Monthly Archives: June 2010

freaking out, I am freaking out.

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I was just informed by a future co-worker that he will see me in 35 days (as in meet me because he is coming from the States to teach at the school where my new job is),  WHAT? I counted the days, holy cow, I start my new teachers orientation at APIS (Asia Pacific International School) in THIRTY-FIVE DAYS. This means that I teach my last English class (during English Camp, woot-woot!) in 32 days. This means that my very first day of school, teaching second graders, starts in 49 days. Apparently, I just discovered my bold button.

WHERE HAS THE YEAR GONE?

Of course I can easily answer that question and you could easily read about it (at least the second half) right here, on this blog. But really, time is such a crazy thing, and Korea has definitely kept me busy.

This past weekend was no different. Since Korea and the USA both made it to the second round in the World Cup my Saturday night was intense with nothing but thoughts of soccer. I don’t even remember Friday night it was so not important (okay thats untrue I had to meet up with some girls who are leaving Seoul forever so I must have just blocked the sadness from my brain). I decided that since I already had my fill of the watching the game with the entire Seoul population in the city I would invite some girlfriends over to watch the Korea vs Uruguay game at my pad. We started outside by the local convenience store (all the stores/restaurants surrounding my apartment building have huge t.v. set up for the people eating outside) and moved inside within twenty minutes when it started to rain, and I mean rain-rain, not light drops you catch in your hand and tickle your cheek. This means that the millions of Koreans hanging outside watching the game in their respective cities were dancing in the rain, and I am sure they loved it, they had so much adrenaline (and beer) coursing through their bodies.

Teaching Jennifer how to play Apples to Apples, in the downpour.

I was in my cool, dry apartment with five of my wonderful girlfriends, and I loved it. When Korea made their one goal I swear we made more noise than a thousand Koreans put together, I am surprised my apartment is still standing.

We still love you Korea. Fighting!

But it was not meant to be for Korea or the USA (they played at 3:30 am and I am sad to say the pride for my country comes after a good nights sleep, but I watched the highlights of the game first thing in the morning) ; I tell you what, there were many sad  Korean-American faces on Sunday, as they probably felt like they lost twice. I mean they did lose twice.

Another set of friends embraced the rain and watch the game at City Hall. These girls are nuts and I love them. Also, the devil horns under the poncho Bri? AWESOME.

i love this city

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I was on a bus yesterday heading from Gwanghwamun to have dinner with friends in Sinsa. I am not particularly fond of buses so I tend to opt for the subway if given the choice, that is, unless the commute is a heck of a lot shorter by bus.  In this case it was and I realized something I miss out of when I travel by subway… the city.

With the windows down and a slight breeze shuffling my newly chopped hair I sat on the bus and gazed out at a beautiful view, this was a route I had never taken before and the only thing I can remember thinking was: “I love this city.” I passed by lit up buildings and zoomed over streams and rivers, the roads wind like artwork (confusing to navigate but fantastic to look at), the flowers (bringing a little nature to the city, flowers everywhere) bloom brilliant colors, and the water shines inviting you to take a plunge and escape the humidity in the air.

I grew up in Middleville (yes, actual name) Michigan, a one-stop-light farmer town. I am definitely not in Kansas anymore (okay never was since I just said Michigan, you know what I mean) and though I am incredibly proud of my roots and I really miss grass, I really enjoy this city.

My favorite part of commuting in Seoul, whether it be by bus, taxi, or subway is crossing over the Han River. My friend Christina gives an amazing description (with pictures!) check it out.

And here are a few pics of my own, not many because I haven’t actually gone around just taking pictures of the city because I love people to be in my pics but now that I am realizing my love for this city I think I will be taking a whole lot more.

my first week in seoul, so many lights...

the view from my apartment, taken through the window which is why it's a little grey, wait nope that's the smog... still love it.

bike riding along the han river, this bridge lights up at night.

chyeonggycheon stream during the lantern festival

sick

i love this city

Mr. Busan

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My back is burnt, but I am so so so so so happy. Even with the small glitch made by Korea (yes, I think I will blame the whole country) on the way home from Busan when our seats on the train (all eight of them) were filled with ahjussis and adjumas. Turns out they had tickets for the same seats that we did, and our payment got randomly canceled (only we made it down to Busan with the same type of tickets bought by the same credit card, why would we strand ourselves there, is that proper use of strand? who knows, but I know why we would WANT to be stranded there, WHY DON’T I LIVE IN BUSAN?) so then we had to leave the train and get new tickets, only half of the eight made it off the train before the doors started closing and little me tried with all my might to keep the door from closing while a man who worked on the train watched me (I was screaming to help my strength, or grunting, or whatever other sound that would be horribly embarrassing for a person to make while they are trying to break a door) and Kathleen and Charlie and Kate laughed at me, and Amber and Eric and Tami and Erica had mad/confused/lost/really mad/ ‘what do we do now?’ looks on their faces on the platform and  I thought “I don’t want to stand for three hours on the way back to Seoul” because we had no seats you see. Which is why I had pulled so hard on the door but am really glad my arm or leg didn’t get stuck because that would have been really bad.

