A Season of Blessings

Hi everyone! I hope this finds you well and recovering from your week of holiday eating and celebrating. Speaking of holidays, I've got two coming up for you - not to worry, even though I was missing home I was still able to celebrate.

My year has come to a good end, filled with lots of festivities and fun. When November hit, and the leaves exploded into a beautiful

array of fall colors, there was excitement in the air – namely for two end of the year November events. You know what one of them is – can you think of the other one? When I asked my students this, they all answered: School Festival! Then they racked their brains trying to think of the second one – but then all I needed to say was: “America. Turkey.” They got it.

But before we can begin to talk about the Thanksgiving festivities, it was time to get ready for the event of the year: the Changpyeong Middle School Sports Day and School Festival, which took place the day before Korean Thanksgiving. Same as last year, it was an all day event, with sports day in the morning, followed by an afternoon of performances.

Last year I really had no idea what was going on, and I had to awkwardly follow around my co-teachers, asking about what was happening and what was next. I still had fun though. This year, however, I could read the schedule, I had plenty of kids around who felt comfortable enough with me to chat, and I knew what to expect.

I came to school that day prepared for a morning of outdoor activity: two layers of pants, shirts, a sweatshirt, scarf, and a blanket. As I walked down the hall to the teacher’s office one of my kids told me: “You look like polar bear.” Well, polar bears are warm, right? Here is me in my polar bear motif with one of my students and my dear co-teacher, Mrs. Lee.

The day started off with some stretching, then team division, (blue vs white team – guess which team I rooted for) and we started off with some 100 meter dashes, which yielded some surprising results – I had no idea some of those kids were so fast! Then the groups split off into badminton, T-ball, and kickball, which I was free to wander and observe at any time. I bopped around, chatting to different groups of kids and taking lots of pictures. After the first round of games were finished, it was time for the boys to play soccer and the girls to play a Korean game involving throwing a ball and standing in a square like formation – with some running from one side to another in between. Obviously, I didn’t really understand it, and chose to watch most of the soccer game, which included all of my boys who always wished they were playing soccer instead of in my English class. This time I got to see them strut their stuff, and it was fun cheering them on. The morning concluded with team against team tug of war, and then finished off with an all grades, twelve person relay race. The blue team won!

After a hearty meal of bibimbap (just like last year) and some downtime, it was time for the afternoon of performances. Each class did a performance of various types – the first graders did a skit, three of them did a song and dance, one group did a gag skit, and the last group of third graders did a rap/song. In between individuals and groups performed. I was so impressed by some of my students, mostly because they are so shy in my classes, but when they performed they were amazing. The third grade boys did a K-Pop girl group dance to one of the hit songs of the year, complete with girl costumes. Four of my first grade girls, two of whom are horribly shy, rocked another K-Pop girl group song and dance, which you could tell they had rehearsed endlessly, as it was spot on. One of my favorite performances was when one of my third grade (ninth grade) boys performed a duet with one of his friends – this kid not only gets top grades, speaks English really well, is a superstar soccer player, had just won two running races that morning, but he has a phenomonal voice, unbeknowst to me – I started tearing up when I heard him. Of course, this kid is a hotshot, and tries to kick his soccer ball around during my unsupervised extra classes, resulting in my ‘angry face,’ but still, I had to admire him. What a talented group of kids I have the privilege to work with.

When the last performance came, I was sad to have the day end. One of the third grade classes was up, the rapping group, and when they were finished there was the usual round of applause. But they weren’t finished – to our surprise the song transitioned, and all of a sudden some of them ran off the stage and started grabbing the teachers to drag them onstage. Bewildered, we all stood on stage with them, not knowing what was going on, as they started holding up signs and giving us paper carnation pins. I’m sure the Korean teachers figured it out before I did, but it wasn’t until one of the kids (the hotshot kid, actually) came from backstage with a lighted cake and the students all started singing that I realized they were doing a thank you song to the teachers, as they were part of the graduating class and would be leaving the next month. It was so sweet of them! The signs spelled out “Teachers Thank You” and the carnation pins were to show respect and honor towards teachers (it’s a popular flower to give on Teacher’s Day and Parent’s Day.) And the cake? Obviously it was for the teachers to share, right? Well, that’s what I thought too, but the kids ended up having some fun with it instead. As soon as the song ended what did they do? On cue they all reached their fingers in the cake, scooped up some frosting, and wiped it on the teachers’ faces. Cake war: On.

The festival was over, and the third graders proceeded to smear every last bit of the cake frosting on the teachers and mostly on each other – it was great. Lots of fun pictures, and lots of getting back at students. Okay, just a little getting back at them. More of them getting back at me…(Oh, and I promise the kid next to me does like me...he wasn't ready for the picture. Me and my third graders, post-cake cleanup.)

