The one highlight of this week has been getting off at FOUR O'CLOCK!!!! on Monday - which never happens. Instead of going home in the dark and falling on the invisible snow that likes to blend in with the roadways, I got to go to Care's for CRAFTING NIGHT!!!!!!!!
Was a bit unsure as I was kind of inviting myself (something I have been taught from an early age is insanely rude). I tried calling Care - who didn't answer (because her phone is forever on vibrate). So I called Cait. Things you need to know ahead of time: I live on the Bundang/yellow line - Cait has to take that and then transfer to the pink line (line number....something). Here is an approxmiation of our conversation:
Me: Hey... so I don't think Care knows I'm coming
Cait: It's ok.
Me: Where are you?
Cait: On the train
Me: Ooh - pink or yellow?
Cait: Yellow
Me: .....Did you just pass Demon-san*? Are you on my train?
Cait: I don't know.. I'm in the first car
Me: I'm in car five
Cait: Did a train just pass you?
Me: .....maybe..
We both high tail it to the middle car and meet and laugh like crazy and scare just about every Korean in the vicinity. We also, as usual, seal the stereotype that ALL FOREIGNERS IN KOREA KNOW EACH OTHER.
From the *
Cait and I usually take the first part of the Bundang line home together. In that quality time we've spent together, we have renamed just about every stop:
First - you have to pronounce it like you're from the deep south: Booon-dayng (it's really pronounced "Bun-dahng")
Seolleung: So long Seoul!
Hanti: Haunted (but with cute ghosts becasue Care lives there)
Dogok: Dog O.K. (This, imo, is the best one)
Guryong: Grrrrrr yong
Gaepodong: Gay ddong (ddong=poop in Korean. Yes, we're 5)
Daemosan: Demon san
Suseo: Dirty station (Suseo, if pronounced incorrectly, is the Spanish word for "dirty")
Bokjeong: Bye bye Cait station :( (I think we actually have a name for it - I just keep forgetting)
Kyungwon Dae: (don't have one)
Taepyeong: Tapeworm
Moran: Moron (obviously)
Yatap: Y'all tap (at this point, we're running out of creative ideas....)
That's about as far as we've gotten. I think Sunae might be Sundae..
Yes, we are children.
At Care's crafting night I managed to actually FINISH A GLOVE. This doesn't count things like weaving in ends and seaming together gaps between the fingers. But let me tell you - if you've never made gloves before, FINGERS ARE THE WORK OF THE DEVIL!!!!
We also started talking about southern staples that we just completely miss in Korea....which may or may not have made the accents come out... which may or may not have made Care realize she has NEVER seen these sides of us before. I think that's why I have so much trouble speaking Korean - I naturally want to extend and soften vowels, and round my consonants.
Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label knitting. Show all posts
Monday, January 31, 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Year in Review (Yes, One of Those =p)
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 ;)
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 ;)
Saturday, October 2, 2010
HEADACHHHEEE!!!! (literally..)
Hit another roadblock with this whole cultural difference thing. This time? Medicine..
I guess it's a sign that I've been really unstressed in Korea that I *haven't* gotten one of my killer migraines thus far. Well, until tonight. As I've spent the day knitting and watching Psych (<3), I think it's a safe bet that this one came on from eye strain. It was pretty late..pharmacies were closed...and my ibuprofen was in my locker at work.
What's a girl to do?
Attempted to drink coffee to see if the caffeine would kill it (it's like stress and smokers - nicotine technically is a stimulant, but cigarettes calm people down because it's satisfying an addiction). No luck. Came home, turned off all the lights and just writhed in pain (very much like the tentacles of a just-killed octopus waiting on your plate to eat it........you know, only in Korea =p). Remembered that I still had cold medicine. Some said cold medicine was for fever - and everyone knows that headache medicine lowers fevers, so shouldn't it work the other way around? Not that I'm recommending anyone play experiment-fun-time with medication - over the counter or not - but, this fortunately worked.
