It's a Wonderful Life!

Did everyone have a tryptophantastic turkey day?!

When we first arrived in Korea, we spent a lot of time discovering the glories of it's gas stations. Snack foods seemingly so familiar, yet so disappointingly surprising ('peanut butter sandwiches' where by peanut butter they meant peanut mousse, ice cream sandwiches made from beans, etc). Then, of course, there are drinks of the same nature (what I thought was delicious fruit cocktail, turned out to be a less-than-refreshing corn liquid), and then there are the oddities you feel you probably should avoid, yet are drawn to like a kid in a spicy fish-candy store (dried squid of every variety {yes, there are many varieties of dried squid}, a tube of gray matter labeled cheese sausage, canned silkworm pupa, you get the idea). In general, I think it's safest to stick with your instinct. However, while searching for a last minute dinner in those first few weeks, I discovered one of these oddities and bought it, thinking, or rather hoping, it was turkey. It was too big to be a chicken, but too small to be anything else I could think of, but I decided to give it a shot. Upon cracking it open and determining it to be edible enough, I cooked it up, and despite it's mysterious nature, turned out to be pretty tasty. So, being the closest thing to turkey I've seen since leaving it's natural habitat for the other side of the World, this little mystery meat became our T-day main course, as overseen by Chef Dunny. There aren't a ton of herbs to be had here (at all), so he stuffed it with ginger, onions and garlic, and sure enough it came out pretty darn good!




Doesn't look so appetizing, guess I should practice my 'food styling' skills. I was in charge of the cheese plate (little sticks of colby jack, also courtesy of the gas station- the only place to find cheese for some reason, walnuts, and crackers), spinach salad, (somebody's) homemade rolls, and mashed sweet taters, which I'm especially proud of.


I used this recipe for orange ginger mashed sweet potatoes, and kicked it up a notch, pretty much by putting more of everything in it, as well as fresh ginger and walnuts (and a wee bit of margarine and salt, being the good southern gal that I am. I know, margarine is blasphemous, but it's sadly our only option).

And here's the final product! Complete with D's hand and foot turkey he created with his students during Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) in October. You gotta love the dining chair/feather pillow combo.

Yeah, I know. Nerd alert. We have a lot of time on our hands. A little taste of home, and I'm a very proud (and thankful) gal.

Finally, following the mandatory food coma, I whipped up some apple cider! Straight from the orchard (to the press, to the bottle, to the store, to my shopping bag) and into the pot, with cinnamon, brown sugar and rum to top off the lovely night of comforts. I had plans for a no-bake apple pie (made with digestives in place of graham crackers, ha), but sadly it never came to fruition (wink).

I'm about to settle in to watch 'It's a Wonderful Life', and I can't possibly think of a better phrase to sum up my disposition.

Merry Happy!

"Fighting!"

Anyeong! Life's still truckin' on here, although things seem to be slowing slightly as it gets colder... (and it has definitely been getting colder.) There have been a few outings worth mention, though, so that's where we're headed.

Recently we were taken on a 'cultural experience' field trip by the coordinators of our program. We certainly did experience a lot of Korean culture, starting with...

...smashing rice to make dduk, rice cakes rolled in bean powder:

(tastes pretty much like it sounds)

...picking cabbage and making kimchi with it:

You rinse with salt, stuff with salt, let it soak overnight and rub with spicy salt the next day. (No wonder it's so delicious... well, an acquired kind of delicious)

...digging up and roasting sweet potatoes:

(we had so much fun digging them up, I didn't get a picture. We must have picked three pounds of taters, though.)

...trying our hand at traditional-style arts and crafts:

(getting a little too into the flower smashing craft)

...as well as at this addictive volleyball/kickball combo game:


The farm owners made a huge meal for us, complete with whole roasted pig.

It was devoured at light speed. After dinner, the boys even put the skin back on the fire and crispi-fied it for bonfire snacks. The little old couple seemed a bit shocked- I guess they haven't experienced the wonders of the Amazing American Appetite.

After dinner, they had a little 'talent show', and Dunny performed. I can't seem to get the video to work on here, though, so if you would like to see it it is on my Facebook page. (He was the best, but I don't think anyone's surprised I say that)

Later in the evening, seven or so of the boys and I played some poker... I'd like to let my dad know that I won. Both rounds. Ha! Ya taught me well, Pops! Boy, were there some bruised egos sulking around after that.

