Heart and Seoul

There were a lot of play on words I could have used for this title, but I decided not to focus too hard. Before I forget everything that happened from this past weekend, I figured I'd post.

So I went to Seoul! Sounds easy enough. It was a fabulous weekend, but very, very tiring. I took a 6:10 am train into the city, and, being the kind of person that doesn't sleep on transportation vehicles, did not sleep any more. Nothing too exciting happened.

We got into Seoul, but unfortunately were not entirely sure on where we had to go. So after getting on the wrong track and more or less guessing where we had to go, we were on our way. Mind you, we were carrying not only our own stuff, but other things for the person we were meeting up with. It wasn't bad at first, but combined with the tiredness, the extra weight, and getting a bit frustrated with not knowing where to go, it felt a lot worse. However many subway stops and transfers later, we made it to to Hongik University stop. We then were (almost) instructed on how to get to the hostel, but, again, our directions weren't necessarily the best. At least it wasn't raining!! We finally made it there and set all of our stuff down. The hostel was...interesting. I think the main point that bothered me was that when we entered, we had no idea who was even running the place. I mean, there were a few Korean guys in the living room, but there was no "Hi, are you Rhea's friends?" or "Hey, how's it going?" They were just kind of chillin' there with some other foreigners. They didn't seem like bad guys, but a little courtesy is all I'm asking for!

Anway, we went to Friday's for lunch. I think my favorite part was that the servers all had to wear some kind of accessory on their head. Yes, even the guys. For the girls working, it usually consisted of a hairpin, or, a headband with cat ears on top. That's right. Cat ears. There was also another girl that had an overly large, red, sparkly bow that pretty much took up about a third of her head. But wait. It gets better. Some of the guys wore fedoras, which is just awesome in general. There were 2 guys, however, that wore some kind of ruffly, red flower hairpiece that was just too good not to chuckle at. Moving on, the other highlight of lunch consisted of me mistaking one of the servers in that I thought he was asking to take my plate (I was done eating), when in reality, he was asking if I wanted a refill. Too bad I had already handed him my plate. He got confused and then I realized that I had totally made myself look like a fool. I got so embarrassed! I was covering my face and everything. And then, I kept saying "Ne (yes), aniyo (no)" in a flustered manner. It's unfortunate that I don't have a video of this, because it really was a sight to see. That guy probably went to his friends and said "Hey, so this foreigner is definitely weird, listen to this..." It was hilariously bad.

Later, we headed to Insadong, a shopping area in Seoul. Hello, people. Holy shnikies, there were bajillions of people. It was so overwhelming with all of the shops and people and tripping over a badly designed street multiple times.We did find this neat area of stores that were basically in a square, but were connected by ramps; kind of like a spiral. Hard to describe. Check Facebook.

Then it started to rain quite heavily, but luckily we found an underground shopping area. Except that they didn't have any cameras. I found a Red Mango! Thanks to Kathy for this one. She told me about Red Mango back in June. It's a frozen yogurt place where you can add on a bunch of fruit toppings (amongst others). So we stopped by. mmm. Delish. By that point we decided to go see the North Seoul Tower. Not only is it located on a mountain, but (and here's my inner Korean nerd coming out in me) it is also a place where the drama "Boys Over Flowers" shot a few scenes. Considering that Lee Min Ho is my Korean celebrity crush and that the scenes shot at that tower were so cheesily fantastic, I had to go.

BUT FIRST, we stopped at Shinsegae (the Korean Macy's, except wayyyyy bigger) so that I could find a camera! I also found a Coach store, so, naturally, I had to check it out. I saw some uber cute bags that were also uber expensive. Anyway, we made our way to the camera area (on the...9th floor. Of many) and I checked out some cameras. After I found which one I wanted, I paid the guy (which was in itself a slightly prolonged experience), and while we waited, 2 of the employees working behind the counter were attempting to talk to us. One man asked me "Where..from?" After I replied Chicago, he said "Oh...uh...Bulls! You..know..Michael Jordan?" To which I answered "Yep." He then remarked on his -short- professional golf career, and that whole conversation ended abruptly. Well, then he asked if I knew any Korean celebrities, to which I answered Lee Min Ho and Lee Seung Ki (both actors). The second Korean guy (who was quite shy) mentioned Gumiho, which is a drama entitled "My Girlfriend is a Gumiho" that is on right now (I'm currently on episode 2. Gumiho literally means "nine-tailed fox). It's Lisa's favorite, so she said that, to which the shy Korean said "Me too." It was kind of adorable. We left shortly afterwards with...my new camera!!!! It cost 300,000 won, which equates to around $250. Not bad.

