Pre-Korea ~ September ~ October ~ November  December ~ January ~ CHINA ~ February

December 30th, 2007 I just bought "Lonely Planet's" guide to China today. It was 40 bucks! I was doing some more research and figured it would be a really good idea to just buy the book in case I can't get internet for long periods of time when I go to China. Oh yeah, I'm going to go to China. I decided officially today, when I invested 40 dollars into the trip. I was really hesitant, because that's a lot of money for a soft-covered book. But then I figured it would be pretty dumb of me to go to a foreign country for two weeks where I don't know the resources, language, currency, cities, or really anything else about it without at least some sort of guide. All I have right now is a ferry ticket. Well... not even that right now. I think I'm going to take a ferry over there. It costs about 100 some bucks each way, which is a lot for a boat ride, but I really hate airports and a 18+ hour boat ride over there just sounds interesting. I mean, how often can you take a boat to China? Wow, I just re-read this and it sounds like I have no idea what I'm doing .... I guess I don't. But really, how hard can it be? I have a 40 dollar guide book! Here's my plan: I'm going to take a ferry over that first weekend I have off of my two-week vacation. It arrives in one of three cities on the coast that I hadn't ever heard of before I started research today. They're pretty big, though. From there I want to head over to Beijing, which is home to the forbidden city, great wall, and the Olympics this summer. I don't really want to go to Shanghai, because I heard it's very "international" and full of foreigners. It's also cold at this time of year. So is Beijing, but how can you go to China and not see the great wall? So from Beijing I'll take a train down to Guangzhou, which is right next to Hong Kong. It's warm there. I sort of want to go to Hong Kong, but visas are really weird in China, so I'm not sure about it. From there I'll take a train or bus to Guilin, which was described as having "Dr. Seuss" mountains. That area seems to look like pictures of Vietnam and Cambodia that I've seen. It's close to the the Southern border, and I expect it to be very different than Beijing. The landscape should be amazing. After that I'm not sure. I'll probably be out of time. Right at the end of my trip will be the Chinese New Year, which I heard is crazy in... well, China. Beijing especially will be nuts, and I'll have to go through there again to get back to Korea, so it should be really interesting to see. So that's that. Of course, it will all probably change a lot in the next few weeks. I first need to figure out my ferry ticket and visa. Then I'm good to go. This should be fun. Onto Korea. I'm really starting to enjoy myself here. I was looking through some old guides, and I guess I'm in the "third" stage of culture shock, where the bitter stage is ending and I'm starting to really appreciate things. I've been here almost four months now, so I'm about one third of the way through. It occurred to me the other day: I'm going to really miss a lot of things about this country. I've become used to things now. It's not really foreign to me anymore. Granted, I still get an occasional cultural "jolt," but nothing like when I first got here. I've been thinking about going to America, and sort of... dreading it, I guess. I miss the food so much, but I've become so used to some things here and most of the bad stuff is becoming normal. I miss family and friends a lot, but not much else. I started to learn Korean. Yes, I know there's no way you believe me because I've said this many times already in the blog, but I really have this time. I can say a lot of simple sentences. I think I got over the first "hump" of learning languages. Over Christmas I saw some foreigners talking in Korean to another Korean and I was inspired. It really is possible. I've been learning several words since then, and I'm able to combine them and use them to make different sentences. It was weird. We had a faculty dinner the other day, after I'd started initially learning the language again. I tried talking with a few of the teachers at my table and the response was awesome. One of the teachers, one who had not said a word to me in the four months I've been working here, started having full conversations with me in English! I didn't even know he knew English. It turns out he's a writer and has published parts of two books already. He has his doctorate in language arts, which probably explains why he wasn't eager to chat with me in English. In Korea, doctors or people who have earned respect are not quick to do anything that may "lower" their status and make them look dumb. I think he heard me talking Korean and heard how stupid I sounded, so it was okay if he didn't get everything perfect in English. They're always so nervous to be wrong! So that was cool. He's transferring to a different school, though, so I'll probably never see him again. But I also think the language learning has really helped my experience here. It's given me a new respect for the country, and a new challenge to work into my experiences here. I can express more, and it puts me into a different position as a learner of the language rather than a teacher. It's relieving. Here's some pictures.                