The most fun, yet somewhat embarrassing, part was when the farm owner pulled us aside to make traditional wedding ceremony crowns for us. (No big news, I promise! We're just the only couple in the group.) Made of leaves held together with toothpicks, adorned with flowers, and complete with flower petal make-up, we were quite a sight.




I say embarrassing because the lady made us pose for 10 minutes with everyone watching. We eventually just started doing prom poses. It made me giggle.


She was a super sweet lady, though, and all around we had a great time.


Last weekend, for some ungodly reason, we decided to push ourselves to the edge of health and sanity by hiking up a mountain Saturday morning, and then immediately jumping on a bus to travel 3 hours to Busan for a friend's birthday that night. I'm still physically paying for it, but it was definitely worth it.

This is the view of Gayasan Mountain from Haeinsa, the temple at the base of it.


And three hours later, this is the view from the top:

We found a quiet little ledge on the opposite side of the mountain to rest our weary dogs. "Fighting" is an English phrase Koreans use all the time. Basically, it means 'Suck it up'. I've been telling it to myself for the past few days while walking with peg legs and sore knees. It hasn't helped.

There's a video on Facebook of this, as well. It was hard to capture it on film as it was a bit hazy, but it was a breathtaking 360 degree view of the beautiful rolling hills you are constantly surrounded by here. Just a wonderful way to start a weekend, sore muscles and all.

Settling In

I can. not. believe it's only been two months. Not even! We arrived around the 2nd of August, I think. The whirlwind of training, moving, and settling into our new routine is over, though, and it's time to settle in for the winter. Well, almost time- right now it's time to take advantage of what's left of summer and travel around this deceptively large country, meeting up with new friends and seeing what our lives are going to be like for the next year. Of course, there's fall as well, which I hear turns the rolling hills of green into hills of every shade of red, yellow, and orange. I can't wait. We've been living and working here in this relatively small town of Hapcheon for about three weeks now. It's not at all what I expected, and in a great way. We came expecting rural, whatever that means. To us it means few to no neighbors, little to no technology or utilities, etc. I should have realized, though, that being such a tiny peninsula to begin with, you can't really have all that much unused space. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely plenty of expanses of uninhabited land, but being basically a jungle, the less you have to hack away, the better. The amount of green here is overwhelming, I can't imagine all the work that went into making it traversable, much less inhabitable. We are living in a three-story building, Dunny's on the first, I'm right above, and there are about 5 other English teachers living here as well. That's our little red...



We're about a 15 minute walk from the bus station. From there it takes me about 10 minutes to get to my school, where I walk another 5 or so. Not bad, a little exercise and fresh air. Did I mention the lake?


They have outdoor workout equipment all over the place here. Koreans are avid health nuts, that is when they aren't downing soju (rice vodka) or maekju (beer). I guess it's a yin/yang thing.

We got really lucky. Some people in our program were placed in 50 story buildings in the city, with hour-long commutes to their schools. I would have cried. This is so perfect for us. Super quiet, but with everything we need, and there's a bus to take you into any of the cities on the weekends.

View from my window. That's a rice patty, and all along the sides of that road are gardens where people just set up shop. From flowers to gourds, and there's always some 98 year-old woman hacking away at them. Bless their hearts, the old women here are so intense. I ride the local bus to school (D gets the plush inter-city one with 5 people on it...) and sit squeezed or standing between these grannies and their ungodly amounts a produce. I have no idea how they carry it all. One day a single woman dragged eight huge trash bags full of peppers onto the bus. By the way, staring at people is not at all rude in this country. I've gotten pretty used to it, though. I think they're starting to get used to me, too. I even received a gift of socks from one of them the other day...


As we were exploring our new surroundings, we walked along the edge of the lake, and came across a temple/ resting pagoda.



We spotted a monk wandering about this house. He has Dish Network. Take that Time Warner.




See this is what I'm talking about. The jungle. We hiked the hill behind the temple, where we found the ever-present graves and exercise equipment (possible connection there? we would probably be in much better shape if we saw graves lining our streets), and we also found...


a hula hoop! Of course!



Then we have home. Pretty pretty princess wallpaper. In both of our rooms. Teehee. Turn around to tour the kitchen and laundry rooms...


As well as the 'butt room', as it is called here.


My personal favorite?


