Dear whoever thought up fan death?
Seriously?
Well, here I am sitting in Incheon International Airport waiting to board my flight to Osaka, Japan and then continue on to Guam. But that's not what you will be reading about in the next several minutes. The week last week started out with a bang.
On Sunday night, I was able to hop on a bus and head to Seoul to have a mini WJC/ASP reunion with one of my roomies, Yvette and the ASPer Jason. Yvette was on a school trip and Jason has been teaching here since May. Although we haven't seen each other in such a long time, it was still so nice to see people who knew me BEFORE this big adventure. We had dinner and ice cream and good conversation. It was pretty great and definitely worth the long bus ride up there.
So, in our conversation on Sunday this theory called "fan death" came up. Apparently, many Koreans believe that if you leave a fan on during the night, you will die. Simple as that. They say it sucks all the oxygen out of the air..and my response would be..where does it suck it to? So, I asked my Korean friend about it this week and she said, "yeah, it's a real thing. People die from it. Every summer the news reports at least several cases of 'fan death'." I was flabbergasted. For the past 10 years, I could probably count on my hand the number of times I HAVEN'T had a fan running through the night. I am living proof that this is all a bunch of bologna.
Anyhow, the week was a good teaching week, but nothing too eventful happened. On Monday or Tuesday though, Mrs. Nam had me laughing once again. We were asking questions about future plans and someone asked Mrs. Nam about her future plans and she says, "I have no future. I am housewife." A few other classic Mrs. Nam quotes, "If I drove a sports car, I would look like a player." and "I would have to go on a blind date somewhere outside of Gunsan, my husband might see me here."
The weekend was also pretty full...Friday night, the director took all the teachers out for dinner. Besides my legs cramping up from sitting on the floor and my embarrassment of wearing two completely different socks, (I don't know if I've written this, but when you go to a traditional Korean restaurant you sit on the floor and you remove your shoes at the door) it was pretty good, a little spicy but good.
Saturday I went to a wedding reception for a couple from the church and Sunday was church services.
Since I'm pretty much finished telling you about my activities and whereabouts of last week, I'm going to now go on a little rant that's been on my mind. I'll try to keep it short.
Well, being here longer and observing more and more the mindset and attitudes of Koreans, I'm no longer surprised by the suicide rate here.
According to a Washington Post article, there are an average of 35 suicides a day in South Korea and Korea leads the world in suicide rates. At first I thought it had everything to do with the pressure of education on these kids. I mean the kids are in some sort of school from 7 a.m.ish to at least 8 p.m. at night starting in Kindergarten, and they go to school every other Saturday. Most of these kids go to different Hagwons after their school day. A hagwon is a private institution dedicated to a subject. There are math hagwons, science hagwons, English hagwons, etc. These of course are all optional, well at least to the parents. But the high school kids go to actual school from about 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. everyday. The pressure of passing exams and qualifying for extremely high level universities is tremendous. At the end of a high schoolers 3 years in high school he will take 1 exam that will be an all day ordeal. If he does very well on this exam he will have success throughout his career whatever that may be. If he does poorly, he can kiss his dreams goodbye. College doesn't matter in the long run, high school does. And in my opinion, that is just wayyy too much pressure on an 18 or 19 year old boy or girl.
However, these past few months, I've realized it may not just be the pressure of education and having a successful career that brings people to their breaking point. I've realized more and more the Koreans obsession with outer appearance. I know an obession with outer appearance is not just limited to Korea, but it seems in Korea there is only one "look" that is beautiful. Of course personality doesn't matter, but eyes that are too narrow, cheek bones that are too round, hair that is too black or too straight is unacceptable here. This isn't just a woman's thing either, the pressure to look a certain way is most definitely seen in the men as well. People seem to be so unhappy with the way they look.
And to make matters worse, the blunt comments Koreans dish out is not helpful either. If they think you aren't beautiful they have no problem telling you what's wrong. "You're hair is gross. You're eyes are too narrow. You're face is too round. You're skin is too dark. You're ugly." I've seen my students say things like this. And I've talked to my adult students about these issues. Plastic surgery is EVERYWHERE here..almost every Korean I've come in contact with has had some form of plastic surgery..most popular is making their eyes wider. We talked about plastic surgery in one of my classes and they said that plastic surgery is very dangerous, but also very necessary.
It's no wonder the suicide rate is what it is when you take a young teenage girl who already has insecurities about herself (and the pressure of school) and add in blunt/rude comments about the way she looks. It makes me sick to my stomach. And by no means am I saying America is much different, but I do believe because of the diversity in America, it's led to a wider allowance of what is beautiful. And I have come to appreciate even more the phrase most American mothers teach their children, "If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all."
I could go on and on about this and about the pressures of a good career, a good family name, the right blood type and blah blah blah, but it gets me all riled up. So, I hope you are having a great week and will thoroughly enjoy this Lunar New Year holiday...I know I will :)
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Castaways
Dear Yellow Sea,
You have made a fool out of me.
Yes, that's right, believe it. This is my second blog in two days! I'm just tired of being behind, plus last week had it's fare share of funny,stressful, touching happenings that I want to write down before I forget.
Last Sunday evening, I think, was a slight turning point for me. If you read my last blog, you know I had been struggling with homesickness. I was looking up the word "homesick" in Google and I found that a major symptom is not wanting to do anything at all, no matter how exciting it would seem. This was exactly how I was feeling. I was to the point where if someone would have said, "Natalee Anderson, you have won a two week trip touring all of Asia with a special stop in Australia annnnd your travel buddy will be RYAN REYNOLDS!!!" my response would have been.."eh, no thanks, I'll just sit in my room and watch Office reruns." Well, to be honest, having Ryan Reynolds as a travel buddy probably would have snapped me right out of it. But you get my point.
We have a 3 day vacation starting next Wednesday and I had been talking to my dad about the different opportunities I had for traveling. But when it came down to it, I realized I didn't want to do anything but come home. I'd had enough adventure to last me awhile. He ended up coaxing me out of this slump and encouraged me to take the opportunity to go to Guam for the 3 day vaca. My really good friend here, Hwa Jeong is getting married in Guam to another teacher Ben, and she has many friends in Guam so I had a place to stay and someone to pick me up from the airport. So, I bought the ticket (with some much appreciated help from my fantastic father), and next Tuesday I'll be off to Guam for 4 days! Be prepared to be enlightened about Guam in a future post!
Monday morning last week had such a good start. One of my adult students from the morning class, Mrs. Nam, had been gone for 2 weeks on vacation to Cambodia and Vietnam. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I saw her. It was so great having her back. Her comments are the best! This is one of the many times I wish that I could temporarily eliminate the language barrier because I wanted to hear all about her trip in detail. But of course i can't do that and if that was even possible I would totally be out of a job.
She did talk a little bit about being in a country that is not nearly as wealthy as South Korea. I was proud of her that she let herself be affected by the poverty-stricken people there. Sometimes I think many South Koreans are very concerned with material things and are therefore a little shallow and sheltered. But I guess I could say that for Americans too.
Moving on, Tuesday something utterly embarrassing and hilarious happened. I was with Jemal waiting for Yogita to finish teaching English for a company class. We had some time on our hands, so we decided to explore a little near the company. We ended up down next to the Sea. The tide was out, so there were a bunch of ajummas collecting, I think, oysters and other edible sea life the tide left behind. We had our fun wandering around on the "ocean floor" taking pictures and trying to find our own oysters. Little did we know what was happening when we were having our fun.
We went out on the rocks to the left here. This picture was taken before "the incident."
As I was taking a picture or daring Jemal to eat one of the raw oysters I noticed the ajummas were nowhere to be seen. We were alone. We turned around and BAM the tide had come in. My heart sank, which was a little dramatic of me to feel, but I was so confused, it had only been like 15 minutes, it looked deeper than it was AND I was in a skirt and tights. Now, I didn't befriend a volleyball or tear my shirt and wrap it around a stick to make an infamous torch or anything, but Jemal and I did quickly make our way through the shallow water, socks and shoes and all. It really wasn't a big deal, but then as we were crossing, we noticed all the oyster hunters were sitting up on the rocks watching us, laughing. That was one instance I was very glad to not know the Korean language.
It looked much deeper than it really was. You can tell by looking at my boots here.
On Friday, while playing a game with my class of 15 and 16 year olds, I observed a stark difference between the Korean teenage boy and the American teenage boy. We were playing this pictionary game that has pre-printed pictures and the player has to use the pictures to try to get his or her team to answer. The word they had to show was the word "bikini," after about 2 minutes of trying to show picture, I hear the shyest boy in the class yell out, "BIKINI!" and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he turned as red as as an apple and covered his face. I can only imagine the perverted comments a group of American 16 year olds would have come up with. It was refreshing to witness their innocence..but I say this knowing that they could easily be shouting some grotesque comment in Korean and I would just sit there smiling and nodding. Anyhow, the embarrassment made it's way to the next level when the next word on the card was, "honeymoon."
The weekend came around and it was surprisingly full. On Saturday Jemal, Yogita, and I went on a little drive. We drove about an hour south of Gunsan to a city called Yangwang where there was a scenic route along the Yellow Sea. Although, it's winter and trees and plants are mostly brown, it was so refreshing to see the vastness of the Sea. I love seeing God's creation soooo much more than seeing all the modern, trendy buildings in Seoul. Also on our little day trip, we went to these little villages. It had a definite countryside feel, the villages were similar to the size, if not smaller than Walnut, IL. I think in one of the villages, there were tons of fish farms. It's hard to describe, but we drove out onto this marshy area where there where may roofs built on ground level above a square of water. It was kind of like Everglades meets Canadian bog (bawg). I'm not exactly sure what this little farming community did, but it definitely looked like something out of National Geographic or Animal Plant.