1st* Okay, here's a really hideous smile I'm making in front of North Korea. Beyond the expanse of water is the border. You can't really see, but there was a city that we looked at through a little telescope thing. It was all run down and I didn't see any activity there. I asked my co-teachers why it looked dead and they said it was probably built there for show. I'm not sure what that means. 2nd* This is my staff, er... some of them. My co-teacher is 4th from the upper-right and the woman who will probably be my new co-teacher in March is the only woman wearing blue. 3rd* This is our staff dinner. Hmm... I should talk about this. As you can see from my trying-to-smile expression, what we were eating was not normal American cuisine. I really had no idea I looked like that. I had live octopus for the first time. It's sort of Korea's specialty. They take a live octopus and cut off the tentacles. You eat it right away while the tentacles are still moving. I had just decided that I could not finish the clam I tried. Clams really aren't my thing. It's something about the texture and the organs and the taste that really doesn't get to me. So I figured that my willingness to try new things had died. Then the waitress brought out a big plate of wriggling, writhing tentacles. With minimal hesitation, I grabbed one with my chopsticks (had to pull a little because the tentacles stuck to the plate like glue), stuck one in my mouth and chewed like crazy. I really did not want to feel the tentacles wiggling in my throat. It really wasn't bad, though. It tastes just like regular octopus, only you can't really bite through it right away (like raw fish) and it's softer. I tried another tentacle, only this time savored it, letting it wriggle in my mouth for a bit before I chewed. It sort of felt like Pop-Rocks, really not all bad. I'd definitely try it again. *Don't you think it's funny how I completely skipped over Christmas? It was fun. I had three good Western meals. I know longer fear anything in our food anymore. I'll leave it at that. Happy New Year! Me: What is your team name? Students: Team 'I am stone!' Me: (to co-teacher) What? Co-teacher: They say, "Team 'I am stone'." Me: I am stoned? Co-teacher: (nods her head) Me: ummm.... really? Co-teacher: Stone is... rock? Correct? Me: Well, uh... yes.

December 22nd, 2007 I feel great today. Last night I went to a "Chin Chil Bhang," or a public bath, that Korea is very well-known for. I have heard of these in the past, and did not really want to try it out. All I had heard is that you get naked with a bunch of Korean men and go into a sauna, which I've never really been too fond of, anyway. Judging from all of the looks I get now with my clothes on, I really didn't feel like being a spectacle as the only naked white man there. However, it wasn't that big of a deal. No one stared, expect for one older man, and maybe a few others. Korea really hasn't hit that "change in mentality" that came with my generation that you never really get naked in front of other guys. So what is a "Chin Chil Bhang?" I'm really glad I found out, because it can be used as a really cheap hotel on those nights I get stuck in Seoul because the subways close so early. It's sort of like a really nice YMCA, only people sleep there. Supposedly you're supposed to go every month to keep your skin healthy. Here's what I did (If you don't care, I don't really talk about anything else for the rest of this so you can stop reading): I was meeting a friend in Seoul that night and I naturally assumed that I would sleep on his floor, because he lives by himself and otherwise I'd have to head back by 11PM. He told me that his apartment is one third the size of mine and there probably wasn't any room. I found out later that he still lives on Seoul National University's campus and he lives in a dorm that only costs $100 for six months! Isn't that crazy?? So that explains why it's so small. So he told me we could sleep in the "bathroom," which is the literal translation of "Chin Chil Bhang." Naturally, I wasn't sure about sleeping in a bathroom, but then I found out he meant the "bath house" and it made sense, but not entirely. I imagined myself sleeping naked on the sauna floor, which might have been comfortable, but... yeah. So we get to this place, called "Dragon something," I forgot. It's downtown and it's supposedly a really nice place. It cost us $12 a person for up to 12 hours there. We took off our shoes at the door, were given an outfit to wear and a bracelet with a barcode on it. Anything I wanted to buy in there I would charge to the bracelet and run up a tab I'd pick up at the end. We went up to the locker rooms and got naked, locking our stuff up and hitting the showers. I must have showered about four times while there. This