Moral of the story? If you can't run down to the Jiffy Mart (or, well, Family Mart) to get headache medicine as one can do in Korea - make sure you visit your pharmacy during *working hours* to get some...even when you're not out.
In other news, meeting the foreign teacher knitters in Korea has really done a lot for my own knitting skills. When I came to Korea, I was at like Giga-level...but now, I think I'm about to level up to Eagle (hahahaha - I love how you can use CDI class levels to explain skills in almost everything...now, if only everyone else understood those references, too). I've fallen in love with the wholesale yarn shopping at Dongdaemun market (m4101 to the 2nd stop - Jonggak - take a left, walk to the line 1 stop and take it to DDM), although I'm not allowed to buy any more yarn until I finish this shawl for my mother (which I haven't started yet - but that's totally beside the point ;)). Am making a crap ton of gloves and scarves right now because the weather is turning COLD and this Florida girl is LIKE TOTALLY FREAKING OUT. Well, not really - I actually get hot easily. But still. I hate cold hands.
Living overseas has made it quite clear just how terrible I am at keeping in touch with people. I call my mom a lot because she's often the person I can tell things to that I can't tell anyone else. I call my dad because we like to keep each other posted. But...that's about it. The people who have kept in regular touch with me - Jessi, Chase, Joey - that's because they pretty much do most of the reaching out. I'm a really terrible friend when I'm far away..this is perhaps why I have such a hard time making lasting friendships. As we've all learned, I'm also quite terrible with mail. Let's be honest. I suck at mail. I'm also really bad at taking pictures and posting them.. I think because I now see these things everyday and don't think they're all that special, but keep forgetting that other people back home will think that they are new and interesting. Especially all this funny writing (which, again, I don't think is all that funny looking because I can read it (very slowly...and I also mouth the words..just like a little kid)).
Clearly, I need to get back to Psych and knitting. Both of which are things I totally recommend to anyone else who is at home on this rainy Saturday night :)
I guess it's a sign that I've been really unstressed in Korea that I *haven't* gotten one of my killer migraines thus far. Well, until tonight. As I've spent the day knitting and watching Psych (<3), I think it's a safe bet that this one came on from eye strain. It was pretty late..pharmacies were closed...and my ibuprofen was in my locker at work.
What's a girl to do?
Attempted to drink coffee to see if the caffeine would kill it (it's like stress and smokers - nicotine technically is a stimulant, but cigarettes calm people down because it's satisfying an addiction). No luck. Came home, turned off all the lights and just writhed in pain (very much like the tentacles of a just-killed octopus waiting on your plate to eat it........you know, only in Korea =p). Remembered that I still had cold medicine. Some said cold medicine was for fever - and everyone knows that headache medicine lowers fevers, so shouldn't it work the other way around? Not that I'm recommending anyone play experiment-fun-time with medication - over the counter or not - but, this fortunately worked.
Moral of the story? If you can't run down to the Jiffy Mart (or, well, Family Mart) to get headache medicine as one can do in Korea - make sure you visit your pharmacy during *working hours* to get some...even when you're not out.
In other news, meeting the foreign teacher knitters in Korea has really done a lot for my own knitting skills. When I came to Korea, I was at like Giga-level...but now, I think I'm about to level up to Eagle (hahahaha - I love how you can use CDI class levels to explain skills in almost everything...now, if only everyone else understood those references, too). I've fallen in love with the wholesale yarn shopping at Dongdaemun market (m4101 to the 2nd stop - Jonggak - take a left, walk to the line 1 stop and take it to DDM), although I'm not allowed to buy any more yarn until I finish this shawl for my mother (which I haven't started yet - but that's totally beside the point ;)). Am making a crap ton of gloves and scarves right now because the weather is turning COLD and this Florida girl is LIKE TOTALLY FREAKING OUT. Well, not really - I actually get hot easily. But still. I hate cold hands.
