A Japanese Odyssey, part 1.

Hi everyone! How are you doing? Hopefully you will enjoy your last taste of summer this weekend - I'm afraid I've been back to school for almost two weeks now, so my summer is pretty much done for - but it was great while it lasted.

If you recall, my most recent adventure was a two week trip to Japan. I had a wonderful time walking around, sightseeing, exploring, and even threw a little bit of biking and hiking in there. I zipped all across Honshu, the main island, on the bullet train with my highly recommended Japan Rail Pass (it really is worth it - I promise) for seven days, then had a few days to relax in Kyoto, before taking the bus to Fukuoka, on the island of Kyushu, in order to ferry back to Korea via Busan.

But before I tell you all about my travels, I have to say that it was much more than just a trip - I thought the term odyssey might be more appropriate. Most of you know that my mom Kim was an elementary teacher at an international school in Yokohama, Japan, when she was just a little older than I am now. She taught in Japan for two years, then took off and traveled as much as she could with her little yellow backpack (still in the garage). As she has with many aspects of my life, my mom has served as my biggest inspiration in terms of following my travel dreams. After growing up hearing her stories and adventures about her world travels, I decided at the age of 11 (the day she presented about Japan in my 7th grade geography class) that I would follow in her footsteps as best I could.

Ten years later, here I am in Korea, living my dream and loving my life, and owing so much to my mom for always believing in and encouraging me so that I could get this far. Of course, I couldn't have done it without the support of my dad and stepdad either, nor without my amazing family and friends. Either way, now that I live within a few hundred miles of Japan, the country that started it all, (quite literally - my mom was born in Japan as well, due to her father being stationed in Kyushu with the U.S. Air Force) the opportunity to finally go there and see it for myself was too important to pass up. After my China plans became too risky due to visa issues, Japan seemed like the perfect solution. Going to Japan would be almost like going home for me - after ten years of dreaming. Sound familiar? Probably not if you haven't read Homer. That's okay if you haven't, moving on. 

So I planned out my odyssey - not only would I start in Tokyo, my mom's old stomping grounds, (I seemed to have recalled a few stories involving her staying out all night dancing to catch the morning train home when they missed the last train of the night) but also I would pay a visit to Yokohama, the suburb where she lived and taught nearly 30 years ago. After traveling west from Tokyo to hit up the old historical capitals of Japan (that was more due to my own personal interests than anything) I would end in Fukuoka, the city where Mom was born, before heading back to Korea. I planned it all very quickly, didn't get to research as much as I would have liked, due to my friends' arrival and summer camp teaching, and before I knew it I was spending another cozy night in Seoul in Steve and Mary's living room, ready to jet off to Tokyo the next day. 

Since I timed out my flights accordingly, on Friday morning Lauren and I headed out to the international airport together - our flights were just an hour or so apart, so we hung out and wandered around the airport for a while before having to say goodbye. As I was headed to my gate I delightfully stumbled upon not only a Caribou Coffee but also a Subway in the airport - a Minnesota afternoon in South Korea. Yum.

I arrived at Narita airport late afternoon, and initiated my seven day Japan Rail (JR) pass right away to take care of transportation into Tokyo.They were scary efficient at the airport - within twenty minutes my pass was activated, I had a packet of travel brochures and maps in my hand, and I was directed to and seated on my first Japanese train, which left several minutes later. I was off! My first train window glimpse of Japan was, appropriately, lush green rice paddies with workers out in the fields. Yup, I was definitely still in Asia. My view soon changed into surprisingly western style houses as I reached the suburbs of Tokyo, and eventually the little houses turned into huge apartment complexes and big skyscrapers.

Once at Tokyo Station, I went straight to the JR help desk to see about getting to my hostel - once again I was handed a map, given directions, and sent off with a smile towards the correct train - I liked Japan already. My first impression of Tokyo was 'huge,' followed by 'white shirts.' I hit Tokyo Station right about the time when everyone was finishing work for the day - apparently most businesses require a white button down shirt with black dress pants, because about 75 percent of the men in the station were dressed exactly alike. I remembered my mom telling me she remembered seeing this as well.

I found my hostel, tucked in a cosy corner near a quiet neighborhood in Ueno, a district known for its park and museums. As I walked the quiet street in the dark I noticed that A: the streets and sidewalks were super clean, B: things closed pretty early on the streets compared to Korea, and C: I couldn't read a thing. (C should probably be amended, because I did soon notice that there were romanized captions under most signs, so I could at least read it even if I didn't understand it.) The picture on the right is in my hostel neighborhood, and the picture on the left is the first station I ventured out to in the evening - Ueno. My hostel was cute - standard shared bunk beds with our own shower - and one of my roommates turned out to be someone who had been living in Japan for the past eleven years. I always have such good luck meeting people who know their way around. He gave me lots of good tips and advice, which I was grateful for.

The next two days in Tokyo are a blur involving lots of heat, lots of walking, lots of train stations (my JR Pass allowed me to ride some of the train lines for free, including the circular Yamanote Line, which I rode in its entirety because I once read about a character doing it in a book and watned to try it.) On Saturday I saw the Imperial Palace Gardens, Tokyo's massive downtown center, the Meiji-Jingu shrine, dedicated to the Meiji Emperor who was basically responsible for pulling Japan into the modern era, and then I went to all the major stations - Shinjuku, Shibuya, Harajuku, etc - just to wander around and explore their shopping districts, fashion/people watching, and blinding neon-ness. When it got too hot or I felt like I was going to pass out, I usually recharged myself with an iced coffee, while looking at the map and planning what to do next. My favorite day was probably Sunday, when I stayed in my hostel area (the northeast) and did some walking around - ended up in Asakusa (pronounced ah-socks-ah) and rented a bike by the river. I had a grand old time biking my way down the touristy streets, through the neighborhoods, then headed back to Ueno and saw the beautiful massive lotus pond en route to Tokyo National. The museum was fantastic and a wonderful mid-day respite from the heat. My biking elation had a temporary pause when I left the museum, however, because as I was biking back to return the bike, (only 2.50 for the day!) it started raining. I took refuge in a 7-11 and had some fun wandering and taking pictures (the picture below is of the immaculately wrapped and packaged grab on the go cheap meals - the 7/11 quickly became my favorite restaurant in Japan,) hanging out with some other people who had gotten stuck in the rain, but then the rain just kept coming down. I wasn't too far from the river, and decided to risk it.

So tell me, you've ridden a bike before, right? Of course you have, how silly of me. Okay, have you ever ridden a bike in the rain? Sure, you've probably gotten caught in the rain once or twice - no big deal. All right, how about biking one handed in the rain? I know, this is getting trickier. Here's my last question: have you ever ridden a bike (a basket bike, mind you) one handed in the rain while holding an umbrella in the other hand down the sidewalks of Tokyo? No? Let me spare you some pain and just say that I don't recommend it. I actually still have a scar from trying to avoid hitting a very old man on the sidewalk while navigating said bike. Moving on.

That evening I happily people watched in Shibuya, my favorite station, (partly due to the fact that it blasted K-Pop music from one of the big screens when I first arrived,) from the massive second floor Starbucks. I was constantly comparing everything and everyone in Japan to Korea -it was fun to make observations. I decided I like Korean guys' style better than Japanese guys, but that I liked Japanese girls' style better than Korean girls, since I'm sure you were all wondering. I also hit up a used bookstore in Shibuya and was able to exchange a couple of books for a history book and a narrative written by an expat in Japan, so those kept me company at Starbucks - I like to think I was simultaneously educating myself about and observing Japanese culture.