Why put Peter Rabbit on a cutting board? Why the hell not!


This delicious boiled dumpling and veggie stir-fry with rice concoction of D's had been our dinner every night for the first two weeks. Last week, we splurged and bought a bag of chicken. I made some garlic chicken sliders with slaw (homemade mayo is not an easy feat, btw) and pickles last night. We're getting along ok!

Continuing on with the tour, we have my classroom, also known as the library of Young-jun Elementary. Classes have been going alright, my schedule is all over the place, though, and often changes without any notification. I also have 3rd through 6th graders for 2 hours every Friday afternoon. Ha. The difference in English comprehension between those grades is just silly. At that point, it's just day care. So I turn on the tube and whoever can write the most English words from the show gets points. It's all about the reward system.



That about brings our tour to an end. I'll send a link to our Picasa album soon to whoever wants to see the rest of the pictures... so many pictures...

I'll end with a few pictures of flowers from around town. I've started fancying myself a floral fotog, as evidenced by about 50 random flower pictures in the album. There are so many amazing flowers here, though. These purple ones are about the size of your face.



I just thought these were purty.



These were at a traditional-style town D's head-teacher took us to during a day-long adventure around our province. This one was on what the teacher claimed was a cotton plant, and when he gave us the fruit to eat, I totally believe him. Like chewing a cotton ball dipped in water. The flower was dainty and lovely, though.

These guys look like some sort of coral, and have the texture of velvet. I stop and stare in awe every time.

And these were blanketing the ground surrounding a temple we visited that same day. Just wonderful.

<3

Orientation #2

Hello again! It's been far too long since my last post, so sorry! There is so much to catch up on. I've barely had enough time to upload new batches of pictures to the computer in between everything. We're officially moved into our new home, though, so I'll have a lot more time on my hands now. I guess I'll start where I left off! The jimjilbang! It's sounds completely weird to us, at first I was pretty skeptical, but it won me over! If you have an open mind and are comfortable enough to have curious Korean ladies staring at you naked, you'll have a great time. We went to one of the biggest ones, called Dragon Hill. It's huge, and even has a kiddie waterpark with a bunch of inflatable waterslides. We didn't see that area, though, just the 'sauna' and commons areas. So when you enter, you pay an entry fee, and receive a set of scrub-like shorts and a t-shirt, and a bracelet with a key and bar code on it. Then you put your shoes into a small locker, and head upstairs into your sex's designated 'sauna' area. I keep putting 'sauna' in quotes, because it's not what we would think- a big steam/dry room with naked people sittin around in it. They have those, as well, but after putting all of your belongings into a larger locker (everything- that's where the nakie time begins) you go into the 'sauna' area. Take a good shower- realllly good, some of the older women look like they're trying to scrub their skin off- and hop from hot tub to hot tub, either inside our out (they all have different purposes and specialties) and relaaax. Some are ginseng baths, some are really hot or cold, some have awesome massaging jets, and some are just big enough to put your feet in for a nice foot water-massage. Then, or somewhere in between you can go into the dry room or steam room (I could only take them for a few minutes), or hop under an ice-cold shower. After you're nice and relaxed, or nice and creeped out by the fact that you've been running around naked jumping in and out of tubs with strangers, you go back to the locker room and put on the scrubs. You can then go back to the commons area, where you can get all types of massages, 'nail art', sit in unisex dry or steam rooms (they even had a 'cold room' with ice all over it). The massages were a little more expensive than we realized they would be, but they had massage chairs that were about $1.50 for 10 minutes of the most intense chair massage you've ever had. We did it twice in a row, and by the end of it were feeling a little battered. They had a sky terrace where we had 'indian bbq' (ribs, sausage, chicken, and pickles- they even serve pickles with pizza here, it's amazing). By then we were pretty zonked, but there were still a ton of screaming kids running around so we went back up to the sky terrace where we were surprised to find they were strating an outdoor movie: the new Terminator! Ha! So we watched that, and then it was really time for bed. Of course, if you decide to sleep at a jimjilbang, you're paying about $10, so you can't expect a California King bed... everyone: families, couples, random people who need a place to crash, all sleep on the floor in the main room. They have some small rooms for men or women only, but most people sleep in the big marble-floored great room. They provide small brick-shaped pillows, but that's about it. We somehow found a pad by a kiddie ride that's meant for if a kid falls off the ride, which was a life-saver. I made it through the night pretty well, slept soundly except for a few tosses and turns when one side of my body had gone numb. I hurt my back trying to get up but fixed it right back to normal when I got into the sauna again. It's kinda like a giant family-style slumber party- everyone's wearing the same pj's, eating lots of food, watching movies, and relaxing together. Then it's one more shower, get dressed, and leave. You pay for everything, food and all, with your wristband, so as you leave you pay up. It sounds pretty wacky in general, i know, and it was pretty surreal, but it's a very important tradition to Koreans, so when in Korea...