Living overseas has made it quite clear just how terrible I am at keeping in touch with people. I call my mom a lot because she's often the person I can tell things to that I can't tell anyone else. I call my dad because we like to keep each other posted. But...that's about it. The people who have kept in regular touch with me - Jessi, Chase, Joey - that's because they pretty much do most of the reaching out. I'm a really terrible friend when I'm far away..this is perhaps why I have such a hard time making lasting friendships. As we've all learned, I'm also quite terrible with mail. Let's be honest. I suck at mail. I'm also really bad at taking pictures and posting them.. I think because I now see these things everyday and don't think they're all that special, but keep forgetting that other people back home will think that they are new and interesting. Especially all this funny writing (which, again, I don't think is all that funny looking because I can read it (very slowly...and I also mouth the words..just like a little kid)).
Clearly, I need to get back to Psych and knitting. Both of which are things I totally recommend to anyone else who is at home on this rainy Saturday night :)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Summer ---> Fall
The last time I wrote, it was so hot that I wanted to die. I should be used to this, being from Florida and all....but it still totally kills me. Now, it's actually cool enough that at night, I kinda wish I had a jacket. My Septembers aren't like this - Septembers for me are usually just as godawul as Augusts, so I'm kinda liking this change.
I say this now, but snow will still happen.
Last time we talked, I was in the middle of intensives. The only thing that got me through was the knowledge of that extra money I'd be bringing home thanks to the extra hours. Unfortunately, we went from those extra hours back into our old schedule for just a bit, and then into a completely new schedule (for those who aren't in this special The Know group, the first two weeks of any term always involve more work). However, our hagwon caved and *actually* gave us a vacation - we got the 3 days for Chuseok (read the freaking Wikipedia page **). Yes, we do have to work the Saturday before and after, but that three days straight was pretty nice :)
Spent my Chuseok mostly with Siobhain, who pretty much is my Korean family :) We spent a lot of time knitting (because it's us), and going to cafes. Sio also introduced me to jjimjilbangs and.......I'm in love. Going to write a separate entry on this that is going to be so awesome and epic and helpful that I think Aclipse should totally feature it in their teacher blog section (hint hint =p)
My knitting has come leaps and bounds here. I don't think I've done anything that hasn't required some sort of pattern or challenge. Right now, I'm doing this cowl for one of my coworkers and a few other smaller projects, but I've worked up the nerve to start lace work and I'm making a shawl for mom that I'm *hoping* will turn out really nice (or, at least nice enough for her to think that I'm a total yarn genius). Gloves have proved to be a giant pain in the rear - I now understand why there are so many fingerless glove and mitten patterns on Ravelry and much fewer fingered glove patterns. For the 1% who are reading this and haven't gone "What is all this knitting nonsense", yes, yarn is available in South Korea - you just have to know where to look.
Finally caved and went to Itaewon (the foreigner-gathering place). I think there are two types of foreigners in Korea: the type that thrive for places like Itaewon because they can't handle all the unfamiliarity, and the type who avoid Itaewon because they think they're "better" than that. I'm definitely in the second group. Yes, there is a lot of ethnic food there, but there's a lot of ethnic food everywhere in Seoul...and for much cheaper, too. It's the only place in Korea that's really loud from people and not just city noises. Plus, as one of my friends has pointed out, it's also one of the few places in which strangers will actually know what we're talking about.
I've also made peace with the M-4101. I discovered the Jonggak/Jongro/YMCA bus stop. It's the second stop on the route (once into Seoul) and pretty close to a few subway stations. I found the line one station, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if I turn the other way, I'll hit the City Hall station which is connected to line 2. It's saved me about an hour of my trip into Seoul (arg..traffic between Jonggak all the way to the Myeongdong/Euljiro-il-ga (or ip-gu if you're talking to Calvin) makes me want to stab puppies). On this, I realized that I can get *back on* the bus here, and not have to deal with the whole ajjuma shove-fest to get the last seat.