Luckily there are a few stops before you head the multiple hours back to Seoul,  we got off at the first stop after Busan while the other half of our group got us all tickets for the next train, only we couldn’t sit by each other now and I had to sit by a little boy who didn’t even smile at me and slept the whole time and I just wanted to say “anyang!” but I think he was scared of me because I hadn’t showered and I saltwater/sandy hair and my face was red.

For those who need visuals here is a map:

Note how close I live to North Korea, no big deal. Busan is three hours away by KTX, the bullet train. It goes very fast.

My friends and I had an amazing weekend full of love motels with whirlpool bathtubs and showers you can see through, dancing (LOTS of dancing), delicious sandwiches (hard to find in Korea), volleyball (Tami was in HEAVEN),  jet-skis (oh hello, I got a ride on a jet-ski and Korean Man let me drive it, good thing there was a language barrier when I screamed, “I have never driven a jet-ski before!” okay I didn’t scream it, only in my head), the tannest-Korean-men-in-the-world (seriously, I thought they were Africans at first, and they were not) wearing thong bathing suits (some covered up a little more and wore speedos), I am sorry, wearing WHITE thong bathing suits (one wore a leopard print maybe? I didn’t get close enough to look, except I did get close enough and averted my eyes, I am scared of penises and I can’t believe I just typed that word, sorry mom), playing soccer with said tannest-korean-men-in-the-world (okay I didn’t play any of the sports mentioned thus far but I took really good pictures of my friends playing them), and watching the first Korean match (they played Greece) of the World Cup ON THE BEACH. Made it even better when Korea WON!  Mr. White Thong became Mr. Busan by the end of the weekend and gave jet-ski rides to Amber and Erica who almost died. I was much smarter and got my ride by a more responsible looking stranger.

Was that paragraph confusing? I apologize for my overuse of parenthesis, I have a lot of thoughts at the same time.

Playing soccer with Mr.Busan and his leopard printed friend. Hey, Andy, Erica, Amber, Kyle, you guys look a TAD over dressed.

“Remember when we were scared to look at Mr. Busan and now we are riding on the back of his jet-ski and giving him hugs?”

I was still scared to look at Mr. Busan, I mean he was wearing a WHITE THONG BATHING SUIT. I never looked directly at the front, just the back, where his butt didn’t exist, went straight from legs to hips.  It’s the KBD, Korean Butt Disease (heard that first on America’s Best Dance Crew, DID NOT make it up!) and it’s why Korean woman even wear their heels on the beach. I AM NOT JOKING.

On the beach, with a bunch of crazy Koreans watching Korea beat Greece in their first game of World Cup 2010. Once in a lifetime experience.

What a weekend, all to celebrate Kathleen Lank’s 23rd birthday. She is loved all over the world. So loved in fact that Camara Miller (Camara’s Blog) drew her this AMAZING picture to represent her Seoul Family, I am wearing my taekwondo uniform, so appropriate.

My Seoul Family: me in my tkd uniform showing off THE yellow belt, Paul and Tami in their ugly sweaters from our Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, Eric and Sam hitting up the Noreabang, Melissa rooting for Canada during the Olympics, Amber behind a penis in Penis Park (an actual place in Seoul and the third time I have said penis, crap fourth, during this blog post, what is wrong with me?) and of course Kathleen, wearing her cookie monster shirt during a massive pillow fight that was held at City Hall in Seoul. The things we do in Korea amaze me.

don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me

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Korea has changed me in more ways than one. But the biggest change has to do with one word: SHOPPING. I was never a big fan of shopping back in the States. My sisters (all four of them at times) would drag me to the mall and I would get incredibly bored after 30 minutes… make me stay 2 hours? I was a big ball of hot-furry-can’t-stand-this-mall-I-am-getting-claustrophobic. Okay that last part is a lie, I tend to exaggerate and was only that dramatic when I was ten and still threw full out arms and legs kicking temper tantrums. Usually, after two hours of shopping I just dragged my feet and tried to hold my head up to mutter an un-enthusiastic: “yes, I like that shirt… yes the 374th one you tried on.”

