This may be risky...

...but here is my phone number (landline) here in Seoul:

When dialing from the US, you have to dial "011" first (its called an "international access code or something)

011-82-2-804-4086

011 is the international access code
82 is South Korea's country code
2 is Seoul's area code
804-4086 is my actual phone number

REMEMBER - Seoul is 14 hours ahead of Indiana time. I will answer the phone at 4AM but I may not be coherent or pleasant to talk to :)

If you want my cell #, shoot me an email and we'll negotiate.

2 DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!

6 crazies and a Korean Photo Booth

Randi - we miss you!!

A beautiful mess...

About a month or so ago I was able to take a trip with my co-teacher to Mallipo Beach in Taean County on the West coast of the peninsula. We visited a beautiful island that's part of a National Nature preserve called Anmyeon Island. It was one of the most pristine, untouched beaches I had ever seen. I took this video while I was there:





"At about 7:30 am local time on December 7, 2007, a crane barge owned by Samsung Heavy Industries being towed by a tug collided with the anchored Hong Kong registered crude carrier Hebei Spirit, carrying 260,000 tonnes (290,000 ST) of crude oil. The incident occurred near the Port of Daesan on the Yellow Sea coast of Taean county. The barge was floating free after the cable linking it to the tug snapped in the rough seas. Although no casualties were reported, the collision punctured three of the five containers aboard the Hebei Spirit and resulted in the leaking of some 10,800 tonnes (11,900 ST) of oil." (Wikipedia, 2007)

This is the same beach today:



It's a total loss.

"Mallipo, an important stopover for migrating birds including snipe, mallards and great crested grebes, also has an abundant fishing industry.

Choi Kyung-hwan, a 58-year-old fisherman, came to the beach Sunday to help, but despaired for the area where he has lived for 30 years.

"Mallipo is finished," he said.

Choi, wearing a thick winter coat, said the strong odor of oil had sickened his wife.

"But I came here because I have to do something," he said. "I don't know when we can finish. But we have to continue." (USA Today, 2007)

Lunch

Many of you may have never encountered Korean food before. Its not too popular at least in Indiana...I was fortunate enough to get addicted to kimchee at a tiny Korean restaurant near my Grandma's house before I left for Korea. I thought I'd show you what a typical school lunch looks like for me:



From top left, continuing clockwise around the tray:

1) Kimchee. I listed this first because it is, without a doubt, the most important item on this tray. What is kimchee, you ask? Well, its basically fermented spicy cabbage. Koreans eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Every day. Sometimes they even wake up in the middle of the night and sneak some out of the kimchee refrigerator. Yes - Koreans eat so much of it that they have to buy a separate refrigerator exclusively to store it. I LOVE it.

2) Tiny fried shrimp with a mysterious red sauce. First of all, they eat the shrimp whole (tail and all) and I don't really know what the red sauce was all about. It tasted suspiciously like the red sauce I had on the chicken I ate with Eddy, Ruda, Trev, Cathy and Rachel last night...

3) Namul. There are many kinds of namul in the world, basically it just means "seasoned vegetable". The dark green namul you see on the tray is spinach (shigeumchi) namul with sesame seeds. Its my favorite kind of namul (Hilary is partial to kongnamul, or soybean sprouts). This is by FAR my favorite Korean food. Just call me Popeye.

4) Tofu and egg guk. Guk refers to any broth-based soup, and today's had tofu and egg, as well as some green onions. My favorite soup is turnip greens in fermented bean paste broth. That actually sounds like a joke but its not.

5) Rice. All day, every day, rice rice rice. The Korean word for rice is "bap", or "bop", or "pop", or "bab", or "bob". I've seen it written like all of those. There is no standard English in Korea, just whatever you happen to prefer at the moment. This is why my co-teacher spells "SpongeBob" like "SpongePop".

Actually, its quite funny to hear my kids pronounce "SpongeBob SquarePants" - it sounds like "spongee pop scare panch". I had no idea what they were talking about for WEEKS. A lot of my 6th grade girls have SpongeBob nicknames - Doongie (Squidward), JingJingI (Patrick Star) - its kind of weird. So I asked if I could be "Gary" and they obliged. Which means, I'm officially as cool as the 6th grade cool girls. YES!

Now I must retire...to bed. Enjoy your 3 feet of snow :)

Jess

Christmas in Seoul

Here are some fun pictures of random occurrences of late:


Susan, Randi and Hil, cold but ready to see some Christmas lights!


Christmas lights display near City Hall - there was an ice rink in the middle!


Randi getting ready to "ruin" Hil's picture...


Randi "ruining" Hil's picture :)


Amazing lights!!!


Light forest near City Hall - they even had fake wildlife covered in lights.


The gang - Susan, me, Randi, Hil, Ruda and Eddy...it looks as though we're standing in front of a blazing inferno...


Best cab ride...EVER. 4 people in the backseat of a Kia. I think that's a Guinness Record...

God is Good

I spent the morning in tears. But before I tell you why, let me give you a bit of background information:

This week was not fun. On top of my usual tasks (teaching and lesson-planning for 22 classes) I was responsible for coming up with 39 lesson plans for my school's winter camp English class, plus I was responsible for coming up with 12 more lesson plans for the other camp that I'm teaching at over Christmas. Yikes.

And then there's the co-teacher situation. She didn't show up to class on Monday morning. I was seriously concerned - no call, no text - plus its actually illegal for me to teach in a classroom with no supervising teacher (they want to keep an eye on what these foreigners are teaching their youth). And 6-2 is a difficult class anyway to handle by myself when I can't discipline effectively because I DON'T SPEAK KOREAN. Ugh.

So I wandered down to the teacher's room to ask the Vice Principal if he'd heard from her when lo and behold she's just relaxing and drinking coffee in there. She told me she has a cold sore and was "too embarassed" to come to class.

...

Yeah. Moving on.

She's nearly always late to first period and she broke down yesterday during the sixth grade lesson because one of my upper level students asked her a question and she didn't know the answer. This woman is dissolving before my eyes. I don't know what to do anymore. I try to give her as much grace as I can but these thoughts creep in that say:

"You have every right to hate her. She makes your life miserable. You would be a much better teacher if it weren't for her. She ruins everything."

I want sooooo badly to own these thoughts, because that makes me the one in the right. The good one. The one that doesn't screw up. But these thoughts are poison. And I can feel my soul becoming sicker and sicker the more those words run through my mind. And I wonder how can God love so much. Is it hard for Him?

So this has been a monumental struggle - I've never felt this kind of war against my flesh before. Most days I want to scream and pull my hair out. And I want to tell the hateful thoughts to go away but part of me wants to believe them. Every day has been a battle.

So Rach asked if I wanted to do a spa trip this weekend, and I was all up for going until last night, when I got this strange feeling that maybe I shouldn't go. Hil decided to go, and I decided to stay home, because there was nothing I wanted more than to go to sleep and not set my alarm.

My doorbell rings at 9:00 AM. My thoughts: "Uggggggggh...its probably the Jehovah's Witnesses again...I'm not getting it." Doorbell rings again. I roll over. Then a knocking and a man's voice. So I wander over to the door just in case the building's burning down. I open the door. Its the mail dude. And he has a package. For me.

And that's why I spent the morning in tears.

God gives me everything I need. He gave me you. I love you more than you know, more than I could ever say in a blog, or an email, or even in person. I have amazing friends :)

Okay, I'm going back to bed now. Haha.

Love -

Jess

2 things, quickly

I'm really tired...it's been an interesting week or so on many fronts...but before I go to bed ridiculously early, there are two things that I've been thinking about lately that I need to blog about.