I had an early morning the next day due to an unsuccessful attempt to hit up the early morning fish market. No, it wasn't unsuccessful due to my late start - turns out that the main market area (especially the tuna auction - what a great way to start off the day at 4:30 AM) is closed off to tourists because too many of them were getting in the way. Great. Wished Lonely Planet had told me that the night before.

Anyways, getting up early just meant that I had more time to spend in Yokohama - I had a 2:00 train leaving from Yokohama, which gave me plenty of time to get there, explore, visit mom's school and meet her old principal, and then take off. And that's just what I did. The train to Yokohama took an hour or so, and then I arranged my departure train. After a recharge of coffee, I set off to explore my mom's former home. Yokohama actually holds quite a bit of historical significance, as it was the location of the signing of the 1854 Kanagawa Treaty, the 'friendship treaty' between Japan and America that opened up Japan to western trade The Port of Yokohama opened up in 1859, which essentially catapulted Japan into modernity due to foreign, and notably Western, influence. There was quite a contrast between the new port area and conference center, which I bet wasn't there when my mom was there, and the older part of the city, which I found to be very cute and charming. I wandered through Chinatown (pictured,) explored around the train station, and eventually ended up on Motomachi Street, a ritzy street lined with cafes and shops. After a delicious cafe lunch I packed up and headed out to my destination, Yokohama International School.

As I walked up the hill just beyond Motomachi, I thought about how I was finally about to see the place I had wanted to see since I was an ambitious seventh grader. Here I was! Walking up the same hill my mom had probably walked on at some point, wandering around the pretty hills and houses that I was now navigating myself around just like she must have done...this was great! But wait - did she ever get as lost as I was? (Actually, the answer to that is probably yes.) Mom would have told me if it was difficult to find, right? Well she must have forgotten to tell me if it was...because I was flat out lost.

 My internet directions from the website lacked a map, and all of the little neighborhood area maps that I kept checking didn't show YIS. I was utterly confused, there was no one around to ask for directions, let alone an English speaker, and worst of all, it was about 500 degrees outside. So much for making a nice impression - I felt like I had just been swimming in a sauna. I wandered up and down the hills a bit longer, starting to worry that I would never find it and therefore either miss my train or miss my chance to visit. Oh no! I was close to tears (thanks to a lovely combination of my emotions, my lack of sleep, and the heat) and began to head back to Motomachi to find a computer...when I saw Yokohama International School on a plaque on a building...the one I had passed right as I hit the top of the hill. I had been so excited that I overshot the school, and realized I could have saved myself a lot of sweating and cursing if I had paid closer attention.

All's well that ends well, right? I made it to the school. I found the main building, tried to look presentable, walked inside, and asked for Mr. Stanworth, my mom's old principal who was expecting me. As soon as I walked into his office, all my frustrations vanished as he stood up and greeted me with a big smile. He remembered Mom fondly (he says hi and sends his love to all the family, by the way) and told me how energetic and enthusiastic he remembered she always was. Since it was the first day back for the staff after the summer break, he was incredibly busy, but still nice enough to take a few minutes to walk me around. He said much has changed since Mom had been there, and that they had acquired a few new buildings, as well as redesigned the existing ones. I took some pictures to show her (above left is the building she used to teach in, and above right is in the new teacher's office, to the right is Mr. Stanworth and I,) and tried to imagine Mom running around after her little elementary kids - probably not too different from how I run after some of my rascally middle schoolers. I was glad to see and hear about how successful the school had been and had grown - it was fun to think of how Mom is part of that legacy.

After my delightful visit it was time to run back to the train station to catch the next leg of my journey. Well, the next leg of my journey ended up not being as simple as I imagined it to be. First, I showed up at the wrong Yokohama station (how was I supposed to know the train didn't leave from the one I arrived in? They have the same name!) Once I figured this out my train had already left from the other Yokohama station, so I had to wait in line at the JR office and change my ticket times. Once that was done, I hopped on the JR train out of the correct Yokohama station. Success! But no.

 As I found my seat and looked into the eyes of a very confused man who said the compartment didn't have reserved seats, he helped me realize that I had actually gotten on the wrong train...but I was, in fact, going to the correct destination. Luckily luckily, even though the train I was on would be arriving at Nagoya later than my original train, I would still have time to transfer and catch the correct train up to Takayama. Disaster avoided. I took my seat, relieved I would still make it to Takayama as planned. Good for me, right? Oh no, we're not done yet. As the train neared Nagoya, I finished up writing in my journal and settled back in my comfy seats...the next thing I knew I was being woken up by the attendant who knew I had to get off at Nagoya. If it hadn't been for that nice man I would have ended up halfway across the country by nightfall. I jumped up, ran off the train, thanking him in a strange mix of Korean and Japanese (my brain hadn't made the language transition yet,) and cautiously stepped onto the next train, praying to the gods that it was the right one. I was in luck - it was. I even ended up across from two British girls my age who were traveling to Takayama, and nice to chat to. Finally on the last stretch of my journey, I settled in with some caffiene - no way was I falling asleep again - and my dinner: a sushi bento box, the equivalent of our PB&J brown paper bag lunch. (Or a Power Rangers lunchbox with a sandwich, apple, string cheese, and a cookie, if you were that kind of kid.) Check out the picture: yes, that's a tentacle and yes, it was delicious.

Since I don't want my odyssey story to be as long as Homer's, (don't lie - I know you didn't read it word for word back in English class anyways) so I'm going to finish here for you, en route to Takayama, then we can delve into some Japanese history on the following post - you can't wait can you? Until next time, folks.

In Retrospect

Hello all!

So sorry I’ve been neglecting – after the GRE I thought I’d have some downtime but things just kept on going. I’ve been enjoying my past four days of ‘vacation,’ which will end when my two friends from Mankato arrive tomorrow – then it will be busy busy busy until school starts again in mid-August.

I’d like to say this is another one of those teach you about Korean culture and/or history kind of posts – but it’s not. It’s mostly just about me. Sorry. Tomorrow night my dear friends Emily and Lauren are arriving in Gwangju – we began planning this visit almost exactly a year ago, and I'm so glad it's actually happening. I’ve got loads of things planned for them to do – they’re even coming to work with me for a couple of days. The first semester ended July 15th, so last week and this week I’ve been teaching summer camp for four hours every morning with a wonderful little group of first graders (seventh graders.) They’re great kids and we’ve been having a lot of fun – we keep running out of time because our activities keep us busy. Last week we also had a three day field trip to English Town – I’ll tell you more about that later – so I was busy chaperoning and…speaking English. My gym and swimming memberships ended last week, so I really feel like I’m on vacation with no obligations – has been a good excuse to get myself out walking around and exploring the city again.

As for what’s coming up next, I’ve got a trip to Busan this weekend planned with Emily and Lauren to show them the sights, and then after three days of deskwarming (sitting at my desk for four hours each morning for absolutely no reason at all other than showing up to fulfill my contract) next week we’ll head up to Seoul for a couple of days. Then, on Friday the 5th we’ll head to the airport together – back to the USA for them ( for Lauren, as Em is leaving a couple of days earlier) and onto Japan for me. I know I said I was going to go to China, but things ended up getting a little sticky with the time restraints for getting a Chinese visa – after my experience of not getting my Korean visa on time last year (which was no one’s fault but my own) I decided to sideline the stress and anxiety and changed my trip to Japan. I’ve been reading and researching as much as I can – I’ve got an East to West trip planned out. I’ve grown up hearing about Japan from my mom and grandparents – I’m so excited to finally go there and see it for myself. I’m also planning on visiting the school and area where Mom taught for two years, and even meet her old boss, who is still apparently the principal there.

