Asia Trail

Here, on the shores of Sokcho, we now come to the end of our Fellowship.

2008-12-20T06:58:00.000-08:00

Well, our time in South Korea is nearly at an end. It's precisely midnight on Saturday night, the 20th of December, as I write this. In five-and-a-half hours, our friends Jenny and Rachel will meet us outside our building to drive us to the Sokcho intercity bus terminal for the 6 am bus to Gangneung (the closest big city), and from there we will take an 8 am bus to Incheon Airport for a 2 pm flight back to O'Hare Airport (via Tokyo).

Our last week has been hectic but wonderful, full of goodbye dinners and parties and gifts from our students. I'm sure Aubrey will soon post all the wonderful pictures she's taken. Right now, however, we're just reflecting on the end of a major part of our lives. We've been married for less than four years, but two of those years have been spent in South Korea. This experience has changed us profoundly. We will truly miss this country, this culture, and the many friends we have made here. As I told our friends after our final goodbye party this evening, a part of who we now are is who they have helped us become. We will carry our memories of them with us for the rest of our lives.

Now we're looking forward to the next chapter of our lives in the US. We don't know what God has in store for us, but we know the great things He did for us here in the Land of Morning Calm. And we are profoundly grateful.

Paul's new blog.

2008-12-09T07:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, I finally have a place for my big mouth to call home: http://www.onethoughtafteranother.blogspot.com.

Just FYI.

Tyranny on the Left Coast

2008-12-04T21:13:00.000-08:00

This is my official take on the behavior of opponents of Proposition 8 (the California ballot provision that amended the state constitution to outlaw same-sex marriage) after the election, if you're interested in reading it.

Psalm 52

2008-11-30T07:02:00.000-08:00

We've been packing our home up over the past several days, and when you do that you find all kinds of interesting things. For about 15 months, from spring 2007 to late summer 2008, I was part of a local writer's group made up of several other foreign teachers called WAK (Writer's Association of Korea). (Aubrey came to the meetings from time to time, but not often. I don't know why. She's a really freaking good writer. But I digress.)

While going through papers on our bookshelf, I found a cache of WAK materials that I'd forgotten I'd kept. One of them was an autobiographical essay I'd written about my feelings about my brother, Jeffrey's, death. Given my recent blogging about having faith in God, I thought I'd add Psalm 52 to the blog today, to give the talk about faith a kind of emotional symmetry. (Be warned, though: it's a bit long, and a bit raw, emotionally and linguistically. I wrote it for a non-churchgoing audience, and it expressed the feelings I'd had about Jeffrey's death 13 years ago.)

Psalm 52

Why do you boast of evil, you mighty man?
Why do you boast all day long, you who are a disgrace in the eyes of God?
Your tongue plots destruction; it is like a sharpened razor, you who practice deceit.
You love evil rather than good, falsehood rather than speaking the truth.
You love every harmful word, O you deceitful tongue!
Surely God will bring you down to everlasting ruin:
He will snatch you up and tear you from your tent; he will uproot you from the land of the living.
The righteous will see and fear; they will laugh at him, saying,
"Here now is the man who did not make God his stronghold
but trusted in his great wealth and grew strong by destroying others!"
But I am like an olive tree flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever.
I will praise you forever for what you have done;
In your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.
-- Psalm 52: 1-9 (NIV)

One of the truly ambivalent benefits of a serious Christian faith is its answer to the problem of suffering, which is the source of both amazing comfort and bitter questions and recriminations against God. A religion that claims an absolutely good, all-powerful, and personal being as its raison d'etre has a lot to answer for when things go wrong, after all. When we are suffering -- physically, emotionally, or spiritually -- Christian doctrine tells us that there is an omnipotent, loving God there for us. That is a very consoling thought. The King of the universe, the Author of time and space and everything that we call "reality" is personally concerned, and personally moved, by all of our individual pains? Well, that makes it easier to bear up under them. But then, if God is so powerful and He cares so much, why doesn't He help? Why doesn't He fix the situation? Or, even better, why didn't He make it so that we never had to deal with it in the first place? Wouldn't that be more loving? Every serious person of faith has to answer these questions at some point. For me, that point came on November 5, 1995.

I was sixteen and in my sophomore year at Central Catholic High School. Freshman year had been pretty typical: I made some friends; I made some mistakes; I had fun. Sophomore year promised to be more fun with (hopefully) fewer mistakes. I had a car now -- a beat-up '85 Dodge Aries that I'd bought off my cousin -- and that was a passport to a lot of new things for my friends and me. And my little brother, Jeffrey, was finally out of the hospital. Now my family and I could relax a little more.

Jeffrey had gone into the hospital for exploratory neurosurgery. He had epilepsy, and his seizures had become very intense and violent lately. He'd gone to Children's Hospital in Boston to see if the parts of his brain that caused his seizures could be safely removed. Something went wrong during the surgery, however. (To this day, we don't know what actually happened.) Jeffrey went into septic shock -- a condition where the body responds as if it has a massive, system-wide infection. That response usually kills the patient. (During a normal infection, the blood vessels near the source of the infection dilate to allow white blood cells to leak into the surrounding tissue to fight it. In septic shock, or sepsis, this happens throughout the entire body. The body swells up to two or three times its normal size, the lungs become sodden and useless, and the organs can't get enough oxygen because there isn't enough blood to bring it to them.) Death from sepsis is usually quick and painful. Jeffrey was given a 3% chance to live.

Fortunately, however, he was at Boston Children's Hospital, one of the two or three best hospitals for children in the world. They had several experimental devices and machines to keep him alive, and the medical staff was second to none. Jeffrey beat the odds and recovered. He spent a month in the ICU and another month in a rehab facility to fully regain his motor skills before he came home in early October. We were so relieved. We knew (well, not my father, who was an atheist -- by my mother and I knew) that God had smiled on us. We knew we'd dodged a bullet and the worst was over.

We were wrong.

November 5 was a Sunday. I remember that because we were supposed to go to church. Jeffrey usually got up early, but sometimes he didn't and we'd have to wake him up. He hadn't gotten up in time, so my mother went in to wake him up. I was laying in bed, enjoying those last few minutes of rest where you're not sleeping but you feel absolutely no obligation to get up. My mother's scream after she entered Jeffrey's room did nothing to change my attitude.

That may sound calloused, but you need to understand -- my mother, good Italian that she is, tends towards the melodramatic. She screams when she drops a pot on the floor (even if it's empty). She screams if she's riding in a car with my father or me and we get closer than the requisite two car lengths she deems an appropriate following distance. She screams for a lot of reasons, few of which were worth rousing myself from the blissful post-slumber rest I was enjoying that morning. Then I heard her call my father.

"Howard! Get in here!"

Now, this didn't necessarily indicate a real problem, either, but it seemed to warrant a little more attention, which I dutifully gave it. Maybe Jeffrey had ripped up his sheets or taken all his clothes out of his drawers -- things he'd been known to do before.

Then I heard my father's voice.

"Oh no! Jeffrey!"

My father's voice, like my own, is not as well equipped for expressing the full range of human emotions as are those of other people (such as my mother or brother, Jon), so it can be hard sometimes to tell what we're feeling without seeing our faces. This was certainly not one of those times. I don't think I can properly express the shock, grief, and despair that I heard in my father's voice at that moment. All I can say is that I've never heard him speak in that tone or with that kind of expression before or since. And I knew that something was very, very wrong.

I jumped out of bed and walked quickly down the twenty-foot hallway between our rooms. And I saw what had made my mother scream. There in his bed lay Jeffrey, cold and blue, a peaceful expression on his face. He'd been dead for hours.

The next several hours were pretty surreal. I remember my father dragging Jeffrey's body (or "Jeffrey" as I preferred to think of it at the time) off the bed and rapidly administering CPR. I remember thick, black blood oozing out of Jeffrey's nose as my father pushed down on his chest, repeatedly trying to force life back into his body. My good friend, John, had slept over the night before, and he called the paramedics. (John had shit luck, sleeping over that night. It's a good thing he did, since I don't think anyone in my family was in a state to speak as calmly to the paramedics as he did. But that was the first time he'd ever experienced one of Jeffrey's frequent medical emergencies, and it was the worst one he could have seen. Jeffrey regularly suffered full-on grand mal seizures, some of which had required hospitalization. Another good friend of mine, Dave, had had the bad luck of sleeping over on a few such occasions, so he would have been a little more familiar with the whole scenario. John, alas, was not.)

The paramedics quickly removed Jeffrey and rushed him to the hospital. One medic stayed behind (I forget why; I only remember talking with him after his colleagues had left) and I asked him if he thought my brother would live. It's obvious now that he knew Jeffrey was dead and he also knew that I didn't want to believe that, so he just told me that he wasn't sure, but that the congealed black blood leaking from Jeffrey's nose wasn't a good sign. The only words of his that registered with me were "I'm not sure," though. I rode with my family to the hospital, clinging desperately to the futile hope that Jeffrey might beat the odds again and live.

C.S. Lewis, in A Grief Observed, compared his confidence in the goodness and providence of God after his wife's death to a mountain climber's confidence in his rope once he as real need of it. It's one thing to say that your rope is strong enough to hold your weight; it's quite another to put all your weight onto it when it's the only thing keeping you from falling hundreds of feet to your death. When that happens, you find out whether you really trust the strength of your rope. Like Lewis, I realized that I didn't really believe my rope was as strong as I'd thought I did. I learned how dangerously easy it is to talk about how good God is when you're not suffering very much. When nothing in your life's gone to shit, the idea that God is in control and has a plan that includes your life makes a lot of sense.