Saturday night, we had a little get together at church to say our goodbye to our Airforce friend Dale who is finishing up his year next week. It's sad saying goodbye. I feel like we are always saying goodbye to these guys. It's sad, but SOOO happy that they get to be reunited with their wives and kids. Anyways, Dale, you will be one greatly missed havener..dink dink.
Ironically last week, a question in the discussion section of my adult classes there was this question: "Do you think your favorite sports team will make it to the championship this year? Why?" Well, I jumped all over this question, chatting away about the Packers. So, that raised questions about American football. One of them said he doesn't understand it and that it's confusing. I was like, "no no..let me explain." [clears throat] "Well you have two teams, if one is on offense then they have four chances to get the ball 10 yards from where they started." (my thought: wait, they only know the metric system) "3 meters? no, I think it's 9 meters." "And then after they get past it, they have another 4 chances to get past another 9 meters. And then they can score if they run it past the last line on the field. And then they can kick the ball for an extra point. But then if they don't make it all they way past the last line they can kick for 3 points. But if they don't make it far they have to kick to the other team. And then they play defense." There were alot of "and then's" and "but's" in my explanation and as I was looking at their faces, I finally said, "You're totally right, this is really confusing. All you need to know is Packers rule and Bears and Vikings drool."
Speaking of the Packers, the other day I noticed this old person in his motorized wheelchair booking it down the highway, but my eye caught the bright yellow color and the glorious "G" on the back of his coat and I snapped this picture. You know I've been in Korea too long when the first thing I thought when I saw him was, "wow, it's so odd that that man has a Packers coat on," instead of "Wow! Someone help that senior citizen get off the highway and onto the sidewalk!"
Go Pack GO! Hope you're having a good week everyone!
You have made a fool out of me.
Yes, that's right, believe it. This is my second blog in two days! I'm just tired of being behind, plus last week had it's fare share of funny,stressful, touching happenings that I want to write down before I forget.
Last Sunday evening, I think, was a slight turning point for me. If you read my last blog, you know I had been struggling with homesickness. I was looking up the word "homesick" in Google and I found that a major symptom is not wanting to do anything at all, no matter how exciting it would seem. This was exactly how I was feeling. I was to the point where if someone would have said, "Natalee Anderson, you have won a two week trip touring all of Asia with a special stop in Australia annnnd your travel buddy will be RYAN REYNOLDS!!!" my response would have been.."eh, no thanks, I'll just sit in my room and watch Office reruns." Well, to be honest, having Ryan Reynolds as a travel buddy probably would have snapped me right out of it. But you get my point.
We have a 3 day vacation starting next Wednesday and I had been talking to my dad about the different opportunities I had for traveling. But when it came down to it, I realized I didn't want to do anything but come home. I'd had enough adventure to last me awhile. He ended up coaxing me out of this slump and encouraged me to take the opportunity to go to Guam for the 3 day vaca. My really good friend here, Hwa Jeong is getting married in Guam to another teacher Ben, and she has many friends in Guam so I had a place to stay and someone to pick me up from the airport. So, I bought the ticket (with some much appreciated help from my fantastic father), and next Tuesday I'll be off to Guam for 4 days! Be prepared to be enlightened about Guam in a future post!
Monday morning last week had such a good start. One of my adult students from the morning class, Mrs. Nam, had been gone for 2 weeks on vacation to Cambodia and Vietnam. I didn't realize how much I missed her until I saw her. It was so great having her back. Her comments are the best! This is one of the many times I wish that I could temporarily eliminate the language barrier because I wanted to hear all about her trip in detail. But of course i can't do that and if that was even possible I would totally be out of a job.
She did talk a little bit about being in a country that is not nearly as wealthy as South Korea. I was proud of her that she let herself be affected by the poverty-stricken people there. Sometimes I think many South Koreans are very concerned with material things and are therefore a little shallow and sheltered. But I guess I could say that for Americans too.
Moving on, Tuesday something utterly embarrassing and hilarious happened. I was with Jemal waiting for Yogita to finish teaching English for a company class. We had some time on our hands, so we decided to explore a little near the company. We ended up down next to the Sea. The tide was out, so there were a bunch of ajummas collecting, I think, oysters and other edible sea life the tide left behind. We had our fun wandering around on the "ocean floor" taking pictures and trying to find our own oysters. Little did we know what was happening when we were having our fun.
We went out on the rocks to the left here. This picture was taken before "the incident."
As I was taking a picture or daring Jemal to eat one of the raw oysters I noticed the ajummas were nowhere to be seen. We were alone. We turned around and BAM the tide had come in. My heart sank, which was a little dramatic of me to feel, but I was so confused, it had only been like 15 minutes, it looked deeper than it was AND I was in a skirt and tights. Now, I didn't befriend a volleyball or tear my shirt and wrap it around a stick to make an infamous torch or anything, but Jemal and I did quickly make our way through the shallow water, socks and shoes and all. It really wasn't a big deal, but then as we were crossing, we noticed all the oyster hunters were sitting up on the rocks watching us, laughing. That was one instance I was very glad to not know the Korean language.
It looked much deeper than it really was. You can tell by looking at my boots here.
On Friday, while playing a game with my class of 15 and 16 year olds, I observed a stark difference between the Korean teenage boy and the American teenage boy. We were playing this pictionary game that has pre-printed pictures and the player has to use the pictures to try to get his or her team to answer. The word they had to show was the word "bikini," after about 2 minutes of trying to show picture, I hear the shyest boy in the class yell out, "BIKINI!" and as soon as the words came out of his mouth, he turned as red as as an apple and covered his face. I can only imagine the perverted comments a group of American 16 year olds would have come up with. It was refreshing to witness their innocence..but I say this knowing that they could easily be shouting some grotesque comment in Korean and I would just sit there smiling and nodding. Anyhow, the embarrassment made it's way to the next level when the next word on the card was, "honeymoon."
The weekend came around and it was surprisingly full. On Saturday Jemal, Yogita, and I went on a little drive. We drove about an hour south of Gunsan to a city called Yangwang where there was a scenic route along the Yellow Sea. Although, it's winter and trees and plants are mostly brown, it was so refreshing to see the vastness of the Sea. I love seeing God's creation soooo much more than seeing all the modern, trendy buildings in Seoul. Also on our little day trip, we went to these little villages. It had a definite countryside feel, the villages were similar to the size, if not smaller than Walnut, IL. I think in one of the villages, there were tons of fish farms. It's hard to describe, but we drove out onto this marshy area where there where may roofs built on ground level above a square of water. It was kind of like Everglades meets Canadian bog (bawg). I'm not exactly sure what this little farming community did, but it definitely looked like something out of National Geographic or Animal Plant.
Saturday night, we had a little get together at church to say our goodbye to our Airforce friend Dale who is finishing up his year next week. It's sad saying goodbye. I feel like we are always saying goodbye to these guys. It's sad, but SOOO happy that they get to be reunited with their wives and kids. Anyways, Dale, you will be one greatly missed havener..dink dink.
Ironically last week, a question in the discussion section of my adult classes there was this question: "Do you think your favorite sports team will make it to the championship this year? Why?" Well, I jumped all over this question, chatting away about the Packers. So, that raised questions about American football. One of them said he doesn't understand it and that it's confusing. I was like, "no no..let me explain." [clears throat] "Well you have two teams, if one is on offense then they have four chances to get the ball 10 yards from where they started." (my thought: wait, they only know the metric system) "3 meters? no, I think it's 9 meters." "And then after they get past it, they have another 4 chances to get past another 9 meters. And then they can score if they run it past the last line on the field. And then they can kick the ball for an extra point. But then if they don't make it all they way past the last line they can kick for 3 points. But if they don't make it far they have to kick to the other team. And then they play defense." There were alot of "and then's" and "but's" in my explanation and as I was looking at their faces, I finally said, "You're totally right, this is really confusing. All you need to know is Packers rule and Bears and Vikings drool."Speaking of the Packers, the other day I noticed this old person in his motorized wheelchair booking it down the highway, but my eye caught the bright yellow color and the glorious "G" on the back of his coat and I snapped this picture. You know I've been in Korea too long when the first thing I thought when I saw him was, "wow, it's so odd that that man has a Packers coat on," instead of "Wow! Someone help that senior citizen get off the highway and onto the sidewalk!"
Go Pack GO! Hope you're having a good week everyone!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Miss You
Dear Wikipedia,
Homesickness is not JUST something kids at summer camp experience.
There's been numerous times this week where I've sat down at this computer and stared at my screen trying to decide what to write. I had a pretty eventful week last week, but since I am still playing catch up for when my sister came, I've had to dig down into my memory for the events of the second week in January. I always try to write lists during the week so I won't forget what to write about, but I can barely remember what my list from that week even means. So, all this said, don't expect anything spectacular or deeply educational...pretty much I'm saying, "stop reading now." :) Anyway, this is what my sorry memory has come up with.
I was so sick. I think I remember at one point the previous week when I watched this little girl sneeze all over her hands and homework. Then she proceeded to come up to me, hand in her homework, and touch my arm and hands, and I thought, "oh no. Not again."
