Like I mentioned before the Spring never happened and we are already rapidly plunging into Summer and its heat and humidity. The sudden weather change has left me in a dilemma of what to wear. I've been happily wearing dresses with tights, but now with the high temps and humidity ratios, tights are not a pleasant option but neither is getting stared at for not wearing them.
The other day I bought a couple of dresses at one of the underground malls, these places are awesome in the sense that I can buy three dresses and a cardigan for $35, but less than ideal when there are no dressing rooms. I've gotten pretty accurate at holding the dress up to myself and judging the length appropriateness but not always. One of the dresses was... a little short when I tried it on at home...but it was at an inappr-pro debateable length. It's not THAT short... errrr?
This morning I woke up to a coffeeless house and I couldn't quite think straight as I retried my outfit. I studied the dress in the mirror... maybe if I wear the cardigan with it! Tights? No tights? No tights got me down one flight of stairs until I felt like I was walking around without pants on and I ran back up to my studio.
I took the train to work and I was walking through the station feeling uncomfortably aware of myself, why was she looking at me? Is it because of the dress length (*Note to people back home: the average dress length in Korea is super super short compared to back home) Then a crazy ranting man that was waving an empty soda bottle in the air started directing his indiscriminate shouting at me, in Korean so I didn't know what he was saying. A;; I heard was "happa" or what I had thought was "heffer".
I asked one of the Korean tutors at work, "what does heffer, or haffa mean in Korea?"
Korean tutor, "not haffa, happa. it means "you're easy".."
Well I guess that answers the question about my dress being inappropriate.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
MAY!!!
I woke up today in a suspiciously good mood (has someone been putting something in my morning coffee?) the sun was shining, I enjoyed the company of a student who is usually good at monotonistic attempts to lull me to sleep, and I had another really good conversation with a student about the current North-South issue at hand.
A friend from back home recommended a podcast called "Risk" to me, and I've been listening to it nonstop for the last week. So obsessively have I been listening that I've gone through the entire series. What's good about Risk is that each episode features multiple standup comedians and if I like their stuff I can just go to their own websites and listen to more. This is very good because usually when I finish a stint of obsessively watching a series like Six Feet Under or True Blood, I'm left feeling very empty after I watch the last episode, wondering "what do I do now?". Well, with Risk "now" I can move onto each comedian I like. Today I spent most of my break listening to Elna Baker, a mormon standup who lives in New York and who wrote a book called "the new york regional mormon singles halloween dance". She's such a good public speaker and story teller and I've been captivated by her all day. I think it's pretty impressive when someone who you have literally nothing in commong with can be interesting and funny and oddly easy to relate to. Go check her out!
It's been quite a while since my last update, and a lot has happened, so I'll try to remember the good stuff and make it sound interesting. May has been probably the best month I've had since I've been here. The winter FINALLY threw in the towel, Julie came to visit, and I got to take off almost an entire week for vacation and I really, really needed it.
This month I've also been expanding my social horizon and spending time with more people and forcing myself to get out of my rut... I mean routine.
When Julie arrived it was so surreal to see her. It was surreal in the sense that it didn't feel weird at all, I felt like I had just seen her the day before. Julie is one of those friends that I feel like years could go by and we would just pick up right where we left off. We chattered all the way from the bus stop to my house, catching up on all the substantial scandals and gossip. "She did what??" I squealed with excitement at every little tidbit of Korean culture that I could point out along the way, marveling in the fact that for once I could play tour guide instead of tourist (take that Tyler and your all knowing knowingness!). I pointed out the dokbuckee stands, and my favorite restaurant, and my local market and then we (well mostly Julie) dragged her suitcase up to the top floor of my hot and sticky apartment.
The next five days were some of the nest days I've had in Korea. There is so much to do in this amazing city, but with my current schedule its pretty difficult to find time to do them. I had a packed itinerary planned for Julies trip, it was a little overly ambitious and reality called and some plans were canceled.... due to hangovers... I mean lack of sleep. But we did manage to hit all the important touristy spots, we went to Namsan, Namdaemon market, Insadong, Hongdae, World Cup Stadium for a friendly match between Ecuador and Korea and we even went to the DMZ. We went to the DMZ the day before SK declared that it wasm in fact, NK that sunk the ship in March.