** For the condensed version, Chuseok is pretty much the "Korean Thanksgiving", except instead of eating turkey and watching football, they give thanks/praise/etc to their ancestors and eat songpyeon (tiny rice cakes full of surprise goodness)...and, apparently, according to that Wiki page, play tug-of-war...
I say this now, but snow will still happen.
Last time we talked, I was in the middle of intensives. The only thing that got me through was the knowledge of that extra money I'd be bringing home thanks to the extra hours. Unfortunately, we went from those extra hours back into our old schedule for just a bit, and then into a completely new schedule (for those who aren't in this special The Know group, the first two weeks of any term always involve more work). However, our hagwon caved and *actually* gave us a vacation - we got the 3 days for Chuseok (read the freaking Wikipedia page **). Yes, we do have to work the Saturday before and after, but that three days straight was pretty nice :)
Spent my Chuseok mostly with Siobhain, who pretty much is my Korean family :) We spent a lot of time knitting (because it's us), and going to cafes. Sio also introduced me to jjimjilbangs and.......I'm in love. Going to write a separate entry on this that is going to be so awesome and epic and helpful that I think Aclipse should totally feature it in their teacher blog section (hint hint =p)
My knitting has come leaps and bounds here. I don't think I've done anything that hasn't required some sort of pattern or challenge. Right now, I'm doing this cowl for one of my coworkers and a few other smaller projects, but I've worked up the nerve to start lace work and I'm making a shawl for mom that I'm *hoping* will turn out really nice (or, at least nice enough for her to think that I'm a total yarn genius). Gloves have proved to be a giant pain in the rear - I now understand why there are so many fingerless glove and mitten patterns on Ravelry and much fewer fingered glove patterns. For the 1% who are reading this and haven't gone "What is all this knitting nonsense", yes, yarn is available in South Korea - you just have to know where to look.
Finally caved and went to Itaewon (the foreigner-gathering place). I think there are two types of foreigners in Korea: the type that thrive for places like Itaewon because they can't handle all the unfamiliarity, and the type who avoid Itaewon because they think they're "better" than that. I'm definitely in the second group. Yes, there is a lot of ethnic food there, but there's a lot of ethnic food everywhere in Seoul...and for much cheaper, too. It's the only place in Korea that's really loud from people and not just city noises. Plus, as one of my friends has pointed out, it's also one of the few places in which strangers will actually know what we're talking about.
I've also made peace with the M-4101. I discovered the Jonggak/Jongro/YMCA bus stop. It's the second stop on the route (once into Seoul) and pretty close to a few subway stations. I found the line one station, and I have a sneaking suspicion that if I turn the other way, I'll hit the City Hall station which is connected to line 2. It's saved me about an hour of my trip into Seoul (arg..traffic between Jonggak all the way to the Myeongdong/Euljiro-il-ga (or ip-gu if you're talking to Calvin) makes me want to stab puppies). On this, I realized that I can get *back on* the bus here, and not have to deal with the whole ajjuma shove-fest to get the last seat.
** For the condensed version, Chuseok is pretty much the "Korean Thanksgiving", except instead of eating turkey and watching football, they give thanks/praise/etc to their ancestors and eat songpyeon (tiny rice cakes full of surprise goodness)...and, apparently, according to that Wiki page, play tug-of-war...
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Loss and Gain (or, The Final Shopping Trip and Yarn+Hello Kitty)
Last weekend brought one of the worst things since coming to Korea. Tim, one of my closest friends here, moved back to America for grad school. It was like a giant fist with the words "HAHA TEMPORARY!!" flew through the air and smashed me right in the liver. I (metaphorically) doubled over in pain, gagging like crazy, and when I looked up, he was already back in America. Tim's Last Weekend was awesomeness that involved a "surprise" birthday party (that he asked for and made the guest list for and requested the location for) and then a final day of shopping (don't worry concerned parties (again, parents), I avoided The Gap and went to Uniqlo, which has Target prices).
