Korea Throwback

When people ask me what Korea is like, I always have a hard time describing it well.  They try so hard to emulate western culture (there's an Outback Steakhouse on every corner), but at the same time, the culture is so far from anything American (kids hate spaghetti and love steamed snails larvae).  This article from CNN Go paints a pretty good picture of Korean society.  Probably the best I've seen it spelled out.  (Thanks to Katie for sharing it on Facebook).

End of an Era

Over a year after it should have, our school in Korea finally closed it's doors on Wednesday November 25, 2009.

RIP Brighten English School. You will not be missed.

Different.

Living in the Czech Republic I find myself comparing my experiences here to those I had in Korea. Clearly there are more cultural differences than I could possibly mention. But most of what I'm noticing is how my interactions with the cultures differ.

In Korea, I obviously did not look Korean. No one ever tried to speak Korean to me and they were never surprised when I didn't understand them. We would get many stares- especially from older people or little kids. Many kids would even stop, point and say to their patents "mi guk!" (foreigner). I got used to life as a minority and not being able to blend with the culture. No matter what I did, even if I learned to speak Korean fluently, I would still stand out as being different and being a foreigner.

In Prague it is completely opposite. I am just another white, European person and look like any other Czech girl walking down the street. My style is similar to Czech fashion, my hair color is spot on, etc. I get stopped at least once a day where someone tries to speak Czech to me. Ask directions, try to sell me something, older people when i give up my seat to them on the tram, whatever. And at the deli when I am buying some lunch meat and the sales person tries to ask me a question and just looks at me like I'm stupid for not understanding something so simple, until they realize that I'm not Czech. In any of these situations there's always the awkward moment when I try to make it clear that I don't understand. "No Czech, English." and this usually doesn't happen until they've rattled off half of what they were tring to say. I hate dealing with these situations and it almost make me miss Korea where no one would talk to me, never even hand me promo fliers in the metro, never have the confused look on their face when I didn't know what they were saying.

I had told myself that I wasn't going to make the same mistakes I made in Korea as far as not learning the language. But now, I'm not so sure if it's going to happen. I had hoped to sign up for a free Czech class through one of my language schools but unfortunately it doesn't fit with my schedule. So I bought a Czech phrase book and decided I would try to learn some on my own. But the pronunciation is so different from English that I don't even know where to start. How do you pronounce "zd" together? And what's the difference between č and c? Û, ú and u?
And it's not only that. While they only have simple verb tenses (no continuous or perfect tenses), they congigate nouns and change endings for masculine and feminine. For example, "Prague" in Czech can be Praha, Praze, Prasky and probably a lot of other versions that I don't even know.
So we'll see how far I get on my own. Many of my students really want me to try learning it and ask about my progress every week. And then just smile and laugh when I try to say anything in Czech.

So, back to my Korea vs. Czech ideas... While it is of course nice to be able to blend and not stand out all the time, when you feel like a stranger in a strange land it is kind of nice to not be confused as something different. And as a white American, I think it was a very good experience for me to spend a year as a minority. But that's a whole other story.

I don't think I'm really going anywhere with this, just observing the differences. So that's where I'm at. I will try to learn some more Czech to make life easier. Maybe I can at least learn "I don't speak Czech."

Happy Birthday Sehyun

Sehyun's 5th Birthday party at my school in Korea.

But What Does It All Mean!?

In Korean:

Ne = Yes

Anio = No

In Czech:

Ano = Yes

Ne = No

You see my confusion? After a year in Korea I got the words so ingrained into my mind that I'm having a lot of trouble changing it. I usually find myself in shops saying no (Ne) but nodding my head yes. I know I'm confused and I can't imagine how the poor shop keepers feel.

Also, to indicate the number one, I am used to holding up my index finger as we do in the States. However, here, that means two. One is indicated by your thumb.

So, here I am in a shop trying to buy.... let's say, a croissant. I say "one," hold up my index finger, nod my head "yes" and say "Ne". The shop keeper just stares in udder confusion.

Who knew a simple task could be so confusing?

Goin' Home.....

3 wonderful months. 6 beautiful countries. An experience I will never forget.