Having this cold really got me feeling homesick. Of course I miss my mom saying to me as a high schooler, "just stay in bed, Natalee, I'll call you at my lunch break and check up on you." And as a college student I miss coming back to my apartment, feeling sick and emotional about something, and laying down in my bed when Zipporah would come in and lay on her bed across from me and say, "Naaaaaaaaat, what's wrong?"
But recently, I come home, lay in my one room apartment, listen to Lily run in her wheel and drink louder than any animal that size should drink, and finish off the evening with a little cup of Nyquil. (Don't worry mom, just this past week, I made sure to ween myself of it...I know you know about my past addiction..what can I say? Nyquil not only helps the sick sleep, it also helps little girls who have scary dreams get a good night's rest)
Anyhow, as this week was dragging along, I'd talk to friends here and there. I love talking to friends from home. But I realized something, I've never understood the meaning of the phrase, "I miss you." until now. I think I've misused the phrase many times in my life or at least never truly meant it so deeply as I do now. I think the sickness sometimes blew things out of proportion too, but I've also been told around the 3rd and 4th month of living abroad, it's the hardest.
Don't get me wrong, I've met so may great people here, and the church has seriously become like family to me (and I am sooo thankful for them!), but I just missing being surrounded by those who really really know me, (with all my faults, quirks, misused phrases, singing totally wrong lyrics, untimely/inappropriate comments) and still like me :) I don't think this sudden feeling of really really missing people is just a "Korea thing" I think this is a "growing up" thing.
Anyways, I can tell your bored with my whining ;) Well, I recently joined a gym. Going to this gym, I think, will provide a good amount of material for the blog. It's located in the same building as my school, so that's convenient. I'll tell you what's unconvenient about it though, the lack of changing rooms or separate shower stalls. The feel of this woman's locker room is much like going to the YMCA at 7 A.M. on a weekday only to find yourself in a room full of old woman who let it all hang all out. I mean seriously, can't you put on something (anything!) to blow dry your hair and apply makeup?
Other than that, the gym is pretty nice. Of course it's nothing like Anytime Fitness, but there is a good amount of machines and weights. The first day I went I was just checking out all the machines..surprisingly all the machines I've used so far are in English.. I was on one of the weight machines when the owner of the gym came behind me, stuck his knee in my back, and yanked my shoulders back and said, "breathe!" I was a little startled, but I appreciate him helping me out with proper posture.
On one of the other days during the week, I was walking to work, and on the sidewalk was this tall, red headed foreigner. He was trying to get a cab, but not succeeding..I gave him the "hey, we're both not Korean" nod and as I was walking away and he caught his cab, he yells, "Good morning foreigner." I just waved and smiled. It totally made my week.
The weekend was even more uneventful than my week. I literally did nothing but read, sleep, and eat lunch at a restaurant for a bridal shower. Apparently it helped though because come Monday, the nose was cleared out and the throat only had a slight tickle. Nothing a few more nights of Nyquil couldn't fix :)
Well, this post is fairly short, and lacking in pictures but there were no pictures to take, unless you wanted to see me in an apartment full of snotty Kleenexes and Lily almost suffocating in her own dwarf hamster deposits. I hope you are having a great day or night and I hope all you Dixonites are taking full advantage of the new Wendy's in town..go eat a Frosty for me :)
Homesickness is not JUST something kids at summer camp experience.
There's been numerous times this week where I've sat down at this computer and stared at my screen trying to decide what to write. I had a pretty eventful week last week, but since I am still playing catch up for when my sister came, I've had to dig down into my memory for the events of the second week in January. I always try to write lists during the week so I won't forget what to write about, but I can barely remember what my list from that week even means. So, all this said, don't expect anything spectacular or deeply educational...pretty much I'm saying, "stop reading now." :) Anyway, this is what my sorry memory has come up with.
I was so sick. I think I remember at one point the previous week when I watched this little girl sneeze all over her hands and homework. Then she proceeded to come up to me, hand in her homework, and touch my arm and hands, and I thought, "oh no. Not again."
Having this cold really got me feeling homesick. Of course I miss my mom saying to me as a high schooler, "just stay in bed, Natalee, I'll call you at my lunch break and check up on you." And as a college student I miss coming back to my apartment, feeling sick and emotional about something, and laying down in my bed when Zipporah would come in and lay on her bed across from me and say, "Naaaaaaaaat, what's wrong?"
But recently, I come home, lay in my one room apartment, listen to Lily run in her wheel and drink louder than any animal that size should drink, and finish off the evening with a little cup of Nyquil. (Don't worry mom, just this past week, I made sure to ween myself of it...I know you know about my past addiction..what can I say? Nyquil not only helps the sick sleep, it also helps little girls who have scary dreams get a good night's rest)
Anyhow, as this week was dragging along, I'd talk to friends here and there. I love talking to friends from home. But I realized something, I've never understood the meaning of the phrase, "I miss you." until now. I think I've misused the phrase many times in my life or at least never truly meant it so deeply as I do now. I think the sickness sometimes blew things out of proportion too, but I've also been told around the 3rd and 4th month of living abroad, it's the hardest.
Don't get me wrong, I've met so may great people here, and the church has seriously become like family to me (and I am sooo thankful for them!), but I just missing being surrounded by those who really really know me, (with all my faults, quirks, misused phrases, singing totally wrong lyrics, untimely/inappropriate comments) and still like me :) I don't think this sudden feeling of really really missing people is just a "Korea thing" I think this is a "growing up" thing.
Anyways, I can tell your bored with my whining ;) Well, I recently joined a gym. Going to this gym, I think, will provide a good amount of material for the blog. It's located in the same building as my school, so that's convenient. I'll tell you what's unconvenient about it though, the lack of changing rooms or separate shower stalls. The feel of this woman's locker room is much like going to the YMCA at 7 A.M. on a weekday only to find yourself in a room full of old woman who let it all hang all out. I mean seriously, can't you put on something (anything!) to blow dry your hair and apply makeup?
Other than that, the gym is pretty nice. Of course it's nothing like Anytime Fitness, but there is a good amount of machines and weights. The first day I went I was just checking out all the machines..surprisingly all the machines I've used so far are in English.. I was on one of the weight machines when the owner of the gym came behind me, stuck his knee in my back, and yanked my shoulders back and said, "breathe!" I was a little startled, but I appreciate him helping me out with proper posture.
On one of the other days during the week, I was walking to work, and on the sidewalk was this tall, red headed foreigner. He was trying to get a cab, but not succeeding..I gave him the "hey, we're both not Korean" nod and as I was walking away and he caught his cab, he yells, "Good morning foreigner." I just waved and smiled. It totally made my week.
The weekend was even more uneventful than my week. I literally did nothing but read, sleep, and eat lunch at a restaurant for a bridal shower. Apparently it helped though because come Monday, the nose was cleared out and the throat only had a slight tickle. Nothing a few more nights of Nyquil couldn't fix :)
Well, this post is fairly short, and lacking in pictures but there were no pictures to take, unless you wanted to see me in an apartment full of snotty Kleenexes and Lily almost suffocating in her own dwarf hamster deposits. I hope you are having a great day or night and I hope all you Dixonites are taking full advantage of the new Wendy's in town..go eat a Frosty for me :)
Sunday, January 16, 2011
D to the M to the Z
Dear S. Korean guards at the DMZ,
You are a group of pretty "hard" dudes. You make me feel safe at night.
I've been meaning to write this for about a week now. BUT I've just been sooo busy with work and walking to work that I just didn't have time....NOT, I've totally had enough time, BUT I spent my week reading the second book of the Hunger Games series and really the only reason I'm writing this and not reading the third book is because the book is in the mail. Seriously, they are pretty addicting, that is until you get to the point in the second book that makes you want to take a quick jog over to the Yellow Sea and chuck it as far as possible! Nonetheless, I resisted and with the encouragement of a friend, kept reading and am in great anticipation to read the third...phew...rabbit trail, sorry.
Sooooo..here goes my blog about one of the most interesting places I think I will ever go:
ironically named the Demilitarized Zone even though it's the most militarized place in all of Korea. If you're slightly uneducated about these things, it's the border between North and South Korea.
Friday Night, four of my friends picked me up from my work and we took a little road trip to Osan Air Base up near Seoul. We stayed at the Osan Air Base hotel. When Elizabeth and I got to our room we were so very excited to have an American style bed. We jumped right in, and just laid there for a bit reflecting on what a bed SHOULD feel like.
Saturday morning we boarded our guided tour bus with the Osan Airbase. It was nice to be surrounded by Americans for a day...I forget how much I love eavesdropping. Our tour guide was Korean but spoke very fluent English. He was a character, Mr. Pak..this picture gives a good representation of him:
Anyways, on our bus ride up to the DMZ, we watched a History Channel documentary about the North and South Korea and the DMZ. It was both very educational and infuriating.
When I was younger, our family had a blue minivan. I remember one night I was sitting in the back seat when I noticed our windows in the back had been recently tinted. I had just finished my old school coca cola when I found myself writing my name with the coca cola cap in the freshly tinted backseat window. It was dark, and I couldn't tell if I actually etched my name or not. By the tone in my mother's question the next morning, I knew I had succeeded. She asked, "Natalee, did you write your name in the window in the back seat of the van?" I said, "Noooooo, Erika did it." I am North Korea in this situation.
See, although Erika was definitely not in the back seat, and quite possible not even IN the van the night I did the deed, I still completely denied I had anything to do it. However, come to think of it, for the most part, when soldiers were killed in an ambush attack in the DMZ, the North Koreans would completely deny that the event even happened. So I guess even as a ridiculous, clueless little girl I was even more mature than North Korea has been.
