South Korea

When I lived in America, I had never heard of the World Cup. Strange, seeing as how I lived in Spain for 5 months or so. Americans don't really seem to love their soccer. Ok, that's a generalization. Americans living in South Bend, Indiana don't really seem to love their soccer. Everyone has a high school team. But those are nowhere near as popular as the American football teams (heretofore known as "fake football").

People watch the SuperBowl like it's their job. With Notre Dame being a big source of the economic structure in South Bend, college football is also huge.

But soccer? Nope. There isn't even a blip on the radar.

I'll be honest. When excitement about the World Cup 2006 started rumbling around Korea, I was left in the dark. Apparently, the 2002 World Cup was held in Seoul and Korea went on to be the champions. [Editors note: another testament to how ignorant I am about World Cup soccer, Korea didn't even WIN the championship in 2002. They got to what...the quarterfinals? Semifinals? Thanks, Paul.] I own a "Be The Reds" shirt, but only because it struck me as funny that a democratic country would be promoting Communism, especially with the whole North Korea/Kim Jong Il thing looming as a problem. Apparently though, Korea promotes its soccer team as the Red Devils, so I was mistaken when I chuckled and shelled out the $10.

I didn't even know America HAD a national soccer team. Let alone that they were ranked 5th.

Yes, my friends. Seoul has a major case of World Cup fever. Nearly all restaurants have banners advertising a chance to view the games in their establishment (based on my powers of deduction). Kids come into school every day with some form of Korean paraphernalia (face paint, flags drawn on their hands, hats, shirts, shorts, notebooks, etc., etc., etc.). Buildings have huge advertisements including pictures of players and of course ever-present is "Dae Han Min Guk!" which is the formal name for the Republic of Korea.

Tuesday night Korea played Togo and our school had a party to watch. My friends and I ducked out about 5 minutes into the game to go celebrate in a different way. There is a big park between Sunae (where I live) and Seohyeon. They had a huge screen set up and thousands of people showed up to watch. Never have I cared about soccer more. You can't help it...the excitement seems to spread by osmosis. Here are some pictures, taken by Scott.

We are so excited.

Fireworks/sparklers EVERYWHERE. This nice young gentleman gave me a sparkler to play with.

This is after Korea won 2-1.

Yay. We won.

Afterwards we went into Seohyeon. I cannot tell you how many pictures my friends and I are in because we are foreigners clearly supporting Korea, with our devils' horns and red t-shirts. We were famous, if only for 15 minutes and only in Seohyeon.

Hundreds of thousands more gathered in front of City Hall in Seoul. We were going to go for Monday's game but unfortunately because of the stupid time difference between Germany and Korea, the game doesn't start until 4am. Some of us have to work the next day. Stupid Germany.

[Note: this is more for personal reasons than anything. Also, it's mostly just pictures of students and me whining about how I miss my kids. So...there you have it.]

This week, we have started a new session at Avalon. Generally near the end of a session, you have HAD IT with the kids, the rambunctiousness, the utter hatred for learning. You just want to get the session over with and start new where you promise yourself, next time...next time will be different. Next time I am laying down the law and no matter what I'm keeping it that way.

But sometimes. SOMETIMES you have kids that grow on you...much like a fungus, or mold. No, no. Don't take that the wrong way.

I am by nature a sentimental shmuck and grow attached to everyone I come into contact with that I remotely like and spend any significant amount of time with. (Yes, I just ended that sentence with a preposition, but I don't care. I'm writing about kids and prepositions won't stop me.) This is the reason why I was so incredibly homesick my first month here. Why I bawled my eyes out over friends that I have known in any sort of personal context for merely a month. Etc., etc., etc.

When I came to Korea to teach, having a general distaste for children seemed to be my defense against this. But then I started actually enjoying the kids' company. They were funny. I could be a total goofball and act as stupid as I wanted and the kids found it hilarious and even joined in. Classes became fun, and I even started looking forward to certain ones. My second session here was bliss. I loved every single class I taught. They all had their unique qualities that made them fun in their own way. I began to care about the kids and enjoyed learning their little quirks.

So by third session, I was pretty immersed. Head over heels for these kids. Granted, they could be little snots sometimes, but that's true for every single person on the face of this planet and I refuse to believe otherwise. I loved my third session kids (many of them repeats). I'm sure the fourth (and possibly my last session at Avalon) will be fine, but I miss my kids. I even had one student, Michelle, that I taught since I first arrived in Korea. When I see an old student in the hallway they still come and bug me and one girl's face even fell when she found out I wasn't her teacher anymore. I had one girl give me a huge hug while I was sitting on my chair and again when she passed me in the hall.

So now...I am nostalgiac for these kids and I miss them. So here are some of them:

This is mostly Michelle. My EA class.

A testament to how crazy this class was. Eliot, Gabriel, and Jinny.

Eliot, me, Brenda Jang, Gabriel, Jinny, Selin, Joanah, Brenda Ahn (TWO BRENDAS!)

Sophia. Every once in awhile she'd let out some energy and surprise me but mostly she just chilled.

Jasmin and Ann. They were the only ones who actually paid attention to me in class.

Madeline and Penny from a different class, RA3101. I loved this class because although they were young, they were fun. They were just silly and I could be silly with them.

Justin is in contention for the cutest Korean child EVER. He was tiny and so silly/crazy in class. He would always walk up to my podium and put his head down. Or bang his hand on it. Or do anything else to elicit attention.

Again with Ron. Such a goofy little kid, but really smart. In this picture I told him he looked like a little grandfather and this is his "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" reaction. With the two teeth missing. And the chocopie in his hand.