So THEN we headed to the N Seoul Tower. We had to take a cable car up to the tower since it was on a mountain, but it only took us to the base of the tower, where you then had to buy another ticket to go to the top. Lame. It was foggy and rainy and nighttime, so the view wasn't the best, but it was nice to see regardless. There was an area with the "Locks of Love," a wall that is comprised of hundreds of locks, usually with some kind of love note that couples lock on the fence. It was pretty neat. We headed back down, and made our way back to Hongik University. We found a Mexican restaurant, which was actually far better than I thought it was going to be. It was probably as close to being authentic as Korean-Mexican cooking can get. We headed back to the hostel and pretty much crashed. Our legs and feet were sore, it was late, we were tired from all of the traveling, and exhausted.

Sunday we met up with Korean friends Sera and Jeanie in Itaewon for lunch. We went to a pub called the Wolfhound, which was quite good. We made it over to the National History Museum of Korea. This area was huge. For cereal. They had steps outside the museum so that when you're looking at them from a distance, it makes a picture of an ancient Greek temple. Go Korea for making things look cool. We could also see the N Seoul Tower from the top of the stairs! 

So. Museum. It was free! Stellar. We made it through half of the first floor in around 1.5 hours. There were 3 floors. That's lots of history. I didn't have time to even keep going! Lisa and I had a 7:00 bus to get to. That's ok, though. I'd love to go back to Seoul sometime in the future to experience more, because there's a lot.

So, 7:00 bus. We didn't make it. We really didn't make it. By the time we got to the bus terminal, it was 8:30. Luckily, there were buses leaving fairly frequently, so we just exchanged our tickets for a later time. Well, the next bus wasn't until 9:40. We were pretty much thinking that we wouldn't get back to Mokpo until around 3 am. Our bus driver must have been flying because we got back at 1:30am, a lot better than what we had hoped. I got back to my apartment and went to bed. My legs and feet were so exhausted from all of the walking!

Seoul is a great city, but I'm kind of glad that I'm in Mokpo. As nice as Seoul is, it doesn't seem like "real" Korea. There were lots of foreigners (not that that's bad) and western food places. It kind of seemed like the city had to cater to dealing with them. I'd much rather stay in a smaller city where not everything is in English and be totally immersed in the Korean culture and lifestyle. What I can tell you is that I'm pretty good at the subway system now. I can't even begin to tell you how much I was on the subway this weekend.

So that was my weekend in Seoul! Next week I'm traveling to Busan (a city on the SE part of the peninsula) during one of our breaks. Exciting!

1 Month and Counting

So I've been in Korea for a month. It has gone by so fast! I'm still learning a lot every day and hope to continue more in the months to follow.

Here are some things I've noticed:

1. Korean age. It's different. They celebrate birthdays to an extent, but the people don't actually age one year. Here's how it works. Koreans believe that when a person is born, they are 1. Then, on January 1st, everyone ages one year. So if someone was born on December 31st, they're 1. And on January 1st, they are already 2. I am considered 23 in Korean age, but 22 in American age.

2. Couples. Not only are the dynamics different, but they dress differently. The guys are always trying to look calm and composed, with the girls kind of hanging around them. They carry their girlfriend's purse (even if they may have a man purse of their own). I think my favorite part of couples is their matching couple shirts. That's right. Matching shirts. I saw 2 cases just yesterday. One of them even had matching shoes. It's pretty fantastic.

3. Getting things done/saying what you want to say. Nothing is said directly. Meanings are hidden in implied statements. For example, I asked my director for a stove the other day. He asked if I wanted a gas one or an electric one. I would prefer gas, but he replied with "Electric you can take other places." Which means, I gather, that I will be moving out of my current apartment sometime soon in the future. About time.