So, what have I been up to? Well, I’ve been hot, for starters. It’s hot here. My introduction to a full blown Korean summer began in the end of May, when I started noticing that I would walk out the door and after ten minutes feel the need for another shower. Korean summers are composed of a hot, sticky, muggy couple of weeks, followed by a few more weeks of ‘rainy season’ which is even more hot, sticky, and muggy – but at least the mornings and evening were cool. Now we’ve progressed into what my co-teacher calls “hot summer.” (Perhaps due to the recent girl group K-Pop song entitled “Hot Summer” that has been playing on repeat all over the place: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-rftpZ7kCY) Luckily so far it hasn’t been as hot as I remember last summer was – when I arrived in August I thought I was going to melt, even in the evenings, but its definitely still hot. I’m really missing the lake and my various pools right about now. It’s strange to A: not have a tan, B: not run around in a swimsuit all day jumping form swim practice to coaching to teaching lessons to lifeguarding, and C: not spend a day lounging outside on my deck in the heat reading a book. Go figure my first year as a teacher gives me a winter vacation and not a summer vacation.

So, the last time I wrote I believe I was in the midst of studying for the GRE. I’m happy to report that it went well – I knew as soon as I finished that it was much better than last year. I received my scores this past weekend and am pleased to say I bumped all of my scores up – very encouraging for my future graduate school applications. I was a study machine – I don’t think I’ve ever studied so much for anything in my life. My poor kids were so confused when they saw me memorizing vocabulary words: “But teacher, you are from America! You know English!” Luckily two of my good friends were taking it also, so I had a lot of fellow encouragement…and partners to commiserate with. The day we took the GRE we went out for pizza and beer immediately after, then spent the afternoon hanging out with our friends who had come into town for an art show. A nice dinner and a fun night out with our friends was the perfect way to celebrate...even though I don't remember much of it.

I haven’t done much traveling lately because I’ve been busy and have come to appreciate quiet weekends (since my weekdays are jam packed,) but last month I did manage to take a quick trip to Jeonju, a litle city about an hour and a half north of Gwangju. Jeonju used to be the former capitals of one of the three kingdoms (Baekje) during the Three Kingdoms period. (Remember Gyeongju? That was the capital of one of the other kingdoms.) The best and most famous feature of Jeonju is its well preserved hanok village. Hanok village refers to a traditional Korean neighborhood, with traditional style housing and streets. Jeonju’s village was a charming little area just south of the city center – my friend Lisa and I stayed in a cheap little motel room and enjoyed two days of wandering around – exploring the village, walking along the river, checking out the modern downtown (pictured) eating at cute little cafes and coffee shops, and enjoying the change of scenery. It was the perfect little getaway weekend.

After the GRE, the next up on my calendar was my birthday. Though it was the first birthday I’ve spent away from home I couldn’t have asked for a better celebration. Since it was on a Thursday, I couldn’t get together with my friends from out of town until the following evening, so I just had a quiet (and delicious) barbecue dinner with two of my friends in town. After dinner we headed over to Cafe Bene, where our worker friends (pictured) had a special birthday treat prepared, (also pictured) complete with a birthday note written on a Cafe Bene napkin. Because we were the only ones there, they even took song requests and played our favorite K-Pop tunes. A Cafe Bene birthday to remember. The next night I traveled to Mokpo to meet up with my friends, and we joined the already planned Canada Day (I now know that Canada Day takes place every July 1st…) party that evening – it was great to see a lot of my orientation friends again, and we all had a lot of fun.

However, to me, the best birthday presents I received, possibly ever, were at school. Little notes, drawings, and cards appeared on my desk throughout the day, the boa

rds were decorated each time I walked into the room to teach a class, (ah, please note: the very last name on the list of names on the right is my name in Korean, which I always add to the board at the beginning of class, but because it was my birthday my name was already listed AND I got extra stars, which I have to add them myself) and the many birthday greetings that I got throughout the day were so sweet. I got lots of cutesy little gift like hair accessories and even some fresh plums from my kids, and my co-teacher made me a cheesecake. I was so touched, saying that usually my mom makes my birthday cake for me, so I wasn’t expecting a cake, and she said “Well yes, I am your Korean mother so it is my job to make your cake while you are in Korea.” Well done Mrs. Lee. Well done. 

After my birthday I had a couple of down time weeks at school due to finals testing, which I spent reading a history book about China (I just changed my trip about two weeks ago) and planning out my trip, and then the last week of school we played games and watched movies in class. I don’t understand why there is school a week after finals, especially since the majority of classes don’t actually have class – it’s recreation, free time, or movies. (I was chatting to one of my kids in the office and asked him what class he has next. He pointed to the schedule board and said “Math. Movie. Then, history. Movie.” Then he pointed to every class and said “Movie, movie, movie, and movie." Fun.

The good news about movie week, (which I took the liberty of naming,) is that in all the other English classes that I didn’t teach, my co-teachers were showing movies – in English, of course – so I started checking the schedule, asking my co-teachers which movies they were showing in which classes, then popping in on random classes depending on what movie they were watching. Of course, in my extra class I showed a movie too, so I think I counted and ended up seeing clips of about eight different movies thoughout that week. Everyone deserves a movie week here and there, right? I was delighted to discover that now I’m able to read Korean fast enough to catch most of the subtitles.

The last day of the semester was also coupled with my friend Sara heading home for a month long visit (her sister is getting married as well, congrats Emily!) – so we got together and had a nice dinner and went to see the new Harry Potter movie, fulfilling our generational duty. A lot of my other friends are either on or starting their vacations now, and my friend Sokhom leaves tomorrow for Canada – it will be fun to reunite with everyone in August, as well as say goodbye to those who are completing their one year contract.

After finals, I had my two days of summer camp (All About You introduction day and Superhero day) and then me, seven other teachers, and most of the first and third graders (the second graders have to go in the winter vacation) all piled on the bus and headed about 30 minutes away from Changpyeong to the Gwangju English Village. Also termed ‘English Town,’ this ‘summer camp’ is basically supposed to be a simulation of what it is like to live in an English speaking town. All the buildings were labeled in English, and inside each little station (like Post Office, Airport, etc) there were props and scenery to make it look somewhat like the real place. The kids were divided into groups and then all followed a schedule which sent them to different ‘classes’ in each respective building. For example, in Post Office class they learned some vocabulary, learned about writing addresses in English, then wrote letters. In Hair Salon class, they learned accompanying vocabulary, then got to play around with nail polish and face paint. It was basically a mix of vocabulary lessons, hands on activities, worksheets, and games in each class.

I really enjoyed English Town because I was able to hang out with my students without actually teaching. I had a lot of freedom (the teacher’s room was boring because all the other teachers just spoke to each other in Korean…so I slipped out quite often) and had fun just checking out the schedule and making ‘visits’ to each class – I would make sure I hit each group an even amount of times, and made sure I went to each different station just to see what it was all about. Each class was taught by a native English teacher (I believe there were six total) and a Korean co-teacher. Once in the classroom, I would either help with classroom control, help the kids with the activities, sit and listen with the kids, or do the activity with the kids. It was like going to class without having to do any homework. I have some fun pictures – see if you can guess which 'classes' we were at.