1. Pineapple.

First of all, pineapple in amazing. And I'm not talking about that travesty-to-tropical-fruit canned variety in "syrup" or whatever the heck high fructose insulin shock they're marinating in. I'm talking about freshly hacked up delicious, slightly coconutty, buttery, sweet and sour amazingness. But I've got a bone to pick with pineapple. There's something I don't like about it. In fact, it makes me angry to even think about it for any length of time. What's that, you ask?

The name "pineapple".

First of all, I can see where the "pine" came from, I guess. It kind of looks like a pinecone. Except for the small insignificant fact that it's delicious. And besides, it comes from a tropical tree, not a pine tree. They don't even look alike. Come on.

And second - "apple" - I just don't get that. There is nothing further from an apple. That's like calling a hamster a squirrel. Or vice versa. Apples do grow on trees, yes, but so does money (right, Dad?). And lots of other un-apple-y things.

As it turns out, the word "pineapple" comes from European explorers as they searched the vast new world for adventure and the fountain of youth. They mistook the fruit we know as "pineapple" for the pine cones they had found in the region that we now call Canadia (it figures that the white man screwed this one up). The original native word for "pineapple" was "anana", which is "banana" without the "b". For the life of me, why people have for centuries called this fruit by other fruits names is just something I can't understand.

So you've got this amazing fruit, and its name sucks. Pineapple deserves an awesome name. Something like Passion Fruit. Or Awesome Fruit. I'll think about it this week and let you know what I come up with.

2. My random encounters with strangers

Example A: An old lady walks up to me about once a week on my walk to school, gets right in my way and just stares at me until I smile, and then she smiles back. I don't get this.

Example B: While wearing contacts, I accidentally freak out possibly hundreds of people who nearly swallow their gum at the sight of my freakishly blue eyes. Some people here have never seen a blue-eyed person in person. Sometimes they even yelp a little when you walk around a corner and accidentally surprise them.

Example C: On my way home today, I saw a cute baby, so I smiled at her. She couldn't have been more than 18 months old. She shot back the meanest look I've ever seen on anyone since I got here. I had no idea a baby could scowl like that. I was actually terrified. I'm actually still terrified. Creepy baby.

Okay, that's enough ranting for one day. Tomorrow is Friday!! Yay!! For those of you enduring finals week, hang in there - you're in my prayers. But you should probably stop wasting time reading this blog and get back to studying. To the rest of you - 12 days til Christmas!! Love!!

Jess

Girls rule

Hey y'all -

Just wanted to announce that I have a new cousin!!! My Uncle Glen and Aunt Jerri now have 4 (!) kids. So now Sarah, Shawn and Erin have a new sister! I haven't gotten verification on the name yet (some speculate as to "Holly Nicole") but she was born on Friday November 30. That makes 2 cousins now that I have that I've never met :( Man, I wanna go home just to see her!! Yeah yeah and the rest of all of you too...but mostly her. Haha. Well, by the time I get home in August, she'll be right around the age that babies get interesting, so I guess I'm not missing much :)

On an unrelated sidenote, if you're in the mood for a good emo Irish musical, you should watch "Once". Actually, its worth renting it just for the first scene. We rewound it and watched it 3 or 4 times. The soundtrack is really good, too...I'm actually listening to it right now :) Also, American Gangster is a fairly good movie though it was a bit violent for my taste. But by far the best chunk of change you could spend would of course be The Office Season 3 Disc Set. Makes a great stocking stuffer.

Speaking of stockings - my Grandma sent me my advent calender!!!! THANKS GRANDMA!!!! I took it to school...the kids have never seen anything like it. It was a good mini-lesson.

Pretty sure I'm going to Thailand in February. One word, two syllables: Awesome.

That's all. Oh wait - this is what we did last night:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nXPbWNyCHho

"Cat Rescue 911" turns into "Hilary gets stuck in window". Hilarious.

Love you!

Jess

Why is it so COLD in here??

Gosh darn my heating system. I just haven't figured the blasted thing out yet. Lots of trial. Lots of error.

Most buildings here are heated through an ondol, or an underfloor web of hot water pipes that warm the concrete, thereby causing the heat to rise through the floor. Its a genius system. Apparently it just also takes a genius to figure out how to use it.

No actually it just takes someone that understands Korean.

Had fun last weekend. I went to Insadong (a shopping district where you can find all sorts of traditional Korean items) with Rachel and Jess C. Its basically one narrow street with shops lining both sides. And for some reason that defies all logic, people drive down the street, even though at any given moment there are at least one bagillion people on the street. So they drive very slowly, honking their horn as if they're under the impression that we're the ones posing the problem. Sheesh.

So after some shopping, I met up with Hil, Ruda and Eddy to hang out at a coffeeshop. I'm glad I found friends that like coffee. Coffee friends are quintessential in life, because coffeeshops are such awesome places to get to know people. So, its just difficult to try and get to know someone outside of a coffeeshop. Dinner is too much of a commitment, going to their place or your place can be weird...the world needs coffeeshops.

So after some coffee we took a stroll around town, eating dinner at a hole-in-the-wall and stopping at a couple bookstores. Then off to another coffeeshop to talk more. It was basically the perfect day.

I led Sunday School for the first time on Sunday afternoon with Ruda. It went better than either one of us expected - we're teaching the book of Esther to young elementary kids, and after I read the adaptation of this week's section of the book, the kids were so excited about what happens next that they hurriedly got out their little Bibles and looked it up on their own! Amazing. We can learn a lot from kids, you know.

Sunday night was spent having Thanksgiving dinner at church with my Korean/English teacher family...between Bible Study, church hanging out, and other ministries, I'd say we've got about 20 or so regulars in our little "young people in Seoul" group. I'm so thankful for the friendships here because they were never promised to me - there was no guarantee that I'd find anybody to relate with here. But God put people in my path here that not only seek Him but are also just awesome in general. Its made my time here more valuable than I had previously thought possible.

On Sunday night, Hil, Eddy, Ruda and I went to go see "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" in Myeong-dong. It was a tremendous movie, though I wonder how much creative liberty the director took with some of the historical context...will have to do some research...

School's kicking my butt this week. It seems like teaching is the last thing I have time to concentrate on...there are so many administrative/planning/irrelevant things I have to deal with on a regular basis that teaching gets backburnered. Even though that's why I'm here. Huh. Not to mention the mixed messages - "Don't be stressed. Just relax. Be happy. And I need this document done in an hour. It should take you 3 hours to do." Its just part of Korean custom to do whatever your boss tells you to do, even if its certain you will fail. And then when you do, you beat yourself up for being an incompetent worthless piece of crap, even though there's no way you could've completed the task on time. So interesting.

I don't really function like that. I have no problem saying no. I think this is an admirable quality. However, when the Vice Principal asks my coteacher if I'll do something, and she says yes (because she can't say no) and I say no, that's when she breaks down crying at her desk. And that's when the guilt hits me like a mack truck. AND THAT'S when my rational self overwhelms my guilt-ridden self saying "IT'S ALL AN EMOTIONAL CONSPIRACY TO GET YOU TO DO SOMETHING YOU DON'T WANT TO DO" and that's when my I get angry at the system and wonder why in the WORLD this has to be this difficult. And that's when I break down crying at my desk.

I'm so thankful for my ability to say no confidently. I just wish everyone else were the same way. Honesty is not this culture's strong point.

That's enough ranting for one day. Contrary to what you might think, I'm having a great time here!! Thanks for your prayers, messages and emails - God bless you guys!!