Prior to School Fest I was feeling a little burned out – I was homesick, the weather was getting colder, and I was dragging my heels a bit with the everyday routine of teaching. But throughout that day I was so revitalized by the energy and enthusiasm of my students – they were having a blast, and it was contagious. I got to hang out with some of my favorite students, I watched soccer sitting on the sidelines with them, we shared blankets to keep warm, and best of all, they enjoyed talking to me and explaining parts of the day. I was beaming – my job as an English conversation teacher had turned into so much more with these kids – I felt like their friend, and they had accepted me as such, even though they had to use English to communicate. I was excited but sad to have just a month left to spend with some of them. It sure gave me a lot to be thankful for. Transition into Thanksgiving…

The week of Thanksgiving I enjoyed enthusiastically teaching middle schoolers about turkey, pumpkin pie, Pilgrims, and stuffing. I received some creative responses such as “ Columbus!” or “Abraham Lincoln!” when I asked who the first people to live in America were, and I had to agree with their bewildered looks when I showed them a couple of YouTube clips about Black Friday. “Why, teacher, why so early?” “I really don’t know, kids.”

We also made some Thanksgiving hand turkeys, which garnered some creative responses. Here are some to give you an idea of what my Korean middle schoolers are especially thankful for:

Of course, talking about Thanksgiving all week was making me quite homesick, but I enjoyed Skyping at 6 AM with the family back home – at least this year Reed didn’t wave a piece of pumpkin pie at me in front of the computer. I happily reminded everyone that next year I will be home for Thanksgiving, and tried to transition my thoughts of homesickness to thoughts of excitement for my own Korean Thanksgiving coming up.

Similar to the year before, this year our gathering consisted of nearly twenty people in one apartment – one of the guys from my orientation last year graciously volunteered to host it this year. We dug into one of the more unique Thanksgiving dinners that I’ve had, complete with pumpkin curry soup, Thai pasta salad, cocktail meatballs, and chips and salsa. Though we lacked a turkey, we at least had some chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, vegetables, and plenty of pie and sweets. As always, the most important part was the good company – I enjoyed chatting and catching up with my group from last year, as well as some of the newer teachers. We even had the downloaded football game from Thanksgiving playing on the big screen – it just about felt like Thanksgiving, even from 2,000 miles away.

I was especially thankful for: my safe, happy and healthy life in Korea, the opportunities and experiences I’ve had since living abroad, my students, my co-workers, my wonderful friends in Korea, and everyone I love back home and can’t wait to see again next year. So many blessings!

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!

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.

Korea Saranghae

Hey everyone!

I hope you all had a great weekend - mine was pretty low key, which was just what I needed to wind down a busy week. Today I'd like to educate you all a little bit on Korean teenage culture via YouTube videos. Are you ready?

So, this weekend I hung out with some friends, volunteered at the orphanage, studied, and did some reading. I also found myself spending a lot of time watching, of all things, YouTube. Why? If you know me well, you would know that I'm not generally a YouTube video kind of person - while I like to utilize it for lessons and a few clips here and there, I'm not like some of my friends who spend hours and hours just clicking randomly on interestingly titled videos (you know who you are.) So, how is it that I found myself spending a total of four or five hours on YouTube this weekend? One word: K-Pop. K-Pop, or Korean Pop music, is Korea's contribution to world pop culture. K-Pop is a fairly recent (the last fifteen years or so) generational wave of pop music, which really didn't have much of a history in Korea prior to the 21st century. Solo artists are usually less common, so K-Pop is concentrated on a select number of pop groups - either boy or girl bands, usually with three to six (sometimes more) members. From there, some choose do make solo singles, but they usually stay loyal to their group as well.

They are young, good looking, and talented in dance, music, and acting, but life isn't all fun and games for these groups. They typically have to sign strict contracts with their agencies, which basically signs over their lives - in many they aren't allowed to have relationships, especially with other K-Pop stars, and the contracts keep them on extremely strict schedules. Read more about these so-called 'slave contracts' here. Like the rest of Korea, K-Pop bands are extremely hardworking, but it pays off. K-Pop has been embraced in Korea, Japan, parts of China, and all over SE Asia. Recently some of the groups have become more popular on the international pop culture circuit - Big Bang just recently hit the top 10 album list in the United States. What's interesting about K-Pop is the image these groups present. To be honest, to me, the girls are a bit scandalous, due to their sweet and innocent looks coupled with fairly suggestive dance moves (complete with very very short skirts.) Of course, compared to some of the American pop artists they would seem quite conservative, but because Korean culture is naturally fairly conservative it seems even more shocking to see these girls dancing provocatively. The guys, however, have it all: the looks, the dance moves, and the songs. Their moves usually aren't too inappropriate, and they have a great stage presence. However, most guys or girls in America definitely wouldn't find themselves liking the K-Pop guys due to their lack of... let's say masculine appearance. They are usually pretty skinny, though very fit, but what's most noticeable is that the male singers typically dress in more cutting edge fashion than singers in the States, giving them more of a feminine...persona? Oh, and they usually wear eye makeup and have their hair spiked, dyed, or gelled in every which way. But let's move on.