was the first one. The place was really big. I was really surprised. And there were people everywhere and it was 1AM on a Friday night. After the showers, we walked over to the sauna, passing by several hot and cold tubs. All the temperatures of everything was displayed on a digital thermometer above the area. Unfortunately, it's all in Celcius, but I think I've gotten a lot better at converting it in my head. The sauna was nice. I guess that's a given, though. After the sauna we went over to this big area with lots of "sitting showers" that I wasn't sure about. My friend gave me a scrub thing I put on my hand and told me to scrub the dead skin off my body. I had heard of this, and actually tried it out about a month ago with a kitchen scrubber (not the best idea, by the way). He scrubbed down my back, which was a little awkward at first. It's not everyday another naked man gives me a sudo-back massage/scrub. Haha... but whatever, it's really not a big deal to them. He seemed disappointed that I didn't have a lot of dead skin. I didn't tell him about the kitchen scrubbrush incident. I did the rest of my body and a lot of dead skin came off in the parts I hadn't scrubbed before. It was pretty gross, but I'm glad I got that off of me. After that we took another shower, I guess to get off the sweat, even though I had just showered for a second time in the dead skin showers. So from there, we dried off with the ridiculously small Korean towels and used their complimentary skin lotion and ear cleaners and toothpaste and brushes. You share a lot of stuff there. If I was a germaphobe I probably would have had a problem with it. Putting clothes on was nice, and by that point I felt really clean. I guess it's normal to eat a lot when you go to these bath houses, so we went to scope out downstairs to find someplace to eat the fruit he brought. He bought some boiled eggs and this sweet rice drink for us, that are usually eaten as well. We went into this giant room, it was huge, that was packed with people sleeping on the floor. Everyone was being loud and the lights were on and TVs blaring, but about 80% of the people in that room were passed out on the floor, no blankets and this dimpy little foam block as a pillow. The whole room was lined with little hot and cold rooms around the side, sort of like saunas only without the moisture. They went from 50C (122F) to 4C, (39F). We went in this hot Egyptian pyramid-themed room and ate in there. Again, there were people sleeping and he just turned on the TV like it wasn't a big deal. Then more came in after us who were not sleeping and some started to sleep. I still haven't really figured that out. I'm rambling. Long story short, we hopped to a few different rooms, ate some more, passed by an outdoor pool and a hot seawater bath that I'll have to try out next time, and decided to crash at about 3:30AM. We looked everywhere for a place to sleep but it was really crowded. We went back up to the men's locker room because there was a quiet, dark room in there, but it was also packed. So, we ended up climbing the staircase about four flights and sleeping randomly outside one of the locker room entrances. The floor wasn't heated, so it wasn't warm, but we were both pretty tired, so I curled up next to this giant cowboy statue and went to sleep. more or less. I had a lot of trouble sleeping, perhaps because I like having a pillow, perhaps because the floor was luke-warm and hard, perhaps because I had no blanket, or perhaps because a group of talking people stepped over us about every ten minutes or so, going in and out of the locker room. At around 7AM, he woke me up and asked if I wanted to go to the big room and find room because he was cold. We found a place there, with the really hot floor that I, personally, thought was way too warm. I barely slept there and ended up giving up after about two hours and watching TV. I woke up once because there was a crying baby next to me. It wasn't old enough to crawl yet and there was not a parent in sight. It continued to fuss for about ten minutes and I started to look around for anyone it could belong to. At that hour, many of the people left and no one else was really close by. It was as if someone left this random baby right next to me and took off. I saw some other unsupervised kids playing close by and pretty soon the parents came. They were upset that they had left it and it was crying, not so much that it was left alone in a giant, public room with about 200 people still there. That probably wouldn't happen in America. So we got up at 11AM and took one last shower before we left. Over all, it was a good time. I feel really clean and it was really interesting to finally see one of the bath houses. I was mostly surprised with how popular they were for all ages. There were old people, families, young couples, and middle-school kids hanging out there at all hours of the night. I had a really rough sleep but... hey, it beats a hotel. Me: "What will Nami do for her mom's birthday?" Student: "Nami will cook Mom." Me: "No... probably not."