We were fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner, which, sadly, were all awful. They tried to make Western food, to suit the ‘English camp’ theme, but personally I think camp food is bad enough in the states – imagine another country trying to replicate it. I told my teachers that now all the kids are going to think American food is awful. To compensate, the Korean teachers frequently ran little ‘errands’ off the campsite and came back bringing fruit and snacks for us and the kids. Aside from class time, I did get to bond with my fellow Korean teachers a bit – the camp was situated out in the countryside, and the ladies took me for walks in the mornings and evenings, pointing out various plants and flowers – so pretty. I saw my first lotus pond too – so very Korean.

I also hung out with the other native teachers in between classes – it turns out one of them

just joined my book club. I think English Town was definitely a good way to start off the summer vacation - I ended the semester on a really good note with my students, and though I'm excited for the break (I definitely feel like I need one) I'm also excited to get back to school and have fun with them again. Picture on the right:

English Camp Teacher to me: "Hey, have you seen two kids running around in costumes? I had them for theater class and then when class ended they ran away still wearing them." She seemed alarmed.

Me: "Yup, they went that way." Unfazed.

After English camp I was finally able to relax and enjoy my summer vacation, which actually doesn’t officially start until next week. As I said, I visited some museums, did some walking around and exploring, cleaned my place, and even got some movie watching time in. I’m eagerly anticipating the arrival of my friends tomorrow night, so tonight I’m going to enjoy my last night off by watching a movie and going to bed early. After that it’s go go go until after Japan. 

As I’m nearing my year-long anniversary of arriving in Korea, I have to do some reminiscing about how much has changed since then. When I arrived, I was dead set on seeing and traveling as much as I could – I was going to take off for teaching in Russia about now, as I recall. I was planning on living frugally and not developing long relationships due to having to leave within a year, and basically living detached from everything so that I could think ahead for the future. Now, I can’t imagine leaving my kids and my friends here for anything so soon – I’ve slowed things down and realized how happy I am here with my job and my life – why would I want to leave so soon in pursuit of traveling a world that will still be there in the years to come? I’ve sort of started my life over here in Korea - this was my first September that I didn’t start swim season since the age of seven - I’ve had to adjust to living ‘normally.’ Luckily I’ve realized that I can’t just sit and do nothing after work – my gym and swimming pool memberships have helped center me, especially after sitting at a desk for most of the day.

However, I think the best things I’ve experienced and realized is how important close friends and relationships are. I’m so lucky to have two really close friends that I would never have thought I could grow so close to in just one year, and of course, I’ve developed a wonderful and trusting relationship with my students, co-teachers, and co-workers. The kindness and compassion of the Korean people is truly touching, and I feel so lucky that I’ve been embraced and accepted by Korean society, from my kids to my co-workers and even to the celebrity moms and coffee shop workers who give me free stuff. The Korean language employs the same word for heart and mind, a beautiful concept which is clearly manifested through most Koreans' everyday actions and behavior. I don’t know what I would do without Mrs. Lee, my Korean mom, or Miss Yoo, my sweet little co-teacher who always helps me with everything. (L -R Mrs. Jo, the Korean teacher, Mrs. Lee, and Miss Yoo at the lotus pond.)

So, after nearly a year of ‘living the dream,’ I’m still doing exactly that: I’ve traveled to countries I’ve always dreamt of going to, I’m reading whatever books I want to for fun, I’m settled in an active and exciting community, I’m learning a new language and culture, and most importantly, I’m learning about myself and shaping the person who I want to become. I’m continually trying to live my life according to Mr. Henry David Thoreau, who boldly dares everyone to: “Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you’ve always imagined.” So far my dream has taken me further than I could have ever imagined, and I can’t wait to see what life has in store for me next.

Enjoy the rest of your summer everyone! Take care.

Korea A to Z

Hello everyone! I hope this finds you well and finally out enjoying the springtime weather, as I hear it finally reached your part of the world. Congratulations, you survived! I've been a busy busy bee lately - I had Easter celebrations, a school field trip, midterm preparations, a birthday party, and a recent cross country trip to Seoul and Busan, which I started by taking the GRE essay test (it went well - better than last year) and ended by relaxing on the beach. Last week I had a day off for Buddha's birthday, then a few down days due to midterm testing, before I hopped on a bus up to Seoul yet again for another birthday bash weekend. Oofda. I'm planning to stay put for the next few weeks, as I have to crack down on studying for round two of the GRE, which I take on June 11th.

I figured that instead of trying to comprehensively go through the past five weeks, I'll just pick out some highlights for you, from A to Z, GRE vocab word study style. I will throw some GRE words in there too, just to keep you on your toes.

Korea A to Z

A: Apgujeong and Americanos

To begin, for those of you who know me well, you might know that I am, shamefully, a bit of a celebrity gossip follower - I like my weekly fix of People and US Weekly when I'm in the States, especially when I can read them for free at Barnes and Noble. Well, since my recent discovery of K-Pop, I've started following just a slight trail of Korean celebrity gossip - mostly about singers that I know. It's the same all over the world, people, except it's interesting that in Korea most celebrities are expected to keep their relationships secret, if they have any at all. They say having a significant other is 'bad for image,' so sadly I don't get to read too much about who is dating who or who is breaking up with who. Well, during my gossip webpage perusals, I noticed that many of the paparazzi pictures take place in some place called Apgujeong. What is Apgujeong? Well, it's a district in Seoul - a brand new, sparkling, rich, and fancy area in Seoul, where my guidebook says "plastic surgeons are nearly as ubiquitous as coffee shops." The equivalent to Seoul's Beverly Hills, kind of the next Gangnam, of course this place was on my list to seek out and get my celebrity search on during my recent travels to Seoul.

Sadly, I was aware that the weekend I was in Seoul, MBLAQ (my favorite group, who has been previously spotted lurking around Apgujeong) happened to be performing in Japan, so I had no chance of seeing them. But that didn't stop me from exploring - a friend and I decided to go people watching in Apgujeong, so after a careful search for the perfect coffee shop (requirements: in a busy area, outdoor seating, and...gelato) we settled ourselves down for some studying (yes, I studied on my vacation) and some good people watching. We weren't disappointed. Our first few minutes in the area (nicknamed "Rodeo Drive") filled with designer shops and fancy restaurants, we saw a girl being photographed by whoever she was with...and then by nearby observers with camera phones. Too bad I didn't even know who my first Korean celebrity sighting was...but at least I know where to come back to.

Other highlights of our Apgujeong people watching session include: women with chin masks on, to cover their recent plastic surgery job, real designer handbags, (Sokhom knows how to spot them - they all look the same to me) lots of good looking people, and lots and lots of tiny little dogs either A: being carried, B: wearing clothes, C: wearing little doggie shoes, or D: all of the above. Oh, and the coconut gelato - we both swear it's the best ice cream we've ever had. All in all, my Apgujeong experience was a success - I predict many more people watching at a coffee shop sessions there. Maybe someday I'll finally have an exciting celebrity sighting.

