Mom and Brent take on Korea.

Hey everyone!

I was busy all day every day last week due to the arrival of Mom and Brent, who came to Gwangju on Monday afternoon. I rushed to their hotel after school to meet up with them, and each day after that - woke up, went to work, then played tour guide until it was time to go to sleep again. Busy but fun.

I don't know how apparent spring is back home, but in Korea it's in full bloom - literally. This past week we've been treated to the famous pink and white Asian cherry blossom trees - my first time seeing them. They're beautiful and fun to spot - they make everyday, typical parts of the city into an extra special experience. But it's not just cherry blossoms - all over the city the trees, bushes, and other flowers are starting to bloom and blossom. Also, the temperature is at that wonderful, cool but not quite hot yet in between feeling, which makes walking around and everyday errands much more pleasant. All in all, spring in Korea is wonderful.

As for me, I'm still K-Popping away - I've found it makes pleasant company while I make my PowerPoints at work (listening through headphones, of course) and now for my extra class (read: no co-teacher) my kids know they can convince me to let them watch a music video or two at the end of class, provided that I include some sort of English reference or lyrics discussion after. I'm having more and more fun with each passing class, and my friend Sokhom and I are already lamenting over how sad it will be to have to say goodbye to our third graders (ninth graders) at the end of this year. Can't think about that yet.

This past week I introduced Mom and my stepfather Brent to Gwangju - they basically got to see most of the highlights of my Korea life in one week: we walked around the city to some of my favorite places, we ate delicious Korean food each night, they came to my school and met my co-workers and my students, they got to meet some of my friends, and on the weekend we took a short bus trip to do some sightseeing. Just before he left, Brent said to me "I can see why you love it here so much, and I think you made a really good decision to stay another year." (That may have been misquoted a bit...but you get the general idea.) As I headed home after saying goodbye, I thought about what he had said, and realized how much I really do love it here. I know you've heard all of this before, but now I can honestly say that I have a full, complete, wholehearted love of Korea, boy bands and all. I was proud to be able to show off some of what Korea has to offer, though I know living here for two years still won't really scratch the surface.

So, what did my visitors do to introduce themselves to Korea? Well. Monday after school I raced over to their hotel and we commenced with our reunion hugs and 'I can't believe you're here's!' After that we hopped on the bus to head back to my apartment and drop off a shopping spree's worth of clothes, books, and random items that my mother lovingly picked up for me back home. (Thanks again Mom!) Their introduction to Korean cuisine began with pork barbecue, where my friend and I taught them the proper technique of grilling the meat at your table, then wrapping it up in lettuce leaves, adding the extras, and popping it in your mouth. They got the hang of it pretty quickly.

The next day we were all very grateful to my school for giving me the afternoon off, as I had no classes. This enabled Mom and Brent to actually come out to the little town I teach in, where we first went to lunch with my lovely co-teachers, then headed back to school so they could tour the building and meet my students. Well, I'd say 'meet my students' is an understatement. 'Got mobbed by my students' is more accurate. In case you don't know, my stepfather is nearly 2 meters tall, which is synonymous with 'giant' by Korean standards. The excitement of seeing three foreigners at once, two of them being over six feet tall, was almost too much for my kids to handle. It was so cute to see them come up to us and try to speak - we got a lot of 'how are you's and 'HI!'s. We had a small crowd all around the school as my co-teacher gave us a tour, where I got a kick out of watching some of my smaller students dare to come stand next to Brent - some were literally half his size.

At school, we also had tea with my principal, vice principal, and co-teachers, where we discussed my plans for the rest of their visit. At hearing this, my vice principal decided to personally take us to one of the areas we had been planning on visiting. She took us out to a beautiful natural garden and pavilion, which we learned was built in the sixteenth century for the yangban (rich and elite) scholars to study and write while enjoying the beautiful natural scenery. A good time was had by all, and we lucked out with having a personal tour guide, sporting high heels the entire time.

