Blog Guilt

I wrote the following post a few weeks ago when we were still in New York. I'm a guilty procrastinator, I know.

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I suffer from blog guilt...it's true. I thought it was time to come clean and let everyone know. I hate when people nag me about stuff and now I'm doing it to myself. In the back of my head I know I should be keeping up with this but I've been so busy not working and hanging out with people the last two months that I haven't done a damn thing. I've finally worked myself in a tizzy and got up the determination to put something on here.

So, yes...I've been loving my winter vacation. We've spent time in Wyoming, Colorado, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts (seriously can anyone spell that without looking it up?), and a quick few hours in New Hampshire and Maine. I've seen most of my family, quite a few of my friends, and a bunch of Jason's family. I don't know what I'll do when people aren't lining up to spend time with me. I guess I'll have to go to work like normal people do.

A big surprise to me is that after the initial hell of jet lag I was met with almost no culture shock whatsoever. There are only two things that threw me off on this trip so far. When we landed in Seattle for a layover I took money out of the ATM to buy a snack. When U.S. dollars came out of the machine - I flipped! They looked so strange. I guess I'm pretty used to the won at this point. As an aside there are only three bills for Korean won. There's an equivilent of a dollar bill (it's blue), a five dollar bill (it's red), and a ten dollar bill (it's green). So if you want to take out a thousand dollars to buy a camera...you'll be carrying around a hundred ten dollar bills.

The other thing was that I've gotten very used to some of the Korean customs. For example, when giving someone an item, be it a shot of soju or money at a convenience store, it's polite to touch your left fingertips to your right elbow. When receiving an item it's polite to accept it with two hands. The significance of this is that the traditional clothing had long sleeves so it was polite to tuck your sleeve back when giving something and when accepting something with two hands it was seen as treasuring it more. Jason noticed that I was touching my elbow when paying for stuff when we were in Wyoming. I've caught myself doing it quite a bit since then.

I have a little less than two weeks left in the States at this point. I'm both excited to get back to Korea and sad to leave all the people I love. Hopefully some of you will come visit soon. (Sorry Minnesota people for the lack of pictures while we were there. I guess we forgot - what with all the snowshoeing and ice fishing we did.)

This is a picture of the best behaved little girl I have ever met....which is a good thing if you've ever met her brother.

The intense concentration in this pic makes me think she might take after her mom and become an artist.

Seriously, how could you ever get mad at them?

Cute cousins.

This was a common sight in Wyoming...me buried under a load of little people.

The girls came down most mornings and evenings to climb up on our bed to cuddle. They usually brought their kitties along too.

Grandpa and his little girls.

In case you're wondering...it's a blue bird...not a penguin as Jaime thought.

I brought these hats back from Korea for the kids. They're so popular and so cute. I thought the kids would love them. Abby's a wolf, Amelia's a blue bird, Violet's a fox, Ben's a dog, and Ava is a tiger.

We spent a few days in Colorado visiting with friends.

And this is how we spent the majority of our time...drinking,

eating...

and laughing.

While in Colorado we partook in a Spanish New Year's tradition (a la Elena). We ate a cake with a plastic figurine of a baby inside. It ended up in Jason's piece. This was quite appropriate as we were the only couple there not pregnant or already parents. What wasn't appropriate was my reaction when Jason found it - I blame the champagne.

Hiking in Wyoming in the winter...what a pleasure. Actually it was as cold as a popsickle in Denmark. Sorry about that. I hate using cliches. I'm obviously not going to be coming up with any great sayings on my own though.

I've never seen Big Horn Sheep this close and I lived in Wyoming for years. Jason took these photos one day when he was out driving on his own.

Apparently it's an American Bison...not a buffalo. Who cares? I'll call it what I want to call it...I'm from Wyoming after all.

Kids in hats!

An idyllic Wyoming scene.

Ava celebrated a birthday while we were in Wyoming. Theresa put together an impromptu party for her in only a few hours complete with guests, presents, balloons, cake, and party bags. It was Ava's most fun day ever!

