Settling In

Last week it really started to sink in that I live here now. I kept meaning to update my blog, but I was running around a lot and didn't have the patience to sit down and record things as they were happening. So, instead, here's a play-by-play (though as a person who's never watched sports, I'm not entirely sure I'm applying this term correctly ; )) of the events of the past week.

Oct 8-15th was the 14th Pusan International Film Festival. Until about 2000, the romanization of the Korean language used different letters - p instead of b, k instead of g. Now Pusan is Busan and Kwangan-li Beach-i is Gwangan-li Beach-i. But since the film festival existed as PIFF before the name change, PIFF it is.

I got my first paycheck last Monday, so I couldn't really see any films over the weekend or the week before. Once I had money in hand, though, I was ready to attend my first International Film Festival - and I was willing to wake up early to do it.

I ended up seeing three films over three days - each one was only 5,000 Won, or about $3.50 - I know; unbelievable. The first day we went to a Peruvian film about a woman whose mother was raped and tortured by the Shining Path, while pregnant with her. Now a young woman, her mother dies and leaves her to face the world alone and afraid of all men after the horror stories her mother told her. She's disturbed, and people who lived through the Shining Path say she has an illness called the Milk of Sorrow, because it was passed on to her through her mother's milk and she is scarred by it forever. The visuals were amazing, and there were some wonderful, haunting, lyrical songs that she sang.

Then we went to work to teach English for 6 hours. Talk about a change in mood.

The next day we headed across town - woke up at 9am to do it, which was difficult considering that, most days, I wake up about an hour or two before I have to be at work, and we work from 4pm-10:30pm. We got there an hour early b/c the film we wanted to see won the Palme d'Or at Cannes, but it had sold out as soon as they'd opened that morning.

Instead, we decided to go to the World's Largest Department Store, and bought real, juicy, delicious sandwiches - a rare treat here. It had real cheese, great dressing, and ciabatta bread. Yum. We also found a bookstore that sells foreign books, which is also hard to find here, so that was exciting. I only brought 5 books with me, because they're so heavy, so I'm relieved to know that I will not go book hungry.

That afternoon I didn't have work for the first 3 hours, so I went to an afternoon film on my own. It was Hungarian, and shot with amateur actors, some improv work, and a lot of close-shot camera work, and I thought an experimental film sounded like a fascinating choice. It started with a short film of preschool kids having conversations, which doens't sound entrancing, but it was. We were all laughing and I might have liked it more than the full length film that followed. The short was called I Will Not Be Your Friend, and the long one was called I'm Not Your Friend. It was about a group of friends who are all in bad relationships - with one another. It was weird, but I'm glad I went, b/c it was a great solo outing.

I haven't really explored Busan a lot, because without a cell phone I haven't wanted to end up lost or late without a way to reach people, and without a pay check I hadn't wanted to spend money. Besides, sleeping all day doesn't really bode well for outings. Still, being out in the 70 degree sunny weather last week was pretty great, so I guess I'll have to make more of an effort now.

The last film we saw was called The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveras, from the Philippines. It was about a 12 year olf gay boy whose family is into crime, and he gets a crush on the new cop who moves into the neighborhood, and troubles ensue. The writing and acting left much to be desired, but the girtty shots of life in the Filippino city where they lived made the movie worthwhile. I got the feeling that many of the people in the film were just people, not actors, and they were just living. I'd never really known anything about life in the Philippines, never really thought about it, and now I'm very interested in educating myself.

That night, Wednesday, I hosted dinner for a few friends, and we made crepes filled with sauteed veggies: zucchini, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, onion, scallions, and peppers with spices. It turned out pretty well, thankfully. I'd never really made crepes before, but it was easy, and since then I've made them a few more times b/c it's a nice alternative to rice or noodles. It can be difficult to be creative when you don't have an oven. For dessert someone brought a cake, which was amazing - and really exciting since we can't bake in our own apts. It was very light and fluffy and had fresh fruit on top with a light creamy topping. I'm not sure if it was really that amazing, or if eating cake when baked goods are uncommon was just a mouth-watering experience. I think a bit of both.

On Thursday, I had two new students added to my younger class - the one which usually causes me problems - but the new students changed the vibe a little, or maybe my troublemakers are just tired of trouble, and class seemed to go quite well. On Friday I had two new students in my older class, which, until then, had only had one student. It's weird to incorporate people in the middle of the semester, but they've caught on pretty quickly and it's nice to be teaching more than one student - on the one hand she was getting private tutoring for the cost of a group class, but on the other hand she had all the pressure on her to answer every question. I think she's pretty glad to have the company, and they're all middle-school girls, which helps. There can be issues when you have to make girls and boys work together here, or when you put together older and younger students, because there is a strong history of traditional hierarchy here, and throwing off those traditions can make students really uncomfortable - and when they're uncomfortable they're generally less productive and attentive. Anyway, classes are generally going well, and I'm learning things every day - and I think my students are, too!

On Saturday they held the 4th or 5th annual Busan Fireworks Festival at Gwangan-li Beach-i. It's a gorgeous beach with a bridge spanning the cove and lots of small bars and cafes lining the strip. It was predicted that the fireworks would draw at least 1.5million people, and I'm fairly certian they did. It was like having the entire city of Milwaukee out on a beach, except at least 95% of the people were Korean. We got a spot in front of one of the most popular foreigner/young Korean bars, which was much closer than we expected to get, because we got there pretty close to the start. They had events going on starting at 3pm, but the fireworks didn't start until 8pm, and we arrived at about 7:15/7:30pm. I took lots of pictures and videos, and I'm hoping they captured a bit of the majesty of the show.

Having been to the DC Fourth of July fireworks last year, I thought I'd been witness already to a pretty fantastic disply - but those hardly can compare to what I saw on the beach this weekend. They had at least 4 large fireworks going at a time, all synchronized with music, and all with the landscape of the lit up, multicolored bridge across the beach. They had a laser display and pyrotechnics, and there were fireworks that were designed to fall like waterfalls from the sides of the bridge. Plus, being around so many excited people is infectious, and you can't help but get caught up in the moment.

So, all in all, it was a whirlwind of a week, and I'm ready to rest for a few days. I'm hoping my Alien Registration Card comes soon - I accidentally gave immigration the address of or headquarters, not my school branch, so it's delivery has been delayed. I'm trying not to get nervous, but if it's not here in a day or two I'll have to investigate further. I need a phone, a bank account, and a hair cut. OK, so the haircut I don't need my ARC for, but still...I'll breathe easier when it's in my hands.

Well, that's all for now! Next time I'll write sooner, to avoid these essay-length posts!