The rest of the week passed by quickly, and mostly consisted of me rushing over to the hotel after school, then the three of us trooping out to walk around and explore, and of course, try another delicious traditional Korean meal. I was proud of them for adapting to kimchi so quickly. However, we were all pretty wiped by the end of the week - I kept them busy each day by sending them to museums, (which I actually haven't been to yet) visiting a traditional spa, (couldn't wear them out too much) and on Friday they successfully 'conquered' all 1187 meters of Mudeung Mountain. Friday night we had a wonderful dinner at First Nepal, the necessary visit every foreigner to Gwangju must make, with three of my friends from out of town who came in to meet them.

We had a really nice day on Saturday, when we took a trip about an hour and a half south to Boseong, home of Korea's famed green tea fields. The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful, and the walking was pleasant. The green tea fields are a top tourist destination in southern South Korea, and rightly so. There are steps and walking trails leading up to the top of the rolling hills, from which you can see the nearby coast (see picture) and scenery. As it was a Saturday, the area was busy with couples and families - Mom and Brent got to marvel firsthand at the Korean women's ability to trek up hiking trails in killer high heels - I still don't know how they do it. For their last dinner in Gwangju, we treated ourselves to galbi ribs, which is marinated pork rib that you grill at your table, then employ the lettuce wrapping techniques that Mom and Brent had perfected by the end of the week. They even helped me grill the meat and kimchi.

Sunday was our sad goodbye, but not after we had finished our comprehensive tour of Gwangju by heading across town to Sangmu, one of the newly developed areas of town - they could tell the difference between Sagmu's widely paved, modern streets and the older, more traditional parts of town that they had seen the past week. We visited the May 18th memorial museum, which commemorates the 1980 democracy uprising that happened in downtown Gwangju as a protest against the increasingly oppressive military dictatorship. More on that later, as the anniversary is coming up soon, but anyways, the museum and surrounding area is the actual site where the police held hundreds of protesters from the uprising in containment for many months. Though a grim part of Gwangju's history, it's the city's claim to fame as a proponent for democracy. It was very interesting, despite some issues with our impromptu tour guide. The most significant one being...he didn't speak English. That didn't stop him though, did it? Oh, no. He kept dragging us around, speaking in a random mix of Korean and Japanese ("hana, dul...san" - 1, 2 in Korean, 3 in Japanese) as we politely followed him, nodded as if we understood, and read the English signs for translation and interpretation. It was a great time. However, the weather was beautiful, it was interesting to learn about, and fun to explore a new part of town, so we enjoyed it. We decided to take a break from Korean and enjoy a nice Western restaurant for lunch, before taking Gwangju's one and only subway line across town back to their hotel. When I said goodbye I said I wasn't sure what country I'd be seeing them in again, but we decided we'd figure that out eventually. Again, it was sad to see them leave, but we were all so grateful for the time we had together.

This week I'm recovering a little bit from playing tour guide, and hoping to head out to Mokpo on the weekend to see some friends and hopefully more beautiful spring landscapes. My next upcoming trip will be the first week in May, when I have to head up to Seoul to take the GRE test, but then I'll have the rest of the week off due to Children's Day, a national holiday where apparently amusement parks and all things 'kid' are jam packed. I'll be headed out to the northeast coast with Sara, since it's a pretty far distance to cover in a weekend trip - this way we'll have a few extra days to do some exploring. We were considering leaving the country to go to a nearby country, but since there is so much of Korea to cover, why would we leave?

One last thing I must mention: though spring is in all it's glory right now, it's a bit strange for me because I feel like my internal seasonal clock is off a bit. In Korea the school year starts in March and officially ends in December, with a break from the middle of July to the middle of August. The past four years I've been finished with school by the middle of May. Needless to say, I'm not feeling the typical end of school spring anticipation that I'm used to...it's quite the opposite. I still have three months of school...and thirty degrees in temperature and humidity rise ahead of me. I'm not sure how I'm going to react to that yet, but I can assure you it already feels weird. Feel free to think of me slaving away while you're outside enjoying your barbecues and weeks up at the cabin this summer. (Yeah, I know...I don't really 'slave away' ...but still.) I realize this is all a part of being a 'grown up' now, since work doesn't end for summer vacation like school does, but still - I sense a rough transition ahead of me.

