Greener Grass

My older sister Jaime thinks my life is more exciting than hers. I beg to differ. She's a school teacher in Cody. She deals with a new bunch of 3rd graders every year. She also has three kids, an adorable but pain in the butt husband, three dogs and a cat. I stayed with her while I was in Wyoming over the winter holidays this year and her life is anything but boring. I don't think I could last a week in her position. She is living at 150 mph.

My life in comparison is pretty boring. I work, I watch TV with my husband on the week nights, and we go sightseeing on the weekends. Sure, we're in Asia. But really, if we were in North Dakota we'd be doing the same things. Looking for places to hike, good restaurants to eat at, and friends to pass the time with.

I like my life, don't get me wrong. It suits me. But it's not The Amazing Race. I'm not skydiving or bungee jumping, thank God. The coolest thing in my life lately is my work. I'm getting to know my students and that has been so much fun. But really, living here isn't exciting in the traditional sense of the word. It's just different and challenging.

Take today as an example. I paid my electric bill. Woo hoo! Will the fun never end? But I have to admit, it made me smile and it was more fun than licking a stamp and going to a mailbox.

I had a bill to pay (written completely in Korean characters). Here's an example of some Korean writing, 한글은 표음문자 중 음소문자이다. (I have no idea what that says by the way.) So, I had to go looking for a bank. In Korea you don't mail your bills into the company. You have to find a specific bank that for some reason or another takes the money for these bills. I went into one bank and they helpfully pointed in the direction I needed to walk to find the appropriate one. I walked in that direction for awhile and asked a security guard at an apartment complex where I needed to go by holding out my bill and smiling. He was kind enough to walk me about two blocks to where the bank was. I then walked in...waited for my number to be called (similar to the DMV)...and walked up to the teller. Since my Korean is terrible, I simply held out the bill to the guy, smiled, and mumbled some intelligible (Konglish) words. Yes, I'm kind of like the idiot cousin here. I don't make sense to anyone...I just smile and hope for the best.

It worked out fine. Like most things do here. But seriously, is that exciting? Paying your electric bill...I don't think so. I just find the challenge of doing things to be fun. I guess that's why I like being here. It suits me.

When I talked to my sister this morning, she asked what I'd been up to lately. I said I'd had my feet nibbled on by fish. Which is true. They're crazy about Dr. Fish in Korea (fish that nibble on your feet and clean off the dead skin cells). But her husband is a fisherman. I'm sure she could have him put some fish in the bathtub and have them nibble at her feet if necessary. It'd be much more cost effective.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that the grass is always greener or more Asian. My life right now suits me more than the cubicle did. That's just what works for me. I wish I had my sister's life sometimes. The comfort of family all around you, kids loving you, and animals that need to be fed. Kitty of course eats as much as three dogs but she doesn't like to go on walks.

I've decided to post some pics of a day trip Fritz and I took to Hwaseong Fortress Wall. It was a beautiful spring day. But really, this was the equivalent of an old homestead where Theodore Roosevelt stayed while he toured around North Dakota. It's old and well preserved, but cool...because it's in Asia.

The Hwaseong Fortress Wall is in Suwon - a short subway ride from our place in Gunpo.

The wall was built in built in the late 1700's by King Jeongjo to honour and house the remains of his father, who had been murdered by being locked alive inside a rice chest by his own father having failed to obey his command to commit suicide.

One of the observation towers along the wall.

Fritz.

I don't know if it's because of my sister talking about Twilight all the time...but these look like vampires to me.

The city of Suwon has grown outside the city walls. If you look closely you can see the wall as it winds through the scenic town.

The Magnolias are in bloom once again. Springtime in Korea is beautiful. A new flower blooms every few weeks.

There are a lot of structures along the wall. This is a view of one of the pavillions. There are also sentry posts, chimneys, gates, and turrets along the way.

The wall is a little under 6 km in length. If you're not up for the physical challenge of it you can take the traditional dragon mobile to different points of interest. Unfortunately, we missed out on this experience as it left before we could buy tickets. Next time!

Idioms

I've incorporated idioms into quite a few of my classes this year. I think they're of utmost importance for ESL learners. If they are to properly understand native English speakers they need to understand idioms, as our regular speech is littered with them.


So far, we've talked about color idioms (out of the blue, green with envy, a white lie) and food idioms (a lemon, a piece of cake, cheesy). I've stressed again and again with my students that they need to incorporate idioms into their speech.


I've also noticed that many Koreans do not have very polished email skills, to put it lightly. So, I'm also working dilligently with my students on improving their email response time, grammar, and format. Their current assignment is to pretend that they are the manager of a small electronics store. They have 12 employees. They need to fire 4 of the employees due to slow sales. So, they need to send an email to their employees calling a meeting. They have to give a specific time and ask their employees to bring a list of their contributions from the last year (ala American Beauty).


After putting so much stress on the importance of idioms, I shouldn't have been surprised when some of my more enthusiatic learners combined the two lessons. My student Mina wrote....."at meeting in Wednesday on 9:00 pm 4 of you will get the boot."

I think I'll address idiom etiquette in my next class.

Gunpo it is!

We’ve been in Gunpo for almost three weeks now…and although most Korean people would probably consider this the country…it’s big city living to Jason and I. We’ve got our T-Money cards and our swanky new clothes. Our old students in Cheongok dong would hardly recognize us. Even though we’re in one of the far outer ring suburbs of Seoul we’re still on the subway line. We have access to all parts of Seoul. Which so far we have used to visit Fritz and the Costco. Not exactly big city excitement but we’re working up to that.

Our new apartment is great. It’s bigger and much nicer than our last one. The only downfall is that it’s not furnished. It came with a bed and a TV stand and that’s it. We’ve since bought tupperware (which by the way, is far superior to the U.S. kind) and floor pillows. I think we’re going to have a very zen place this year…at least until we find some good dumpster diving scores.

Teaching so far seems great. I’ve only taught three classes this week but I love it. I was surprised at how energized I was after my first class. I don’t know if it’s from being so idle over the last few months or if I really like it that much. Either way, I’m glad (and a bit surprised) at my reaction to coming back. I wasn’t nervous or anything. I felt extremely comfortable in front of the classes. I never thought I would.

Another big change this year is that we have co-workers who are foreigners as well. So, we have people to help us navigate our first few weeks, people to ask question of, and people to talk smack with. Yeah!!! So, far they’re all really nice and only two of the people seem like they could be weirdos. One of the other guys at the university quietly referred to one of them as the new Boo Radley. I love dorky literature references!

So, here’s to another year in Korea – new jobs, new experiences, new friends, new memories! Kombai!

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.