December 19th, 2007 Everything's better now. Well, winter break's still a mess, but whatever. It's Christmas time in Korea! And... not much has changed. There are lights here and there. A Christmas rack or two every once in awhile in stores. I just went to a "Pizza" restaurant (where their specialty was a massive amout of shrimp wrapped in spaghetti put on a tiny pizza) and they were playing Christmas music, although I'd never heard the songs. The underground market in Bupyeong has "Merry Christmas" banners along the walkway, which is cool. My mom sent me a Christmas package, which was awesome. I just forgot how Christmas sort of takes over all the shops in America. You walk in stores back at home and there would be shelves of Christmas junk (candy, candy-canes, lights, small toys, etc.) all flashing in your face when you go in. It's all cheap, too. Christmas is in Korea, it's just not as big of a deal. Come to think of it... hmmm... I have yet to see a candy-cane in Korea. Maybe they don't like them here. Good news! I learned how to bargain! Well... I always knew, but I guess I wasn't doing it right. The phrase is "Ka-ka Chusayo," which basically means, "Can you give me a discount?" I originally learned that if you say that, they know you're local and give it to you cheaper. That is not the case. For the past two months, no one had ever given me a "ka-ka" on anything I asked for, which was frustrating (Remember what family I was born into). But the past three times I've asked, I've gotten it! It may be only a few dollars, but it's a discount! It's so easy! You have to ask them, wait until they laugh because a foreigner is using their language, then give them a price, and be reasonable. At some of the tourist places in Seoul, they'll charge twice as much, so they're probably still making good money off you. Today I bought Dad's present in this random little place I'd never seen. It's like a second underground market right next to the big one in Bupyeong. She gave me five bucks off of what I wanted, and kept on laughing, saying "discount" in English like it was the funniest thing that I'd said that. After that she spent about ten minutes wrapping the gift for me (for free), putting a lot of effort in it. Okay, something I've noticed here: There seems to be two different mentalities of shopkeepers and restaurant owners. There are some with a... I don't know... pride? in what they do. They give you extra things. They don't try to swindle you or make as much money from you as they can, although they do try to sell you things. You get that when you go to small restaurants and such where you get a lot of food and great service for practically nothing. It generally feels like your satisfaction really is their priority. You usually see this in America when a shop is trying to start a business and treats every customer very nicely, wanting them desperately to tell friends and come back (But you know they don't actually care about you or you life). Then there's the new, younger mentality that we're so fond of in America. Basically, it's what we're used to. There's nothing extra for free. You do a lot yourself. You pay as much as you're willing to pay. They clearly want your money and then for you to leave. They'll trick you with signs and sales, trying to get you into the store so you see something more expensive you like. Good ol' America. So anyway, I ended up giving the woman the extra five bucks and told her it's because the wrapping was nice. She was very surprised. I felt bad. Not one other person had even passed by there the whole twenty minutes I was in her shop, she'd given me a discount, and that wrapping job would have been five extra bucks in America, anyway. I still have yet to understand how businesses like that stay alive. Okay, there's a whole trip to a temple I still need to write about. I think I did that a week and a half ago. Unfortunately, I'm lazy so that's not going to get done for another few days probably. Here's a few pictures.                                1st* This is my rabbit. See how much bigger it's gotten? It had been chewing on some box and that tape was stuck on its whiskers for a few days. hehe... 2nd* This is a factory around the corner by my house. I think it's cool. It doesn't smell bad like the GM Daewoo factory a bit away, either. Don't be fooled by the tree. Those aren't birds. They're leaves. And that other flat building in front? That wasn't there when I came in September. I asked my co-teacher what it was one time when we were driving. She told me it was a factory... but it's definitely not a factory. Maybe an office for the factory? I'm not sure.                                 1st* I found a short cut (on bike) to my taekwondo place. It's this little back alley with no cars or people. It really took me by surprise the first time I saw it. A block away are all these modern high-rises and shops and the underground market and all the clubs. These houses look really old. I thought they were abandoned, but many of them have lights on every night. 2nd* Three of my sixth grade girls made Christmas cards for me. I was really... confused, and sort of touched, more so confused. Look closely at the cards. Can you see the pop-up, shiny words? The layers of paper that make designs? They really spent a lot of time on this. Now I just have to make sure I remember them... I left it pretty big so you can read it. I like the random syringe by the heart. Me: "What do you want to do?" Student: "I want to hamster!" Me: "No... 'hamster' is actually an animal."