Like the passing of the Olympic torch, Tim ended his time by passing me his Shinsegae point card.
Tim filled a pretty big void in my life that I thought I'd left behind in America when I said bye to Joey and Chase (who, thank goodness, have stepped in with some fantastic Skype conversations the last few weeks...even though Joey really needs to get a microphone ASAP): the platonic male friendship in which no topic is taboo with an understood wavelength that just automatically synchs, so that there's no need to explain what we're not looking at when we talk about it (or, well him ;)), or to provide context for a thought that comes out of nowhere.
This weekend, I had all intentions of staying in bed. One, I'm allowing myself a weekend of wallowing in minus-Tim depression..and, two, Intensives are kicking my butt and I'm quite sleep deprived. However, it was Siobhain's birthday, and she really wanted to go yarn shopping...so I crawled out of Suji and arrived in Seoul 3 hours late. The idea was that I'd miss Dongdaemun so I wouldn't be seduced by things that I didn't need, but then we ended up at Banul and I saw this yarn and....just couldn't help myself *^^*
Now to figure out what to make with it. I have 3 balls - they're each different dye lots, but they're pretty similar.
The original plan involved seeing Inception - which Cait and I had already seen, but could totally handle seeing again - but the only showings by that time started at 10:00 pm. As only one of us lives a decently-priced cab ride home away, we decided to forego that, and go to the Hello Kitty cafe in Sinchon. In case you haven't noticed from lack of pictures on this blog, I kinda need to charge my camera (for a few months now *^^*), so I didn't have it on me and OH MY GOSH DID I REGRET IT (which only means I have to go back). It was just the right amount of cuteness AND the coffee was decently priced for a novelty cafe! We got Sio a cute Hello Kitty cake with candles. When Cait and Caroline add their photos on facebook, I'm going to tag myself in them ;p
So..when this intensive nightmare is over, I think I'm going to go through my yarn and tag it all...plus make a list of patterns on ravelry since I'm constantly haunting that site..
Like the passing of the Olympic torch, Tim ended his time by passing me his Shinsegae point card.
Tim filled a pretty big void in my life that I thought I'd left behind in America when I said bye to Joey and Chase (who, thank goodness, have stepped in with some fantastic Skype conversations the last few weeks...even though Joey really needs to get a microphone ASAP): the platonic male friendship in which no topic is taboo with an understood wavelength that just automatically synchs, so that there's no need to explain what we're not looking at when we talk about it (or, well him ;)), or to provide context for a thought that comes out of nowhere.
This weekend, I had all intentions of staying in bed. One, I'm allowing myself a weekend of wallowing in minus-Tim depression..and, two, Intensives are kicking my butt and I'm quite sleep deprived. However, it was Siobhain's birthday, and she really wanted to go yarn shopping...so I crawled out of Suji and arrived in Seoul 3 hours late. The idea was that I'd miss Dongdaemun so I wouldn't be seduced by things that I didn't need, but then we ended up at Banul and I saw this yarn and....just couldn't help myself *^^*
Now to figure out what to make with it. I have 3 balls - they're each different dye lots, but they're pretty similar.
The original plan involved seeing Inception - which Cait and I had already seen, but could totally handle seeing again - but the only showings by that time started at 10:00 pm. As only one of us lives a decently-priced cab ride home away, we decided to forego that, and go to the Hello Kitty cafe in Sinchon. In case you haven't noticed from lack of pictures on this blog, I kinda need to charge my camera (for a few months now *^^*), so I didn't have it on me and OH MY GOSH DID I REGRET IT (which only means I have to go back). It was just the right amount of cuteness AND the coffee was decently priced for a novelty cafe! We got Sio a cute Hello Kitty cake with candles. When Cait and Caroline add their photos on facebook, I'm going to tag myself in them ;p
So..when this intensive nightmare is over, I think I'm going to go through my yarn and tag it all...plus make a list of patterns on ravelry since I'm constantly haunting that site..
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