Walking in a Winter Wonderland

Hi everyone! I apologize for being so late in getting this posted - I've had a busy week, and I don't have my Monday prep morning anymore (aka Monday morning e-mail answering and blog writing) so this has been pushed back. I did start it on Sunday evening though, so I'll just pick up where I left off - you won't even notice. Happy New Year!

I don't think my parents know this, but when I was younger I used to sneak out of the house late at night and go on 'snow walks' when it was snowing outside. Not when it was blizzarding, not in freezing cold winds, but only on those special nights when just a hat, coat, boots, and mittens kept you warm enough to comfortably walk around the quiet neighborhood, with big thick snowflakes falling all around you and the sky illuminated with the reflection of the snow and streetlights. These were my sacred nights when I felt like I had the magical transformation of the neighborhood all to myself, and each step I took in my boots would be buried in snow within the hour, so no one would know I had been there (though I always figured I could bank on the paper boy to cover up my tracks if Dad ever wondered why there were snow footprints leading up to the front door when he got the paper in the morning.)

My snow walks became less frequent as I got older, but I remember one night, when I was home for Christmas break last year and coming back to the house late after visiting some friends, when it was the perfect snow walk night. The sky was almost pale orange and the snowflakes were picture perfect, looking especially luminescent against the brightly colored Christmas lights around the neighborhood. I had to get up early the next morning to go work at the cafe, so I refrained from going out walking, but I remember standing on the driveway in the snow, peacefully looking around and thinking about how beautiful winter snow is, especially at home after being away at school for so long. Christmas has always been my favorite holiday, and the beauty of the winter snow has always enhanced it for me.

As I prepared for my first Christmas away from home, I tried to keep myself as busy as possible so I wouldn't have much time to think about how much I would miss my family, friends, and Minnesota over Christmas this year. As the weekend grew nearer, certain songs made me tear up, teaching my kids about my family's Christmas traditions hour after hour made me sad because I knew I wouldn't be there, and we had no snow to speak of. Needless to say, I was a bit apprehensive about how I would actually handle Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Lucky for me, I've made some great friends here over the past four months, and it was comforting to know that if we couldn't be at home with our friends and family, at least we had each other to stick it out with. I was planning to spend Christmas Eve in Jangheung (please note the careful and correct spelling this time - I'm not about to make another error at the bus terminal.) with Sara and some friends, and then head with Sara to Mokpo on Christmas Day for the Christmas party that our other friends Chad and Lisa graciously hosted.

Christmas Eve happened to be the last day of the school year, (each school ends on a different day, depending on the principal - my country school ended the day before) which meant that I had to say goodbye to all of my ninth graders. It was bittersweet, for though I was happy for them to be moving on to high school I knew I would miss them next year. I received some wonderful Christmas cards and even a bookstore gift card (yes, even in Korea someone made sure I got books for Christmas) from my students, and even exchanged e-mails with some of them, promising to help them with their English in high school if they needed it. Friday morning I only had to teach one class before the assembly, which consisted of an awards ceremony and a mini graduation ceremony. After that - it was winter vacation! All the students left, celebrating the end of another school year, and all the teachers celebrated also - by going out to lunch. I received a nice surprise by getting to go home right after lunch - I had expected to have to stay most of the afternoon.

So, I headed back to my place and packed up the rest of my stuff for the weekend (including remaining Christmas cookies that I was determined to get rid of after an entire week of baking and decorating for my kids) and headed to the bus terminal. I surprised Sara by arriving right as she was done with school. It was an especially cold evening, so after enjoying coffee at her local coffee shop we hurried to the grocery store to pick up some ingredients for dinner, then hurried back to her place to have a cozy night. And cozy it was. We cooked a delicious stir fry, complete with some gravy to add to our potatoes, boiled some frozen green beans (one of my favorite parts of Christmas Eve dinner), toasted some wheat rolls, and broke out the wine. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner, without a taste of Korea. No lefse or Swedish meatballs for me this year, but the potatoes, gravy, green beans, and rolls were spot on. We finished off our meal with Christmas cookies, and then started to watch The Holiday - classic chick flick Christmas movie. Our movie was interrupted early on with some other teacher friends who live in the area, so we switched to the more gender neutral movie Elf, and enjoyed our Christmas treats, then just sat around and chatted. It was a perfect relaxing night.

The next morning, Christmas Day, we again treated ourselves to relaxation, and after Skyping with our families (still Christmas Eve at home) I was treated to delicious home made Swedish pancakes and coffee by my gracious hostess. We finished watching the Holiday (and were inspired by the hot chocolate scene to go make our own hot chocolate to accompany the movie) as we enjoyed our breakfast. A little later, we made lunch and then got ourselves ready to head out to Mokpo, where the Christmas party with our other teacher friends were scheduled to take place.

When we walked outside we were greeted with...Christmas snow! Nice, big, white flakes that were coming down at a surprisingly fast rate. I had my beloved white Christmas after all, as the snow persisted during the hour and a half bus ride to Mokpo. and coated the city with a thick white blanket.

The Mokpo party was a lot of fun - about 12 other teacher friends and couples from orientation - here are some pictures of the decorated apartment (you can buy some Christmas decorations here, but they are few and far between - most of us has people from home send us candy canes, stockings, etc (thanks Mom)) We had a potluck of snack foods, drinks, and desserts, which we happily munched on while chatting away about school, our upcoming travel plans, etc. Our contract allows us all to have 24 consecutive days off sometime during winter break, which is January and February. Virtually none of us have the same schedule - some people are splitting theirs and working in between two different country trips, some are going early in January, some in early February. From my information gathering at Christmas, the vacation hotspots this winter will be Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia (Bali), and the Phillipines. Think warm and think beach - that's what we are all planning. I myself am actually heading a bit farther west to India, but I'll talk more about that later.

So, what did I have for Christmas dinner? Pizza. Yup, around 8 PM we decided we wanted 'real food' and so the boys made a run down to the local pizza chain and brought us back our Christmas dinner. Not quite like turkey, but it was a pretty good second choice. The Korean take on western pizza is actually pretty decent, though they tend to favor some strange toppings, like sweet potato and corn...and for some reason the pizza always comes with a side of pickles.

We also had a White Elephant gift exchange (pictured) and played Pass the Present with Christmas music. We had some classic Christmas movies playing in the side room alternating with Christmas music. Between the decorations, treats, friends, music, movies, and fun it definitely felt like a holiday celebration. We made the most of being away from our families and friends by adapting to our new home, and we all had a great time. Most of the guests left around midnight, since they live in the area, and Sara and I stayed over at their place - we headed to bed shortly after.

The next morning, after a highly nutritious breakfast of cold pizza and Christmas cookies, we said our goodbyes, commenting on the success of the weekend. The snow was still coming down hard as we left, just to give us a taste of home, we figured. I slept a little on the way home, and then decided to spend the day doing what I do best - coffee shopping. Downtown was hopping, for in Korea, they celebrate Christmas only as a nominal holiday - some places get into the decorations and the colors, but its more due to Western influence than actually following traditions. Many Christian Koreans will celebrate it in their churches, but not much at home. On the contrary, Christmas is a day to eat a special 'Christmas cake' and typically it's a date night for young couples.