As sad as I was for it to be over so quickly, I was also very excited to be going home. I'm heading back to the States right now for the first time in 15 months. Seeing my parents for the first time in just as long. It feels strange but it will be great to me home.

I'm going to sleep in MY bed.
Shower in MY shower.
Drive MY car.
Go to the grocery store and be able to find the things I want.
Walk into a store and communicate with the clerk without using hand gestures.
Eat delicious food.
Relax in the comfort of a beautiful home.

These are the things people miss while living abroad and the things I cannot wait to do when I get home.

I left Bali, which I have not yet written about but was amazing, and headed back to Seoul for a few days to tie up some loose ends. Bali was where Jason and I parted, he flew to Tokyo then Dallas and I came back to Seoul. I had a great two days here staying with my friend Kelly and seeing other friends for dinner. I made the dreaded last visit to my school and somehow the owner pulled it off and we were paid all of the money we were owed. Everything just worked.

And now for the long trip home. On my way to the airport right now where I will fly Seoul-> Tokyo-> LA-> Denver and drive back to Glenwood. It's along journey but a great one nonetheless.

It's Not All Rainbows and Butterflies.

Many people seem to think that living abroad is one big adventure and every day is new and exciting.  That's not exactly the case.  My day to day life is pretty much just like it would be at home.  I have Monday to Friday job.  I come home and make dinner.  I go to the grocery store and run errands.  Ya know, normal life.  I just happen to be doing it on the other side of the world.

And living abroad can be difficult sometimes.  There are the obvious reasons that you are far away from friends and family and miss home and your loved ones.  I also miss a lot of little things, like driving my car.  Having an oven (we only have 2 burners and that's it).  Lots of good food from home.  Being able to communicate with people easily (I kind of forget what it's like to be able to walk in a store and ask any questions I want without having to speak like a 4 year old).  There are a lot of little things.  But there's also more.

One of the hardest things about living in a foreign country is being a foreigner.  You don't know customs and culture and how things work.  I've learned quite a bit about Korean culture in my year here, but there is still so much I don't understand.  But I'm not getting into that now.  Maybe at a later post.  Anyway, back to the subject:  being a foreigner.  This can be a big problem if, say, you have legal problems and don't know how the legal system in your current country works.  That's our problem now.  

Our school is a small, privately owned language school; called a hagwon in Korean.   There are thousands and thousands of hagwons in Korea.  There are several within walking distance of the one we work at.  Because of this (and currently the bad economy) a lot of them fail.  Our school has been going for about four years now, but it is on it's last leg.  They haven't had enough students this whole year and now they keep losing students left and right.  They have been having financial problems since we arrived, but things are suddenly getting a lot worse and in a scary way.  

Despite the financial problems, we have always been paid on time.  That is, until last month.  We are supposed to be paid on the 5th of every month, which in January was our first day back to school after vacation.  So when we weren't paid right on the 5th, we weren't too worried about it.  But when it was 2 days later and the director of our school still hadn't mentioned anything about being paid, we started to wonder.

We eventually got HALF of our pay checks two weeks later.  And now, on February 2nd, we have not been paid the other half of our paycheck.  The school has no money.  None.  Our boss can't afford to pay us.  It's kind of a problem.  Oh, and did I mention that when we finish a one year contract we get a severance (equal to one month's pay) and our plane tickets home paid for.  There are 3 of us leaving at the end of this month.  

If we were in America, we would know how to take care of this.  Not getting paid would hardly even be an issue.  I don't think I've ever heard of anyone I know not being paid in the States.  But here, how do we deal with it?  We're not Koreans, we don't have all of the rights Koreans do.  And dealing with the legal system in a country where don't know the laws is not easy.  We really don't know what to do.  Our boss says she's trying her hardest and wants to pay us.  We believe her, but just wanting to pay us isn't quite enough.  We've been kind of stuck.  It doesn't seem like there is too much we can do.  So we just wait and hope that she finds the money to pay us.  

Waiting, waiting...

Ski Trip!

The area by the cabins 

Fresh powder in the morning!