When something in your life goes wrong, however -- really, terribly wrong -- you finally grasp the awful weight behind those simple words: "I believe in God the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth." I believe in this God? But there must be some mistake. This God just let my brother die. Surely the "maker of heaven and earth" could have done something, couldn't He?

We had so many people wanting to share our grief. Jeffrey was very well-liked in the community, which added to the outpouring of attention that usually follows the sudden death of an 11-year old boy in a town as safe as Salem, New Hampshire was. People from church were the worst. Not that they were obnoxious or self-righteous. Far from it. They were some of the most gracious, wonderful, and helpful people who came to us. But many of them kept saying that God had "a plan" and that I just had to trust him. Didn't they know that I knew that? But what kind of fucked up plan doesn't make a place for a perfectly innocent boy whose family had thought he was lost and had just gotten used to the wonderful idea of having him back?

Or, at least, those were my silent thoughts. To others I talked about how I knew that God had a plan and I fully trusted Him. It was bullshit, of course, but I felt like that was what I should say. I didn't share my real thoughts with anyone, even to God in prayer. (How impertinent to speak to God like that!) I found it hard to pray without cursing at Him or blaming him, though, so I didn't pray much. This was especially tough for me, however, because my prayers had been my biggest source of sustenance during Jeffrey's ordeal in the hospital. It was the only way I'd managed to not dissolve into a frantic, raging, helpless mess as I watched his body deteriorate into a distended, swollen, unrecognizable thing in the hospital. Without my prayers, I began to feel my bitterness and hopelessness rise up to engulf me. So I went downstairs to my private studying area in the basement and I did what I'd heard of other people doing in similar situations (and had mocked them for doing it): I opened my bible to a random passage and began to read. As it happened, the passage I'd opened to was psalm 52.

Psalm 52 is an imprecatory psalm. It's a prayer asking God to curse and kill someone. It's attributed to King David, and is one of the few psalms with a specific narrative reference: "Against Doeg, the Edomite." As the story goes, David, the secretly anointed heir to the throne of Israel, was being hunted by the deranged King Saul. Saul had once been David's greatest benefactor, but had become increasingly paranoid as David's war exploits made him the most popular man in the kingdom. Although David repeatedly pledged his loyalty to Saul, the king tried to kill him and David was forced to flee.

He fled so quickly, in fact, that he took no food or weapons with him. The first place he ran to was Nob, a village of priests whom he asked for food and a weapon. He lied when asked about his purpose, saying he was on a top-secret mission for the king. Against their better judgment, the priests gave David the food and weapon he needed and he went on his way. Doeg, one of the priests' assistants, realized David was lying and ran off to inform Saul, who rushed to Nob with his personal retinue to catch David. He was furious when he learned that David had escaped, and ordered the priests killed for conspiring against him. The only man willing to carry out his order, however, was Doeg, who dutifully murdered 85 priests. Abiathar, son of the head priest, escaped, however, and told David about what had happened. David, consumed with grief and anger at his role in the deaths of the priests, vowed vengeance against Doeg and composed a cursing prayer to God (psalm 52) to kill him.

That's the story behind psalm 52. Not a very likely source of comfort or inspiration, but it provided me with both. I felt a tremendous sense of relief and release that I hadn't realized I needed so badly. I realized at that moment that it was okay to be angry with God. He's big enough to take it. I'd been treating Him the way that my hagwon owner tells me to treat certain spoiled bratty students who aren't used to being disciplined at home. ("Don't yell at Him. He's sensitive.") But what good is a God you can't yell at? "What is this? What are you doing? Why have you hurt me this badly?" Good questions, all. "Why the fuck is this happening to me?" Even better. Rage, as the Croatian theologian, Miroslav Volf, says in his excellent book on Christianity and conflict, Exclusion and Embrace, belongs before God. If I have a problem with something that is not at all in my or anyone else's control, I need to take my questions to the source, just like an angry customer with car troubles on the phone wanting to talk with "Mr. Toyota." If I don't do that, if I feel like I can't do it or like such questions are impertinent, what does that say about what I believe?

So I let myself get angry. Over the next several weeks I yelled and questioned. Above all, I asked why. Why did this happen? What did Jeffrey do, what did we do, to deserve this? How could this be justified? And in the end, I felt the razor sharpness of the double-edged sword of faith: at some point, you have to believe. That's the nature of the game. There is a lot of room for discussion and reasoning, but at a certain point the whole thing is about trust in a person. The absurd image that came into my mind was from the film Aladdin, where Aladdin, before helping the princess onto his flying carpet, asks her, "Do you trust me?" Corny, to be sure, but it cuts to the heart of the issue. If she doesn't trust him, there's no magic ride -- the journey ends right there. If I don't trust God, there's no journey of faith -- no magic, no life. It all ends. That was the question I felt myself being asked: "Do you trust me?" Even in my anger and hurt and confusion over Jeffrey's death, even without all my questions answered, I realized that my answer was "Yes."

It reminded me a little bit of God's answers to Job at the end of the book of Job. He never actually tells Job what he'd spent 30-odd chapters demanding to know, which was why he'd suffered so much when he'd done nothing wrong. Instead God essentially says, "I'm God and you're not. I know why this happened to you, and I'm in control. Even if I don't tell you why it happened, do you trust me to know what's best?" Job did. I realized that I had to, too. I needed to emulate David's attitude in psalm 52, not only in how he began his prayer, but also in how he ended it: I trust in God's unfailing love forever and ever ... in your name I will hope, for your name is good.

A very Black Friday in Long Island

2008-11-28T19:37:00.000-08:00

This is the scene outside of the Wal-Mart in Long Island, hours after a savage mob of shoppers had freaking trampled a Wal-Mart maintainence worker to death because he wasn't opening the crash doors outside the door fast enough. At 5 am. As you'll notice, dozens of shoppers are lined up behind the crime scene tape. What the f*#%? What the hell is wrong with the people there? A man was killed, and all they can think about is getting good deals.

According to the report, the selfish, murdering reprobates who had just killed a man -- or stepped over his crushed body without comment in their rush to get deals -- refused to leave the store when employees said they were closing the store due to their colleague's death. "I've been here since Thursday morning!" one shopper reportedly said, as she kept shopping through employees' orders for her to leave the store.

Has Long Island become another front line for the Third World-ization of America that's proceeding apace and no one said anything about it? Is this what we have to look forward to in the "new" America? What a terrible, horrible thing if it's true. This single event is terrible enough without it possibly doubling as a preview of coming attractions.

Pondering the future while standing on one foot

2008-11-26T19:14:00.000-08:00

A couple months ago, I informed all our faithful readers that Aubrey and I will be heading back to the US at the end of December. After two really enjoyable and life-changing years in Korea, the thing that motivated us to really want to head back to the US was the prospect of my working at Emmaus Ministries. (Well, that's actually more true for me. Aubrey really missed home and wanted to go back, but I was okay staying in Korea for another year or two, especially with the economy in free-fall.)

I worked at Emmaus for a year-and-a-half before I went to grad school, and it was the one place I really wanted to work. In early September, John Green, the executive director of Emmaus, emailed me to let me know about a development (i.e. fundraising and PR) position they were creating at Emmaus. I wasn't guaranteed a job there, of course, but in order to have a chance at it, Aubrey and I would have to commit to heading back to Chicago, which we did. I interviewed for the position (multiple times) and, at long last, received a conditional offer for the position from Emmaus (dependent on their financial situation at the end of 2008, which, as a nonprofit, was up in the air). Although it wasn't a definite thing, I was encouraged. I'd have to wait for January to find out, but I'd be applying for other jobs in the meantime and, if things went as I hoped they would, I'd start work for Emmaus in January.

Yesterday I found out that things had changed. Emmaus's financial situation has considerably worsened, and John Green and Emmaus's Board of Directors decided that something needed to be done. So they changed the parameters of the job I'd applied for, rescinded the conditional offer they'd made to me, and gave the new position to another of the final candidates on the list for the original position, to start December 1st. I was obviously surprised and disappointed when I got the message from John, but he and I talked about it and I understand and respect their reasons for making the changes. (If you haven't already checked out Emmaus, you really should. They do great work for a group of people literally no one else in the area specifically targets or helps. They could really use your help. Look them up: www.streets.org.)

During my waiting for Emmaus, I'd also been in discussions with people at the Archdiocese of Chicago to possibly become the director of their local grantmaking operations (a really cool position with the potential to do some great things). The day before I found out about the Emmaus position falling through, I learned that the position at the Archdiocese had just fallen through and wouldn't be available after all. Over the past couple days, what had looked like a fairly hopeful job future for me in America has evaporated into a batch of uncertainty.

At first, of course, I was worried and nervous. Things are not good for jobseekers in the US right now, and given the foolish policies people in the federal government seem poised to pursue over the next 18 months, they will probably get considerably worse before they get better. Our friends here want us to stay, and a part of us also wants to stay. It would be great to get to know the couples we've met here a lot better, and there is real job security in teaching English (if you're good at it, which I'm told we are). We could stay here for a bit longer and save more money (at the end of the year we'll have about $12,000 on hand, after having paid off close to $30,000 in student loans and credit card bills over the past two years). The parts of us that crave safety and security are telling us, very loudly, that we should stay.