On the walk back to the bus stop I realized though it was still lightly snowing it really wasn't all that chilly, so I decided to take a detour and walk to the other bus stop by Art Street - my favorite quiet, cobblestone street in downtown. As I walked by I noticed the huge lit up Christmas tree on display in the downtown area - I hadn't ever noticed it before. As I reached the bus stop, I decided that it was the perfect night for a snow walk. I wasn't disappointed - the trees were beautiful, and everything was covered in snow.

Obviously, I've seen snow before and I know what a winter landscape looks like, but for some reason it seemed more special and magical in Korea. It was a sense of familiarity, a reminder of home, and it brought me back to my childhood snow walks. No matter how old I get or what country I'm in, snow always has a sense of fascination for me. Even if I'm freezing cold or frustrated at the road situations (ex: driving home from Green Bay in bad weather) I've always stopped to take a moment and appreciate the snow. I realized that as much as I gripe and moan about the cold sometimes, I would never want to live permanently in a warm climate all year round and not see snow.

Between my cozy Christmas Eve and Christmas Day morning, my white Christmas snow, the fun I had with my friends at our Christmas party, and my snow walk, I decided that I had had a pretty great Christmas, despite the fact that I'm hundreds of miles (and quite a few time zones) away from Minnesota. I hope you all had wonderful Christmases - many thanks to those of you who sent cards - they were such a fun surprise to receive  I hope you all have a wonderful New Year's weekend - stay warm and stay safe!  Happy New Year

A Christmas Wish Come True

Good morning everyone!

I'm sure all of you are busy baking cookies, shopping, and preparing for Christmas this week. I can't believe it's in four days. I had a fun weekend that turned out much differently than I expected - but in a good way. I've been keeping up with Christmas episodes on TV, playing Christmas music for my classes, and this week I'm teaching all Christmas lessons, so I am definitely feeling the holidays, but my experience on Saturday at the orphanage is what really captured the essence of Christmas. Oh, but first - here's a lovely picture I took when I walked outside the door at school last week - the mountain valley views are forever changing and always beautiful.

If you remember, I mentioned last week that this past Saturday was our Adopt A Child day at the orphanage. One of the volunteers organized the entire Adopt A Child program, which was a huge success. A few weeks ago, he asked the girls to each write down four things they have on their Christmas list, including their name, age, and size. After some translating with the orphanage director, he put out a notice on Facebook and put an announcement in the Gwangju News, calling the foreign community of Gwangju to help make a special Christmas for the girls. He had a tremendous response, and soon had tons of people calling him to volunteer to buy gifts - he personally assigned each person with a gift, took down their contact information, and established two drop off points for people to drop off their purchased and wrapped presents at. Within three or four weeks, he had nearly every present accounted for, and he personally took care of the few remaining. He expected a much smaller amount of people to respond and hoped that the girls would get at least two gifts on their list - but in the end, all the girls got four gifts each, due to the Gwangju community effort.

After our last Korean class (I passed!) and a visit to the bake/book sale orphanage fundraiser that was put on by my book club, my friend and I headed over to the orphanage. There was quite a bit of activity, and we ended up staying the whole afternoon to enjoy the festivities. Some of the girls are placed in a homestay program, similar to foster care, so they were all there with their homestay families to celebrate also. The afternoon started off with lots of performances by both a local band and then by the girls themselves. I was so impressed. There was singing, dancing, and playing of instruments. It was neat to see them having a ton of fun and showing off for their audience. Us volunteers even showed off our skills by singing a rendition of We Wish You A Merry Christmas for the girls. Here is a video of one of my favorite performances: the star of the show was the little cutie in the front, which I'm sure is no surprise to you.

After the performances, there was a big meal provided for the girls and the volunteers by local donators. We socialized and played with the girls, enjoying pizza, fruit, snacks, and salad...that I ate with chopsticks. When in Rome.

After lunch and cleaning up, the homestay families left, and all of us volunteers waited in anticipation for what we knew was coming next. Sure enough, guess who showed up? It was Scottish Santa Steve, otherwise known as just Santa. A big cheer rang out, of course, and there was an extended photo shoot with Santa - the girls were thrilled.

After Santa's arrival, it was time for...presents! I was very impressed at the organization - the presents were all brought in in cardboard boxes, and, with his helpers, Santa called out the names of the girls, who came up one by one to get one present at a time. Instead of ripping them open immediately (which I would have done, I'm sure) they sat and played with their wrapped presents, eagerly waiting to see who would get called next. It was really fun to see the girls that I bought presents for - I got two clothing items for two different girls - smile with excitement as they received my presents. I couldn't help but think how wonderful it was of Al to organize everything - who knows what kind of a Christmas the girls would have had otherwise? It was really inspiring and great to know that so many people had made just a few donations each to bring Christmas to so many girls. I couldn't think of a better way to see Christmas in action, and was so thankful to have the opportunity to see firsthand the joy that was brought to the little girls.

We all had a lot of fun during the present distribution - sharing the excitement with the girls who proudly came over to show off what they had gotten. One of the little tootsies got ahold of my camera and started taking pictures of everyone (note: if you want silly pictures of people, just find a two year old to carry around and take pictures for you - it's also highly entertaining.) We gave her a taste of her own medicine by sneak attacking the camera away from her and taking her picture with me - we made sure to give it back right away though, of course. Clearly she has a bright future in photography - here are Sara and Santa Steve, post Santa costume.

After about three hours at the orphanage, the festivities began to wind down, and we made our exit (after detaching our little photographer from my camera...and my arms.) I couldn't have thought of a better way to spend the afternoon. Since we had eaten at the orphanage and figured we'd better not try for a repeat of last weekend's dining marathon, Sara and I headed back to my place for a while to regroup and run some errands, then we went out to meet some friends later.

I had planned to spend all day Sunday finishing up my Christmas gifts, decorating cookies, and getting a head start on my lesson planning for next week. However, due to staying out late Sara stayed over at my place, so instead of my planned early wake up, I ended up sleeping in (I kept having to reassure myself it was okay and I'd still have the day to work.) However, after a relaxing cup of coffee at my favorite neighborhood coffee shop - Kenya Espresso - we made the spontaneous decision to throw out any plans of productivity and instead spend our afternoon at the...movie theater. Harry Potter 7 had made its release in Korea on Friday, and we heard from some friends that it was worth seeing. I hadn't seen a movie in months, and had never seen one in a foreign country, so I considered it a new and necessary experience. After stumbling around a bit trying to figure out how to buy a ticket, we purchased them (with the help of some Korean guys who could see our obvious fail to understand how to buy them) and only later did we realize we actually bought tickets for the IMAX viewing instead of the regular screen - better than the other way around, I suppose. After a very authentic Korean lunch (aka - mouth on fire spiciness that left us both slightly warmer and in a lot of pain...so good though) we purchased popcorn and pop to complete the experience, then headed inside.