The DMZ was interesting but strange, every minute was monitored and controlled. Whenever we went to a location we had "five minutes of free time" and most of the interesting places were in the NO PHOTO ZONE so most of our pictures are on the bus, or standing around in a random place that could be anywhere. The third tunnel and the joint security area were my favorite places. I technically have been in north korea now.
One of the most humorous and awkward parts of the day was the Julie-And-Nadja-Try-To-Take-A-Picture-With-A-Soldier challenge. First we were too shy to ask any of the guards permission, so we tried to take "candid shots in front of buildings" oops, did he end up in the picture in the background? But those pictures were taken haphazardly out of fear and ended up pretty bad and would not make the facebook cut, so next we considered asking them.
At the observation tower (where we couldn't see north korea due to the weather) I kept dancing around one of the soldiers trying to muster up the courage to ask if I could take a picture with him, but right as I was about to blurt out the question with my eager camera in hand a Japanese tourist started poking the DMZ display with his umbrella and the soildier ran at him. Fail #2. Finally we went to the JSA and we got to enter the building that covers north and south soil. In the building there were two soldiers, frozen in their military stance like the guards at Buckingham Palace, with aviators and clenched fists. The tour guide informed the group that we could stand by them and take pictures ... "but don't get too close!" she warned. So Julie and I went to take our pictures with the soldiers and let me tell you.. taking a picture without someone's permission is a what-in-the-michael-cera awkward! Not only do you stand next to this poor soldier that can't move, you also have to worry about getting too close. What is too close? Will I vaguely hear the word "Anniyo!" before being battoned over the head? So, after we took our pictures and looked at them they were so awkward that I might send them into awkwardfamilyphotos.com (just kidding julie... I deleted them...) so Fail #3. Did I mention we were wearing brigth yellow and blue rain ponchos?
Much more to write but I have to do some work. More updates soon(ish) I swear.
A friend from back home recommended a podcast called "Risk" to me, and I've been listening to it nonstop for the last week. So obsessively have I been listening that I've gone through the entire series. What's good about Risk is that each episode features multiple standup comedians and if I like their stuff I can just go to their own websites and listen to more. This is very good because usually when I finish a stint of obsessively watching a series like Six Feet Under or True Blood, I'm left feeling very empty after I watch the last episode, wondering "what do I do now?". Well, with Risk "now" I can move onto each comedian I like. Today I spent most of my break listening to Elna Baker, a mormon standup who lives in New York and who wrote a book called "the new york regional mormon singles halloween dance". She's such a good public speaker and story teller and I've been captivated by her all day. I think it's pretty impressive when someone who you have literally nothing in commong with can be interesting and funny and oddly easy to relate to. Go check her out!
It's been quite a while since my last update, and a lot has happened, so I'll try to remember the good stuff and make it sound interesting. May has been probably the best month I've had since I've been here. The winter FINALLY threw in the towel, Julie came to visit, and I got to take off almost an entire week for vacation and I really, really needed it.
This month I've also been expanding my social horizon and spending time with more people and forcing myself to get out of my rut... I mean routine.
When Julie arrived it was so surreal to see her. It was surreal in the sense that it didn't feel weird at all, I felt like I had just seen her the day before. Julie is one of those friends that I feel like years could go by and we would just pick up right where we left off. We chattered all the way from the bus stop to my house, catching up on all the substantial scandals and gossip. "She did what??" I squealed with excitement at every little tidbit of Korean culture that I could point out along the way, marveling in the fact that for once I could play tour guide instead of tourist (take that Tyler and your all knowing knowingness!). I pointed out the dokbuckee stands, and my favorite restaurant, and my local market and then we (well mostly Julie) dragged her suitcase up to the top floor of my hot and sticky apartment.