Our first stop was at Imjingak. This is a place that supposedly represents unification of the Koreas. Here, there was a bridge called "Freedom Bridge" where 12,773 Korean prisoners of war were returned from North Korea in 1953. Also the "Peace Bell" is here too..although, I'm pretty sure that bell won't be ringing for quite some time. Along the fences here are many many ribbons that have Korean writing on them. The tour guide said the writing on the ribbons is a cry from the South Korean people for peace with the North.
On the other side of this tourist/security spot, there was a memorial for all the American men who gave their lives during the Korean War, a war that wasn't even their own. 
Our next stop on Mr. Pak's lovely tour of the DMZ was The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. In October of 1978 South Korea discovered a THIRD tunnel that was dug by the North Koreans that crossed the border into South Korea. Apparently, as with the rest of the tunnels, it was created for a surprise attack on Seoul by the North. Today it's this tourist spot. I'm not sure why, but they wouldn't let us take pictures in the tunnel, so we had to settle for the monument outside. So, we went down inside the tunnel. It's about 230 feet below ground, so the descent into the tunnel was no problem, but the hike back up was a bit of a cardio workout.
I've never been spelunking or in a mine or really underground at any point in my life and after this, I just don't know if I will do it again. I don't consider myself a claustrophobic person, but after walking hunching over and through that very narrow tunnel makes me think I might be. Then again, the thought of armed North Koreans being on the other end of the tunnel also added to the stress of being in such a tight spot. The little Korean boys who I think were on a field trip, holding imaginary machine guns, crouching through the tunnel, and whispering in English, "The North Koreans are coming," didn't really calm the nerves either.
After the tunnel (or before the tunnel) we were supposed to go to a look out tower and be able to see a little ways into North Korea, however, the roads were really icy and the bus couldn't make it up the little mountain. It was a little disappointing, but it was snowy and cloudy anyway so we probably wouldn't have been able to see much. Instead, we made our way over to the Dora Mountain Station. This train station is the northernmost end of South Korea. In hopes of unification this train station was built. If someday, by God's grace, the two countries are united then trains will pass through here to Pyeongyang, capital of North Korea, and then to China, Siberia, Russia, and possibly Europe and opening up a lot of economic opportunity for South Korea and the North. So, here's our group standing on the tracks with North Korea behind us. (Behind that mountain, we're not straddling the line or anything..not yet anyway)
We ate lunch at a Korean restaurant that was really tasty and then piled back into the bus to head to the most exciting part of the trip! The JSA, the Joint Security Area. This is where the North Korean military and the South Korean military stand toe to toe and face to face. It's pretty intense to say the least.
On our bus ride from lunch to Camp Bonifas, the military station on the South Korea side, Mr. Pak got really serious over the microphone and said something along the lines of, "When you get inside Camp Bonifas you will be taken to a room to sign a piece of paper saying that you understand you are going to a dangerous area where the North Koreans might kidnap you or attack. If that happens, you're on your own." Silence in the bus and my jaw dropped a little and he says, "I'm just kidding." phewwww..he had me going.
Our bus pulled up to the entrance of the base. We had to all get out and say a temporary goodbye to Mr. Pak as we climbed into another bus with an American soldier as our tour guide. He was pretty tall and armed and super intimidating and let's be honest, not bad to look at for the next hour or so ;) Apparently, South Korean civilians are not allowed in the JSA. It makes sense though, if it was my country and my parents were murdered by the North then I would probably make some sort of rash, inappropriate decision and throw a grenade as soon as I saw the North Korean soldiers.
Anyhow, the soldier ushered us into a room on the base where we watched a short clip about the history of the JSA. He also explained the rules. We were only allowed to take pictures at certain times, we had to wear our guest badges on the right collar of our shirt. We couldn't bring anything with us except a camera. We couldn't point or wave or speak to any of the North Korean guards we would possibly come across. There were more but I can't remember, mostly it was "BEHAVE YOURSELF." And it turns out we did have to sign a piece of paper that said if something did happen and we were under attack that we couldn't sue or anything like that, but the soldier did follow that with, "It's unlikely that would happen and I am here to protect you as well as guide you." What a stud.
I'm pretty sure there is only one tour allowed at a time on base because we were the only tour there the whole time. He didn't really have to tell us twice, the atmosphere at Camp Bonifas was enough to make the most rebellious teenager act like an angel.
It's hard for me to explain the way it felt driving through the camp. Tense, empty, bare, stark, eerie. As we are driving he would say, "oh and over there are live mine fields." It was weird, I think I only saw like 3 military men walking around. It's almost like they were hiding in the trees. Our group of American men and women most definitely stood out, and I had to go and where this bright orange colored coat.
One of the first places we passed on our mini tour was the South Korean village in the DMZ. The North and the South are both to have a village in the DMZ to represent peace or unification or something along those lines. The South's village called, "Freedom Village," is a small farming community of about 250 South Koreans. The Farmers are guarded during the day as they work and the village is guarded by night as they sleep. If I remember correctly, I think they said there had been instances where North Korea kidnapped several South Koreans from this village. Of course your thinking, "Why ON EARTH would anyone choose to live in the DMZ?" Well, it turns out they get paid more than most middle class Americans, they don't pay for their housing which apparently is more modern than most of Korea, and their men don't serve the 1 year mandatory military service..which the last one is a little silly since they are in more danger at all times than most South Korean military men.
We weren't allowed to take pictures while driving around in the bus, if you think about it, it makes sense. I mean Kim Jong Il could just log on and look at my Facebook and see all he needs to see to know about his "enemy" camp.
I'm skipping around in order. I want tell you about the places on the tour of the Camp and then I will finish with pictures and stories from the actual place where we saw a real, live North Korean soldier.
Before 1976, the area we were in was controlled by North and South Korea. In fact, I was talking to the Pastor of my church about it, the Sunday after we went on the tour, and he said when we went into the camp, there were both North and South Korean guards guarding the gate. But in 1976 when a small group of soldiers were cutting down a tree in the JSA, they were attacked by North Korean soldiers and killed a few American soldiers. Since then, there is a line that separates the South from the North through the JSA. Here is the spot where the tree was being cut down. It's now a memorial for the men who died.
Near here, we also saw the "Bridge of No Return." This was a place where POW's were exchanged after the war and were told that they had a choice to stay in whatever country they were currently in or go back to the country they came from. The last time it was used was in 1968 when the North Koreans released American sailors that were being held captive for over a year in North Korea.
Also, around this area, we went to a look out spot. Apparently, at this spot, we were surrounded by North Koreans on 3 sides. It really felt like we were the only ones there for miles, but the soldier assured us that we were being monitored very closely by the North Koreans. Just behind me in this picture is the line that separates the North from the South. And this caption reads, seriously, North Korea, peace.
On the other side of the lookout we saw the North Korean village that is located in the DMZ. I don't remember the proper name, but the soldier called it "Propaganda Village." For a very long time North Korea had huge speakers set up in this village and blasted propaganda through the speakers towards the South. Here in Propaganda Village it looks like people may live there, but in reality no one does, except a few people who raise and lower the North Korean flag. The two villages in the DMZ sit pretty close to one another. The South Korean village had a flag pole donated to them that happened to be taller than the North Korean flag pole. Soooo, in response the North built this enormous "eiffel tower" looking flag pole where their flag flies higher than the South's. I think the soldier said it's the largest flag in the world. However, because of it's height and weight it rarely flies because it needs a large gust of wind to get it up and even then people have to lower it so it doesn't get torn to shreds..childish.
I think Koreans have some sort of obsession with height. Whatever is taller is better. So, North Korea would do these immature things like, sneak into the room where they would meet and cut the chairs on the South Korean side so the North was looking down at the South when they were talking. They would also cut all miniature flags down except for the North Korean so their flag would be above all the other flags.
In mini-retaliation, the U.S. made a requirement for soldiers stationed at Camp Bonifas. The soldier must be over 6 feet tall to serve there. In your face North Korea.
And lastly, we come to place where we see the line and get to cross it into "North Korea." This is an area where many things have gone down. I think in the early 80's a Russian man was taking a tour with the North Korean side, and when he saw the line, he decided it was worth it to run across it and away from Communism all together. He ran and North Korean guards followed, but about 5 North Korean guards were killed and 1 American killed and the Russian made it into South Korea and out of Communism.
Here are a few pictures of the area. You've probably seen pictures online or on the news.
This is the one North Korean we saw, he had his eyes on us. I'm pretty sure most people's middle finger gives a little twitch when they see North Korea's looking at them through binoculars
On top of all this, we got to go into the middle building where the U.N. has held talks with South and North Korea, and we "technically" got to cross the DMZ line and go into North Korea when we were inside. Here is the line. To the right is South Korea and to the left is North Korea.
And here's Dale chilling out with a South Korean guard who could probably kill him in one swift, millisecond motion.
And finally, here I am smiling just for you and saying, "Anyeong haseyo" from North Korea :)
You are a group of pretty "hard" dudes. You make me feel safe at night.
I've been meaning to write this for about a week now. BUT I've just been sooo busy with work and walking to work that I just didn't have time....NOT, I've totally had enough time, BUT I spent my week reading the second book of the Hunger Games series and really the only reason I'm writing this and not reading the third book is because the book is in the mail. Seriously, they are pretty addicting, that is until you get to the point in the second book that makes you want to take a quick jog over to the Yellow Sea and chuck it as far as possible! Nonetheless, I resisted and with the encouragement of a friend, kept reading and am in great anticipation to read the third...phew...rabbit trail, sorry.
