So there is a lot of embarrassed giggling and stammering as they try to throw their sales pitch my way. No habla. Anyway, they usually sick the best English speaker on me, and this particular time he was pretty good. He asked who I was buying a gift for, and I let him know she was pregnant. I guess it was a good thing I motioned it, because he snatched the fragrance light away from me and said that it's very bad for pregnant women. Ok. So I didn't know that. They are very paranoid about that stuff here. Oddly enough, their vitamin C drink (sold in little glass bottles at convenience stores) has nicotine in it, so don't talk to me about health. But fine, so I almost injured an unborn child. Who knew?
So needless to say I put the fragrance light back and got her some lotion. Happy Holidays.

Just do it.

2005-12-18T13:40:00.000+09:00

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

Word.

Perception

2005-12-16T23:02:00.000+09:00

I knew that there would be things here that would be a bit different from back home. I didn't know exactly what they would be, or how they would affect me, but I am picking up on a few things.
One that I have noticed is that women aren't treated as well as men are here. I haven't had too many run-ins with this, but I really noticed it one night when I went out to dinner. There were 4 of us, two men and 2 women. The servers very pointedly served the men first--I mean they brought out their full dinners while Kristen and I waited quite a while before we got ours. I'm not trying to be snotty about it, like I think women should be served first, but it was something I took for granted back home and I just noticed it here.

Another different (and alarming!) thing I've noticed here is how important appearance is. And I thought America was bad. There are mirrors everywhere here, and it's pretty normal to see people checking themselves out whenever they can. I routinely see the school's manager and the secretary fixing each other's hair and putting on makeup in their little hand-held mirrors right at their desks in plain view. There are many very stylish people here, and you'll see women wearing mini-skirts with very thin nylons in 10 degree weather walking to the subway or hanging out in the streets (and they're not prostitutes). I'm all for style, but frostbite isn't all that stylish...
Also, I guess by Korean standards, I am considered fat. Many of the female Koreans I've met have been very weight-conscious. Very similar to the American obsession, but these girls are tiny. They literally are the size of kids. My supervisor thinks she's fat, and she is barely bigger than a twig, so I look like the Amazon woman next to her. I asked her about pant sizing here, and she said that my size would be considered Large and it will be difficult to find. It's weird because back home I am definitely average... what I don't understand is that I see people my size quite a bit here--and even bigger (if you can believe that)--yet they must not be able to readily find clothes?? I haven't seen any obese people here. Just "plump". And even then, not so many.
Being considered "fat" isn't all bad... I have boobs and they don't. Probably won't be able to find my bra size either. ha.
I also have very large feet here (again, back home they are normal sized--8.5). But here it is rare to find a shoe over size 8. There is a shoe store by the subway that I checked out tonight...their shoes were sized "S, M, L & G". Evidently I'm "G" or "Giant" sized. What the hell?

So anyway, my point is that I used to measure up as "average" (in terms of weight) against my peers. I have gotten used to that, and now that I'm here I am being measured against a whole new set of standards. I am now considered 'fat' and have big feet.
It's just crazy to think that I can feel differently about myself just being placed in a different environment. It has the potential to turn my self-image upside down and inside out...not that I'll let it...but it's interesting to think that the way I feel is relative and can be shaped and molded according to my surroundings...
I always knew that, but it's so apparent here...we get so stuck in our own lives and the same people around us that I think we forget...
So my new plan is to surround myself with very fat and unattractive people so I can feel great about myself!! :)