Foreign Ways and Holidays

Well our work Christmas dinner turned into a late-nighter. We went to a new restaurant around the corner from school, a short walk that was enough to ice over all of our extremities. We had sam-gyup-sal, which is a kind of pork that is grilled right in front of you. Scissors are a normal cooking utensil and are left on the table for patrons to do it themselves with these large slabs of meat. My co-workers were all indulging in one of the common shots of celebration: soju. It’s really terrible stuff that tastes like rubbing alcohol smells. My friend Amy swears that the day after she drinks it, her immune system is down and she feels sick. With this in mind, I decided that the gunk still periodically coming up from my lungs with a hefty cough was reason enough not to invest any sips. However, a few of the others at the table disagreed and even told me, “I hate when people don’t drink” because in Korea, it’s considered rude for anyone not to participate. I just responded, “I hate when I’m forced” because in America, you don’t do what you don’t want to do. And sick people almost always have the right of way. We reached a compromise. I kept my glass full to discourage anyone from pouring me anymore, and would fake a sip if someone showed any signs of irritation at my refusal to drink. And when they were busy tilting their head back with their own shot, the level of my onion soup would magically increase.

As if this dinner event wasn’t enough, 1030pm was entirely too early for everyone else to call it quits. Mr Lee decided we needed to revisit Hotel Nostalgia. I thought surely he had to be kidding, but I was out of luck when he started piling everyone into taxis to head over to the karaoke room. I couldn’t help but think of the song, “Every party has a pooper that’s why we invited YOU!” when I was being caravanned over to yet another place that wasn’t my warm bed at home with the possibility of recuperation. Against my will and several attempts at insistence that I wasn’t fit to use my lungs, I was forced to sing. Thus, I thought a Christina Aguilera number would relinquish any further obligations or requests for me to entertain the group. I’m sure they didn’t understand all the lyrics, but they got the idea.

Christmas Eve here was spent with Amy, Sally, and her co-worker Clinton. We had roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, salad, a little too much wine, and cheesecake. We played Yahtzee and hung out, telling stories and jokes. The next day, we went to What The Book (a book exchange and store), got massages (my back was bruised green!!!), had dinner and just a relaxing day all-around. It was uneventful, but nice. It didn’t feel like Christmas in the city, despite several cab drivers and store owners going through the motions to wish the whities their greetings. But it was still nice to have friends who appreciated what it was all about for all of us.

As far as the weather goes here, it has been ice cold for several weeks. Snow began the first weekend of December and has periodically continued. Cold weather in Louisiana means keeping a sweater in your car. Cold weather here means you wear an undershirt, long johns, another shirt, a sweater, and a coat, on top of which you have a hat, ear warmers, a scarf, gloves, and the rest of the nine yards. I was discussing the bulk of winter attire with my Assistant Director and she noted that she hadn’t yet started wearing long johns under her jeans. I’m sure the look on my face was sheer terror. I’ve worn them for WEEKS! This is going to be a long winter.

Seoul is the fifth largest city in the world. The larger the city, the more pollution it tends to have. People here recycle to the nth degree, but there’s one thing they can’t particularly control and it’s dust. There’s an absurd amount of it here. I dust weekly and come up with loads of it! I even dust my walls on a regular basis with a wet cloth. I’ve cleaned the baseboards since I’ve been here more than once, I wipe down my table and countertops daily. And I don’t just push it around with feathers, I take a wet cloth and pick it all up. But still, my hairbrush that sits in my bathroom collects a layer that would make my hair look like a 90 year old if I didn’t clean it before running it through. It’s really impressive, especially considering that since it’s gotten colder, I don’t open my window.

I went to see my second movie since my tour here began: The Chronicles of Narnia. It’s the cinematic version of C.S. Lewis’ “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.” Not a bad movie, but what is most noteworthy about it is the audience. If I get shocked during a movie, I don’t really show outward signs of it. The chick on the side of me and the one behind Amy were both extremely dramatic at every point in the film that could’ve been remotely considered a cliffhanger or a surprise. The girl next to me would gasp loudly, cover her eyes, make squeamish faces, jump, wail—the works. I can’t imagine this is even slightly enjoyable for her date—I would personally take it as a sign that she’s a drama queen and promptly end any involvement with her. But he didn’t seem to be bothered by it, so I’ll chalk it up to cultural differences.