Note to self: IMAX is probably a better idea when you're not in the front row...however, those were the only seats that were left. (When we purchased our tickets at the machine we had to select our seat numbers on the touch screen.) After attempting to adjust our heads and necks (I felt like I was almost laying horizontally) we settled back and zoned out to enjoy two and a half hours of Harry Potter. I thought the movie was really well done, and am definitely anticipating the final movie next summer. It was also nice to just relax and focus completely on a movie. My head was still spinning when we left the theater due to the proximity of the screen, but as I walked out I was struck with the odd reminder that I was still in South Korea - the day had seemed so typical of a weekend at home that I had nearly forgotten I wasn't at the River Hills Mall or BayPark Cinema (Mankato or Green Bay.)

I realized that even though I was so far away from home there were still experiences that seemed completely normal to me. Friends going out for coffee, families going to an afternoon movie, watching a movie in English in the theater (though you'd have to ignore the Korean subtitles...) The sense of familiarity was comforting, especially as Christmas draws closer and closer. I have to say though, the best and most comforting feeling was manifested at the orphanage this past Saturday, when the joy of giving was so obviously shared by all who donated gifts, and the happiness of watching the girls' faces was contagious. The effort of the community that pulled together to make Christmas happen for these girls was incredible, and I was so happy to be a part of it. As you make your final rounds at the mall (especially on Christmas Eve) this week, and then hopefully get to watch your family and friends open your presents, I hope you experience the same feeling of happiness that I felt this weekend. Making those girls' Christmas wishes come true was the best present I could have ever gotten.

I wish you all and your families a very Merry Christmas! Stay warm and safe on the roads, all you brave winter weatherers!

Fun, Friends, and Food...always food

Good evening to you all - I'm writing especially to the brave Minnesotans today who are dealing with the Midwest's greatest accomplishment: winter weather. Exhibit A: subzero temperatures and snowdrifts. Exhibit B: the Metrodome's roof collapsing...yikes!

Anyway, Minnesota totally stole my thunder for this week's post, since I have some pictures of my first snowfall in Korea (it just had to one up me, didn't it?) On Wednesday it snowed for a couple hours in the morning, but by the evening it had all melted and then it was back in the 40s for the rest of the week. So I got a taste of winter on Wednesday, but mostly I still feel like I don't deserve Christmas yet because I haven't endured the suffering of the Midwest in December. There's still time I suppose. These are pictures outside my classroom window, by the way - they have an interesting way of pruning the school bushes and trees.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but it's down to my second to last week of the semester -our last day is Christmas Eve. I have been in Korea for almost exactly 4 months now - unbelievable. Remember I told you time seems to work differently in Korea? Still true. Anyway, I have a bunch of Christmas events going on this weekend and next week, so I have been busy baking, shopping, wrapping, and crafting. I must say, it's a lot more fun to prepare for Christmas when I don't have to worry about final papers, exams, swimming, and driving the 6 hour drive home through winter weather. The only thing missing (besides friends and family, of course) is Barnes and Nobles - the best at Christmastime. Someone please go enjoy it for me. 

I had a really good weekend - it was a balance of fun and productivity (and a lot of food consumption) that, as usual, went by way too fast. Friday night I studied diligently for my test on Saturday morning (test, not quiz) but when I showed up on Saturday morning with conjugated verbs dancing around in my head, I found out that instead of Korean class all of the students were going on a 'field trip' to put our newly learned language skills to good use. All of the levels were combined together (so I was with some of my other friends in the other classes) and we were walked a few blocks over to Daein Market, one of the largest covered markets in Gwangju. I must say the GIC (the people who put on the lessons - Gwangju International Center) had a pretty great field trip set up for us - our small group task was to walk around in the market and buy ingredients that we needed to make a Korean dish. We had fun wandering (more like led around for fear of us getting lost) around the market, and now I know where to go when I need fresh turtles or eels for my next recipe.

After purchasing our ingredients (green onion and mushrooms) we were led to a little room that had tables and a mini kitchen set up for us, where we were taught how to make a dish called sanchyeok. It is made of ham, imitation crab, mushroom, and green onion, which are skewered and t

hen dipped in flour, egg, and fried in a pan. It was delicious.

When we were finished cooking we took our creations back to the original room, where the other group was busy making a type of cookie out of melted sugar. We all shared and enjoyed our mini lunch - much better than taking a test.

After Korean 'class' I headed to the orphanage, where we talked about puppets (in preparation for the upcoming puppet show) and did a mini skit with the girls - it was so much fun! There is a little more structure to our orphanage activites these days, with planned activities and topics - a little planning sure goes a long way. The girls always put a smile on my face, especially when they come running over to greet us as we walk in. We have our Adopt a Child Christmas gift event this Saturday, when we will give the girls presents from their wishlist (all through volunteer efforts to put their name on the list and buy presents for the girls) I'm really looking forward to bringing Christmas to the orphanage. There is also a bake sale this weekend to raise money for the orphanage. 

After the orphanage Sara and I really had no objectives in mind but we still wanted to hang out downtown. Since it was a little chilly to just wander around, we did some minimal shopping...but ended up bouncing around to different establishments - first for coffee, (oops...twice for coffee) then a few hours later we had a snack, then dinner, followed up with dessert. We concluded that our day had absolutely no productivity, but at least we did what we are best at: sitting, eating, and chatting. It was nice to have a day of nothing.

After Sara went back home to Jangheung I headed back myself to get a head start on Sunday's task: Operation Christmas. I have taken it upon myself to make Christmas cookies for all my students, since they don't really have the concept of baking Christmas cookies over here (Korea has never really been a traditional baking society - many Korean homes don't have ovens.) Can you imagine? Anyway, I decided to bake all the cutouts this weekend (thanks to Mom for mailing me Christmas cookie cutters) so that I could freeze them and decorate them when the time came to distribute them in class next week. So I got busy. By dinnertime on Sunday I had accomplished most of my tasks, so I figured I deserved the night off. I had been invited out for seafood at a traditional Korean seafood restaurant, so I showed up ready for a new experience, since eating seafood in Korea is quite different than the way we eat at home.

And an experience was what I got. Our friend Eddie (his actual name is Hyun Seok...but we call him Eddie) took us to a shellfish restaurant, where we were seated at a round metal table with a huge hole in the middle. Inside the hole was a fire thing (I'm not sure how they lit the fire...I just know it was burning...) with a grill on top. What did we do with this grill, you might ask? Grilled a basketful of oysters, that's what. We got a huge basket overflowing with fresh oysters, and with our metal tongs and special gloves, we roasted and grilled our oysters to perfection. I had actually never eaten an oyster out of the shell before (to be honest, I didn't even really know what one looked like...) but I learned that you have to wait until it starts to crack open on its own, and then you have to pry it open with your knife and check to see if it's ready to eat. It turned out Sokhom (pictured - happily prying open an oyster family of five...) liked hers pretty raw, I liked mine well done, and Eddie was somewhere in the middle, so the three of us had a good system down of opening them up, then passing them over to whomever would enjoy it the most, depending on how much it was cooked or not. It worked well. We had a great time cracking, chatting, and munching.