Sooooo..here goes my blog about one of the most interesting places I think I will ever go:
ironically named the Demilitarized Zone even though it's the most militarized place in all of Korea. If you're slightly uneducated about these things, it's the border between North and South Korea.
Friday Night, four of my friends picked me up from my work and we took a little road trip to Osan Air Base up near Seoul. We stayed at the Osan Air Base hotel. When Elizabeth and I got to our room we were so very excited to have an American style bed. We jumped right in, and just laid there for a bit reflecting on what a bed SHOULD feel like.Saturday morning we boarded our guided tour bus with the Osan Airbase. It was nice to be surrounded by Americans for a day...I forget how much I love eavesdropping. Our tour guide was Korean but spoke very fluent English. He was a character, Mr. Pak..this picture gives a good representation of him:
Anyways, on our bus ride up to the DMZ, we watched a History Channel documentary about the North and South Korea and the DMZ. It was both very educational and infuriating.When I was younger, our family had a blue minivan. I remember one night I was sitting in the back seat when I noticed our windows in the back had been recently tinted. I had just finished my old school coca cola when I found myself writing my name with the coca cola cap in the freshly tinted backseat window. It was dark, and I couldn't tell if I actually etched my name or not. By the tone in my mother's question the next morning, I knew I had succeeded. She asked, "Natalee, did you write your name in the window in the back seat of the van?" I said, "Noooooo, Erika did it." I am North Korea in this situation.
See, although Erika was definitely not in the back seat, and quite possible not even IN the van the night I did the deed, I still completely denied I had anything to do it. However, come to think of it, for the most part, when soldiers were killed in an ambush attack in the DMZ, the North Koreans would completely deny that the event even happened. So I guess even as a ridiculous, clueless little girl I was even more mature than North Korea has been.
Our first stop was at Imjingak. This is a place that supposedly represents unification of the Koreas. Here, there was a bridge called "Freedom Bridge" where 12,773 Korean prisoners of war were returned from North Korea in 1953. Also the "Peace Bell" is here too..although, I'm pretty sure that bell won't be ringing for quite some time. Along the fences here are many many ribbons that have Korean writing on them. The tour guide said the writing on the ribbons is a cry from the South Korean people for peace with the North.
On the other side of this tourist/security spot, there was a memorial for all the American men who gave their lives during the Korean War, a war that wasn't even their own. 
Our next stop on Mr. Pak's lovely tour of the DMZ was The 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. In October of 1978 South Korea discovered a THIRD tunnel that was dug by the North Koreans that crossed the border into South Korea. Apparently, as with the rest of the tunnels, it was created for a surprise attack on Seoul by the North. Today it's this tourist spot. I'm not sure why, but they wouldn't let us take pictures in the tunnel, so we had to settle for the monument outside. So, we went down inside the tunnel. It's about 230 feet below ground, so the descent into the tunnel was no problem, but the hike back up was a bit of a cardio workout.I've never been spelunking or in a mine or really underground at any point in my life and after this, I just don't know if I will do it again. I don't consider myself a claustrophobic person, but after walking hunching over and through that very narrow tunnel makes me think I might be. Then again, the thought of armed North Koreans being on the other end of the tunnel also added to the stress of being in such a tight spot. The little Korean boys who I think were on a field trip, holding imaginary machine guns, crouching through the tunnel, and whispering in English, "The North Koreans are coming," didn't really calm the nerves either.
After the tunnel (or before the tunnel) we were supposed to go to a look out tower and be able to see a little ways into North Korea, however, the roads were really icy and the bus couldn't make it up the little mountain. It was a little disappointing, but it was snowy and cloudy anyway so we probably wouldn't have been able to see much. Instead, we made our way over to the Dora Mountain Station. This train station is the northernmost end of South Korea. In hopes of unification this train station was built. If someday, by God's grace, the two countries are united then trains will pass through here to Pyeongyang, capital of North Korea, and then to China, Siberia, Russia, and possibly Europe and opening up a lot of economic opportunity for South Korea and the North. So, here's our group standing on the tracks with North Korea behind us. (Behind that mountain, we're not straddling the line or anything..not yet anyway)
We ate lunch at a Korean restaurant that was really tasty and then piled back into the bus to head to the most exciting part of the trip! The JSA, the Joint Security Area. This is where the North Korean military and the South Korean military stand toe to toe and face to face. It's pretty intense to say the least.On our bus ride from lunch to Camp Bonifas, the military station on the South Korea side, Mr. Pak got really serious over the microphone and said something along the lines of, "When you get inside Camp Bonifas you will be taken to a room to sign a piece of paper saying that you understand you are going to a dangerous area where the North Koreans might kidnap you or attack. If that happens, you're on your own." Silence in the bus and my jaw dropped a little and he says, "I'm just kidding." phewwww..he had me going.
Our bus pulled up to the entrance of the base. We had to all get out and say a temporary goodbye to Mr. Pak as we climbed into another bus with an American soldier as our tour guide. He was pretty tall and armed and super intimidating and let's be honest, not bad to look at for the next hour or so ;) Apparently, South Korean civilians are not allowed in the JSA. It makes sense though, if it was my country and my parents were murdered by the North then I would probably make some sort of rash, inappropriate decision and throw a grenade as soon as I saw the North Korean soldiers.
Anyhow, the soldier ushered us into a room on the base where we watched a short clip about the history of the JSA. He also explained the rules. We were only allowed to take pictures at certain times, we had to wear our guest badges on the right collar of our shirt. We couldn't bring anything with us except a camera. We couldn't point or wave or speak to any of the North Korean guards we would possibly come across. There were more but I can't remember, mostly it was "BEHAVE YOURSELF." And it turns out we did have to sign a piece of paper that said if something did happen and we were under attack that we couldn't sue or anything like that, but the soldier did follow that with, "It's unlikely that would happen and I am here to protect you as well as guide you." What a stud.
I'm pretty sure there is only one tour allowed at a time on base because we were the only tour there the whole time. He didn't really have to tell us twice, the atmosphere at Camp Bonifas was enough to make the most rebellious teenager act like an angel.
It's hard for me to explain the way it felt driving through the camp. Tense, empty, bare, stark, eerie. As we are driving he would say, "oh and over there are live mine fields." It was weird, I think I only saw like 3 military men walking around. It's almost like they were hiding in the trees. Our group of American men and women most definitely stood out, and I had to go and where this bright orange colored coat.
One of the first places we passed on our mini tour was the South Korean village in the DMZ. The North and the South are both to have a village in the DMZ to represent peace or unification or something along those lines. The South's village called, "Freedom Village," is a small farming community of about 250 South Koreans. The Farmers are guarded during the day as they work and the village is guarded by night as they sleep. If I remember correctly, I think they said there had been instances where North Korea kidnapped several South Koreans from this village. Of course your thinking, "Why ON EARTH would anyone choose to live in the DMZ?" Well, it turns out they get paid more than most middle class Americans, they don't pay for their housing which apparently is more modern than most of Korea, and their men don't serve the 1 year mandatory military service..which the last one is a little silly since they are in more danger at all times than most South Korean military men.
We weren't allowed to take pictures while driving around in the bus, if you think about it, it makes sense. I mean Kim Jong Il could just log on and look at my Facebook and see all he needs to see to know about his "enemy" camp.
I'm skipping around in order. I want tell you about the places on the tour of the Camp and then I will finish with pictures and stories from the actual place where we saw a real, live North Korean soldier.
Before 1976, the area we were in was controlled by North and South Korea. In fact, I was talking to the Pastor of my church about it, the Sunday after we went on the tour, and he said when we went into the camp, there were both North and South Korean guards guarding the gate. But in 1976 when a small group of soldiers were cutting down a tree in the JSA, they were attacked by North Korean soldiers and killed a few American soldiers. Since then, there is a line that separates the South from the North through the JSA. Here is the spot where the tree was being cut down. It's now a memorial for the men who died.
Near here, we also saw the "Bridge of No Return." This was a place where POW's were exchanged after the war and were told that they had a choice to stay in whatever country they were currently in or go back to the country they came from. The last time it was used was in 1968 when the North Koreans released American sailors that were being held captive for over a year in North Korea.
Also, around this area, we went to a look out spot. Apparently, at this spot, we were surrounded by North Koreans on 3 sides. It really felt like we were the only ones there for miles, but the soldier assured us that we were being monitored very closely by the North Koreans. Just behind me in this picture is the line that separates the North from the South. And this caption reads, seriously, North Korea, peace.
On the other side of the lookout we saw the North Korean village that is located in the DMZ. I don't remember the proper name, but the soldier called it "Propaganda Village." For a very long time North Korea had huge speakers set up in this village and blasted propaganda through the speakers towards the South. Here in Propaganda Village it looks like people may live there, but in reality no one does, except a few people who raise and lower the North Korean flag. The two villages in the DMZ sit pretty close to one another. The South Korean village had a flag pole donated to them that happened to be taller than the North Korean flag pole. Soooo, in response the North built this enormous "eiffel tower" looking flag pole where their flag flies higher than the South's. I think the soldier said it's the largest flag in the world. However, because of it's height and weight it rarely flies because it needs a large gust of wind to get it up and even then people have to lower it so it doesn't get torn to shreds..childish.