My favorite EA class. They were so good and so smart and they improved so much and they were so sweet and so funny and geesh I just love them. The final day, which happened to be my birthday, I bought them a pizza party and they all wrote me little birthday notes about how much they loved me and would miss me. I think maybe the pizza was a factor.
L-R back: Louis, Bill, Simon, Sandy, Sally, Diana, Shane, Eunice.
L-R front..ish: Ashely (who told me how happy she was to be in my class), Rachel, Jennifer, Kevin (who is about as crazy as they come), me.

My 3-day RA class that were HILARIOUS and smart and fun. Geesh I just love them too. L-R: Tony, Sung Hwan, Tae Joon, Kevin, Seung Hyun, Sharon, Jin Ho, Jane, me, Sue. Yerin was giving me bunny ears and John, the one of the exacto knife fame, is kneeling.

So far I'm pouty and I don't like my new kids as much as my old ones. Sigh.

Clearly, living in Korea, one is subjected to major cultural differences between the West and the East. Many you grow accustomed to, many are just baffling.

For example, taking off your shoes when you enter an apartment, or a sit-on-the-floor kalbi restaurant. At first it seems strange, but after a short period, you get used to it. Like I was reading "A Death in the Family," and one of the characters was going to put on his shoes in his BEDROOM. Immediately the Korean part of my brain (I am not the slightest bit Korean, ethnically speaking, but I have reserved a part of my brain for Korean customs so that my head doesn't explode) thought, "Are you CRAZY?!"

Another one is giving or accepting things to/from Korean people. Generally, it's polite to use both hands, but it is acceptable to place your unused hand on the giving/receiving arm. And do a little bow. Now you're Korean! When I came home to America in February, I subconsciously did this all the time, the first time being at Wendy's with the Hispanic boy behind the counter. It was brought to my attention that I was doing it only by one of the Delta flight attendants who had lived in Korea for a time.

It is easy to adapt to these small differences that make Korea so charming. Other things include bowing, cute stationary and my newfound obsession with it, street food, terrible TERRIBLE Korean fashion, including but not limited to the men who wear nothing but suits, some of which are sharkskin in appearance (that's nice, but a nice suit is a wonderful thing on a man. It loses its notability when every single Korean man is wearing one), and sometimes stares (cute from children, rude from older people).

A Korean teacher at my school, Matt, and what I like to call, his "party shirt."

Some things are annoying. The lack of trashcans, for example, which Paul commented on in his blog. There are no trashcans ANYWHERE, except sometimes you'll find the scattered blue trashbags here and there. There are NONE, however, in the subway. If you finish a drink in there, prepare to hold on to your bottle until you have reached your destination, have walked out of the subway station, and have walked at least 5 blocks before you can throw it away.

Also, the public restrooms range from the pristine to the raunchy, which is true in any culture. But good luck finding a) toilet paper and b) soap. None of the kids at my school wipe or wash their hands. And yet they refuse to enter an apartment without first removing their shoes.

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All of this was a prelude to a story I have from yesterday that freaked me out. In America, if a student walked into a school with an exacto knife, the knife would be confiscated and the student would be all but expelled. Possibly incarcerated in juvenile detention. Here? No problem. In fact you can buy them at any stationary store, and they often have cute little cartoon characters. The students use them to sharpen their pencils or cut paper, or make cute little jokes about stabbing each other, themselves, or on occasion, you.

The Korean teachers, when confronted about the ridiculous and dangerous nature of this possession, wave us away with "You wouldn't understand. This is KOREA. You are AMERICAN. KOREAN culture is DIFFERENT than AMERICAN culture. (mumbled in Korean) Stupid foreigner."

Yeah, no, I got that. One of the reasons I came to Korea was to experience that said difference. However, I don't care what culture you come from, giving a 10-year-old an exacto knife is not a good idea. And here's why:
Yesterday, one of my students, John, was apparently sharpening his pencil. I did not notice this as it is fairly standard practice by now. The student behind him, Sung Hwan, was generally horsing around as was normal and accidentally bumped his desk into John's chair. Hard enough to really jostle John. Hard enough to make John slip and cut his hand. With the exacto knife, which was such a good idea in the first place. He starts howling and holding his hand so I couldn't see it. One of the students claimed "Oh! Blood!" so of course I hustled him to the front desk where the first aid kit was and also where they spoke Korean. Come to find out, it's actually a pretty nasty gash in poor little John's hand.

So I'm sorry, Korean teachers. This whole children with exacto knives thing isn't really a good idea, huh? You claim I can't understand because they don't really have school violence here so my fears are ungrounded. Nevertheless, I am not worried about kids hurting kids. I am worried about kids hurting themselves. Kids, by nature, are given to exploring. That's what they do, that's how they learn. It is our job as adults to make sure that they don't explore dangerous things, such as poisons, fire, and yes, exacto knives.

Other precious 10-year-olds I try to protect from the exacto knife, Jenny Kim and Becky.

That's all I have to say about that.

Who'd have thought that Korea could be such a beautiful country? After seeing the ho-hum browns and the hum-drum grays of winter, not me. But I suppose it's like that everywhere. You get stuck in an ugly season for what seems like so long that you can hardly remember that this place, or any place, can actually be beautiful.

I think I was a little too scared out of my mind/homesick when I first got here to appreciate anything more than the sweltering heat (flashback: August). But spring has been good to me (aside from the aforementioned laryngitis, which can I just say, thank you for $4 antibiotics!) and to the landscape of Korea. It's really coming into its own. Rock on, Korea!