I wish you all a wonderful spring - congratulations for surviving yet another midwestern winter - as you begin to emerge from hibernation, and I hope you have some time to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather! Goodbye until next time, a date of which I can't really guarantee - it all adds to the suspense. Love you and miss you all.

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!

"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.

Fall, Festivals, and Fun

Hola everyone,

I hope you are having a great end of your weekend! My past week was so busy it blurred right into the weekend, which turned out to be very busy but very fun. It seemed like there was a Gwangju magnet this weekend, as I ended up having six different people come visit and stay the night on my apartment floor between Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. 

For me, the weekend started on Wednesday night, when I ventured downtown for my weekly book club meeting. As I got off my usual bus stop and walked closer, I realized that the main street of downtown was blocked off to traffic, and in its place were three different stages, a kid carnival, and tons of vendors lined up along the sides of the street. I realized that the annual city festival had begun the night before, not on Friday like I'd thought it would start. The festival was called the 7th annual 7080 Chungjang Recollection Festival. The '7080 movement' is the name for Korea's unofficial hippie movement, much like our 1960s and 1970s. The festival uses the name 7080, but it actually encompassed many more aspects of 'recollection,' as it featured many traditional dances alongside international and modern performances. One way they worked the theme into it was by having a street filled with food vendors who sold their food from little stands that were made to look like old fashioned streetcarts and wooden restaurants, lined with black and white pictures of what Gwangju's downtown used to look like. I have a really neat brochure that explains a lot more about the festival...but I'm afraid it's all in Korean, as is their website, so I don't have much more to offer you about the festival. Either way, it was a great excuse for a party and a fun time was had by all. There were tons of performances (dance teams, magicians, some game shows that we couldn't understand but they looked fun anyways, singers, traditional dancers, and comedians), tons of street vendors, and tons of people enjoying themselves.

So, to get back to my Wednesday night, it turned out I had come for the best performance night of the week, as there were some pretty big name K-Pop stars who had come down from Seoul to put on a show. They performed at the impressive outdoor concert stage that took up the entire width of the street. The street was packed when we met at our usual meeting point for book club (we are reading "Little Bee" by Chris Cleave, if any of you are wondering,) and by the time our meeting was over, the concert was going in full swing. I hung around for a while to watch, enjoying the fact that my height enabled me to have a great viewing point from the side of one of the streets. I'm afraid I didn't know any of the songs or artists, but they were fun to watch. One of the guys appeared to be a major heartthrob, based on my observation of all of the screaming girls (and guys?)

On Thursday night two of my friends from Mokpo (about an hour and a half away) had to be in Gwangju bright and early Friday morning to leave for a weekend camp, so they asked if they could come up on Thursday and stay the night. I picked them up at the bus station after school (after scrubbing my floor, as they would be staying the night on the floor mats and covers that came with my apartment,) and then we decided to head straight for downtown. They had heard of a fantastic Nepalese restaurant in Gwangju called First Nepal - very popular with foreigners - that they wanted to try out, so we enjoyed a delicious meal while catching up on our respective teaching jobs. After dinner we walked around to look at all the festivities before heading back for bed (I still had to go to work the next day even though it felt like a weekend.)

Friday at work passed by quickly - I taught three classes in the morning and then two in the afternoon. My students have their midterm exam on Tuesday, so my job was to make sure they had completed all of the dialogue practice covered in the preceding and current chapters. I ended up being more productive than I thought I would be on Friday and got ahead in my lesson planning - always a great feeling. Friday after school was a repeat of Thursday: I met two different friends who teach in Mokpo at the train station, from where we headed straight downtown to go eat at...guesses? First Nepal, of course. It seems to be a rite of passage for all southern South Korea foreign residents to eat at First Nepal when they are in Gwangju - I didn't complain. There were no major concerts or performances like Wednesday night, but the festival was still going full swing - a fun atmosphere. Even though we didn't have to wake up too early the next day, we ended up not staying out that late - it had been a long week for everyone.