But we are not going to stay.

We've really enjoyed out time here. We've made friendships that we will cherish for the rest of our lives, and we've learned things about the world and ourselves that would have been difficult -- if not impossible -- to learn if we'd stayed in America, or even left after one year. Over the past few months, however, we've become fairly certain that what God wants for us right now is to head back to America. The timing of the announcement of the position at Emmaus seemed providential at the time, and further prayer and reflection have confirmed for us that we're correct in deciding to go home. Parting from our friends here will indeed be sweet sorrow, but we're pretty sure that it's the right thing to do.

Which brings me to the title of this post. I called my folks and two close friends last night to seek their advice about what we should do. My parents said they'd support us in whatever we chose. (They're cool like that.) My friends advised me to follow what we thought was God's will in the subject. As one of my friends said, "You say you're pretty sure that God wants you to go back. I think you have your answer about what to do. Now you just have to do it."

His advice reminded me of a story about the famous ancient rabbi, Hillel (who died about the time Christ was born), who was challenged by a student to recite the Torah while standing on one foot. Rabbi Hillel stood on one foot and said, "What is hateful to thee, do it not to thy brother. This is the whole of the Torah. All else is commentary. Go and do likewise." I feel like right now I could stand on one foot and sum up our situation similarly: "If you're sure God wants you to do something, you need to do it. This is the whole of good living. All other things are details. Go and do it." It may not feel like the most secure route at the moment, but we're pretty sure it will prove to be the best for us. As C.S. Lewis said, sometimes, "the longest way 'round is the shortest way home."

We'll arrive in Chicago on December 21. Our plan is to spend Christmas in Chicago and then head out to New Hampshire to see my folks for New Years. After that, we'll see what happens. I'm applying to several jobs right now, although I haven't heard anything back. If any of you have any need of, or know people who may have need of, a person with excellent writing and people skills and an interest in grantwriting, PR or marketing work, copy editing, or really just anything that pays money and involves thinking and communicating, I'd really appreciate it if you could pass my name on. Thank you very much for your help in advance, and have a happy Thanksgiving.

All filled up.

2008-10-29T04:48:00.000-07:00

After great consideration, Paul and I determined that we had better visit the dentist before leaving Korea. I hadn't been in about three years and Paul hadn't been in about twelve. We figured it'd be good to get our routine cleanings taken care of here while we still have health insurance.

But oh, the years had not been kind. Paul found out he had eight (or was it ten?!) cavities, and I found out that I had five plus a very rare thing called an internal resorption (or pink spot, as the dentist called it here). Basically one of my teeth had, through no fault of my own, rotted from the inside and was now completely dead. The dentist told me I'd need a root canal--AAAAAAAAAARGH! The very thought made me shudder. I'm only 28, I thought. Why are my teeth failing me now?

So, over the past month, Paul and I have made oh so many visits to the dentist. Between the two of us, we've showed up to the dentist's office and sat in her chair sixteen times. We paid the dentist up front and just kept on going in to have the cavities filled, one by one. It was a bit of a pain, but luckily we live a 15-minute walk away from the place, and our dentist is very very nice.

Today I had my last cavity filled, and I'm exceedingly happy that I don't have to go to the dentist again (at least until I get my next cleaning!) I think the dentist was happy too that she wouldn't have to deal with any foreigners for a while.

Steven Colbert vs. Rain

2008-10-22T21:11:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know (which I suspect comprises about 95%, actually) Rain is the name of a very famous Korean pop singer. Steven Colbert's been waging a very funny, low-level mock-war against Rain for a while. The result is hilarious.

Sarah Plain and Tall

2008-10-01T21:21:00.000-07:00

Rod Dreher basically expresses my thoughts about Mrs. Palin, and the Conservative response to her. Here's a highlight:

To be clear: I find Sarah Palin an admirable person. Everything that I liked about her in the beginning I still like about her. I just don't think that she's ready to be vice president. That's not a judgment of who she is culturally, which is something I identify with to a large extent, and affirm. It's a judgment of her competence for the job. Surely conservatives don't want to be in the position of claiming that identity is a sufficient qualification for a job. Isn't that the basis of the conservative case against affirmative action -- that it elevates identity over core competence?

The Mortgage Crisis

2008-10-01T08:13:00.000-07:00

Here's my take on the problem, for anyone who's curious.

More pics of our hike.

2008-09-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

A view of the misty mountains

Folks resting their bones on the rocks
Greg and I

A sweaty hug on the bridge...

Chuseok hike in Seoraksan.

2008-09-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Chillin' with Greg, Catherine, Liam, and Matthew at Yeongnang Lake

A view from the bridge during our Chuseok hike with Greg, Rachel, and Jenny
FIGHTING!!!
The beauty of Seoraksan
Stopping for a snack

We didn't get our act together quick enough this year for Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). Last year we had a 5-day holiday and spent it in lovely Gyeongju (the Shilla and Buddhist center of Korea). This year, because of the calendar, Chuseok was only a 3-day weekend. After a couple feeble attempts to head out of town, we decided to just chill with friends locally and do some hiking at Seoraksan.
Jenny and Rachel wanted to hike Daechombong, which is the third highest peak on the Korean peninsula. We've had several friends hike it and rave about the view from up top, but it is one of the more strenuous hikes. Most people go up, spend the night, and come down the next day (or else if they're really hard-core, they leave at the butt crack of dawn and do it all in one day...). Since the shelters were all booked up top, and we didn't want to get up at any ungodly hour, we opted for one of the shorter climbs (Madeuryeong) in Seoraksan.
Jenny and Rachel came dekked out completely in their Korean hiking gear (all Koreans take hiking very seriously)--black nylon pants, hiking boots, backpacks, and walking sticks. We made it up to Biseondae (the great rock) and started our ascent (usually we go to the right, which leads up to the cave with the monks in it--this time we went left). Like the hike up to the cave, the Madeuryeong hike is twisty and quite rocky. We were doing fine, but noticed that Rachel was huffing and puffing and trailing behind us. We stopped several times to wait for her, but ended up going on ahead per Jenny's suggestion. We all stopped about a third of the way up, where it was already quite foggy. Jenny asked some other hikers if it was a good idea to continue, but they told her that you would need a lantern to see up top and the top was still a good two hours from where we were resting. Plus, it might start to get dark before we were able to come back down. After our break, we pushed on for about another half hour, but eventually turned around when we determined that the fog was not lifting at all.
It was a bit frustrating, but I suppose we should have started out earlier. It was still great to be in Seoraksan again--this place never ceases to amaze me. It has to be one of the most beautiful places in the world I've ever been to, and I hope to go several more times (to capture the autumn colors!) before we leave Korea.
After the hike down we got onto the bus and headed into town to share a steamy pot of gamjatang, where the spicy stew, beer, and laughter lifted our spirits considerably :)

Yangyang Mushroom Festival.

2008-09-27T08:05:00.000-07:00

Bonsai!! (We're not sure what the fruit is...)

Another view
Some fantastic cargo panties!

Just a quickie here. Kelsey, Paul and I went to the annual Mushroom Festival in Yangyang today. Apparently there weren't as many mushrooms found this year (the really delicious and expensive ones grow underneath the pine trees in the mountains) because of the lack of rain. (Usually a small box of these goes for about $180-250!). So, the festival seemed a bit smaller than last year's. But Kelsey and I found some really cool cargo granny panties with a zippered pocket in front! Not too alluring, but hey, how often do you see skivvies with pockets in them? And Kelsey introduced us to hoddeok, which is a hot fried pancake filled with cinnamon, crushed walnuts, and brown sugar. Hmmm...a warm pancake stuffed with sweet gooey goodness on a cool fall day...doesn't get much better than this...

So long, Father Antonio.

2008-09-27T07:46:00.000-07:00

Paul and I with Father Antonio on his last day :(

Last weekend we bid farewell to the associate priest at our parish, Father (Shimbunim) Antonio. It was just a week earlier that he announced he'd been reassigned to another parish in a suburb of Seoul. We were really bummed (and I think he was a little sad about it too) to hear that he'd be leaving Sokcho. Our senior priest (Father Anselmo--they go by their confirmation names here) is really nice and a very good pastor, but he doesn't speak much English at all and so we haven't interacted with him as much. Father Antonio is young, funny, extremely friendly, and full of life. Everyone at our parish adores him, from the little children to the older crowd. He's always full of jokes and smiles, but is also serious and sincere in his profession. He presided at the evening (contemporary) mass and was a big hit with the young people, some of whom we got to know through being friends with Fr. Antonio. We were even meeting together every week (for a while) for lunch and an informal English lesson, which was fun (how cool to have lunch with a priest every week?!).
In Korea, priests (after they're ordained) spend a year at seven different parishes (one parish per year for a total of seven years), in order to experience different groups of people and learn how to deal with them. So, we'll probably get a new recruit in sometime this fall.
But he'll have some large vestments to fill...that's for sure...

Good luck at your new parish, Fr. Antonio. You will be sorely missed at Gyodong Sundang.

My dream.