With some new friends at the waterpark

Some of our group on top of the mountain

Last weekend was the Lunar New Year, which is of course, a big deal in Asian countries.  For the holiday, we had both Monday and Tuesday off of work - our last long weekend in Korea!  We were thinking about what to do and at the last minute decided to go on a ski trip.  It was organized by a tour group called Adventure Korea (they cater to foreigners living in Korea and organize lots of ski trips, hiking trips, etc.) and about 80 westerners went on the trip.  Our friend, Kelly (who we met in China), was going and invited us to tag along.

We left Saturday morning and spent two nights at the Phoenix Park ski area and one at some cabins in the mountains.  The ski area was fairly small but  had some decent runs.  The great thing about it was that it was empty!  The Lunar New Year is a family deal, so most Koreans stay at home rather than doing things like going skiing.  It was great to get up boarding here, even though it was really cold, windy and snowing the the runs were icy.  Because of all of that, I didn't last as long as I normally would have.  Oh, and we got to do night skiing, which I have never done before.  Our passes were only valid until 10:30pm, but the skiing goes all the way until 4am.  

The best part of the trip was all the great people that we met.  We stayed in a hostel (which was right on the mountain.  Have you ever seen a hostel that you could ski out the back door to the gondola?) and had to share a room with about 5 other people.  Fortunately, the people we ended up rooming with were awesome and we spent the whole weekend with them. Two more people joined our room in our cabin and they were just as great.  We all had a ton of fun together just hanging out and laughing all night.  

It was a great trip and I'l glad that it will serve as one of the last memories of what we did in Korea.  

Photos.

The Korean Wedding Experience

The happy new couple

Some of the teachers at Brighten with the director of our school, Ronnie, (standing

 next to me), her sister who helps at the school, and Oh Teacher, the Bride

This past Saturday, the receptionist at my school got married.  I know her simply as "Oh Teacher" and have actually never learned her real name.  She got married this past weekend and everyone from our school was invited.  I knew that the wedding would be similar to American weddings in someways, but was told they didn't do the big reception party thing like we do in the States.  

So we went to the wedding at about 1 o'clock on Saturday.  On the invitation, there was a little map drawn with what looked like a drawing of a church.  So we were confused when we got to the location and didn't find a church, but just a big building.  We headed up to the second floor where we found a big wedding hall.  It was set up more or less like a church: there was a lobby area, some small side rooms and then a wedding area with rows of chairs and an aisle down the middle.  It was so strange to me, to see a wedding hall like this in the middle of a big building.  

We ran into the director of our school and she took us over to the bridal waiting room.  Oh Teacher was sitting in a little chair with her white dress spread out across the floor.  There was a photographer set up and guests could go and stand behind the bride and take a picture, which we did of course.  From there, we headed over to the money table.  Money is kind of the standard gift over here, no registering.  So there is just a table where you can put your money in an envelope and then someone writes in a book how much you gave.  This is also where you get your "meal ticket."  So I guess if you don't opt to give a donation to the new bride and groom, you don't get to eat.  No such thing as a free lunch!

The ceremony itself was interesting.  The room didn't have enough chairs, so there were a lot of people standing in the back and in the lobby, which wasn't really separated from the hall.  The people sitting down were quiet, but everyone standing up were talking so loudly and hardly even paying attention to what was going on.  There were kids running around screaming, people on their cell phones, etc.  I've never seen people be so loud during a wedding, they weren't even talking in hushed voices.  

I couldn't hear most of the ceremony because everyone was so loud, but I wouldn't have been able to understand it, anyway.  But it seemed like a pretty standard ceremony from what I could tell.  They had spotlights on the bride and groom, so they must have been getting pretty hot.  From time to time, someone would go up to them and pat their faces with a towel.  Just right in the middle of the ceremony.  Also the photographer and videographer were standing with their cameras literally right over the priest's (I actually don't know what he was, he was just wearing a normal suit) shoulder.

At the end of the ceremony, the bride and groom presented their new spouses to their parents.  The parents were sitting right at the very front, and the new couple went up and bowed to each set of parents and gave some flowers to the mom.  I thought this was actually kind of a nice gesture, saying thank you to the parents.  