Saturday was a day of great coordination and organization, which ended up going smoothly due to the use of our brand new domestic cell phones. First, my friend Sara was coming up from Janghueng in the morning, so she showed up near my house, dropped her stuff off, and then we went to the nearby coffee shop to properly caffienate and to meet Sokhom (my friend who teaches in a school near mine - we live about five minutes away from each other.) The five of us then jumped into a cab and headed across town to check out the annual GIC (Gwangju International Center) Food Festival. There were about 20 different countries represented, and we drooled all over (not literally, don't worry) as we scoped out our options, having to choose among Greek, Indonesian, North American (mac and cheese was one of the items on the menu there) Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Nepalese, Nigerian, Mexican, Turkish, Russian, and Vietnamese. I tried a Greek salad, a Nigerian lentil dish, a bite of Mexican taco, and an Indonesian vegetable salad with delicious peanut sauce. Yum. We sat in the sunshine and enjoyed the international singing and dancing for a bit until it was time to move on. Here's where our coordination came into play: we all took the subway from the Food Festival to the downtown Festival area before splitting off. Lisa and Chad (the couple from Mokpo) were planning to hike the nearby mountain in Gwangju, so I sent them on their way to find the correct bus to take them to the start point. Sara was planning to walk and shop around downtown for a bit, where she was going to meet up with our friend Jason, who was coming up from Mokpo that afternoon. Meanwhile, Sokhom and I headed to SungBin Girls Orphanage, where I have been doing volunteer work on Saturday afternoons. Sokhom decided to check it out and see if she would like doing it as well. We ended up having a ton of fun at the orphanage, (I will post a seperate entry one of these weeks about the volunteering) as it was mural painting day. The girls and volunteers all pitched in and got dirty as we painted one entire side of the playroom with bright cheery colors. The wall was based off of Dr. Seuss' book "Oh, The Places You'll Go!" and though we had to leave a little before it was completely finished, it ended up looking fantastic.

The final phase in our operation on Saturday was to all reconvene for dinner, so Sokhom and I met up with Sara and Jason after the orphanage, and about an hour later Lisa and Chad showed up. Sokhom had to leave to meet some other friends, but then we picked up two of Sara's friends from the area she teaches in, so by the time we made it to Quirinale, a delicious Western-style restaurant, we had a group of (how many people? Were you paying attention? Two plus two plus two minus one plus two) seven people, with plans to meet up with many more teachers later in the evening. Dinner was delicious, and afterwards we did a bit of bar hopping, as there are some really fun 'foreigner bars' in Gwangju. We also checked out more of the performances that were going on due to the festivals. We all made it back safe and sound, and hit the sack (well, they hit the floor) after a fun day and night of festivities.

The next morning we slept in and decided nothing sounded better than a big, hearty breakfast. We were in luck, as there is a restaurant in my city that serves all day English breakfast, mostly for all of the hung over foreigners. The restaurant is run by the same people who own the Underground Grocers, a small little grocery store that imports Western and foreign foods, such as Kraft Mac and Cheese, pasta and pasta sauce, real cheese, Western cereals, snacks, and baking supplies, among others. We headed back downtown to check out the breakfast, (they served real coffee out of a coffeepot, which is actually a luxury in Korea) and we all ended up choosing the Huevos Rancheros instead of the English breakfast. The Huevos pretty much made my day - one of the best Western meals I have had in Korea. I forgot how much I missed Mexican food! After breakfast we decided it was time to part, so we all trooped onto the correct bus to get to the city bus terminal, where we went our separate ways.