On the topic of coffee shops, I reach my next point: Americanos. Koreans love Americanos. Correction: They love to order Americanos. For those of you who don't know what an Americano is, it's simply espresso (that really strong, bitter stuff people drink out of little tiny cups) diluted with water - they come hot or iced. When I first came to Korea and noticed the high number of Americano drinkers, I figured that was why the Koreans are all so skinny, since the calories in lattes and mochas aren't exactly health-friendly...and Korea apparently doesn't do skim milk in their lattes. But no, I was wrong. According to a recent article I read in our English language expat magazine, and confirmed by a few of my more Korea-savvy friends, the majority of young Korean Americano drinkers don't even like the taste. They just like the status of being able to walk around sipping their Americanos at a posh coffee shop. Now, of course I'm generalizing and probably being a bit harsh, but for me, a person who really truly enjoys drinking an iced Americano on a hot summer day, I was a bit shocked at this newfound discovery. It broke my heart to think of people not enjoying their coffee. According to the article I read, the actual taste of the coffee is last on the priority list - being seen drinking an Americano, being seen sitting in a coffee shop, and being around the atmosphere/social aspect of coffee shops get more points than the actual coffee. Now, that I can relate to, because sometime I go to coffee shops just for the atmosphere - but I always enjoy my coffee. For my sake, and for the sake of Koreans all over this country, next time you go out for coffee - please order what you really, truly want, not what you think will look the coolest.

B: Beaches, Busan, and Bongos

Moving on. I was fortunate enough to spend the second weekend in May in the beautiful city of Busan. What is Busan? It's Korea's second largest city, located down in the far southeast corner of the country right on the coast - ferries to Japan are frequent, and it's renowned for its fresh, raw fish seafood specialties. Busan's got character. It's casual and beachy, it's good shopping, good fashion, home to tons of expats, and of course, it's all the best seafood Korea has to offer. My friends and I stayed in a cheap motel that was a three minute walk from the beach - there are a few famous beaches in Busan, so though we weren't at the most famous one, the particular one we picked had an awesome boardwalk street lined with shops, coffee shops, and restaurants, lots of beach space, a cool bridge in front of it, and we even had great weather to go along with it.

We zipped around town in the subway on Saturday, starting with Beomeonsa Temple, which was serenely located high in the mountains above Busan, beautifully decorated for the upcoming Buddha's birthday holiday. We spent some time walking around, looking at the decorations, and enjoying the great weather. Oh, and taking silly pictures in front of the lanterns. After the temple we headed back to town to explore part of downtown Busan, the fish market, and then hung around our area for the evening with some friends. My favorite part of Busan was Sunday morning, however; when we all split up to go our respective ways home, I stayed for an extra couple of hours in order to hang out at a coffee shop on the beach boardwalk. I sat out in the sun, reading a book, drinking my iced coffee, and looking out at the ocean, almost unable to believe I was still in Korea. I thought about how back home, we Minnesotans pay hundreds of dollars to have moments and beach days like this, and here I am in a city only three hours away from where I live. If I ever need a nice getaway from life, Busan is the place to go. I was glad to check Busan off my list, and I'm sure it won't be my last visit.

Are you wondering about the bongos? I saved that part for last. On Saturday night in Busan Sara and I decided to go out for drinks, but as we were sitting in one of those swanky type bars, drinking something that sounded and looked fancy, looking at all the people dressed to kill...we decided we definitely didn't belong there. Just out of college, used to keggers and sweatpants, we're not quite up to that level of sophistication. So what did we do? We each finished our drinks, paid too much for them, then walked a few shops down the road to the little convenience store. Three dollars later, we were parked across the street, on the beach, and having way more fun drinking out of our spiked Coke bottles than our martini glasses. It was really fun to just people watch and observe the beach atmosphere - the beach we were on isn't the most popular one in Busan, so it had more of a chill, laid back vibe. We watched families, couples, and groups of foreigners and Koreans alike pass by and enjoy their evening.

Our favorite part came when a group of young Korean guys set up shop on one of the bench areas nearby, and started playing some live music - there was a singer, a guitarist, some other instrument I can't remember, and...bongo drums. The bongo drum player was awesome - he made the whole performance. When they were finished, Sara decided she wanted to learn to play the bongos too. We went up to the group and started chatting with them - their English was pretty good - and before I knew it, there was Sara sitting down, learning how to play the bongos. She was a good student! Sadly, they had to leave us shortly to catch the subway, but not before they asked to get pictures with us - we made new friends.

C: Caribou Coffee
I have some bad news: last fall there were four Caribou Coffees located in Seoul; now, sadly, there are only three. When Sara and I arrived in Seoul for the GRE test, we heard the devastating news, and decided we needed to make it our personal mission to visit all four Caribous - luckily the one we went to first was the one that closed, so we checked that one off the list. The hunt for Caribou number two proved successful. After just a few stops on the subway and a little bit of walking, we rejoiced at seeing the familiar blue and black sign. We enjoyed our drip coffee of the days while looking around at the Minnesota-ey decor, reminiscing about home. It was a good moment. Two Caribous down, two to go.

D: Diffidence: timidity or shyness. Most of my girl students express diffidence when I whip out my camera, so sadly I don't have very many pictures from my field trip to show you, with the exception of Han Woo Ri and Seo Yeon here. I didn't get to see the students too much, as they were off doing activities with the group leaders, but my favorite part was getting to see them having fun and just being kids, instead of their endless studying and sitting in classrooms.

E: Easter in Korea

This year, as predicted, my Easter did indeed consist of church and chocolate, but an added bonus was some great company. I attended an English church service downtown with a girl from my Korean language class. I knew a few of the other girls from book club, and as it turned out, I had showed up on Easter potluck day. Over a random mix of Korean and western style potluck items, I did a lot of chatting and conversing - it was really fun to meet a new group of people and have some proper English socializing. In the evening I ventured across town to go out for an Easter dinner with just a few friends. If I couldn't be with family, being with friends was the next best thing. Sharing my chocolate chip cookies that Mom brought me (the mix - thanks again Mom) from home helped make Easter a little more homey for me and my friends as well. I hope you all enjoyed some family, friends, and food time on Easter too.

F: Famous moms

Though I didn't see a celebrity in Apgujeong or Gangnam, I don't have to venture very far from my own home in Gwangju to meet a semi-celebrity - how about a celebrity mom? Yup, I'm friends with a celebrity mom - her daughter is a member of one of the most famous girl groups in Korea as well as a popular TV show star. How do I know this? Well, one day a few months back, while walking around in our area, Sokhom and I noticed a tiny new coffee shop that popped up out of nowhere. We made a mental note to check it out...then didn't bother for another month or so. By the time we finally got around to visiting it, the main attraction was because of the very good looking worker who happens to sit right by the window when he's not helping customers, usually on his iPhone. Yup, a definite perk. However, when we went inside, we noticed right away that it resembled some sort of shrine to this young, teenage, cute, Korean girl - there was a life sized picture of her, tons of picture frames, magazine and newspaper tearouts, and autographed photos on the wall. We had no idea what was going on...until Sokhom recognized some of the guys in one of the wall photoa - the guys were from the popular Korean TV show Dream High. Then we saw pictures of her with the other members of Miss A...and realized she was one of them. Okay, so she was a famous celebrity. We figured there was some connection (that or the owner was just a huge fan) but we weren't sure how to ask, so we decided to just wait it out. When we ordered our drinks, we were delighted to recieve some free cookies with our coffee order from the lady worker. The next time we went (both to ogle the good looking worker and to get cheap drinks) we got two free mugs from the lady. We assumed she must be the manager or owner - she would be the one to ask about the unusual decor. The third time we went in she gave us extra cookies and a little plateful of cherry tomatoes. However, this time to reciprocate we had brought her some brownies and cookies. Our curiousity finally got the better of us, and we asked in half Korean about the girl on the wall. We said "Miss A...johayo?" which means 'do you like Miss A?' She laughed, nodded yes, then pointed to the girl and back to herself, saying "Mommy." OH. She's her mom. No wonder it was a shrine.