So this will be a purely photo-inspired blog.

This is a sidewalk I walk down on my way to work.

Fruit sellers enjoy the shade.

Same sidewalk, further down.

Yet another sidewalk, off the beaten path.

This is the street I live on, from the overpass bridge.

Advertisements everywhere you go.

At the elementary school. Some kids doing their daily exercises.

On the pedestrian bridge going to "Central Park."

A lamppost on the pedestrian bridge.

People moseying. If you had seen them in action, you would agree with the word choice.

A bridge in the park. With some kindie-gartners!

Fountain. Taken under the pagoda.

Hey monkey!

Hey dragon!

What's up...bear? Anteater?

Aaaand...a cow.

Nothing is safe from urban sprawl. Don't try to resist.

A nice little sitting area further in.

Ok last one. The real street from the entrance of central park.

Kinda nice, eh? Central Park is about 10 minutes from my apartment and it's always full of people, mostly a) kindergartners on field trips playing games with their teachers or b) older folks "moseying." There are the occasional families with young children who aren't in school that are having picnics, mostly with just their mothers because their fathers work all day. It's a nice space to have. Kind of like the REAL "Central Park." Only much smaller.

(PS - I changed my template yet again to a simpler one. The guy on the rocks was cool and dramatic, but he kind of set too high a standard for my posts, leaving me feeling like I could never live up to his expectations.)

Well I've been holding it down here at camp laryngitis for the past couple of days. I haven't eaten anything really substantial since...well...probably Saturday night. It is now Thursday. You do the math.

But that is neither here nor there. Our students had speaking tests and to accompany them, essay tests. Oh those are fun. We administer the speaking tests and grade the essay tests, native English speakers that we are. As I said in a previous post, imagine someone gave you a sheet of paper and said, "Here. Write an essay in Arabic." What if that same person said, "You have 30 minutes. Go." Imagine the pressure! The stress! And you're only 11 years old! And you've had a full day of school already! All you want to do is play computer games or watch TV!

Well...hopefully you'd come up with something better than this, when asked to summarize as much as you can on a unit you had read about Mars (mainly about how we've sent Pathfinder, and how we don't know if there is life or water).

[Note: question marks denote where I couldn't read what the student wrote]

Mars is 1990 years old start is mars is rianin(?) crop(?) too quick

inticre(?) and to do much mars is world out here

mars is sun relax is out herer to much

mars is world one is to bed is relax

mars is too to do much and did quite

saw much rain to rain saw too much to do

muching there cratin (?) more incre (?) to dict insiting

mars moon is mars as to many muching to did

inciting there to did quick to gary (?) They are to many exellent

mars in the is paridise and did very hansome marse

is hansome mars is very cold and hot add house

summarize mars is summarize as you can about

unit on mars as to much mars

much as you can about mars

mars is to big moon.

See? Hard.

Friday was Buddha's birthday/ Children's day, both national holidays and so we were given the day off. Chantal and Rebecca decided at the last minute that we should go whitewater rafting. So at 7am we all met and took the trek that included a bus, the subway, and another bus.

Mikey on the bus to Seoul. Complain no more, woman!

Me, Scottish Mike (Princess), Mikey, Heather on the bus to Gangwon-do.

We had had sunny days all week prior so of COURSE this day was overcast and it threatened to rain the whole day. Of course when we were out on the water, it did. But no matter. We arrived to the campsite shortly after 12 and were shown to our cabin.

View from our cabin.

We met at around 1 to learn proper safety procedures and then get out on the water. They taught us the Korean for several important instructions which we didn't quite get. We only knew the danger signal and everybody row. "Hana! Dul!" (1! 2!) the whole time. I brought out my camera in a ziploc bag. Fortunately I took it out before we really shoved off and they noticed and made me leave it behind. We were all completely soaked by the end of the trip, so I got lucky.

Everything started out great. The water was a little bit calmer than I would have liked, which we later found out was due to the shallow waters. We went down small rapids surrounded by high cliffs with interesting rock formations. We passed a temple and some waterfalls that are used in many Korean movies. We saw lots of herons and cranes. The water was so fresh, our guide said, that he took a drink of it. We were a little bit more gunshy about that. When we approached our first big rapid, we saw a man fall out. That same man was taken to the side of the river with a big nasty cut on his leg. So we were delayed for about 20-30 minutes while we waited for EMS to figure out how to come get him.

The guides kept apologizing, but really it was ok. I wouldn't want to be left alone, either. We finally went on our way down some more small but fun rapids. We got stuck a couple of times. Then we stopped at a bank and while another raft packed up and left, we got to go swimming. It was cold of course, but for being May, it was not that bad. Just think of Lake Michigan, if you will, and how it is in June. The water was about 3 times as warm as that.

It was when we continued on that we hit the rough spots. And by rough I mean the water was so shallow that we could see the rocks we were trying to pass over. We all thought it would have been much easier if the 7 heavy foreigners had been able to get out and walk over these rocks, but to save the 3 Korean guides' dignities, we were forced to stay in the boat while we watched them struggle to pass over the rocks. Altogether, there was about 40 minutes of this. Just when we thought we were smooth sailing, we'd hit another rock and be stuck.

Hence the subject line in this blog. The only way they could get us to really go anywhere was by having us jump so they could push the raft from under us. "1, 2, JUMP!" Story of our rafting trip.

Then we went swimming again, and hit relatively calm waters. More beautiful rocks. Then games where we tried to knock the other "team" off the raft. Good times. We were out there for a little over 4 hours, and we went for about 9km. It was hard, but fun, and I'm just waiting for the next day off when we can go again.

