Wonderlust

A Hoot Full of Hollers

2010-03-25T04:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's definitely still not spring. I had it on good authority (my neighbor) that it would start getting warm towards late March, alas here we are, post-Ides, and nothing but gray skies and borderline freezing mercury.

Of course I can't whine too much, as I awoke to a very unexpected blanket of snow last week. It supposedly snows once every few years here, but this was our second round. The dreary cold has been taking it's toll, but it's not every day you wake up to snow and icicles in central Texas so I bundled up and went on a lomo expedition...

I think that's an owl's house up there. We've heard some scattered hootin' at night (the hollerin' was from us).

Here are some other pictures I took on the bus with my new camera... I spent every Wednesday last month traveling to Daegu, two hours away, to get some much needed dental work done. It ended up being literally a fraction of the cost of what it would have been in the states (we're talking $250 for a gold crown vs. $1,000), and the dentist was as efficient and professional as any back home. Point being, if you need any dental work and are planning on doing a spot of traveling, come take advantage of Korea's attempt at becoming a medical tourism destination. Anyway, this was one of those long, boring bus rides. Gives you an idea of what the countryside looks like, which you see plenty of going from city to city.It's a lot prettier sprinkled with snow.

One of many small country schools.

Cold, dead rice paddies. They look so lovely in the fall, then they're harvested and left with sad little stumps.

Love that I caught the sign. Not easy to do when you have one of the 'confident' bus drivers...

That's the one. He's very friendly, but my god does he love pretending he's a Nascar driver. Going around those narrow country roads gets pretty hair-raising sometimes, especially when the driver is holding on and yawning while going 60 mph around a hairpin turn.

Last weekend, our friend threw her birthday party at a bullfight. I was really excited about going, but hadn't factored in some unforeseen drawbacks. For example, the epic trek there (inner-town commutes are impossible without a car or paying out the wazoo for a taxi, so a bus to the nearest city and then to said town is the only option), the unfortunate ratio of tourists to natives (I realize I am one of them, but when all you hear is your own language in a foreign country it's a bit disheartening), and finally my inability to comfortably watch animals fight, no matter how natural and ancient the tradition may be. The centuries-old sport is based on the bulls defending their grazing territory, and subsequently being trained by their owners, having come to realize the benefit a winner. Obviously, it's not based around the same goal, but it's still not as cruel as most other sports which take advantage of the temperament of these animals. Most notably, one from my own home state... Yeehaw.

Damn you, Disney and your adorable personification of all animals, great and small...

Of course, I got over all this, and started picking winners. I was on a roll- if only they had a sportsbook in Cheongdo, South Korea (one that isn't infested with mob bosses and hookers). I had a corndog, Dunny had a chicken. Oh, that's right- a whole chicken, served up in an old jerky bag. Guess I can't pretend to be too concerned with animal welfare...

I also don't mean to say that it was just a bunch of whitie's hootin' and hollerin' at some cowpokes. It was mostly old Korean people, but seeing, on average, one white person per day (yeah, that'd be Dunny) it's a bit shocking to be surrounded by a mob of them.

Finally, a shot of the stadium post-testosterone blow out (referencing the bulls, not the fine young men in uniform, of course).

I may not have appreciated Spring as much in my life, of course that could be due to the fact that Texas goes straight from winter to summer... Nevertheless, buds are starting to open their eyes all over town, and if I keep talking about how much I want it to come, it'll be gone. Next time I post I should have piles of pretty foreign flower pictures!

Lovely

2010-03-02T04:32:00.000-08:00

So what do you think? Just put the new header up- not sure if it's the one, but being my first attempt, and after putting so much dern effort into trying to figure out the HTML (when all I needed to do was click a few buttons...), it'll probably be the one for at least a little while. Considering all I have is Paint and Picasa, I think I did alright. I used two of the shots I took around our 'hood with my diana mini and plopped the little Victorian gal in the middle.

Of course, now it's too pretty for a silly little blurb about myself, so I figured balancing it out with an equally pretty poem was the way to go. I've had these lines scribbled on note paper tacked to my fridge for a few years now, and it still makes an impression on me each time I glance at it. So, in honor of the lovely new Wonderblog, please enjoy the (very) full length of Mr. Blake's

Auguries of Innocence

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

A robin redbreast in a cage
Puts all heaven in a rage.

A dove-house fill'd with doves and pigeons
Shudders hell thro' all its regions.
A dog starv'd at his master's gate
Predicts the ruin of the state.

A horse misused upon the road
Calls to heaven for human blood.
Each outcry of the hunted hare
A fibre from the brain does tear.

A skylark wounded in the wing,
A cherubim does cease to sing.
The game-cock clipt and arm'd for fight
Does the rising sun affright.

Every wolf's and lion's howl
Raises from hell a human soul.

The wild deer, wand'ring here and there,
Keeps the human soul from care.
The lamb misus'd breeds public strife,
And yet forgives the butcher's knife.

The bat that flits at close of eve
Has left the brain that won't believe.
The owl that calls upon the night
Speaks the unbeliever's fright.