It was definitely a busy, but very fun, fast paced weekend - we (the five of us who stayed at my apartment) hadn't all seen each other since our Jeju trip, so it was fun to reunite and catch up on our Korea lives. Our next planned reunion is for Mokpo in three weeks. Next weekend Sara and I are headed to Seoul on Friday evening - it is coming up fast. I remember when we planned it, three weeks seemed like so far away. The month is flying by. 

Time to get started on my new work week - I hope you all had a great fall weekend and I hope your week gets off to a great start! Bye for now!

Day in the Life

Good morning everyone!

I hear MN (and WI) is transitioning into that great, slightly cool fall weather – it is definitely cooler here this week, but still warmer than home. Knowing that all of my Green Bay friends are back in school without me is more strange than I thought I would be – I miss the beginning of the semester syllabi, the getting ahead on homework the very first week and then ending up behind the next week, hanging out at Starbucks on the weekends (at least I can do that here if I still want to.)

I know my mom usually likes to be able to ‘picture’ where I am or what I am doing day to day, so I’ll give you guys a rundown of my daily schedule during the week, as it is more established now after two weeks of teaching.

I get up early in the mornings to run these days. It's become one of my favorite parts of the day (I know, I know, I don't run), because the sun is coming up, people are starting to get going for the day, and I love getting my exercise over with right away.

It’s a nice little walking park with a lot of interweaving trails and two lanes per trail – one blacktop surface and one softer surface which must be better for the knees or something. Every morning there are dozens of dedicated Koreans (mostly older) out speedwalking, arm pumping included, and using the workout stations that are along the trails in the park (I almost used the word ‘playing’ on the workout station, because that’s what some of the stations look like to me, but that wouldn’t be very nice.) Koreans are usually pretty dedicated to ‘their health,’ as they like to put it, so a morning walking routine fits nicely into their lifestyle.

So picture these cute little old men and women out walking, chatting, workout stationing, stretching, etc, and then along comes this blundering six foot tall girl in shorts and a t-shirt who starts jogging around the trails, dodging people as she passes them. What a treat for them to stare at! I feel a little like Gulliver in the land of the Lilliputians. It seems like common courtesy for them to nudge whomever they are talking to and point me out so that they can have a proper look at me also. It’s quite hilarious, actually. I’m sure the people that I pass are usually disappointed because they only get to stare at the backside of me instead of the front also. The best part is when I’m coming up the hill, because there are little benches to sit at on at the top so they get to watch me push it the whoooole way up the hill, and then watch the back of me when I pass them. The first day I got a lot of stares, (some I stare right back at, most I just ignore) but by the end of the week there were fewer stares – the regulars weren’t as interested anymore, I suppose. Nevertheless, there are always stares. I have to note that although I call it a walking park, there ARE other joggers there, just usually not in the morning - Mrs. Lee explained to me that Koreans do like to jog, but they prefer to do it in the afternoon - I've only seen a couple here and there in the morning. I'm not breaking the rules or anything, I promise. 

So I run around the same little loop for the amusement of dozens of Koreans, and then if I have time I like to try out some of the workout stations. I usually just copy what the others are doing, as there are two of the same machines per area, but more often than not the machine is a bit too small for me, so I have to adapt. I’m quite fond of the leg press one and the self bench press one (you sit upright and push forward, which actually lifts you and your seat up depending on how hard you push. ) I have my music in so I usually just stare ahead, but I know most of them are watching me. The second morning at the park I made a friend – a really cute adjuma who actually came over and showed me a different way to do one of the machines – she was the only smile I got all morning (she was also speaking mad fast Korean, which of course I couldn’t understand, but I just smiled and nodded back like I understood.) I saw her out walking the next day so I waved at her and smiled and she waved back. A beautiful friendship.

The park is busy every time I walk by during the day or even the evening. There is a neat fountain that lights up with different, changing colors at night in one of the corners – it’s a great gathering place for friends and family also, with lots of benches and hangout areas. My particular favorite place to sit and read or write is a big old stone right in front of the library.