If my sisters would just suck in up and spend their life-savings to come visit me in Korea they would see a changed woman. First of all, shopping is everywhere in Korea, the sidewalks, dark alleys, actual stores, subways, other random underground areas, your apartment building… you just can’t avoid it. So you have to LOVE IT. Which is what I have done. One of the better, nicer places to go shopping in Korea is Myeong-dong (they also have the cheapest and BEST ICE CREAM which is a very important detail). They have all kinds of stores, big department stores, cute little boutiques, and up and down every road are the street vendors, or whatever you call them.

The only problem with shopping in Korea is… well Koreans. I mean, the culture. I love Koreans. Really, I do. It’s just when you go in a store the workers are on you like bees on a flower, flies on a sticky tape sheet thing, they follow so close and speak to you in Korean trying to convince you to buy whatever it is you happened to glance at. This just isn’t something I am used to being from North America. People like space over there, here… not so much. They have girls dancing in short skirts outside shops screaming into a megaphone at you as you walk past. Most of them don’t even need a megaphone.

The worst most interesting tactic  (I am trying really to stay away from negative words when it comes to describing Korea, I like it here- I like it!) is when people actually reach out and TOUCH YOU as they try to pull (yes physical pull) you over to their display or into their store. I was in Myeong-dong with some friends last week when I saw these cool plastic apples outside a beauty shop and I picked one up to look at it. This lady immediately came over, smiled, and spoke to me (in Korean, since I live in Korea, did you know?) motioning to the fake apples. I smiled and set it down and she didn’t like that so she reached out and grabbed my arm trying to get me to come into the store. I pulled my arm away and said in my head out loud, “don’t touch me, don’t touch me, don’t touch me!”

My friend Tami laughed and I realized I spoke a loud and tried to give an innocent shrug. WHAT? I don’t like strangers touching me!

Jenny, visiting from Germany, and experiencing the wonder that is shopping Myeong-dong, I forgot to chat with the big guy upstairs about the weather though. Come back soon Jenny and maybe we can site see in sunshine!

I am wearing shorts under my dress at work right now.  Weird? Well, let me tell you something, the last time my thighs didn’t touch was probably before I hit puberty and when you walk to work in the hot/muggy Korean summer heat (it’s the beginning of June and feels like the hottest day in July in Michigan) and you start to sweat it is just PLAIN uncomfortable when your legs rub together. So don’t judge me. No one can tell, I still have style.

I have decided to become a master of the nunchucks.

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It is time for a long overdue “I actually do like Korea!” post. I know I hate on certain (okay a lot of certain) things about this country and the culture, but I really do enjoy living here. I love the unity that Koreans have (they refer to everything as ‘our’ when they are speaking, more on that later) and the long history and the colorful palaces (including the ceremony ‘Changing of the Guard’ that happens every day, multiple times a day, in front of the palaces, a MUST SEE If you ever come to Korea). I love my students (most of them) and tutoring Han Wool, my little orphan child (who just had a birthday! Happy Birthday Han Wool!).

And, most recently, I have become obsessed with taekwondo, 태권도, a Korean martial art and the national sport of Korea.

태 (tae) means to strike or break with foot

권 (kwon) means to strike or break with fist

도 (do) means ‘way’, ‘method’, or ‘art’.

so taekwondo is the art of striking with your foot and fist.

Yesterday during class I noticed all of the nunchucks (actual name is nunchaku or something of the sort) in the corner. When you start weaponry in taekwondo the first thing you learn to handle are the nunchucks. And boy did I want to learn.  Thus my new goal was declared last night, I want to become a master of the nunchucks. It is much, much harder than it looks.

picture courtesy of blackdynamitemovie.com

I get upset when I have to hold my trash and walk fifty blocks.

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“I am loving roketship comics on your day of birth, and just found the most appropriate one (note: still looking for one relating to spit on street, that will be the VERY MOST appropriate…)”

Kathleen -may 17th-

Why are there no trash cans in Seoul? You may be wondering this. Or not. We all know I am going to tell you anyways. I have heard two theories/reasons/myths, I believe both of them. The first one I heard was from my friend Kristin (this is me quoting you babe, be happy, you are getting a shout out) who informed me that during the olympics in the 80s (right? 80s?) the city decided that having trash cans everywhere made Seoul look more dirty and unattractive, so they removed ALL trash cans everywhere. ALL OF THEM, because having trash thrown randomly all over the street is a MUCH better option. The second theory I heard was that during the olympics in the 80s (I really should get a specific year) someone made a bomb threat and said they put it in one of the trash cans in the city. Great. Instead of searching every single one, they just got rid of them. ALL OF THEM. Like I said, they are probably both right.

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