Probably the funniest thing in the whole ceremony was the part where you kiss the bride.  Like most Asian cultures, Korea is not big on PDA (besides wearing matching t-shirts and holding hands).  So rather than kissing, the bride and groom hugged.  And it wasn't even a good hug.  It was a pat on the back hug, the kind you give to someone you don't really want to be hugging.  The crowd started cheering for them to kiss, so they finally managed a little peck.  

One thing that the whole wedding seemed to really be missing was some emotion!  The bride and groom didn't even look like they liked each other.  There was no one crying in the audience.  It just seemed so cut and dry, really boring.  I feel like American weddings are so full of joy and this was just the opposite.  No wedding party, no speeches, no toasting the bride and groom, no first dance, no cake cutting, nothing.  

So after the whole ceremony, we headed downstairs to a big buffet room.  They had a HUGE buffet with about every kind of Korean food imaginable (it all looked great, but actually wasn't as good as I was expecting).  But in the hall was just filled with these long tables.  I felt more like I was in a college dining hall rather than at a wedding reception.  And there was no music or anything, just the sound of people eating.  And when people finished eating, they just got up and left.  Wedding over.  The bride and groom eventually came down to the dining hall (now dressed in traditional Korean wedding costumes), but there was no big entrance or anything.  They went around to various tables and said hello and thank you for coming and then probably sat down and ate, themselves.  But many of the guests had already left before the bride and groom came down.

The whole experience was only about 2 1/2 hours.  Not an all day event like it is back home.  Let me just say that I am glad that when I eventually get married it will not be in the Korean fashion.

Seoraksan National Park

For such a small country, Korea has quite a few national parks.  Seoraksan is probably one of the biggest and most popular parks in the country.  It is located in a small mountain range near the ocean on the north eastern coast, right near North Korea.  

We visited Seoraksan a few weeks ago, figuring it would be a great time to explore the mountains and check out the leaves changing colors.  Apparently a lot of other people had the same idea as us, so the park was pretty packed.  But everything is Korea is always crowded, so it probably wasn't too different than it normally is.  

We spent two days there.  On the first, we did one of the main hikes in the park.  It was about 5 hours or so round trip, but we made some stops and took our time taking photos.  It takes you up to the top of this rocky mountain with great views.  I couldn't believe just how beautiful it was.  We sat at the top and enjoyed the views for quite a while.  I didn't want to leave.  The trail up to the top included over 800 stairs.  The last 3/4 of a mile or so was very steep stairs, drilled into the rock face of the mountain.  Not for those with a fear of heights.  I couldn't believe how many little old ladies made it to the top!

The next day we did a little bit of a shorter hike before we had to catch the bus back to Seoul.  It followed along a beautiful mountain stream and eventually ended up at a small cave.  The stream looked like it once was a big river (and maybe it still flows in the rainy season), but now it was mostly dry.  It was a rocky riverbed, and many of the rocky valleys filled up with beautiful pools of water.  The water was crystal clear with a hint of blue, if it were summer I would have jumped right in.  It looked like the perfect place to enjoy a nice dip in gorgeous scenery.  

The cave that we hiked up to was a very small Buddhist shrine.  The cave was only about 25 feet deep, but was packed with people.  Inside, it had a few small steps that led up to a shrine where, of course, you had to take your shoes off.  High up in the mountains, after hiking for hours, take your shoes off and pray.  

My favorite thing I saw in Seoraksan -besides the incredible views of the rocky peaks- were the Chinese characters carved into giant stones.  We saw them in a couple places, once along the rocky river and another time up in the mountains next to a small temple.  The characters ranged in size from about 8 inches to about 2 feet in size.  They looked really nice set against the great landscapes and the leaves changing color.   

It was a really great trip.  The leaves weren't changing color quite as much as we expected them to, but they still looked amazing.  We enjoyed the mountains as well as the small town of Sokcho that we stayed in.  Took lots of great photos, so check them out here.