As for the rest of the day, my bus takes about 20 minutes to get to the village my school in, then I’m at school from 8 to 5 each day, bus home, and then spend my evenings making a quick dinner, going out for a walk or swimming, doing some computer/Internet stuff, going to the library (Muedung Library – I now have a card for their English section), or just staying at my apartment and doing some work/reading, etc. I am usually so tired I go to bed by 9 or 10! There is another English teacher in my area whom I met at orientation, and I think we'll try to get together soon so that I'm not deprived socially. It’s a busy day but I like it and am getting used to my full schedule. With that, I’m going to spend the rest of my weekend doing some organizing and cleaning and then going to bed early to get ready for my new week. I hope you all have a great rest of your weekend!

Welcome to South Korea

Good morning Korea

Hello everybody! I am finally getting started with this blog – it’s been on my to do list for about two weeks now. I hope that I can share a bit about my experience here in South Korea – living overseas is something I have wanted to do for certain since the age of about 11, when my mom presented about her time living in Japan in my 7th grade Geography class. I have been so lucky to have so many travel opportunities in the past – from family vacations to study abroad to road trips – and now I'm continuing the trend in my own way. I titled this blog Living the Dream (0630 is my birthdate) because I really am living out my dream – not only to live abroad for a year, but to travel on my own to all of the places I read about in travel books and magazines during my frequent Mankato Barnes and Noble afternoons. I will probably stay abroad for two years, though I am not sure if I will remain in South Korea for a second year. When I return I plan to go to graduate school, so I see this as my last chance to live the backpacker/explorer/vagabonder type life I have always dreamed about. It is a bit scary not knowing what I will be doing next year, but it is exciting also. I want to travel as much as I can, but while in South Korea I want to learn as much as I can about their culture and lifestyle. I am getting thrown headfirst into it, so what better way to learn?

Without further ado, let me share with you some of my initial observations about my experience in Korea. I arrived on August 19th and had orientation until August 27th. Our orientation was a wonderful opportunity for me to make some new friends with the other new arrivals in Korea. Some are first year teachers like myself, some have taught before. Most come from Canada and the United States, but we had a few Kiwis and Brits in the mix. On the 27th I met my wonderful co-teacher Mrs. Lee, who helped me apply for my alien (why yes, I am considered an alien here in this lovely country) registration card, my Korean bank account, and then took me to my apartment. Much sleeping ensued, after a week of adjusting to jet lag and the extreme humidity in Korea.

My city! Gwangju from the mountainside.

I headed downtown on Saturday and enjoyed a day of walking, (some in the rain but nothing my trusty Target umbrella couldn't handle) exploring, and coffeeshopping. (I am making that a verb – I feel of all people I am entitled to use it freely. Definition: enjoying a coffee at a coffee shop, usually accompanied with people watching, writing in a journal, working on the computer, or reading.) I enjoyed wandering and marveling at all the name brand shops, crazy signs, and umbrella toting people. I ended up meeting two university English teachers (Gwangju has three universities) who invited me for drinks. I enjoyed chatting and was grateful to them for inviting me along – they helped answer a lot of my questions but of course only encouraged more.

Sunday I stayed near my apartment – tackled unpacking, organizing, and cleaning along with laundry, preparing for my first day at work, and some shopping. Busy day. I had fun making my apartment a little more homey, there are many pictures from home up on the walls.

I will write more about my school and apartment later, but for now I wanted to share some observations I have picked up while out and about in my new home in Gwangju, South Korea.

Checking out the downtown.

South Korea Top 10

1. Most Popular Cell Phone Ringtone – I think I have heard every possible tonal variation of Pachbel’s Canon in D Major. I have no idea why this song is popular. I also think some people let it ring longer than necessary just to hear the song.

2. No Shame – the adjumas (Korean for ‘old woman’ I don’t know what they call the old men – so we’ll say adjupas) stare shamelessly with piercing gazes. I am tempted to just get right down to their level and stare right back but I’m too scared. I especially love if they are sitting as I walk by and I can see them turn their head as I pass to get ready to stare at the back of me. I don’t think I will ever get used to being stared at, but the good news is that they are all short so I can just look above them as I pass.

