Concerning coming to term(s)

The title is a bad pun...I've been here nine months! This week was hit by a snaggle as I became a newly initiated insomniac. Ick. I've always been really solid with sleep and it definitely messed with my head to have that disrupted. From about Sunday night to Wednesday night, I would drift into a very light daydream-y sleep for hours and hours until I would finally get from one to three hours of decent REM before the morning. Not awful, I managed to mostly keep a good mood, but Thursday I waved the white flag when I came down with a sore throat. That night I seriously went to bed at 9 and didn't move for 11 hours and while I didn't sleep that whole time, I finally accumulated a solid amount. This weekend I also caught up a bit. I'm not normal yet, it still takes me forever to settle into really thick sleep but I'm at least reassured that it's not serious.

This weekend, probably from resting up, was relaxed. Friday night I caught Prince of Persia which was the best bad movie I've seen in a while. I certainly enjoyed Jake Gyllenhall's abs but my friend and I were reduced to giggling hysterics by the clumsy script and plot. I was really entertained though and I suppose there's little difference between laughing at and with a movie, it was a success. Saturday morning I had a much needed skype convo with my momma and then met my friend downtown for a Thai massage. First, they served me shockingly blue tea in these awesome elephant tea cups, and then on to the main event. It was bliss, very different from the tried and true Swedish variety. For one, they had me wear these PJ type things. I later found out their practicality for two reasons. One, my massage was in a room with four other people. Two, it was basically sport yoga without any of the effort- my masseuse contorted my body into positions the like of which I will likely never experience again and woke up muscles previously dormant and innocuous. So not quite a nakie environment. It also involved little massage perse, it was more lots and lots of pressure points (with amazing kung-fu like agility and strength I might add- she put one finger on one little point on my shoulder blade and it felt like my whole back imploded) and lOTS of stretching. At points, it bordered on painful and I bad to definitely breathe deeply but my worked my body well and I was relaxed so job done. And only 50 bucks for an hour. I might do that again before I leave, who knows.

After that, my friend and I went and got some delicious steam pork buns and decided we wanted to go for a drive. We went out of the city, past Yuseong, past the National Cemetary (where the Cheonan victims are buried by the way), past Donghaksa, to this little artist village. It was sheer nirvana to get out of the city, I always feel like a drowning man clutching at straws when finally get a shot at fresh air and green. There was a sharp chill in the otherwise balmy city air which totally made it feel like Seattle and between that, the rolling lush emerald hills, reflective rice paddies, and delicious quiet, it was lovely.

Today I got up and worked out, and then had a picnic with my friend. We attempted to rent bikes and go down to the river only to be entirely thwarted by the very complicated renting machine. Oh well, we walked around Government Complex and ate to the very civilized background of classical music coming from the Art Center. There was quite literally no cloud in the sky and it was robin's egg blue. We popped into this dinky little museum and saw some bizarre art supposedly about the sense of humor (there was lots of poop memorabilia...) and then lay down on some benches to soak up the sun and the breeze. I got my first little shade of summer color and then took a very necessary and very heavy two hour Sunday afternoon nap. Mmm mmmm.

Regarding the summer vacation update, the latest decision is Jeju Island. We were going to go to Laos or Vietnam but I just realized it would be a poor replacement to Thailand (because of the protest instability...) and I'd rather go back and do that area properly when I have a few weeks. This way I can thoroughly cross Korea off of my list. Also, recently the predictable homesickness has popped back up but nothing I can't handle. I credit mom and dad with holding it off for two months, impressive and much appreciated.

I also had a nice talk with Shayna tonight and we had a very interesting and appealing revelation about my time here. I was joking that my year in Korea didn't "fix me" as promised, delivering the perfect career and life path that I probably did half-expect upon coming here. To be fair, I was still in the blind panic of graduation and the crippling indecision of infinite possibilities in August so it's understandable I craved that from my year here. Well, Korea didn't fix my indecision but I realized it did start to fix my outlook. I'm slightly different, I'm more relaxed to let the journey take me where it will and I'll find my way in time. I've had to battle so many things this year that being scared about my future just sort of fell to the wayside somewhere. I'm not saying it's completely anxiety-free but I'm at peace with it. So that's well worth knowing and a nice, satisfying development to see in myself.

As these reflections might hint, things have taken a turn in my mind towards the end. I tried to resist it but I can't shake the thought that I'm finally there, the home stretch, the last quarter, less than 90 days and then...

Well, not quiet "then" yet. Lots of adventure to be had, still chances to "love the reeling midnight through" in these summer months. Bye for now!! :)

Concerning Buddha's Birthday

Last week, on Sunday, I went to Seoul for the Lantern Festival, honoring Buddha's birthday which is May 21st every year. The first stop we made was at Bongeunsa which I think is the biggest temple in Seoul and it was amazing, its entire courtyard was covered in a red and white paper lantern ceiling, a riot of color and celebration. We walked around the grounds, saw a cool big Buddha statue and sat for a time inside the temple itself, watching people muttering and rocking while fingering their way through a strand of prayer beads (reminiscent of a Catholic rosary) and going through the motions of prostrating bows. It was kind of interesting to have that part of the temple- complete with a pervading scent of incense and profundity- interact with the loud colors and the cheerful crowds of the holidays, jostling outside in front of the domineering Seoul skyline. In an adjacent building, we saw a lantern exhibition which was stunning. I had never thought of lanterns as a medium of art, more decoration, but they have evolved it into a serious means of expression and creativity. Gone are the repetitive lotus paper molds, it has exploded into a significant collaboration between sculpture and painting. We saw paper replicas of kings, traditional drums, angel wings, and more abstract pieces. As the room was dark, the lanterns photographed beautifully and we had a lot of fun. After, we went north of the river (mom and dad- Jongak station, right where we were!) for the actual festival. There were lots of tents set up where you could make your own lotus lantern with petals of paper, someone handed us Buddha tokens, informational booths, and then at the end was another temple, even more lavishly coated with lanterns. This formation had a taeguuki (Korean flag) in the middle. There were some Tibetan monks doing a traditional sand drawing which was cool and we got to tie some wishes on a giant kite string. At the temple, there was also a bronze statue of Buddha absolutely festooned with flowers and ivy placed over a little pond in a shrine. People would come up, take a dipper, symbolically bathe the Buddha and bow their respect afterword. We grabbed some pah-jang (spring onion pancake) and mandu before watching a bit of the parade which was more lit and painted lanterns in procession with some monks and various groups of people. It was a close call getting back but we did and it was a fun day.