The next five days were some of the nest days I've had in Korea. There is so much to do in this amazing city, but with my current schedule its pretty difficult to find time to do them. I had a packed itinerary planned for Julies trip, it was a little overly ambitious and reality called and some plans were canceled.... due to hangovers... I mean lack of sleep. But we did manage to hit all the important touristy spots, we went to Namsan, Namdaemon market, Insadong, Hongdae, World Cup Stadium for a friendly match between Ecuador and Korea and we even went to the DMZ. We went to the DMZ the day before SK declared that it wasm in fact, NK that sunk the ship in March.
The DMZ was interesting but strange, every minute was monitored and controlled. Whenever we went to a location we had "five minutes of free time" and most of the interesting places were in the NO PHOTO ZONE so most of our pictures are on the bus, or standing around in a random place that could be anywhere. The third tunnel and the joint security area were my favorite places. I technically have been in north korea now.
One of the most humorous and awkward parts of the day was the Julie-And-Nadja-Try-To-Take-A-Picture-With-A-Soldier challenge. First we were too shy to ask any of the guards permission, so we tried to take "candid shots in front of buildings" oops, did he end up in the picture in the background? But those pictures were taken haphazardly out of fear and ended up pretty bad and would not make the facebook cut, so next we considered asking them.
At the observation tower (where we couldn't see north korea due to the weather) I kept dancing around one of the soldiers trying to muster up the courage to ask if I could take a picture with him, but right as I was about to blurt out the question with my eager camera in hand a Japanese tourist started poking the DMZ display with his umbrella and the soildier ran at him. Fail #2. Finally we went to the JSA and we got to enter the building that covers north and south soil. In the building there were two soldiers, frozen in their military stance like the guards at Buckingham Palace, with aviators and clenched fists. The tour guide informed the group that we could stand by them and take pictures ... "but don't get too close!" she warned. So Julie and I went to take our pictures with the soldiers and let me tell you.. taking a picture without someone's permission is a what-in-the-michael-cera awkward! Not only do you stand next to this poor soldier that can't move, you also have to worry about getting too close. What is too close? Will I vaguely hear the word "Anniyo!" before being battoned over the head? So, after we took our pictures and looked at them they were so awkward that I might send them into awkwardfamilyphotos.com (just kidding julie... I deleted them...) so Fail #3. Did I mention we were wearing brigth yellow and blue rain ponchos?
Much more to write but I have to do some work. More updates soon(ish) I swear.
Monday, May 3, 2010
I suppose Winter is officially over, not because Spring is here, but because it's Summer now. Where did Spring go? Where is she hiding? Just a mere five days ago we had the coldest recorded day in April in 100 years, and now it's hot, humid and muggy... say what?
Though I did not like the bitter cold, due to my poor circulation and being overly coddled by California weather, it did serve an important function: masking the Seoul stench. This morning as I walked to the bus stop I tried to think of the best ways to describe the smells that were attacking my nostrils... but nothing could quite compare, no words to do these smells justice, until I remembered the Labyrinth. Walking along the streets and going down wind of the sewer is like taking a trip to the Bog of Eternal Stench. Don't let one of those greyish puddles touch you or you'll never get the smell off! and don't even get me started on the Pigeons, the pigeons back home look like cuddly Disney characters compared to the ones here. I'm been contemplating making an album entirely devoted to these decrepit creatures, but maybe I shouldn't permanently scar myself and others.
May is shaping up to be pretty great so far. Last weekend I forced myself to break my usual weekend routine and spent some time with new people and it was great. I went out with two of my friends that I hadn't seen in a while and I met their Italian friends. Imagine the aggressively flirty Italian stereotype paired with shy and reserved Korean girls, it was like an ongoing comedy sketch. "Pretty lady, you have boyfriend??" There must have been three different groups of girls that came and sat with us and then quickly got freaked out by all the thigh touching and sexual innuendos until they ran off. Pretty hilarious.
On Saturday I met a group of Canadians and everyone was so nice, it's true what they say (except about Tyler) about Canadians being the nicest people. Even though I had just met them I felt really comfortable talking with them, and it was an all around positive experience.
