In 2010, my New Year's Resolution was to move to Korea. Mission accomplished.
I spent New Year's Eve this year with Stella and Jessica, which was eighty thousand times better than my original plan of pizza and cleaning my apartment (which still hasn't happened). Stella pointed out that New Year's is a projection of your entire year, so for me, 2011 will involve losing at Pop-o-matic Trouble, The Game by Milton Bradley ;), seeing Calvin, knitting, spending way too much money (*ahem* 70만원) on clothes and shoes, and laughing way too much. And eating Indian food. Of course :)
So, in review - moved to Korea at the end of January (i.e., Happy Birthday, Mom! Your daughter is moving to the other side of the planet!). As I have overcome a lot of culture shock, I don't really remember what initially traumatized me. Lots of getting lost was involved. Met Lisa, and friendship was immediately formed. We may or may not have become absolutely insane when we went shopping together and realized that we had way too much in common.
Early spring didn't raelly bring warm weather, but it did bring Beck! I hadn't seen her in years, and we had a night I will probably never remember (well, what parts of it I *can* remember). Beck introduced me to Tim, who became my every-weekend buddy in spring and summer....and who introduced me to the fun of Korean department stores. And Coach. And to the idea that I really don't have to take crap from people if I don't want to. And to Park, which was ehhhh, but Park introduced me to Calvin (이선구) who ended up becoming one of my favorite Korean friends - even though he is the busiest person on the planet (sorry, Obama, you have nothing on this kid).
Tim then introduced me to Siobhain, who introduced me to Siobhain, a fellow knitter, who introduced me to Cait, Caroline, and Riah....and to Dongdaemun. When the tragedy of TIM LEAVING FOR AMERICA occurred, Sio helped me fill my sorrow with yarn. Lots of yarn. At first, I was really good about being responsible and buying only what I could knit.....but now I have a giant container of it on the floor of my laundry room.
Fall brought much closeness to Siobhain, Cait, Caroline, and Riah. I don't think I was what they expected and vice versa, but they are now my family here. Thanks to our awesome common interest my knitting leveled from Giga to Eagle (yay for CDI level references).
Winter brought the end of Lisa, my BEST FRIEND IN KOREA (^^^) :( However, I'm not too sad because it's really obvious that she will be back.
This year's resolution? Don't get caught up in boy drama. And knit a positive amount of yarn (in other words, have less yarn in my collection than I do now). And, you know, lose weight, stay in touch with family better, learn Korean, blah blah blah ;)
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fun. Show all posts
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Oops...Did You Just Hear That?
If you're a foreigner in Korea, you're an eavesdropper. Don't be ashamed - we all do it. We're not used to living in a place where most of the conversation is in a foreign language (and, even if you do understand Korean, most of it is so fast or riddled with so much slang, that it's often hard to follow), so when you hear it, your ears naturally perk up, and you listen along.
Another thing about being a foreigner in Korea is that you also get used to not being understood by the people around you - which means you can have some pretty interesting conversations in crowds.
And sometimes there's an indescribable mix of these two phenomenons.
The scene: Siobhain, Cait, Caroline, and I are at On The Border. Being that it is a very western restaurant, the Korean/foreigner mix was pretty even. Fortunately, the four of us were in a corner. We'd been yarn shopping all day (because that's what we do), and were ordering our various courses slowly to give us time to sit there and knit (yes, we did sit at On The Border on a Saturday night and knit; haters gonna hate). The table next to us had a much faster occupation flow. When we originally sat, there was a couple sharing some queso. They were replaced by a group of Korean university students...
Then, the stars of our show walked in. Three caucasian males who weren't bad looking; however, upon closer inspection, we realized that they were orthodox Mormon (name tag and all - not sure "orthodox" is the right word..). One of us - who shall remain nameless - suggested we order a round of drinks for them. That idea was quickly vetoed (nope, definitely not by me) because we were sitting right next to them and it would seem a bit obvious. Being that we were two groups of foreigners, we of course tried to listen in onto their conversation. However, they weren't speaking English. Cait guessed Russian, and we left it at that. And, of course, we continued to eavesdrop for the occasional hint of English because, let's face it, we were curious.
(At this point I should mention two things: one, foreigners in Korea are especially curious about other foreigners who do something other than teach or serve in the military; two, although foreigners love to eavesdrop, we tend to have this mental block that keeps us from realizing that others are probably doing it to us, too.)