We had some side dishes with our oysters (soup and kimchi, of course) so I was pretty satisfied by the time we finished our basket...but then I learned that we had ordered the unlimited oysters...and my dinner companions weren't full yet. So, we got another basketful and I continued to enjoy perfecting my oyster skills. I ended up getting more practice than I bargained for...because Sokhom and Eddie still weren't full! Three hours and three baskets later, we finally decided we were pretty oystered out, so we paid a mere eight dollars each and headed out.

 This past week I've noticed how much more settled in I feel - I don't feel like I need to run myself down by jam packing my schedule and making sure I don't miss any 'Korea experiences' - I have an actual life here, and living includes working in some time to just stop and enjoy life around you. There is rarely a day when I don't think to myself 'hey, you're in Korea right now!' especially as I walk to the bus stop from school and admire the beautiful mountain scenery along the one street village. Korea is continually surprising me, and I'm learning to just settle in and take it as it comes, one day at a time.

I hope you all have a great week - you are probably all snowed in right now if you're in Minnesota - enjoy a cozy day at home. You know you wanted to stay home instead of go shopping at the mall anyways. Happy almost Christmas week!

Christmas in the Air.

Hello all!

I'm a little late in getting this post out today - I've been working like a Santa elf to get my Christmas package shipped home today - it's a relief to have that done.

I hope you all had a great weekend - I actually don't have too much to write about today, as I enjoyed another low-key weekend (I'm getting better at them.) Friday night I headed to a nearby coffee shop to study for my Korean test on Saturday (which went fine...though I studied the wrong chapter...) and then after doing some banana bread baking for an upcoming bake sale, I headed to bed. Saturday after Korean class I headed to the orphanage, which was a ton of fun. We are trying to implement more of a proper ESL program for the girls, so the Korean high school girls who volunteer with us have sort of taken charge and provided activities for the girls, like ABC worksheet and word puzzles, etc. They administered a skills test a couple of weeks ago, and now are organizing the girls by skills at different tables. Our job now as volunteers is to sit at the tables with them and help them along, either by providing clues or adding on to their basic knowledge. We sang the ABC song and helped them work on their penmanship, along with other activities. There ended up being so many volunteers on Saturday that the kid to adult ratio was nearly one to one. It was a lot of fun for everyone, and as always the time flew by.

After volunteering my friend and I made ourselves slow down a bit and enjoyed a nice afternoon sitting and chatting at a coffee shop downtown. Most of the coffee shops here (since they have English names and Western influence) are decorated for Christmas, and they usually have some sort of Christmas display. So between the Christmas tree display that I conveniently planted myself in front of and all of the busy shopper people watching (yes, that's a term...I made it up) I got to do from the window, downtown Gwangju definitely had the feel of Christmas in the air. I must admit, I had been a little skeptical about Christmas in Korea, since they don't celebrate it nearly to the extent that we do. (About 25 percent of Korea is actually Christian these days, so they celebrate it as a church holiday, but now western influence has infiltrated it enough so that most Korean families have a tree and a big family meal on Christmas...but still not like most western countries.) I purposely avoided playing Christmas music in my apartment, and I tried to brush it off, as I figured Christmas would just have to be something I look forward to upon my return home, since thinking about it made me sad for home. However, I can't ignore the days on my calendar as they draw me nearer and nearer to Christmas (I also can't ignore the excitement of my students for their winter vacation, which starts Christmas Eve.) So like it or not, Christmas coming fast and furious, even here in Korea.

We met up with two friends of ours who were in town for the day and had a nice dinner out at an Italian cafe - we got our pizza fix and got a lot of chatting in. After dinner they all headed back to their respective towns and I headed over to Art Street to pick up a few Christmas supplies. I've mentioned Art Street before - here is a picture to the right. It's one of my favorite places to walk through, especially at night - much quieter and less busy than the nearby downtown streets, and the cute little galleries and shops tucked in among the narrow, cobblestone street give it almost a European feel. The entire street is decorated with these lit up archways, giving it an extra special experience. It was a nice quiet end to my busy day.

On Sunday I woke up with absolutely nothing planned, but I had two goals in mind: to clean my apartment, then make my Christmas cards and get everything packed up and shipped home on Monday. If you would have seen my disaster of a room you would have been very impressed with my ambition. I'm continually impressed with my skills for making such a small room so messy when I have a busy week - I'm barely ever home, and when I am I'm usually getting ready to go somewhere again. This particular week it looked like Christmas presents and card making supplies were thrown into the tornado that swept through my room, in addition to the usual clothes and random books/notebooks. It was quite the mess. I always seem to find something better to do than clean...but I put my foot down yesterday morning, played a BBC documentary about Indian history on my computer to keep me company (did I mention I'm going to India next month? More on that later.) and got started scrubbing.

Later that day I decided to do some Christmas shopping. I was Santa Claus on a mission when I finally reached my destination: the huge bookstore/stationery store in the bus terminal. I knew what I was looking for, and I was quite pleased with my purchases by the time I checked out (somehow some other cutesy little things not on my list found their way into my bag too...I wonder how that happened?) Then I spent some time wandering around Shinsegae, a fancy department store with brand names like Louis Vitton and Gucci that currently has a fantastic Christmas display up. There were many parents and children admiring the display - it was fun to see their oohs and aahs. The picture above is more to capture the adorable little girl on the right than the display itself! Between shopping for Christmas presents and taking the time to admire the Christmas displays, I was definitely in the Christmas spirit.

The picture below is an interesting contrast - there was some sort of Korean celebration happening right across the hall from the Christmas display at Shinsegae. I've seen a display similar to this for a Korean wedding celebration- much like we send flowers for a funeral or special event, they send flowers with either the event or some sort of good luck saying written on it - I've no idea what they say, but they were pretty to look at and they smelled really nice.

After getting back home, I worked on my Christmas cards at a nearby coffee shop. As I wrote my many holiday greetings to my friends and family back home (sorry, my handwriting is still messy - Korea hasn't changed that,) which will be on their way to the States very soon, I was reminded that no matter where you are in the world, you can still have Christmas. I was expecting a non-Christmas this year due to the lack of red and green merchandise in all stores, the lack of cold weather/snow, and especially the lack of my friends and family. However, that night in the coffee shop it really hit me: the Christmas spirit doesn't come from Santa displays or loudly blaring Christmas tunes that bombard you wherever you go. It comes from the spirit of giving and the universal idea of caring, sharing, and spreading joy to those you are close to, or even to those you aren't. Though I'll miss being with my family a
nd friends so much this holiday season, it's nice to know that I can still send them Christmas cards and little sticker packets with random Korean sayings on them just to show that I will still be thinking of them. It's also nice to know that being so far away takes the pressure off of other people feeling obligated to get a present for me and instead I can just fully enjoy Christmas by giving to others. (Plus there aren't any Barnes and Nobles in Korea - I'd be kind of hard to shop for this year, hey? )

So, though I take the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, this year I ask you to make sure that among your crazy busy holiday schedules, weekend mall avoidances (sometimes necessary to preserve sanity) and last minute Christmas Eve shopping runs (you know who you are) you take the time to remember that Christmas is all about giving and bringing joy to others, whether in a card, a Christmas cookie, or even just a couple quarters in the Salvation Army bucket. I guarantee you I'll be trying to do the same, all the way over here in Korea as I prepare for my first Christmas away from home.

