Korean Perspective on Kim Jong Il

English Speakers Are So Lucky

I. Love. Japan.

My Wonderful Students

Women's Hair Length

Dog is a Delicacy, and I Ate It.

Queso in Korea

I brought the fixins for queso back with me to Korea and decided to make it for the teachers I work with, the doctors office staff that I tutor, and some of my kids. Thus far only my co-workers have had the opportunity to try it, but they went crazy for it. I was so surprised. I explained it to some of my kids yesterday, and they thought it sounded disgusting. Because of that, I wasn't expecting them to like it, but I decided they should taste a little bit of what Texas really is anyways. They loved it. I don't know how I could have ever doubted the amazing-ness of a block of Velveeta and a can of Rotel.

I did however come to the realization last night when I was trying to think of Rotel and could only say "tomato water" I needed to get myself back home immediately. I have clearly been gone too long. Being incapable of remembering such a staple in my pantry was really surprising and even more embarrassing. Luckily, I don't have too much longer.

It Snowed Today

I couldn't believe it. They were just little baby flurries, but the fact that it was able to get this cold here so late in the year is really upsetting. I need my 85° weather, and I need people to understand me when I say 85 degrees! Why must we Americans insist on measuring things differently than 90% of the world? Let's get over it already and do the conversions. I mean, obviously starting at 32, not zero, and measuring by units of 12, not 10, makes more sense right?!

No, no it doesn't. I can't tell people how tall I am or what my shoe size is because it is all done in millimeters here. Okay; unexpected rant over. I am just upset about this -2 degree weather were having today (I'd say that's something like 29°).

Fashion Town or Passion Town?!

Hanguel, the word for the written Korean language, has letters that encompass two of our sounds in one. There is one for K and G, P and B, P and F, and L and R. For this reason, some people say Busan and some people say Pusan for the city. Neither are wrong or right at the same time, because the pronunciation is somewhere in between. There are many words that when I read I have to do so two or three different ways before realizing what it is they are really saying. "Golf" is an excellent example of this. From my perspective it could be read 8 different ways: golf, golp, gorf, korf, etc. etc. Because of this relatively simple words can be easily misconstrued.

Case and point. Fashion Town. Unless I am walking to school, I almost always have to go down this giant stairwell and past this area with lots of stores. Many of them are inside a courtyard so it is impossible to see without venturing off the main sidewalk. There is a huge sign out front that I read as "Passion Town" without thinking twice and just assumed that was a place I didn't want to see.  I did think it was odd that it was so overtly advertised, though. And I wasn't exactly sure what I thought was happening inside passion town, so I just didn't bother to explore.

Someone recently informed me that it is "Fashion Town" and there are quite a few name brand stores within the complex. What. An. Idiot.

At least now I double check my words before making assumptions. Another one I have a problem with is "green" and "clean". Pronunciation wise, they are spelled the exact same way. It takes some effort to figure out which one they are using.

First Impressions Last

This is a bit reflective, and it's likely you won't care. But, I bet my mom and my grandma do, so here it is.

I leave Korea April 6.

Next week I will have been here for six months. I cannot believe how much the experience has changed me, and I am so glad that I have had the opportunity to travel abroad. For me, it was absolutely essential in helping me figure out who I am and what I need to be happy. 

I have been trying to remember what it was like when I first arrived, and thinking about my potential reaction to living in Thailand. I was so excited, but so much more scared when I first came to Korea. My first night, a cab driver picked me up from the airport and we met my assistant director outside the school, which I completely misunderstood. I could not believe there was a school inside the office-type building where we were. It's on the 6th floor, and the other floors are all different businesses. She rode with us to my apartment; it was probably around 1:30 am by this time. I was exhausted but terrified. 

Pulling up to the apartment in the dark, I just wanted to crawl into a hole. Obviously, everything is smaller here. The lights in the apartment hallways are all motion-censored so we were walking into a dark pit of doom as far as I was concerned. After Jean opened the door to my apartment, I immediately started crying. I don't think I had ever felt so alone or scared. It was small and dirty and without internet connection. My friend Dibby really saved my life those first few weeks. I spent all my money to get into a cab and stay with him that night, and I practically lived there my first month. In the cab on the way to his apartment that night, I was so disoriented and confused,  I remember being scared the cab driver was taking me into the middle of nowhere and was going to leave me for dead. That wasn't the case, but he did get terribly lost, and we drove around Dibby's town for an hour before finding him walking up and down the street awaiting my arrival. The radio played the song "Take My Breath Away" from Top Gun. I remember that it made me laugh and cry at the same time. I couldn't believe something so fundamentally American was happening in such a strange and foreign place.