From then on, I've become a regular there, as I have a lot of studying to do, and the prices are at least a dollar cheaper than my other usual coffee shop. The free cookies don't hurt either. These days, Sokhom and I look forward to visiting Caffe Soo (the girl's name is Soo-Jee, but her stage name is Suzy) to listen to the great K-Pop (yup, lots of Miss A), do some people watching, attempt conversing with celebrity mom in Korean, and of course, recieving the extra little treat we get with our coffee. Having coffee shop slash celebrity mom friends definitely has its bonuses. Just to make you jealous, here is our picture display of our fantastic spread of celebrity mom gifts - we threw the mug in the picture for advertising purposes.

G: Gelato
Speaking of bonuses and coffee shop friends...Sokhom and I have somehow managed to make friends with some other coffee shop workers in town. Our second place is located at the downtown Cafe Bene, which is not only a coffee shop, but also a gelato shop. Yes, gelato - the rich, creamy, yummy ice cream everyone in Italy eats. Why it's popular in Korea I do not know. Of course, Cafe Bene isn't quite like Italy, but it's definitely a step up from Blue Bunny. Anyway, so the first time we went to Cafe Bene it was a slow-ish day, and we ended up semi-chatting (think half English half Korean again) to the worker behind the counter. Somehow, he decided he liked us; and came over with some Cafe Bene mugs for us! We were pumped - what a great service present. There must be something about us that screams 'give us a free mug.' Well, the next time we went back the same guy was working, and this time we not only got a discount, but also a free scoop of ice cream. It so happened that I had some leftover candy from school that day in my bag, so we decided to return the favor a bit and treat all the workers to some candies. Like with celebrity mom, we like to reciprocate. The next time we went (repeat performance of a discount and extra ice cream) we gave them brownies. We're pretty much regulars there now, and each time we go we make sure to have something sweet on hand to give to all the workers. The main guy is studying English, so he likes to come over to our table when it's not busy - we help him with his homework and practice conversation, then sometimes he helps us with our Korean. It's a beautiful relationship. We love making coffee shop friends - our goal is to keep trying new places to find new friends at different ones. Who knows who we will meet next?

H: Hongdae.

Hongdae is short for Hongik University, one of Seoul's many universities. Because the Korean word for university is daehakyo, everyone just shortens the university's name and adds dae at the end - much like we say U for university. Anyway, anyone who is anyone in Seoul knows about Hongdae because it is the premier party location of Seoul. Most of the best clubs are there, and the streets are crawling with people, in various states of intoxication, on the weekend nights (probably during the week also.) I mention Hongdae because on my most recent trip to Seoul my girlfriends and I went out in the Hongdae area for her birthday, just because it is what has to be done if you are in Seoul on the weekend. What I liked most about Hongdae was staying in our wonderfully located hostel right off the main street - it was fun to feel more like a traveler and backpacker in Seoul, then to be spoiled at Steve and Mary's. I also enjoyed hanging out with a different group of girls, and the next day we all went shopping in Seoul's biggest shopping district - something I normally don't do in Seoul because I'm more focused on seeing things and orienting myself. It was nice to have a normal, 'fun' weekend with no worries, a prime hostel location, and a busy nightlife to keep up with. How do you know that Hongdae is Seoul's place to be at night? A: there are tons of foreigners, B: you have to stand in line on the steps getting out on the subway on a Saturday night because it's just so packed with people, and C: the streets are just as crowded at 1 AM as they are at 4 AM. Not that I would know.

I: Itaewon

I think I've mentioned Itaewon before, but if not, it's an area in Seoul known as 'the foreigner district.' It's basically one long street comprised of lots of shops and restaurants - familiar brands like Nike and Converse - but not too many clothes or everyday stores like Target or something. Its proximity to the large American army base in Seoul is the main reason it caters to foreigners - going to Itaewon is usually more like being in a funky district in any given American city. To me, the two best reasons to go to Itaewon are to pick up food at the foreign food market, which caters to many different kinds of ethnicities - I can get Nature Valley granola bars, Betty Crocker cake mix, Skippy peanut butter, and lots of other goodies that I don't normally have access to, and to go eat foreign foods like Indian, Thai, and even Mexican. If you try anywhere else in Korea for foreign food, you will recieve 'Koreanized' foreign food, such as sweet potato pizza or bulgogi (a type of Korean beef) burgers. In Itaewon you're pretty much guaranteed the real deal, so it's always fun for us to try to go out to some new, different places. Two weeks ago, Steve and Mary introduced us to an authentic Bulgarian restaurant - I couldn't tell you any of the names, but I can tell you it was good food - and the next day we enjoyed a Mexican restaurant to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. Oh, I forgot the third best part of Itaewon: the large new and used English bookstore. Score. They have new releases, travel books, magazines, and used books - going there is basically like Christmas.

J: Jalgachi Market

Busan's Jalfachi Fish Market is one of the most famous markets in Korea, due to its high quality of fresh, available seafood. The market is situated right on the wharf, with dozens of boats docked right outside. There are outdoor and indoor stalls, all filled with workers wearing rubber gloves and boots, just waiting to reach in their little buckets, grab your selection, bag it up, and send you on your way while it's still wiggling. I saw so many different kinds of fish, eels, turtles, mussels, you name it. If it lives underwater, it's probably at the Jalgachi Market. We really enjoyed ourselves when walking around, scoping out all of the fish - I'd never been to a fish market before, and I thought about what kind of a job it must be, to sit around smelly fish all day. I also thought about some of the older people working there, and figured their families had been in the fish business for many generations. It was neat to see such an important part of Busan life preserved and still going strong. Speaking of strong, let me just say it's a good thing that pictures don't convey scent...I think my nose is still recovering.

K: K-Pop
You totally saw that one coming, didn't you? Yes, K has to be dedicated to K-Pop - it has completely consumed my life. I went through K-Pop withdrawals during my traveling week, as my friend Sara doesn't really like to listen to it, I didn't have my computer with me to watch music videos, and my i-Pod lost battery by the end of the trip. To recover and reinstate my addiction, last week I snuck away to my English room at school when it was unoccupied and listen to K-Pop in the peace and quiet, while I was hanging up English posters my kids made. I'm obsessed. However, for those of you concerned for my brainpower, let me assure you that it's actually helping my Korean studying. I've picked up on a few key phrases that are almost guaranteed to be in any given K-Pop song. The first, that I've told you about already, is saranghae (love.) Now added to the list are dolawa, (come back) hangbok, (happy) and mianhae (I'm sorry.) If anything, at least now if anyone ever needs help with their Korean love lives I'll be able to assist them by providing some handy phrases.

L: Lotus Lanterns

Lotus lanterns are basically the equivalent to our Christmas lights - they are the number one decoration put out along the streets and temples to prepare for and celebrate Buddha's birthday, which happened on May 10th this year. Though there is an increasing majority of Christians in Korea, it has been a Buddhist country for over a millennium; therefore Buddha still gets a pretty fancy bash for his big day. The lotus flower is Buddha's symbol, and though not all of the beautiful paper lanters resemble lotus flowers, the bright colors and designs blend accordingly to create a beautiful effect, much like the lotus flowers themselves. The weekend I was in Seoul I enjoyed walking around Jogyesa temple to check out the preparations for Buddha's birthday. Bomeonsa temple in Busan also had beautiful lanterns up for decoration. Though I had to leave early, apparently in Seoul there is an evening Lotus Lantern parade down one of the main streets - I'm hoping to get up there next year to check it out, as I'm sure it's absolutely stunning - they're pretty enough in the daytime!