Jess

Ajummacity

I want to begin by stating that I respect my elders. I love my grandparents. They take me cool places, cook me tasty food, they read me books when I was little, they gave me eggo waffles for breakfast, they played Trouble and Yatzee with me for hours on end, I could go on and on. They're good people. Nice people (when you don't make them mad). Friendly people.

But can I just ask - WHERE HAVE ALL THE FRIENDLY OLD PEOPLE GONE???

In Korea, there is no such thing as a "nice older lady", someone who bakes you cookies or pumpkin bread and makes you hot cocoa. Nope. They simply don't exist here. There are possibly a few exceptions, but not enough to keep me from making sweeping generalizations for the rest of this post.

In Korea, there are: The Ajummas. They are the antithesis of the old lady in the teddy bear sweater vest at the library who helps you find...whatever people look for in libraries...I don't read. Except for the Bible. And people's Facebook profiles.

Ajummas are always armed with two deadly weapons: their left and right elbows. God forbid you ever cross paths with an ajumma in a hurry to get on the subway. It doesn't matter if you're trying to get off first, prepare to be at least clotheslined if not severely disabled by your ajumma opponent. Old ladies here appear to only strengthen with age, as I have personally witnessed an ajumma beating the crap out of a man appearing several years her junior. His cries for mercy simply washed over her grisled and hardened face.

Sometimes ajummas here just shout on the subway for no reason. Their bowed legs cause them to hunch forward just slightly, they squint their eyes and start screaming and feverishly pointing at anyone and everyone, as though the whole of Korea has done this lady some injustice. All I can tell you is that its terrifying.

And the ajumma clothes...you'll want to make sure and wear 3 or 4 not only differing but competing patterns to attract as much attention as possible. Bright colors are a must, and the more, the merrier. Polyester is quintessential. And top it all off with a knock-off Burberry handbag to complete the ensemble. Add an ajumma visor, and you're well on your way.

I found this on some dude's blog...it explains Ajumosis fairly well:
"Ajumma is a state of mind. When women cut their hair and curl it and start pushing and shoving a lot like a wild beast on the subway ... they are an ajumma. When a woman starts wearing a visor of a color and size that would give Darth Vader helmet envy ... they are an ajumma. When a woman gets together with her friends and talks so loud that the decibel level of their conversation rivals that of an above-ground nuclear test ... they are an ajumma."

I hope to get a picture soon. You can google "ajumma" for now.

But when you think over Korea's difficult history, about how until about 30 years ago, this was a third world country, the ajumma begins to make more sense. She comes from an era where you had to be aggressive if you were going to survive. She will work hard to ensure that her children are fed. She will not easily back down in the face of adversity. In fact, she scares the crap out of adversity.

She's been through a lot. She's been through a horrific war. She's seen her country devastated physically, economically and politically. She's given everything to her family to make a future for her children. And she's survived.

Diversity and Ginkgo Berries

It's cold.

But that's okay, because my mommy sent me my winter coat. She also sent me my running shoes, two white t-shirts, a page of the comics, microwave popcorn, and some baggies of cherry granola from the co-op which I have been craving for exactly 3 years because it tastes how happiness feels. Thanks mumsy :)

AnBerlin is INCREDIBLE. You should check them out. "The Unwinding Cable Car" is the greatest song ever written. And that is a completely objective statement.

I went to the Yellow Sea on Saturday with my co-teacher, Hyun. She picked me up at 10 or so and we motored about 3 hours south to somewhere along the West coast of the Korean peninsula. We went to this island and walked on the beach for awhile. I got some AWESOME shells. Like nothing I've ever seen in the states. I saw tidal pools with tiny forms of life running around and oyster outcroppings on giant rocks. There were ajummas everywhere trying to harvest the oysters (ajummas = old Korean ladies...I guess I have to explain ajummas in my next post...stay tuned, it'll be worth it).

Here's a fun bit for you Purdue people: You know those ginkgo trees along the north side of Memorial Mall directly across from Stanley Coulter hall, the ones that drop those NASTY SMELLING berries that stick to the bottom of your shoe and leave you smelling like vomit for your power hour lecture? Well, apparently in Korea, there's a saying that says that you should eat 5 ginkgo berries everyday and you will be incredibly vibrant and healthy. Old people here shake the ginkgo trees and gather those puke berries like madmen, then remove the outer part of the berry and harvest the inner seed-like things. They look like jellybeans.

So this dude was roasting the seed-like things along the harbor on Saturday and Hyun bought me some. They tasted decent (they had salt on them), but every once in awhile you'd catch a slight whiff of barfberry and that was enough to make you want to toss your berries, so to speak.

Have I used enough vomit euphemisms yet? Probably. I love how diverse the English language is. Oh - speaking of diverse...

On the way home, Hyun and I were in the car and after an extended period of silence (I was reading...or just daydreaming with a book open, which happens about 50% of the time that I appear to be "reading") she said the following to me:

"Jessica (or, more accurately, 'Jeshka'), have I said you that I am...diverse?"

Furrowed brow. My thought process: "Diverse? Diverse? What the heck does she mean by diverse? Like, multi-faceted? Does she have multiple personalities? Am I stuck in the car in bumper to bumper traffic with a crazy person?? Is she only half-Korean? Gosh this is awkward...I have no idea what to say..."

Hyun: "You know, I am diverse. I was married, but now I am diversed."

Me: "OH, DIVORCED! Divorced, right. Got it. Divorced. Yep."

This is how most of our conversations go. No wonder I have migraines.

Before I jet to post about ajummas, funny story from today:
I was teaching class 6-3 after lunch today when I heard a knock at the door. I look over and see a tiny first grade boy open the door. He looks up, sees me, his eyes get huge and he says -

"Oh my God."

And then he runs away.

I AM NOT A FREAK. I LOOK LIKE A NORMAL PERSON. PLEASE EXCUSE ME FOR BEING OF CAUCASIAN HERITAGE. These are the things I must repeat to myself on a daily basis. I actually laughed out loud when that happened though. I thought it was hilarious.

Onto the ajumma post, stay warm!!

Jess

Check it out

MSNBC slideshow about Korean conflict through the years:

http://www.msnbc.com/modules/interactive.aspx?type=ss&launch=15818319,3032507&pg=1

There goes my hero...

On Sunday at church, I got to meet a man that has had a significant impact in my life in a multitude of ways. He now joins Stephen among the ranks of my personal heroes. Who is this mystery man, you may ask, and what astounding contribution to society is he responsible for?

He was the primary developing force behind Kashi GoLean Crunch cereal.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Cereal? Really? You're personal hero is a cereal developer? People, hear me. Where would you be without cereal? Since the days of fighting with your siblings over who got to fish around for that worthless toy at the bottom of the box, through the Fruit Loop years, the sweet Lucky Charms mornings, the Cap'n Crunch revolution of your youth - cereal is who you've become. Its more than food. Its a sustaining life force, a symbol of our ever-evolving yet nostalgic generation. Its more than just a part of who we are - it represents who we've always desired to become.

Funny sidenote/cereal story: One time my mom bought 10 boxes of a cereal called "Golden Goals" because I think each box cost about $0.35. I still to this day remember how awful that cereal was and how it was the worst month of my life trying to work through 10 boxes of it. And we always had that rule, the one that stated "No one may open a new box of cereal until the previous box has been emptied". I still remember that. Vividly. Cereal is important.