At that time I don't think I would have been able to survive on my own, but now I feel confident and up for the challenge. A challenge it will most certainly be, as Thailand will again put me in new and testing situations. I will be without internet in my apartment, which has been my number one comfort here in Korea. Since I don't work until so late in the afternoon, it's very easy for me to stay on American schedule. I can talk with friends and family as though I were just around the corner. That will be no more. I have also been told that they are very very relaxed, and often nothing is accomplished as a result. I daily make a conscious effort not to be so uptight, as I have been told I need to relax on more than one occasion in my life. I think living in an extreme that is so different from my personal extremes will also help me to grow. I had a really hard time with the LA culture and laid back lifestyle when I lived there, but I am now much more willing to change.

I currently have a very comfortable life in Korea, but it took me nearly 5 months to get here. I realized after coming back from Lunar New Years that things were starting to feel right. Other than negative situations at work, I have no qualms with where I live or my life presently. This is quite an improvement from two months ago. Making friends in a new country and acclimating, or choosing not to acclimate and deal with that is a very difficult thing to do. I am hoping since I have been through it once, making the adjustment in Thailand will come more quickly. I have worked hard to experience the life and culture of a Korean, sort of. I do work to speak the language, and try not to limit myself in my experiences. I try to stay away from foreign areas, as they are for the most part, very much like America. But everyone is different, and there are also things to be learned in those areas.

Traveling abroad as an American, and more importantly, a Texan, I feel a certain responsibility to represent my home properly. I seem to have taken it upon myself to be Texas' personal spokesperson in Korea. I have always been a prideful Texan, but I love being able to share that with the world. I am so happy to have roots in such a fantastic place, I wouldn't trade that for the world.

Yellow Dust

This is a picture I snagged off the internet of Seoul during the 2006 Yellow Dust Season. 

Every spring in Korea, they get "Hwang Sa" (Yellow Dust) that comes in from the Gobi Desert in China and Mongolia. It's a mixture of sand and all kinds of chemicals and pollutants, and it makes a lot of people sick. Apparently, it has grown more severe in the last decade or so as China has continued to industrialize. 

Well, it's here and it is awful. I have known that it's been here for pretty much the entire month of March, as my throat has been swollen. Just this week though, it has worsened significantly. Today the coughing and sneezing started, along with other cold-like symptoms. I can't believe every year they have to deal with this. Many of them wear facemasks, which I will soon be purchasing. This season is expected to be particularly bad, but hopefully the past few days have been the worst. It will be so nice to get back to clean, fresh air.

Weekend in Busan

Busan was such a great weekend trip. Other than Jeju, it is my favorite place I have visited in Korea thus far. I much preferred it to Seoul. It took me awhile to realize why, but a lot of it was very westernized. They have an army base in Busan, so there were tons of Weiguks (foreigners) walking around. We even ate at a couple of restaurants where the menus were all in English. It was an exciting change. I am glad that I live somewhere that isn't like that though, because in that situation I might have never taken the time to acclimate. In Busan, there really was no need. For the most part, it felt like any beach city in the states. There was a group of people playing volleyball, children were flying kites, people were laughing. Same same.

However, there were some startling differences. The most shocking thing we saw was the red light district. I was absolutely not anticipating that being a part of our trip. I've been told that they have these in several areas of South Korea that I have been to, including somewhere right by my subway station. However, I've never seen one. I assume that most are slightly tucked away and out of sight unless you are looking. This one was not. It was right off the beach, and we were a ways down it before even realizing what it was we were seeing. It was so sad yet intriguing. Not stopping to gape open-mouthed at these women proved quite a challenge. They were in these miniature rooms that all had window boxes, so it was like they were actually pushing out onto the side walk. You didn't have to look inside a window to see, the women came out to you. Many of them were in regular clothes and doing regular things in their miniature rooms, like watching TV or eating dinner. I think that's why it took us awhile before realizing what we were seeing. So many things are different here so seeing things we're not accustomed becomes more natural. Towards the end of the row, the women were dressed in what I would consider to be more stereotypical attire, many of them smoking cigarettes and enticing men as they walked by. It was so unexpected.