This week was a pretty busy one. I feel like I've gotten pretty close to Brown as of late, I read them extra stories and they call me "Becky Mommy" which yes, does totally mess with my head sometimes. Clearly it's halfway between a joke and a lesson in child psych but seeing them every weekday has definitely formed a bond there. Also, on the other end of the spectrum, my most advanced students decided that I was the best teacher they'd ever had at the school, and they've been here like 3 years which totally warmed me to the cockles of my heart.

I learned a bit more about Korean belief as well, talking with some friends. Divorce is still extremely stigmatized, to the point where one told me a story of her Aunt forbidding her cousin to remarry after his wife died because his girlfriend was divorced, not a widow. Also, children are sometimes viewed as synonymous with the idea of marriage. I don't mean that most people strongly desire to have kids in their lives (that's not unique to Soko), but that most people think less of a marriage without them. Hmm. I absolutely want kids at some point but I also defend the right for others to decide. Kids should be a choice and a privilege, not an obligation. Not everyone I saw believed this, but it was indeed fun to discuss with those that did.

Wednesday night I had another new Korean dining experience- shabu kalguksu which was delicious. First, we cooked mushrooms and greens in this broth until it was boiling. Then, we added paper thin, frozen bits of beef which cooked on contact. The result was a spicy soup, course 1. Course 2 we added kalguksu noodles which was my favorite part. Course 3, they spooned out most of the broth and made fried rice with green onion. All for under 5 bucks. LOVE IT!

Thursday night, another coworker and I went out for ramen and then to a popular western bar. We met some of her friends, played darts, shamelessly flirted with the two hottest guys there (one French...mon dieu....and another Australian) and I called it a night at 3. Then, because Friday began the actual 3 day weekend holiday, I went to Busan with a friend. We arrived in time to get about 20 minutes of watery sun before it began to set but it was nice to sit on the beach. We took a long walk all around the beach area after it was dark and really got a feel for Busan. It definitely has the whimsical and surreal feeling of an English coastal resort- lots of lights and ferris wheels. After walking for quite some time, buying red bean paste doughnuts, and being given a charred marshmallow like dessert which was good, we went to the jjimjilbang to spend the night. Apparently, most are open 24 hours and have a nap room so they are a good, cheap, place to crash.

It started well- they had some really nice pools overlooking the ocean (as funny as it felt being naked and spying on people on the beach...), very relaxing and pretty to see the lights at night. Then came the sleeping part. It was a huge room with about 200 people in it, and many either congestively or aromatically challenged. The lights were one until 6 in the morning along with two TVs, people answered their phones and talked loudly...quiet wasn't even a far dream. Somewhere around 4 I made myself into a Becky lollipop by wrapping one of the blanket/mat things around my head just to try and get some dark and quiet. I maybe slept an hour, which is why the next morning started with a grande coffee. We went to the biggest department store in the world, I bought some cute green plaid converse, saw Robin Hood (chaotic plot but fun, energized cinematography and pretty shots of England) and then I realized that I was going on 6 hours with no food, lots of caffeine, and no sleep. So, we went to the nearest restaurant and then walked around the Jagalchi Fish Market which was similar to Pike for all of you Seattlites but way more raw around the edges. Long, silver fish flowed out of their bowls, tails resting on the ground where the inaugural monsoon season had formed a lake. Occasionally, we had to dodge some fish guts, these women know how to wield a knife. It was definitely another peak of what I expected to see here.

Thoroughly wet, we opted for an earlier train and I slept a good 12 hours to shake off the previous two nights. Up next, planning summer vacay and HOPEFULLY some proper summer weather though the forcast looks like lots o rain. Oh well. I'll be back soon and I promise to try and undo my bad once every two week habit!

Concerning the end of winting

Winting = spring + winter. Despite the absolutely stunning flowers, spring was a no-show weather wise. It was time for the warm, unpredictably sunny times of spring and we got the frozen nights of winter. Hence, winting. But, now winter went to winting, bypassed spring, and catapulted straight to summer. 80 degrees, humid, and sunny- hello! Becky is happy.

My happy mood from Mom and Dad, as predicted, has stuck around. Let's see...the last few weeks. I tried a new food- dak galbi. Basically, it's rice-cake pasta (some cheese stuffed) stir fried with chili sauce, chicken, and cabbage. And then covered with cheese. And then the remains are stir fried with rice. Mmmmm. I also tried a new kind of BBQ- dweji galbi. I thought galbi meant beef but apparently it just refers to the cut of meat. Dweji galbi is really tender, flavorful, lean pork so I'm a big fan, it's my new favorite Korean food.

That weekend was pretty relaxed. I met Nakeesa for her birthday at a bar and we had a nice night. This week's highlight was Strawberry Picking Day on Thursday. We bussed one hour outside of Daejeon with the kiddies. We all (including moi) picked and ate as many strawberries as could fit in our containers and bellies and then the kids got to make some jam. They squished the berries all up, got juice in places that gravity would deem impossible, and had a fantastic time. After they were done, we bussed back and Emily passed out on my lap which was really endearing.