He who shall hurt the little wren
Shall never be belov'd by men.
He who the ox to wrath has mov'd
Shall never be by woman lov'd.

The wanton boy that kills the fly
Shall feel the spider's enmity.
He who torments the chafer's sprite
Weaves a bower in endless night.

The caterpillar on the leaf
Repeats to thee thy mother's grief.
Kill not the moth nor butterfly,
For the last judgement draweth nigh.

He who shall train the horse to war
Shall never pass the polar bar.
The beggar's dog and widow's cat,
Feed them and thou wilt grow fat.

The gnat that sings his summer's song
Poison gets from slander's tongue.
The poison of the snake and newt
Is the sweat of envy's foot.

The poison of the honey bee
Is the artist's jealousy.

The prince's robes and beggar's rags
Are toadstools on the miser's bags.
A truth that's told with bad intent
Beats all the lies you can invent.

It is right it should be so;
Man was made for joy and woe;
And when this we rightly know,
Thro' the world we safely go.

Joy and woe are woven fine,
A clothing for the soul divine.
Under every grief and pine
Runs a joy with silken twine.

The babe is more than swaddling bands;
Every farmer understands.
Every tear from every eye
Becomes a babe in eternity;

This is caught by females bright,
And return'd to its own delight.
The bleat, the bark, bellow, and roar,
Are waves that beat on heaven's shore.

The babe that weeps the rod beneath
Writes revenge in realms of death.
The beggar's rags, fluttering in air,
Does to rags the heavens tear.

The soldier, arm'd with sword and gun,
Palsied strikes the summer's sun.
The poor man's farthing is worth more
Than all the gold on Afric's shore.

One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands
Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;
Or, if protected from on high,
Does that whole nation sell and buy.

He who mocks the infant's faith
Shall be mock'd in age and death.
He who shall teach the child to doubt
The rotting grave shall ne'er get out.

He who respects the infant's faith
Triumphs over hell and death.
The child's toys and the old man's reasons
Are the fruits of the two seasons.

The questioner, who sits so sly,
Shall never know how to reply.
He who replies to words of doubt
Doth put the light of knowledge out.

The strongest poison ever known
Came from Caesar's laurel crown.
Nought can deform the human race
Like to the armour's iron brace.

When gold and gems adorn the plow,
To peaceful arts shall envy bow.
A riddle, or the cricket's cry,
Is to doubt a fit reply.

The emmet's inch and eagle's mile
Make lame philosophy to smile.
He who doubts from what he sees
Will ne'er believe, do what you please.

If the sun and moon should doubt,
They'd immediately go out.
To be in a passion you good may do,
But no good if a passion is in you.

The whore and gambler, by the state
Licensed, build that nation's fate.
The harlot's cry from street to street
Shall weave old England's winding-sheet.

The winner's shout, the loser's curse,
Dance before dead England's hearse.

Every night and every morn
Some to misery are born,
Every morn and every night
Some are born to sweet delight.

Some are born to sweet delight,
Some are born to endless night.

We are led to believe a lie
When we see not thro' the eye,
Which was born in a night to perish in a night,
When the soul slept in beams of light.

God appears, and God is light,
To those poor souls who dwell in night;
But does a human form display
To those who dwell in realms of day.
♥

Back in Action

2010-02-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

Well, I've been quite the lazy blogger, but I'm starting to get back into the old routine of life now that our winter break is over, so hopefully this will follow suit!

There hasn't been a ton of activity in our neck of the woods due to the frigid weather, and my camera has been in and out of commission lately, but I've accumulated a few tidbits that I can throw together for a little 'winter montage' of sorts!

After Thanksgiving, the teachers with year-long contracts all converged in Seoul for another orientation, or 'Mid-Training'. They put us up in a nice hotel and took us to see some more Korean-y stuff, including but not limited to...

Seoul Tower:

It was obviously too misty to see much from the top, but there were a few breaks in the clouds. I really just enjoyed the hanging sculptures. There were a handful scattered around the area and it added a eerie ethereal feel to the place along with the mist. I love how the third picture came out- I didn't even realize I caught the flag in it until later.

They also took us back to the cooking school- this time to learn how to make kimchi stew and seafood pancakes. I'll be honest and say I wasn't too thrilled about the menu, but they both came out delicious. I have to say I am quickly becoming a fan of, and even addicted to, some of this Korean cuisine. It's so simple and organic, and it's pretty much all made of the same types of ingredients (rice, cabbage/kimchi, seaweed, soybeans, etc.), but you would be amazed how many things can be done to just those four things alone! You can tell there are a few centuries of trial and error under their belts, err... plastic aprons.

Later into one of the evenings, I apparently agreed to the plan of going bungee jumping the next day, and couldn't find my way out of it...

The first one is me trying to hide the panic and fear, and the third having accepted my fate and allowing the adrenaline to, apparently, suck all of the color out of my face...