This woman had her puppies on the beach and she was so happy to hold them and pose for us. They really love to do that sort of thing here. It's very hard to catch people in natural moments; because the second they see the camera, they throw up the peace sign or something similar and equally cheesy. After she posed she handed them to me to take a picture. It was pretty entertaining as I am not a big fan of animals when I'm clean. I did have a full body layer of protection on with my jacket and gloves, which helped tremendously. It would have been completely random and unexpected if I had not seen things like this happen several times already here. I took a couple of photos on the beach with her dogs and we went on our way.

We went to the aquarium and right inside they have this giant portrait of the Mona Lisa, fishy-style. I do not understand why they do this here, but they seem to enjoy it. It's common, for sure.

Wow, Beef Blood Jelly Soup sure sounds appetizing. It always amazes me that they can't find someone who speaks English to translate things out here. Many of their products, road signs, etc. are in broken or just incorrect English. I should look into that job.

Some of the fish at the aquarium. They had many things I had never seen before, like these big teeth!

We took a train from Suwon, the city we live in, at one in the morning and arrived in Busan around 5 am Saturday morning. The bus station is a little ways from the beach, so we got on the first subway that morning. It is always a pleasant surprise when it's not packed, but here it was so quiet. Everyone was sleeping!

They had these bumper cars just on the other side of the beach. This felt very old to me, and I was surprised to see that they still worked. A couple of children were riding in them when we walked by, otherwise I would have assumed it was an old run-down park. It was very cool to see out in the open like that.

We walked right to the beach when we got off the subway at about 6 am Saturday morning. The moon was still out, but there were a few people there. It was really beautiful, but quite chilly.

This was another beach in Busan. I liked seeing the bridge cut across the water like this, but I think if I lived there I would prefer a more natural beach setting. This was so unusual.

I sat out on the beach strip and had some hot chocolate and mozzarella cheese sticks. Everything on the menu was in English. It was strange that there was no Korean on it whatsoever. If I were Korean, that would make me so angry. Learning English is becoming more and more of a necessity over here. They really have no choice but to adapt, which is sad.

I got a Thai Massage while there, and this was the bed. It was really cool, and completely different than any massage I've ever gotten. The woman who did it was from Thailand, and seemed to speak less Korean than even I do. Her English was good though, so we mainly talked that way. She used her entire body to give me the massage. I am so glad I've been over here for awhile, otherwise I would have been so uncomfortable by her invasion of personal space. A couple of times it was awkward, but for the most part I was able to enjoy it. More than anything, she was stretching my body out. It wasn't particularly relaxing, but I did feel better after it was over.

Grunting and Spitting

"Unh. Uh uh uhh uh uh. Nuhnh. Unh. Anyangekaseyo (goodbye)."

This is a completely legit form of communication between the Koreans. It's really unbelievable to watch, and even more unbelievable that I have recently found myself participating and expecting them to understand me. I had a cab driver completely jerk me over last week because I'm a weiguken (foreigner), and I was pointing at the price and grunting at him to stop making it go so fast. He understood completely. When did this happen?!

And, they spit. Man, do they spit. But, that's not really the right word, it's more like hauk. Hardcore phlegm action going on over here. It is oh-so-gross. It's not just the men; women do it also, girls even. Whenever I hear that noise on the street that reminds me of something my brothers would have done on a trip when I was little just to annoy the females in the car, I always look over my shoulder as I try to get out of the way as fast as possible. I would never assume they aren't going to just spit right on me. They would if I happened to be in between them and their target on the ground. 

Anyways, I am always shocked when I turn to find a girl doing this. I'm not talking about a hyper-masculine woman, dainty women in high heels and fashionable attire are making that disgusting sound people make in their throats before all that nasty mucus finds its way to their mouths. Unbelievable! This is a trend you will not see me picking up, no matter how much I've changed while over here.

In the winter months, it was not uncommon to see spit frozen solid on the ground as I was walking to work. 