This weekend, Saturday, I went to Everland. This is the biggest amusement park in South Korea. We went on some rides, including the steepest wooden roller coaster in the world, got some ridiculous headbands, ate junk food...good day. On the slow train back a Korean university student offered to "buy me banana milk" before his friend leaned over and asked how his girlfriend was, haha. Sunday, I met Helen for brunch at an Italian restaurant and then went shopping and for coffee, enjoying the gorgeous weather.

Wednesday was a very welcome break from work as it was Kid's Day. This is actually a Korean national holiday that was created to raise awareness of child welfare during the Japanese occupation of the country. Originally, the Japanese forbade the holiday because they thought it was a subversive nationalist movement but it prevailed and survived to its present day candy and break from school reincarnation. I worked out in the morning and met a friend at the jjimjilbang for some good, old-fashioned relaxation. We had lunch on the rooftop terrace, bounced from hot rooms (with gorgeous stone mosaics mostly ranging from 50 degrees C to about 75 degrees C) to the ice room and back as our temperature allowed. It was so so so nice. We finished out the hot room portion by trying the dreaded 112 degree C room. Holy moly, that is honestly the hottest thing I have ever felt in my life without getting burned. No mosaics here, it literally looked like the inside of a kiln and I suddenly felt some sympathy for all of my projects in ceramics class last year. We forced ourselves to stay for one minute but the second we got to 60, we bolted. The hair was so hot and leaden we couldn't properly inhale, so 60 seconds was definitely enough for me. After, I showed her the sauna part of things and we showered and then went on our way. A mere 3 and a half hours after beginning, I left happy and essentially boneless.

Thursday the teachers all went out for Vietnamese to welcome Tracy, our new teacher. I had some decent pho' though Kels- the one we went to was better. Saturday, we all had to come into work for Sport's Day. We bussed to a mountain and had teachers waiting at different stations along a loop path that the kids and their families were sent down. The flowers were perfect and the trees were lush and green, it was a lovely place. My post did a treasure hunt and that was kind of it. I liked playing with my kids a bit, always fun. School took us out for lunch after which was nice, more dweji galbi, mm mmmmm, and then I napped a bit before going out last night.

This club was one of the weirdest experiences in Korea yet. It was called a "booking club" where Koreans go to meet each other and get together. Basically, we were in a huge room (with a Safeco style roof that opened and closed) with many many many tables. The waiters would come around and grab girls and take them to other tables to introduce them to guys. Sometimes this was OK, we met some really nice, young, guys who spoke English really well. But sometimes....like the 4 times we were taken back into the "VIP rooms" to the 50 year old men...not so fortunate. The other really funny thing was the entertainment. As I've said time and again, Korea is fairly conservative across the board but there were live strippers for most of the evening. Cowboys. French women. Clowns. A guy in drag with an alligator G-string. I must say, I was NOT bored. It was a great laugh and worth the 3 AM home time.

Concerning the rents part two

Monday morning found me back at the office, but I did get to meet Mom and Dad for a juk (porridge) lunch. Dad had abalone which was as bland as it gets, Mom had blue crab, and I had chumchi (tuna). Not bad, they liked the fruit tea served afterword, but I still prefer my cheese and chicken variety. Mom was left a little unsatisfied so we made our way to Paris Baguette (bakery chain that falls somewhat short of its french aspirations...) and got some little treats to tide us over. I, of course, got my brownie cake thing which is the closest to decent baked chocolate as it gets this side of the Pacific.

Monday night, we went to Indian food which was great and a good respite from all of the unfamiliar stuff. I had a really yummy dhal and garlic naan. (I forgot to add that Sun night I made them my Americasian fusion ramen). We also took a gander around E-mart to show them an Asian grocery store which they really loved. I think they found the mountains of rice, adventurous seafood, Green Bay pickles and Columbia Crest particularly fun to see. Tuesday I had a giant break from work (two and a half hours) so Dad got some takeout Chinese and then we ventured to the bath house at my gym. First, we changed into the spa clothes- shorts and a baggy t-shirt- before trying out some of the sauna rooms. They got pretty hot but they were decorated with these gorgeous stone mosaics with quartz and amethyst that showed Korean scenes. The hottest rooms also had ice water fed benches and rice mats on the floor to protect the feet so they were actually really comfortable. There was also an ice room that we peeked into. After we were done lounging, it was nakie time. We went to our separate locker rooms, stripped, and did the bath parts. The big news is that I FINALLY figured out how to operate the jets in the massage pool- there's a magnetic chip in the key bracelet that you press to a green button. I can't tell you how many times I tried jabbing it with my finger to no avail, so that's a good development. I can't speak for Dad too much but Mom seemed to settle right in.

Tuesday night, we went to a neighborhood kimbop place (Korean sushi) where we had tuna kimbop (which, though yummy, I still can't eat because it was the last thing I had before I got violently sick two months ago), kimchi dok bop, which was sauteed tomato kimchi, rice, and an egg. Not bad. Last, we had mandu ramen. I kind of prefer mine. We picked up some fried chicken on the way back...simply to add some protein, of course.

Wednesday we had lunch at home again. After I got off work, we had Mother/Father's Day Night. I attempted to take them to my favorite galbi place...only to find out that it was fresh out, so it was only sam gap sal that night. That was my first Korean dinner and there's a reason I haven't really tried it since- it's basically thick, fatty fatty fatty bacon that doesn't get cooked all of the way. I much prefer leaner beef galbi. Anyways, I had the parents try mokkoli again (Dad liked, Mom loathed) as well as some of the sides, including my favorite egg soup. We hustled our way to the Daejeon Art Center behind my school for a modern dance performance to which I treated my parents. It was called "The Mating Dance" and it was actually beautiful. It didn't hurt that the first half the guys were all shirtless and the side lighting highlighted all of their muscles to great effect...lovely scenery. They were actually good though, in a legitimate artistic sense, so we enjoyed it.