December 7th, 2007 I think I'm going through a lull, either that or the lack-of-sleep is making me more temperamental of things, or maybe I got put in a bad mood at school for a few days in a row. See, we were finalizing my "winter break" schedule this week, which was bound to bring up some problems. Really quick, I'll explain. Originally my co-teacher had told me I needed to teach two classes twice a week, but could combine them to one longer class, effectively making me only need to come to school for four hours a week. This would be great. I could take a few really long trips if I wanted outside of the country. After one conversation we had she learned that I need to teach twenty-two hours a week to get paid, something she just slipped in there. That shortly became forty hours after she talked to someone else. As you can see, that was very irritating to me. You should have talked to me after I got home that day from school. It was frustrating for me, because she has no idea what was going on and she is my only way to find out. I learned that day that most of the time, much of what she says ends up not being true. I'm not sure if things are constantly changing, she tells me things before she knows, she makes up stuff, or... I don't know. Yet after a few agonizing afternoons trying to get information out of her and making schedules and plans for hours that end up being impossible because of something she assumed I knew, we came up with a plan that would work. Of course, it was completely changed two days later, but I wasn't the one trying to figure it out. But it's strange. Today I taught a "Teacher's Lesson" and my co-teacher was there. Twice she got really surprised when I told the other teachers about something that I have had full conversations with her about before. It was genuine surprise, as if she'd never heard it before. I'm not sure what to take from that. I could go on for a long time about this, but I won't. There are just so many things that are differently run here. For instance (okay, I will go on), it isn't uncommon for a manager or boss in America to place themselves at the same level of the employee and talk about problems or hear suggestions about the company/workplace. That doesn't happen in my school. The person in charge is in charge and I was told that if you try to ask about a decision he makes, he "doesn't like you to be talking." And I'm not sure it's even they are afraid of being fired, I think it's more of a respect thing. Maybe in America it's just more common to have contempt for your employer than respect. Come to think of it, there have been very few managers that I "respected" in my work experience. (But there have been some). Of course, this is only one experience in one school with just a few teachers that I'm creating my entire opinion of Korean administrative relationships from. I wonder how on point I really am. Here's a few really old pictures I had sitting in a digital folder somewhere:                 1st* This is a market street in Seoul at night. It's such a bustling, big city, then you find yourself walking in a market like this. 2nd* This is the really high-tech, Gyeyang station. 3rd* The red plants on the mud-flats by the bridge that connects to the airport island. It's eerie, isn't it? Okay... a half-covered float/truck just drove by my aparment with about 7-8 karaoke singers singing, wearing polital sashes. (the election's coming up here) It was really loud. I managed to catch a picture before the light turned green, but it's blurry.                                           Haha... okay. Back to the negativity. I've been trying to learn a bit more Korean the past few days, I think inspired from the irritation I have at school of not being able to communicate with people. Twice now, my other co-teacher has laughed in my face and told me what I was saying was wrong in an "absolutely-not" tone, then proceeded with an elaborate way of saying it I couldn't possibly remember from hearing orally. I've heard enough horrible English to know that it can be funny, and if you don't know how to talk to foreign people you can say things that frustrate them and discourage them from learning. I shrugged it aside took help for what I could, eventually getting some good info out of her. But then I was thinking... this is my co-worker, a foreign language teacher. I can't hear a lot of the way she talks with the students because she's talking in Korean, but what if she talks that way to them? I've heard that many Korean students are afraid to talk because they're afraid of being wrong. My students don't seem to have that problem (a few do), but now I think I know where it comes from. My other co-teacher today asked me why she heard that the word "often" isn't pronounced with the "t" sound (because I annunciate everything now). That is strange to me. Who taught her that? Granted, we usually don't use our "t's" but honestly that is the last thing this woman should be worrying about. Also, I was talking to my dad the other day and he told me I speak more clearly now. My sister made fun of me on the phone because I worded something really oddly (in my defense, it would have made perfect sense to a foreigner). I'm realizing that I have changed the way I speak a bit. I like to think that when I talk to English-speakers it all comes back, but I wonder... I've only been here three months. Will I talk differently after another nine? Oh well. I heard there was a lull after three months here, then it gets better. Maybe it's true. I heard it actually happens every three months, so I did the math. The first is happening now, just as the Christmas season is starting back at home. Being stuck away from the family on Christmas is enough, I think. The next will be the beginning of March, once school settles back in from its two months of on-and-off breaks. The last one is the beginning of June, just as all my friends are graduating and summer is starting and all the summer stuff will be kicking off at home. I'm glad I have taekwondo tonight. It lets off some steam. haha... Although the lessons have gotten a lot harder lately. I think he was taking it easy on the foreigners in the beginning because he wanted us to stay. The other day I was more tired than I have been in a long time. I can run three miles fine, but I was really exhausted after that class. Maybe that's why I needed more sleep this week... Next blog I'll be more happy, I promise.