Little Amelia cracks me up. She's a year old so there's only a few things that she does right now. One of them is finding things on the ground to eat.

The other is to put panties on her head and laugh. She already has a great sense of humor.

Grandma and the birthday girl.

Nicole, one of my bestest friends, flew to Minnesota from Vegas while I was in town. That's what I call sacrificing for someone you love.
Nicole and I have progressed from discussing the differences in brands of Tequila to differences in brush techniques. (yeah, right!)

Carley - Sarah, Sarah - Carley. Can you guess who's who? Raina's the one on the leash...if that helps any....

Aislyn had a blast sledding even thought it was a bitterly cold day.

I had a bit of fun too.

This is Jason's parents home in New York. I told Lara I'd post a pic so she could finally put a picture in her head. I hope this helps.
Even I have trouble picking out where we were in our pictures since everywhere we went was covered in snow. This is NY by the way.
Jason (posing in his cool jacket he got at a smokin' price from Sierra Trading Post) overlooking the Hudson Valley.

Goodbye Cheongok-dong

Jason and I will be flying back to the states in a few days, seven to be exact...but whose counting? I am!!! It's been 13 months since I've seen my family and many of my friends. That's a hell of a long time. Hopefully next year I'll be able to visit the states more often.

We're moving to Gunpo come February. It's south of Seoul but still on the subway line. Our new jobs are at a university and if you're an ESL teacher in Korea you know what that means. VACATION! I mean...a chance to teach at an institute of higher learning, a chance to do some research, a chance to interact with a group of more mature students, and three months of paid vacation. Woo hoo! I'm truly excited and feel very fortunate to have found such a great opportunity. I'll be able to get my master's degree since I'll be working far fewer hours, I'll get experience working at a university, and I'll have an opportunity to visit my family and travel around Asia. I feel truly blessed to have landed this job.

Although I'm estatic to be seeing my family again, I am feeling a little trepidacious about going back to the states. I think this must be due to reverse culture shock - I can't think of any other reason. I remember when I returned from traveling through Mexico and Central America after college... walking through the airport and seeing the automatic sliding doors tripped me out - they seemed so futuristic. Of course I'd been dealing with them my whole life but three months of living in third world countries had reset my buttons. I also remember going to a restaurant in southern Arizona. I went to the bathroom and it was huge! I came out and said to Jason, "You have to see the size of the bathrooms here. I could live in them". But eventually I became used to the States again and I took all of the modern conveniences and space for granted.

So I think I might be a bit worried about this kind of stuff happening again. Of course Korea is a first world country but it has only been so for a short time. When you realize the Korean War was only 50 years ago and that the country was thrown into abject poverty, their current status is amazing. Yet while traveling around here you realize there are some places where the 21st century has not yet arrived. Plus, I've been living as an alien in this land for some time.

I've gotten used to being in my own little world. People are so conscious of me here that I've had to develop a thick skin in order to not notice how I'm gawked at and paid attention to so severly. I'm afraid this has given me some stange habbits. For example, I sing all the time. Not loudly or anything but in a small voice. Jason and I'll be shopping at the grocery store and I'll just start singing, "Meet me in the morning...56th and Wabasha, ba ban ban baoum...." I know this kind of behavior is unacceptable in the states, but I'm so insulated here. No matter what I do I'm stared at so I've come to view my myself as living in my own little world. Other people are almost paper dolls that are set into my landscape. They don't speak my language, they don't understand me, and they think whatever I do is strange and/or interesting anyway. I'll have to watch myself over the next few months while I'm in the states.

Since I've started to analyze what things might throw me off when I return to the states, I thought I'd post some pics that show how different Korea is. (I'd have said weird but that might be viewed as culturally insensitive.)

Koreans are very into fitness. They have hiking trails everywhere. Usually along the hiking trails there are also outdoor gyms. I love the giant hula hoops. I'm teaching Jason how to work them.
He's more at home with the weight benches.

This was my New Year's gift from my school. Jason and I both got one! Yes, I've tried Spam. It's hard to avoid in Korea. But I'm glad to say that my palette hasn't accepted it as 'real food' yet.