4. Driving. Where should I begin? Well, the light system is pretty funky. Of course, when the light is green, then cars go. Then there's the flashing yellow light, which of course means that the light will soon turn red. And red means stop. Well, sometimes if there aren't a lot of cars around, then some people will just cross while the light is red. Especially the guys on mopeds/motorcycles. They are crazy ridiculous. At night, some of the lights just turn off and cars go whenever they want or if there isn't another car in their way. It is very confusing. I would never, ever drive here. And then there's the lack of seat belts. Not necessarily that there aren't any seat belts, but there are no buckles to fasten them in. Safety, anyone? I guess not. 


5. Police. They don't really do much. Their main priority is looking out for drunk people, because that's pretty big here. Some police officers will be located at intersections late at night, doing breath analyzer tests on every drive that comes by. Hardcore. I saw some police officers catch a drunk driver at a gas station. It was interesting. They handcuffed the guy and just walked back towards the station. Were they forcing him along? Nope. They walked and the guy just followed them. Talk about respect of authority.

Those are just a few. There are a few tiny differences that I notice here and there, but overall it's been interesting and exciting learning about Korea and their customs.

 Work has been very work-filled lately. Director gave me a project that involved making vocab sheets. Doesn't sound too bad, right? Well, it consists of defining 1,470 total words over 9 books and writing example sentences. So it's taking some time. I only have 4 books left! I also made my first lesson plans last week. It actually wasn't that bad. We also got a new teacher! His name is Tarek (pronounced "tar"-"ick") and has a nice, open personality. It's nice that Naomi and I get a new friend to have at work!

This coming weekend will be my first trip outside of the city. A few friends and I are traveling to Seoul for the weekend. I'm pretty excited! Not only will I get to see Seoul, but I will have just gotten paid ^_^. I'm hoping to buy a camera so I can finally show you pictures!

That's all for now. I don't know about you, but I'm ready for cooler weather. For sure.

Birthday Weekend

I have officially had a birthday in a foreign country. Though I wasn't able to spend it with family and friends from back home, my friends here set up an evening of fun for me. While at work, I was given a list entitled "Picture Scavenger Hunt." This list comprised of 22 things that I had to do around Mokpo and take picture of. So I started. I would do one here, walk around for a little bit, find another one I could scratch off the list, etc. It was a lot of fun! Naomi and I met up with Amy, Lisa, and Paul, and continued in my pursuit to do all 22 things!

Lisa made the list. Here it is:

1. If only you could find Lee Min Ho (Korean celebrity)...
2. Find or make a calendar of August. Try to find someone else who has a birthday in August!
3. Find a really creative hiding place that you would use in a game of hide and seek.
4. Catch a bus and say a prayer!
5. Find a stage or platform. Put on a show and take a bow!
6. Find the most outlandish ring you can and try it on for size!
7. Strike the most peaceful, relaxed, and happy pose you can!
8. Find balloons and have a contest to see who can blow their balloon the biggest in one minute (we changed it to 10 seconds)
9. Bust a move
10. Find something that clearly represents Tokyo or London
11. Find something bouncy to jump on!
12. Have you seen any "Queen" Mary's in Mokpo?
13. Find a Korean teacher and snap a quick photo with them!
14. Create a maternity moment.
15. Decide on a "true" color and create something using only that color
16. Drum up a parade
17. Vogue.
18. Find something that has the word "funk" in it and snap a photo
19. Find a sign in Korean saying "Do not touch."
20. Let's see some creative "shadow" art
21. Give us your best poker face. Must include cards of some kind.
22. What are three things that you are dreaming of for this year? Find a way to make a list using pictures.

So I had quite a lot of work ahead of me. I'll just say right now that I didn't finish Thursday night. Hunger got in the way. And the need for a birthday cake. I won't post pictures here, because there would be too many. Check Facebook. Anywho, I had a lot of fun, but we started to get hungry. We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we went to a restaurant and ordered a chicken dish. It was ginormous! (Facebook pics) It contained chicken, cabbage, potatoes, rice cakes, ramen, cheese, and a red pepper sauce. DELISH. Oh yeah, we had some quail eggs too. That was interesting. It was really just like a hard boiled egg, but smaller.

After dinner, I was led to Baskin Robbins, where I got to choose an ice cream cake! I decided on a chocolate cake with a vanilla center. It was quite scrumptious! We took it to a coffee house and ate it there while sipping delicious caffeine goodness. We may have let some of the ice cream get to us, because we pretty much laughed the rest of the night. Before we knew it, it was almost midnight, and we headed home. I still had 7 things left to do on the list, so we decided that I would have the weekend to finish it.

Saturday evening was girls' night in! Naomi, Lisa, Yung Suk, and I met at MaRee's apartment. MaRee made the best pumpkin spring rolls ever! Then again, I've never had them before. Yung Suk made a noodle dish that was excellent, and we also had some veggies courtesy of Naomi. Everything was so good and we were so full afterwards! MaRee also made rice krispies treats and cut up a bunch of fruit. I was full for the rest of the night! We played picture telephone and hilarity ensued. And I kicked butt in Bananagrams ^^. I didn't end up doing any more of my scavenger hunt list, so Sunday would have to count!

And it sure did. But I'll get there eventually. I got a call from Jay's (one of my students) mom, who invited me to lunch. I had already eaten, but she insisted, so I said yes. She as well as Sally (another student) and her mom picked me up and we went for coffee. They are so nice! I was invited to dinner at Mrs. Jay's (I have decided to call her that) house on Friday. I'm pretty excited.

I went to church, and afterwards I did another objective on the list. I put on a show and took a bow. That was fun. We headed to Smoothie King and chilled there until I went to the Catholic Mass. After that, I met back up with Lisa and we continued doing the scavenger hunt. There wasn't much left. After much walking, we decided that there are absolutely no bouncy things in Korea. Unless we bought some kind of bouncy ball, which we didn't feel like doing. So unfortunately, I did not complete 1 item from the list. But it's the only one! I'll get a ball sometime this week though and finish the list. Otherwise it was a great weekend that went by way too fast! I'm not ready for another week of work!


On a random note: I got a card from my mom and little bro! I was beyond excited when I got them at school. For serious. It was fantastic.

Thanks to everyone who wished me happy birthday!

1 week down!

I have been in Korea for 1 whole week. It seems like it's been a long time already! I have done quite a few things already. I'll break it down by day:

Monday: After school, Director, Susan, and I had dinner ordered. I don't remember the name, but it was a noodle dish that had shrimp, mushrooms, and a few other vegetables in a dark sauce. It was really good! We also had a pork dish that was in another kind of sauce that was also very good. In Korea, side dishes come with meals automatically. Kimchi and pickled radish are always 2 of them, and the others vary. What's kind of neat is that when you're done eating, you set the dishes outside of your place and someone comes to pick them up! (the food wasn't put in to-go containers) That pretty much sums up that day.

Tuesday: Susan took me to dinner with a few of her friends (Lisa and Amy), who are also English teachers. We went to a place called Kirin, which Amy has been raving about. It's considered a bistro, but it serves Korean food with a few outside influences. It was also really good, and I'm so glad that I got to meet Lisa and Amy. We walked back to Susan's apartment and hung out for a while.

Wednesday: After school, Susan and I went to dinner with 2 moms of some of our students. They took us out (it was Susan's last day) to her favorite restaurant. It was one of those places where there are separate rooms with the really low tables and a door that you can close. The table had a grill, as well as a whole lot of dishes with toppings in them. We ordered a beef dish, and the server brought us a pan that had rolled up pieces of beef, mushrooms, and clams. You could use the toppings as you wanted them. There were lettuce leafs (so you could make a lettuce wrap) as well as square egg noodles. The toppings were: shredded cabbage, 3 sauces (a hot sauce, a traditional Korean sauce, and a oil-ish kind of sauce), pickled radish, kimchi, sweet potato, some kind of salad, cherry tomatoes, and garlic. Oh man, it was so good. And there was so much food! Just as we were finishing up the food on the pan, the server brought out another one that had roast beef and more mushrooms! Susan said "Yep. This is Korean style. Just when you think you're done, there's still more food to come." I was so full! Jay's mom and Sally's mom were both extremely nice and I had a great time.

Thursday: It was pretty low key. I cooked up some pork with rice and packed my things up to move into Susan's apartment. Naomi, my co-teacher, was going to be coming back, so obviously I couldn't be staying her apartment any longer. So currently I am staying at Susan's old apartment until Director finds my own place to stay.

Friday: We had a field trip for the kindergartners! We went to the children's library and they got a tour of the place. The last thing we did was watch a film. It ended up being Rugrats! Only it was the older version of the show, so it wasn't like the classic. Still. It was awesome. For lunch, we got to eat kimbap!!! Oh my goodness, I have an obsession with kimbap. It is sushi, but the authentic kind. Not those california spring rolls you can buy at the grocery store. I had a bunch of different kinds, and they were all soooooo good. Seriously, I can't get over how good it is.

I met Naomi in the afternoon, and after school, she took me to a chicken place. We ordered a chicken dish that had a sauce that is kind of like the sauce used for orange chicken, but a little different and a little spicier. It was good! All of the food that I've had so far here has been really good. After dinner, we were going to meet up with Lisa for coffee (*side note: there are 3 things to do in Korea hanging-out wise: get coffee, go to a noraebang - I'll explain later, or see a movie). The thing was that we weren't going to be meeting up for a while, so we went to go pay Naomi's phone bill. It started to rain, so we got a little soaked. We went to the phone place, but apparently they were closed. Even though the sign on the door said open. We still had time to kill, so we ended up going by the coffee place (Angel in Us) because there were a lot of stores near it. We ended up at smoothie king and had delicious smoothies. I found out that both Naomi and Lisa love Glee!! The three of us are also very interested in Korean dramas. I just finished watching one entitled "Boys Before Flowers." I liked it, but other Koreans think it's cheesy. We went to the coffee place, and were there for a while. Naomi was extremely tired since she wasn't quite used to the time difference yet. So we left and went to bed

.Saturday: I did nothing until 6. I lounged around the apartment until then. I went to dinner with Naomi and Lisa. We had kimbap! Afterwards we went to 11 am (a coffee house - Lisa has a coffee addiction). One of Lisa's friends, Paul, met up with us. Paul is hilarious. He's Korean, but he hadn't been in Mokpo for a very long time. But, he's pretty cool. We went to a noraebang, which is a place to do karaoke. It's totally different from doing karaoke in America. They have a bunch of different rooms with couches, so your group of friends all stay together and it's just your group that does the karaoke. It was actually pretty fun, despite how much I don't really care for karaoke. We even sang (well, tried to sing) some Super Junior songs!

Afterwards, we got poppingsu for dessert. It's a dish that has shaved ice on the bottom, topped with small red beans, sliced fruit, then with frozen yogurt on top, sprinkled with corn flakes and with a strawberry syrup drizzle. It was delicious! That concluded our night.

Sunday: Somehow I managed to sleep until 1:30 pm! Well, I guess it didn't help that I stayed up late talking to Kathy until 3 am. But still, I slept very late. Church was at 2:30, so I hurried to start getting ready for that. I went to a church that Naomi, Lisa, and Paul go to. It's a community church that has an English service, so I checked it out. It was nice. I liked the music and afterwards there was some food and fellowship. Everyone was very kind to me and very interested in getting to know me. I really enjoyed that. My only concern is that it wasn't a Catholic Mass, so there was no Liturgy of the Eucharist. I haven't found a Catholic church yet, so I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to end up doing. After fellowship, Naomi, Lisa, Paul, and I went to a new Angel in Us coffee house by the harbor. Sang-il met up with us. He's another friend of Lisa and Naomi and it was his last Sunday in Mokpo. A few other people joined us: Juan, Joshua, and 2 other guys (I feel so bad! I can't remember their names!). We hung out there for a while, then got some dinner. I got bi bim bop. It looked like this:

 

except it was a little bigger. Underneath all of the vegetables and the egg is rice. I also had some mandu, which are dumplings. We decided to go to the beach. On our way there, we passed all of the museums. There are a lot of museums! They're not ginormous, but there's a maritime museum, a natural history museum, a cultural history museum, a ceramic lifestyle museum, and at least 2 other ones. We got to the beach, but it really isn't too much of a beach. The slope from the road to the shore was a bit steep, so there wasn't a whole lot of room for sand. It was still really nice, though. We were there for a while, and then headed back. And that bring me to now!

Teaching so far is going well. I'm getting used to it a little now, and I think this next week will be a bit easier since the schedule won't be as funky as this week's was (there was testing and with susan leaving and me coming and naomi coming back, it was a weird schedule). I already have some favorite students and others that I don't like so much. It's not that they're bad kids! They just lose focus easily and it's frustrating trying to get them to do work.

That's it for now! Sorry for writing the longest blog ever. Maybe next time I won't wait a whole week before posting again. I miss everyone and I hope you're all doing well! I'm on Skype, so if you want to talk to me in person, feel free! My Skype name is mer637, and I'm 14 hours ahead of central time. So long!

Maria

I have arrived!

31 hours. That is how long it took for me to finally arrive in Mokpo. Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

The first part isn't too exciting. Left for O'Hare at 4, had a little hiccup when checking in, but got on the first flight fine. I then endured a 4 hour, 45 minute flight into San Francisco, only to think that my second flight would just be twice as long, and then a couple more hours. JOY. Anywho, I didn't have trouble navigating myself to the international terminal, where I was bombarded by what? Stores. Lots of stores. And not just lame stores like, say, those cheesy gift shops (although there were a couple of those), but stores like Gucci, Burberry, and Coach(!). I thought about stopping in Coach, of course, but didn't have much time before boarding started for my next flight.

The second flight was, simply, long. It was 11 hours, so by the time I landed, my body felt like it should have been 2 in the morning. Somehow I managed to sleep a little on the plane, so I wasn't completely wiped. The worst part was that I couldn't take sitting down anymore! We were given lunch on the plane, which was super good considering it was airplane food! I had a chicken dish that had some kind of sauce on it, with rice and peas. It was soo good! Moving right along, we finally landed in Incheon, where I then followed the herd of people towards customs. Everything went swimmingly, I got my baggage, and headed for the exit. I had to buy a bus ticket that would take me to Mokpo, and a very nice airport worker asked where I was going and pointed me in the right direction. It was a little after 3 pm at this point, and my bus wasn't until 6:20. So I got to wait! Let me tell you, it was very exciting...but not really. The bus finally came, where I got to sit some more! This time it was more exciting because I could see the country. There are mountains! They're not the Rockies, but remind me very much of Appalachia.

 The bus ride took another 4-5 hours, but thankfully there was another person who knew English. He translated what the bus driver said for me. At this point I was so tired, I couldn't not stop falling asleep. We made a quick stop somewhere ( I don't know the name), but it was a ginormous rest stop with a bunch of stores and there were so many people there! I finally made it into Mokpo a little after 11 pm (9am central time), where I met my director as well as one of the teachers and her friend (also a teacher, but at a different school). We made a quick stop to pick up some groceries at a store called E Mart. We were trying to be quick; Susan and Rhea were directing me around the store, gathering what I wanted, and telling me what was going to happen in the next couple of days.

I am currently staying in another teacher's apartment while she is gone for the week. I don't have my apartment yet, but I will be getting it very soon. It's pretty nice for a studio. Naomi (the girl whose apartment I'm staying at) has a dog. His name is Jack. Susan told me that I wouldn't have to do anything in terms of care; he's just here. They keep him in the bathroom so he doesn't get pee all over the floor because he has a problem piddling. Sure enough, he's already gone a few times because he's so excited that a new person is here. The ONLY problem with Jack is that he's a brat! I tried to go to sleep, so I put him in the bathroom and closed the door. He would not stop whining! For serious, it was beyond annoying. I ended up bringing him out for a bit, and putting him back in, but the whining just got worse afterwards. So I thought, made he'll sleep on the bed. Bad choice. It tots didn't work, so I ended up putting him in the laundry room and left the light on. There was still some whining, but it wasn't as bad, and I got to sleep!

I am very badly in need of a shower now. Speaking of which, there is not shower! The entire bathroom serves as my shower, and there is only a hose type thing that I use to shower. You know, like those detachable things that also spew water? Yeah. So that is how I will take showers! I will thus embark on that and see what it is like. Today I am on my own; Susan and Rhea had to go to Seoul for the day, but thankfully Susan left me her phone in case I need to get in touch with her via Rhea's phone or Sunny (my director). Susan said Mokpo is a very safe city, so I think I will walk around for a bit. There's a walkway by a small river that I'll probably take and start to get a feel for the city. Tomorrow I am heading to the school to see what it's like before all the kids come.

Well, that's all for now! It's shower time!