M: Myeongdong

To continue with your introduction to districts in Seoul, we move next to Myeongdong, the shopping capital district of Seoul. Myeongdong has pretty much everything you could ever ask for - you've got your designers - Louis Vitton, Gucci - then your typical brand names - Nike, Adidas, Lacoste - and then, my favorite part, European and American stores like Forever 21, Zara, and H&M. These last three were my main objectives during my Myeongdong visit - it's difficult to find clothes made for women over about 5 ft 5 in Korea -since I have to take advantage of the shopping whenever I'm in the area, especially now that I'm staying for another year. My group split up to ensure more effective shopping, which meant that I got some quality wandering and people watching time once I was finished. The area was packed with people, street stalls, and food stalls - anyone who hates crowds should never, ever go to Myeongdong. For a little while it was fun though, I enjoyed being in the middle of all the action. Also in Myeongdong is Seoul's very first Catholic cathedral, built in 1892 - of course I scoped that out also, as I've done some reading about the Christian persecutions in the late 1800s - scary stuff. But the cathedral was pretty. Can you see the moon?

N: Nose jobs
Sooo, remember what I said about Apgujeong and ubiquitous plastic surgeons? Well, I recently learned that alongside eyelid surgery (many women undergo surgery to literally create an eyelid, as they believe it gives them a more Western look) and jaw surgery, (to make the bottom of their face smaller and more pointed) Koreans are also into nose surgery. The surgery's intent is to raise the bridge of the nose to make it higher and more pronounced - a more Western appeal. I was shocked. Of course, it's not like plastic surgery isn't common in the States also - but the intention and incentive to have plastic surgery in Korea is definitely a significant difference. When telling me this information, my wise and all-knowing co-teacher Mrs. Lee summed it up perfectly: she said "In my opinion, we are all a gift from God, and He made us perfectly. We are Korean, therefore we should look Korean and we should be proud of our looks." Well put Mrs. Lee, well put. Let that be a lesson to you all: be proud of who you are - remember that some people are paying to have a nose like yours.

O: onerous: burdensome, hard to undertake. Studying for the GRE is onerous, especially while living in Korea when there are about a million other things I could be doing, but I'm glad I'm retaking it next month as I feel much more confident going in to it the second time around. Wish me luck!

P: Palaces
When I was up in Seoul during my holiday week I lucked out with having both nice weather and some free time to explore. Seoul has five remaining palace complexes (though they have all been rebuilt since the Japanese invasions.) Prior to last week, I'd only been to the main palace, but this time I walked just a couple of subway stops down the main road to the next set of palaces. Let me clarify once again the word 'palace' in Korea: it's definitely not like a Versailles or Buckingham, it's more like a big spread of fancy, traditional buildings arranged on the palace grounds, walled off and guarded, for the royal family to live and official business to take place. Honestly, they all do kind of look the same - I'm sure if I were Korean I could immediately spot the differences - but either way I enjoy visiting them, to think about how royalty had once walked the same grounds, and to try to imagine life in the past. The two palaces I visited, (conveniently right next to each other) were built more recently, and more for pleasure than official business. And boy, could I see why they were more of pleasure palaces than anything - the grounds were absolutely beautiful with the bright spring flowers blooming everywhere you turned. As much as I love to wander in a historical place like palace grounds, tourist information map and guidebook in hand, I'm afraid I wasn't able to do that this time around...due to the fact that I had a large audience with every move I made. Note to self: never go to a Korean tourist attraction on high school field trip day. Though I must admit, it was quite humorous to see the groups of boys looking over and nudging each other to come up to me to ahem, practice their English. I ended up in about five photos with different groups of boys, and I think a few cameraphones too. If you look close enough you can see them all hanging out here and there - it was difficult to get a picture without a group of students.

Though I was a little disappointed it was cloudy (for pictures) I still really enjoyed the palaces, and I'm glad my count is now 3/5 for Seoul palace visits. I've read some historical material about events taking place in those very palaces, and now I'm anxious to revisit some of what I've read to be able to visualize and better understand what happened. There's absolutely nothing like walking through history with the knowledge of what significant events had happened at that very spot. Props to Seoul for preserving and maintaining such important historical locations for a low cost to visitors.

Q: There are no Qs in the Korean language. Moving on.

R: Royal Wedding

Yes, I admit, I fell victim to getting sucked into the royal wedding on April 29th. I usually read the BBC news, so of course I was bombarded with all sorts of enticing articles and pictures (Royal couple to delay honeymoon! Canada to make coin commemorating Will and Kate!) that I, being the gossip gatherer I am, was excited to watch part of the ceremony, mostly (I admit it) to see what people were wearing. It turned out that one of my British friends had his birthday on the same day as the wedding, so on Friday after school everyone hopped on their respective buses and headed down to Haenam (about and hour and a half away) to both watch the royal wedding live on CNN (the time difference worked out wonderfully - it started at 7 PM here) and then to celebrate his birthday. It was a fun time had by all - the apartment was decorated with British flags, napkins, and computer printouts of the recent royal family. I was lucky enough to take a quick trip to London just before I came to Korea (I flew here from London, actually) so it was really cool to watch the ceremony and procession and actually picture the place as I remembered it. So don't worry, I'm still staying in tune with the world, even though sometimes it can be easy to get fixated on my little Korea-land and not think about other places.

S: Subway.

Hmm, Subway is ambiguous (have you noticed how many GRE words I've been throwing in here? Please be proud) - am I talking about the restaurant or the underground train? Actually, I'm talking about both. First useage: the restaurant. When Sara and I went to Seoul, we decided that the perfect treat for us would be to get a Subway sandwich, as there are definitely no Subways around the rest of Korea. Burger King? Yes. McDonald's? Of course. KFC? You betcha. But Subway? Sadly, no. Lucky for us, we knew they were around in Seoul, and we made it our mission (after Caribou) to find one for lunch after the GRE. Mission successful (we like to operate as secret agents whenever we go to Seoul, in case you haven't noticed.) After a little bit of walking around, we located the familiar looking green, yellow, and white sign - my first Subway in almost a year. I ordered my usual - 6 inch turkey on wheat - and we sat outside to enjoy our sandwiches. It tasted like home - it was so so good. One of those things I don't really think about missing, but now that I've had it again I realize how much I missed it. Sandwiches aren't really a priority on the Korean menu - more like squid soup and fried tofu (both are excellent, by the way.) Between Caribou and Subway, my Wednesday afternoon felt like it could have been back home. I definitely need that once in a while, I must admit.

Next, after our Minnesota (and Wisconsin) moments, we decided to head to our next destination, Myeongdong, to search for shoes for Sara. How did we get there? Can you guess? Yes, on the subway. My first subway ride was in New York City a couple of years ago, and ever since that extremely confusing, slightly traumatizing, and overwhelming experience, I've come to really like subways. They're fast, efficient, and though crowded, they make for great people watching. Seoul's trains (some of the cleanest I've ever seen) are usually pretty packed, especially during the early evening, but hey, that means more opportunities to observe people. Cute babies and cute guys are probably the most fun to observe, but of course, you have to be a little more discreet when staring at a cute guy - at least you can make ridiculous faces and pay a lot of attention to a cute baby. Also: (based on my own personal research and deduction skills) at least 3/4 of any given group of people on a Korean subway will have their heads bowed down, staring at some sort of electronic device, be it a phone, a video game, or an MP3 player. Sometimes, if you're lucky, this can provide you with just as much entertainment - I found myself completely entranced by some middle aged dude playing a car racing game on his iPad - when he leaned, I leaned. So that's fun. Other Korea subway occupations include reading, sleeping, and staring. The old people are the best at staring, just so you know. Sometimes I hide behind other people, though this can be hard to do. If you have any other subway entertainment tips, I'd love to hear them, but I was definitely amused by simply observing people during my Seoul and Busan subway rides.