Sometime later, the guys all start speaking English. Very unaccented English. At this new tidbit to pique our curiosity, we of course started to listen closer. One of us (okay, me) was caught when, like an idiot, there was eye contact made during some intense information gathering.
Finally, the three men got up to leave. One of them was INSANELY CLOSE to my chair, and I kept looking over at him....well, partially because of the above mentioned curiosity....and partially because he was REALLY CLOSE TO MY YARN STASH AND OMG I'M LIKE A PROTECTIVE MOTHER BEAR. He looks over at us and says,
"How's the sewing going? Sorry if we confused you. We were practicing our Russian."
Our only response? "It's not sewing - it's knitting!" and a whole lot of laughter after they left (but, as things had proved that night, probably not when they were out of earshot).
Another thing about being a foreigner in Korea is that you also get used to not being understood by the people around you - which means you can have some pretty interesting conversations in crowds.
And sometimes there's an indescribable mix of these two phenomenons.
The scene: Siobhain, Cait, Caroline, and I are at On The Border. Being that it is a very western restaurant, the Korean/foreigner mix was pretty even. Fortunately, the four of us were in a corner. We'd been yarn shopping all day (because that's what we do), and were ordering our various courses slowly to give us time to sit there and knit (yes, we did sit at On The Border on a Saturday night and knit; haters gonna hate). The table next to us had a much faster occupation flow. When we originally sat, there was a couple sharing some queso. They were replaced by a group of Korean university students...
Then, the stars of our show walked in. Three caucasian males who weren't bad looking; however, upon closer inspection, we realized that they were orthodox Mormon (name tag and all - not sure "orthodox" is the right word..). One of us - who shall remain nameless - suggested we order a round of drinks for them. That idea was quickly vetoed (nope, definitely not by me) because we were sitting right next to them and it would seem a bit obvious. Being that we were two groups of foreigners, we of course tried to listen in onto their conversation. However, they weren't speaking English. Cait guessed Russian, and we left it at that. And, of course, we continued to eavesdrop for the occasional hint of English because, let's face it, we were curious.
(At this point I should mention two things: one, foreigners in Korea are especially curious about other foreigners who do something other than teach or serve in the military; two, although foreigners love to eavesdrop, we tend to have this mental block that keeps us from realizing that others are probably doing it to us, too.)
Sometime later, the guys all start speaking English. Very unaccented English. At this new tidbit to pique our curiosity, we of course started to listen closer. One of us (okay, me) was caught when, like an idiot, there was eye contact made during some intense information gathering.
Finally, the three men got up to leave. One of them was INSANELY CLOSE to my chair, and I kept looking over at him....well, partially because of the above mentioned curiosity....and partially because he was REALLY CLOSE TO MY YARN STASH AND OMG I'M LIKE A PROTECTIVE MOTHER BEAR. He looks over at us and says,
"How's the sewing going? Sorry if we confused you. We were practicing our Russian."
Our only response? "It's not sewing - it's knitting!" and a whole lot of laughter after they left (but, as things had proved that night, probably not when they were out of earshot).
Saturday, July 10, 2010
I Got Lost!
There is no metaphor behind that title - I literally got lost. More lost than I have ever been in Korea. Before we go any further, I feel the need to reassure all concerned parties (e.g., my parents) of something insanely important: I live in one of the top five safest places on the PLANET. Little children in Suji-gu walk home alone after their 10pm academies let out.
Back story: My friend Tim threw me a "surprise" birthday party. Surprise in quotation marks because I knew about it (however, it did involve one fantastic surprise - I got to see my favorite Korean friend who had said earlier that he was completely busy...he did have to leave right away, but it was nice seeing him :)). We had a very American dinner followed by norebang (Lady Marmalade!) and it was exactly what I wanted.
Okay. So. Tonight was definitely the night of Bad Decisions. Not the type of bad decisions that involve hospitals and babies and brain poisoning, but definitely not ones that involved thinking. Bad Decision one was not to get on the M-4101 - a bus that goes directly from Myeong-dong (the neighborhood in Seoul where we had dinner/norebang) to Suji. I have a love-hate relationship with that bus because it's such a battle to get on. The M busses don't allow people to stand, so once all the seats are full, that's it. And everyone wants on that bus because it's the fastest way to get back to Suji from north of the river. Instead, I got on the 5500-2. Mostly because it was there. And convenient. It's a G-bus...and while they are less crowded, they also don't have that nice convenient light-up map that shows where you are on the route. Leading us to mistake number two (the Big One).