Thursday Mom and Dad came to observe me for a whole day. We made s'mores with both of my kindie and two post-kindie classes, they were messy, sticky, sugary gold. Went down a charm. The funniest part was when Dad was practicing his water drop sound in former NYU (after they had all had ample time to pet his moustache...) and Leo got right up to his face, peered into his mouth and said "I think there's water in there..." and we absolutely cracked up. It was lovely to share my kids with them, as they're basically my favorite part of this year. I can't get enough of the hugs and adoration, I think they go a measure to offset missing the human connection of home. After work, we went with the other foreigners for sam ge tan (ginseng chicken soup I tried my first week here). I loved it my second time around, it was great and nice to introduce everyone.

Friday, work as usual, but my boss took us out for this really elaborate very Korean lunch. It is hard to say what the main dish was, as there were about 22. It reminded me of "Anna and the King" where they're sitting and picking up bits of food from the whole feast laid out in front of them on sumptuous leaves...except this wasn't in Thailand, it was across the street. We had great honeyed fish, pickled radish, frozen sashimi (on purpose), oodong noodles, rice cakes, lovely mushrooms, chicken soup, pork, purple bamboo rice, fruit tea and I don't even know what else. Even by Korean standards, it was quite the spread and beyond generous for her to treat us. She also said some very complimentary stuff about me which was really nice to hear. Always good to feel competent. Mom made a quick dinner after work before we headed off to English Club. This was a good choice, Mom and Dad really liked meeting some more Koreans and they got every bit the gracious reception that I expected. I think one of them thought he was going to have a heart attack when Dad came to sit by him, he was so excited. We talked about love as a scientific, hormonal phenomenon and then went to walk around at Choongnam University at night to see the cherry blossoms.

Now, important important important aside. Daejeon has woken up. About two weeks ago, spring HAPPENED and all of these innocuous looking trees that punctuate my apartment and my morning commute exploded in flowers. The cherry blossoms are by far my favorite tree I've ever seen in my life- it's like a pinky white frothy popcorn ball of flowers just coating every branch. Lovely. Lovely lovely lovely. We also have a ton of wider, smoother, white magnolias which are also stunning. So yes, Daejeon has scored some points with me recently, even before the parents descended. Girlfriend got her hair did.

Anyways, we walked up some lanes in the university flanked on either side by these huge white flurries of blossoms and got some hot chocolate because the temperature was not quite matching the spring-like visual. It was cold, but heart-achingly gorgeous, so I forgave the air its chill. After, I really wanted my parents to see the mandu place that we always go to so Hooney very obligingly drove us and accompanied our little midnight snack. Now, the ahjima (older woman) who hand makes these has been mentioned in this blog before. She makes a mean mandu but is usually somewhat surly and kind of just does her thing in the corner rollin out the dough. Dad managed to hit some button with her, as he is want to do, and she fell in love and cackled as I have never heard any woman cackle. For that matter, sounds emitted from that woman's mouth that I've never even associated with a human. It was the best laugh I've yet stumbled across, and better for the fact that the interaction was all translated and garbled through the language barrier. Of course, Mom and Dad also loved the mandu. So win win.

Saturday morning, we had Father's Day at school where dads come and play games with their kids. My station did a quiz where Dad and child stood on a big piece of paper and if they got the question wrong, they had to fold it and the last pair not touching the floor won. It was pretty funny seeing some fully grown be-suited men balancing on one food clutching their kid and trying to answer a question in English. After, one of my sweet coworkers gave my parents a parting gift even though they'd barely spoken and we hopped the KTX to Seoul. We managed to time it perfectly so that we dropped our stuff off and made it to Changdeokgung Palace just ahead of the English tour. This palace was spectacular. Gyeongbokgung (way back in October) was bigger and more imposing, this was gentler and flowed with the topography. It had some beautiful trees, flowering like the rest of Korea, and a Secret Garden that was a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the three most influential gardens in Asia. I particularly loved the pond in the Secret Garden, very tranquil.

After that, we spent a loooooong time wandering around and trying to find dinner. We actually sat down in three different restaurants before settling down. I tried kal guksu (knife noodles in a soup) for the first time, yummy. Then we turned in. Sunday was largely spent wandering Insadong at the market and picking up presents and souvenirs. We got the dragon's beard cookies and Mom and I had tea while Dad did some independent site seeing. We ended up waving the white flag for dinner and doing Pizza Hut. Afterword, we took a really nice walk along the stream that flows through the middle of Seoul and saw some cool light exhibitions along it's length. It's source is at the really big square at the heart of the city that feeds into the Seoul Performing Art Center, the American Embassy, and Gyeongbokgung Palace. Nice area, I finally feel like Seoul's making a better impression after zooming in from the endless apartments. I also counted about 8 (I think) big screen TVs running ads on the surrounding skyscrapers.

EEEEEEEaaarly the next morning I said bye to both, which yes was sad, and got the train back home. I had some extra time before work so I took a quick nap which led to me waking up in my PJs riiight about the time I was supposed to be walking into school so that was a rush. Despite the obvious twinge at saying goodbye, I'm great. My interest in Korea is revitalized and it honestly feels like they filled me back up. I've got a new spring in my step, which is much much appreciated. This week has been a really quick one. Unfortunately, Renee's leaving soon so her replacement Tracy came today. She seems nice but we didn't talk much yet. I tried another new food last night as well, dalk galbi. It's spicy chicken, cabbage and sweet potato fried together with rice noodles with cheese. Pretty good. They even fry up the remains with some rice. Not bad. Also, today I checked out a full blown grocery store. That is directly underneath my apartment. That it took me 8 months to find. Mom serendipitously happened upon it and I feel like a prize idiot. I'll still make my E-mart runs for specialized stuff but it's got basic produce, cereal, milk, eggs, ramen....enough to be a convenient resource.