2008-09-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

Ever since we made the announcement that we are leaving Korea and moving back to Chicago, talk of establishing a new home there has included discussion related to: which neighborhood of the city to move to, financing a new apartment (read: buying this time!), what kind of car to get, and finding new jobs. Though I will be sad to leave Korea (we've had a really really really great experience here and have made some truly wonderful friends), I must admit, I am excited to be researching and thinking about what life will look like for us come 2009. And one dream at the top of my list that we have put off for several years is becoming dog-owners.
When we lived in Virginia and were first married, we didn't really have the time to devote to a dog (and we had a pretty small apartment). Here in Korea we momentarily considered getting one, but realized it wouldn't be fair to the dog when we'd have to put it in quarantine for six months on returning to the U.S. (Plus, not having a dog here has allowed us the freedom to travel around Korea and the surrounding countries). Also, the dogs they sell here are typically teeny little things (read: a lot of poodles!) and are not treated very well.
But NOW! The conditions are right! The timing is right! And the wait will soon be over :) And the dogs you see above represent the breed that I am most interested in...the BOXER! These dogs (from what I've read) sound fantastic and like the perfect fit. They are great with children, they are loyal and affectionate, energetic and intelligent, don't shed really, and are very expressive. I haven't read one negative review about them yet. And my cousin and his wife own one (Cash), and the whole family is taken with him. And, I'm sorry, but could the ones pictured above (especially the first puppy), be any darn cuter?!
This is my dream for 2009 (or the end of 2008--Christmas puppy!). If Santa does not bring us one for Christmas (hint, hint!), then we will probably adopt one from one of the pet rescue places in Chicago. But if anyone out there has any thoughts about boxers or knows of any puppies for sale, let me know! Until then, I will live with my anticipation :)

It's official: We're leaving

2008-09-11T22:40:00.000-07:00

That's right. Our enjoyable sojourn in South Korea is nearing its conclusion. Aubrey and I met with our director this morning and informed her that we'll be moving back to the US after our contracts end in late December. We'll be moving back to the Chicago area. That's the latest news. We'll try to keep you updated.

Shining faces.

2008-09-10T07:49:00.000-07:00

These cuties were my biggest cheerleaders when I came home every day from my first two weeks of grad school. They were always ready to play, tickle, and be silly. They helped me not to take school too seriously! I wish I could have played in their magic world for a bit longer while I was there! Here are some pics I ran across tonight of when they discovered the webcam on my computer. They thought it was pretty cool. Hope you're having a great fall so far, Katie and Kyra! Your Uncle Paul and I miss you! :) I hope you're getting faster at running...because there's gonna be a tickle war the next time we're together!

From the Dept. of Curb Your Enthusiasm

2008-09-05T05:00:00.001-07:00

As good as Palin's speech was, and I thought it was great (if light on substance), it's important to remember that Sarah Palin will be John McCain's VP if elected, not vice-versa. As I said in my post on the speech, Palin doesn't make McCain any less odious a candidate. Everything bad about him will still be there if he's president, and Palin will become complicit in assisting him do things that conservatives have revolted against in the past (like "campaign finance reform" legislation that actually mangles free speech, and "comprehensive immigration reform" legislation that actually seeks to radically alter America without Americans' approval).

Daniel Larison (at The American Conservative) brings this fact into focus for all those Republicans and Conservatives (the two aren't necessarily synonymous) breathless over Sarah Palin:

Practically everything that ... the average conservative, [likes] about Sarah Palin is opposed and negated by what John McCain stands for and has represented for pretty much his entire career, but still conservatives are reacting deliriously to a speech whose ultimate purpose is to co-opt them into backing a presidential candidate whose policies on vital national questions are antithetical to everything they value. Does her small-town ethos impress you and inspire some identification with her? McCain embraces the policies promoting globalization and mass immigration that are gradually transforming your small towns beyond recognition. Does her hostility to Washington elites please you? McCain serves and always has served the interests of those elites, and his immigration legislation was just the most recent and egregious form of this. Like the undead creature it resembles, the GOP establishment will feed off of every bit of the energy, vivacity and authenticity that Palin possesses in its bid to keep conservatives serving their goals.

Home run in the Twin Cities

2008-09-04T10:58:00.000-07:00

Well shoot. If only the Twins had a hitter with Sarah Palin's caliber and panache, maybe they wouldn't be looking up at my Red Sox in the wild card standings. I've criticized Palin and damned her with faint praise. It's only fair that I praise here when praise is due. And my oh my, is it due.

I just finished watching Palin's speech to the Republican National Convention (courtesy of YouTube). By her upbeat, folksy demeanor and her relaxed manner you'd have thought she was addressing the local Rotary Club or something. That was an impressive speech, with a capital "I". Yes it's just one speech, but to come into a pressurized situation like a national nominating convention after days of relentless, personal attacks on her family and questions about her readiness to serve as VP and to just pull it off like she was talking at a PTA meeting takes serious talent, skill, and nerves. It's the most impressive such speech I've seen since Obama's speech to the '04 DNC, but I've got to think it ranks higher than that (very impressive) speech because of the circumstances.

Obama came into the situation in 2004 as a clear rising star in the Democratic party. He had a growing reputation to maintain, but his responsibility in the speech was basically to not mess anything up. He was well on his way to trouncing Alan Keyes in the general election and he'd gotten nothing but favorable coverage on the national stage. Contrast that situation with Sarah Palin's. She was a dark horse VP pick and an unknown on the national stage. She started out with well over half the media establishment either skeptical of, or outright hostile to, her. She faced constant questions about her experience, and what answers her resume offered to her critics were mocked as woefully inadequate. Indiscretions by members of her cabinet and members of her family have been front and center in the media's coverage of her. Her lifestyle, so alien to reporters on the coasts, had been the butt of many jokes. She had to walk into the situation and make herself known, answer critics, reassure nervous voters, and play the traditional VP role of attack dog all at once. That would have been a challenge for Abe Lincoln or William Jennings Bryan. She totally pulled it off like Bob Cousy shooting free throws in "Blue Chips".

Even taking into account troubling foreign policy lines (like continuing McCain's pathological hatred of all things Russian), the speech was an absolute masterpiece. Her digs at Obama and the Left were zingers, and she pulled them off perfectly. Her descriptions of her family members were 100% heartfelt and completely endearing, especially the "Aw, shucks"-iness in her voice when she said that after two decades of marriage and five kids her husband "is still my guy." Even if you're as amazing and talented a panderer as Bill Clinton (and America hasn't seen a panderer of his caliber in over 60 years), you can't fake that. Her descriptions of her experience were pugnacious without seeming overbearing. And her demeanor throughout the whole speech was positive and almost bubbly. Even when she was hitting back against Obama and the Left she seemed more bemused than angry. That's something innate, something you can't teach. It's like John Wayne's screen presence, Randy Moss's leaping ability and body control, or Michael Jordan's steely determination. It's just there. You either have it, or you don't. And Sarah Palin clearly has it.

This speech doesn't all of a sudden make her qualified, or make McCain any less odious a candidate. It does show that Palin has the stones to roll with the punches of a bruising campaign, though. It shows that she's a special political talent. A star has officially been born.

Knocked up

2008-09-04T09:15:00.000-07:00

Well, as everyone reading this post is no doubt aware, Bristol Palin is pregnant. There's (extremely) thinly veiled schadenfreude on the Left, along with a healthy dose of the kind of "politics of personal destruction" they bemoaned during the Clinton years. On the Right it seems that Bristol's "little mistake" has somehow given her mother a bizarre kind of street cred with Conservatives. "They're a normal family!" "This happens all the time in America!" and "She really is one of us!" are the kind of statements I'm hearing. Color me unconvinced.

(Not that I doubt Sarah Palin's everyman credentials, mind you. I just don't think that such credentials are all that important. Yes, I realize that since Andrew Jackson brought his Tennessee entourage with him to his inauguration 180 years ago that candidates for the presidency have at least had to try to pass themselves off as common folk. I don't care. It's great if a candidate is in touch with the hoi polloi, but if not that's okay. I'll take an Alexander Hamilton or Gouverner Morris any day if he'll commit to tearing down the sprawling, bloated monument to serfdom that is the modern welfare state -- farm subsidies, corporate welfare, Medicare and Medicaid, and TANF, among other unnecessary programs. But I digress.)

I was ambivalent about Palin before the whole Bristol business surfaced. I'm more so now. "But there's this thing called 'grace'," my gracious wife keeps reminding me. And I agree. As Christians we are obligated to help Bristol Palin and her family with our prayers and (if logistically possible) our actions. We need to allow her to put her sin behind her and not hold it against her. That's what we have to do for the daughter. For the mom, though? How does this reflect well on her in any way? She was a busy woman, we know that. She had a state to run. If she didn't keep track of exactly what her daughter was doing. well, there's only so much she can do. And yet, this is bad. At the very least it has to raise questions about some of her priorities.

There's another side to this coin, of course. The witness of scripture tells us that the best leaders are not always the best parents. This is one of the subplots of First and Second Samuel, for instance. Eli and Samuel were great judges. They led Israel well and were beloved by the people for their efforts. As fathers, though, they were clearly sub par. Eli's sons used their power to steal from the tabernacle treasury and to force women to sleep with them. Their sins cost Eli and his family their roles as leaders of Israel. The incompetence and greed of Samuel's sons prompted Israel to ask for a king so there would be some professional leadership at the top. And what about David, the greatest king of Israel? Terrible. His eldest son, Amnon, raped his half-sister, Tamar. His third son, Absalom, later murdered Amnon in cold blood for raping his sister. When David eventually pardoned Absalom for his fratricide, Absalom thanked him by fomenting rebellion and declaring himself king. Bad. Now look at Saul, a C-/D+ king. Good father. His children are honorable (although his daughter Michal's overbearing sense of propriety eventually makes her frigid) and bring him no shame. His heir, Jonathan, shows remarkable grace and humility by befriending David -- the man he knows will take his rightful place as king.