I got off at the wrong stop. I wasn't quite sure where we were. I heard the bus announcement say "Suji" - I looked around outside, thought I recognized the area, and just jumped off. I was afraid that I'd stay on it too long. Bad Decision number three is directly correlated: I looked around and realized I was a bit further away from Pungdeokcheong-dong (my neighborhood) than I realized, so I looked around again, thought I saw one of the downtown buildings, and started walking straight. I was wrong. Then I saw the M-4101 take a turn, so I followed it thinking that it would lead me to stuff I recognized. Wrong again. Had no clue how to get back to the bus stop. Had no clue where I was in relation to anything.
So I hailed a cab. Told him that I wanted to go to Pungdeokcheong. He had no clue where that was. So I told him to take me to the Suji Lotte Mart. He insisted there was no Lotte Mart in Suji (if any coworkers are reading this, here is a good place to laugh - to those who don't live here, I go to the Suji Lotte Mart like once a week). So I did the only thing I could think to do. I called Tim so he could help translate (Tim, if you're reading this, I love you and thank you forever for talking to that cab driver; I'm going to speak for my mother and tell you that she loves you too as you were involved in me getting un-lost, even though the idiot cab driver was...well...still an idiot). I overhear him telling Tim that there is no Lotte in Suji, but there is a Shinsegae in Jukjeon. Ok, fine, it's a million years away from my apt, but I know where it is in reference to where I live and, obviously, how to get home. So I tell the man that the Shinsegae in Jukjeon is fine. He looks at me as if I have 8 heads and starts driving. I look around to see if there's anything I recognize so I don't have to make that long-ass walk home. Nothing. Oh well. We get to an intersection that I kinda recognize, and he points out Lotte Mart and asks if that's where I want to go. YES!!! Well, he turns toward Shinsegae anyway. At one point, I swear he said something insanely derogative about having a foreigner in his cab..
Drops me off at Shinsegae. I walk home, laughing the whole 15 minutes. The whole time, I was just a few blocks away from where I wanted to be.
Back story: My friend Tim threw me a "surprise" birthday party. Surprise in quotation marks because I knew about it (however, it did involve one fantastic surprise - I got to see my favorite Korean friend who had said earlier that he was completely busy...he did have to leave right away, but it was nice seeing him :)). We had a very American dinner followed by norebang (Lady Marmalade!) and it was exactly what I wanted.
Okay. So. Tonight was definitely the night of Bad Decisions. Not the type of bad decisions that involve hospitals and babies and brain poisoning, but definitely not ones that involved thinking. Bad Decision one was not to get on the M-4101 - a bus that goes directly from Myeong-dong (the neighborhood in Seoul where we had dinner/norebang) to Suji. I have a love-hate relationship with that bus because it's such a battle to get on. The M busses don't allow people to stand, so once all the seats are full, that's it. And everyone wants on that bus because it's the fastest way to get back to Suji from north of the river. Instead, I got on the 5500-2. Mostly because it was there. And convenient. It's a G-bus...and while they are less crowded, they also don't have that nice convenient light-up map that shows where you are on the route. Leading us to mistake number two (the Big One).
I got off at the wrong stop. I wasn't quite sure where we were. I heard the bus announcement say "Suji" - I looked around outside, thought I recognized the area, and just jumped off. I was afraid that I'd stay on it too long. Bad Decision number three is directly correlated: I looked around and realized I was a bit further away from Pungdeokcheong-dong (my neighborhood) than I realized, so I looked around again, thought I saw one of the downtown buildings, and started walking straight. I was wrong. Then I saw the M-4101 take a turn, so I followed it thinking that it would lead me to stuff I recognized. Wrong again. Had no clue how to get back to the bus stop. Had no clue where I was in relation to anything.