And so as I was carrying around my gigantic box of cereal on Sunday (that Hilary bought for me at CostCo), I was stopped by a middle-aged Indian man, who exclaimed upon meeting me that he had been one of the key developers of Kashi in the late 1990s and that he personally helped the marketing team come up with the name "GoLean". He is now the CEO of Kellogg's in Asia, which means that he is CEREAL ROYALTY.

Now, this summer I saw important people everyday. I said "Hi" to Senators on a fairly regular basis. I had my picture taken with Newt Gingrich. I went to The President's Dinner. But all of that pales in comparison to meeting Cap'n Crunch himself. I can imagine his birthday parties...he probably fills the swimming pool with Frosted Flakes...Tony the Tiger gives the toast ("What can I say about these people? They're grrrrrreat!")...Snap, Crackle and Pop are making balloon animals for the kids...what a life.

Thank you, Mr. Kellogg's Man, for making my mornings so wholesome, for providing me with the most important meal of the day, and most importantly - for making my childhood just a little brighter. Thank you, Mr. Kellogg's Man, for being a hero to children everywhere. Thank you, Mr. Kellogg's man, for being my hero.

Feel free to leave any personal messages of gratitude, and I will pass them along.

3 things

3 things made my day extraordinary today:

1) One of my 5th grade students dropped by my classroom after lunch and gave me a small packet full of a powdery substance. She told me it was for my voice (I sort of lost my voice yesterday, you know, screaming at all the children) and so I thought it was one of those vitamin C powder packets that my students have given me before (they're all about the gifts in Korea). I opened it, dumped it in my mouth, and suddenly I felt a strange sensation on my tongue and loud popping noises erupted from my mouth.

Yes - it was Vitamin C Pop Rocks.

For the record, I find this to be the best invention since the wheel. If it were up to me, I would personally award the Nobel Peace Prize to the inventor of such a monumental asset to society. They should make all vitamins in Pop Rocks form; I mean, how healthy would our kids be?!? Moving on...

2) I purchased a drink out of a vending machine at the subway station as I was heading home from Bible Study, as is customary for me. I studied the vending machine, trying to make out just what exactly it contained. There were the regulars - cans of coffee, Chilsung Cider (think Sprite, but better), Coke, assorted juices, aloe vera juice (GROSS), something called "Nostalgia Juice" (which I can only imagine tastes like warm, fuzzy memories of chestnuts roasting on an open fire) - and then I spotted a bottle with a peach picture on it. Now, peach juice sounded really good at the time, so I put my coins in and retrieved the beverage. I took a sip and suddenly realized -

There were chunks in it. Now, when you crack open a bottle of juice, I don't care what kind of juice, you may expect pulp, you may expect a thick, fresh fruity consistency, but my friend, you do not expect chunks. These chunks were righteously-sized too, and I was thankful I hadn't choked on them before I knew what hit me. They were just chunks of peaches, and actually the drink turned out to be quite refreshing, after the initial shock wore off, of course. And finally...

3) As some of you know, ever since I took listening tests in Spanish I in middle school, it has been my lifelong dream to be the voice of narration on foreign language audio tapes. Now, this may seem like a strange dream to have, but you wouldn't believe how many times I was told that I'd be perfect for this job. And today, I got my chance.

Hyun asked me if I would help her make a listening test for the 3rd graders ("I like apples. Do you like apples? No, I like grapes."). So we made an entire unit review test for them, and just as I had imagined for so many years, I rocked. I mean, the tone, the inflection, the rhythm - it was all there, flowing in an intricate pattern of nouns and verbs so poetic that Lord Byron himself wept from beyond the grave.

Okay, that's it. Quite a notable day, wouldn't you say? :)

Jess

My apartment

In other news, I cleaned my apartment this week. So now you can see pictures of where I live! Prepare to be impressed:


Well, this is it. And I actually had to step out into the hallway to take this picture.


This is the laundry area/kitchen. As you can see, my countertop space is extensive.


This is...the bedroom...actually its just the right half of my apartment.


This is my desk. Notice the pom-pom covered jar in the back - my cousin Kenzie ran around her house collecting "Indiana air" for me to take with me to Korea.


Here's the bathroom. Wait - where's the shower, you ask?


It's right there, silly - can't you see the hose attached to the wall? Its nice though, you clean the bathroom every time you shower.


The utility closet; I prefer to call it the "Bonus Room" or "Extra Bedroom without heat" or even "Room full of useless things".

The pantry: chips, ramen, crackers, peanut butter, tea, cookies, bread, vitamins - that's well-balanced, right?


I'm killing the plant.

Howdy!

Hey -

I apologize for the extended absence, for some reason, Blogger locked me out of my own account ("How rude!" as Stephanie Tanner would say). Not only was I unable to view, update or edit my own blog, but I was unable to read anyone else's...so I've got some reading to do. But first, let me tell you about my latest adventures here on the peninsula known as Korea.

Bible Study has been going really well. We're studying Romans and its INTENSE! We're each doing it chapter-by-chapter and preparing in our own unique ways. I think I've been Nav-brainwashed because I can't seem to do anything other than inductive studies - I just LOVE THEM! We're actually using NavPress studies for the next round which starts in January (we'll be going through Hebrews). God has been revealing things to me lately about His Word and has allowed me to view things in a new and exciting way...sometimes its so intense that I for an instant get a glimpse of understanding, and then have to try to get back to it and can actually feel my brain doubling back on itself trying to understand, and I have to stop whatever I'm doing to concentrate really hard. Its really awesome, and I don't know how to really explain this phenomenon accurately, but yeah...anyway... :)

I got a Korean cell phone (with my friend Ruda's help) on Saturday...now I just have to figure out how to use it...

Yesterday I did something I never in a million years would've thought I could do. And why I ever wanted to do it is beyond my comprehension, but I did it. And I'm very proud of myself. So what earth-shattering, mind-boggling event did I participate in yesterday?

I went to the "Doctor Fish".

If you're not Korean or familiar with Korea, you probably have no idea what Doctor Fish are. Well, buckle up, because here we go:

The Doctor Fish cafe looks like any other posh Korean cafe - expensive coffees and teas, coffee table books about Leonardo da Vinci, fake fireplaces, comfy chairs, elaborate architecture and so on. But at the Doctor Fish cafe, for a small fee (think about $3), you can go out onto the rooftop terrace overlooking the neon-lit neighborhood, rinse off your feet, wrap yourself in a (fake) Burberry fleece blanket and soak your feet in a nice, big pool of warm water, decorated nicely with ferns and flowers, and let thousands of small fish eat the dead skin off of your feet.

NO. JOKE.

Now, as many of you know, I have had a fish phobia ever since I can remember. I don't like aquariums, I don't like eating fish, I don't like the smell of anything fishy, I don't like fishing, shows about fishing, or talking about shows about fishing. I don't - like - fish. So I really can't explain why exactly I decided to put my feet in a tank full of them. Perhaps peer pressure. I kept thinking of the irony that I spent almost every summer of my life at some lake trying to avoid this very situation, and now I was paying people to let me do it. I think I've officially lost it.

I almost had a panic attack when I got to the tank. Now keep in mind, these fish are very small. Like minnow size. And so slowly, I put my feet in, hoping against hope that having the dead skin eaten off my feet was a pleasant if not a nonexistent feeling. But it wasn't. I don't know exactly how to describe it...it kind of feels like a bunch of cats licking your feet. At first it tickled like you wouldn't believe, and the tickling sensation soon overwhelmed my mental powers of denial that were keeping me calm and cool...my thought process went like this:

"It's okay, just put your feet in slowly, don't squish the fish DON'T SQUISH THE FISH, oh my gosh, how awful would that be to smash one on accident, with its little fishy guts, what would happen to his family - OKAY KEEP IT TOGETHER JESS - right, slowly lowering feet, oh htis isn't so bad, okay they're swarming, it tickles a little...okay it tickles a LOT, calm, collected, I'm fine, everythings fine I - OH MY GOSH MY FOOT IS COVERED IN FIIIIISH!!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!". Repeat that cycle 4 or 5 times, and that's roughly what happened.