So not being able to keep your house in order isn't necessarily evidence of poor leadership abilities. It's generally not a promising sign, though, nor is it cause to celebrate as a sign of a prospective leader's everyman street cred. To the extent that Conservatives are doing this, their response is every bit as disappointing and inappropriate as the Left's hypocritical lurid demonizing tactics.

AmbivPalince

2008-08-30T09:10:00.000-07:00

Well, my first reaction to the Sarah Palin nomination was negative. I was speechless for a few seconds before yelling at the TV (we had CNN International on), "Doesn't anyone know what they're doing here?" I had the same objection to it that most people in the MSM (that's "mainstream media", for the uninitiated) had: nominating a less-than-one-term governor from a small (in terms of population) state undercuts McCain's argument about Obama's inexperience.

(I must say, though, that CNN, MSNBC, New York Times & Co. are falling over themselves to accuse McCain of inconsistency -- read: hypocrisy -- about the Palin pick in a way they simply didn't with Obama's Biden pick. McCain emphasized experience as much as Obama downplayed it, yet both men made picks that directly contradicted their previous rhetoric. Funny how you don't hear anything about how Biden's extensive experience, Washington insider status, or vote for the Iraq war directly contradicted Obama's positions on those issues, while all I'm reading from the MSM about Palin is how her pick makes McCain look like a hypocrite. "Thumb on the scale" doesn't begin to describe it, methinks.)

Also, I was more than a wee bit offended by what seemed to me to be transparent pandering and tokenism. A male short-term governor with Palin's conservative credentials probably wouldn't have gotten a second thought as a potential running mate. Suffice to say, I wasn't that high on the pick.

Then, after I woke up this morning (since McCain made his announcement at about 1:20 am Saturday morning, South Korea time), I started reading more and more about how jazzed up rank-and-file conservatives are over Sarah Palin. I was jazzed up about her, too -- how could I not be, seeing as how she's an obviously smart, savvy, charismatic, steely woman with tons of integrity and bonafide conservative credentials? -- I just thought she was a bad pick at this time. I'd said as much to one of my good friends, whose opinions on political matters I trust, and he responded:

Paul, you're just flat out wrong. You're not here. [The Palin] pick is energizing the conservative base in a way I wouldn't have thought possible. There is a world of difference between an inexperienced VP and an inexperienced president. Obama's attack dogs that have brought up the experience issue are being met with a smile and a variation of the phrase, "Good point. By all means, let's talk about experience. . . " Obama's attack dogs that criticize the fact that she's from Alaska are being met with an even bigger smile and a variation of, "Well, we'll admit, five years ago she wasn't a junior state senator from Illinois, or something really big time like that . . ." Obama's attack dogs that go after her small town roots are being confronted with the question, "What, exactly, is wrong with being middle class and from a small town? What exactly is so horrible about someone who hunts and fishes? Oh, yeah, that's right. Those people are 'bitter,' and 'cling' to their guns and religion." There is no way for Obama to attack her that doesn't backlash.

So maybe I was hasty in my reaction. I don't know. She might still crash and burn; she still might shrink on the national stage; she still might prove to be a great campaigner and rip Joe Biden to shreds in their debate. Time will tell. If she's even just competent, however, she seems to have already fulfilled the Hippocratic oath of running mates: "First, do no harm." If she's more than just competent (which, given her incandescent sustained approval ratings and her consistent record of getting major results quickly as governor, is not at all improbable), she could conceivably single-handily alter this race in McCain's favor, and I'll have been proven wrong. I don't have a problem with that.

That said, I still don't think I'll vote for McCain or contribute to his campaign in any way. Palin's great, and if she had more seasoning I'd gladly vote for her as president. But even if McCain-Palin wins, the administration will still be McCain's and he'll be the one calling the shots, not her. She'll be doing his bidding -- which, most conservatives seem to have forgotten, was the kind of stuff (like pushing for untrammeled immigration and unhesitatingly supporting a war that's clearly not in America's self-interest) that made John McCain so unpopular with "the base" in the first place.

Update: David Frum over at National Review Online views Palin with a decidedly jaundiced eye. His analysis is compelling, if not convincing. More food for thought.

We're screwed '08!

2008-08-28T06:44:00.000-07:00

John Derbyshire expresses my disgust with our choice of candidates better than I probably ever could. At the end of his expression of disgust and despair, he declares:

I don’t want either of these men in charge of the federal government, neither the crazy old fool nor the simpering sophomore. I don’t want either the moralistic imperialism of John McCain or the welfare-state-to-the world sentimentalism of Barack Obama. I don’t want my country represented by either a Compassionate Crusader or by Oprah Winfrey in drag.

"We're Screwed '08!" should be the campaign slogan for this year's election. Whoever wins, America loses.

Get ready for 4 years of John McCain ...

2008-08-23T08:20:00.000-07:00

... since Obama picked Joe Blowhard Biden for his running mate.

Now, I'm no fan of Barrack Obama. I think he'd be a terrible president and would profoundly harm America. (Of course, I have the same opinion of McCain, whose administration would basically be The George W. Bush Show -- episode 3.) That being said, as a long-time political observer I at least like to see politicians act like they know what they're doing. Obama clearly doesn't, at least here.

What's one of the biggest knocks on Obama? His lack of experience. What does picking Biden emphasize? Obama's lack of experience.

Great.

All the coverage will be on how Biden shores up Obama's major weak spot -- constantly reminding everyone of Obama's major weak spot. For an example of this, look no further than the article linked above. The lead sentence of the article's third paragraph is, "The choice of Biden, 65, is aimed at addressing questions about Obama's inexperience on international affairs, his biggest vulnerability against McCain." Yeah, that's definitely what you want people focusing on.

It's basically conceding the argument to his critics. It's equivalent to him saying, "You know, I hear that you guys say I'm inexperienced and not ready to be president. Hey, I think you're right. So I chose this older guy here who'll help me out when I have questions because I'm so inexperienced." If I was in McCain's camp, I'd be jumping all over this major gaffe with backhanded compliments like, "We applaud Senator Obama for choosing Senator Biden, as it will help him compensate for his clear lack of foreign policy experience, a weakness Senator McCain doesn't share." Or something like that.

I mean, think back to 1992. Back then so many people were counseling Clinton to choose an old hand like Dick Gephardt as his running mate to bring experience and gravitas to the ticket. The reigning wisdom was that Clinton needed someone older than him because he was so young and people would be suspicious of his lack of experience. What did Clinton do, masterful politician that he was? He flipped the script by choosing Al Gore, another young guy (and another Southerner at that -- so much for geographical balance), as his running mate and turning his perceived liability (youth and lack of national experience) into an asset (dynamism and new ideas). All of a sudden the campaign narrative was about how these two dynamic and energetic Democrats were running against an old President with outmoded ideas.

Obama had a chance to do that -- maybe an even better chance, since McCain's so old and Obama's been emphasizing the importance of "judgment" over "experience" since his primary with Hillary Clinton. Why not just continue that line and force McCain to fight on that turf, where he'd have to defend his deep connections with Bush's policies? That would at least remind everyone that McCain been in lockstep with the Bushies for a long time now. It would remind everyone of McCain's weaknesses, and could have potentially flipped the script on McCain like Clinton flipped the script on George H.W. Bush. Now? All everyone will be talking about is how Obama made a good defensive move, reminding everyone of how inexperienced Obama is in the first place.

Of course, this criticism is apart from the glaring weaknesses with Biden himself: his pedantic blowhard personality and his penchant for saying whatever the hell crosses his mind, for example. (Think John Kerry with more charisma and a temper.) There's a reason he never registered above single digits as a presidential candidate, folks. I mean, didn't the people in charge of vetting candidates watch the Roberts or Alito confirmation hearings, for crying out loud? Just look at Biden pontificate endlessly there. This is the man you want helping out a candidate who people are suspicious is too aloof and not in touch with the common man?

I guess there's a bright side, though: at least the pedantic blowhard isn't headlining the Democratic ticket this time.

Just a dumb Pavlovian response from what's actually been a fairly well-run campaign so far.

A few things we've been up to...

2008-08-18T05:56:00.000-07:00

I don't even know where to begin. Soooooooooo much time has elapsed since I last posted something meaningful and even informative here. I don't even know if anyone is reading this thing anymore! I know that I've definitely let things slide.

I'm sorry to be such an delinquent blogger. My lack of posting bears no reflection on the dullness of life...but rather the craziness of it!