Then on Sunday I went to a Doosan Bear's baseball game and enjoyed my sunday with some Cass, friends, and a slight sunburn.
Even though today is Tuesday, it's more like a Friday because we have tomorrow off as a national holiday. I was planning on going to the beach but alas, nature has decided to literally rain on my parade, so I'll have to come up with something else. Cheers!
Though I did not like the bitter cold, due to my poor circulation and being overly coddled by California weather, it did serve an important function: masking the Seoul stench. This morning as I walked to the bus stop I tried to think of the best ways to describe the smells that were attacking my nostrils... but nothing could quite compare, no words to do these smells justice, until I remembered the Labyrinth. Walking along the streets and going down wind of the sewer is like taking a trip to the Bog of Eternal Stench. Don't let one of those greyish puddles touch you or you'll never get the smell off! and don't even get me started on the Pigeons, the pigeons back home look like cuddly Disney characters compared to the ones here. I'm been contemplating making an album entirely devoted to these decrepit creatures, but maybe I shouldn't permanently scar myself and others.
May is shaping up to be pretty great so far. Last weekend I forced myself to break my usual weekend routine and spent some time with new people and it was great. I went out with two of my friends that I hadn't seen in a while and I met their Italian friends. Imagine the aggressively flirty Italian stereotype paired with shy and reserved Korean girls, it was like an ongoing comedy sketch. "Pretty lady, you have boyfriend??" There must have been three different groups of girls that came and sat with us and then quickly got freaked out by all the thigh touching and sexual innuendos until they ran off. Pretty hilarious.
On Saturday I met a group of Canadians and everyone was so nice, it's true what they say (except about Tyler) about Canadians being the nicest people. Even though I had just met them I felt really comfortable talking with them, and it was an all around positive experience.
Then on Sunday I went to a Doosan Bear's baseball game and enjoyed my sunday with some Cass, friends, and a slight sunburn.
Even though today is Tuesday, it's more like a Friday because we have tomorrow off as a national holiday. I was planning on going to the beach but alas, nature has decided to literally rain on my parade, so I'll have to come up with something else. Cheers!
Thursday, April 29, 2010
4 months in Seoul
Yesterday was the four month mark from the day I arrived in Seoul, it feels like I've been here forever but whenever I tell students the time frame they always exclaim, "you're so new!" April is two days away from being over and winter has still not relented. Yesterday we experienced the coldest day in April in the past 100 years, hmmm, another historic day I didn't want to partake in. I even turned my floor heating on last night, because the morning before it was too hard to get up with the combination of coldness and lack of sleep.
Today was good, I actually got up at 5:30am, not the usual snooze and hide under the covers until 6 routine. I worked out, put together a good outfit, and had some breakfast, a rarity for me. I really need to get in the habit of getting up on time because the morning goes by so smoothly when I don't feel rushed, and there is a significant drop in the "you look so tired" comments.
Yesterday I went over to my friend Sylvia's place. Her and her boyfriend have lived in Korea for the past year and they are about to move back to the States, she's also from California. They are living with a friend's parents in a really nice apartment near Seoul station. The apartment felt like a mansion, a REAL kitchen, multiple rooms and bedrooms. I forgot places like that existed! Sylvia had invited me over to take some of her clothes she was getting rid of. After living in the co-ops and having the Free Pile, my inner vulture sprang at the opportunity to get some good and complimentary stuff. Luckily Sylvia is not only my height, but also very stylish, so I got some great digs. I didn't bring enough clothes with me to Korea so it was nice to get everything.
today, after a nice morning at work I went to Costco with two of my coworkers, and needless to say, I'm not impressed with the Korean costco. Not only was it way too far (a bus transfer, aw hell no) but it was mostly comprised of junky American snacks that I never ate back home. What really turned me against the place was the beer section. Or should I call it the overpriced lager section? No ale! The European beer "section" was four different types of lagers, Becks and Stella (bleck) and guess what counts as premium beer? MGD! Yep, though the only association I can muster up is empty red cups sprawled across someone's lawn in Davis, apparently it's classy stuff over here.