I think Koreans have some sort of obsession with height. Whatever is taller is better. So, North Korea would do these immature things like, sneak into the room where they would meet and cut the chairs on the South Korean side so the North was looking down at the South when they were talking. They would also cut all miniature flags down except for the North Korean so their flag would be above all the other flags.In mini-retaliation, the U.S. made a requirement for soldiers stationed at Camp Bonifas. The soldier must be over 6 feet tall to serve there. In your face North Korea.
And lastly, we come to place where we see the line and get to cross it into "North Korea." This is an area where many things have gone down. I think in the early 80's a Russian man was taking a tour with the North Korean side, and when he saw the line, he decided it was worth it to run across it and away from Communism all together. He ran and North Korean guards followed, but about 5 North Korean guards were killed and 1 American killed and the Russian made it into South Korea and out of Communism.
Here are a few pictures of the area. You've probably seen pictures online or on the news.
This is the one North Korean we saw, he had his eyes on us. I'm pretty sure most people's middle finger gives a little twitch when they see North Korea's looking at them through binoculars
On top of all this, we got to go into the middle building where the U.N. has held talks with South and North Korea, and we "technically" got to cross the DMZ line and go into North Korea when we were inside. Here is the line. To the right is South Korea and to the left is North Korea.
And here's Dale chilling out with a South Korean guard who could probably kill him in one swift, millisecond motion.
And finally, here I am smiling just for you and saying, "Anyeong haseyo" from North Korea :)
Sunday, January 9, 2011
No Electricity=No Rice
Dear Lina,
You are such a little blessing. You're my favorite student..don't tell anyone.
It's already 12:30 a.m. and I am just starting this blog. I was going to do it tomorrow, BUT I figured I am awake now because maybe the coke I drank 2 hours ago won't let me fall asleep or I'm coming down with round 2 of sickness, or the indie film I just watched made me feel weird and so I felt the need to watch a little of Baby Mama to give me some laughs so now I'm all giggles, or I'm still jet lagged (unlikely).
Well, I guess I'll pick up from the last Thursday in December after my sister left. I had a class in the morning so I didn't get to see her off at the bus station, but my friend Elizabeth was able to take her..so thankful. I got to class and as I was waiting for the elevator with my students, my adult Chinese student asks if I was sad my sister was leaving and I said, "yeah, a little." and she says, "This okay, you have us." It was pretty precious.
Later that day, it snowed like nobody's business and it made Gunsan look sooo beautiful. Snow just makes everything just look soooo clean..well, at least for the first day, then it's just a gray slushy mess. Yogita, Jemal and I roughed the snow storm like any good American. Jemal took me to the cell phone place because my phone wouldn't turn on. The Korean man tested it out and says a few times and probably with his arms in an "x" shape, "phone die, phone die." So, that was that..fortunately I got a new used one and am back on track.
We had Friday off, so Thursday was kind of a fun day for classes. We ended up taking all the younger students outside and had a killer snowball fight. These kids didn't know what hit them. I thought at first I would take it easy on them, but then one of these little goobers nailed one of the other teachers in the face and it was on. I won't lie, I threw a few snowballs a little too fast and a little too hard and yeah, maybe I aimed for the face of the boy who was pelting the little girls with snowballs while they were trying to make an innocent snowman. No, I'm kidding..but I do think they were thoroughly impressed with my ability to catch their extremely packed, oversized snowball and through it right back at them. Please, my neighbors growing up were Mitch and Alex Wakeley, a 10-12 year old boy behind a snow fort chucking snow grenades at me doesn't scare me.
And so, Thursday ended, and we had Friday OFF! I guess it was our winter "vacation." I really didn't do anything too special on Friday, slept over at Elizabeth's apartment, slept in very very late, watched some Free Willy and ended up going on base with some of our Airforce friends and playing racquetball. I think one of my future blogs needs to be about the people who I've become friends with here..they are quite the group..I'll elaborate more in the future. Anyhow, it's always a good time going on base where I love to see diversity, eat American food, read every sign, understand the music and most importantly...eavesdrop and understand.
Friday night was New Year's Eve. The church I'm going to, The Haven, had a New Year's Eve service and so we had church, some snacks, and we prayed for this new year. It was a good time with good people.
The rest of the weekend was just a hang around, play games, and sleep sort of weekend. It was pretty relaxing.
This past week went surprisingly fast. It may be because I found a Korean drama online with English subtitles and I couldn't stop watching this show about this love triangle. And listening to Korean and reading it in English I figure is going to practically make me fluent in Korean. Also, I started the first book my sister gave me for Christmas, Hunger Games....wow, so good. I just finished the first book yesterday...I was so addicted..I would read the book in between classes, which is only a 5 minute break...reading stresses me out. I can't just casually read..I have to finish the thing a day or two after I start it. I'm afraid to start the second one.
Also, I got soooo many new students I think about 8 or 9 new students all together AND I decided I would try to learn their Korean names instead of assigning an English name, so it's making it doubly as hard. However, there is one male student in my class of 16 year olds who was new this week. I tell you what..nothing shuts up two chatty 16 year old Korean girls like a goodlooking but quiet 16 year old Korean boy. It's been great getting new students, changes things up a bit. Something funny from this class: I asked them a question from the book about what they think the world would be without electricity. Keep in mind, I asked this to a group of 16 year olds..one girl raises her hand says, "I think it would be bad. There would be no rice."
Lina. She's the sweetest 13 year old Korean girl in all of Korea. I'm confident of that. She's in my 5 oclock class. Her English is really improving and she really loves me for some reason. She always comes early and after I walk out of a class I just finished she runs over to me and grabs my hands and says, "Natalee Teacher..hello!" She always always makes my day better. Here's this little angel:
And lastly, it's 1:15 a.m. and I'm fading quickly. It was New Year's Day last Saturday, so every Korean turned another year old. They don't turn another year on their birthday, every Korean turns another year on Jan. 1. SOOO..if you were born on December 4, such as myself, you would be 1 immediately (because you are 1 years old when you come out of the womb) and several weeks later, you're turning two. Interesting huh?
Well, it's been a pleasure writing this for you all. And I plan to write another one very soon..hopefully tomorrow because this past weekend was one of the most interesting things I've done in my life. I'll give you a clue, I had to sign something that the very first line said, "The visit to ___________ will entail into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action." So there's a little preview for ya, snack on that :) Keep up those New Year's resolutions people!
You are such a little blessing. You're my favorite student..don't tell anyone.
It's already 12:30 a.m. and I am just starting this blog. I was going to do it tomorrow, BUT I figured I am awake now because maybe the coke I drank 2 hours ago won't let me fall asleep or I'm coming down with round 2 of sickness, or the indie film I just watched made me feel weird and so I felt the need to watch a little of Baby Mama to give me some laughs so now I'm all giggles, or I'm still jet lagged (unlikely).
Well, I guess I'll pick up from the last Thursday in December after my sister left. I had a class in the morning so I didn't get to see her off at the bus station, but my friend Elizabeth was able to take her..so thankful. I got to class and as I was waiting for the elevator with my students, my adult Chinese student asks if I was sad my sister was leaving and I said, "yeah, a little." and she says, "This okay, you have us." It was pretty precious.
Later that day, it snowed like nobody's business and it made Gunsan look sooo beautiful. Snow just makes everything just look soooo clean..well, at least for the first day, then it's just a gray slushy mess. Yogita, Jemal and I roughed the snow storm like any good American. Jemal took me to the cell phone place because my phone wouldn't turn on. The Korean man tested it out and says a few times and probably with his arms in an "x" shape, "phone die, phone die." So, that was that..fortunately I got a new used one and am back on track.
We had Friday off, so Thursday was kind of a fun day for classes. We ended up taking all the younger students outside and had a killer snowball fight. These kids didn't know what hit them. I thought at first I would take it easy on them, but then one of these little goobers nailed one of the other teachers in the face and it was on. I won't lie, I threw a few snowballs a little too fast and a little too hard and yeah, maybe I aimed for the face of the boy who was pelting the little girls with snowballs while they were trying to make an innocent snowman. No, I'm kidding..but I do think they were thoroughly impressed with my ability to catch their extremely packed, oversized snowball and through it right back at them. Please, my neighbors growing up were Mitch and Alex Wakeley, a 10-12 year old boy behind a snow fort chucking snow grenades at me doesn't scare me.
And so, Thursday ended, and we had Friday OFF! I guess it was our winter "vacation." I really didn't do anything too special on Friday, slept over at Elizabeth's apartment, slept in very very late, watched some Free Willy and ended up going on base with some of our Airforce friends and playing racquetball. I think one of my future blogs needs to be about the people who I've become friends with here..they are quite the group..I'll elaborate more in the future. Anyhow, it's always a good time going on base where I love to see diversity, eat American food, read every sign, understand the music and most importantly...eavesdrop and understand.
Friday night was New Year's Eve. The church I'm going to, The Haven, had a New Year's Eve service and so we had church, some snacks, and we prayed for this new year. It was a good time with good people.
The rest of the weekend was just a hang around, play games, and sleep sort of weekend. It was pretty relaxing.
This past week went surprisingly fast. It may be because I found a Korean drama online with English subtitles and I couldn't stop watching this show about this love triangle. And listening to Korean and reading it in English I figure is going to practically make me fluent in Korean. Also, I started the first book my sister gave me for Christmas, Hunger Games....wow, so good. I just finished the first book yesterday...I was so addicted..I would read the book in between classes, which is only a 5 minute break...reading stresses me out. I can't just casually read..I have to finish the thing a day or two after I start it. I'm afraid to start the second one.