So I hailed a cab. Told him that I wanted to go to Pungdeokcheong. He had no clue where that was. So I told him to take me to the Suji Lotte Mart. He insisted there was no Lotte Mart in Suji (if any coworkers are reading this, here is a good place to laugh - to those who don't live here, I go to the Suji Lotte Mart like once a week). So I did the only thing I could think to do. I called Tim so he could help translate (Tim, if you're reading this, I love you and thank you forever for talking to that cab driver; I'm going to speak for my mother and tell you that she loves you too as you were involved in me getting un-lost, even though the idiot cab driver was...well...still an idiot). I overhear him telling Tim that there is no Lotte in Suji, but there is a Shinsegae in Jukjeon. Ok, fine, it's a million years away from my apt, but I know where it is in reference to where I live and, obviously, how to get home. So I tell the man that the Shinsegae in Jukjeon is fine. He looks at me as if I have 8 heads and starts driving. I look around to see if there's anything I recognize so I don't have to make that long-ass walk home. Nothing. Oh well. We get to an intersection that I kinda recognize, and he points out Lotte Mart and asks if that's where I want to go. YES!!! Well, he turns toward Shinsegae anyway. At one point, I swear he said something insanely derogative about having a foreigner in his cab..
Drops me off at Shinsegae. I walk home, laughing the whole 15 minutes. The whole time, I was just a few blocks away from where I wanted to be.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
친구 - it's been ages =p
Yeah, I never post anymore...
New term has started. Even though I was hired to teach the higher-levels, I have a ton of lower levels again. However, I'm different from many of the teachers - I like the lower-level ones. Prepping is easier, and they are so cute! And usually say things that make me laugh so hard :) My "token child" this term is a self-proclaimed dancer. So far, all of the sentences he has to construct during "Let's Talk About You" have been about dancing. My favorite was the "is different' from": "Teacher's dancing is different from my dancing" (then he stood up and did the hula). I'm also teaching the Level 2 (higher level) IBT prep class, which isn't as painful as I thought (I'm owing all of that to the kids and their insanely awesome personalities - not sure how much actual work we'll get done.....), and 2 Alba Listening classes (higher level). The Alba kids are quiet as ghosts - probably because all of the outgoing ones are in the IBT class. My branch does higher levels on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and why they are offering the Level 2 IBT electives on the SAME days as the regular reading and listening classes is beyond me. I'm hoping that it's just first-day shyness and that they'll open up a bit more in the coming weeks. Didn't help that our Critical Thinking Project totally blew (sorry CDI, but the Track B Lesson 1 CTP STTIINNNKKKSSS - but, don't worry, in true good-teacher fashion, in class I pretended it was the coolest thing on the planet).
Went on another total shopping spree today with my "man-friend" Tim. Spent way too much money; however, I have like 4.5 million won saved so far. Intensives are coming up, and that little egg is going toward The Future. But I digress - let's talk more about the shopping because, face it, it's a lot more fun =p. Went to The Gap (partially because I am frightened that I still don't fit in Korean-store clothes....and partially because I am currently coveting some of their summer line) and I bought replacements for 2 shirts I purchased a month ago that are now too big. God, I love it. Put an asterisk here - I'm coming back to this idea*. I know that I probably could've taken out my shiny new sewing kit (<3 u, Lotte Mart!!) and taken them in, but I think I'm going to cut them up and do a t-shirt deconstruction project. Man I wish I'd brought my copy of Generation T: 108 Things To Do With A T-Shirt; however (don't you love these contrast transitions???), I did find this cute shrug pattern which may prove promising :).
Okay, back to that asterisk I know you _all_ placed. If you're reading this because you followed my blog here from Aclipse and/or found through a search engine because you are coming to Korea soon and are like me and wanted to read about everyone's experiences (INHALE), here's something you need to know: be prepared for your weight to fluctuate. I don't own a scale, but I know I've lost like 2 pants sizes here. Now, that may not prove true for everyone - I was like insanely overweight when I got here, so, really, it didn't take much for all of it to fall of. BUT (circle!!) I will guarantee that _all_ of your clothes will stretch with washing because Korea doesn't have dryers. (You get a drying rack - really makes you appreciate how easy it was to do your laundry back home.) I am probably not really a medium, but I buy most of my clothes from American stores here (yes, like The Gap) in a medium because they stretch out. Hence why I had to buy 2 new shirts (still, looking forward to turning the old ones into shrugs...especially seeing that this country isn't a giant fan of the tank top).
Also, I will buy dinner for the person who comes over to my apartment to tell me *where* I can put more clothing storage.