So that's the latest, world! I am 2/3 done, 4 months to go, foot loose, and fancy free.

Concerning the rents part one

If any part of my facebook status updates have filtered across the oceans, the entire universe must know that yes, my parents did indeed make it to Soko. I hopped a 3 hour bus to Incheon Airport and yes, pretty much ran through the arrivals section in time to get to their appointed gate and catapult myself in their general direction upon first glance. Quite the surreal moment, having that part of my life mix with this one, especially as this whole experience has been so defined by their separation. It was a twist to see how their presence altered my perspective of this year. But, as always, I'm about five steps ahead of myself. So. Grinning parents on either arm in a disgustingly cheesy Brady Bunch moment, I ushered them back onto the bus and introduced them to Korea. They napped the last half of the way and then I fed them pizza, led them stumbling to my apartment, and basically sent them off to bed. Friday morning, still in blatant disbelief that Mom and Dad were actually here, they accompanied me to work for a quick morning tour of the school. They walked around a bit and met me back for lunch, during which Jaden shrewdly informed my mother, "you strong grandmother." Dad also gave them each a peep for dessert and their perfect manners (if I don't say so myself- though, FINE, to be fair, Korean culture probs had something to do with that...) completely won him over. It was like the moment in Moulin Rouge where the Duke is charmed by Satine and little stars go off in his eyes (MINUS the creepy prostitute older man thing) when they looked up and thanked him oh so politely. He was a goner.

Friday night, we got some food and had a little train picnic dinner on the 180 mph KTX bound towards Seoul. Dad was immediately in awe of the efficiency and cleanliness of Korean public transportation, and yeah, I'll for sure miss it a ton when I go back home. I navigated the easy peasy subway system (remember way back when, in the days when I described it as a wriggling compost pile of worms going every which way? I'm over that and am long past admitting that it is actually ridiculously user friendly, I was just in a bad mood with the whole country...) and, after a few minutes of wandering some ambiguously planned blocks, we easily found our hotel.

The next morning began at 6-- not quite the Saturday wake up one hopes for but worth it considering the day. This, my friends, was DMZ day. We found our tour pretty easily and took about an hour's bus ride north to constant commentary from our chipper guide. Mainly, she gave some background of North and South Korean relations and laid out the itinerary of our day for us. One thing that did impress me in this leg was how freaking close Seoul is to the border. Sure, I've seen the maps, but it's quite different to get 30 mins outside of Seoul and see barbed wire fences connecting military checkpoints that pop up every 100 ft to look out for North Koreans getting across the rivers. They even have these white rocks wedged in the fences at frequent intervals as a simple device to detect where a fence has been disturbed. I could honestly see why the border is so SO heavily fortified (more on that later) and did not wonder that Soko is trying to disperse its capitol a bit to spread out its resources.

Before we even got to the DMZ (we actually only entered it at the very end and its only 4 km wide), we crossed over Unification Bridge which definitely signaled that we were coming to something important. We were still miles from the border, and even the buffer, but we still had a passport check and the we had to weave through about 30 traffic barriers to prevent a car from just gunning across. They mean business.

The first stop was the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. Basically, after the armistice was drawn up that ended the Korean war and divided the peninsula, sneaky North Korea dug at least 4 tunnels (and likely more not yet discovered....a less than comfortable thought...), to try and attack Seoul. These weren't discovered until some years after, during some land exploration in the DMZ when they noticed that the ground was absorbing enough water to suggest a hollow place. When pressed, North Korea first said that the south dug those tunnels to attack the north. Yeah, not so much. We took a little claustrophobic but cool tram down an access chute and came out into the real tunnel. The tourism board had painted over every dynamite trace with yellow so that they could be easily seen and the dynamite blasts really obviously point towards the south even to a complete defense or ballistics novice such as moi. Also, the tunnel has a slight but definable slant towards the north to allow water to drain. Tunnel 101 apparently teaches that you don't dig down, you dig back up. So...nice try Noko. The second excuse was that actually yes, we did do it, haha isn't that funny, but don't worry, it was for coal mining. They even put coal residue on the walls to prove it...despite the fact that the residue washed out with rain and the entire area is made up of solid granite. The chilling conclusion is that Noko did have some tricks up its sleeve which is doubly so considering that with all of the tunnels combined, they could move 30,000 troops through the border in the space of an hour. It was really interesting being down there just to be faced with proof of this dramatic relationship....if the barbed wire signs dotting every surface since Unification Bridge with the bright red "MINE" triangle weren't enough.

The next stop was Dora Observatory. The buses aren't allowed there when it is even remotely snowy because it's on the top of a hill and if the bus should slide off a slope, it could very definitely explode on a mine. So. There you go. It was reeeeeally foggy so we didn't see that much but some hazy outlines, but technically we did see into North Korea. First on the Soko side of things, we saw Freedom Village which is a special status community of South Korean citizens who lived in the DMZ before the war that have been accorded special permission to stay there. Because it is so so close to the border, they are protected by ROK (Republic of Korea, and how's that for an acronym?) soldiers at all times, even when farming the fields. They have a curfew and ID cards but in exchange, they don't pay tax or do military service. Freedom Village has a huge Soko flag atop this flag pole. Not to be outdone, Noko raised a corresponding flag that not only topped it but made the Guinness Book of World Records. Its flagpole lies in what Soko has termed "Propaganda Village" because they wanted to upstage Freedom Village and prove how prosperous they are. So, the buildings are all neat and matched with gray walls and blue roofs (we did see it through telescopes). Two problems though, there are no people and the windows don't ever glow at night and hence are painted on. So again, nice try Noko. We also saw Noko's "Kesong Industrial Complex" which is the single joint economic venture of the North and South. In a highly controlled maneuver, the south sends raw materials and managers across the border and takes back finished clothing. The few South Koreans who do commute there for work do it on rare occasion from Seoul and are basically the only ones from their country allowed in. Rumor has it that the managers gave their workers a choco pie and some OJ and none of them ate it because they wanted to bring it home to share with their families. A lot of this could very well be southern bias but the vibe rings true from what I've heard. Noko life is preeeetty bleak. The men have 10 year long military service, the women have 7, then they work factories for insufficient rice and food vouchers and literally one dollar a day.