Wishing you all a happy and blessed holiday season! Have a great week!

A Korean Thanksgiving: Better Late Than Never

Hello Hello!
I'm afraid I don't have pictures for you this time around...sorry!

Anyway, I hope you all had a fantastic four day weekend, beginning with survival of the notorious bad driving winter weather (I heard a few family members of mine were unable to make the drive from northern MN due to weather - sad), followed by a huge amount of food consumption (that any other day would be frowned upon) which left you incapacitated on the couch, unable to even think about moving, followed by a little football, maybe some card games, movies, lots of sleep. Then maybe you decided to get a jumpstart on your Christmas shopping, either at 4 AM (or your alarm was set for 3:30...and you said screw that, I'll go next year, and then proceeded to sleep some more and venture out at a more human time) or at 1 PM? That's usually the way it goes, right? Oh, and of course you had pumpkin pie for breakfast on Friday. Don't even try to deny it.

Anyway, now that Thanksgiving is over I suppose it's time to start thinking about Christmas - yikes and...what?! Once again, time seems to be slipping through our fingers. Upon discussing this curiously alarming fact that Christmas is just around the corner with my friend yesterday, we concluded that South Korea must have some sort of time warp - we've only been here for about six weeks, not over three months, and Christmas is definitely not that close...so obviously all the calendars and clocks are lying to us here.
Well, even if the calendars are lying, that didn't stop us from having a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday evening. After running some errands and volunteering at the orphanage on Saturday, I headed to the bus terminal, baked goods safely packed away in my backpack, to get a ticket to Jangheung, the anticipated Thanksgiving celebration location among our little group of Americans, Canadians, and even a couple of our Irish friends.

To set the stage, let me tell you a little bit about the bus terminal in Gwangju. In a word, crazy. Similar to a big airport, or the mall on Black Friday morning crazy, with lots of people shorter than me. I got my ticket, waited for about 45 minutes amidst all of the people running everywhere, either to catch their bus, grab something to eat, or to meet someone coming in. I picked a good spot to wait for my bus to come, right in front of a really entertaining guy with a rainbow umbrella. I have no idea what he was saying, but he was hilarious, judging by his actions and the laughter of his friends.

Once on the bus, I settled down into the cramped but cozy seat, and read my book. I sat back, read, took a little nap, and dreamed of pumpkin pie. My ETA was about 6:30 in Jangheung (pronounced Jongheung.) Well, that didn't happen. My ticket, thanks to my newfound Korean literacy, read that I was traveling to Jeongeup - no big deal. Because Jangheung is a small town in the south, and many buses have different destinations within one transit, I assumed that Jangheung was on the way to Jeongeup, and since it was later in the day there weren't many direct buses left, so I figured they threw me on an indirect bus. Well, we all know what happens when we assume things...and if you don't you'd better take notes. When the bus made its first stop, which I knew wasn't Jangheung, it turned out everybody started getting off. Usually only a few people get off at each stop until you reach the final destination. I went up to the bus driver.
"Jangheung?"
"Anio - JeongeuP! JeongeuP! JeongeuP!"
Oops.
There was no one left on the bus at this point, so I grabbed my bags and ran into the tiny terminal. I hoped I could just fix my mistake by catching the next bus to Jangheung, and at the worst just heading back to Gwangju, though I hated to go back the way I came. I called Sara, who was expecting me at about this time, and said "Um, we have a problem. Can you look on the Internet to see where Jangeup is?"
After a minute she said, "um, it's not on Google Maps!" Oh great, I'm thinking, but then I realized I had spelled it wrong for her on the phone. I respelled it for her and she said "Oh, here it is...oooh. Yeah, you went the exact opposite direction. You're north of Gwangju..." Oops again. If I had to get on the wrong bus, why did it have to be the polar opposite of my destination? I realized my mistake had been at the ticket counter - the woman had misheard me (so not 100 percent my fault...but mostly) and I didn't think to double check when I read that the ticket didn't say Jangheung, as I haven't ever had a problem getting to where I need to go. Just when I thought I had Korea figured out, too.

So, after making sure that the crew in Jangheung wasn't going to wait for me to start eating, since that would result in a lot of unhappy people, I realized the only logical solution was to go back to Gwangju and then purchase the correct ticket to Jangheung. Missing pumpkin pie wasn't even an option that crossed my mind...plus if that happened I would have a whole pan of caramel brownies on my hands with no one to share with...even worse. Luckily Gwangju is a major travel hub, so I knew there would still be running buses to Jangheung, even though it was about 6:30 in the evening at that point. I bought another ticket, climbed back on the bus, and read my book to keep me from whacking myself on the head with it for my stupidity.
Well, when it rains it pours. It turned out once I got back to Gwangju and purchased a new ticket (with impeccable pronunciation at the ticket counter, I might add) the bus didn't leave for another hour, which put my ETA at about 10:00 instead of 6:30. But hey, there was nothing I could do about it - good thing I had brought two books along instead of one. I wandered around the terminal for a bit, and waited for the next bus, which I finally boarded a little before 9.

So, after three and a half hours of bus, and about 15 minutes of navigating through a dark Jangheung, I finally made it for the Thanksgiving festivities! My friends had saved me a plate of everything and had very kindly waited to break into the desserts until I got there. As they dug into pie, pumpkin bread, banana bread, and caramel brownies, I happily munched on my plate of potatoes with mushroom gravy, salad, cranberry sauce, stuffing, bread, and...nope, no turkey. Due to the expense of acquiring a turkey in Korea we opted for delicious teriyaki bulgogi instead (Korean beef.) So there was still a hint of Korea in my Thanksgiving dinner, but the best part, as always, was being with my pseudo-family, a random group of English teachers who had nothing in common with each other before orientation week. After traveling together, visiting each others' cities, and sharing our teacher stories over many meals together over the past few months we have formed a fun group that can now check a successful Korean Thanksgiving off its growing list of activities.

As I arrived, I found my fellow teachers in various forms of discomfort due to their very full stomachs, whether curled up sideways on the couch, sitting upright (seemed to be the most painful), or sprawled on the floor, in order to "stretch my stomach out for more pie!" I took heed at this slightly disturbing sight and stopped myself after one plateful of food, then happily indulged in some pumpkin pie, the image of which has been taunting me all week via my PowerPoint presentation on Thanksgiving (and via my dear brother eating it right in front of me when I Skyped the family on Thanksgiving...thanks for that Reed. I wasn't jealous at all.) I realized how much I had come to rely on the guarantee of pumpkin pie once a year for Thanksgiving - it just isn't the same without it. Bless Sara for her pumpkin pie in a springform cheesecake pan. Also bless her for allowing me the delight of eating piece of her homemade apple-pear pie, something every Korean should learn how to make with their strange, delicious fruit that really does resemble a cross between an apple and a pear. The rest of the night consisted of as little movement as possible, as we all sat around in Sara's cozy living room, chatted, and attempted to get a game of cards going. (Nope, too lazy...and a bit of confusion on the rules...apparently Americans and Canadians play the game Presidents differently...) We all slept fantastically well that night, needless to say.