Related, Jessi, I owe you dinner (this is from like a month ago, but I'm just now confirming). Keep a tally and you can cash in when I come back :)
I realize that this whole entry has been about shopping and clothes. I'm not sure if it's me growing up, or this country, but I have become so vain! Before, washing my face was like a 30 second process - now, I'm running out of room in my bathroom for all of my facial products!!! Not entirely sure it's made my skin clear up, but I *can* see a difference in the clogged pores on my nose. Future expats (if you're still reading), don't worry about bringing a ton of products to Korea. You can't walk down the street without running into 5 or 6. Million. Plus, on weekends, they are constantly trying to lure you into their stores with free stuff - take advantage of the competition and score it all! If I need like 3 things, I will go into three different stores just so I can get the 3 different free gifts :)
Family who are reading this: don't worry, I'm not spending all of my money. I barely scratched the surface of my savings, and it was fun. I promise I only do this like once a month (if that) AND my shopping partner is moving back to America in August.
New term has started. Even though I was hired to teach the higher-levels, I have a ton of lower levels again. However, I'm different from many of the teachers - I like the lower-level ones. Prepping is easier, and they are so cute! And usually say things that make me laugh so hard :) My "token child" this term is a self-proclaimed dancer. So far, all of the sentences he has to construct during "Let's Talk About You" have been about dancing. My favorite was the "is different' from": "Teacher's dancing is different from my dancing" (then he stood up and did the hula). I'm also teaching the Level 2 (higher level) IBT prep class, which isn't as painful as I thought (I'm owing all of that to the kids and their insanely awesome personalities - not sure how much actual work we'll get done.....), and 2 Alba Listening classes (higher level). The Alba kids are quiet as ghosts - probably because all of the outgoing ones are in the IBT class. My branch does higher levels on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and why they are offering the Level 2 IBT electives on the SAME days as the regular reading and listening classes is beyond me. I'm hoping that it's just first-day shyness and that they'll open up a bit more in the coming weeks. Didn't help that our Critical Thinking Project totally blew (sorry CDI, but the Track B Lesson 1 CTP STTIINNNKKKSSS - but, don't worry, in true good-teacher fashion, in class I pretended it was the coolest thing on the planet).
Went on another total shopping spree today with my "man-friend" Tim. Spent way too much money; however, I have like 4.5 million won saved so far. Intensives are coming up, and that little egg is going toward The Future. But I digress - let's talk more about the shopping because, face it, it's a lot more fun =p. Went to The Gap (partially because I am frightened that I still don't fit in Korean-store clothes....and partially because I am currently coveting some of their summer line) and I bought replacements for 2 shirts I purchased a month ago that are now too big. God, I love it. Put an asterisk here - I'm coming back to this idea*. I know that I probably could've taken out my shiny new sewing kit (<3 u, Lotte Mart!!) and taken them in, but I think I'm going to cut them up and do a t-shirt deconstruction project. Man I wish I'd brought my copy of Generation T: 108 Things To Do With A T-Shirt; however (don't you love these contrast transitions???), I did find this cute shrug pattern which may prove promising :).
Okay, back to that asterisk I know you _all_ placed. If you're reading this because you followed my blog here from Aclipse and/or found through a search engine because you are coming to Korea soon and are like me and wanted to read about everyone's experiences (INHALE), here's something you need to know: be prepared for your weight to fluctuate. I don't own a scale, but I know I've lost like 2 pants sizes here. Now, that may not prove true for everyone - I was like insanely overweight when I got here, so, really, it didn't take much for all of it to fall of. BUT (circle!!) I will guarantee that _all_ of your clothes will stretch with washing because Korea doesn't have dryers. (You get a drying rack - really makes you appreciate how easy it was to do your laundry back home.) I am probably not really a medium, but I buy most of my clothes from American stores here (yes, like The Gap) in a medium because they stretch out. Hence why I had to buy 2 new shirts (still, looking forward to turning the old ones into shrugs...especially seeing that this country isn't a giant fan of the tank top).
Also, I will buy dinner for the person who comes over to my apartment to tell me *where* I can put more clothing storage.
Related, Jessi, I owe you dinner (this is from like a month ago, but I'm just now confirming). Keep a tally and you can cash in when I come back :)
I realize that this whole entry has been about shopping and clothes. I'm not sure if it's me growing up, or this country, but I have become so vain! Before, washing my face was like a 30 second process - now, I'm running out of room in my bathroom for all of my facial products!!! Not entirely sure it's made my skin clear up, but I *can* see a difference in the clogged pores on my nose. Future expats (if you're still reading), don't worry about bringing a ton of products to Korea. You can't walk down the street without running into 5 or 6. Million. Plus, on weekends, they are constantly trying to lure you into their stores with free stuff - take advantage of the competition and score it all! If I need like 3 things, I will go into three different stores just so I can get the 3 different free gifts :)
Family who are reading this: don't worry, I'm not spending all of my money. I barely scratched the surface of my savings, and it was fun. I promise I only do this like once a month (if that) AND my shopping partner is moving back to America in August.