But it wasn't a total bust, I did get two bottles of wine for Sylvia's going away party on Saturday. and they are California wines, so I'm excited. AutoMotor Merlot 2005 (good year?)
I'm still collecting funny comments that my students mak and one of these days I will have a post solely dedicated to it, they can be so funny and harsh. Korean's are known for calling it like it is "you look tired" "you look fat" "fat people are lazy", so the list is ever growing. The other day a student started telling me about how he hates fat people and they make him pessimistic and I had to try my hardest to hold it together. People say the most ridiculous things to me, and I have to nonchalantly check their grammar. I am really improving my poker face though!
In the videos we watch, there is this one character named Danny and he works the night shift at Kinko's and bad things tend to happen to him. I had a class with an uptight and quiet doctor the other day and we watched a video where Danny runs into an old friend who is clearly doing much better in life, after the video I asked my usual, "could you summarize the video for me please?" The doctor furrowed his brow, paused, and then said, "in that video.... danny is a ... loser!" I almost laughed out loud. But I held it in. I gotta go back to work, I'll update more later.
miss you all
Today was good, I actually got up at 5:30am, not the usual snooze and hide under the covers until 6 routine. I worked out, put together a good outfit, and had some breakfast, a rarity for me. I really need to get in the habit of getting up on time because the morning goes by so smoothly when I don't feel rushed, and there is a significant drop in the "you look so tired" comments.
Yesterday I went over to my friend Sylvia's place. Her and her boyfriend have lived in Korea for the past year and they are about to move back to the States, she's also from California. They are living with a friend's parents in a really nice apartment near Seoul station. The apartment felt like a mansion, a REAL kitchen, multiple rooms and bedrooms. I forgot places like that existed! Sylvia had invited me over to take some of her clothes she was getting rid of. After living in the co-ops and having the Free Pile, my inner vulture sprang at the opportunity to get some good and complimentary stuff. Luckily Sylvia is not only my height, but also very stylish, so I got some great digs. I didn't bring enough clothes with me to Korea so it was nice to get everything.
today, after a nice morning at work I went to Costco with two of my coworkers, and needless to say, I'm not impressed with the Korean costco. Not only was it way too far (a bus transfer, aw hell no) but it was mostly comprised of junky American snacks that I never ate back home. What really turned me against the place was the beer section. Or should I call it the overpriced lager section? No ale! The European beer "section" was four different types of lagers, Becks and Stella (bleck) and guess what counts as premium beer? MGD! Yep, though the only association I can muster up is empty red cups sprawled across someone's lawn in Davis, apparently it's classy stuff over here.
But it wasn't a total bust, I did get two bottles of wine for Sylvia's going away party on Saturday. and they are California wines, so I'm excited. AutoMotor Merlot 2005 (good year?)
I'm still collecting funny comments that my students mak and one of these days I will have a post solely dedicated to it, they can be so funny and harsh. Korean's are known for calling it like it is "you look tired" "you look fat" "fat people are lazy", so the list is ever growing. The other day a student started telling me about how he hates fat people and they make him pessimistic and I had to try my hardest to hold it together. People say the most ridiculous things to me, and I have to nonchalantly check their grammar. I am really improving my poker face though!
In the videos we watch, there is this one character named Danny and he works the night shift at Kinko's and bad things tend to happen to him. I had a class with an uptight and quiet doctor the other day and we watched a video where Danny runs into an old friend who is clearly doing much better in life, after the video I asked my usual, "could you summarize the video for me please?" The doctor furrowed his brow, paused, and then said, "in that video.... danny is a ... loser!" I almost laughed out loud. But I held it in. I gotta go back to work, I'll update more later.
miss you all
Friday, April 16, 2010
An Update
Hey all, I'm sitting in my office on a Saturday afternoon, watching the sun toying with the idea of peeping out from behind the clouds (psst, do it Mr. Sun, I dare you!) and waiting for a student to arrive. I had this same student two weeks ago, he books multiple classes on Saturdays and then usually only shows up to the last one. If he wants to ditch his last class... that would be okay... Er, I mean I huge hassle for me.... I'd get off an hour early and who wants that?!