Next week begins what my school calls winter intensives. We will be at school for 12 hours, 9 of it spent teaching. Instead of kicking up their heels and catching up on missed sit-com episodes and movies like American kids do, Koreans see it as an opportunity for more studying. Thus, they enroll in classes in their weaker or favorite subjects, some even traveling overseas for camps promising to enrich their lives and brains. My Wednesday/Saturday class was combined with my Monday/Friday class, so for the next two months (and hopefully longer), I will have a four day week rather than six. This is exciting! My brain gets a rest, my body gets recharged, and my interest in exploring more of the city is furthered. Woohoo!

Speaking of exploring the city, it looks as though New Year’s Eve will be spent with several friends at the center of the city. Apparently the celebration includes some sort of ringing of bells for the countdown to the New Year. I’m not sure about all of the details, but I know it’ll be cold, hard to find a taxi if the subway system isn’t open longer than midnight, and neat to check out what another culture and large city does for the changing of the year.


Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed

Daegu

There’s nothing like being sick in a foreign place to make you miss home. Last week I found myself in the hospital two days in a row. On Monday, I had one student coughing up a storm and sitting right next to me. I told him to cover his mouth several times, but would still catch him spewing germs all over the place—yuck! On Tuesday, I felt like I had something in my throat. By Wednesday, it was full blown, I was pale, coughing, high fever, aching, the whole nine yards. Mr Lee came up to my classroom and said, “Let’s go!” and took me to the hospital. By Thursday, I was even worse. I then had to get a shot in my bum and an even stronger prescription. Mr Lee insisted I eat jook, which is a kind of rice soup that’s popular when you’re sick here, and quite yum! The nurse told me that I just needed to rest, so all I did the rest of the day was sleep. I’m not sure exactly what I had because in this country, you just trust the doctor and take whatever they give you. I also don’t know what medication I took or what was in my shot for the same reason. (Due to our litigious society, such standards of being medicated would, I’m sure, never fly in the USofA!) By week’s end, I felt better, though still not great, and the distance from my bed to my kitchen was getting shorter. But far be it from me to miss out on a good time, thus, Saturday, I went on my trip to the South part of the country, as planned. My stomach is still feeling a bit funky from this illness, whatever it was, though. They keep telling me to eat rice and it will settle my stomach, but so far nothing has worked. (Rice is a cure-all here, to no surprise. I joked with my co-workers, “If I tell you my stomach hurts, you tell me to eat rice. If I tell you my husband left me, you tell me to eat rice. It works for everything!”)

Daegu, a city of 3 million people, is one of the largest in Korea. Amy, carrying a duffle bag and about 20 tangerines due to feeling a bit under the weather, and I went to see what the “countryside” had to offer. Those who live in Seoul have a similar snobbery to New Yorkers who call it “reverse commuting” if you leave the Big Apple to work outside the city (when really, traveling to work is commuting, no matter where you begin or end), and they refer to anywhere else on the peninsula as “country.” Sam had promised us a few good options of places to see and things to do in the rice paddies. We arrived shortly after 9pm on Saturday, got picked up by Lieutenant King at the train station, and went promptly to play a game of trivia against around 80 other people in the military, playing rugby, or just whities with some accent of English. Our night ended around 1am and I have no clue how highly ranked on the trivia scale because Amy and I left the smokiness of the bar for our own walking tour of downtown Daegu. We went to Sam’s and Amy needed her beauty rest, but Sam and I stayed up for several hours competing to see who had a longer-lasting voice or a more interesting story. On Sunday, the three of us went to Camp Walker, one of the nicest Army posts in the country. We ate lunch at the Golf Club, where we watched several people swinging their clubs and practicing their game. It costs as much as a nice house to play golf here, so some of these guys have a deal that allows them to play on the Army post instead of at a club and save a few grand. Then we headed about an hour away to the Haeinsa Temple (pictures already sent—I didn’t send them to many, so if you want them, let me know). There’s really a lot of history at this place! We walked about a kilometer in the falling and fallen snow to get to the main attraction. I didn’t pay a ton of attention because I was freezing cold and a bit nauseous from driving in the mountains, but the tablets that this temple holds (nearly 82,000 of them) took 15 years for monks to carve and supposedly there is not a single mistake to be found anywhere. They’re about 6 feet long by 1 or 2 feet wide. We saw several monks while we were at the temple—we even saw one in the visitor center surfing the web!!