Monday, May 17, 2010
May, In Review
My dad pointed out to me that my last entry was a month old, oops! The silence doesn't mean that nothing new has happened (hence the blog's title "Audrey's Adventures.....") - actually, quite the opposite. So much has happened that I'm a bit intimidated about updating *^^*
During the Great Silence, I went from one side of the country to the other. The weekend of the first, our academy directors took us northeast to see Seoraksan. On the way, we stopped by the Goseong Unification Observatory, which is the eastern most point of the DMZ. It is a less popular place because it is just a lookout, but we did get a lot of pictures of North Korea. Looking back through my photos, I focused a lot on this one building that we kept referring to "Kim Jong Il's Not-So-Secret-Hideout" (which started as a joke that it was his hiding-in-plain-sight summer home; in reality, it's probably just some abandoned building).
After buying icecream, we got back into the Chungdahm bus and headed to Seoraksan. The plan was to take a cable car to the temple at the top, but the Wind Demon prevented us from fulfilling those plans. Instead, we walked around the base and went to the temple there. Our director, in her fantastic sense of humor, found these two rocks close together and said that if you could pass between them, you were in good health. A few of my coworkers tested her theory before she started laughing and said, "No, I'm kidding - I have no idea what these are for!" However, some Chinese tourists had watched us walk between the stones, and when we left, they started to copy us. Our director laughed again - the whole thing reminded me of Hayden's tour-guide act in Connecticut (the short version: they were bored, so he put on a fake European accent and stared making up stories about the surrounding areas...one of the stories resulted in the best holiday ever, Aveomas).
At Seoraksan, I was totally fascinated by the wishing stones. There were stacks of these flat stones that represented people's wishes. As I was concerned about a since solved matter, I made more than one wish. My greedyness was rewarded when, on my third round, the entire pile collapsed beneath my tiny stone. My coworkers laughed and said that I destroyed everyone's wishes. I know you get seven years bad luck for breaking a mirror - I can't wait to see what's in store for me for ruining dozens of wishes...
The accompanying picture post, which I am just now mentioning, will also include shots of silkworm larvae. Those little buggers (literally!) are chock-full of protein - good for mountain climbing!
The following week brought May 5, which in Korea is Children's Day. That week was IBT testing (the test they take to move up to the next level), so a handful of kids had to take a test on a day devoted to their happiness! We had class early and were out by 4, which meant that we had time to go to Seoul to celebrate an equally important holiday: Cinco de Mayo! I figured Dos Tacos would be packed with foreigners, but we were lucky and got a table right away. I miss Mexican food so much! Actually, anyone reading this who happens to be in the Seoul area, drop me a line and we will go :)
That weekend, May 8-9, I joined Anna and Laura and we ventured south to Busan to visit Christi, who had just returned to Korea. Busan is just like southern California! It was a completely different world than Seoul - much more laid back, and with a relaxed style that Seoul just couldn't do. Christi's place is amazing - her apartment is three times the size of my tiny villa and she lives insanely close to almost anything a person could need.
The beach was a much-needed getaway from Suji/Seoul. The Koreans were completely fascinated with us, despite Busan being such a foreign destination. We kept getting approached by people asking us where we were from - some even wanted to take our pictures with them. According to Jen, in the summer, every inch of sand is covered with umbrellas. The Koreans flock to the beach, but avoid the sun because pale skin is considered to be more beautiful.
Rounding out this month of awesomeness (which isn't anywhere near over) was a trip to Caribbean Bay, the water park attached to Everland. Jen's birthday is coming up soon and that is what she wanted to do! She chose a fantastic weekend, too - it's off season, so the park wasn't too crowded, and the weather was beautiful. If you go, expect to find rules that are a bit different from American water parks. Learn from our mistakes: You don't have to get a life jacket to go in the wave pool if you don't go past the red line. The waves break after the red line, so it's more fun in front of it anyway =p. We bodysurfed and slammed into poor, unsuspecting Koreans like champions! Also, bring a hat. They won't let you into the wave pool without one (something about keeping the water clean?).