Last night I went out for sam gip sal (I'll learn the spelling some day, maybe..) with the work gang and our new coworker. He's lived in Korea before so he brought a whole bunch of his friends and it was fun to meet some new people. Tyler and I called it early last night and I was home and in bed by 11:30pm.
Last weekend I was really spontaneous, I took an impromptu trip down to Busan because a friend from college was in Korea visiting one of their friends from high school. I'd been really wanting to get out of the city so a familiar face was all the incentive I needed. I'm actually really pleased with myself, I woke up Saturday morning expecting to bum around Seoul and after a quick phone call I found myself sitting on the KTX (Korean version of Amtrak) talking to my new friend Seong Jin about korean grammar as I watched the Korean countryside out of my window.
The KTX was great because I got to see a completely different part of Korea. Busan is on the southern coast, so I passed through almost the entire country. I saw farms and small cities, it was great.
For anyone trying to start conversations with Korean people, all you need is korean homework. I've never successfully studied my Korean on public transportation because as soon as I start looking at my flashcards, my neighbor taps my shoulder and asks me, "you're studying korean?!" I feel like one of those frat boys that takes a cute puppy to a beach and walks in near the bikini clad girls. Seong Jin and I ended up talking for the entire ride and he was humorously irritated when I told him I was visiting a guy.
"So... why are you going to Busan."
"To visit a friend from university."
"How do you know HER?"
"I know HIM from university."
(insert side eye) "hmph, him?"
Woah, woah, buddy we just met, a little ealry for the jealous card. The trick is to pretend you aren't jealous in the beginning and once you've roped me in, then you release the full-on crazy!
After I got to Busan I took a taxi to my friends-friends apartment. I have to admit my jealousy was rapant when I saw he lived in a nice, new, high rise apartment (grr) and then we took an elevator (double grr) up to his funished (ra!) and spacious studio (oh, thats it!). We went out and had some dinner at a restaurant that had bad service and the worst kimchi I've ever had. I don't know if Busan always puts salt in their kimchi, but I'm not a fan.
After dinner we jumped in another taxi (taxi drivers in Busan DO let five people smash into their cabs! score) and went in some direction to some part of Busan. Busan has a lot of really cool, tall buildings. In one of the bars we went to we were on the 14th floor with a beautiful view of the beach. It was nice to smell the ocean and breath fresh air for the first time in almost four months. We went all over the city, but I'm not sure exactly where. I was pretty disoriented being
in a new city, I'm still figuring out everything in Seoul!
(I'm not going to say who I was with because I really want to tell the next part of this story without incriminating anyone)
The next morning I was awaken by loud belligerent yelling at 8am. Two of the guys had burst through the front door yelling about the "damn casino" and all the "damn money" they lost. I doubled checked the clock, yes, it was 8am. We all yelled at them to be quiet, which onyl fueled the fire. One of them picked up a chair and threw it at nothing in the midst of the drunken rant. Then they decided that it was a great time to start blasting music, the beatles?
"You guys shouldn't be shushing us! It's his house! You should be asking us if we're okay... (pause and look at the guy on the floor) is there someone under there with you?" I look up. Yes. Someone had snuck a random girl into the apartment, and she was terrified. She probably had one of those is-this-really-happening-to-me moments. LOL.
Everyone eventually clamed down and we all went back to sleep and we got up to get "breakfast". I had some delicious kimchichige, it was the spiciest one I had ever tried. After breakfast we saw some of the hosts friends, one of which informed us that he had... purchased a lady of the night. A 24 hour one to be specific. um..... yep. Only in Busan right?
I got back on the train and started my long journey home. I had intended to study on the way back but I was so tired I just watched surfthechannel until my computer battery died. Crazy weekend, but I got a good story that I can retell for the rest of my life.