The good news is that Randi took a video of some of the experience and posted it on YouTube. So, for your enjoyment, I give you this glimpse of Dr. Fish experience - only in Korea!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sBxamr1HX-8

Apparently there's a place where you can do "whole-body" Dr. Fish. I'll be going there never.

That's about it for now, I'll post some pictures soon. Hope you had a Happy Halloween!!

Jess

My life is amusing...

Hey there!

I don't even know where to begin honestly. My life is one big Korean blur.

After school classes. They've doubled my workload but are twice as rewarding than regular classes. My sixth-grade girls are chatty and well-behaved, mature ladies. Here are some bios:

From L to R: Kim Hey Won, Emily, and Grace


Grace is the most advanced - she grew up in Hong Kong and went to English kindergarten. Her mom is the pastor of foreign members at the largest church in our area. Some of their doctrine is sketchy...but she knows that I am a Christian and she's invited me to church a couple of times. Her Teacher Mail letters are long and elaborate. She's in love with Justin Timberlake and thought he was a movie star...that is until I showed her old school 'NSYNC photos and blew her mind. She is a quiet girl who thinks before she speaks and is very motivated and intelligent. A true gem.

Emily is a doll. She understands everything I say and is still somewhat shy about speaking up. I think the after school class will be very beneficial to her. She gestures a lot when she talks, and she'll get half a sentence out and panic and run back to her desk with her head in her hands. So funny.

Sarah is bright and personable. She was voted school president this year and therefore has a lot of responsibilities around the school. For the festival, she served as one of the three judges and was also in charge of running the sound board. She writes me long letters about the books she's reading...she reads a lot of books! I told her to read The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein. She reminds me of an older version of my 8 year old cousin Sarah.

Kim Hey Won (no English name) is SO FUNNY! She is smarter than she lets on, and she writes me letters about how much she likes English class. Who doesn't love a suck-up? :) She has a face that she makes when she doesn't understand something...not an expressive confused face (think Erica Bush) but more like you can see the light go off in her mind. Its amazing. She thinks its funny that I can tell when she doesn't understand something. She tries to trick me.

And then there are the two boys:


John, pretty much hilarious, is the only sixth-grade boy in the class. He is a little chubby (which gets you called "pig" amongst Korean youth) and when I ask how he's feeling he always says "hungry". We were describing characteristics the other day and I asked them to describe me. Probably a bad idea, but I went with it. Without a second thought John says "You're fat." Now, I've lost some weight since getting here and though I am by no means skinny, I'm fairly well-proportioned. So I said "You know John, in America, if you told someone that they were fat, they might get angry with you." And he says "What? You're fat, I'm fat. Food is good. Delicious." And I thought...he's right.

Danny - my only fifth-grader - is ADORABLE. I call him Danny because he reminds me of how my brother used to look, if my brother were Korean. Now, if you know my brother, you know that he's grown into a very handsome adult. However, when he was little, that kid was funny looking. Ask my mom - she'll tell you the same thing. And Danny is so cute because he's just a scrawny funny-looking adorable sweet little boy. He's kind of trouble-maker in regular class, so I was a bit worried at first, but he's an excellent student.

And along with my 5 sixth-graders and one fifth-grader, I have a class of fourth-graders. Some of the more notable ones:

Sunny (No picture)- Kind of a drama queen in the funniest way. We'll play Jeopardy or Top 5 and she's always the girls team captain and says "Oh my God" and puts her head in her hands when she gets stressed out because they miss a question. She's like a sitcom character.


Mary - Good, smart, and quiet - just how I like 'em. Also, she wears pigtails everyday.


Kari - A know-it-all that knows it, kind of a trouble-maker when she spends break time chasing the boys around. But she's sharp as a tack.


Sarah - I think I've heard her say 3 words. But she's sweet.

Emily (No picture) - Wears glasses and pigtails everyday as well, also good, smart and quiet.


Tony - He doesn't understand a thing and screws around the whole time. Luckily most of the others ignore him when he throws paper wads at them. He spends a large portion of class time sitting in the back doing worksheets because I don't have time to individually tutor him without order dissolving around me.


Steven - T-R-O-U-B-L-E when you don't keep him occupied every second of every minute. But when he's focused, he's brilliant. We did color-by-numbers on Thursday and he ate it up.


Grant - A very good kid when he isn't throwing paper wads with Tony, chasing Steven around the room, or evading Sunny.


Tim - he's my favorite. He's bright and ornery, but extremely focused and dedicated to winning when we play games. He really gets into them and even tells everyone else to shut up when they're being too loud. And when I'm forced to skip the boys team because they're taking too long coming up with an answer during Hangman or Jeopardy, he whines "Teacher! Teacher! Waaaaiiit pleeease waiiit!!" So funny.

Funny story before I wrap things up:

*Caution - this story uses a swear word - so if you are Ryan, Mackenzie, Sarah or anyone under the age of 12 please stop here*

Like that's going to stop them.

Anyway, today in my fourth grade class we were watching a skit involving a boy who drops his toy robot into a lake. A mermaid pops out of the lake and asks the boy "Is this your robot?" and he says "No, my robot is small." And the mermaid goes back in the water, pops out with a smaller robot, and its his, and there is much rejoicing. But when the boy first drops the robot in the lake, he exclaims, "Oh no!" My co-teacher asked the class (after they had watched it once) what the boy said when he dropped his robot into the lake.

And one little fourth-grade boy in the back of the class exclaims, "Oh shit!"

Which is exactly what I'd say if I dropped a piece of electronic equipment into a lake. Fourth-graders - never fail to surprise me. One week they bring their own thermos of coffee to class, the next they're swearing like sailors.

Have a good weekend! Boiler up!!

Love,
Jess

Some more Teacher Mail

This one's a keeper. If you can't read it, Right-click on it and save it to your computer, then open it and blow it up.



I was in Lotte Mart tonight shopping for a hair straightner and the song from "That Thing You Do" came on over the PA, sandwiched between two horrible Korean pop songs. It was nice to listen to and ever-so-discreetly lip-sync along.

It just took me about a minute and a half to think of the word "discreet". YIKES.

I judged an English speaking contest today at school. Its nice to feel like an expert at something :)

I don't know if I told you this, but I let my 6th graders pick English names at the beginning of the semester, and I populated the list with names of all my friends and family members. So someday I hope to show you pictures of your Korean "mini-me"s. Its funny how some of their personalities remind me of yours.

Of course, a few were creative and came up with their own names. I have a Zidane (famous soccer player) who sits across from an Inzaghi (another famous soccer player), a Monkey who sits across from a Lion, and a Harry who sits across from a Potter. The most popular girls name is Sunny (which I put on the list thinking that I could never get mad at someone named Sunny), followed closely by Keri/Kari. Steven and Tim are the most popular boys names.

I think that's it. LOVE YOU!

BYE!

Jess

Me vs. the Mountain

Top of the evening to all of you out there in the western hemisphere!

This week was stressful...lots of new things to get used to. My four after school classes and determining their dynamic; co-planning 6th grade with my co-teacher (after she told me that she thinks its "too difficult" for me to do by myself, I disagree); losing most of my planning alone time because of various things...I am very much an introvert, and I need my alone time or else I start to get overwhelmed and snappy. People I have lived with know this well. Which is why I someday hope to marry someone very...content...with being...by themselves? That sounds horrible. I can't think of how to describe it - I've begun a slow but very real process of losing my knowledge of the English language. You think I joke. But its frightening. The other day Hyun asked me what "strict" meant and for the life of me I could not describe it in simple terms. Eventually this is what came out: "You know, its like...mean...no, not really, maybe like severe (she doesn't know what that means)...bad but not really, just like...ahh...whats the freaking word??? (head in hands) aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

But the good news is that my Korean is improving daily. Yesterday I learned how to say "Will you please shut the door?" - roughly its "moon ta-da-ju-say-o". Plus I can read hanguel, which is their alphabet, so I can read Korean words. I don't know what most of them mean, but I can read them. My students LOVE IT when I try to speak Korean or write it. Hilarious.

So after a stressful week Hyun invited me to go hiking with some of the teachers and the principal and some parents on Saturday afternoon. She tells me that we will eat before we leave, so I should arrive at school by 12:30. I get to school at 12:25 and they grab my backpack and start filling it with fried chicken and beer...apparently the principal decided that we should have a picnic at the top of the mountain instead of eating before we leave. So we leave, and I have a backpack full...it had to be at least 20lbs...of fried chicken. And a six-pack.

First of all, this trip made me realize that I have been backpacking with some amazing guides and planners. My hat is off to you - Wyatt, Phil, Jared, Tim, Ryan R. - and please come to Korea to teach these people how to hike. Hyun parks the car, and it turns out that everyone else parked about 1/2 a mile away. So we hike for 1/2 a mile up and downhill before the real hike even began. We start and I soon realize a few things: 1) My shoes are woefully inadequate - I had prepared for hiking whereas we had definitely reached the 'mountain climbing' category; 2) I am SOOOO HUNGRY; and 3) That fried chicken smells really good, taunting me over my shoulder with each step.

As we round the first bend, the principal sees this trail leading off to the right with a rope across it and a sign that I'm sure says "Certain Death Awaits". Naturally, he decides that this is the way we should go. So we step across the barbed wire and proceed. Now, I am no stranger to the "let's make our own trail" style of hiking. Last year at the Fall Conference Kelsey and I foraged through the wilderness calling ourselves "Lewis and Clark", boldly going where probably many people have gone before. This was different. We made our way up the face of the mountain. Everybody loves a shortcut, right? At one point we walked across a flat rock no more than 3 inches wide, a giant boulder to our left and nothing but clear blue sky to our right.

Here's the view from about halfway up:



And the pace of these people - you'd think we were being chased by a grizzly bear. We didn't stop once on the way up, and our speed can be best described as "break-neck", literally. I could not stop to take pictures because I was afraid I would lose everyone, and I don't know about you, but lost on a Korean mountain knowing only a handful of phrases, none of which are appropriate ("Can you please shut the door?") was the last place I wanted to be. So I followed. If I were going any faster I would have been jogging.

Maybe this is a good place to remind you of the 40 lbs. of chicken, water and BEER on my back. It really helps your balance tremendously when clinging to the face of a cliff, Spiderman-style.

We made it to our picnic spot (probably 3/4 of the way up the mountain) in just over an hour. These people don't mess around. Here's a view from that spot - if you look far into the distance, you can see the West (Yellow) Sea:



So we spread out blankets for lunch and the ladies start unloading everything. There wasn't much food for the 10 of us - just 12 rolls of kimbap (Korean sushi), 2 large tupperware containers of pork, 3 boxes of chicken, dumplings (mandu), lettuce, oranges, bananas, grapes, 12 cans of beer, 2 bottles of Soju (whiskey), 3 large tupperware boxes of rice cakes (tteok - dessert), instant coffee, instant tea, a giant thermos of hot water, 12 bottles of water, plus all utensils, plates, napkins, cups, etc.

WHAT THE HECK. WHY DID WE HAUL 100 LBS OF CRAP UP THE MOUNTAIN???? WHY MUST WE HAVE A TEN COURSE MEAL???? WHY ARE THEY DRINKING BEER AND WHISKEY WHEN WE STILL HAVE TO DESCEND THIS TREACHEROUS BEAST????

I laughed. And laughed. And laughed. It was inefficient. It was stupid. And it was hilarious.

We finished lunch and packed our 17 containers of leftovers. I tried to eat as much chicken as possible so I wouldn't have to strap it to my back.

I thought we were at the top of the mountain. There was nothing above us but blue sky. But, I was wrong. More Spidey moves. When we finally did get to the top, THEY DIDN'T EVEN STOP. They just started going down again!!! I said "Forget you people, I'm taking a Kodak moment" and took this picture:


You can see Namsan tower in the background - its a famous Seoul landmark.

This is how close we were to outer space:

You don't every day get a clear picture of a 747 grazing your head. And that wasn't zooming in all the way.

The descent took more time than the ascent did - not because we were going any slower - but because we decided to take the road down instead of sliding down the face of the mountain on our butts. Which I thought was a terrific idea. Just to prove how crazy Koreans are, this man is actually running down the hill:



I just don't get it.

Afterwards the principal took us out for dinner. We ate duck in what looked like some farmer's garage (it was seriously a shed in the backyard of someone's house). It was good. I've never eaten more than a bite or two of duck before. I tried not to but I kept thinking of Mr. Quackers, our classroom duck puppet. But its deliciousness overrode any empathy for Mr. Quackers. Mr. Quackers, thank you for being so tasty.

And that was my day. Another Korean experience. Another story to tell. I'm going to wash my backpack now because it still smells like chicken.

Love you!

Jess

The cure for what ails me

Bonjour mes amis,

Thank you for all the kind words! Sometimes I forget that people across the pond still remember me, thanks for reminding me that I am loved. I'll try not to freak out again :)

Hyun called me last night after I got home from eating dinner with Hil at her place. She wanted to make sure that I was okay. Has your boss ever called to make sure you're emotionally stable? Its kind of nice. People care a lot here, and its nice to have someone concerned. I felt much better after I blogged and told her that indeed I was okay.

So I didn't get to go on the 3rd grade field trip, but the upside was that I got to be alone ALL DAY! I got so much done...all my lesson planning for two 8-week courses, and I got materials for about half of them. I could crank the music up in my classroom, I brought my own coffee press, and was free to concentrate for 8 hours straight. It was everything I needed and more.

When I was done, the vice principal looked at my 9 page lesson plan and asked "You copy from internet?".

Same look. I am going to be known for that look.

Then he laughed. He said he was very impressed and pleased with me. I breathed easy.

So I may have mentioned the project I started with my 6th graders a couple of weeks ago called "Teacher Mail" where I give them stationary and they can earn stickers by writing me letters, plus I write back to them. Its a win-win-win situation (Office inside joke). So far I've received about 40 letters, most of which are only 3 or 4 simple sentences long, but they're getting progressively more advanced. I love it because it gives the beginner-level kids the opportunity to participate in the learning process while giving the advanced kids an opportunity to use advanced english. So I thought I'd share with you some of my Teacher Mail letters :)



This one is actually from a 4th grader who asked me if she could write me a letter.



From Sunny, who is hilarious. She sent me two letters in envelopes that she brought and decorated herself.



From Emily, letting me know that she loves me so much that she promises not to sleep in English class. She wrote this on the day that I taught them "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" by the Beatles.

I'll send some more when I send out my monthly update, because they're pretty much too cute for words. Honestly, I feel like a lot of times, God can speak to me through the broken English sentences of 12 year old Korean children. Through all the bureaucracy, through all the miscommunication and incorrect information, through the language barrier that isolates me from 99% of my co-workers and the rest of the society in which I live, through all of that - my students have loved me and welcomed me. They have told me that they are happy that I am here. They have told me that I am beautiful. They have told me that they love me.

Now, doesn't that sound like Someone else talking?

:) I love you.

Jess

Most frustrating day EVER!

Let me just say this. UGH.

Okay. I feel marginally better.

It all started after classes this afternoon when 3 fourth graders wandered into my room. I thought to myself, "This is a bit strange...I wonder what they're doing here. Hyun told me that after school classes don't start until next week." Hyun looks up from her desk and says "Oh - here is your fourth grade after school class." I gave her a look that said "Uh, excuse me?" And she explained that their teacher called earlier in the day and said that she wanted after school classes to start today and Hyun just said it was okay. Without asking me. Without even telling me. "You have lesson plan?" she asked. She had given me the lesson plan template on Friday at 4 PM. So, no, I don't have lesson plan. She says, "Oh. I have meeting. Bye bye."

And I'm all alone with 9 4th graders without a plan, a textbook, or a translator. Brilliant.

Things actually worked out better than expected, I gave them English names (Tony, Tim, Steven, Grant, Sunny, Emily, Mary and Kari), they made nametags, we learned the days of the week, we made a paper chain of new words we had learned, and we played hangman. Hyun came back in after that class and semi-apologized, and I told her it wasn't that big of a deal.

AND THEN.

The lesson plan template she had given me was on a Word document, and it was incredibly hard to imput information. I thought to myself, "Self, wouldn't this be 100x easier in Excel?" So I made an Excel document instead. When I showed it to Hyun, you'd have thought I proposed selling the children on the black market. So back to the incredibly inefficient Word document.

I had finished 4 lessons (one week's worth) and asked her when the administration needed the rest (28 more). She said, "Well, adminstration lady not here tomorrow, so...Wednesday, 9 AM." Once again me with the look that says "Excuse me?" It had taken me about an hour to do 4. So, I would need 7 more hours to complete the rest. And I was supposed to go on a 3rd grade field trip tomorrow from 9-4. Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

I felt like Cinderella, when her stepmother told her that she could go to the ball, as long as she did the washing and the mending and the cleaning etc. There would be no 3rd grade field trip in my future.

So I will be at school all day tomorrow, lesson planning my little heart out. All in all, not that big of a deal.

AND THEN.

As I was getting ready to leave, clearly stressed out, Hyun tells me that she added another student to my advanced 6th grade after school class. The five in the class already are brilliant students (all girls of course), very advanced and motivated. Hyun tells me that she added a fifth-grade boy who's english is very low level.

Once again. Me. With the look.

"Why?" I ask her, rather angrily. I know that I cannot teach 5 advanced students and one beginner at the same time. And I will not, I will not cater to the low level student, which is precisely what Hyun wants me to do. That's what class is for. Its not fair for the upper level students to have to sit there for 40 minutes doing worksheets because I have to explain the lesson (without a translator) to a student who should be in the 4th grade class. And if I speak and teach at an advanced level and completely lose the beginner student, its not fair to him either.

So I told her no. I told her that I wouldn't teach him in that class.

You'll recall in a previous post how much Koreans tell their superiors no. But I'd had enough.
It was time to go American, baby. I put my foot down. We had reached the breaking point and enough was enough.

Hyun seemed...stunned. She kept tying to push me but she had my answer. About 5 minutes later, I started to cry. And I ran out of the room. And I continued walking hurriedly until I got to the busstop.

And that was my day.

Please leave an encouraging message if you would :) Love you -

Jess

A few more things:

1) Thanks to whoever sent me that text message last week! I can receive them but I am unable to see who sent them. Soooo...thanks!

2) My phone number is 82-02-804-4086. You'll need an international calling card if you don't want to pay a billion dollars.

3) I am trying to decide what to purchase upon the arrival of my next paycheck. Here are the options:

1. A new mp3 player (mine has gone schizo on me)
2. Contacts (I always wear glasses and feel like such a NERD)
3. A cell phone and plan to use while I'm here
4. A gym membership
5. A lifetime noraebang membership
6. A La-Z-Boy

...I really want that La-Z-Boy...its kind of like all-purpose furniture, you know? Chair, extra bed, table, etc. You wouldn't believe how many times a week I think about having a La-Z-Boy. Some people might even call it an obsession. I JUST WANT TO BE COMFORTABLE!

Okay, enough randomness for now. Oh - and I hope you guys had fun at the BARN PARTY!! (I still get Nav News, which reminds me...must...email...Wes.)

Bye!

Oh what a night...

Yesterday was a special day in the life of Jessica.

Our school had a "festival day" where each grade had prepared choreographed dances and relay games to show off their school spirit. This meant that I didn't have to teach at all (YAY!) but on Thursday afternoon the Vice Principal asked if I could take pictures during the festival. Of course I said okay (here in Korea, with very few exceptions, you never EVER say no especially to your boss when asked to do something). I think taking pictures turned out to be waaay more exhausting than teaching 5 classes, but it meant that I got to participate in the festival - I had a "role" as my co-teacher put it. So here are some pictures and videos:

Warming up before the festivities


3rd Grade traditional dance - how funny is that hat?!?


First graders lining up for their traditional dance



Second Grade Umbrella Dance

So after the festival, the teachers had about an hour to rest before a meeting to talk about the day's events. I leafed through some sets of curriculum for my after school classes - I'll be teaching one 6th grade class and one 4th grade class. At around 4:30 we convened in the teacher's room where we decided that the day had been a success and that we would celebrate by going out to dinner. We went to a raw seafood buffet (eeeeewwww) where you gathered a plate of raw seafood and threw it into a pot of boiling broth at your table and cook it yourself. Most Korean restaurants are cook-it-yourself interactive eating adventures.

But the good news was that the buffet also had shrimp sushi and a lame Korean attempt at spaghetti, as well as an assortment of side dishes which were tasty. We had beer with dinner (Cass - don't drink it) and the Vice Principal (a normally friendly guy) seems to get exponentially friendlier when alcohol is added. He went around to every table, having a small drink (a shot of beer) with each person (this is traditional Korean behavior). So, by the time he made it around the room, we each had had one small drink, and he had had 25 small drinks. He came over to our table, we were all laughing (he knows a bit of English) and he said (in Korean) that he "loves me very much and hopes me to be happy in Korea" (translated by my co-teacher) which is both sweet and really awkward. Perfect awkward turtle moment.

Everyone was very pleased with the pictures I took, therefore I had won their respect and invited to a bar after dinner with around 15 other teachers, mostly young people. Once again, saying no is not really an option, so to the bar I went. It was a very nice bar, more like a pub atmosphere, and we were the only ones there. I soon found out that more than one other teacher speaks some English, they're usually just too shy to speak it (alcohol fixed this problem). I was surprised to realize that I actually understood what was being said (in Korean) for the most part thanks to context clues and gestures.

One second grade teacher (an older man, probably 60ish) was sitting next to me and would say every English word he knew (all token English like "Oh yeah!", "Yeah baby!" and various other random phrases) to try to impress me. I of course acted very impressed. The principal was sitting across from me the whole time and knew some English too. Turns out he's a nice guy. So after snacks, drinks, and a few English lessons we decided (as is Korean tradition) to go to the noraebang (singing room) to drink more and de-stress.

At this point I'd had probably two beers total. And that's how it stayed.

So to the singing room we went. They insisted that I sing an English song, and they insisted that it be "My Heart Will Go On" from the award-winning motion picture Titanic. I take it you remember the song? How could we all forget the shrieking courtesy of Celine Dion. Did I oblige? Of course I sang it. And I scored 100 on it. Impressive. The rest of the teachers sang Korean songs for about 2 hours while the rest of us danced, sang along and played tambourines.

After that, it was around 11:30 and I decided it would be wise for me to return home. My co-teacher, three sheets to the wind (At one point in the singing room, she stands up and shouts "I AM A DRUNKEN!!!"), decided the same thing. We walk together back to the school where I can catch a bus. Her English was the best I've ever heard it on the way home. I told her maybe she should drink before class. She thought that was the funniest thing she'd ever heard.

So, once again, Korea is...Korea. There's no other way to describe it. Cultural bumblings can be glossed over as long as you loosen up and have a good time and possibly make a fool out of yourself by singing the theme from Titanic.

To help you understand more about Korean life...

...I have pilfered this list from my friend's Facebook profile:

"I hope and pray for those of you who read this note that you will gain wisdom and insight that aid you in whatever path you choose to take in life...

- In reference to street vendors: The more unsanitary the conditions the better tasting the food

- A tall size drink at a starbucks coffee is a little over 4 dollars...a venti is about 6-9 depending on the drink.

-The Dunkin' Donuts here are lavishly furnished and are only for people who think starbucks is for poor people.

-There are coffee shops that don't even sell regular coffee..only espresso drinks...

-there is no such thing as decaf

- Mcdonalds serve kiwi sundaes

- There is what is called a "Couples Tee" where a guy and a girl who are dating will wear matching shirts...these shirts will usually be pink with a huge red heart on the chest with "Teenie Weenie" written on it.

- Dogs dress better than their owners

- Korean's are EXTREMELY self-conscious about their age hence the next time a korean asks you how old you think they are always always always answer, "Dude you look 17...no joke...you're definitely 17..." or you will be stabbed.

- The Korean Constitution is roughly 60 years old hence that is why Korean laws and policy pretty much suck

- The subway is the best place to purchase the latest dvd...quality is usually very good and well worth the 4,000 won (or 3 for 10,000 )

-Middle aged Korean Men drink like a freshman college fratboy and have the tolerance of that of a 5 year old.

-According to MULTIPLE eyewitness accounts women in our neighboring Asian countries i.e Taiwan, China, etc are envious of the "Korean Look" (even though we all look the same...snap!) Yet, it is sad since they base the majority of koreans on the soap operas they watch on television and well over half of these actors and actresses are made out of plastic on the outside.

-Medicare is actually pretty amazing here.

-Pringles chips taste like plastic with salt on top

-Korean Gum loses its flavor before you chew it

-Any American candy (twix, skittles, etc) taste a bit stale

-Ice Cream bars are 500 won ( ~.50 cents USD)...Glorious

-A Guinness costs over 9 Dollars...sad sad day

-Locals will yell at you or stare at you funny if you speak english for too long when riding the subway or the bus

-To not ever trust a taxi driver unless you are absolutely fluent in korean is a wise choice.

- Motorcyclists don't believe in helmets...or the law...despite the fact that korean drivers make a New York City Cab driver look like a freakin' poser who tries way too hard to be cool.

- There is one public trash can for every 100 miles...Korea smells delicious

- Samsung makes cars

-Kia's come with leather seats and navigation systems

-anything over 20 minutes is considered "really far"...anything over an hour is a "road trip"

- Korean students (elementary to high school) go to school 12 hours a day...during their semester break they have it easy...they only go 8.

- O my goodness...I'm shocked and a little embarrassed that I forgot the obvious...Boys hold hands...hee hee...

-This country is nearly 50 percent (at least nominally) Christian (pretty cool). Yet the other day I was at a cafe and they were marketing various Jesus paraphernalia. My absolute favorite was a Jesus greeting card with The Son of Man flying on a broom (yes, a broom like Harry Potter) with other children on it. Our Savior was sporting a man-purse and joyfully wearing a crown of thorns (I think there was a little blood on his forehead). If I remember correctly the caption read, "Happy day happy happy day...happy". I will try my best to retrieve a photo confirmation.

- LG and Samsung cell phones use advanced alien technology

-There is a festival literally every other week celebrating everything from Jazz music to Kimchi...."

And my own personal addition:

Question: How do you know when you're in a fancy, upscale Korean establisment?

Answer: There are toilet paper dispensers in the stalls.

I just called...to say...I love you

Greetings!

Its been a fun week here on the Asian continent! Classes went smoothly, Wednesday was another holiday (woohoo no Third Grade Wednesday!!), and so far this weekend has been a BLAST!

Last night (Friday), Leigh, Hil and I met at Yeouido to go out for dinner. We ate at a typical tiny Korean hole-in-the-wall and laughed all the way through dinner. Leigh almost choked quite a few times. Then we stopped at this gelato place...oh my...BEST ICE CREAM EVER! I had a small cone with white chocolate and macadamia nuts, chai tea latte, and panna cotta scoops. Please drop whatever you are doing and go there right now. You will not regret it - I promise!!

After the gelato we took a trip to the Han river, the large main river in downtown Seoul. Every Korean I have talked to pronounces it the "rebar"...you know, "Last Saturday I went to the rebar." And I'm thinking, "Was there construction where they went? Oh - the river. Riiiight." The whole shore was filled with canoodling couples so naturally we tried to be as obnoxious and loud as possible, as to bring much honor to our people. All along the "rebar" there are these permanent blankets that you can rent and sit on, kind of like spaces at a drive in movie, except you sit instead of park and you look at the beautiful "rebar" instead of watching a movie. Sounds like a rip off to me.

We perched ourselves on the bank and took some pictures:


A picture really can't even show how beautiful it was, but I tried anyway.


I think someone said something funny and I fell over laughing. I am not worshipping the rebar.


Hilary and Leigh playing in the grass.


Arrrrrgh - there be PIRATES in Korea, matey!!


Apparently someone has a thing for Colonel Sanders...


This sign answered all my questions about Korean driving.

Today, being Saturday, we went to Yonsei University to play tennis and badminton with some homeys from church. I wore myself out and had a lot of fun whacking that birdie around. I also acted as line judge and ball retriever during the tennis tournament. We played for about 2 hours and then cleaned up and went to dinner. We at "shabu shabu" which was beef in a soup with green onions and noodles. Plus all the kimchi you could eat! WOW! By the way, when you eat at any Korean restaurant here, all the side dishes are free, so if you want more kimchi just ask. Mom, you should try that at Seoul Garden.

After dinner we took a walk to Sinchon station and found a noraebahng along the way. What is a noraebahng, you ask? Well, "Norae" is the Korean word for "sing", and "bahng" is the Korean word for "room". So its a singing room. Its like karaoke except all the groups get their own personal lounge to sing in. They are EVERYWHERE. I think one out of every two establishments here is a noraebahng. We sang some classics like "That thing you do" by the Wonders, "I just called to say I love you" by Stevie Wonder, and of course "Livin on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. So much fun.

Here are some pictures from tonight's escapades:


I don't know what a "Well-Italian dish" is but MY NAME IS ON THE SIGN!!!


Look closely - it says "Severance Hospital"...I'm wondering what exactly it is that they're severing...



Coffee...flanel??? *sighs and shakes head*

Off to bed so I can wake up at 9 to watch the Purdue/Ohio State game online :) Night!

Jess