We returned to Daegu after our afternoon excursion and had dinner at one of Sam’s favorite local restaurants. We went back to his apartment and all got ready for bed, since Amy and I were leaving the next morning and Sam had to get up at 5am for PT. And so ended my first mini-vacation outside of Seoul!


Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed

Butt-breaking Beguilement

So last weekend was the farewell party for two friends I’ve made since being here: Becky and Dave. They’re heading to Canada for a month to celebrate Christmas with her family, and then they’ll move to Atlanta where Dave will finish the masters degree he’s been working on via the Internet, and then off to Australia in July for the two of them so that Becky can further her teaching credentials. We ate at Carne Station, which is in the basement around the corner from a subway stop in the ritzy area of town—you’d never find this kind of place if you were looking for somewhere to eat, but it’s really a deal! All you can eat and drink for $22! There were about 30 people there celebrating Becky’s birthday and saying goodbye to the two of them (if you haven’t received the pictures, let me know) and having a good time. It was really nice! What was even neater was that on the way there, Amy and I went to COEX, this large underground mall right across from where we stayed in Gangnam when we first arrived in Seoul for training. Shopping in malls, American style, is totally different from the random street vendors and shops I’ve become accustomed to. Heading toward the subway station, it began to snow. Fine flakes at first, and they gradually got heavier, thicker, and fluffier. It was really pretty! I took pictures of it all, and by the time we all finished eating dinner, it looked like several inches had fallen on all the cars and sidewalks everywhere. I can’t stand cold weather, though because you can’t control it you get used to it quickly, but snow is much more pleasant than rain—it makes you want to walk outside in it rather than get under an awning with an umbrella. Good times!

The next day, we went to Insa-Dong because Amy had never checked out this artsy area. We walked up and down the streets looking at what all the different shops had to offer. We found some little nook that was a small brick street with little restaurants all the way down. There was even one that had Christmas lights outside on the trees and I just loved it! When we turned around, there was a staircase in the middle of a big courtyard and, naturally, we went in. We climbed ramps to entrances to lamp stores, neat jackets made from traditional Korean materials, jewelry whose owner/creators prohibited pictures of, and on the fourth floor found a restaurant that overlooked the area and had a good view of the large buildings outside. It was about $11/person for some really good food, so we thought that was a deal! We walked around some more and found ourselves inside a coffee shop to warm up and thaw out. Amy is from New York, so you’d think that she could tolerate the frigid temperatures. I have to say with a bit of pride, that I’ve definitely out-prepared her with gloves, hats, sweaters, etc. and I don’t seem to get as miserable as she does as quickly, so I feel like a real trooper!

This weekend we went to buy our tickets for Daegu, had an Italian dinner (as part of our Western food tradition on the weekends), and then headed to Hongdae to meet my AD for drinks. Hongdae is the hot spot for clubbers, especially on the last Friday of each month (where we celebrated my last birthday). It was incredible! After we got off of the train, I was quite impressed with and excited about the display of Christmas lights on the trees all the way down one street. I will truly miss being able to drive around and see homes with all their displays of holiday cheer in bright and colorful electric form, but I really appreciate the effort that these people put out, for just 1/4 of the country being Christian and 1/2 of the country having no denomination. Of course, I haven’t exactly seen a manger scene yet, but I still consider lights to be a recognition of the Christmas spirit, whether or not they acknowledge the birth of baby Jesus. And so, the bar we went to is brand new, was in the basement of another club, and while it played Western music and had big drinks for a reasonable price, you could just sit back and talk to your friends (Debbie, her husband Mike, and her friend whose name I don't recall) and hear them respond without anyone losing their voice. My kind of place!