It was an adventure in itself trying to get to the 'resort', aka side of the road hotel with a jumping tower next to it... After finally meeting up with everybody at the subway station, we realized we had two hours before they closed at sunset... and were about 2 hours away. The subway came just in time, as did the bus, and the van that took us to the resort was waiting for us at the bus station, just as the sun was setting. It was a jump or get out of the way situation at the top, which was good so no one could think about it (although there were some seriously concerned faces up there, including mine). I was the second to last person to go, and at that point it was about 5 minutes from being completely dark out. It was a blast, though, and I would definitely do it again... probably..

Christmas was lovely. Dunny made a delicious feta and bacon stuffed chicken dish, and I made a no-bake apple pie. Our tree was a creation of D's little ones:

As you can tell, he was very proud of his tree. Those classy paper stockings are my handy work. Our town put up a light-tree in the park just like Zilker! It was slightly smaller than the original, but definitely still exciting! I made hot cocoa and we brought it to the park on Christmas Eve. About as close as we could get to a real Christmas, and I think we did alright!

I just bought a great new camera, as well as a Diana Mini for those fun artsy shots, so I will definitely (ok, hopefully) be posting more often now. I have to show off somewhere!

It's a Wonderful Life!

2009-11-27T19:28:00.000-08:00

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!"

2009-11-10T20:19:00.000-08:00

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

2009-09-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

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.

Orientation #2

2009-08-29T08:28:00.000-07:00

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!

Finally! My first real post!

2009-08-05T23:22:00.000-07:00

Wow, I actually have some time to post this! I've been working on it bit by bit this week, but we have 9 pm curfew on Sundays (yup.), so I finally have a little spare time on my hands. It's been a whirlwind week. Our days are 13 hours long, starting with 8 am breakfast and classes until 9 including the optional Korean lessons they provide in the evenings (which we badly need- been surviving on hello, goodbye, thank-you, and soju; I think we might need to know a bit more than that for the long term, however...) I can't believe it's only been one week! I have been taking as many pictures as possible, but I'll try to keep it down to the most 'wonderfullest' of them...

This is the first official Korean food we had. For plane food, it was pretty goshdang good, it's called Bibimbop (a very traditional dish- you can find it anywhere). It came with instructions.

I was a fan of the tube of red pepper paste. I held onto it for some reason. I'm being careful to keep it away from my travel toiletries, though...

And speaking of, here's the bathroom I share with my roomie:

The whole bathroom is the shower! Apparently this is a pretty swanky bathroom for Korea, too. I was perplexed at first, but now I kinda like it. It's liberating, in a way. You have a ton of room, and everything's going to get wet, but oh well! The toilet paper is protected and that's pretty much all that matters. Except, you have to turn it back to sink mode after you're done, which doesn't always happen, leading to surprise spritzes when you go to wash your hands.

Here's the view from the building we take classes in. A little contrast action...

I'm not sure what the old building is- I've been eyeing it for a while, dying to explore the inside. It seems to be abandoned...

Where, and how, to pee- inside HomePlus, basically a four-story Korean Wal-mart.

There are these chain bakeries called Paris Baguette all over the area. This one is across from Kyung Hee University, which is where we're staying in Suwon (about an hour away from Seoul, but still a very large city) for the month-long orientation/training program. Korea's take on Western breakfast foods- yes, that's a big pile of French toast on the lower right hand side. Just grab what you want (hot dog with yummy sauce wrapped in flaky philo anyone?) and bring them to the counter.

OR, you can order Pot Bing Su. It's shaved ice, topped with sweet beans, fruit, marshmallow-type rice thingies, and condensed milk... So. good. I was a little skeptical about the beans, as they're not exactly my first choice for dessert, but it won me over. Especially when it all started melting together!

I believe this qualifies as weird...

This past weekend, the TaLK (Teach and Learn in Korea) coordinators took all 500 of us on a field trip (wee!) into Seoul. We saw a performance called Nanta ("Cookin"), which is basically 'Stomp!", but with cooking utensils. Then they bused us into Insadong, a modern yet still somewhat traditional shopping and cultural district, and cut us loose. It was pretty tourist-y, but interesting, and just a wee crowded...

There were some amazing street vendors...

(these pots are filled with some sort of cockroach like insect. mmm.)

(Sausauge wrapped in bacon on a stick. he couldn't say no.)

And the streets, alley ways and everything in between are covered. Either in writing, lights, both, or passed out business men from the previous night.

I love that they have cafes/bars for girly-girls only. With their little chandeliers, and pretty floral chairs. So cute.

Well, that's it folks. Hope you enjoyed my first week as much as I did! I didn't finish covering the weekend, though... Next time I'll tell you about the Jimjilbang, or public bathhouse, we went to and stayed at on Saturday night...

First Post and Five Day Countdown!

2009-07-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

My first post! Wee! Thanks for checking out my baby blog, I will hopefully be able to update regularly, but won't know what our internet situation is until we arrive at the little village of Hapcheon where we'll be living. Our first month in Seoul is sure to provide plenty of eccentric and exotic goodies for me to share, though.

Well, it's our last Saturday in Austin for quite a while and at the moment that sounds fantastic. We're completely unprepared to move at all, much less to the other side of the World, and our visas are still m.i.a.... Should make for an interesting week!