After that, we stopped at the last train station in South Korea, even though the track is connected through North Korea up into China. It's weird, there's a huge brand new section to process international luggage that is just completely closed off and lying in sterile disuse. They have this potential map on the wall that connects the trains by land to the Transiberian Railway all the way to Madrid, Paris, and London...though it would take 3 weeks. Still, it does drive the point home that Soko is connected by land to all of this but Noko has made it an island. Unification could certainly work some changes, to say the least.

Then, lunch time. We had a great bulgogi stew (Korean beef) with mushrooms and veggies and mom and dad tried to acclimatize to floor seating. That venture never quite reached success during the whole of their visit no matter how they tried, to the pity of their joints. It was yummy. We walked for a bit and then on to our next stop...Imjinlak Park. This park was established to comfort the southern citizens separated from their families by the armistice. It's the northernmost area that most South Koreans really get to their relatives. On Chuseok and Lunar New Year, they come here to bow to their ancestors, facing north. There were all of these prayer ribbons tied along the length of the barbed wire fence, very moving and sad.

Then, off to Camp Boniface which is the briefing area for the DMZ and for the JSA (joint security area- the epicenter, where North and South Korean soldiers stand nose to nose). There, we got a very dramatic overview of DMZ history and got turned over to our military bus and got our security badges that identified us as military guests- as in, please don't shoot us, we're civilians.

Then, we hopped in a bus, crossed into the DMZ, and crossed into the JSA. The JSA essentially is a 600 m circle with the demarcation line right in the middle that houses both North Korean and South Korean soldiers. This is where the peace talks happen and where any diplomatic meetings happen between the two countries. In the past, soldiers from both sides freely passed through the entire JSA. However, an incident occurred when the South Korean army chopped down a huge poplar that was obscuring the view between two southern security checkpoints. The Noko army didn't quite like that...so they took the axe and chopped two soldiers to death. Yeeeeeeah. So, after that, even the JSA was strictly divided with clear markers and a cement line between the key buildings.

We were not allowed to stand up in the bus until allowed and the engines kept running the entire time, in case we needed to make a hasty exit. We were ushered in partners up into a big entrance building which was originally built for families to rendezvous. Then, we dashed out into a little open area and into the peace talk building that straddles the demarcation line. We had 3 soldiers keeping tabs on the 15 of us in the room, all standing like military dolls with clenched fists held in front of them and requisite sunglasses. We did get to cross the line in the building and take pictures through the window back at South Korea, but couldn't go to the extreme end, where there was a final ROK soldier and a door. If we went behind the guy, we were told it was at our own risk as if a northerner decided to open it and kidnap us, he couldn't pull us back. We stepped back out and saw a northern soldier looking at us through binoculars from a building about 50 ft back. Then, we dashed behind this granite wall to look at the buildings for a bit so that we could duck back down if they started shooting. Huh. We got back on the military bus, and were driven to the site of the axe murder thing and then saw the Bridge of No Return right by the security checkpoint they were trying to protect. The bridge is overgrown with brush and is so named because after the war, POWs had to decide which side they'd remain on but the choice was permanent. Now, that security checkpoint is unmanned because it's too dangerous. It's isolated from the others and no one knows really what's on the other side of the bridge because the visibility is so bad.

The way back our tour guide also went over some security features of the DMZ. There are the obvious defenses- barbed wire and LOTS o mines, but there's also a lot of tank barriers which are essentially cement arches covering all of the roads that connect North Korea with the south. If needed, they have holes for dynamite to detonate and make a hassle for any invaders.

Overall, I expected the hype to surpass what I actually experienced but yeah, it was tense. The mood certainly wasn't helped by the warship fiasco. About a month ago, a South Korean warship was sank somewhere off of the coast of Korea, close to the demarcation line. About 46 people died and the government has been really closed off with evidence and the investigation. The press has ruled out an on-board accident, however, which sort of leaves an unfortunate brush with a leftover mine from the war or a less accident torpedo. Eek. A lot of South Koreans I've talked to still hope for reunification because of the separated families and shared ancestry, even considering the economic toll, and even beyond thoughts of bringing the two sides back together, an act of war would noooot be a good thing or easy to respond to. Anyways, the rules, passport checks, briefings and military escorts did make an impression. It's the most fortified border in the world and I definitely felt it and learned a lot about N/S relations.

That night, we made our tired little way back home for some Chinese and bed. The next morning, we slept in and had brunch and then went back to Gyerongsan Mountain to show the rents a temple. It was lively, and we took a lovely lovely hike up to some waterfalls. I finally saw a perfect view of Asian mountains- really spiky with some sparse, articulately placed winding trees. It looked like a painting. On the way down, some old men beckoned Dad and me over for some mokkoli and fed us some meat bits. Mine was a knub of something...we'll call it pig tail. I refuse to dwell on alternatives, for that way lies madness. For real lunch, we had bibimbap and pahjung (spring onion pancake). Mm mmm. To give our feet some rest, we went and had a nice minnow nibble at Dr. Fish and then came home and relaxed.

To give your poor eyes and attention some rest, the duration of their wonderful stay is to be continued...