Kind of a fun anecdote: no one expected for us to get as wet as we did. Which is why many of us neglected to bring how do you say...dry clothes or shoes. Mikey was wearing socks and shoes in the boat. Eventually they came off. So for the entire 4-hour duration of the trip we had two socks floating around in the boat, which was full ankle-deep with water. Great. Just great. Eventually I think we all got sick of it so he tied them around his ankles. Sporty!

Another fun anecdote: Our guide in the back, Hyuk Jin, reminded us that when we paddled, we should insert our ENTIRE paddle in the water. Chantal made reference to Scottish Mike, the most muscular one of all of us, and how he was doing virtually no work. Hyuk Jin said "Ah! Princess no!" So now we have Princess.

After we got back, we went and took hot showers and changed into dry clothes. We were bussed to a restaurant nearby for a kalbi dinner where we were gawked at by the vacationing Korean families. No matter. The food was delicious, and even moreso after being outside on the river all day.

Then we got back to the cabin and started drinking the beer that we had saved up. We saw the rafting guides out practicing and when they were finished, we enticed them to come join us for beer and singing. Really great people, so of course a really great time.

I don't remember their names, except for Hyuk Jin in the black hat.

Me, Heather and Rebecca with the rafting guides.

Rebecca, Heather, Hyuk Jin, Scottish Mike, Chantal, and....?

Watching Chad playing guitar.

A candid shot...Mikey looks like he's really feeling the music.

Welcome to the GUN SHOW! (I have no less than 4 pictures with Rebecca in this pose)

Where is the foreigner? Hint: skin and eye color.

Inae, the only female rafting guide, and Mikey rockin' out.

This massage chain is popular in Korea. Well not this specific one, but you get the idea.

So one of us fell asleep around 9/930pm. And you remember at slumber parties how if you fell asleep early, something really terrible would happen to you? Well...we had no shaving cream nor any freezer in which to freeze underwear. And this might not have worked with anyone else except the person who could sleep through the end of the world.

Chantal had earlier bought a packet of razors, possibly for the sole purpose of what happened that night. The Koreans thought it was hilarious.

Chantal and Chad shaving a racing stripe into Mikey's leg.

Inae is surprised.

I am horrified.

Let me just say that Mikey was the best sport about this that he possibly could have been. As he said, we could have beaten him with a baseball bat and he wouldn't have woken up.

One of the guys giving me a foot massage.

Our new Korean friends left shortly after and we lingered awake for a short time more before all piling together in our tiny cabin on the floor and passing out after a long long fun-filled day.

The stoop the next day. Kind of white trash-y, eh?

The razor/hair/cup the next day. Yum!

All in all, a great time had by everyone.

For more pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31481968@N00/

I've said it before and I'll say it again:

I Love Engrish.

The language barrier can be your best friend (funny stories, heckling without worrying that the people you are heckling actually know what you are talking about) or your worst enemy (you're seriously in trouble or you're dating someone who doesn't speak the language...which I guess are both one in the same).

Miscommunication is often a source of jokes in my classes, even in the more advanced levels.

The no-bajee (no pants) story, for example.
Or "panty-gone" or the strangely disturbing "red pen tea."

Or "Teacher I am detention."
"Hello detention."

I even had one girl who still says "son of a bitch!"...she knows it's bad, but her dad says it so so does she.

One of our friends, Chantal, had a tiny 7 or 8-year-old ask her,
"Teacher, what is pimpin and why so difficult?"
(A reference to Big Daddy Kane's "Pimpin Ain't E-Z"...oh what these children have to look up to...)

Also from Chantal...have you ever seen a 7 or 8-year-old wearing a shirt that proudly proclaims: "Sex Terrorist. Got the Skills to Pay the Bills"? I haven't either, but apparently he's out there.

Today I had a student yell for me to "TEACHER! Come! Here! Please!" Another kid piped in "Come on baby!"...apparently a reference to a Korean computer game.

We receive about 50-70 essays apiece every other week full of secret codes for English words such as "I'm get a love whip."

There is even a website dedicated to nothing but Engrish from all over the Orient (although Japan seems to have the most difficulty...). www.engrish.com

But yesterday, we noticed some graffiti scrawled all over the wall outside of Avalon, right by the doors.
I do not know who this "Kevin" person is...I actually have about 50 students named Kevin, not to mention the other 200 that go to Avalon (ok so that's an exaggeration...like saying eleventy billion).

So I'm not sure who this is talking about:

I sincerely hope this is not true...none of our students are older than 13. And Korean children are MUCH more innocent than Americans. These kids love poopoo jokes. I've seen Korean comedy. You would think it was written by the same 10-year-olds that I teach every day.

Well...I thought it was funny anyway.

Ok, now that I've gotten over the shock of the yellow dust storm (which apparently, there is another one coming...more intense and as one of our Korean teachers says...YOU CAN DIE), I can finally write about the actual day that Scott and I spent in Seoul.

Mostly because nothing new has been happening.

So as I said before...wait, maybe I didn't say it on here before and I'm too lazy to go look it up so I'll just write it again...Scott and I took the bus to Gwanghwamun and then walked two blocks to Deoksugung, one of the many royal palaces scattered throughout Korea.

This was a neat little statue made of metal parts. I thought it looked like a crazy Don Quixote. Scott thought it looked like "you know...that one guy...from that one movie."

This is a statue of Yin...uh...I don't know. He helped defend against the Japanese invasion with some kind of boat.