Gyeong-ju Weekend

A couple weeks ago, we had our last 3 day weekend until Christmas. That's about 12 weeks with NO BREAKS. So Jason and I decided that we better enjoy the time off. We headed down south to the city of Gyeong-ju. It was the capital of the Shilla Dynasty for around 1000 years - thousands of years ago. So, needless to say, there's a lot of history there. It's kind of like the Kyoto of Korea. Kind of.

We spent our first day there visiting a couple of temples. We made our way out to the Bulguksa Temple, one of the oldest temples in Korea. Very nice (see photos). After the temple, we took an extremely crowded bus up a windy mountain road to the Seoukguram Grotto. It was pretty much on top of the mountain, there were great views in every direction. Supposedly, on a clear day, you can see the ocean. But clear days don't really exist in Korea (perma-smog), so of course we didn't see it. But anyway, you take a short walk from where the bus lets you off and come to a shrine built into the side of the mountain. Inside the grotto, there is a giant stone buddha, surrounded by a semi-circle wall with around 30 or so guards carved into it. Walking back from it, we saw the best sunset I've seen in Korea.

Later that night, we walked around and visited some of the sites around the city. First we walked to the observatory, the oldest one in all of Asia. On flat ground and only about 25 feet high... a little different than observatories today. Guess they didn't have to deal with all the bright city lights and pollution. Hmm... Anyway, you can't tell just from looking at it, but there is a lot that went into designing it. There are 12 stones at the base (months), 30 layers to the top (months), and 366 stones in all (days in the year).
From the observatory, we made out way over to the Anapji Pond. It's a big pond with a few pagodas located around it. Everything was lit up and night and it looked really amazing. The perfect place to take an evening stroll. There once was temples surrounding the pond, but they've long sine burned down. Also, when they drained the pond in the 70's for maintenance, they discovered hundreds of relics that had been forgotten in the water and somehow stayed pretty well preserved in the mud.

The next two days we spent hiking around Mount Namsan, a small mountain just outside of town that is covered with shrines. The first day we met a couple of Korean guys who became our tour guides for the day. They were really nice guys, in their mid twenties, and they have actually become good friends since then. They are also from Seoul and were just vacationing for the long weekend as well. We've gone out to dinner and drinks and soccer games with them a couple times since we've been back. It's nice to actually hang out with some Koreans instead of just foreigners for once. The second day we rented bikes and rode around along the base of the mountain and through some rice fields before doing some hiking. Both days we some some really amazing buddhas carved into the sides of rock walls. I think I saw some of my favorite things I've seen in Korea there, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  Take a look here.  

Life, As of Late

I haven't posted much about what I've been doing here lately because for a while, there wasn't much to post about. After the Japan trip, things kind of slowed down for a while. Life was just normal, day in day out, nothing special going on. We did a couple weekend trips to the beach. Jason went home for a week to go to a wedding. He was gone over a four day weekend, so I spent a lot of "me" time then, which was actually really great. But in the last week or so, a little bit more has been going on.

Here at our school, there are five English teachers and then four people on the Korean staff. Jean, the academic director, is who we go to for pretty much anything we need. She is so great and so helpful and speaks the best English out of all the staff. She is the go to lady. She helps us with anything, whether it is school related or not. Last week, a meeting was called and it was announced that Jean would be leaving us because of "personal reasons." We were told that on Monday and then Tuesday was her last day. There will be no one coming in to take her place, so Ronnie, the owner and director of the school, will be in Jean's place. However, since Jean left, Ronnie hasn't changed a thing about what she does here at the school. She still comes in late everyday and then just sits and talks with the other Korean staff. She's not constantly working on things the way Jean always did. And Ronnie just isn't a very approachable person; you don't really want to go a talk to her about something unless it's completely necessary. Jean is the type of person who knows what is going on with every student in the school. Not Ronnie. Basically, all of us teachers are just going to have to get used to figuring things out for ourselves, because no one else here knows what is supposed to be done, either. So we'll see how that goes over in the next few months.

But on a better note.... We went on a weekend trip this past weekend to a city down south called Gyung ju. Really nice place. It was once the capital of the Shilla dynasty, so there's a lot of history there; kind of like the Rome of Korea.... kind of. But I'll write more about that later, once I upload all the photos from the trip.