Sunday I met my friend Gus (the one I went to the palace with a few weeks ago) and Amy at an ice skating rink! Gus is from Baltimore and went to college in Boulder, Colorado. I don’t think I’ve ever ice skated before, and for someone who was pretty timid when we played roller hockey in PE as a middle-schooler, I hung with these cold-weather gurus pretty well. I probably hadn’t put on a pair of skates of any sort in ten years (I feel old when I can say things like that), much less ice skates, and I got knocked down only once. Amy said she was proud of me for just going right out in the middle of the row rather than trying to get comfortable with the feel of it by hanging onto the side rails (even some moms were holding onto the railings!) and Gus would zip around, then wait for me and say jokingly, "Hey! Come here often?" He was definitely more of a natural at this, though we both marveled at the people who looked like professionals. We were waiting for two of them to break out into the triple axle and flip a partner in the air! Little kids have no fear, so they zip in and out of everyone. It’s sorta like NASCAR in frozen form. It got really busy, so the ice was getting all powdery and bumpy and it was high time to break out the zamboni, but they didn’t clean it at all while we were there, thus the number of falls kept increasing. Luckily, none of us broke our tailbones like I expected.

After the skating rink, Amy and I went over to Sincheon to meet Amber and Sean, my Canadian pals who live around the corner from me. They’re members of this Documentary Club type deal, and they get together at a small, cozy restaurant every Sunday to watch a movie. This weekend’s was Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices. There was an issue with the volume so it was difficult to hear. One section of the restaurant was reserved for this group, so all the patrons were kicked out when show time arrived, with the exception of one couple off to the side enjoying their meal. None of us cared that there were non-members in the area, until they apparently broke up and the girl started sobbing noisily while mumbling to the guy trying to hold her hand. Seriously people, is a restaurant really the place to do this? I know you can’t always control timing, but geez! Fortunately, they left after they ran out of tissues and the rest of us continued listening to Lee Scott, the CEO of Wally World and antagonist of this video, and Chinese employees who are practically slaves to the company, as well as mom and pop businesses who had been run out by the corporate giant. Of course these movies are biased and a bit extreme (my favorite part was a sticker that had been made using the WM font that said: Wal-Mart. Low wages. Low morals. Always!), but informative nonetheless And so was being with this group! After it was over, Mikah, one of the guys with us from Victoria, Canada, took us to this great taco place just a few minutes away! It’s rare to find Mexican food in these parts, and it’s even more rare to find GOOD Mexican food. This little strip of a restaurant had both! It held about 10 people max, but was quite yum, and even had free coke! The guys left to go to their poker night from here, and the rest of us split up to go our separate ways home. Amber and Sean showed me the way via bus from Dongsan to a stop that was right in front of their apartment and about 5 minutes from mine. Talk about efficient! And it beats the 20minute walk to the subway that I would have otherwise taken.

This coming weekend, we are heading down to Daegu (“Taegu” to some, because the letter for “d” is the same one they use for “t” when it’s Romanized) to see Sam. Anywhere outside of Seoul is considered “the country” by the big city snobs here, but the “rural” city of Daegu boasts 3million people. There are some temples and other historically educational sights to explore. It’s funny how the history I’m used to is a maximum of 200 or so years old, whereas the norm for what’s considered ancient here is thousands of years old. It’s really neat! I’m definitely looking forward to this mini-vacation, because we leave on Saturday after I finish with class, and return on Monday morning.

Where are all my commenters? I miss you guys =(

Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed

Adventures in the Aisles

I went to the grocery store this morning. I decided that it was time to brave the smelly world of the meat department and take a risk with buying what looks like ground beef. On my journey through the fish with heads and eyes, I encountered another potentially scary group: toddlers! About 25 snotty-nosed rugrats trailed through the grocery store, all of them wearing large, stuffy coats that made them resemble waddling marshmallows or the Michelin man. What kind of field trip this was is beyond me—I mean, who explores the grocery store at 4 years old and expects to learn something? Regardless, when they reached this big whitey, all marching came to a stop. They began asking each other as well as their teachers if I was English or Russian. I never heard American, so I cleared it up for them. “Ahhh,” one said. Then one of the teachers bent down and whispered something to them, and all at once, two-dozen little mouths said, “Hiiiiiii!” It was too cute!