I just realized I am probably the worst possible person to write about this stuff. I don't care and therefore I don't remember anything of historical significance.
But I digress.

The outside of the gate.

We got there just in time to see the "changing of the guard," obviously a historical reenactment. (Funny story, not so obvious to me. Me: "Do you suppose this is just a reenactment, like one of those preservation of history things?" Scott: "No, Lyndsey. These guys are over 100 years old. Show some respect.") Lots of drum-banging and horn-playing and marching.

I have video too, but I can't post it on here.

Then after the obligatory picture with the guard, we went inside. Some of the stuff was pretty cool, but once you've seen one building, you've pretty much seen them all. The palace served as a temporary palace after the Japanese Invasion of 1592 when all of the others had been burned down. Then there's some other stuff. Read about it here if you're really so interested: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deoksugung

Walkway near the entrance.

Sign on one of the buildings.

This is apparently a very popular pattern in traditional Korean buildings. Still pretty though.

Side of one of the biggest buildings.

Wide...or long...shot of several of the buildings.

King Sejong, the creator of the hangul alphabet.

When we were all palace-d out, we decided to go to yet another palace. Along the way we saw the only patch of grass in Seoul, heavily guarded against pets and high heels by people with clipboards and whistles. No kidding.

Isn't it lush? Or doesn't it seem so surrounded by all those buildings?!

Then we happened upon this new walkway opened not too long ago along a stream. Apparently the stream was heavily used when it was a shantytown during the Japanese invasion? Or the Korean War. Some time during hardship, which seems to be most of Korean history.
To me it looks like the East Race in South Bend, only much cleaner and with many more people:

Then we happened upon the American embassy, followed by a real live city yard sale. Complete with used wardrobes, crappy toys, and old camera equpipment sold next to bottles of soju and beer. I should have taken a picture, but it seemed rude (well...ruder than normal for me). It was too difficult to get to the next palace so we skipped it and walked on to Insadong, the most touristy part of Seoul with tons of shops and restaurants and fun happenings everywhere.

Along the way, through small side streets that Scott insisted he could navigate (and for the record Scott, no you didn't get us lost but you almost got me hit by a car...so I guess we broke even), I got to experience yet another part of Korean culture.

A real live octopus in a real live tank in a real live restaurant. Delicious.

The entrance to a bar. To be fair, I didn't notice this. Scott did. I give credit where credit is due.

This is in the most unlikely place, right near a huge glass monstrosity of a building, right near the parking ramp which leads to the underground parking garage.

When we finally made it to Insadong, we couldn't resist these delicious deep-fried, sugar filled, boiling-hot-ready-to-explode "pancakes." They have some sort of peanut/chestnut filling. So tasty.

Ok. These are not so tasty. The vat farthest away is filled with bugs. The vat closest to you is ...snails I think? Either way, this whole stand smells like vomit. Literally. Hot vomit. Sorry, it's gross, but again, I'm just trying to give you a visual. Or a ...smell..sual. My favorite part is that this is the Korean version of "would you like fries with that." Bad joke. Sorry.

Scott and I were lamenting on how we missed the European cafes where you could sit outside and drink a beer. So we went to a place that he knows to get one.

It was on the roof of this building, which was a market. This whole building was filled with artwork like this, just random off-the-wall stuff you wouldn't think could be art. For example, my friend Rose said this was a wall of road signs.

And these were toilet seat covers.
[Note: for about two days, this picture was featured on Travellerspoint. WHOOP!]

And also a cocoon.

And of course, what art gallery wouldn't be complete without blown-up red latex gloves covered in Korean writing!

Then when we got to the top of the building, there just happened to be a hip-hop performance several stories below.

And a shot of the main street of Insadong.

And keep in mind, all the while Scott and I were unaware that we were blissfully inhaling cancer-rich yellow dust. Did you notice the yellow haze to all of my pictures?

That aside, it was a good day to be a tourist in Korea.

Come to think of it...this post probably should have been two, but now it's too late, isn't it?
Enjoy, people!

Friday classes consist of writing, writing, and more writing. Usually done in a rush to not only fill in about 10 pages of difficult grammar/analogies, but to also write an essay with time to spare so I can check it so they can rewrite it for the next Friday class.

Easy, right?

It's actually quite a pain in the neck, because you just know the kids aren't learning anything by going this quickly. It's pretty ridiculous.

I have one RA class (lower level) that I have MWF. Friday we do a writing class. This class and I have a love/hate relationship. When I let them get away with anything they love me and I hate them. Then of course the reverse is true. Not to say that I actually hate these children. They're actually pretty great, and one of my smarter classes, but they definitely get out of control, and I feel like a monster trying to get them back in line.

So anyway. Try to imagine, if you can, the madness that is a Friday writing class, with an out of control class that speaks virtually no English. They've already gone through a massive amount of grammar with their Korean teacher...after having already had a full day of REAL school (in comparative terms, my school is a "fake" school). The kids are basically dead.
I'm just trying to set the scene for you here.

Last Friday we had to write about visiting places, hence the title. The book is actually kind of stupid...while I understand that we're trying to teach structure, the book offers no room for creativity whatsoever. So you have to "imagine" that "John" is "taking a trip" to "somewhere" (London). An actual excerpt:
"Where is he going? What is he going to see at the art gallery?"
"Where is John going on Sunday? What can he see at the zoo?"
So when I tell the kids to "imagine" then give them the paper to write their creative stories, I have questions prompting them in this way that confuse the heck out of them. Normally I just tell them to run with it, and grade the same essay over and over again, which gets monotonous, but hey they're learning, right?