In the words of Inigo Montoya (The Princess Bride), "Lemme explain. No, there is to much to explain--lemme sum up". Here are the highlights of our summer so far (in no particular order):

1. I went curly. Many of you who know me know that for years now (well, ever since I started having long hair) I've been battling to achieve the long straight locks that many women either naturally have or are able to create. During the drier, colder parts of the year (namely fall and winter) I've had varying degrees of success. But when the humidity of summer hit in areas like Chicago, DC, and Sokcho, I fought the good fight every morning with my hair dryer. Once I opened the front door and my hair hit the moisture, it was a lost cause, and my hair would spazz out and do it's own funky thing. One day, a week after getting my hair cut here in Korea, I gave up and refused to fight it. The heat in Korea is way too unbearable to use a high dryer every morning, and I was tired of battling the mop on my head. So, I just showered and let it air-dry, just to see what would happen (an experiment). With a little scrunching, and a little product (thank you Monica and Nikki, I now know how to use product!), I have a very fun and twisted head of hair. And it's all natural!! Who knew?! And since you all now how low-maintenance of a person I am, you know how happy I am never to put so much as a comb to my head in the morning. So I guess it'd be more accurate to say that I discovered my curliness, since in fact it's been there all along :)

2. I went home for summer break. Starting my MA at Cornerstone University (in Teaching English as a Second Language) necessitated that I head to Michigan for the last two weeks of July. My family, who is awesome and very accomodating, arranged to stay in a cottage on the lake nearby (in Rockford) for the first week. My parents, Carey and Kris (and the kids), and Sarah and Kevin (and the girls) were all there. Kevin even brought his boat out so that we could go tubing, skiing, fishing, and riding around the lake. It was a week of sunning, swimming, and chilling out on their beautiful open porch. Though my class demanded more of me than I expected, I still got some good bonding time in with everybody. I just felt sorry that I could not visit and talk with everyone more. (You can see pictures of our time together here)
The second week I stayed at Sarah's in Byron Center. My second class was not overwhelming, but it was still a lot of work! Even so, Sarah, Kevin, and the girls kept me in check when I was at home. Kyra was very kind in letting me take over her room, and Katie encouraged me a lot with her spunkiness. Both girls were understanding of my need for space and quiet, which was great, even though I just wanted to play with them instead! Sarah and Kevin were terrific, allowing me to borrow their car to get to school, letting me print papers on their computer, and cooking really yummy food (thanks for the Mexican dishes and the homemade pizza, Kevin!)

3. I started grad school. In our original plan when we decided to come to Korea, I deferred my acceptance to DePaul University (Chicago) and was going to start when our contract finished. Well, as you can see, our plans changed, and we chose to stick it out another year here. One of the stipulations of that decision was that I find another program that could work with our being abroad. A woman we met randomly on one of our vacations alerted us to the benefits of online programs, and I started researching places with TESOL grad courses. I settled on Cornerstone University's (Grand Rapids, MI) online MA because of its flexibility and the warm and supportive staff I communicated with. This summer, I headed back to GR (boy, did that feel weird--I haven't been near the Beltline in about 5 years!) and met up with the 30-odd students in my cohort. Wow. To be around so many folks that are interested in the same issues as I am is intoxicating. The two weeks (first class was Introduction to Issues in TESOL; second class was on TESOL Methodology) were very challenging in terms of workload, but very rewarding in terms of the quality of discussions and interactions we had. These people are really cool, and I'm very excited to be working with them over the next two years.

4. Mom and Dad celebrated 40 years of lovin'. Nothing deserves a party quite like a long and faithful marriage. My siblings, who are talented, creative, and know how to get down, planned extensively for a 40th anniversary bash for my folks. My sister created beautiful photo invitations and made the centerpieces. Kris, my sister-in-law, served as a contact for prospective guests, planned the party itinerary and activities (she's the showwoman). They both worked on the food and the decor. My brother, who is skilled at all things graphic, put together a magnificent DVD montage of their pictures and favorite songs. (I'm sure you guys did a ton more, and if I've left things out, I apologize!). Oh and I? What did I do? Nothing :( Their party happened on the day that I left, which I was quite bummed about. The weeks preceding my trip to the US and the time I was there were really hectic, but that's no excuse. I wish I could have been as dutiful and creative as my siblings were, to show Mom and Dad how much they mean to me.
The silver lining is that I got to visit with my aunt Tami and Grandma and Grandpa Anderson, whom I hadn't seen in ages. They were in town for the event, and the night before my flight back to Korea, we spent time together on the sofa talking and outside walking around the neighborhood.

5. Paulie and I turned 3. Hard to believe that already three years ago we vowed to be lifetime partners in crime. Whereas the first two anniversaries had us racing river rapids (Rappahannock) and exploring the jungle (Philippines), this anniversary was spent over dishes of gelato at the local beach resort and dining at a fine hotel. Simple--classy--understated. Like us.

In addition to these events, we've also received exciting family news: 1. that my cousin, Colin, is engaged and will get married next summer, 2. that cousins Bekah and Jason are now parents of little Griffin Alan, 3. that Mary Beth (Paul's mom) just started a new job as a special education administration consultant, 4. that Jon, Paul's brother, will soon celebrate a year with his lovely girl Michelle.
There's also big news from our friends: 1. that Andy (Paul's high school buddy) recently got engaged to his love Liz, 2. that Jon and Laura-Leigh Giso (our friends from Salem) are about to move into their new house, and 3. my pal Monica (from college) and her husband Jim are expecting their first in February.

We're excited about all these developments and we are thankful for the joy God has given to our loved ones and to us.

Photos:
1. Monica and I getting to catch up at the lake one night (when she popped the big news on me!)
2. Sarah and I munching on some very tasty s'mores
3. My Cornerstone cohort, after our two weeks of pain!
4. Mom and Dad posing on the glorious porch
5. Paulie and I shaking it up Mommas and the Poppas-style ("California Dreaming") at the noraebang

Happy days are here again...

2008-08-09T08:42:00.000-07:00

Addicted to pot.

2008-06-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been doing hits. Up my nose. Specifically in one nostril and out the other. Once, sometimes twice a day. The high? Unbelievable. It takes me to another place, that place being the land of breathing freely again. Yes, I, like so many others, have become addicted to the practice of jala neti.
Back in March, I had a terrible upper respiratory cold that lingered for weeks...and weeks...and weeks. Spring is a difficult time in Korea, due to the arrival of yellow dust from the Gobi Desert in China. The first year we were here, it wasn't too bad, and I certainly didn't suffer anything healthwise because of it. This year, however, the yellow dust pollution was awful, so awful that on many sunny days it was impossible to view the mountains behind us as a result. And somehow all the pollen and dust caught up with me. And after five subsequent visits to the doctor and trying several different remedies (antibiotics, nasal spray, gargle, etc.), we finally determined that it was allergy-related. My physician gave me some German antihistamines and sent me on my way. After about a week with these, the medication failed to help. My dear mother included a bottle of Zyrtec with Paul's birthday package, and for a while, I was very hopeful that this was the answer. It did seem to be working fairly well, afterall. However, when the rains returned to Sokcho (we have a short rainy season here in the summer), so did the symptoms: the congestion, the mucous, the itchy eyes, and the sneezing. I'd wake up exhausted and I could feel the goo building up in the back of my throat after being horizontal for the night.
At the party yesterday (and also from some friends and my mother), I heard about something called neti pots. I did some research to find out what was involved, and it made absolute sense to me. Cleaning out the nasal passages in order to flush out the junk. Cool.
I knew it'd take a long while to actually get one sent here if I ordered it online, and I was eager to try, so I researched how to make my own homemade neti pot (until I can get a real one next month). I added some salt to some warm water and put it into a cleaned out mouthwash container and gave it a try. The first cleansing felt good, but didn't keep me from blowing my nose pretty soon afterwards. However, with the following flushes, I have noticed improvement. And I definitely noticed a difference this morning when I woke up!
So, sorry to be gross or revealing, but when you haven't been able to breathe normally in a looooooong time, it's pretty dang exciting when a solution has been found. I HIGHLY recommend this practice. I know I'm gonna be doing it often!

Jeong Hyun turns 4.

2008-06-22T01:55:00.000-07:00

Gathered in Julia's living room around the cake

Geum Nim lights the candles

Jeong Hyun blows out the candles while a sleepy Arin looks on (her brother Saylen is in the middle)

Jeong Hyun cuts the cake

Julia's ready for chocolate frosting!!