T: Teacher moment

Okay, now it's time to tell you about one of the best teacher moments I've had this whole year. My students had their midterm exams last week - two days of solid test after test - seven subjects in all. The poor kids were fried by Friday afternoon, therefore we played games in my classes. Anyways, s ince the tests are scored electronically, the kids find out pretty quickly after taking the test how they did. Since I know my students' names now, I took a few peeks at the score sheet to see how they did - there were definitely some expected scores and then some surprising scores. One of my most pleasant surprised was when Hyun Jun, a third grade (9th) boy, scored an 87. That might not seem that great, but Hyun Jun happens to be in my third grade low level class - the majority of his classmates didn't score above 60 - and he scored just as high if not higher than some of my high level kids. Soon after I saw his score, he came in to the office to check his score. I was right next to the desk when he saw it, and I heard a great big gasp of surprise, then a "chinchaeyo!?" which means 'really?' He was so so happy and proud of himself - I gave him a great big high five and watched him run out of the office in excitement.

Hyun Jun also happens to be one of my favorite students - he comes and tries to talk to me or help explain things even though he knows his English isn't quite as good as some of his classmates. He's really interested in American music, and likes to ask a lot of questions about song titles (for the song 'Club Can't Handle Me' he was like, "Teacher, what means?" and held up his hand like he was picking up something, then points to his hand and goes, "club?" Silly English.) I was so happy to see him do well, since I see him try every single day to improve his English. A few days ago, I was working at my desk when all of a sudden a little paper note was dropped on my desk, and then another one on my co-teacher's desk. He ran away before I could say anything, but when I opened it I saw the cutest note ever: "Jina, you are very good teacher. Because I test score 87. I will keep try my best. Thank you Jina!" (my name in Korean uses the same letter for J to make the G sound in my name...) That note made me so happy, and made me want to try even harder for these kids, to improve my lessons, get them speaking even more, and help them feel good about themselves. I truly see why being a teacher is so rewarding.

U: Ubiquitous coffee shops

So I think my coffee shop mention count is up to about four or five in this post alone. I like to think that the frequency of posts about coffee shops emulates the frequency of coffee shops on just about any given street in a Korean city. They love 'em. Which is a good thing, because I love them too. As I mentioned before, the social points one receives from being seen hanging out in a coffee shop are big enough to guarantee that anytime you walk by a coffee shop, there will almost always be people hanging out - not much different than the States, right? Inside, the coffee shop decor is usually very cutesy and modern - the 'funky' coffee shop look hasn't really caught on here. The menu is pretty standard - you have your lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, Americanos (of course) - green tea, black tea, blended smoothies. Some interesting items include tomato juice, (blended tomatoes and ice with added sugar) sweet potato latte, (not kidding - I've tried a sip of someone's...not terrible...but not good either) and cinnamon mocha (I've tried a sip of that one too - actually good.) For sweets, the food is pretty coffee shop-y: muffins, cheesecake, cookies, and an interesting concept that I don't know the origin of: waffles. But not just any waffles. These waffles are doused in anything sweet you can name - there are blueberry cheesecake waffles, apple cinnamon waffles, honey chocolate waffles, gelato waffles, chocolate syrup waffles. Sorry, am I making you hungry? I'll stop. Moving on.

V: variegated: multicolored; various. Korea's variegated spring vegetation has truly been a treat for me to observe. To me, Korea is always beautiful, but this spring especially it has seemed to pull out all the stops - flowers and bright green everywhere you look.

W: Wet and Wild Children's Day

May 5th marked Korea's annual Children's Day celebration. According to one of my students, Children's Day began back in the early 20th century, during the time of the Japanese occupation. Because everyone was so fixated on trying to get rid of the Japanese, apparently the adults decided that they weren't thinking enough about the children, who would be the future of Korea, hopefully as a free Korea. They designated Children's Day to be a national holiday, just for the kids. These days, Children's Day is basically when children (usually up to about 10 or 11) are spoiled rotten - they get taken to parks, amusement parks, movies, etc. There is also an excess of balloons bopping around and ice cream consumed. Sara and I were in Seoul for Children's Day, and we decided to check out the downtown area of Seoul because we heard about some sort of festival. We ended up not really figuring out what the festival was all about, but we did enjoy hanging out in Seoul Plaza, on an immaculately manicured lawn, watching kids play in the fountain and families having picnics. The weather was awesome, the kids were adorable, and the atmosphere reminded Sara and I of having a family picnic on the Fourth of July before the fireworks. After our lawn sit, we did some more walking around downtown - the last time we saw this scene it was an outdoor open concert - now somehow it transformed into a waterfall in the middle of the city? That's Seoul for you.

X: xyloid: of or relating to wood.
I hope you cherish that piece of knowledge - it will take you far in life.

Y: Yangban hanok village
During my free afternoon in Seoul two weeks ago, I took advantage of the beautiful weather and my alone time to check out the Bukchon traditional hanok neighborhood, located in between two of the old royal palaces. What is special about the neighborhood is that the housing style is preserved in the traditional Korean style, and the houses aren't allowed to be changed. This district used to belong to Seoul's elite yangban, which basically means upper class. These were the landowners, the merchants, and the aristocrats of Korean society, second in status only to the royal family. I learned that only direct descendants of these yangban families are allowed to live, or at least have control over their rightful property in this neighborhood today. It was free and open to the public, and as you can see, a popular attraction. Everyone lined up to get a picture of this street, and I must agree it's worth the wait to see the city of Seoul spread out in front of you.

I was walking through the neighborhood, once again I was struck with the all too familiar feeling of contrast between tradition and modernity, a constant struggle in Korea. As you can see in the picture, century year old houses exist within the same frame as brand new modern skyscrapers. I love how Korea has so much history to offer, and how important it is for them to preserve their culture and tradition. Korean history and culture is so interesting to me - I can picture their old way as life just as easily to me, though I know some of the elders these days worry that the old way of life will soon be lost, including traditional values and respect.

Last, though it doesn't start with a Y, I must credit Steve and Mary Kosberg for telling me about this area, as well as thank them once again for their recent hosting. Sara and I were so fortunate to stay with them during the week - It's truly a blessing to have such a comfortable, cozy, and welcoming place to stay in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world. Most importantly though, for me it's a taste of home - from the Mankato Magazine hanging out on the coffee table to burgers on the grill to the plentiful supply of peanut butter (and peanut M and Ms) - staying at Steve and Mary's makes being so far from home feel a little closer to Minnesota. I feel so lucky to have them in my life!

Z: Zzzzzzzz
One final cultural note for you: If you are ever on a Korean bus or train ride, you must be aware that 98 percent of your fellow passengers will be sleeping. Public transportation = sleep time in Korea. On my way home from Seoul this Sunday I actually had some company with me, (usually I'm alone) but we had to be super careful about chatting on the bus because otherwise we would receive the worst death stares you've ever seen in your life. These people may look cute and sweet, but if you are talking too loudly on a bus, especially in English, you will be positively glared at. The best advice I can give is when in Korea, do as the Koreans do. Zzzzzzzz.

Well, I think that finishes it for me - I hope you enjoyed my alphabet list that I had more fun creating than usual because it effectively putting off studying...I have to get back to it now. Have a wonderful rest of your week and weekend everybody, I probably won't post until the middle of June due to my study needs! Take care!