So most of the students turned in essays about John's trip to London. I have one student, Sung Hwan, who is about the clearest definition of "rapscallion" or "scalawag" that I have ever encountered. He kind of has that "aw shucks" attitude if he does something wrong, and he'll say something boy-like and give this wicked mischievous grin. Despite all of this, or probably because of it, this kid rules.

This is what Sung Hwan wrote (in a fill-in-the-blank fashion):

John is going to Egypt.
It is a exciting and dangerous.

On Saturday morning, He is going to Spinx and take picture. In the afthroon [afternoon] he is fight mumny in Pyramid In the evening he is find treasure and Pharaoh.

On Sunday, he is in the Guinnes Book and He is rich

On Sunday evening, John is stay all day

I knew somethin was a-brewin in that 11-year-old head of his because he kept asking me how to spell this and that. Most creative essay ever. Well...in my class.

And honestly, it wasn't TOO bad grammatically, comparatively speaking. Just imagine someone gave you a piece of paper and said, "Here. Write an essay in Arabic." It would be hard, that's all I'm saying.

Sorry for all of you mass e-mail recipients and/or myspace/livejournal friends. I have to put it here too so others can see it, even though you're all probably the only ones to look at it.

I was not aware of this until recently: Korea is often affected by dust storms, yellow dust storms carrying sand all the way from China's Gobi Desert, picking up all kinds of fun chemicals and pollutants on the way.

Saturday, we had the worst dust storm in four years, making everything a hazy shade of yellow.

This sounds promising (taken from Chosun Ilbo):
"As the sky turned a jaundiced hue and visibility plunged to 1.5 km from a normal average of 10 km (6.2 miles), South Korea issued a health advisory on Saturday due to the storm described as the worst since 2002.

The dust, which originates in the Gobi Desert region of China, picks up heavy metals and carcinogens such as dioxin as it passes over Chinese industrial regions, before hitting the Korean peninsula and Japan, meteorologists say."

D'ya hear that people? CARCINOGENS! What on earth....?!

Also, this:

"On Saturday, the meteorological office said people should stay indoors or wear masks if they ventured outdoors after doctors warned prolonged exposure could cause health problems such as eye and respiratory diseases."

read more here: Doh!
I am SO glad that Scott and I made that our day to do some sightseeing in Seoul, a day devoted entirely to walking around outdoors. That's right folks. What they advised against, we did. Then I went out that night. In Seoul. Doh! indeed. That could be why I haven't been able to stop coughing for oh, about 3 days now. It apparently kills 365 people per year (mostly elderly folks) and makes 1.8 million people sick.

Clearly, I am not very smart.
But to be fair, I just thought it was the normal pollution that usually plagues Seoul and its surrounding area (in which I live). When we couldn't see the surrounding mountains, we commented on it...when we couldn't see the Han River on the bus, we were worried, but not so much. When I read this...well I'm pretty freaked out. Who knew Korea was so bad for my health?

We have a warning that we will be receiving much of the same over the whole season. And as I have heard, those facemasks that everyone wears do NOT help in the least. The heavy metals and carcinogens in the air will get through. So I guess the plan now is to stay inside as much as possible and check the news more often about this. I didn't know about it until Wayne, our head teacher, sent me a text that night.

Here are some pictures.

This is a picture of mine taken from my apartment window. Usually you can see a mountain a bit further off.

An image found on Chosun Ilbo, a Korean newspaper.

A view taken from BBC online. See all the dust swirling? Disgusting.

Yuck. I think I'm going to go lay down. Or is it lie down? Either way...

One of the best things I brought from home was Spaghetti-os. If you were ever a child or college student, or one of those in an adult's body, you will appreciate this seeing as how they don't have them in Korea.

However, finding a can opener to open the considerably bigger can, with no pull tab, proved to be more difficult than I had thought.

And so I tried to open it.
I managed to cut a small line. I don't know how, but I did. After that, the can opener was useless.

So I broke out the butter knife, ginsu knife, scissors, and even wine bottle opener. Here's a hint: the butter knife works the best.
I eventually pried open a hole where I was able to scoop/dump out the spaghetti-os into the saucepan. After about 20 minutes of battle.

And here's what that looked like, in case anyone is interested:

And all of my weapons:

I tell you what though. They were the best spaghetti-os I've ever had.

After our classy and overpriced bottle of wine, we went to Hongdae for a punk show at a club called "Skunk Hell." Intimidating, yes?

First. Let me say I have never been to a punk show before. In America, in Spain, nowhere. I am not a punk rocker, nor do I claim to be. (And my family is very happy about this, even though I have tattoos, nose piercing, etc...I don't have a mohawk and except for one time in high school when I had blue streaks in my hair, I have never had a radically strange hair color...also, except for going from natural blonde to almost black...) However, the nightlife in Korea is usually full of danceclubs or bars, playing either techno, American rock, or pop. So the punk scene is something I was anxious to see.

So first, we had to find it. It was hidden away in what looked like a residential district. The show started around 7pm, and finished around 10-11 pm because they often receive noise complaints. The outside made it look like an unassuming little bar, except for the sign that said "Skunk Hell."

However, here is what I saw when I first walked in:

Graffiti everywhere. Punk rockers everywhere.

Then, like with any live band, my ears were assaulted by loud angry music. I have just begun to enjoy punk music, thanks to my friend Isaac, who gave me some CDs by The Clash, The Buzzcocks, Violent Femmes, etc. Then when I was in Japan, I bought two J-Punk CDs by 50 Kaiten and Ken Yokoyama. So I guess you could say I got a late start...people usually listen to this kind of music early on and then maybe outgrow it, or evolve, or whatever else.