Throughout my stay in Korea, I've become increasingly aware of K-Pop, as the songs (most with catchy choruses that have a few English words in them which allows us foreigners to recognize the songs and start singing along) blast in most stores, restaurants, and coffee shops. Also, my students manage to know just about every K-Pop song 

ever made, including the accompanying music video dance. The music videos are widespread on the Internet and on TV - at my school festival last fall every single song performance was a K-Pop song (lip synched) and dance. Hilarious. You know how people learn the dances to the Macarena or the Electric Slide, then they only do them at weddings? Well, here you learn the music video dance, then you find every opportunity you can to do the dance with all your friends who obviously know it also. Like, at school, randomly in the street, or, my personal favorite, at the bars (not when you're my students though - those are only the older kids who do it at the bars.)

Then there are the lyrics. I've found myself victim to K-Pop lyrics that I'm not aware of, so much so that I'm caught off guard when I say some key phrase that is part of a song, and 

then I have ten kids in unison singing the next line back to me. Example: if I say "you don't know?" I will hear "Shut up, Boy!" thanks to the girl group Miss A's song "Good Girl, Bad Girl." Yes, during class. We try to keep it fun. And if I want to talk about daily schedules, such as "In America on Thanksgiving we usually eat Thanksgiving lunch around 2 PM..." I hear "2PM? 2AM!" thanks to having two different pop groups called, respectively, 2PM and 2AM.

I've caught on to what not to say at this point, and sometime I like to surprise them by saying a lyric in response to something they just said...this gives me big points for keeping up with pop culture. Nevertheless, I didn't really know the difference (nor cared to) between ShinEE or Girls Generation or 2NE1 (get it - twenty one? Of course, there are only six members.) Wondergirls or B2ST (pronounced "beast," because the

 Korean pronunciation for the number 2 is "ee") until just a couple of weeks ago. The first day I met my new group of seventh grade students this year, as soon as I announced my name was Gina, I received lots of giggles, and had at least three or four kids per class say something about "black and white." I thought it was some weird commentary on my clothes, but I was wrong. It wasn't until I had some random kid start singing a song to me at my desk that I got clued in - it turns out while I was in India there was a breakout song called "Black and White" by the new singer artist G-NA. Yes, our names sound the same. That's when I decided I should do a little research to shield myself against unbeknownst lyric jokes, or to gather some ammo to surprise my kids with. I didn't need to look too far on Wikipedia - I discovered one of her songs is called "I Miss You Already." I call my co-teacher Miss Yoo. We are Gina and Miss Yoo. 

Anyways, this led to me paying more attention to the radio playing at the gym over the past few weeks - to either listen for G-NA's songs or just to listen to the songs in general so I could catch the English. Lucky for me, my friend Sokhom was into K-Pop even before she came to Korea, so she helped educate me on some of the basic groups and their songs. One night at the gym I heard a really catchy song, and when I asked Sokhom what it was or who performed it she didn't have an answer for me. Always the investigator, when I was at her place last weekend

 we decided to research them, based on the only three English words I knew from the song. After a couple of failed attempts on YouTube, I finally found the song. We watched it. Then we watched it again. And again. And again. We were hooked. Here's their picture. I know it's weird, especially if you haven't been surrounded by K-Pop culture for the past six months like I have. All furs, skinny jeans, fringe, spiky hair, and eye makeup aside, those boys are a good looking bunch. 

After watching the music video, I discovered there were more videos to click on that showed the boys in reality tv settings, much like some of our shows in the States. Luckily, there were quite a few with English subtitles, so I was able to follow along on most of them and realize that these boys were also really, really funny, in their own Korean way. 

Anyways, as you can see, one video link led to another...and before I knew it I had spent almost two hours on YouTube - shameful, I know. However, it has reaped its benefits this past week - if I mention to my students that I like MBLAQ they either A. start singing one of their songs, B. start doing the dance to one of their songs, C. a combination of both (my favorite), or D. smile and say, MBLAQ? They're thrilled that they can relate to me with this connection, and it's common ground for them (and me) to start a conversation, which is the ultimate objective for me being here in the first place. In this sense I like to think I've justified my YouTube time by calling it 'research' for school.