Yesterday we had the privilege of attending Jeong Hyun's 4th birthday party. Actually, he's 5 Korean age, but that translates to 4. Julia was hoping for cooperative weather so the party could be held at a nearby park and we could have an outside barbeque, but alas, the rainy season is here to stay. "My rotten luck!" she said. Nevertheless, it was a great little gathering.
We headed over there around 3:00 with some gifts (one for Jeong Hyun, and one for Arin, Norlan's daughter, who just turned 2). There we met the rest of the elite family contingent of Sokcho: Felipe and Geum Nim (and their son Quinoa), Brad and Mi Jin (and their two daughters Julie and Lena), Matthew and Catherine (and Liam), and of course, Julia, her husband, and Jeong Hyun. What's neat about these folks is that most of the couples are mixed, with one spouse Korean and the other Westerner. They have the cutest kids!
This was a very atypical child's birthday party. Instead of the focus being on the children, the focus was on the adults! After a hasty opening of some gifts, Jeong Hyun gathered his loot and headed to his bedroom and the other spare room with the other kids to play with his new toys and stash of candy. Meanwhile, the rest of us got comfortable in the living room while Julia got two burners going with sliced duck and pork heating up. We ate these wrapped in lettuce leaves with samjang and cucumber kimchi. She had also prepared Latvian bean salad and potato salad--YUM! We also enjoyed 3 loaves of Matthew's homemade bread and a batch of his seven-layer dip with tortilla chips. We adults just chilled and chatted for several hours, occasionally overhearing smaller voices coming from the back of the apartment. Overall, the kids were eerily quiet, probably due to the ingestion of sugar. They barely even came out to join us for dinner.
After dinner, it was time for cake. Norlan, resident baker extroadinaire, had created another masterpiece. He had previously made a ladybug cake for his daugher Arin, and he had fondant leftover. So, he made a three-tiered yellow cake covered with sinfully rich chocolate ganache, decorated with bright pink and green polka dots. The thing looked like a dessert straight out of Dr. Seuss--very whimsical. Looks aside, it was very very yummy, and there were soon kids bopping around the apartment with brown beards.
After cake, Julia started up several party games, mostly riddles and word games. Everyone really got into it! She also had a round of trivia questions on Soviet history (didn't do too well there!), which Paul did surprisingly well on. We took home several prizes (candy, a gift certificate, a towel, 2 photo albums, and cleaning sponges) from this part.
We didn't end up leaving until 9:00!! Brad and Mi Jin and their girls stayed the latest with us, and we just sat around the living room talking about all sorts of things. We'd never met them before, so it was interesting to hear about how they met and about Brad's 12 years living and teaching in Korea. Their girls, Julie and Lena, spoke pretty much entirely in English, and were really adorable.
Julia threw a very thoughtful party and even handed out goodie bags at the end!! Ours had a postcard of a castle in Latvia (her hometown is Riga), a heart cookie, and amber--I got a pendant on a silver chain and Paul got a keychain. Her mother had mailed all the goodie bag gifts from Latvia! Such a generous woman. It was a great time.

Another one bites the dust.

2008-06-09T06:34:00.000-07:00

Gorgeous Amy all aglow
Aubrey and Amy
The Air Force lieutenants pose with their swords
The ladies of AP (l to r): Babbie, Jenny, Hyeon Jeong, Sam, Aubrey, and Rachel
Yay, we're married! Amy and Nam Saog pose in matching hanboks

This past Saturday was Amy's wedding at the Air Force Club in Seoul. All week long she had been flashing giddy little smiles and sighing as if she couldn't believe this was about to happen. You could tell that those butterflies were working overtime inside Amy!
Amy's (now) husband is in the Air Force (but has been stationed in Sokcho), so they decided to have their wedding in a very nice area of Seoul. They kindly arranged to have a private bus escort their Sokcho guests to the wedding. So on Saturday, we made sure we were at the fire station by 10:00 am, where the bus would be waiting. All told, about 30 guests from Sokcho (including Amy's stepfather and stepsiblings - her real dad is in Costa Rica) left on the bus.
So Paul, Babbie, Jenny, Rachel, and I were together on the bus. Sam and Hyeon Jeong were already in Seoul visiting their families and would meet us there. The ride to Seoul takes about three hours on average. As soon as we boarded, Amy's stepsister handed out goody bags to everyone, containing a can of Cider (Korean 7-up), a hard-boiled egg, an apple, and rice cakes. A nice touch.
Thankful for the snacks, I was really surprised when about an hour and a half in, we stopped at a local restaurant for hanshig (traditional Korean food). They were ready for us and lunch was already waiting--another thoughtful detail made by the celebrating families, I presume.
The bus ride was pleasant EXCEPT FOR the television screen up front, which had begun to show really cheesy Korean folk videos with old men singers and young scantily clad backup dancers. At first we couldn't help but laugh (it was, after all, a norae (karaoke) bus). The men reminded me of Wayne Newton with their outrageous hair and white suits. We knew from our friends that typically what happens on these buses is for the guests to get all happy from drinking soju and beer and start singing karaoke. Curiously, only the bus driver seemed to be into the videos, and the rest of the passengers were silent. Must have been a sizeable churchgoing crowd on there.
We finally reached Seoul and realized we had about an hour and a half to kill, so we set out looking for a bar where we could order some beer. After checking several floors of a small mall, we found a chicken joint in a building across the street.
Afterwards, we visited the bride, who was strikingly lovely and seated primly on a cushion, awaiting photos with friends and associates. We took a few shots with her, told her how awesome she looked, and bid her good luck before heading in to the wedding hall.
For the size of most Korean weddings, this one seemed to have fewer guests (seated, anyway). There couldn't have been more than about 150 in there (of course, some always linger outside--the ones that don't know the bride or the groom too well). It was strangely quiet and respectful during the ceremony, which is VERY atypical for a Korean wedding (most of the time the guests chat with each other loudly and don't pay attention to the bride and groom, and rush to make beeline for the buffet afterwards--"chew and screw", as Paul puts it). Perhaps because of the religious nature of the ceremony (both Amy and Nam Saog are Christians), the guests behaved a bit better. There was a half-string quartet, a hymn, and a solo during the ceremony, which I had never seen here. Also, Nam Saog sang a proposal song to Amy, which was really sweet (especially since he had to start over 2 times since the tape went out!). Another cool element to this wedding (besides the holy feeling to it--the pastor praying, etc.) was the entrance and exit of the couple. This happened underneath several lieutenants brandishing and clinking their swords, just like in the movies. It looked really cool. I also enjoyed watching the couple make a bow to each set of parents (which is typical in a Korean wedding, to demonstrate thanks and appreciation for all they have done). All in all, it was a really nice ceremony.
Afterwards, we hopped to the dining room, where a luxurious and large buffet was before us. Really good food! And great variety as well. We took a seat in the back and enjoyed ourselves.
After that, we found Amy and Nam Saog, who were already wearing their hanboks, and passed in our loot (it is customary to give money to the couple at a Korean wedding). A few more thumbs ups, have a great honeymoon, and we left them in their reverie. Now they are here (Maldives)--lucky buggers.
We got back on the bus and headed home. Amy's mother was with us this time, and she was so much fun! She was so happy and animated and brought us beer and snacks (squid and candy-coated peanuts). The yucky videos started again, but after about 45 minutes, they stopped, and we began to do KARAOKE! Amy's mom made sure we all got into it, and Paul sang the first English song ("Stayin' Alive"), which everybody loved. All the women were in the front (the men were in the back drinking beer and playing Go Stop). We all took turns and clapped along with the other songs...I'm tellin' you...this bus was a-rockin'! It was a total blast. I sang YMCA, and Babbie did "Country Roads". We all really got into it, and it was so much fun belting out these tunes and cheering each other on. I will never forget that part!
You can check out the rest of the wedding day pics here.

A Korean bridal shower.

2008-05-25T03:07:00.001-07:00

Party food
Waiting for Amy to arrive...(and discussing a family photo taken about 10 years ago, where I had VERY short hair)
The bride-to-be cuts the cake
Bon appetit!
Cake time!

One of our coworkers, Amy, told us about three months ago that she had gotten engaged. We knew it was coming, since she and her (then) boyfriend Nam Sog had been dating for a while, and they seemed quite serious. Nonetheless, we were delighted when she passed out wedding invitations (for their nuptuals in Seoul, on June 7th) to all of the AP staff.
Amy is very unique among our Korean friends. Shortly after she started teaching at AP, we discovered that she spoke fluent Spanish (since she lived in Costa Rica with her parents for 10 years). She feels more comfortable speaking Spanish than speaking Korean, I think. Pretty much whenever she and I are in the teacher's room at work, we're hablando en espanol. Since I was a Spanish major at Calvin, this little connection feels especially good.
Needless to say, I felt a celebration was in order. When I asked the Korean teachers if bridal showers existed in Korea, they told me no. "Time to bring over a western tradition," I thought. So, I secretly shared my plans with all of the ladies (save Amy) at work, wanting the event to be a surprise for Amy. After much running around, making sure folks could come on the scheduled date, and cajoling Amy into "coming over for lunch" (thinking it was just with me), I made up invitations and passed them out, reminding everyone not to spill the beans.
The night before, I went shopping and bought everything I needed. Thanks to my father, I had a good recipe for chicken salad (with a new twist--curry!). I made a HUGE batch of it, along with a spinach salad, a fruit tray, and a couple plates of cookies. I almost never cook here in Korea, so when the girls saw everything, they thought Paul had made it, and were shocked to find out a) I made it, and b) I can actually cook.
As promised, I had prepared a couple hokey games. The first game was the famous couples quiz (they have to fill in the other half), and I realized after passing it out that it was rather western-couple-heavy. Babbie and Sam were the winners on that one. I also had the girls come up with words for a getting-to-know-the-bride-and-groom's love story mad lib. That one turned out pretty funny.
Amy, who was late in arriving, was TOTALLY surprised to see everyone gathered in her honor. She was so stunned and impressed that she couldn't even speak in Korean--only in Spanish. The girls really came through with well wishes and gifts, and Amy left with some pretty nice stuff. Per Sam's suggestion, we all went around the room and gave Amy advice for life after marriage. As a married person myself, it was pretty cool to hear what the other teachers had to say.
Hyeon Jeong had brought a beautiful mocha cake, which we quickly dug into after opening gifts. The last thing we did was to present Amy with a book we'd written in of life, love, and future advice, as well as our hopes and wishes for her. She was floored, and said "I'll never forget this moment for the rest of my life. Thank you all so much."
Yay! I was so pleased with how everything turned out, and with how much fun we had. ANY excuse for a girly party! You can see the rest of the pictures of the party here.