The club was small, hot, and loud. It was BYOB, so we brought in cans of Hite beer, which was on sale for less than $2 for a big can at the 7-11 across the street. It's a good thing as well that there was no smoking in there, or else it would have been much harder to handle.

Some more pictures:

The ceiling and walls were covered in these paper fliers.

The first band and all the thrashers in the front.

Scott trying to blend in. He had a huge backpack and a camera around his neck. Wearing khakis and an oxford shirt. I didn't really fit in any better, but no one really seemed to care that much.

The first band outside. The singer (with his tongue out) had a studded eyepatch. And he drank continuously onstage. Good times!

This man was from the second band. Nothing says punk like an accordion! Or a little flute, which he broke out later in the show. And apparently he looks like the guy from "Goldfinger," which I've never seen, so I take Isaac's word on this.

The singer from the second band, in the heat of the moment. While I was "thrashing" to the third band, this man actually stagedove onto my head. No worries, I just incurred a minor bruise/bump that has already gone away less than a week later.

The third and final band, hailing from Japan. Typically, Koreans hate the Japanese, so it was nice to see that these guys got so much approval. They were actually the most..."on" I guess in that they played very well.

It was quite a night, with going to Manhattan and seeing a side of Korea I never expected to see. I had a pretty great time, and Isaac and Scott really seemed to enjoy themselves. I may go back eventually, but not for awhile I think. It was pretty intense!

Last weekend, my friends Isaac, Natalie, Scott and myself went into Seoul to Yeouido, the "Manhattan of Seoul." Why it is called that, I have no idea. We went to the 63 Building, called that because of its 63 floors, 3 of which are underground.

It took us about an hour and a half altogether to get there. See, we had to take the bus to Gwanghwamun, and since we had to wait about 20 minutes for a bus, we got on the first one that came along and had to stand. It was hot and cramped and stuffy and generally uncomfortable.

View from Gwanghwamun, at the Sejong Performing Arts Center.

So then we got off the bus and got onto the subway, which of course, being in Seoul, was filled to the rafters. Er...whatever. Then after 6 stops, we had to walk about 15 minutes to the actual building.

The Empire State Building of Seoul.

Look how carefree we are! We think we're getting in!

So when we arrived and the woman politely told us the observation deck was closed until July and could we please come back then...well I think it goes without saying that we were disappointed. Scott offered her money, his backpack, among other things, but to no avail. So he dragged us to the elevator, claiming that we were going to go as high as possible.

So we eventually got to floor 59, a very expensive and high-class restaurant/bar. Of course we had not dressed for the occasion, mostly because a) we're American English teachers and 2) we were headed to a punk show that night. The maitre d' was very kind in letting us sneak a peek out the window. We just happened to catch a glance at the wine menu and the cheapest was 50,000 won a bottle (about $50).

After a lot of arm-twisting and begging and pleading, I finally got everyone to agree to just do it, to shell out the money that we might have spent going to the observation deck anyway, and stay. So I won and we did.

It was kind of a smoggy day, the pollution content/density must have been pretty high. I guess though during the summer you can't see anything because it's so hazy. Also, not many of the pictures came out very well because we got there kind of late, and there was a pretty bad glare from the restaurant.
So without further ado, some pictures:

We were on the other side of the Han. This is the view of Seoul from ground level.

Here's one of the roads far, far below. Also, the Han River.

The actual restaurant, Walking on the Cloud (remember, no 'S'!)

"I think I see my dad..."

Me, Natalie, Scott, Isaac. We agreed that since we were pretty much never going back, we could have the waiter take our picture.

Seoul at night. Kind of. It's the best I could do.

So.Many.Cars.

Stay tuned for the next blog, about my experience as a Korean punk rocker. Hooray.

I had been thinking about doing a food blog for some time as I seem to have accumulated more pictures of food than a person needs. And let me tell you why:

My theory is that food can make women so happy that they near tears. That they can discuss, in detail, their favorite dish for possibly 20 minutes (that's my record time, but I'm sure more can talk for longer). I love food plain and simple, and I know my friend Rebecca here does too. There is an Indian restaurant in Seoul that literally, everytime I go, makes me sick. Not because the food is questionable in its healthiness or free-from-salmonella...ness...but because I just can't stop eating. Maybe there's something wrong with me on that account, and maybe it's because I have no will power, but I will eat until I make myself sick because it is so delicious. While Rebecca and I eat our meals and marvel over how delicious they are, we talk about meals past that have made us this happy.

While James sits eating quietly. It could be that he's just a quiet guy (which ...he is) but I suspect if we had another one of our guy friends along (except Paul, who can talk at length about any subject ... ) we would elicit the same reaction. When Walid took me to eat Middle Eastern food (tabouli, hummus), he was more than amused at how happy I was. I think that guys, in general, don't care about food as much as women do. This is a theory and so far I have not been proven wrong.
So this is the food blog and now I am going to post my various food pictures.

First, from the good old USA. When I went home, one of my favorite things (aside from seeing my friends and family, of course) was EATING. All the food I can't have here. Such as:

This was the first meal I had in America. Let me tell you, I almost died because I ate so much and it isn't possible to be as happy as I was. There is no cheese in Korea...just the processed Kraft singles.

My side dish. There is no maple syrup here either...just some weird rice syrup, but I stocked up before I came back.

This is the homemade lasagna, homemade sausage and all, by my favorite Siciliano, Kirk. Again. Near tears it was so good.

Master chef.
(*Note: I think I have a new theory with my women-love-food-too-much...I am near tears remembering and missing this food.)