Speaking of the grocery store, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the promotion girls they have here. It begins outside, with some loud music that makes you think the Girl Scouts are there, Thin Mints in hand, ready to collect your $3.50. There’s a woman in a nice khaki-colored skirt suit that resembles a flight attendant. She has a silly hat on, but it goes with the attire. She’s speaking Korean and I guess telling everyone what’s available that day. As you walk into the grocery store, another flight attendant-looking woman greets you with some words that mean hello and something else. They bow down, hand you a hand basket if you aren’t pushing a buggy, and then give you their coupon magazine. So this all seems a bit silly, but it’s nothing yet. When you walk through the food gates, it’s like a cheerleading squad. There are all sorts of young women there in costumes. Some are traditional Korean hanboks, which is what they used to wear normally, but now only for special occasions. Some are just there to cook your regular promotional food (like the stuff I buy and cook myself without knowing what it is) and are in the chef’s outfit, and some look like they are about to jump several feet in the air and do a toe-touch. They have little pleated skirts and matching tops, just like someone you’d see on the sidelines of a sporting event. But the clincher is these things they have covering their shins. From knee to ankle is this white piece of material that makes them look like a Clydesdale. I know that there are fuzzier versions of this part of the get-up for you to wear under pants when the weather is cold, but what they have on is so thin that it can’t possibly be warm, especially given that their entire thigh is exposed. It ties at the top and doesn’t seem to serve any purpose, including decoration. When you see several of these girls together, it really just makes you wonder. The job can’t be highly sought after anyway, but adding this random part to their already silly costume? And if you’re promoting laundry detergent, is a cheerleader really the one to best reach your target market?

I love wheat bread. My parents got on the Sugar Busters diet when I was still in high school and I can probably count the number of times I’ve eaten white bread since then on one hand. However, I think there’s a trick to it in Korea. The wheat bread is so soft and fluffy and nice here, much like white bread. My friend Amy is convinced that all they do is dye white bread to make it look like wheat, even though it doesn’t make it look grainy. I think she’s on to something. My thighs do, too.

I saw my first movie since I’ve been here on Wednesday night last week. I went to Gimpo Airport, which is just a few subway stops away from school. It’s only $7 to see a movie here, which is nice since it was nearly $8 when I left home. I watched Just Like Heaven, which is with Reese Witherspoon. Not a good movie by any means! It was a total chick flick, completely predictable, acting was so-so, no real plot development, etc. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the escape. There were Korean subtitles, but I paid zero attention to them after the beginning credits. I was a vegetable for an hour and a half, and I loved it!

Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed

Getting to know you

I seem to keep getting these emails, so I figure if I answer the questions on here and you see it, you won’t send me the email... or at least I’ll just have a link I can send in response to your email questionnaire! (No worries, this blog is not going to become a hub for reprinting of forwards).

Welcome to the new edition of getting to know your friends. Okay here is what you are supposed to do, and try not to be lame and spoil the fun! Just copy (not forward) this entire e-mail and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. Some of you may get this several times that means you have many friends.