Interesting Airport Info

Asia

1. Thus far every Asian airline (Japan Air, Korean Air, and Asiana) I have flown on completely dominates over their American competitors. There is so much more room! I find this strange considering that in general Asians are much smaller than Americans. However, you will not find me complaining.

2. Downside: they check your bags twice, the second time right before you board. Any liquids you have purchased in the airport are tossed. This was especially annoying my first flight, as I bought two bottled waters for the trip.

Upside: They provide complimentary water bottles in your seat.

3. Everything is free; including beer and wine.

4. Asiana airlines passes out a complimentary toothbrush, toothpaste, house slippers and sleep masks to everyone on board. 

5. Many Asians brush their teeth and wash their faces and bodies in the airport. I never understood where they got the toothpaste until my last flight.

6. I was offered steak, carrots and broccoli as a meal. From where I'm coming from, it was an amazing steak dinner. The best I've had in Korea.

7. I didn't make any special requests or pay any extra money, but one of my seats was randomly in first class. It was absolutely amazing; I could turn it into a bed. From Japan to Korea, I was in heaven.

Sydney

1. They allowed me to take food and bottled water with me on the flight. No problem.

2. I didn't have to take off my shoes.

3. I was randomly selected to be checked for explosives in my carry-on, and the two elderly workers giggled the whole time and told me about all the Australian food I needed to buy in the airport before boarding the plane.

In the Land of OZ

First day beach. Swimming. Huge waves. Jellyfish. Not so pretty water. Sunrise Watson's Bay. Pretty clouds. Lots of color. Bondi like Austin, especially South Congress. Color of places - like San Francisco, but all in pastels instead of bright. Design of book covers very different. Waxy money. Grass allergy. Opera house, never knew that's what it was. Amazingly kind people. Our group dinner. More multi-cultural than anywhere I've been. Shorten everything- sick as, mozzies. Airport attendant very rude to Japanese women. Surprising. Walk through duty-free area, no walls or stores; just everywhere. Very very cute train station; quaint. Ultra-urban, almost scary train station by comparison. Played Johnny Cash while getting my Texas tattoo. Awesome.

Those were the notes I took to help me write about Australia on the blog. Figured it'd be nice to change things up a bit and give it to you raw. It was an amazing trip, but moreso because of the people I met than the location. Sydney was great and the beach is always a relaxing place for me, but I wasn't as impressed as I was anticipating overall. I guess I never know what I'll think about a place until I get there. 

My view on the train from the cute and quaint train station. I thought the two-storied very colorful train was fun. When I had to switch at the main station, I got on a really dirty, graffiti-ed, and more typical urban train. I'm glad I had a bit of this first.

Us on the steps of the Opera House. It was a pretty cool place being right on the Harbor like that. I never knew that's what the building was, but it's always been the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Sydney.

My friend Andru and I on the beach my first day. The waves were so huge! It was great fun to be able to play in them so close to the beach. I've never been in any so big.

Our friend Howell got stung by a jellyfish. Ouch!!

Playing in the water.

This was part of our breakfast after we went to see the sunrise at Watson's Bay. The restaurant was called Pancakes on the Rocks. It was cute and had really fun and interesting dishes.

Some of my housemates in OZ. Since Andru lives with 5 other guys, I stayed with a group of his girlfriends. I am so glad that worked out as they were all so kind and welcoming. It was amazing to meet people from so many different places living under one roof. In my house, there was a girl from The States, Argentina, Mexico, Australia, and Scotland. Wow!

I got a tattoo of the Texas flag on the bottom of my foot, and I absolutely love it. It hurts so bad to walk right now though!

The Opera House and the Harbor.

Bondi Beach on a Monday morning. We went at a good time, because from what I'm told it can be wall-to-wall people out there. We had a bit of space.

Seagulls and surfers on Bondi. It was cool to actually see people surf; no where in the states have I really seen waves that were big enough to surf proper. Here, they were huge! People were surfing kayaks even. I thought that was pretty cool.

The sky after sunrise on Watson's Bay. We didn't really get to see much of the sunrise because it was so cloudy. It was really nice the way it colored the clouds though, so I didn't mind. I still can't believe I was able to wake up so early (4 am!!!) to do something like that. Although, those are the things life is about for me. It was absolutely worth it.