This picture is for my grandpa Vernie. He was a big fan of John Deere tractors.

There are so many different kinds of street food in Korea. They have vendors that sell everything from bundage (silkworm pupa) to tiny waffles shaped like fish with whipped cream inside. Pictured above is a chesnut roaster.

The women in Korea no longer bind their feet in the traditional fashion...they've upgraded to high heels. Women wear high heels all the time here...even to go hiking. Yes, I've seen this a few times. The women are limping along in their fashionable get ups while whining at their male companions in an especially irritating tone of voice.

This proud man is the cleaner of the first floor bathrooms at the Seoul airport. Nuff said...

This rad picture is from the Seafood Festival. We were forced to watch psuedo eighties style music and dancing complete with smoke machines, laser lights, and side pony tails (not pictured). The style of music and dress most popular here is very eighties inspired.

And doesn't have to match...as long as everything is hip looking.

Ahhh...fishing in Korea. It's not quite what I had in mind. Although it is very spacially efficient.

I haven't eaten here yet but it's on my list of things to do next year. As an aside, if you call a kid crazy...something like, "you're a crazy little bugger, aren't you?" the kid will start crying hysterically. Apparently, 'crazy' here doesn't translate so well...they take it to mean actually insane. Both Jason and I learned this the hard way.

Korea reminds me of Vegas in so many ways; the open all night bars, the neon lights everywhere, and the ads for ladies that paper the streets after a Friday or Saturday night. These are the more conservative ones I've seen.

Speaking of prostitution...the variety of concoctions Koreans have to improve 'male stamina' is overwhelming. Essentially if something tastes or looks particularly vile the reason given for it's existence is that it helps with 'male stamina' - you'd think the whole country was impotent or something.

Tripitaka Koreana

I've had a wonderful autumn in Korea. It's so beautiful when the leaves are changing. I celebrated with some great hiking, a very romantic picnic, and a trip to a Haeinsa Temple.

Haeinsa Temple is in Gayasan National Park. It's an old and very important temple in Korea. It's one of three main temples of Chogye Buddhism. The Haeinsa temple represents Dharma (Buddah's teachings). It also contains the Tripitaka. The Tripitaka is a large collection of wooden blocks upon which buddhist scripture is carved. The Tripitaka was first carved in the 11th century but was destroyed by the Mongols during an invasion. The current Tripitaka that is housed in the temple was carved in the 13th century and is made up of 81,340 wooden blocks. It's been designated as an UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you want to read more on this - check out this link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka_Koreana


The temple is quite lively this time of year. Like many temples in Korea it's located inside a National Park. So there were plenty of people that were popping into the temple for a moment before they embarked on a hike.

Kelly and Dale joined us on this trip. They have a car so it was so much easier than the last time we went. We had to take a taxi to a train to a subway to a bus the last time we came.

The temple was decorated with colorful lotus lanterns.

This is a shot inside one of the rooms that house the Tripitaka. The tablets are stacked on the shelves on the right side of the photo. The shelves are at least 25 feet high.

The photos we have from inside the rooms are illegal. Jason wasn't supposed to take any pictures but it's hard to stop him when he has a camera in his hands. He was scolded by a few of the security guards.

After viewing the Tripitaka we went on a short hike into the mountains. This was the first time that Kelly and Dale had seen fall colors. They're from a tropical area of Australia.

Couple photo!

Australian style couple photo!

I love this photo. I could live in it.

There are a wide variety of trees in Gayasan National Park, but the bulk of them are pines, gingko, and maple.

Pretty maple leaf.

Somewhere over the Rainbow

I first heard this version of the song while watching 50 First Dates. If you're looking for an Adam Sandler romantic comedy, I would highly recommend it. I heard it for the second time at Jed and Leni's wedding. They put together a wedding album full of wonderful music. I played the song over and over on the trip back to Minneapolis. Then a few months ago, a friend in Korea played it for me on YouTube. I find myself singing it all the time these days - so I thought I'd let you hear what it sounds like when I'm not butchering it with my falsetto.

