Dear America...

Dear America,

Sometimes you make me really angry. Our government and health care are in shambles. There is way too much violence and too many law suits. Etc, etc, etc.

But America, I miss you. Sometimes you make me really happy. You understand that if a person is sick, they should stay home as to not spread germs and make more people sick. You understand that people need breaks. Week long breaks, vacations in order to travel and see new things, to relax and feel refreshed, and to see family and friends. You (for the most part) don't almost run me over with your cars, or ride your scooters on the sidewalk, let me try on all clothes at a clothing shop, and will sell me the shirt hanging on the wall even if it's a part of your display. You understand order and make people line up everywhere they go and wait their turn. It is not okay to cut in front of someone, and I like that! There are no such things as squatters and it is your duty to supply all bathrooms with toilet paper.

And America, I love your choices! There are so many! So many different kinds of food, clothing, and opinions. Also America, you (for the most part) speak English! If I don't want squid in my kimchi pancake, you can make that happen for me! I can tell a doctor all my symptoms and she will understand me and provide me with the proper medication. Although I am a bit nervous I'll have some anxiety upon my arrival back to you...I miss you, I love you, and I can't wait to see you!

<3

Korean Videos

Sometimes it's really hard trying to explain to people back home what it's like working and living in Korea. I found these videos about teaching in Korea and I must say, they are fairly spot on and are really funny. (My mom even thought that I made the videos because of some of the stories I've told her.) But when you deal with these things every single day, it can be pretty frustrating and ridiculous.







Yes, people are surprised that I don't need a fork and that I like the spicy food.
Yes, "How are you? I'm fine. Thank you. And you?" is an EVERYDAY conversation.
Yes, I usually don't understand any conversation that is going on around me.
Yes, I am not really allowed to ask for specific days off and have been tricked out of vacation days.
Yes, my contract means nothing to my boss.
Yes, I have never been more sick as I have been this year.
Yes, I am expected to go to the doctor or hospital if I'm sick (and I better pretty much be dying or I'm expected to go to work.) There's no such thing as taking a day to just rest and feel better...I better be on some type of medication.

Like I said, some of these things can be really frustrating because this isn't my country and I don't quite understand the logic, but some things can be really funny, too. Like when everyone says "Nice to meet you" on the street, but we never actually met. You just passed by me the street.

Play Time

I start work at 1:30, but my first class usually doesn't start until 2:55. Now, why some students start arriving at school at 1:30 is beyond me...but lately I have been enjoying my play time with them. It is fun and laid back, and I love that it doesn't bother me that they're running around instead of being seated, or writing all over the board instead of opening their books. In fact, I really wish that I could just play with them all day instead of making them sit down and staying quiet. My sweet sweet girls! Kelly, Lucy, Laura, and Cindy. I wish I could teach them all day, every day.
They are trying to read Dan Brown's 'The Lost Symbol.' It went something like this "A..mula.. mula.. the.. mula.. mula.. no.. mula.. mula.. is.." (Mula is something like "I don't know.")
Tic-Tac-Toe time. And drawing a snail.
More Tic-Tac-Toe. And completing the snail.
Let's practice....How do you spell "girl?"
Cindy is always the first one to school. She follows Colin and me around, gives us candy, sits on my lap, and I introduce her to things like the Wizard of Oz. (And yes, that is a giant bottle of ibuprofen on my desk. It's a necessity!)

Cindy, Justin, and Jin. Even the boys like to join in on the fun :)

Beautiful Gyeongju

Yay for Spring! The cherry blossom are in bloom and although the weather wavers a bit, it for the most part is just beautiful! So this past weekend we trekked across the country, 4 and 1/2 hours on the bus, to Gyeongju! It is considered "the museum without walls," and I can certainly understand why. It is by far one of the most beautiful cities I've visited in Korea (hmm, perhaps why they dubbed it "beautiful Gyeongju?!) It is just more traditional looking and all of the high rises seem to be on the outskirts of the city.

So on Saturday we met up with some friends who all came up from Busan. We went to Bulguksa Temple, which was much farther out of the city than we anticipated. I'm not going to lie, but some of these Temples are starting to look the same to me, but it was still nice to see and walk around the grounds.

Afterwards, we decided to take a cab up the mountain to see the Seokguram Grotto. We were on a time crunch because it was supposed to close in 45 minutes, but I thought it was worth it! We ran down the winding path, up the crooked stone steps, and into the tiny temple which housed a huge statue of the Buddha. It is made of granite and was made in the 8th century...on the top of the mountain...inside the mountain...where Silla Royalty would go to pray. I was really taken back by the history of it all. But, then we were off, running down the winding road back to the cab.
A photo of Temple Theatre Alumni doing amaaazing things! :)

That night before dinner Colin and I made our way to Anapji Pond, where in the 70s a boat was found along with thousands of artifacts from the Silla dynasty. It was really pretty at night and we got some great photos.

On Sunday we rented bicycles and cycled all over town. There were a lot of people out and it was the first time since being in Korea that I was called a "tourist!" But, it was still a lovely day.