And I think we're going to do a few more weekend trips in the coming weeks. One to Soraksan, a famous mountain and good hiking area. And then another one to a city a couple hours away where Jason has a soccer game coming up. (He plays in a soccer league every Sunday. Most the games are fairly nearby to where we live, but there are a couple outside of Seoul. It's a really international club, which is kind of fun. His team includes people from 5 different continents.) This past weekend was our last 3 day weekend until our Christmas break. Oh maaan that's a lot of full work weeks....

Until next time, hope all is well back home. Love and miss you all.

Kindergarten Hell

Well I guess hell is a bit of an exaggeration, but things definitely have made a turn for the worse. All summer long I only had three to four kindergarteners. It was perfect. Of my five original students, one was on vacation in the USA for three months, and another one was just staying at her grandparents house for a month. I got really close with the remaining few kids and really enjoyed teaching just them.

And then, about two weeks ago, I got a new addition to my class. This little boy had been going to a Korean kindergarten (where they also spend some time learning English) and had had some problems there. His mom, who speaks fluent English, came and talked to me on his first day. She told me that she was really concerned about him because he was a little younger and slower than the other children.

Side note: I think I've mentioned before how Korean age works. When you are born, you are one year old. And then on January 1st, everyone turns a year older. So, if you are born on December 31st, you will be considered 2 years old on January 1st. And it causes problems for school. This little boy's birthday is in November. He is 6 years old in Korean age, but is actually only 4 in American age. If he were in the States, he wouldn't be starting kindergarten for another year. Here, he's already been in it for 6 months. Too young! End side note.

So I thought this mom was probably being over protective of her son and told her not to worry, I was sure he would be fine. Ohhh man was I wrong! I've dealt with some students that were a little younger and slower and nothing has been too bad. But this boy is seriously slow and behind. After spending about an hour with him I couldn't imagine how the next six months were going to play out. He knows some English, is able to respond to questions with one word answers. But he can't sit still, was all over the place jumping up and down and blowing spit bubbles and screaming. And that was just the first hour.

Since then, things have only gotten worse. It all kind of accumulated into a nightmare yesterday when he pooped his pants in the middle of class. I could tell he needed to go to the bathroom and sent him there, but about a minute after he came back he was pulling down his pants and motioning that he needed toilet paper back there. It was too much for me to handle. I got a male Korean teacher (who has 3 kids of his own, so he should be used to this kind of thing) and told him that I thought William needed some help in the bathroom. I didn't really appreciate it when William came back to class and tried to hand me his dirty underwear. Yuck.

He is so slow and so young, and I think he may have some learning disabilities. Not sure, but it just seems like the trouble he has might be more than just him being young. I've tried talking to the Korean staff, telling them that I think he is not ready to be in kindergarten, but they're hard up for cash so there's no way they're going to turn him away.

Beyond that, I got another girl last week. She's a little behind the rest of the class and cries easily, but other than that she'll be alright. And the one who went to the USA returned today, speaking great English in full sentences, but being bossier and harder to control than ever. So now my class is up to seven. It's so much more difficult to get them to behave, they're all so easily distracted. When I had the smaller class, they were really good. No Korean. Always payed attention. Followed directions. All of that is now down the drain. Even the best students follow the bad ones in misbehaving and they have all resorted back to speaking a lot of Korean. It's going to be a long six months with all of them.

Update and Photos

Outside the casino in Sabuk, with Jason's cousins David and Joy

We have spent two weeks sleeping at a co worker's house but that is finally over!  We move into our new apartment tonight! ....and then head to Japan tomorrow.  

We found a new place last weekend that we really liked.  It took a little persuading and some negotiating, but we finally got our school to agree to it.  It's not very far from our current place, just a couple of blocks and up and down a couple of hills.  The other tenants just moved out yesterday (Thursday), so we started moving our stuff in last night.  Let me tell you, if you're ever planning on moving all of your stuff yourself without a vehicle, don't plan to do so during monsoon season.  It has been raining pretty much non-stop this whole week.  So we've been running back and forth with big heavy suitcases at times when the rain has let up a little.  Not fun.  The main problem with this new place is that it is unfurnished, so we're still trying to find a bed.... looks like we'll be sleeping on the floor tonight!