Moving on, sorry to have written such a novel, but I know some of you were still very curious about this so called jimjilbang (mom) so I thought I would go into detail.

One weekend in Suwon, we went out with a really big group of TaLK scholars. This is one of the many very random things we stumbled upon. A table of baby bunnies. Dressed in socks. *insert squeal* I held one and it was so scared it just nuzzled it's little head into my hand and shook. I don't know how I walked away, I wanted it so bad.


I mean, just look at them! Bunnies in socks!

Anyway, staying on the topic of 'oh my god how cute is that?!', this is a statue that was in front of the dorms at Kyung Hee University where we were the first month. I have no idea what it has to do with higher education, but it's darn cute. Did the peace sign, too- just tryin to fit in!


At the end of orientation, a local English radio station came to give a little concert, and allow a very select few students to show of they're talents for a live broadcast. Guess who one of those very select few might have been...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojySbfNHy3I


So dreamy! Haha. He was the star of the show. They had all of these 'k-pop' (boyband/britney style) groups play for us, and even a traditional group played 'oh-la-dee oh-la-da', but he was the best. I suppose I am a little biased, though...

After that orientation, we drove with the 25 other teachers assigned to our province into Gyeongsangnam-do (the super long name of our province) for another week of classes. We went on a couple of interesting field trips, saw a couple temples and met our co-teachers... mostly just bonded with the few English-speakers we will be anywhere near during the next 6 months-year. It looks small on the map, but with only 25 or so of us, most are about an hour away from each other (or at least, Dunny and I are. Some are neighbors in big cities with hour commutes to school, but D and I are in a small town with ten minute commutes). Here are some of the pics I took during orientation #2:

In our '4 star' hotel lobby. It was nice, but their starring system is far different from ours... Anyway, we thought they were jellyfish... because they looked and swam exactly like jellyfish. Korean Radioactive cartoon-like jellyfish, maybe, but what do we know about sea life over here... seemed plausible. But no. Figured out they're plastic halfway through the orientation when we noticed one didn't have any tentacles and was swimming just like the others. I felt so deceived... No one else seemed to realize the trickery, though, so I guess we're not that dull.


This is Miryang, a cute little town with a gorgeous temple and lake. The temple is hard to see- it's the brown spot in the middle of that hill.

We respected...




and played...




and respected...



and played...


These are the days of our lives...

Clearly they want you to play, though, when they provide the games...



Then, we had a little time left to wander about town...



See the fish market...


These guys were swimming around like crazy... almost as if they didn't want to be eaten.



One person from our group took a picture of an old lady, and she made him pay her for it. Ha! Mine's blurry, but free.


The fruit is unnaturally delicious here. Where are all the pesticides and poo remnants I love so much?



The sidewalk goes right by this guy's back yard. Creepy, I know. I thought it was cool, though. He was sitting there on his platform going through all of his veggies.



We visited another temple, and a museum that week, but I'll post those pictures on Picassa soon- there are farrr too many. They also gave a class on Korean culture, and Dunny and I were chosen to be dressed in Hanbok, traditional Korean dress. Then they cracked up, because we were taking classes in a wedding hall, and you usually only wear Hanbok on special occassions... such as a wedding... They also had us sit as a mother and father would, and have their children bow to them. Historically, families would follow this tradition everyday, though it's rare now. I wish we had a picture of it, but alas. Then Dunny taught the (adorable) little boy how to make poot noises with his balloon, and it just about blew his mind. The instructors were packing up while we were back to regular classes, and you could hear the poots all the way down the hallway. It was possibly the cutest thing I've ever seen.





Was I right? I believe so.

That's about it for now! Sorry it's been so long, I will post pictures of the new home and neighborhood soon, I'm just plain too pooped right now! Hope everyone is well, all my love!