Concerning a Koreantastic weekend

Hey everyone! Friday we had a little Easter celebration and it was pretty cute. After some quick prep work, UCLA came into the class and I solemnly told them about the Easter Bunny and his chocolate egg hidery antics. They could barely contain their wide eyed ecstasy when I informed them that the Easter Bunny had, in fact, come to ECC earlier that morning and specially hid a little pink egg carton of candy for each student in the room. A quick hunting frenzy followed, ended by malt-ball, seven year old heaven. Brown and I decorated hard boiled eggs but not properly with die, we cheated with markers. A distant second, in my opinion, but they had fun so meh.

After work, my march o' Koreans weekend began. I had some much needed fajitas with Ella at a restaurant about 10 minutes down the road. YuuuuuMY. Ole. (Actually olleh considering where I am- a cell phone company called KT made an advertising campaign by reversing hello and now it has become the slang word of the century, entirely eclipsing and even replacing yay, wow, woohoo, yeah, cool, and any other positive affirmation in both Korean and English...that's one good marketing department, but I digress...) We caught up and had a nice, relaxing dinner over which I proved my fledgling Korean literacy to her.

The next morning, I woke up at an earlyish time and met Carol, Debbie, (two Korean co-workers at school) and Chad for a nice hike. We drove for about 30 minutes and came to Gusongsa (I think...?) which means 9 Peak Mountain. It wasn't too bad though- after a walk past a retirement village with a sign warning us against elderly heckling, we came to about 15 minutes of typical Korean slavish climbing but it lacked the duration, intensity, and insecure footing of Gyerongsan (remember WAAAAY back when, when I almost killed myself shlepping over a mountain between two temples in October?). After that, we were on the backbone of the ridge and had a nice view of the city, with all of its iconically Korean apartment buildings, and the countryside with its unrelenting jagged hills (no, Korea, that's not, in fact, a mountain, but keep trying). It was really nice, there was a little river down below. We spent the next 30 minutes clambering over the 9 "peaks" which were more like bumps, but the trail did involve some rock climbing and creative acrobatics. After that, we went down as dramatically as we came up (again, a Korean hallmark), and meandered along a country road until we came to the car. Then, we drove to a galbi place and had beer and lunch. I tried some more new foods including: white kimchi (not good, sweet, which is weird), a cousin of ginseng (good with a sweet spicy sauce but TERRIBLE in health drinks as I found out today), and cold noodle soup (interesting, tastes like a soup version of cold, green pasta salad with a boiled egg floating in it). We fought the intense traffic back (Saturday afternoon....no idea....) and I was home by 3. The day was too glorious to waste away indoors, so I strapped on a spring shirt and some sandals and braved the watery sunshine for a nice little walk outside. I went past the art center and circled down to the river back to my apartment...but not before stopping by Paris Baguette to get a little chocolate brownie thing as a treat. I had some yummy ramen for dinner and caught up on all my bad TV shows before getting really really restless around 9 and texting everyone I know in Daejeon. Eventually, Helen texted me back around 11 and we met at 12 for a few beers at two different bars.

The really interesting thing about that was that Helen explained to me some more about the various species of night life in Daejeon. Exhibit 1: hof, typical bar. Restaurant style tables, soju, beer and mokkoli (rice wine, remember?), snacks customarily ordered, especially in the form of fried chicken. Exhibit 2: western style. Noisy, lots of music, dancing, cocktails, beer, maybe wine. Exhibit 3: Korean style club. Cover charge, dancing, all types of drinks and a pimping waiter service. You order your man (or woman) along with your drink and the waiter parades around a selection, or maybe parades you to a selection as the chips may fall. You are completely free to dismiss and move on as you choose, until you find something to your liking. Needless to say we have set a date to sample this one within the next few weeks. Exhibit 4: host/hostess bar. For a couple of hundred thousand won, you can spend the evening in one of these and be served by either your own personal bikini clad girl or a be-suited young man. They pour your drinks. You buy them theirs. They do magic. They entertain you. They flirt. You pay. Exhibit 5: the scandelous, under the table club. Apparently there's one in Daejeon called "Grip" and for the reasonable sum of one million won, you can have your own personal stripper. Shirtless, gyrating, and a steady hand with the drinks don't come cheap. I find those last two types particularly fascinating as Korea is so so discreet with sexuality, to the one point that one of my Korean friends told me stripping was illegal here...but apparently, things just pop back up in the darndest places.

Clearly that was a lively conversation and I bumped back to my apartment around 3. This morning, I got up and had a lovely skype chat with the whole fam. My sister's boyfriend works at Microsoft so he's graciously agreed to look into some jobs for me around the time I get back so that's an interesting avenue that I'll be pursuing. I've been giving the whole future-career-vocation business some more thought and no matter what, even if I end up applying to a PhD program by some miracle, I need to work for year anyway. So, I've narrowed it down to an office job because I want coworkers and predictable hours. I did see an intriguing job on Amazon as publicity assistant for kindle which would be awesome. Marketing seems a little daunting because of its competitiveness but it would help me to feel passionate about it instead of cynical if I was invested in the product, which I most certainly would be. It is still 5 months until I get back so I am sure this specific job won't be available but it has opened another avenue of consideration in terms of company. One could do worse as a book lover than Amazon.