Taquitos at La Esperanza. Again, impossible to find Mexican food here. They have it, but there are weird Korean sauces in there. This was my final meal. I pine.

Now the food from Japan
I was not really taken with the food there. Maybe because food was kind of an afterthought...in my haste of seeing everything, it was eat out of necessity. Nevertheless, I had some pretty good stuff.

A bakery in Gion. Pick up a tray and some tongs and fill up. I should have taken a picture of what I ate...it was some delicious cream..thing. The pastries in Korea are not impressive. Which is a good thing.

When I went to Okochi Sanso, the old actor's home, afterward, I received this bowl of green tea along with a little sweet cake. It was nice for sipping in the mountains of Arashiyama.

A buckwheat noodle concoction, with tofu in the upper left corner, and huge balls of rice below it. It was good, but not spectacular. Again with the green tea.

Cassie and I wandered into this restaurant thinking they had real food, which they didn't, so we were forced (lots of arm-twisting) to eat this tasty green tea and vanilla ice cream and wafers and ...beans? and rice balls? thing. Good.

I did frequent a McDonald's, but only because I was so hungry I was going to pass out, I swear. This was Japan's modification, the fried shrimp burger. Didn't get to try it, but...hmm. Korea has a kimchi burger.

At a restaurant Cassie, Giordan and I went to, their walls were wallpapered with paper photos of the dishes they offered. I was so hungry.

Do you see? Do you see how happy this food makes me? It's sad, really.

Now, Korean food.
I don't have pictures of my absolute favorite dishes. Only some of them.

Bulgogi, one of Korea's most famous dishes. Marinated beef served in a soup with mushrooms, clear noodles, and onions...with rice. Then side dishes: odeng (fish paste..in solid form), spinach, and kimchi.

Kalbi, or Korean barbecue. A variety of marinated meats to choose from, all grilled by you, and cut with scissors.

Sushi. I love it. This was especially delicious. Also frightening.

Kalbi, only with squid. Here's soju, and Cass beer too, along with the sidedishes.

On Korean Independence Day, I invited most of the gang to my apartment to use up some of the ingredients I had bought at home to make breakfast. We had breakfast burritos, hash browns, and pancakes. SO TASTY.

Scott pouring Valentina sauce, the best hot sauce known to man.

Mi Hee trying to navigate her way around a flour tortilla.

That's all the food I have for now. Next time I'm taking a picture of the Indian food!

One thing that I love about living in Korea is meeting so many different kinds of people. I meet people from different countries everytime I go out, and I work with an assortment of Canadians and Americans. I dated a Korean guy for a few weeks and then as you know, dated Walid from Libya for maybe 2 months or so. And yes, I wrote that correctly, it is in the past tense.

Even people from Canada or America can offer up new perspectives and points of view you never would have thought of. You're forced into contact with people that maybe in a "normal" (by that I mean, at home or at school, or whatever) setting you would never get to know. I have always enjoyed my coworkers (most of the time) because you probably normally wouldn't happen to be friends with these people, but sometimes people can shock you. Generally I have liked most of the people I have come across and appreciated their view on things. However, there have been some exceptions.

For example. Dating a Libyan Muslim is quite an experience. Going into it, I didn't want a boyfriend at all, but he insisted so I swayed my vote and decided it was ok. That was a big change for me, and a sacrifice I believe. It's interesting though how different we are. He is a very devout Muslim and calls his mother every day. I am no religion and very rarely call home. He doesn't eat meat because it is not prepared in the Muslim fashion. This is all fine and good with me. These minor differences are great and refreshing. But then he started saying things like, only Muslims go to paradise. It's true because it's in the Koran. Women have a place and that place is in the home. Married women cannot travel alone, and most importantly, men and women are not equal.

If you know me at all, you know that this does not fly right with me. I, who was a political science major from an all-girl Catholic college that stresses feminism. We had many a discussion, maybe argument, about these points. I flat out told him that I didn't agree and if he was ok with my perspective and respected my thoughts, then I would do likewise. In so many words because there's also the language barrier to worry about. But it ended in a smoldering blaze sometime this week after he just stopped calling me. My friend Scott is friends with him and called and found out from Walid that he will not be calling me to tell me this because our thinking is different.

So long story short, I got dumped (more or less) because I think that men and women are equal. And that maybe there is no Allah, maybe the Koran is imperfect because it was written by imperfect man, and maybe if there is a paradise, why can't everyone go. Because I forced him to see another perspective. Why are people so averse to change? I don't mean people as in other than me, because I know I am too. But change happens to be a really great thing.

Also, what is with this macho caveman thinking? If this was the 1950s, or even 60s, I can see it. But hello? 2006? Libyan society is incredibly restricted because of Qaddafi (sp) and I know that Islam in general isn't too keen on women's rights. And apparently people like Walid are not ok with letting people having opinions different than their own.

I guess I didn't expect this in Korea...and by this I would even go so far as to say just dating a Muslim Libyan in general. He's gorgeous, but it's difficult to be with someone who thinks that you should rely on him and only him for everything. Who has to know your whereabouts at all times. I guess it has done me some good also because now I know that people like him really do exist. And there's some background for my next encounter.

Sorry this was a little long-winded! I'm just confused and a little hurt right now and trying to put things into perspective without being bitter or angry. I was going to write about this sweet little girl on the subway but that can wait. And as to not be disappointed there are no pictures, here is one of my classes and I:

L-R: Suzy, Jin-Ho, Andrew, Sue, Jim, Me, Jenny Kim