So there's your insight to Korean pop culture. Now I'm going to jump to the other end of the spectrum and talk a little more about my students, or more specifically, my students after they leave middle school. I've been corresponding with Yeong Ju, one of my former students who graduated last semester and is now attending ChangPyeong High School. Her e-mails, though they are wonderful to receive, sadden me because they are genuine proof of what a typical Korean high school student goes through in terms of a rigorous study schedule. Here is an excerpt from her last e-mail: "high school is so busy and tired...i must be wake up at 6:30 a.m. and go to bed at 2 a.m. i study at school until 10:30 p.m. and go to academy [private tutoring school] until 2.a.m.so , i'm very very tired..." Lack of sleep is the most common problem among Korean teenagers, and rightly so. If students ever get time off (they also go to school and academies on Saturday, and sometimes academy on Sundays) they are so tired that they would rather play computer games, watch tv, or just sleep.

The majority of Korea knows that it isn't right to keep putting these students through such a demanding schedule, so people are trying to change the system, but for now it's a sad reality - their lives are centered around studying, rote memorization, and focusing on whatever test comes next, be it the high school entrance exam, university entrance exam, or even just the unit test. The pressure for good grades is heavy on the students, put on them by their superiors, their parents, and especially themselves. I have one more video to show you (it's a little longer, just to warn you) that a friend of mine found on YouTube - it explains the situation better than I can. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WpS2JJYfbZ8.

Now, I've talked about high schoolers - let's move to middle school, as I have direct experience with these little guys. Middle schoolers don't usually feel the heavy pressure until the end of their second year, but they typically attend one to two hours of Academy a few days a week - typically in English, math, and science - beginning in elementary school. As a result, my English classes usually have extreme ranges of first year students from those who can barely read the alphabet to those who can tell me they saw me on the bus reading a book last week (true story - I always read on my bus rides, and she did indeed see me on the bus.) The reason I bring this knowledge gap up is that my school recently started a program (quite recently - yesterday) called "Dream School," which is an extra after school (5 to 7 PM) program that consists of extra tutoring in Korean, math, and English. This means that some of my students spend 11 hours a day at school. However, my coworkers and I don't have to teach until then - other teachers from the area come to our school for those extra two hours a day. Dream School (by the way - this isn't a translation...they quite literally say 'dream school' with a Korean accent, so it sounds like 'duhleemuh suhkooluh') is a school board initiative to try and balance out the students who can't afford to attend Academies with those who do. I teach out in the country, and many of my students' families simply can't afford to send them into the city, where the best Academies are. Though Dream School may sound like a better solution for parents, I still think keeping kids at school until 7 PM is way too extreme. My kids, needless to say, are tired. I feel sorry for them, and try to make my lessons as fun as possible to give them a bit of a break from their studies. I know I've mentioned the school system before, but the beginning of a new semester has really put into perspective just how hard these kids have to work.

I've noticed the Korean drive for education and success plays out in every aspect of their culture, even into their adult lives. I see dozens of adults taking swimming lessons at the pool I lap swim at, all working on improving their strokes, (especially the butterfly - why anyone would want to swim that up and down the pool if they didn't have a coach telling them to is beyond me) in the streets people are always coming up to me to ask to practice their English with me, and every time I walk into the city library study room no one even acknowledges my presence by staring and/or giggling because they are so into their studies. This drive for constant improvement is even evident in their celebrities - the K-Pop groups I talked about work extremely hard under severe contract conditions. They practice, work out, perform at concerts, have recording and performance sessions, and are constantly on some sort of reality tv show or game show, plus, you don't really hear of them in trouble with drugs or alcohol, at least as far as I know.

In short, Korea isn't lazy. They have a lot of good things going for them - a fast growing economy, high educational statistics in test scores and results, and they even have their own little subculture of celebrity pop singers and rappers. It's an exciting time right now to live in Korea, and though I hate to always see my kids sleep deprived and suffering from their rigorous academic schedule, I'm constantly amazed at their intelligence, talent, and especially their ability to keep up a positive attitude. I appreciate every minute of attention they give me in class, even if they can't understand half of the words I say - that's not easy to do even when you do get enough sleep. Though I'm constantly learning about Korea and its culture, these past two weeks I have felt especially connected (through K-Pop, of all things) to my students, the most important people here to me. As I keep learning more about the academic pressure my students have to face, I'm glad I've found such an entertaining (and slightly obsessive) way to relate to them, and hopefully keep dreaded subjects like English fun - who knows, maybe next I'll learn how to play Starcraft. Just kidding. Hope you had some fun learning about K-Pop...I'll accept any confession e-mails from those of you who spent three hours watching K-Pop videos after reading this.

Take care everyone, have a wonderful rest of your week! Oh, and if you were wondering about the title - Korea Saranghae translates to I love Korea, and in 98% of every K-Pop song you will hear some variation of the word "Sarang," or love. It's even in the MBLAQ video - can you catch it?