1. What is your occupation?
I’m a teacher. A disciplinarian. Or a witch to some, I imagine
2. What color are your underwear?
The ones I’m wearing? Man, my dad reads this blog. I don’t think he really cares to know the answer to this.
But for those of you who do, they’re blue satin!
3. What are you listening to right now?
Shem teach in the next classroom, and the cars whiz by on the street.
4. What was the last thing you ate?
My student gave me some cookie thing, so I had that and a tangerine.
5. Do you wish on stars?
Again, see a few posts ago. There aren’t many stars to see here! But even if there were, it’s not really something I do.
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?
Periwinkle.
7. How is the weather right now?
Below freezing, below 0 if you use Celsius (my cell phone has a converter!!)
8. Last person you spoke to on the phone?
Alan and Goat. They were at Hooters "having a beer."
10. How old are you today?
23 in America, 24 in Korea (they add a year the Jan 1st after you are born).
11. Favorite drink?
Alcoholic: Monaco or Amaretto Sour (and I could go for a good American beer about now!)
Non-alcoholic: Hmmm… Maybe some coffee flavored milk! Sounds gross, but it’s quite yummy really!
12. Favorite sport to watch?
Soccer. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t include LSU football.
13. Have you ever dyed your hair?
I let Adrianne dye it red when I was a frosh in college. Only lasted a few weeks, but it was cool.
14. Do you wear contacts of glasses?
Neither, unless you count my JLo sunglasses that I got here ;o)
15. Pets?
I have three plants now, including a poinsettia that I got today and am quite excited about (reminds me of Christmas!) Aside from that, nothing alive.
16. Favorite month?
I have no clue.
17. Toilet paper – under or over?
Does the person who writes these quizzes really wonder about this stuff? I prefer over—this and holding babies and without supporting their little floppy necks are actually pet peeves!
18. What was the last movie you watched?
In the theaters at home it was Dukes of Hazzard with Chris, my pal who is now in Hiroshima (it was our farewell to BR!). In Korea, I saw Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon (I don't really recommend it) On TV I saw National Treasure about 3 times the night I spent in Osaka.
19. Favorite day of the year?
Christmas Eve!
20. What do you do to vent anger?
Depends on why I’m angry. Sometimes I sleep, sometimes I write, sometimes I go jogging… I used to drive, but that’s not exactly an option here (unless I get that scooter!)
21. What was your favorite toy as a child?
Probably whatever my brother was playing with! I am quite fond of a doll I named “white baby” that my paternal grandmother gave me (No, I was not a racist child). She had no hair and wore a little white shorts outfit. I wonder what ever happened to her!
22. Fall or Spring?
Both.
23. Hugs of kisses?
Depends on who’s giving them!
24. Cherry or Blueberry?
I don’t like cherry anything. I don’t like much blueberry, but I’ll pick it over Cherry.
26. Living arrangements?
Apt 508 at Tres Belle-sky in Gangseo in Seoul! I live alone for the first time in my life, but a guy I work with lives a few floors above me.
27. When was the last time you cried?
Like had a good cry that made you hungry afterward? Probably when Jay and I broke up, because even though we dated only briefly, I’d had four appletinis and was wasted by 4pm, hungover by 10pm, and we split somewhere in between the two.
28. What is on the floor of your closet?
I don’t really have one, just a drawer with my undies (that you asked about earlier).
29. Who is the friend you have had the longest?
Katie! We have baby pictures together and are just a little over a month apart! Awww…
30. What did you do last night?
I taught until 10p, then I went home and ate, read, did some laundry, wrote some more postcards and my “to do” list for today, talked to one of my pals, and went to bed! Exciting, I know.
31. Favorite smell?
The starch I bought here! And yummy cologne and babies.
32. Favorite chips?
Mr Crisp, or some imitation of Pringles that’re just a bit thicker. Oh, and the fire hot Sun Chips!
33. What are you afraid of?
The dark (no joke), the turmoil President Bush is getting our country into, moving food.
34. Plain, cheese, or spicy hamburgers?
Who writes these questions?! Cheeseburgers.
35. Favorite car?
The little 2-door thing I saw in Japan! Or those little French cars—Renault or Citroen I think.
36. Favorite dog breed?
Maybe a mini Yorkie! They’re so cute, but I don’t like yappy dogs.
37. Number of keys on your key ring?
House, work, something I don’t know. That makes 3. I don’t carry it though, b/c we have digital locks so I just need to know the code, and the security guard always has his handy =)
38. How many years at your current job?
.25
39. Favorite day of the week?
Saturday (even though I work—it’s when Amy and I usually rendezvous) and/or Sunday.
40. Favorite TV show?
Please.
41. How many states have you lived in?
Il. Uno. Une. One.
42. How many cities have you lived in?
New Iberia (longest), Angers (a summer), Baton Rouge (5 years), Seoul.


Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed