Veggin' Out

Today was the first meeting of the Busan Veggie Club - a group I started on facebook after five months of wishing Busan had a group like Seoul's. After meeting a few vegetarians over the last month, I realized I could make it a reality - and it worked! Overnight the group grew a lot, and tonight we had our first successful dinner at a vegetarian restaurant in Seomyeon, Busan called Loving Hut (it's a chain of vegetarian restaurants here). About 15 people came, and it was great to meet new people - and we were guaranteed to have at least one thing in common, so that was a good start to a great evening of good food and good conversation. Some of us ended up getting soy ice cream after at a cute place nearby - I think it was called Purely Decadent - and it was all organic soy ice cream! One of the best things about the night was feeling really comfortable in my skin. It's nice to be with people who understand what it's like to always struggle to find food that you're sure you can eat, and to feel like you don't have to explain yourself or your choices over dinner. I love going out to eat, but it gets frustrating to feel like you're limiting the group's options because of who you are - and that's always been true, here and everywhere I've ever lived, my entire life. It's nice to have a group of people now who I can go out to eat with, without the pressure of being different. It's a great new addition to my life here, and I'm looking forward to our next meal together already : )

새해 복 많이 받으세요!

새해 복 많이 받으세요! Means Happy New Year in Korean. This weekend (Feb. 13-15) was the Lunar New Year Here, with the 14th being the primary day of celebration. I was going to stay close to home, because I read that last year an estimated 28 million Korean were traveling to their hometowns for Seollal. In the end, though, I found a train to Pyeongtaek to visit my friend Allina for the holiday.

On Sunday we decided to head to the Korean Folk Village in Suwon because they were having special performances. We didn't realize what a popular destination it would be, assuming that most families would be home having traditonal meals and private celebrations. When we arrived, though, the parking lot was almost full, and the lanes of the village were swarming with families, some in the traditional Hanbok (Korean traditional dress). The kids were adorable in their Hanbok outfits, but sadly it was a pretty muddy day there, with the snow melting into spring, so a number of cute shoes got covered in mud - including my own!

We walked around and saw traditional homes from northern, southern, and island regions, as well as traditional pottery, wood carving and metal craft, which was cool. We caught a few traditional performances, too. We saw a parade and a dance with drumming and horn, with very talented performers. When they finished, they let audience members come up and dance, and it was fun to watch little kids go up and dance in the Hanbok, and even more fun to see ajumas (older Korean women, specifically those who tend to wear a certain style of clothing and enjoy similar activities specific to their demographic) dancing. We also saw an acrobatic show, where an old ajashee (the male equivalent to an ajuma) walks across a tightrope with no rope to catch him if he falls. He did jumps and kicks and was more limber than most athletic people I know who are may age! I got some videos of both performances on my new camera, too. Then we went and rode horses around part of the village, and got to hang out with one of the horses for a bit, and she/he was so mild-mannered. We ran into a rooster and some chickens that got out of their pen, and had to ease our way past them later, but even the rooster seemed to be in a good mood. Later we walked through a folk museum, and it was really interesting to see and read about different significant days and events in Korea, and to see how they were all celebrated throughout history. It felt particularly special to be there with lots of Koreans who were bringing their kids to learn about their history on such a special day of the year, too.

The food was delicious at the village. We got tea before waking around, because it was a chilly day, especially for a Busan-dweller like me! Later we had dinner in our own traditional private dining hut, with a heated floor that was hard to part with. I got tofu stew, with various yummy sides, and we were pretty sure the tofu was made there, because it was amazing (yes, there are huge differences between kinds of tofu, so stop laughing!). On our way out we got pumpkin-rice taffy, which was mouthwatering, but Allina said they don't sell it in stores. Then we got some honey strand candy, where you take honey covered in flour, and then twist it until it's in thousands (yes, thousands, we watched the man do it as a "magic trick") of very thin strands (like honey hair) and then they cut it into smaller sections and then wrap nuts inside. It tastes like a sweet peanut butter ball but it melts in your mouth and it's kind of messy because of the flour.