The boomerang slide was by far my favorite of the few that were open. It starts off like a regular tube ride, but at the end, you're shot up this giant wall of water, and then slingshot back down into the pool. This trip was all about relaxing and being away from responsibility, but I think next time I go, I will do that ride multiple times! Stella, like a champion, let go of the tube and held up her arms at the very top - I was too busy screaming to do anything similar to that braveness ;)
During the Great Silence, I went from one side of the country to the other. The weekend of the first, our academy directors took us northeast to see Seoraksan. On the way, we stopped by the Goseong Unification Observatory, which is the eastern most point of the DMZ. It is a less popular place because it is just a lookout, but we did get a lot of pictures of North Korea. Looking back through my photos, I focused a lot on this one building that we kept referring to "Kim Jong Il's Not-So-Secret-Hideout" (which started as a joke that it was his hiding-in-plain-sight summer home; in reality, it's probably just some abandoned building).
After buying icecream, we got back into the Chungdahm bus and headed to Seoraksan. The plan was to take a cable car to the temple at the top, but the Wind Demon prevented us from fulfilling those plans. Instead, we walked around the base and went to the temple there. Our director, in her fantastic sense of humor, found these two rocks close together and said that if you could pass between them, you were in good health. A few of my coworkers tested her theory before she started laughing and said, "No, I'm kidding - I have no idea what these are for!" However, some Chinese tourists had watched us walk between the stones, and when we left, they started to copy us. Our director laughed again - the whole thing reminded me of Hayden's tour-guide act in Connecticut (the short version: they were bored, so he put on a fake European accent and stared making up stories about the surrounding areas...one of the stories resulted in the best holiday ever, Aveomas).
At Seoraksan, I was totally fascinated by the wishing stones. There were stacks of these flat stones that represented people's wishes. As I was concerned about a since solved matter, I made more than one wish. My greedyness was rewarded when, on my third round, the entire pile collapsed beneath my tiny stone. My coworkers laughed and said that I destroyed everyone's wishes. I know you get seven years bad luck for breaking a mirror - I can't wait to see what's in store for me for ruining dozens of wishes...
The accompanying picture post, which I am just now mentioning, will also include shots of silkworm larvae. Those little buggers (literally!) are chock-full of protein - good for mountain climbing!
The following week brought May 5, which in Korea is Children's Day. That week was IBT testing (the test they take to move up to the next level), so a handful of kids had to take a test on a day devoted to their happiness! We had class early and were out by 4, which meant that we had time to go to Seoul to celebrate an equally important holiday: Cinco de Mayo! I figured Dos Tacos would be packed with foreigners, but we were lucky and got a table right away. I miss Mexican food so much! Actually, anyone reading this who happens to be in the Seoul area, drop me a line and we will go :)
That weekend, May 8-9, I joined Anna and Laura and we ventured south to Busan to visit Christi, who had just returned to Korea. Busan is just like southern California! It was a completely different world than Seoul - much more laid back, and with a relaxed style that Seoul just couldn't do. Christi's place is amazing - her apartment is three times the size of my tiny villa and she lives insanely close to almost anything a person could need.
The beach was a much-needed getaway from Suji/Seoul. The Koreans were completely fascinated with us, despite Busan being such a foreign destination. We kept getting approached by people asking us where we were from - some even wanted to take our pictures with them. According to Jen, in the summer, every inch of sand is covered with umbrellas. The Koreans flock to the beach, but avoid the sun because pale skin is considered to be more beautiful.
Rounding out this month of awesomeness (which isn't anywhere near over) was a trip to Caribbean Bay, the water park attached to Everland. Jen's birthday is coming up soon and that is what she wanted to do! She chose a fantastic weekend, too - it's off season, so the park wasn't too crowded, and the weather was beautiful. If you go, expect to find rules that are a bit different from American water parks. Learn from our mistakes: You don't have to get a life jacket to go in the wave pool if you don't go past the red line. The waves break after the red line, so it's more fun in front of it anyway =p. We bodysurfed and slammed into poor, unsuspecting Koreans like champions! Also, bring a hat. They won't let you into the wave pool without one (something about keeping the water clean?).
The boomerang slide was by far my favorite of the few that were open. It starts off like a regular tube ride, but at the end, you're shot up this giant wall of water, and then slingshot back down into the pool. This trip was all about relaxing and being away from responsibility, but I think next time I go, I will do that ride multiple times! Stella, like a champion, let go of the tube and held up her arms at the very top - I was too busy screaming to do anything similar to that braveness ;)
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