Also, I got soooo many new students I think about 8 or 9 new students all together AND I decided I would try to learn their Korean names instead of assigning an English name, so it's making it doubly as hard. However, there is one male student in my class of 16 year olds who was new this week. I tell you what..nothing shuts up two chatty 16 year old Korean girls like a goodlooking but quiet 16 year old Korean boy. It's been great getting new students, changes things up a bit. Something funny from this class: I asked them a question from the book about what they think the world would be without electricity. Keep in mind, I asked this to a group of 16 year olds..one girl raises her hand says, "I think it would be bad. There would be no rice."
Lina. She's the sweetest 13 year old Korean girl in all of Korea. I'm confident of that. She's in my 5 oclock class. Her English is really improving and she really loves me for some reason. She always comes early and after I walk out of a class I just finished she runs over to me and grabs my hands and says, "Natalee Teacher..hello!" She always always makes my day better. Here's this little angel:
And lastly, it's 1:15 a.m. and I'm fading quickly. It was New Year's Day last Saturday, so every Korean turned another year old. They don't turn another year on their birthday, every Korean turns another year on Jan. 1. SOOO..if you were born on December 4, such as myself, you would be 1 immediately (because you are 1 years old when you come out of the womb) and several weeks later, you're turning two. Interesting huh?
Well, it's been a pleasure writing this for you all. And I plan to write another one very soon..hopefully tomorrow because this past weekend was one of the most interesting things I've done in my life. I'll give you a clue, I had to sign something that the very first line said, "The visit to ___________ will entail into a hostile area and possibility of injury or death as a direct result of enemy action." So there's a little preview for ya, snack on that :) Keep up those New Year's resolutions people!
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Twenty-Three for Twenty-Three
Dear subway system in Seoul,
You've just been dominated by me. How does that feel?
I KNOW..I am WAYYYY behind..but to make it up to you, today I am going to write 2 whole blogs. And here is the theme of the first blog...best displayed in a picture :) Here we are at an old old old Korean palace..and I have a Buddhist gazebo sticking out of my head.
On Thursday, after teaching my morning class to NEVER EVER answer "O.k." to questions like, "Are we going hiking today?", how to emphasize the "y" in "year" so they stop saying "ear" when they really mean "year," and the cooking term, "drain the water," so they won't keep saying "then I threw up the water," I was off to get ready for my one and only sister's arrival in Gunsan. It was a full afternoon of grocery/last-minute Christmas shopping, miraculously stuffing my bookbag and two medium sized boxes full of groceries and Christmas stuff, hauling that stuff out to the street to catch a taxi, getting all my "loot" out of the taxi and through Myeung san shijeung with the help of a very compassionate ajumma, teaching the afternoon classes, FINALLY cleaning Lily's cage, cleaning everything else in the apartment, and watching an hour of a Korean drama. Then at about 1 a.m. my Korean world and my American world collided.
Erika arrived safe and sound. She had a crazy adventure in Shanghai, but was able to catch her flight to Seoul. She got on the very last bus from the airport to Gunsan with the help of the one and only Elizabeth Holscher, so after 2 plane rides, a bus ride, and a short taxi ride, mi hermana made it!
We hugged, caught up, and then slept. Friday morning I went off to spread the English language while Erika slept even more. On my walk, I experienced another "sneak attack" from the cyclist that always asks my age, but this morning he said, "blahblahblahblahchristmascardblahblahbla," and I said, "oh you have a Christmas card for me?" He just nodded and rode off. After class, my adult students took my sister and I out for our bi-weekly adventure.
I was pretty excited to have another English speaker in the car. Some things you just can't read about, you have to experience being in a car full of Koreans, eating strange things, and stopping in the middle of a busy road to take a picture yourself to really understand.
We went on a drive over the longest sea wall in the world. Yep, that's right..IN THE WORLD. I think it's called Samangeum. Google it. On the other side of the sea wall, we ate at this Korean restaurant. I was a little nervous for Erika just to be thrown into the world of Korean food right off the bat, but she did spectacular..she even said she "liked" the kimchi...liar. After lunch and the long drive, we went to a coffee shop and ate a sweet potato cake..I'm still not sure about all these sweet potato flavored foods.
After the coffee shop, I went back to school to eat toast and make Christmas cards for 4 hours and Erika went back to the apartment to....sleep. No, actually, she went back and decorated my apartment for me...Merry Christmas to me.
Friday night was Christmas Eve. I was a little late..Mr. Oh even left the middle of the service to come get me from my work. When I said, "thank you so much for picking me up." He said, "That's ok, you're my family." Presh. So, we went to the Christmas Eve service at the church, we ate Christmas cookies, opened gifts, and sang songs..myself, Erika, and this other teacher named Hank sang a Christmas special.."Go Tell it on the Mountain." As you very well know, singing is NOT my forte..so to the best of my ability, I stood up front, knees shaking, and silently mouthed, "watermelon" through the whole thing ;)
Christmas morning rolled around and lo and behold, Santa made it to Gunsan, South Korea and Erika and I are 23 for 23 Christmases together! The morning was complete with failed pancakes, successful scrambled eggs and cheese, stockings, presents, skyping with the family, and the ugly sweater tradition.
In the afternoon, we went to a Christmas day service at church, ate SUCH a delicious Christmas lunch--straight up American style, played some games, and then started to make our way back to town from church. Most of us went to watch "Despicable Me," at my friends Melanie and Nick's house later that night. We piled out of the van and started to make our way towards their apartment complex, when we saw these kids having a snowball fight (it had snowed so much!), soooo, we decided we could take these little goobers and as we walked by, we pelted them with snowballs..shortly after, the security guard came out shouting something in Korean..the kids dropped their snowballs, but we didn't, there are some perks to not understanding the language.
Sunday was a very restful day for the sister and me. We hung around the apartment, slept off and on, watched "I'll be Home for Christmas," (Jonathan Taylor Thomas..what a stellar actor), walked around Gunsan's shopping area for a bit, ate a Korean dinner out, walked around at Eunpa park, and had a coffee drink at a cafe called Santa Rosa where our waiter was this young Korean guy who was eager to speak English to us. When he noticed Erika's drink was almost gone, he leaned over and whispered in her ear..."coffee refill?" I think this cat had seen too many American movies..it was pretty awkward and pretty hilarious from where I was sitting. She didn't get the refill and we quickly made our way back to the apartment.
Even though, North Korea says they have an absurd amount of missiles aimed at Seoul as I write this, Erika and I decided to try and defy death. We hopped on a bus to Seoul Monday morning! sorry..that was a little too dramatic.
Monday was such a full day. The Seouls of my shoes were worn down. The first thing we saw was the Gyeongbuk Palace. It was sweet and so so so old. When we got to the end of the palace, I saw this house that was heavily guarded and tinted blue and I said to myself, "If I knew what the Blue House looked like, I'd say that looks like the Blue House." And ta da, the guy at the gate said that it WAS the Blue House...similar to the White House..it's where the President of Korea lives. And since it was built in 1095, I'm going to say we are the copycats in this situation.
Next, I wanted to get some food for my Seoul. I've been craving Mexican food big time! I read that there was a Mexican restaurant called "Ponchos" in an area of Seoul called Itaewon. So, Erika and I decided to take on the Seoul Subway system once again and as we were staring at the subway map, trying to figure out what direction to go, a man came up to us and offered his help in English. Erika was pretty excited to talk to a stranger. I thought it was nice, but was a little worried he was going to follow us the rest of the day to improve his English. Turns out, the man just confirmed that we were getting on the right subway, and him and Erika had a nice conversation about the many travels he's had in his life. We made it to Itaewon, no problem, and I enjoyed a decent beef burrito..however, this place couldn't hold a candle to Casa Mexicana.
We spent the majority of the evening at Seoul Tower. This is where Erika may have met her Seoul mate. Seoul Tower is on top of a "mountain" called Namsan mountain. At the base of the tower, Seoul is visible, unless it's a very foggy day like the one we encountered. Still, it's a pretty sweet view. Around the tower is a railing, on the railing, there are many locks. Apparently, couples come to this tower, buy/bring a lock, write something on it, lock it on the railing, and throw the key. There are SOOO many locks. Needless to say, it's a pretty romantic spot. As Erika and I were admiring the insane amount of locks, this Korean man with a nice looking stache, comes up to us and says, "picture?" and I say, "sure, I'll take your picture." And he then he motions to both of us and says, "no, us picture." First he took it with his camera and then I took one with mine. It was a pretty classic Korea moment.
We finished the day when we arrived at our guesthouse. Thankfully they were not all seouled out. We got a room for 20,000 won each (which is like 17 dollars). And we slept. Well, we tried to sleep. The beds were awfully hard, and at about 3 a.m. it thundered..of course I woke up in a panic because I was sure we were getting nuked, but settled down soon after..but SERIOUSLY, why does it thunder during a snow storm????? Feel free to answer that in a comment.
Tuesday we had one Seoul purpose and that was to find souveniers and other goodies for ourselves. So, we went shopping at Insadong and Namdameun. Insadong was much more quaint and less chaotic than Namdamuen, but Namdameun had some amazing jewelry! Erika was in awe of the awesomeness and cheapness of the necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. And she also had a little fan club following her around Insadong. There were like 8 little 13 year olds who came up to us and asked us where we were from and a few other questions they were all giggling through. So, we answered their questions, snapped a photo with them and were on our way.