Anyway, I posted some new photos from the past couple of months, too.  Check 'em out here  July has been a busy month and it's not slowing down yet.  More to come after Japan....

Mud, Mold and Sabuk

Well life on the other side of the world has been a little crazy lately. Fun and stressful all at the same time.  Allow me to explain.

Two weekends ago, Jason and I visited the small mountain town of Sabuk to spend some time with Jason's cousin, David, and David's Korean wife, Joy. Sabuk is the town that Joy grew up in and spent most of her life in before she moved to the US six years ago. Her parents and one of her brothers (there's 4 siblings in all) as well as her nephew all live there in the house she grew up in. 

Before going to Sabuk, I didn't know exactly what to expect, but kind of imagined a little farming village. But, in all actuality, it is a ski town. The town itself is really small with not much to it, and there is a big ski resort (okay fairly small, but big for Asia, supposedly one of the biggest in Asia) and a casino, all set in picturesque, rolling mountains covered in dense forests. We spent our time there eating a lot of tasty new Korean food- Joy's family owns a restaurant- and exploring areas around the town and resort. We also went to a beach town about an hour 1/2 away with clear blue water.

It was interesting spending time in such a small town and with a Korean family. We got to see some more of Korean culture that we don't experience in Seoul very often. Joy's parents were there, but we really didn't spend much time with them or get to know them. It is difficult because of the obvious language barrier (they speak NO English), but also just the culture is very different. Joy said that her parents are old country people and don't talk a lot, don't show a lot of emotion. But even though they didn't spend a lot of time around us, they always made sure we were enjoying the food and had everything we needed- all of this was done through Joy, of course.

This past weekend, Jason and I got to partake in a "Mud Festival" in a beach town called Boryeon, about 2 hours south of Seoul. It's a small town, known for the mud that it produces that is rich in minerals and is supposed to be really good for your skin.  Foreigners and Koreans alike flock to the town and pay jacked up prices to stay cheap hotels, and bathe themselves in mud during the festival. Everyone was covered from head to toe in mud, it was pretty funny to see. They had mud painting, a mud bath, mud slides, mud jail (if you're caught without mud on you, you're thrown in mud jail and mud is then thrown on you), massages, facials, pottery, etc.... We panted ourselves in mud, went down the mud slide, got massages, made mud people out of clay, and just had a generally muddy and good time.  The beach was great, too, supposedly the nicest one on the west coast of Korea.  So we got in some sun and just had a really different, fun weekend.

And the mold.  Around a month or so ago, we discovered that there was some mold growing on the wallpaper in several rooms of our apartment.  We researched how to clean it, and figured we would try to fix the problem ourselves before involving our school (the school pays for the apartment).  We cleaned it, but after a few weeks it all grew back... even worse than it was before.  

So we told our school about a week and 1/2 ago and we've all been trying to figure out what to do ever since. In the few days after we told our school, we discovered that it was much worse than we realized.  We looked in our closets, and found that they were covered in mold.  And then, we started finding some of our things were covered in mold as well.  The worst was a pair of Jason's shoes that had been sitting under a bed.  They were COMPLETELY covered in grey, green, white and yellow mold.  It was truly disgusting.  So that's when we decided that we need out pronto.  

Since last Sunday we have been sleeping at a coworkers house (about a block away) and spending as little time as possible at home.  It's kind of a bad deal for everyone involved.  Our landlady is trying to fix the problem, but she's no mold expert, so I don't think it's doing much.  We've been arguing with the director of our school trying to get out of our apartment and find a new place to live.    It's kind of stressful and not fun and unhealthy.  Hopefully we'll find a new place this weekend.

Sorry so long, like always.  Oh, and we head out to Japan in about a week.

Trivia:

• What is the only inanimate sign in the Zodiac?
• Who is the Greek god equivalent for the roman god Athena?
• Finish this line: "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.  you killed my father,..."