After talking about all that with the fam, and hearing my unsentimental but still caring oldest sister refuse appetizers because "My sister is more important than an oyster" I was in a good mood and went to the gym again. I had a nice run, I tried an interval suggestion that Kels gave me with good effect. After a quick shower, I met Korean number 5 of the weekend (look at me go!) Eun Ju at Costco. We had some good ol American style pizza for lunch, I picked up the basics, and then we went and saw "Clash of the Titans." My eyes bled. It was the worst movie ever and more disappointing for the fact that it has Liam Neelson, Ralph Fiennes, and Theoden from Lord of the Rings....oh how are the mighty fallen! It wasn't a film, it was a game of "let's see how many Greek myths we can bastardize and fit into one incomprehensible and trite and pretentious two hours." And it even lost that game. It did scratch the Sunday movie theater itch, I'll say that much, and then we went and got our hair did. I got straight down bangs which I like....the body wasn't styled so well, it looks way to Asian school child for my taste but a night's sleep will bring down the rounded volume. I really like the bangs though so yay. That just about catches us up. Love! Next up...Thursday Thursday Thursday Thursday.

B

Concerning Victorian beauty and Hangol

Hangol is the written Korean language, thought I should get that out of the way right off the bat. Victorian beauty is basically exactly what it seems but specifically means the conception that aesthetics and artistry were undeniably connected with morality. So, now I've covered my definition bases, time to get the post on its way. I mention Victorian beauty because I had some really interesting conversations lately and have been learning about Korean standards and customs of beauty and found them startlingly close to Victorian England. You're never that far away from something you love, even if nooooot quite in the expected form. I mentioned awhile back that Level Eks talked about plastic surgery and I ended up continuing that topic with some friends of mine this week. Korea has one of the highest percentages of plastic surgery in the world, to the point that it is even developing cosmetic tourism as a fledgling industry big enough to compete with that of northern Europe. It's extremely common here- especially the surgery to thread a hooked needle through the eyelid to make the western crease. One of our kids, before I came, was out of school for a month because his parents took him to get the procedure. He was 7. I have gotten glimpses of this cultural quirk before, like perming your children or the endless reliance on fashion accessories and embellishment, but it didn't really click until recently. Korea is absolutely, head over heals, hands down, appearance obsessed. Men make no secret of the fact that women (still) exist to barter beauty for bank and that people almost have a responsibility to look as best as physically (and medically) possible.

Now, despite my obvious reservations about this, I don't want to come off as too judgy-judgy. It is a natural impulse to want to feel admired and realize your potential. And I suppose I'd be naive to say that looks don't count- why else do we lint-roller that shirt the fifth time before an interview or put on that extra coat of nail-polish for a date? On some level, I get it, and I'd be really hypocritical to not admit that I've gotten advantages from this side of Korean culture. Because I have western features like white skin, creased eyelids, a more pronounced nose and an oval face, most Koreans seem to find me attractive (which in my mind is still totally separate from how I see myself or how I'd expect to be received at home...just putting that huge disclaimer out there...) and I suspect they're nicer to me for it. I'd say one out of every three pleasant interactions with Koreans stem from them thinking I'm pretty. So, I feel like it would be wrong of me to completely condemn this as primitive or alien to modern culture or terrible because a.) it exists in the states and b.) I've reaped the benefits.

Where does this leave me? I can't shake the bad taste from my staunchly feminist mouth that here, femininity is soooo inseparable from physical beauty and that physical beauty is so limited to an arbitrary western viewpoint. What happened to confidence? What happened to the kind of back-bone straightening assurance of feeling good in your own skin? I think if anything, that's beauty. So I can't agree with a culture that teaches their children from a young age that they must live up to a western standard that's been put above their own and that they will always be most valued for a random genetic roll of the dice. Now I know that not everyone here thinks this and it is possible that I've talked to an outlying subset of Koreans but no matter the severity, this aspect exists here. No matter what, I can't fully condone it- the idea that beauty is what makes a good person hasn't been taken seriously since Dickens and as much as I love Vic lit, the notion is rightly gathering dust on its historical shelf of disuse. That is, except here.

Oddly enough this doesn't make me like Korea any less, I actually enjoyed fleshing out one more part of its tricky culture- even if just to debate with it. Bottom line, it's all friendly, and as I've said multiple times, I'm still having a great time here and have sung a multitude of praises about the country I'm in. Soko, it's nothing personal. On the other side, I've also started connecting with another part of Korean culture- hangol. All of the sudden a light went on in my head about two weeks ago that it was time for me to start learning how to read. And so I did. I am getting better and have now progressed from a slug's pace, to sloth's and am hoping to conquer turtle's by the end of the week. Some characters are still eluding me but I wrote my first Korean sentence today (I love you, in case anyone was wondering) and it was cool! Note: this doesn't mean that I can in any way understand what I am reading or writing but I am slowly tackling the repertoire of noises. It just feels like one more tie to my surroundings and if nothing else, it's made the walk to work way more fun. Now it feels like one big giant game of sudoku, the city is a moving puzzle and I am sure people think I am totally crazy muttering signs to myself "Sah...lang...heh..." but no worries. I am unexpectedly proud of it so that's that.

Not that much has happened in the last 3 days...I went to the gym two more times which continues my miraculously faithful streak I've been on...went to work....today was the last day of the session which means the new girl officially starts tomorrow. Oh one cute (mmm maybe wrong word....funny? still weird...) note, Irene was trying to explain to me why "Robbie apsoyo" (absent) and she just looks at me and said, "Robbie grandmother go to sky." Now my condolences to Robbie's family and his grandmother and I don't want to seem insensitive but I thought that was adorable and hilarious all in one. Who needs poets when you have 5 year old non-native speakers?

Anyways that's it folks. Not quite so angsty as my last mid-week post (remember the "vein" street fiasco that happened in the wee hours of one sad wednesday night? hopefully moving forward from that...) and I'd imagine everything should continue to get a lot more cheerful as the rents get closer to touchdown. Next up: this weekend, I am grabbing dinner with Ella, hiking with two of my Korean co-teachers and grabbing coffee with another Korean friend and getting my hair cut. And then, you know, next Thursday is when mom and dad come...juuust in case I hadn't mentioned it enough. Love!!

Becks