We got back to Gunsan on Tuesday night and Erika slept while I organized various things to send back with her. Wednesday, Erika shadowed my regular life, which was not so regular since I had been gone for two days and a few of my classes changed and I got 3 new students. In the afternoon I took her to Lotte Mart and we made the infamous walk to work for the afternoon. After class, Yogita and Jemal took us to eat at this fusion restaurant. It was delicious and great company. And so, Erika ate her last Korean meal and slept through her last night in Korea. Thursday morning we rushed around, hugged, and I put her and all her luggage in a taxi with Elizabeth and sent her to the bus station while I made my way to work and back to my "normal" life in Korea.
Well, I realize this was a massive blog and you may need a few days to read it, SO, I'll write the next blog tomorrow or Monday. Happy New Year everyone! 2011 is going to be a great year..only one more year until the end of the world..yikes!
You've just been dominated by me. How does that feel?
I KNOW..I am WAYYYY behind..but to make it up to you, today I am going to write 2 whole blogs. And here is the theme of the first blog...best displayed in a picture :) Here we are at an old old old Korean palace..and I have a Buddhist gazebo sticking out of my head.
On Thursday, after teaching my morning class to NEVER EVER answer "O.k." to questions like, "Are we going hiking today?", how to emphasize the "y" in "year" so they stop saying "ear" when they really mean "year," and the cooking term, "drain the water," so they won't keep saying "then I threw up the water," I was off to get ready for my one and only sister's arrival in Gunsan. It was a full afternoon of grocery/last-minute Christmas shopping, miraculously stuffing my bookbag and two medium sized boxes full of groceries and Christmas stuff, hauling that stuff out to the street to catch a taxi, getting all my "loot" out of the taxi and through Myeung san shijeung with the help of a very compassionate ajumma, teaching the afternoon classes, FINALLY cleaning Lily's cage, cleaning everything else in the apartment, and watching an hour of a Korean drama. Then at about 1 a.m. my Korean world and my American world collided.
Erika arrived safe and sound. She had a crazy adventure in Shanghai, but was able to catch her flight to Seoul. She got on the very last bus from the airport to Gunsan with the help of the one and only Elizabeth Holscher, so after 2 plane rides, a bus ride, and a short taxi ride, mi hermana made it!
We hugged, caught up, and then slept. Friday morning I went off to spread the English language while Erika slept even more. On my walk, I experienced another "sneak attack" from the cyclist that always asks my age, but this morning he said, "blahblahblahblahchristmascardblahblahbla," and I said, "oh you have a Christmas card for me?" He just nodded and rode off. After class, my adult students took my sister and I out for our bi-weekly adventure.
I was pretty excited to have another English speaker in the car. Some things you just can't read about, you have to experience being in a car full of Koreans, eating strange things, and stopping in the middle of a busy road to take a picture yourself to really understand.
We went on a drive over the longest sea wall in the world. Yep, that's right..IN THE WORLD. I think it's called Samangeum. Google it. On the other side of the sea wall, we ate at this Korean restaurant. I was a little nervous for Erika just to be thrown into the world of Korean food right off the bat, but she did spectacular..she even said she "liked" the kimchi...liar. After lunch and the long drive, we went to a coffee shop and ate a sweet potato cake..I'm still not sure about all these sweet potato flavored foods.
After the coffee shop, I went back to school to eat toast and make Christmas cards for 4 hours and Erika went back to the apartment to....sleep. No, actually, she went back and decorated my apartment for me...Merry Christmas to me.
Friday night was Christmas Eve. I was a little late..Mr. Oh even left the middle of the service to come get me from my work. When I said, "thank you so much for picking me up." He said, "That's ok, you're my family." Presh. So, we went to the Christmas Eve service at the church, we ate Christmas cookies, opened gifts, and sang songs..myself, Erika, and this other teacher named Hank sang a Christmas special.."Go Tell it on the Mountain." As you very well know, singing is NOT my forte..so to the best of my ability, I stood up front, knees shaking, and silently mouthed, "watermelon" through the whole thing ;)
Christmas morning rolled around and lo and behold, Santa made it to Gunsan, South Korea and Erika and I are 23 for 23 Christmases together! The morning was complete with failed pancakes, successful scrambled eggs and cheese, stockings, presents, skyping with the family, and the ugly sweater tradition.
In the afternoon, we went to a Christmas day service at church, ate SUCH a delicious Christmas lunch--straight up American style, played some games, and then started to make our way back to town from church. Most of us went to watch "Despicable Me," at my friends Melanie and Nick's house later that night. We piled out of the van and started to make our way towards their apartment complex, when we saw these kids having a snowball fight (it had snowed so much!), soooo, we decided we could take these little goobers and as we walked by, we pelted them with snowballs..shortly after, the security guard came out shouting something in Korean..the kids dropped their snowballs, but we didn't, there are some perks to not understanding the language.
Sunday was a very restful day for the sister and me. We hung around the apartment, slept off and on, watched "I'll be Home for Christmas," (Jonathan Taylor Thomas..what a stellar actor), walked around Gunsan's shopping area for a bit, ate a Korean dinner out, walked around at Eunpa park, and had a coffee drink at a cafe called Santa Rosa where our waiter was this young Korean guy who was eager to speak English to us. When he noticed Erika's drink was almost gone, he leaned over and whispered in her ear..."coffee refill?" I think this cat had seen too many American movies..it was pretty awkward and pretty hilarious from where I was sitting. She didn't get the refill and we quickly made our way back to the apartment.
Even though, North Korea says they have an absurd amount of missiles aimed at Seoul as I write this, Erika and I decided to try and defy death. We hopped on a bus to Seoul Monday morning! sorry..that was a little too dramatic.
Monday was such a full day. The Seouls of my shoes were worn down. The first thing we saw was the Gyeongbuk Palace. It was sweet and so so so old. When we got to the end of the palace, I saw this house that was heavily guarded and tinted blue and I said to myself, "If I knew what the Blue House looked like, I'd say that looks like the Blue House." And ta da, the guy at the gate said that it WAS the Blue House...similar to the White House..it's where the President of Korea lives. And since it was built in 1095, I'm going to say we are the copycats in this situation.
Next, I wanted to get some food for my Seoul. I've been craving Mexican food big time! I read that there was a Mexican restaurant called "Ponchos" in an area of Seoul called Itaewon. So, Erika and I decided to take on the Seoul Subway system once again and as we were staring at the subway map, trying to figure out what direction to go, a man came up to us and offered his help in English. Erika was pretty excited to talk to a stranger. I thought it was nice, but was a little worried he was going to follow us the rest of the day to improve his English. Turns out, the man just confirmed that we were getting on the right subway, and him and Erika had a nice conversation about the many travels he's had in his life. We made it to Itaewon, no problem, and I enjoyed a decent beef burrito..however, this place couldn't hold a candle to Casa Mexicana.
We spent the majority of the evening at Seoul Tower. This is where Erika may have met her Seoul mate. Seoul Tower is on top of a "mountain" called Namsan mountain. At the base of the tower, Seoul is visible, unless it's a very foggy day like the one we encountered. Still, it's a pretty sweet view. Around the tower is a railing, on the railing, there are many locks. Apparently, couples come to this tower, buy/bring a lock, write something on it, lock it on the railing, and throw the key. There are SOOO many locks. Needless to say, it's a pretty romantic spot. As Erika and I were admiring the insane amount of locks, this Korean man with a nice looking stache, comes up to us and says, "picture?" and I say, "sure, I'll take your picture." And he then he motions to both of us and says, "no, us picture." First he took it with his camera and then I took one with mine. It was a pretty classic Korea moment.
We finished the day when we arrived at our guesthouse. Thankfully they were not all seouled out. We got a room for 20,000 won each (which is like 17 dollars). And we slept. Well, we tried to sleep. The beds were awfully hard, and at about 3 a.m. it thundered..of course I woke up in a panic because I was sure we were getting nuked, but settled down soon after..but SERIOUSLY, why does it thunder during a snow storm????? Feel free to answer that in a comment.
Tuesday we had one Seoul purpose and that was to find souveniers and other goodies for ourselves. So, we went shopping at Insadong and Namdameun. Insadong was much more quaint and less chaotic than Namdamuen, but Namdameun had some amazing jewelry! Erika was in awe of the awesomeness and cheapness of the necklaces, earrings, and bracelets. And she also had a little fan club following her around Insadong. There were like 8 little 13 year olds who came up to us and asked us where we were from and a few other questions they were all giggling through. So, we answered their questions, snapped a photo with them and were on our way.
We got back to Gunsan on Tuesday night and Erika slept while I organized various things to send back with her. Wednesday, Erika shadowed my regular life, which was not so regular since I had been gone for two days and a few of my classes changed and I got 3 new students. In the afternoon I took her to Lotte Mart and we made the infamous walk to work for the afternoon. After class, Yogita and Jemal took us to eat at this fusion restaurant. It was delicious and great company. And so, Erika ate her last Korean meal and slept through her last night in Korea. Thursday morning we rushed around, hugged, and I put her and all her luggage in a taxi with Elizabeth and sent her to the bus station while I made my way to work and back to my "normal" life in Korea.
Well, I realize this was a massive blog and you may need a few days to read it, SO, I'll write the next blog tomorrow or Monday. Happy New Year everyone! 2011 is going to be a great year..only one more year until the end of the world..yikes!
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