Quiz Night in the HBC

Random Korea Photo of the day: Beomosa Temple, Busan

We have quickly developed a weekly tradition here in Seoul.  Every Tuesday, Jason and I and a few of our coworkers head down to a local bar in our neighborhood of Haebangcheon for Quiz Night.  There are a few foreign restaurants and bars, ya know, places where you can only find a menu in English and there aren't any Koreans in sight.   Makes you feel like you're back home, or maybe England with all the Brits around.  

But back to the trivia.  We have gone to Quiz Night almost every week since we arrived, except maybe 2 or 3.  We have won the 1st place prize of a $50 bar tab twice (the most recent time being this week, thank you), and a pitcher of beer for 2nd place, once.  Some weeks we are dead last and others we are far above the rest.  It all depends on the line up for the week.  There is one team that is there every week as well, who I believe has won every week that we haven't.  I have no clue how they do it.  There have been some seemingly impossible questions.

And that brings me to why I'm writing about quiz night: the questions.  I decided that since I have learned so much random trivia since I've been here, I might as well share some of it with you nice people.  So every time I post I will try to add in a question or two from trivia.  Feel free to post the answers in the comments if you know them.  But no Googling the questions.  Cheaters.  

• What was Ozzy Osborne wearing when he was arrested for peeing on the Alamo?
• How many people are on a Hurling team (and yes, I meant hurling with an 'H', not curling)?
• What title were Courtney Love's diaries published under? 
• What is a device for measuring latitude called?
• Who has scored the most goals in the history of the Premier League, and how many?
• Who is the president of South Africa?

Those are just a few I can think of off the top of my head from the last couple weeks.  Have fun, and I'll come up with more later.  

Hope everyone enjoys the 4th of July weekend, I'm sad I won't get to participate in any good ol' USA celebrations for the 2nd year in a row.  We live right next to the US army base, so any bars that are having parties for the 4th will be packed with drunken GI's.  No thanks.  Also, Jason and I are taking a trip to the countryside this weekend.  His cousin's wife is from Korea, and they are currently here visiting her family.  So we're going to escape from the big city life to her small hometown for a night.  

More to come...

The New Blog

I decided that a blog would probably be the best way to keep everyone updated.  I've been sending out email updates, but I tend to write really long letters and I don't get a whole lot of response.  This way, I can just update whenever I have something to say and don't have to wait until I've done a lot of things and have a lot of great photos.  So if you want to hear my stories you can check it whenever you want, rather than having your inbox inundated with my emails.  Oh, and if you want to subscribe so that it will tell you whenever I update, there's a link on the right (see also, link to my Picasa photos).

So a blog it is.  

To catch anyone up who may be out of the know...

• I graduated from CU May 07
• Went down to Peru with the intentions to stay and volunteer for a month
• Loved Peru, didn't want to go home
• Got my TEFL certification, stayed and taught English and traveled for 7 months
• Went back to the States for 3 months, got life in order
• Moved to Korea to teach English in the beginning of March 08
• Will be here one year, then traveling around more of Asia

Life in Seoul has been good so far.  My boyfriend, Jason (who I met in Peru),  and I live in a little bug infested apartment (it's charming) in the most foreign part of the city- it's pretty much a little English teachers community, with a few others.  We teach kids at a private language school called Brighten, located in the richest area in Seoul, which is the richest area in Korea.  I teach a group of adorable kindergartners everyday, as well as some after school language classes for some slightly older kids.  It's fun, but it can be very trying, too.  Completely different than teaching adults in Peru.

Since we've been here, we've been exploring all that Seoul has to offer.  Great parks, tons of shopping (from ridiculously cheap to ridiculously expensive), temples and palaces, indoor theme parks, exotic food, a new and different culture, sporting events, etc.  We've also traveled around the rest of Korea a little bit.  A weekend trip to the coastal city of Busan and excursions to nearby beaches and temples and palaces.  (See photos for more).  

There will be much more to come.  In the near future: new photos posted in the next couple of weeks, a week trip to Japan (July 26-Aug 3), weekend trips, and more.  So check in and check it out, and be in touch.  

Love to all.