The next day was proclaimed a 'lazy day,' which started off with sleeping in (at least it did for Sara and I), eating pie for breakfast, and taking a walk around Jangheung, which was especially beautiful in the bright sunshine. We walked along the river, sometimes in the shade of the mountains, crossed the stepping stone bridges to pay a visit to the market, then walked along the paths that lined the river, while discussing how incredibly fast Korea time flies by. We came back and tucked into leftovers for lunch, somehow managing to fit in a little more pie.

Midafternoon found me back on a bus to Gwangju (good thing too - I was going through bus withdrawals at that point,) where I returned, made a pit stop in town to take care of something, and then headed back to my home sweet home, where I watched The Terminal while doing some cleaning and organizing. I felt like this weekend was much more balanced and less crazy than the past weekends - a good thing for me. Now I'm back in action at school, planning lessons for my 14th week of teaching - incredible. I have to switch gears and get into Christmas cookie baking, shopping, and planning mode before Christmas sneaks up like Thanksgiving did! The end of the semester for us is December 25th, and then I have to start teaching what they call 'winter camps' - more on that later.

As I looked back on the weekend (while on the bus home, of course) I realized that the best part of the weekend was getting together with my friends and trying to make the most of being away from our families for the holidays. There is something comforting about the familiarity of pumpkin pie, stuffing, and cranberry sauce at this time of year that made being away from home that much more bearable. And this weekend proved that you don't need turkey and decked out shopping malls to bring out the holiday spirit - just being together with friends to enjoy shared time is enough to be thankful for and to count blessings! So with that, I hope you had just as good of a Thanksgiving experience as I did. I wish you all a happy back to work week and good luck with your Christmas planning!

"Mountain Trekking - Me Happy!"

No, Korea hasn't diminished my English speaking ability - that was just the quote of the weekend (from a Korean.) But before I get to the origin of that quote, I'm going to have to keep you in suspense as I tell you about my crazy busy weekend, which was full of friends, fun, fresh fall air, and...foliage. Yes, foliage.

First of all - I hope you all had a great weekend, and I hope you have a Happy Thanksgiving this week! This past week I've been thinking about how exciting Thanksgiving week has been for me the past four years - five days off from swimming and home for nearly a full week was pretty appealing. (I mean, I still had to swim when I went home otherwise I'd pay for it the following Monday - but I could at least choose my practice times.) Going home to Mankato and catching up with friends and family was always a highlight of my year - it will be very sad and strange not to be there this year. You will all just have to send me many e-mails instead :) I have to work on Thanksgiving this year, of course, but on Saturday a group of friends are getting together and attempting to have a Thanksgiving potluck - Korea style. I scored some canned pumpkin when I was in Seoul last month, so this week I'll bust that out and share the love with my fellow westerners. (I just realized how much slang I used in that sentence - ever since my friend and I designed a lesson on English slang we've been realizing just how much we use it in our daily conversations. That's your homework this week: think over how much slang you use every day.)

So, on Friday my friend and I 'studied' for our Korean quiz the next morning at Starbucks...and by the end of the night we determined that we're actually really terrible at studying together because we usually end up just chatting about how funny our students are. So, as a result I had to wake up super early on Saturday morning and do some last minute cramming before heading out on a morning field trip to the Damyang Metasequoia trail. Translation: Damyang is a place, a little town about 15 miles north of the city, and the Metaseqoia trail is basically a walking/biking path that is 

surrounded by Metasequoia trees - the fall colors were absolutely spectacular especially when the morning sun hit the trees just right. We were escorted by a Korean friend of my friend Sokhom's - he is an amateur photographer and graciously invited us along to do a mini photo shoot for him and his assistant, just for practice. We had fun posing and being silly for the camera and the pictures turned out great.

We got back just in time for our Korean class at 10:30 (the quiz went well, don't worry) and we went through the next chapter at rapid speed. I am really enjoying learning Korean - it's fun to be able to pick out words and phrases that my students and coworkers say. We are getting into more complicated grammar now, so I have to study quite a bit this week, but it's amazing how much of it I have already been using in the past few weeks - well worth the studying.

After Korean class it was time to meet up and head to the orphanage - we didn't do too much this week, but instead planned ahead for the next couple of months, when we will start more of a proper English class for the girls. It's hard to plan for the orphanage, since most of it is go with the flow, but I'm excited to do some more teaching, especially when the students are so adorable. (I mean, my middle schoolers are adorable too, but they are a bit older - the orphanage girls are cute little elementary aged students.)

After the orphanage we headed back to the GIC for the weekly 'GIC talk,' which is an hour lecture done by a volunteer presenter about a variety of topics - from politics to history to culture to upcoming events. This particular one was entitled "Tears of Fire," about the Bangladesh genocide in 1971. The objective of the talk (done by a Bengali woman currently living in Gwangju) was simply to inform people and provide facts about what happened, to raise awareness and support for the Bengali people as they continue to try to recover from the horrors of 1971. I encourage you to look up a bit about Bangladesh when you have some time -I learned so much from the presentation, and though much of it was shocking and tragic I think it was good to learn about and be aware of. The GIC talks are another way for the Gwangju community, both foreign and Korean, to interact and get together - I look forward to attending more talks.

After the GIC talk I had a bit of time before meeting up with some friends from Mokpo who came to town for a birthday dinner, so I did some shopping and wandering, enjoying the great fall weather. After a fantastic dinner at a popular Western restaurant the birthday crew was planning to go out on the town. I was so tired so I declined and headed home to drop off my stuff and crash, but after thinking it over I decided to go out for a little while, even though I had plans to go hiking in the morning. The plan was to meet up with some different friends before the birthday friends, who were in a different part of the city, then head home, but the night somehow evolved into an all night dance party, which was a ton of fun.

Even though hiking was the last thing I felt like doing when I woke up the next morning (quite a bit later than planned, I'm afraid) I scolded myself for being lazy and reminded myself that this was probably the last day I had to go to the nearby mountain and see the fall colors, as next weekend I will be out of town. After my harsh self-reprimand, I pulled myself out of bed, threw on some appropriate hiking clothes, grabbed some money, my camera, and phone, and headed out. I instantly felt better when I walked out the door into the fresh fall air (well, some of that was also due to the ibuprofen I popped on my way out,) and after stopping for coffee I felt good as new. It took me two bus changes to get out to the hiking site, and I enjoyed looking at the fall leaves out of the window.