This was a field of pretty yellow flowers. Oddly enough, it was named the "rape flowers complex." ::insert witty joke here::

Our two cute bicycles for the day

We came upon a huge group of professional photographers taking pictures of performers dressed in the traditional outfits. All of a sudden, the photographers dispersed and some came over to Colin and me and started taking a ton of pictures of us! I got really flustered and realized that I could never be a celebrity. I wonder where those photos will end up...This was a park full of the tombs of ancient Kings. Although they are not as massive as the Pyramids, they serve the same purpose. It was really neat walking around and being surrounded by so much royalty!

This photo is for you mom...I hope this blog entry has enough pics of my smiling face for you :)

Sunchang Part 2 + Damyang

Well folks, we're down to the wire. We only have about 10 weeks to go until we're finished with our time in Korea. 10 weekends sounds like no time at all, but 10 weeks of teaching still sounds like FOREVER. I will write more on how I feel about all this later. We are booked until we go home which I couldn't be more excited about...the weather is beautiful and having plans gets me through the week!

Last weekend our lovely friends Ruth and Andy invited us back to their little town of Sunchang. We took an early bus and got there around noon. It was gorgeous outside, so we packed a little picnic of kimbap, oranges, and bananas and started hiking up their mountain, along with their friend Brian who has lived in Sunchang for 3 years! Now, this mountain is pretty much the same as any other mountain, BUT we were the only ones on the trail! We only ran into 2 groups of people the entire 3 hours we were hiking. This is unusual here because usually there are so many Koreans and they are all pushing and trying to get around you. Anyway, the hike was lovely, even with my multiple breaks because apparently yoga doesn't help with my stamina. When we were almost at the top, we came to a flat rock with a pretty view and decided to have our picnic there.

Our little picnic on the mountain...please note our chopsticks and the staring into the distance deep-in-thought look

After our wonderful hike, David and Gi Ro arrived and then it was time for a barbeque on the roof! They found hamburgers somewhere and it was delicious! It was also just so nice to be outside ALL DAY FINALLY! Then, we went to a tiny bar where we played card games, ate dried squid (I'm actually really going to miss that stuff), and laughed my butt off. I feel really lucky to have met such kind and funny people during my time here. A Korean man joined us although he couldn't speak any English, shook all of our hands, and blessed Colin because apparently Colin's hands were too cold. Too funny.

The next day, we took a short bus ride to Damyang, a bamboo forest that is also used for a tv and movie set sometimes. Again, the weather was beautiful and there weren't many people around. It was just a really relaxing walk. Although work/teaching tends to squelch my mood, this weekend still gave me very high spirits! Bring on the next weekend!

The motorcycle "gang" that rolled up for a lovely stroll in the bamboo forest... love it :)

Some of these statue men had penises...I will leave out those creative photos

Korean Baseball Game

On Saturday morning, Colin, Rich, Jarred, and I caught the 10:50 train to Gwangju, a city that's an hour and a half south of us. We arrived at 12:30 and jumped in a cab to the Kia Tiger's Baseball Stadium. It was opening day and our first Korean baseball game. Now, the first difference is that there were a lot of random people outside of the stadium who had set up tables and were selling drinks, beer, chicken, dried squid, and the inflatable bangers to cheer the team on. So, we bought our chicken, beer, and bangers (decided against the dried squid) and followed the crowd into the stadium area. The second difference....where the heck do we buy tickets?! There was a big line which we got into, but it was for people who had bought tickets online. No one seemed to know what we were talking about. Luckily, we spotted another foreigner (who was also wearing a UF baseball cap) and asked him. He said that unfortunately the game was sold out (OMG), but the chicken ladies had tickets we could get tickets from, but we'd have to buy more chicken. So we ran out back to the front and we were going to each table saying "Tickets?" and then they would say "Yes! Chicken!" Nooo! Two different words! Luckily, we saw one lady selling her two tickets, and then a chicken lady had two tickets, but yes we did have to buy more chicken.

So we ran back in, and finally headed into the actual stadium. The third difference....General admission at an opening day baseball game? Pure chaos. It looked like every seat had been filled so I was going up and down all the aisles looking for empty seats. At this point, I got really annoyed. Luckily, Colin noticed that four seats had bags on them. I would have assumed they were saved for people, but Colin asked the high school boys sitting behind those seats, and they were just using the seats for their stuff! So we thankfully got seats, but it took me a while to calm down from everything.

The fourth difference...The excitement, songs, chants, and cheerleaders! I have never seen so much excitement at a baseball game before. Everyone was singing, hitting their bangers, and shouting. An ajumma came by and led some chants. We offered our abundance of chicken to the people around us and made some friends. One man even gave us a pack of beef jerkey, yum! I made friends with the high school girls in our section and they gave me ice cream. After the first general shock and chaos of everything, it was a wonderful and exciting day!

Because we were in a bigger city, after the game we went for Indian food and a few drinks at their foreign bar. We caught the 11 o'clock train back to Iksan, the end of a very fun spring day!