Overall the day was a lot of fun, and I loved seeing Korean families together, which is kind of rare here. Usually kids are in school and then academies, and parents are at work or at home, so whole families aren't generally out and about. It was fun to see kids having fun, too, as opposed to sitting behind desks or on their way to or from school. Apparently going to the folk village on Seollal (the name for the Lunar New Year) is a really popular activity, and it was really fun to be there with everyone.

Korean stores and restaurants mostly close for the weekend, esp. on Sunday and Monday, though trains, buses and cabs have to work all weekend to get people to their hometowns. On Monday a lot of places were still closed, so Allina and I decided to do something I'd never done before - we got manicures! We headed to the shopping complex at the train station and got our nails done, which was so much more relaxing and fun than I expected. Then we decided to go see a movie, which a lot of people were doing, because going to the movies is another popular past-time here for holidays. While waiting for the movie, we went shopping, which I'm usually not a fan of, but I needed new tennis shoes, so I got a new pair of Chucks and then we went and perused a cute accessory store and I got some fun headbands - which I can't imagine wearing outside of Korea, but here they are very cute and popular. Then we went to the movie, which I'd never heard of but was pretty cute - no thinking required, no confusing plot lines, and no expectations: so it was a lot of fun : )

Before I knew it, the weekend was over and I was back on my way to Busan - along with a lot of fellow travelers. We didn't get into Busan 'til 4am, and the station was surprisingly full of people getting ready to travel back home from Busan on the earliest trains, or returning along with me, to start the work week again.

All-in-all it was a lot of fun to be here for the holiday, to be part of the mass of travelers, to be at the folk village on one of the biggest days of the year, and to come back to Busan with the feeling of coming home to the familiar. Now, time to get into a new year!

A Visit to Seoul

Since our extra classes and daytime schedule ended on Friday, I decided it would be a good weekend to head up to Seoul. I ended class at 8 on Friday and didn't start again until 4pm today (Monday) so it was my longest weekend to date. It gave me the chance to see my friends from training last September, as well as to pay Shana a visit in Anyang.
On Saturday my friend Rachelle (my roommate during training) and I decided to head over to Seoul Tower for a view of the city. Oddly enough, I turned around after getting my ticket and I hear, "Hello Kendra Teacher!" Behind me in line was one of my students who was also visiting Seoul over the weekend with his family. I'd joked about maybe seeing him that weekend, but it seemed like an absolutely unrealistic possibility! We ended up getting a picture of the two of us in front of the window that told how far away Busan was from the tower. The whole thing was bizarre but pretty funny.
I really enjoyed the tower. We took the cable car up rather than walking, but today I discovered that the amount of walking we did over the course of the whole weekend was still enough to wear a hole into the shoes I wore for the trip! When we got to the top of the mountain, we found out that we'd arrived in time to watch a traditional display of fighting skills from the Joseon Dynasty period. It was amazing to watch some of the sword work and the hand-to-hand combat, and I was glad my camera battery lasted long enough for me to get videos of some of the performances.
After the performance we headed up to the tower. There is a very cool display on the first level where people have put up personalized locks all along the guardrail/fence, and you can purchase a lock to write on and leave there, so of course we did that before leaving. It was cool to see all of the locks covering the fence, and fun to be a part of it all.
On the second level, they have labeled the windows with how many kilometers away you are from various cities around the world. I took pictures in front of the ones for Chicago, Accra, and Busan, though I forgot to do NY/DC. I took pictures of a lot of other places as well, just because I thought it was really interesting to know those distances. Plus, they had decorated the windows with the snow paint stuff people use during the winter, and the designs were pretty cool.
After leaving the Tower, we headed over to Insa-dong and went to Jogyesa Temple. They were conducting their evening services, but I really enjoyed just walking around the area and enjoying the sounds of the services ringing through the night. It was very calming and the whole are had the heavy, comforting, and almost eerie feeling that I connect with most places of worship I've been to. I'd like to go back later in the year to see more in the daylight and talk to the volunteers there more about the temple. Rachelle filled me in on some things she knew, but it seemed like the kind of place that deserves more of my time in the future.
After the temple Rachelle and I joined up with the other two guys we trained with for an amazing dinner at a place called Butterfingers Pancakes in Gangnam, Seoul. I got a huge garden vegetable omlette that came with two small pancakes and rosemary roasted potatoes. It was so delicious, and the kind of treat that I enjoy stumbling upon here and there: one of those comfort food meals that remind you of home, and are so hard to find here. It was a great place for a reunion, too, and it was nice, though a bit surreal, catching up with my friends from training. It felt like that first week again, when we were all so unsure of what to expect, but now here we are, almost five months later, and all settled in to new lives and new routines. Pretty crazy.
After dinner I headed out of the city to Anyang, a suburban-ish city that's still on the subway line out of Seoul. There I joined up with Shana and we had a nice, chill time with some of her friends and walked around the city some. On Sunday, we headed into Seoul to Yongsan, where there is a huge electronics market - Electroland, as it's called. My camera had been eating batteries like it was starving. After a few months of wasting money on AA batteries every time I wanted to take pictures, and then having my camera die just before the best part of a sunset, or right when I wanted to get that funny moment captured...I had finally gotten impatient. It was time to invest in a new camera, and Shana had gotten hers in Yongsan and she has a great camera, so I decided to go for it. I decided to stick with Olympus, in part so I wouldn't have to change the kind of memory card I had, and in part because it seems like my family has always had an Olympus, so I figured I'd keep up the tradition. Besides, the guy let me play with the different cameras, practice taking pictures, check out the features, etc, and the one I settled on seemed like a wise choice for the long-term. So, I went home to Busan with a pretty new camera that will hopefully last me as long as (or longer than!) the previous one (6 years, I believe) and which has a battery that recharges through the wall or my computer - so no more money wasted on AA's.
All-in-all, it was a great getaway weekend, and, just like last time, it felt amazing to come back to Busan and feel like I was home.

A Very Overdue Happy New Year

First off, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to write an update! A month seems like a long time, but it flew by and it's been my busiest yet, so sitting down to blog wasn't really a priority. But if I put it off much longer, I'll be tempted to make this too wordy and that's never good. So here are the highlights from the last month, as short and sweet as I think I'm capable of making them : )

December:

• I ended up getting into the holiday cheer after all, and had a lovely Christmas. I was able to video chat with my family and open gifts with them, which made me feel a little closer to home!
  
• My friend Shana came to stay with me for the weekend of Christmas, and her spontaneous trip drove me to be spontaneous as well: I tried roasted and marinated silk worm larvae one night, and the next day I tried freshly chopped mini-octopus tentacles. The tentacles were still wriggling, so you have to chew really hard and really fast so they don't stick to your mouth or esophagus. If they attach to the esophagus, you can suffocate and die. It was a thrilling way to spend my first Christmas away from home!
• I worked on Christmas, New Years Eve and New Years, which wasn't too bad actually. I got a sweet card from one of my students and she made me feel better about working on Christmas. It read
  

"To T. Kendra. Hi Teacher! I'm ____. I'm really happy that you teach me [Reading and Writing, Listening and Speaking]. Today is Christmas...Actually, in Christmas, you should be with your family but you can't...However, you can be with your student!! Merry Christmas!"

She put into words how I felt anyway, which was that a day with students was better than a day alone at home, and in addition to her card I got a few treats from other students as well, which made me feel appreciated and like I was where I belonged.

• I got sick right before New Years Eve with a cough and cold that has lasted until now, so that's been no fun. New Years Eve was spent with a few co-workers at an Indian Restaurant and watching the countdown in Seoul on TV. Then I went home to cough myself into the New Year.

January:

• Since I teach at a private English academy, we don't have winter vacation (hence working on Christmas and New Years), and instead we teach extra classes during the month that our students have a break from public school. Our whole schedule changes so we work days instead of evenings, and I am teaching an extra three-hour class two mornings a week. I actually love the class because it's a listening class, but the listening is US sitcoms! We work on dictation, fluency, accuracy, and comprehension skills. Unfortunately the wrong books came, so the material is too high for the kids, but that just means that we work through everything really slowly, which is fine by me that early in the morning. My class is full of sweet kids, too, and I try to keep things fun and upbeat since I know it's their vacation and their parents are making them take extra English classes instead of sleeping in or having fun, which is how I spent my breaks when I was their age.
  
• I started working with a comedy sketch group in December, and have met a great new group of people through that, which has been exciting. It's nice to branch out from my school and get involved with things on my own. This past weekend I went to an open mic night and shared my spoken word poetry, which I hadn't done since leaving the US, and met some cool new people through that as well. It's so important to find things that make you feel like you, even when you're thousands of miles away from the people and things that feel the most familiar. I still love Korea, but I also know I'm getting into that phase where I need to combine things from my life in the US with my life here, or I'll feel even farther away than I am.
  

Well that brings me up to the present! I promise to try to write more often, though, and I'd like to start writing more about Korea and not just my life, but what I'm learning and observing, so hopefully if I write more often I'll be able to share more of that as well!

Scrooge Days

So I've been less than enthusiastic about the holidays this season, though I am beginning to slowly get more into the festive atmosphere...I even have found myself humming the occasional carol. But, I think it's also just that three month mark coupled with the sense of loneliness that we can't help but feel when we know we'll be away from people we love on a day filled with memories. So here is my sappy post (really, my apologies, I try to only do this once in a blue moon, which is fitting since we'll have one of those on Dec. 31st)...

While my coworkers are gathering lights and decorations and small trees for their rooms, I have been basically pretending that no special days have passed, nor will they, while I am here in Korea. I've been telling myself that if I don't think about the holidays, then they will just go by like any other day, and I won't spend time thinking about the traditions going on without me, or the excitement of seeing people and sharing gifts and meals, etc. But then, yesterday was my sister's birthday, and talking to her on the phone and hearing my nieces and nephew in the background made it all very real. I will not be seeing them in a week, or hear my niece reading a book to me for the first time. I won't get to see how big the baby is, or get pictures to remember them at that age. When I called, one of them said, "Aunt Kendra sounds so far away..." and my sister said, "That's because she is." So now that the inevitable has happened, and I have been forced to think about all of those moments I will be missing, I suppose it's about time I rejoice in the holiday season and start really getting into the spirit of things, since my only other choice is to be a grinch, and no one wants that.

Term Transitions and Thanksgiving Travels

Last week and this week have been busier than usual, so I have a lot of updates!

Last week was our final week of the term. Our terms are 13 weeks, and I came in at week 4 of the previous term. It was hard saying goodbye to my students, because I'd really grown to adore some of my classes. I got every class treats, ranging from candy to pizza, which was fun. On the last day, in my high-beginner class, the Korean staff surprised us by coming into class with pizza - for being the "best class" apparently. I was so excited, because they were a really wonderful group of students (14 kids, which could have been crazy if they hadn't been good students), and I had no idea that we were getting pizza, so it was a fun surprise for everyone!

After work on Friday we went out to dinner as a whole office, which was a lot of fun. I sat next to two of the Korean staff person for the "best class" I had, and I told her how nice it was to be surprised with pizza, and that I'd really miss that class. Then, she told me that when she spoke with my students' parents, they told her that my kids had talked about me at home, and about how much they liked me. Some even said they didn't want to move up to the next class level (most of them passed their level-up tests) because they would miss having me as a teacher. I was so touched, I almost cried right there at the table! I knew from meeting with some parents that a few kids had said nice things, but for my co-worker to tell me that kids were really going to miss me - that was about the best thing I could have asked for. In fact, this week many of my students from that class have come to hang out in my room during their break to say hi and see what I'm doing. It really helped me feel more confident and prepared going into my new classes this week.

The verdict is still out on my new classes. I have the same high-beginner level class, but most of the students are new. I had 26 kids combined from those classes last term, and only 6 of them are still at the same level with me now - which is good, because it means 20 of them improved enough to move up! I also have a listening class at a higher level than last term, but with some of the same students who leveled-up to this class. I teach that level three times a week, and so far it's ok. I'll have to wait to see what happens next week, because many students missed this week for middle-school exams. Today and tomorrow I'll have two new reading classes. I've never taught reading before, so I'm a bit nervous, but I've prepared a lot, so I think things should go well. Besides, unlike listening, in reading class the students can see what we're talking about; in listening I just have to hope they are catching enough from the CD. Overall, though, I think this term will go well, and I am looking forward to the challenges of teaching more classes, and also the greater variety of students each week (listening and reading classes only meet once a week, so I have 5 different classes for those, and 2 different high-beginner classes).

...

On a more fun note, I went on a trip this past weekend to visit my friend Allina from Ithaca College. She lives up north in Pyeongtaek, and we also went to Seoul and met up with another friend from college, Shana.

When I arrived in Pyeongtaek, Allina and her dad took me to explore Camp Humphrey's, the second-largest (soon-to-be largest) US military base in Korea. It was huge and very surreal. I felt like I was in a different country - and technically, I was on US soil. The shops and cafes used US dollars, the people were wearing sporting US-styled clothing, Koreans were in the minority, and I heard almost no Korean spoken. It was the strangest experience, and very interesting to experience. I'm so glad to have had the opportunity to see that. It reminded me a little of the base I was at with my grandmother in Virginia last year, and that similarity was almost jarring, knowing that I was in Korea, an ocean away. It also made me really miss my grandparents, since I spent last Thanksgiving with them - which is when I visited the base near them. I wonder what US military installment I'll visit next Thanksgiving!!

Later, at Allina's, we cooked a real Thanksgiving dinner, with some twists. Her family has a real oven, so we baked a delicious zucchini quiche, and had stuffing, gravy, a mushroom-pepper saute, mashed potatoes, and green-bean casserole. It was fantastic, and I stuffed myself until I was pleasantly full and feeling the holiday spirit.

...

The next day we headed to Suwon to meet Shana, and had hoped to check out the UNESCO fortress and Traditional Folk Village there, but it was a cold, rainy day, so we hopped on a train to Seoul instead. We decided to go to COEX, a huge exhibition hall with a giant mall underneath, where one of the largest bookstores in the country is located. I bought a Korean textbook/workbook for myself, as well as a handy phrasebook with more casual Korean to use with my friends at work. After that we headed to Lotte World, the Korean version of Six-Flags - indoors. There is also an outdoor part, but since it was raining we stayed inside. We started out watching a really well-done musical theatre show of Cinderella with acrobatic reindeer and Santa as the fairy godmother. Bizarre? Yes. A good show? Yes. We spent a good portion of our time in Lotte World just oooing and ahhing over the cutest Korean babies and toddlers I've ever seen.

The kids in this picture were having a semi-miserable, yet hilarious time on the mini-drop. If you've ever been on the Giant Drop, you can get the picture - imagine little kids bouncing up and down in a jarring fashion as the bench suddenly goes up and then drops slightly every so often. We were laughing, but it was kind of sad, too - one girl was leaning into her mom's shoulder and bawling on the other one, but they couldn't stop the ride : (

We went on some rides, including the rollercoaster, and I bought the picture of us that they took while we were riding, but I don't have a way to upload it yet, unless I take a picture of the picture. After Lotte World we headed to an Indian restuarant, which made my day. Indian food is my favorite, and it's so hard to find here, so I hadn't had it in three months - since leaving the US! It was pricey, but very worth the cost. I got Palak Paneer with Naan, and it was fabulous. Just thinking about it makes me hungry!

When we got back to Pyeongtaek, Allina and I decided to head to the jimjilbang/sauna near her house. I've been wanting to go to one since arriving, but my friends are more modest than I am, and I've been too nervous to go alone. The jimjilbang is basically a public bath-house with a common area, and sometimes also a restuarant, sleeping rooms for men and women, an exercise room, a norebang room (karaoke), a hair salon, a waxing salon, a PC room, and a TV area. They can be small, with only a few or none of those, or they can be decked out with the whole 9 yards. This one had it all.

On the floor above, there is a sauna for each sex. You start in the shower, where you rinse off briefly, so you're clean for the other sections. Then there are sauna rooms - one with dry heat and wood interior and one with humid head and quartz interior, which Koreans think brings good health when you breathe in the wet, hot quartz air. After the sauna, you can choose from the hot tub, the medium tub, or the cold tub (which had strong jets so you could swim against the current even though it was a small). Unfortunately, we went late at night (jimjilbangs are open 24 hours a day - hence the sleeping rooms) and arrived during cleaning time, so after they cleaned the tubs were still filling, and the water was far too hot to sit in. So we went from the sauna to the second set of showers, where you exfloiate. I had to buy a little scrubber when I arrived (1,000won = .80 USD) and you use a special soap to scrub yourself pink - or, in my case, red. The Koreans, Allina included, all have lovely tan skin that only turns a little bit pink. But of course, with my ivory skin, the scrubbing left me as red as a strawberry. The important thing was that I felt great! Refreshed, relaxed, and rejuvinated.

When we left to get changed, I also had a lovely little encounter with a hamoni, an older Korean women, who had kindly smacked me on the leg earlier when she first saw me, laughing as she went. Again, she smacked me in a good-sported manner and apparently told me I was pretty. I said the only thing I knew to be appropriate: komapsumnida (thank you), repeatedly - so she laughed and asked Allina if I knew any other Korean words. I laughed, too, and said, "Meanhamnida, aniyo Hanguk" (which badly translates to 'sorry, no korean'). She laughed and said "good girl" (or so Allina says - she could have called me a cheeky American for all I know.)

Anyway, all in all, it's been a great week, from the end of term, to visiting friends, to coming back to new classes and familiar Busan. It felt amazing to step off the train and feel like I was coming home - back to a familiar subway, names, places, and, of course, my cozy little apartment.

Kimbap with the Kids

When my boss asked me a week ago if I'd come in to work on a Saturday to help with a kimbap party (like sushi, but Korean, so it's better) I said yes because I like to make my boss happy. But I was a little nervous, b/c most kimbap has meat in it, and my boss has, on a number of occasions, encouraged me to start eating meat because it's so delicious - apparently.

Another teacher and I were asked to come in, and when we arrived neither of us were really sure what to expect. I was thrilled to discover that our boss has gotten aprons for us, and that we would be setting up the room into two teams: Kendra's kids versus Daniel's kids. Since it was Daniel's birthday, I told him we might let his team win, but I knew my team was better from the beginning.

I was excited to see some of my kids from class show up - it was a mixed group of students, all of whom were there on a saturday to take a big placement test for middle school or high school, and they wanted to have a fun activity to make the day better for them. The kids from my class who came were very excited to see me chopping radishes and slicing strips of fired egg and tofu.

Once all of the ingredients were set out, we got down to business. To make kimbap, you take a large square of dried seaweed and lay it flat, ideally on a placemat made of sticks to roll it after. Then, you take a handful or two of rice - to your liking - and smooth it over the seaweed so it makes a layer. Next, take a seasame leaf and lay it over the rice, then fill the leaf with some ingredients - tuna, crab, and ham are favorites, but I of course opted for fried tofu. Then you wrap the meat or tofu into the leaf so it's neatly rolled. Add other ingreditents next to the wrapped meat/tofu, such as pickled radish, fried egg, carrots, cucumbers, etc. Then, take the edge of your placemat and press the seaweed as you roll, to make a beautiful cylinder. I was thrilled when I helped some of the students roll theirs when they had trouble, because they thought my rolling was fantastic. One student praised me because it was so clean and perfect. Just like me.... ; )
I was very proud of my first kimbap, as you can see in the picture. I made a small plate of the slices, and you can sort of see the radish, tofu, and egg rolled up in the leaf at the center of the rice. I was thrilled that it worked well, and even my meat-eating friends thought it was yummy! Now I can make it at home, too - and it's so easy!

Near the end, we went to work creating a beautiful platter of each team's kimbap. I took a piece from each student to make ours, and one girl helped me a lot - the same one who thought I...I mean, my kimbap...was clean and perfect. She thought a flower would be nice, and that we could add leaves, and then I helped by arranging it with the leaves underneath, which she thought was very cool. There is no better ego trip than hanging out with adoring children. I was very proud of my team and our blossoming kimbap platter.
Daniel's team thought their's was better - it looked neat and professional, but really, where was the creativity? So in the end, we didn't really declare a winner. I think the truth is that they didn't want to tell Daniel that he'd lost on his birthday...but we clearly were the best : )