Once I actually got to one of the many start points, (I should back up - I was at Muedung Mountain, which is due east of the city just by a few miles. It is one of the more popular mountains in Korea, with tons of trails leading up to the 1187 meter summit - I can give you some more history later, as it has a lot of historical importance and value.) as I got off the bus I realized I didn't really have any idea what I was doing - I knew some friends who had hiked it a few weeks before, and they told me a little about it, but as I had a time constraint I was worried that I wouldn't make it back in time to catch the bus for my hour long commute back to meet a friend. I decided to just start heading up, and enjoy as much as I could before turning around and making it back to the bus an hour before I had to meet my friend. With that, I picked the most popular looking trail and started my hike.

So imagine the perfect cool fall day, hiking up a fairly isolated trail on the side of a mountain right outside the city. The sun was shining in between patches of clouds, (at least, when I started it was - it got cloudy by late afternoon) I had some birds keeping me company here and there, (birds are a rarity in the city) and there was beautiful scenery all around. It was so quiet and peaceful, and the incline was gradual enough to keep my heart rate up, but not too difficult. I would either pass or be passed by Koreans decked out in their hiking gear here and there. Standard Korean hiking gear: black Gore-tex style pants, hiking shoes, black long sleeved Underarmor like shirts, with brightly colored vests or jackets on top, special backpacks, and sometimes gloves and hiking poles. Oh, and usually some kind of hat. Picture the entire hiking clothing, gear, and accessories section at Cabela's, put it on one person, and you've got yourself a Korean hiker. I've included a picture a little later on in the post to assist your imagination.

So, about an hour into my hike I was just about at my turn around time - I figured it would take me a little less time to descend, but I had some cushion time built in just in case - I was pretty close to the summit and wanted to see how close I could get, hoping for some neat pictures along the way. I had been trailing behind an older couple for a little while (no pun intended) and when they stopped at a resting point (a big slab of rock, in this case) they pulled out some water and drinks from their backpack. As I passed them on the trail, the man made a hand gesture for me to stop, and then he offered me a can of cold coffee and gestured for me to sit and break with them. I didn't want to offend them, and I'm such a sucker for coffee that I smiled, said thank you in Korean, and accepted. After a little bit of sitting around - I busied myself by taking pictures while they were chatting with some other hikers - they gestured to me to keep heading up with them. I decided to test out the very handy Korean I had learned just the other day: telling time. I somehow was able to communicate with them and ask how much farther it was to the top. I explained that I had to be back at the bottom in time to catch the bus. They said it was only about a half hour more to the summit - I knew it was pushing it, but I figured I had built in some extra cushion time, and they were being so nice I would have felt bad heading back down right then. So, I agreed (so glad I did) and continued on. Between their limited English and my limited Korean we were able to chat a little bit - I found out they live in Gwangju as well and near the same area as me. I said I was from America and he asked "San Francisco? New York?" I said "Aniyo (no), Minn-e-so-ta" and demonstrated that it was pretty much in the middle of San Fran and NYC - can't leave Minnesota out in the cold. (ooh, no pun intended there either, but from what I hear about ice and snow this weekend it is actually quite appropriate, no?)

We continued up the way, picking up another couple on the way (who very kindly shared their apples with me - we did a lot of pausing and snacking during the half hour up.) The man kept checking his watch for me, and we ended up ducking under a blocked up section to take a shortcut directly to the top. My anxiety of making it back in time vanished as soon as we reached the summit - it was incredible. Unfortunately, it was pretty cloudy at that point, so visibility was limited, but it was such a neat, beautiful open space that overlooked the city, the mountain valley, and the mountains beyond. While I was admiring (they didn't need to understand English to see I was impressed) and taking pictures, they offered to take pictures for me as well.) I could hear them chatting about me, and checking their watches. Finally it was decided that the couple would personally drive me home to ensure that we would have enough time for the picnic they had prepared - "Gi-na...aniyo bus-uh (no bus) home. My car - home o-ship (home 5:00)." And I therefore became a Korean adoptee and their personal responsibility in order to make sure I enjoyed the mountain and got home in time. They toured me around the summit, pointing out landmarks below, then we had our picnic with snacks and drinks. They knew a faster way down that the way we went up, which was more of a service road - judging by the amount of people that were heading back down with us it seemed to be pretty standard to hike on the trails to the summit, then just walk the service road back down. The road was lined with bright red, orange, and gold trees on the left, with views of the mountain valley on the right. My new friend summed it up perfectly as we neared the bottom (in English) "mountain trekking - me happy!" I wholeheartedly agreed with him - it was hard not to be in a good mood when you are surrounded by great views and fresh, crisp, mountain air.

Side note: as we walked back down to the start point, I received personal Korean tutoring from my new friend. It went a little something like this:

Him:"Gi-na"

Me: "Ne" (prounounced 'nay,' which means yes)

Him: (points to object, such as a tree) "Na-mu"

Me: "Na-mu"

Him: "Aniyo. Naaa-mu"

Me: "Naaa-mu" Then, "tree"

Him: "tree. O.K."

Silence...

Five minutes later,

"Gi-na"

"Ne" (insert a different nature-y vocabulary word, and continue. Repeat for an hour.)

A bit of a Korean overload, but it made the time pass by quickly. Between my Korean education and the scenery I had a great time, and, true to their word, I made it back just in time. (For those of you a bit concerned at my accepting a ride from perfect strangers in a foreign country, let me reassure you that Korea is one of the safest places I have ever been - 99 percent of the people are trusting and honest, and I've never felt uncomfortable or unsafe. It's well known among the foreign community how safe it can be here. I always keep an eye out, but when they offered I trusted my instinct and was just fine - I'm safe, I promise!) They dropped me off right in front of my bus stop, and after thanking and saying goodbye to my new friends I jumped on my connecting bus to head over to Chonnam University, the popular university district near my place.

Chonnam, or Chon-dae, for short (dae-hak-yo means university, so I learned that they just shorten it to Chon-dae when referring to the general) was hopping and busy. The area across the street from campus was full of coffee shops, restaurants, and shops. After meeting up with my friend for coffee I ended up meeting up with the same friends from the night before who were in the area. We got a guided tour around the campus by one of our Korean friends, and I am anxious to return in the daytime to see the ponds and little plaza like areas that we saw, interspersed between the university buildings. which I'm sure look beautiful in the fall colors. It was a pleasantly cool night out; perfect for a walk - I can see myself returning to Chon-dae quite often, as I learned it is only about a 20 minute walk from my area. It was fun being on a college campus again - I miss it.

I think the best part of my weekend was that so much of it was spontaneous and unplanned - everything ended up working out perfectly and I wouldn't have had it any other way. I'm normally such a planner and scheduler that it was a nice change to just go with the flow - funny how things always work out, planned or unplanned. As always, it went by too fast, and now I have to start thinking ahead for Thanksgiving and - yikes - Christmas plans. My goodness, how time has been flying. I wish you all a great week and hope you stay warm and safe!

Backyard Tourist

Good morning!

How are you all doing? As always, I hope you had a great weekend! I am broadcasting live from my floor mat at the present moment - people in traditional Korean homes sleep on the heated floors (in the winter) on their floor mats, then store them away during the day. I decided that my desk didn't have enough space to spread out all of my books and things that I wanted to organize (anyone who has seen me study knows that I'm a spreader.) So I busted out the surprisingly comfortable floor mat and set up shop, spreading books and notebooks to my heart's desire, and propping my computer up on the small little table desk that the art teacher at my school gave to me. It's a nice working space.

I know I usually have much to say about my crazy busy weekends, but this time I'm pleased to report I took a bit of a rest this weekend and stayed in Gwangju for the weekend. I was busy studying last week to catch up and prepare for my Korean class on Saturday (my friend and I started mid-level in the second session, so we had to learn all three of the previous chapters in addition to studying the fourth - it was manageable but time consuming.) We studied Friday night for our vocabulary test on Saturday morning, which was a relief to get over with. 

Saturday after Korean class I enjoyed a nice afternoon reading, relaxing, and then later meeting up with friends for dinner at First Nepal. Sunday I slept in and planned to do absolutely nothing (can you plan to do absolutely nothing or is that an oxymoron?) I spent the morning organizing and taking care of some things on the computer, but by early afternoon I found that I was getting antsy, so I took off to go check out a new cafe that I read about in the Gwangju magazine (more on that in a bit.) The cafe was on the other side of town, so I enjoyed looking out the window during my bus trip and seeing a new part of my city in the fall colors. I even saw the World Cup Stadium and a neat park that I noted to check out later. The cafe, called the Marco Polo Cafe, was a fun place that doubled as a travel agency. The couple that has been running the travel agency for years decided to branch out and start the cafe, stocked with travel books and pamphlets for guests to enjoy (the majority of them were in Korean, but there were some English ones) and a public large screen computer for travel fanatics to plan out trips while caffeinating themselves (dangerous, I know.) Their service was excellent (30 percent off for foreigners) and I enjoyed flipping through some Lonely Planet guidebooks, which of course made me want to to go absolutely everywhere in the world. I chatted with the owners for a bit, who had lived in the Phillipines for a while before returning to Korea, and then left, promising to return with some friends in tow. I topped off my Sunday night on my floor mat, working and watching a movie before turning in around 10:30. It was a really enjoyable, relaxing day, and I realized how many more things there are to see in my city that are just as much fun as the downtown area. I had been getting into such a routine that I needed to stir things up, and I'm so glad I ventured to a new area. This weekend I'm planning to do some more exploration before going away on Thanksgiving weekend.

So, since I don't have much to report for today I'll tell you a little more about Gwangju and what I do around here when I'm not jet setting (bus setting) off to other places on the weekends. Gwangju is a city of about 1.2 million, and it has a great foreign community. It is known as a sort of cultural hotspot in South Korea, with many museums and art galleries. There is even a street downtown known as Art Street, where artists have galleries that they both work in and sell their art in. I'm not much of an art aficionado, but I enjoy wandering down Art Street and poking in all of the little shops and workshops to admire handmade crafts, jewelry, and art. (The picture is a performance I caught on Art Street the other weekend - the entire street is a walkway under the white lattice archway you see in the left of the picture - at night it lights up)

The main foreign community of Gwangju draws from the GIC, or Gwangju International Center. The GIC library, made up entirely of volunteer donations, has a great selection of travel books, history books, fiction, classics, and nonfiction. The GIC is where I take my Korean lessons every Saturday, for a reasonable fee, and it also sponsors many programs such as field trips and cultural talks each week. The purpose of the GIC is to create a gathering place and network for both foreigners and Koreans, and I must say they do an excellent job at providing opportunities for people to enjoy and interact with each other. They also put out the online Gwangju Blog, which provides updates and notices for upcoming events.

The Gwangju Blog is how I found out about the local book club that meets at a different coffee shop each week. I have always wanted to be in a book club, and I jumped at the chance to be involved. There are about 12 of us, all English teachers, who enjoy getting together each week to discuss the book that we all choose together. Last month we read Little Bee, by Chris Cleave, which was an interesting novel about UK immigration and the Nigerian oil wars. For this month we just started Nothing to Envy, by Barbara Demick, an enthralling book about defectors from North Korea and what they experienced while living in communist North Korea - it is fascinating, well written, but incredibly disturbing to read about what has been happening up there.

Speaking of reading material, the GIC puts out a monthly magazine, called the Gwangju News, (where I found the article about the Marco Polo Cafe) which contains great articles on things going on in the Gwangju community, places to visit in Korea and SE Asia, politics, movie reviews, and much more. It is produced entirely by volunteer editors, writers, and copyeditors. I offered to do some editing/proofreading for them via e-mail; something I have been enjoying each month (yes, like mother like daughter.) It's been fun to help out and contribute to something I enjoy reading each month.

On my very first weekend here, when I joined the GIC, I picked up the August edition of the Gwangju News and saw an advertisement asking for volunteers to teach English on Saturday afternoons at the local girls orphanage. Having volunteered with children in the past, I thought it would be a good idea to check out and give a try. It is only for an hour each Saturday, so it doesn't take up much of my time, and they ask that you try to make it at least two Saturdays each month, as most people like to travel on their weekends. I have met some really nice people through volunteering, and I have had fun getting to know the girls. It is not as much about teaching English as just spending time with the girls.

In September the orphanage received a donation from a Korean celebrity, and they spent a few weeks talking about options and deciding what best to use the money for. One of the decisions was to invest in painting a mural on the side of the activity room. It was a fun project that lasted a few weeks, and we were able to get the girls to help out with each stage, from tracing projections on the wall to painting the wall. The volunteers had fun with it as well. The mural theme was Dr. Seuss' Oh The Places You Will Go; meant to inspire the girls to follow their dreams. The girls stay at the orphanage until they are 18, and then they are on their own. However, since most of them have limited schooling and English skills, it is difficult for them to get a job, let alone attend college. One of the main volunteers told me that through various fundraisers and work they have been able to support one of the girls who is now attending university. Volunteering at the university has been a great Saturday afternoon activity - I have met really great people who are also donating their time and efforts, and I'm happy to be able to help put a smile on the girls' faces, even if we have a limited communication barrier (which we definitely do!) Now that I am grounded for the next few weeks due to Korean class, I'm glad I will be able to go the orphanage every week, since I will have to miss nearly a month for my winter vacation in February.

So, between studying for Korean class, attending weekly book club meetings, editing articles for the Gwangju news, and volunteering at the orphanage, on top of going to the gym nearly every night (too cold and dark out to run in the mornings now) I keep myself pretty busy. It's a fun community to be a part of; there is never a lack of things to do. I feel so fortunate to be living in such a fun, vibrant city, and even though I have to make myself slow down sometimes, I always look forward to jumping right back into something, be it editing or volunteering or studying. The only thing I'm not liking about my business is that it is all going by too fast. I have been in Korea for three months now - 1/4 of my time is gone! Where did it go? Yikes.

Alrighty, time to leave my cozy warm floor and get ready for work - I wish you all a great new work week! Stay warm and safe - I heard about the crazy snow/ice storm that hit MN hard this weekend. Find yourself a warm, cozy coffee shop with a great book - I can assure you I'll be doing the same over here when the weather gets chillier. It's nice to know that some things provide the same comfort no matter where in the world you may be. Take care, love you and miss you all.