Last night I went out for sam gip sal (I'll learn the spelling some day, maybe..) with the work gang and our new coworker. He's lived in Korea before so he brought a whole bunch of his friends and it was fun to meet some new people. Tyler and I called it early last night and I was home and in bed by 11:30pm.
Last weekend I was really spontaneous, I took an impromptu trip down to Busan because a friend from college was in Korea visiting one of their friends from high school. I'd been really wanting to get out of the city so a familiar face was all the incentive I needed. I'm actually really pleased with myself, I woke up Saturday morning expecting to bum around Seoul and after a quick phone call I found myself sitting on the KTX (Korean version of Amtrak) talking to my new friend Seong Jin about korean grammar as I watched the Korean countryside out of my window.
The KTX was great because I got to see a completely different part of Korea. Busan is on the southern coast, so I passed through almost the entire country. I saw farms and small cities, it was great.
For anyone trying to start conversations with Korean people, all you need is korean homework. I've never successfully studied my Korean on public transportation because as soon as I start looking at my flashcards, my neighbor taps my shoulder and asks me, "you're studying korean?!" I feel like one of those frat boys that takes a cute puppy to a beach and walks in near the bikini clad girls. Seong Jin and I ended up talking for the entire ride and he was humorously irritated when I told him I was visiting a guy.
"So... why are you going to Busan."
"To visit a friend from university."
"How do you know HER?"
"I know HIM from university."
(insert side eye) "hmph, him?"
Woah, woah, buddy we just met, a little ealry for the jealous card. The trick is to pretend you aren't jealous in the beginning and once you've roped me in, then you release the full-on crazy!
After I got to Busan I took a taxi to my friends-friends apartment. I have to admit my jealousy was rapant when I saw he lived in a nice, new, high rise apartment (grr) and then we took an elevator (double grr) up to his funished (ra!) and spacious studio (oh, thats it!). We went out and had some dinner at a restaurant that had bad service and the worst kimchi I've ever had. I don't know if Busan always puts salt in their kimchi, but I'm not a fan.
After dinner we jumped in another taxi (taxi drivers in Busan DO let five people smash into their cabs! score) and went in some direction to some part of Busan. Busan has a lot of really cool, tall buildings. In one of the bars we went to we were on the 14th floor with a beautiful view of the beach. It was nice to smell the ocean and breath fresh air for the first time in almost four months. We went all over the city, but I'm not sure exactly where. I was pretty disoriented being
in a new city, I'm still figuring out everything in Seoul!
(I'm not going to say who I was with because I really want to tell the next part of this story without incriminating anyone)
The next morning I was awaken by loud belligerent yelling at 8am. Two of the guys had burst through the front door yelling about the "damn casino" and all the "damn money" they lost. I doubled checked the clock, yes, it was 8am. We all yelled at them to be quiet, which onyl fueled the fire. One of them picked up a chair and threw it at nothing in the midst of the drunken rant. Then they decided that it was a great time to start blasting music, the beatles?
"You guys shouldn't be shushing us! It's his house! You should be asking us if we're okay... (pause and look at the guy on the floor) is there someone under there with you?" I look up. Yes. Someone had snuck a random girl into the apartment, and she was terrified. She probably had one of those is-this-really-happening-to-me moments. LOL.
Everyone eventually clamed down and we all went back to sleep and we got up to get "breakfast". I had some delicious kimchichige, it was the spiciest one I had ever tried. After breakfast we saw some of the hosts friends, one of which informed us that he had... purchased a lady of the night. A 24 hour one to be specific. um..... yep. Only in Busan right?
I got back on the train and started my long journey home. I had intended to study on the way back but I was so tired I just watched surfthechannel until my computer battery died. Crazy weekend, but I got a good story that I can retell for the rest of my life.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
The creeping cold
I'm laying in bed before I have to go to work and the dull irritation in the back of my throat is getting more prominent each day, yep, it's cold season again. I'm been trying to fight off the startings of my sickness for a couple days, but it's really difficult when students who are clearly sick keep coming into my class and contaminating it! I've already had three students that came in coughing and sniffling throughout the class, as I edged my chair further away in disgust.
"Do you want a tissue Mr. Kim."
"No, no."
"Are you suuure you don't want to go get a tissue?"
I went to the pharmacy yesterday with my symptons written in korean and got two little boxes of some sort of medicine (written entirely in korean of course). Medicine is so cheap over here, it was only 8,000 won for two boxes of medicine. I just hope it works. I'm debating if I should go to my korean class today because I didn't go yesterday and if I can't finish all the homework I don't want to go, but I also don't want to be extremely far behind... hmmm...
I'm trying to will myself to health. "Listen body, you are NOT ruining my weekend, you hear? I've been waiting for a weekend for TWO WHOLE WEEKS and you are getting better!"
We have two new coworkers that we are supposed to take out to dinner tonight, so I'll try to stay for dinner and then run home and sleep again. I just took two more mystery pills so I'm crossing my fingers that they do their magic on me, cheers.
"Do you want a tissue Mr. Kim."
"No, no."
"Are you suuure you don't want to go get a tissue?"
I went to the pharmacy yesterday with my symptons written in korean and got two little boxes of some sort of medicine (written entirely in korean of course). Medicine is so cheap over here, it was only 8,000 won for two boxes of medicine. I just hope it works. I'm debating if I should go to my korean class today because I didn't go yesterday and if I can't finish all the homework I don't want to go, but I also don't want to be extremely far behind... hmmm...
I'm trying to will myself to health. "Listen body, you are NOT ruining my weekend, you hear? I've been waiting for a weekend for TWO WHOLE WEEKS and you are getting better!"
We have two new coworkers that we are supposed to take out to dinner tonight, so I'll try to stay for dinner and then run home and sleep again. I just took two more mystery pills so I'm crossing my fingers that they do their magic on me, cheers.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
나 자... (my name in korean)
It's friday morning and I'm quite sleepy. In the midst of exploring Versailles with my mom, taking pictures and looking at the old british buildings that reminded me of Mary Poppins...it quickly came to my attention that I was in fact, not in France but in my bed in Korea and I had dozed off after my alarm! I got up, assessed the damage... 6:13am, it's okay... as long as I leave NOW. I pulled on the nearest dress shirt I had and hightailed it out of my apartment. Three floors make a pretty dramatic departure when you're running down them. I made it to work on time though, with a couple minutes to spare.
I started Korean classes yesterday with Kathy, Ron and Mark. We're taking them at a rival company right around the corner from my office in Jongno. The class is taught entirely in Korean, which was really intimidating at first, but by the end of the two hour class I had already picked up a few words. It dawned on me how much more effective middle school and high school Spanish classes would have been if it had been taught entirely in Spanish by a native speaker, instead of a pretentious Californian that lived in Spain or Mexico for eight months and felt that they "deeply related" with spanish culture...uh huh...
My Korean teacher is really animated and through her charades and white board comics, we were able to go through the alphabet and a couple words. It doesn't sound that impressive, but I really needed to spend a good two hours going over this alphabet that's so different than my own, and I just don't have the patience to do it by myself.
우 유 is milk ... pronounced oooo (in moon)- you, oo-you
주 리 .. is Julie
잔 었 .. is janice
I started Korean classes yesterday with Kathy, Ron and Mark. We're taking them at a rival company right around the corner from my office in Jongno. The class is taught entirely in Korean, which was really intimidating at first, but by the end of the two hour class I had already picked up a few words. It dawned on me how much more effective middle school and high school Spanish classes would have been if it had been taught entirely in Spanish by a native speaker, instead of a pretentious Californian that lived in Spain or Mexico for eight months and felt that they "deeply related" with spanish culture...uh huh...
My Korean teacher is really animated and through her charades and white board comics, we were able to go through the alphabet and a couple words. It doesn't sound that impressive, but I really needed to spend a good two hours going over this alphabet that's so different than my own, and I just don't have the patience to do it by myself.
우 유 is milk ... pronounced oooo (in moon)- you, oo-you
주 리 .. is Julie
잔 었 .. is janice
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