3. No Mercy – Driving here is crazy. I don’t know why I haven’t seen more car accidents, because they whip around like they are in the Indy 500 – we were warned that pedestrians never have the right of way. Needless to say, I am very careful when crossing the street.

Hence the walkways...

4. Caffeinated Koreans – there are coffee shops everywhere you turn, and even if you aren’t at a coffee shop there are vending machines on the street to get ‘Korean style coffee,’ which is actually just sugary milky coffee in a small cup. And if you aren’t near either one…no worries, there are entire rows in convenient stores devoted to small little grab and go cold coffees.

5. MN Twins have a twin? I went to a baseball game here with the other teachers from orientation and we watched the Kia Tigers (Gwangju’s team) play against the LG Twins (Seoul’s team). As I walked into the stadium I discovered that the LG Twins have the same logo as the MN Twins. I wonder who came first?

6. HomePlus store = a whole lot of crazy. Picture a three story Wal Mart, complete with a cafeteria, ice cream parlor, coffee shop, McDonald’s, designer clothes, everything electronic, everything handy dandy, perfume counters, grocery store – you name it, HomePlus has got it. I live about 5 minutes away from one and I think I have been there every day since I moved in, just to walk around and observe (it’s a dangerous place though – you go in with two items on your list and come out with at least five.)

7. Dressing down? - In Korean schools it is customary to take off your shoes when you enter, put them in a little locker, and change to sandals, slippers, or flip flops. I have been wearing skirts because it is ungodly hot out, so flip flops feel pretty natural (in the winter I will have to buy some men’s slippers – nothing larger than a size 8 here) but it is strange to see the guy teachers in dress pants sporting socks and sandals.

8. Little Cinderellas - Every day for 20 minutes after 6th period the kids set about cleaning the school. There are kids in the teacher’s room cleaning the windows, sweeping and mopping the floors, dusting, and tidying. Every child has a job in their respective rooms, and they all go at it together for 20 minutes in the afternoon (I have seen some clean in the mornings as well) I support initiating this in American schools – we should give the janitors a bit of a break.

9. Service! – Service in Korea has a reputation for being the best in the world. Basically it means something for free – picture those free samples you get at the grocery store on Saturday afternoon and multiply it. It's most common in bars and food stands – I was at a bar that served its last few patrons (some of the people I was with couldn’t tear themselves away from the karaoke machine…) a huge bowl of Ramen style noodles all jazzed up with vegetables and spices. Another bar served us a plate of fruit after just two drinks. It's their way of appreciating your business and encouraging you to return. Large grocery stores like HomePlus offer free samples at every corner – I tried a great seaweed/tofu something the other day (too bad I couldn’t understand what it was when she told me.)

10. Kimchi. I have to talk about kimchi. Kimchi to Koreans is like peanut butter to Americans – they love kimchi and eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. But I think that's where the similarities end. It is a pickled vegetable, stored with the following ingredients – salt, water, hot red pepper seasoning, onion, garlic, some other stuff that I'm sure I don't know about, cabbage and/or radish.  I learned upon arriving that there are different types of kimchi – the name itself refers to the spices it is fermented with and the process it undergoes.  Apparently during the cold winter months, and also during some early part of Korean history kimchi was one of the few foods they could store and have to eat – it is a source of national pride and many Koreans are more than happy to tell me how healthy it is. Radish and cabbage are the most common and traditional. People keep telling me it is an acquired taste...and I really hope they're right. I will also have to keep an abundant supply of breath mints or gum on me at all times while working on mastering this new food.

I should get to some lesson planning now, but I hope you enjoyed reading a bit about my new home – it is strange to just keep talking about myself, so please please send me an e-mail or Facebook message and tell me how things are with you! Ramble as much as you want. Take care, I will put up pictures of my apartment and school soon!