It's sung by a guy named Israel Kamakawiwo'ole. He was a famous Hawaiian ukulele player and a beloved national hero in his home state. When he died in 1997, he was the third person ever to lay in state at the capitol building in Honolulu. This video was made as a tribute to him so it might seem a bit cheesey to some of you. At the end of the video it shows a part of his funeral in which his ashes are scattered in the ocean.

Listening to his song, I get the same type of feelings I have when I listen to What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong or Imagine by John Lennon. There is a sweetness and feeling of love and kinship and hope that I don't find a lot in the music that I generally listen to. I hope you will find it as beautiful as I do.

KTX

I'm usually of the mindset that the price of a product or service doesn't always allude to it's value. Cheap products are sometimes better than the high priced ones. For example, Totino's frozen pizzas are the best frozen pizzas around. Sure there's the 'rising' crust pizzas like Freshetta or Dijourno but they taste half as good as Totino's. The have actual tomato sauce (scoff!) instead of the tasty neon red tomato gel that is a signature of Totino's. You can't beat that - plus it's cheap as all get out!

Of course there's always the exceptions, such as eyebrow waxing. I've found that its worth the extra $5 to get it done at a salon instead of at a beauty college. Unless you don't mind looking like a confused vulcan for a few weeks, then it's a good deal.

Well, I've found something else that is worth the pretty penny you pay for it. The KTX. What's the KTX, you ask? It's only the coolest way to travel in all of the Korean penninsula. High speed rail! I know I've talked about the trains before, but this is different. It's quiet and smooth and fast. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back to the 'slow' trains now. I might be ruined for life. It would be like eating velveeta after trying fresh mozzarella, like wearing Tevas after having Chacos, like watching ER after seeing House. It's not possible for me...unless I'm willing to endure some pain.

The trains have monitors on board that track its speed. We got up to 300 kph (186 mph) and it was as smooth as butter. Plus we got to Seoul in a fraction of the time it usually takes. I'm hooked! Why don't we have these in the States?

This is a picture of the 'slow' train. We couldn't even get a picture of the KTX - it went by so fast. ;)

This magazine looks like it's an English language magazine, right? It's not. A lot of the magazines here have English on the front covers but only Korean characters inside. I think it must look more sophisticated or fancy to people here if it has romanized letters on the cover.

If you think this looks like a staged photo...you're right. I finished my coffee before we got on the train.

This is the platform at one of the KTX stations. They all have Dunkin' Donuts franchises and convenience stores inside. On a side note...Dunkin' Donuts is really popular over here.

Happy Halloween

Sadly enough...Halloween isn't celebrated in Korea. I was crushed when I found this out. As you may know it's one of my favorite holidays. I love costumes! I'll take any excuse to dress up as a sexy_______. Since college I haven't been to one costume party outside of October so Halloween has been my saving grace the last few years.

Instead of dressing up this year, we threw a Halloween party at school for the kids. A few days before the holiday the kids colored pictures of jack o' lanterns, vampires, witches, and zombies to decorate the hallways. In case any of you are interested....jombie is the Korean word for zombie. Yeah! More Korean words that I'll remember.

On the big day, my class played hot potato and musical chairs. These are internationally loved games now! I didn't realize how violent musical chairs is...I had about six crying kids throughout the day. The most common injury was smashed fingers. No blood or stiches though so I'll call it a success.

Jason and I (by that I really mean Jason) meant to take more pics of the kids but we were the unwitting MC's of the festivities and didn't find the time.

I hope you all had a blast this year!

It was pretty festive around school with all the decorations up and the kids jacked up on candy. The little boy in the picture is a darling. His name is Vincent...actually it's not but that's his English name. I only know a few of the kids real names.

They sell a select few costumes at the major 'Wal-Mart' type stores here. That's a testament to the popularity of English education. The only place Halloween is celebrated is at the hogwans. The little girl on the left (Sophie) is both Jason and my favorite student. She's so tiny and cute!

As I said above...the selection of costumes here is quite limited, so we had a lot of Scream masks and glittery witch hats.

Erica Teacher...as she's known by the kids...did the face painting. I thought she did a pretty bang up job.