Barbeque continued.

2008-05-25T02:25:00.001-07:00

I can't wait!
Oh, the sweetness!
Babbie and Kelsey take a turn!
Moshissayo! ("Delicious" in Korean)

First barbeque of the season!

2008-05-25T02:12:00.000-07:00

Paulie gets his grill on
Kelsey takes the first bite
Mmmmmmmmmmm
Time for s'mores!
Chopsticks make great s'more roasters!

Korea won't celebrate Memorial Day for another week (June 6th), but we decided to get a head start this weekend. It was warm and breezy and perfect weather for grilling on Saturday, so on a whim (as most of our plans seem to be these days), we called up our pals to see who could come 'round for burgers. Only Babbie and Kelsey were available, but the four of us had a good cook-out! Paulie used our little portable grill (that we bought last year) and made "burgers" (pork, not beef, but close enough--beef is too expensive here!) with cheese. I made a spinach salad, and lovely Kelsey brought over tortilla chips and salsa (a treat we rarely have), banana bread, and cookies. Babbie stopped in after her run and the four of us made s'mores using the marshmallows we'd been saving (brought over at Christmas!) and some cinnamon grahams from a package Paul's mother had sent. DEEEELICIOUS! Summer is almost here!

New kid(s) in town.

2008-05-25T01:50:00.001-07:00

Catherine, Liam, and Matthew
Liam makes a new friend

About three and a half weeks ago, a new (well, new to us) family came to Sokcho. Matthew, Catherine, and Liam (their 17-month old son) came back to Korea to teach at AP. They were the original foreign teachers at the school, and basically helped to pave the way for future foreign teachers. Since they put their sweat, toil and tears into shaping the schedules, curriculum, and general classroom experience, it was a breeze by the time we arrived!! (Just kidding, though I'm sure they did a really good job).
Anyway, it has been really great to have them back, and to get to know this famous trio we've heard so much about. We see Matthew each day at AP, and Catherine comes by with Liam when his nap is finished. (Boy, is he a superstar here! All the kids at AP love Liam, especially the elementary and middle school girls, who have taken endless photos of him with their cellphones...). We've even had the privilege of sampling their awesome culinary skills, which constantly amaze (homemade sourdough bread, banana bread, mexican dishes, etc...). Matthew joined our Korean class at the library, and has also started attending the monthly KOTESOL meetings with the public school teachers.
Yesterday we met them downtown at the lighthouse for a stroll by the beach. We decided to check out a seaside cafe (Cafe Ramses) for lunch that Matthew said had an awesome view of the water. The view was truly beautiful, and had we been there just for cocktails or coffee, I'm sure the experience would have been perfect. Unfortunately, it took over an hour for the pricey seafood spaghetti (that tasted strangely like Chef Boyardee) we ordered to arrive. Oh well--live and learn. We still had a good time.
Guys, we're really glad that you're here and we hope you enjoy your second stint in Sokcho!

Temple Stay.

2008-05-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

Paul having tea with one of the monks at Baekdamsa

We've just returned from our temple stay at Baekdamsa. We had a wonderful and very unique time, and a blog post describing it is forthcoming, but for now, we're just chilling and processing the experience. But to satisfy your curiosity (if you are curious, that is), here are all the pictures I took over the weekend.

Happy 29th, Paulie!

2008-05-05T08:11:00.000-07:00

Inside the Seoul National Museum
The Glory of Persia - a special exhibit at the National Museum of Korea
Some cheerful yellow pansies
Beef--it's what's for dinner (at Outback)
Sharing a Chocolate Thunder Down Under at Outback

Alright, alright--I'm not crazy. I know Paul's birthday isn't for another five days. But we have back to back 3-day weekends this month (this one is to celebrate Children's Day, and next week is Buddha's birthday), and we wanted to make sure we got the most out of them. Our friend Jenny had invited us to do a temple stay with her and Rachel at Baekdamsa, a temple in Seoraksan National Park. We thought it was this weekend, and had originally planned to head to Seoul next weekend for Paul's birthday. But then we learned the temple stay would be over his birthday weekend. Paul said it was okay to get the party started early, so yesterday we headed to the big city...
The plan was simple--he wanted to see the National Museum of Korea (which we hadn't done yet but had heard a lot about) and go to Outback for dinner (he had a craving for steak). Not difficult or too ambitious. We left early (bus left at 7:00 am) and rolled into Seoul at around 10:00. I had planned to check the location of the museum while en route on the bus, but hey, I fell asleep. No problem. We just pulled out the Lonely Planet book and figured it out, purchased subway tickets, and got on the train. Well...
We got off at the wrong stop (just one stop ahead) and instead of being able to just easily turn around, we had to switch lines and reconfigure. What should have taken half an hour took about 2 hours, and we still hadn't had breakfast. I had told Paul I was sure there would be places to eat around the museum (it was, after all, the National Museum of Korea!!), but unfortunately, after arriving I realized it was pretty residential and large, and there were no places to eat.
By this time Paul was VERY hungry and cranky that we hadn't found a place beforehand. We found the food court, but it only served Korean fare, and Paul was intent on getting something to eat that he "couldn't have in Sokcho". The only other option (besides waiting and eating later) was to eat at the ritzy lagoon restaurant just outside the museum. He ended up choosing that, and we both ordered a pasta set and ate in frustrated silence.
This always happens to us when we come to Seoul. We get excited about getting away from Sokcho and experiencing other things, and then we always get lost, or things don't turn out the way we want them to. I think that he knows where he's going, and he thinks that I have already looked things up. We laugh now, but really, I believe Seoul brings out the worst in us. It's so big and though once you get the hang of it, the subway is easy, at first, it really takes a lot of thinking.
After lunch Paul and I were once again civil, though we opted to spend the next hour and a half looking at exhibits matching our individual interests (since the line for the Persia exhibit was WAY too long yet). I checked out the Fine Arts wing while Paul looked at exhibits on ancient Korean history, metal casting, and hangeul. We met up again at 3:00 and got in line for the Persia exhibit, where we were delighted to receive a discount on the ticket price.
The inside of the Persia exhibit was quite interesting, but SWAMPED! Everyone was moving along in a tediously slow line that wound through the display cases. The exhibit had really cool maps, and pottery, jewelry, and artifacts from the time of Xerxes and Darius. I really loved looking at all the different Persian coins (drachmas and denarius). It was neat, but it would have been nice if more of the explanations of things were in English. I got yelled at for taking pictures, even with my flash off.
After the museum we headed to Itaewon (where the Outback is) for a coffee break at Dunkin' Donuts. I chilled out in there with a coolatta and a coffee roll while Paul drooled over books in What the Book?. He found me again after about 30 minutes and showed off his wares--6 books for $25. It wouldn't be a birthday for Paul without new books.
After our book break we headed to the Outback, where we were instantly seated in a booth and given their awesome warm brown rye bread with butter--YUM! We ordered steaks (Paul's was practically mooing still, it was so pink) and salads (ranch dressing baby!) and savored the taste of beef for the next half hour, deciding that it had been almost 4 months since we'd last had it. We rounded off the meal by sharing a Chocolate Thunder Down Under and coffee, and then determined that we were quite stuffed.

It was a good, good day...it just had a little bit of a rough start to it. Some birthdays are like that, though.

Won Bin returns.

2008-05-05T07:56:00.000-07:00

Aw yeah, aw yeah...
What? Don't you like Mickey Mouse?!

When I was in a hurry last month to fly home for my grandfather's funeral, I was helped out a lot by our friends Pearl and Andrew, who met me at the bus station in Seoul, took me out for dinner, put me up at their place for the night, and then made sure I caught the airport bus the following morning. During these past two weeks Pearl came out with Won Bin to visit her mother, who lives close to E-mart. We miss having them close by and so we made plans to have dinner together Saturday night, since she was in town. Since it was the weekend (and this was a holiday weekend, with Monday off), Andrew was also around.
Her mother prepared quite a spread for us, from kimchi jiggae, to homemade jeon (vegetable pancake), rice, fish, and several delectable kinds of kimchi. Korean home cooking ROCKS! We had a great dinner, and talked about our lives, our families, and about how big Won Bin was getting.
Though it was a short evening, it was great to see our godson again and to marvel at how cute he's getting. He smiles constantly (with 4 little teeth!), laughs to himself at things only he understands, and loves to bounce. I swear that this kid has springs in his feet! To think, just a few months ago, he was this small...

First steps on the beach.

2008-05-05T07:37:00.000-07:00

Becca casts a rueful glance at Paul
Kelsey, Christine (Becca's mom), and Anna chat it up
Beautiful Babbie in the sand
Jason tips Toby over
"I'd like you to meet my little brother Toby..."

Saturday was a another gorgeous day in Sokcho (we've had a whole week of them!) and Becca's mother had arrived for her visit from England, so the gang met up at the 5,000 won buffet near Expo for lunch. After a satisfying bibimbap and a strawberry ice cream cone, we headed to Sokcho Beach to enjoy the beautiful day. The water is still icy cold, mind you, so not the right temperature for a dip. But the sunshine was glorious and we stretched out in the sand for a spell and just drank it in, watching the crazy Korean boat drivers trying to lure folks in for an overpriced speedboat ride.

Thank you, God, for spring.

A gem of a day.

2008-04-27T05:05:00.001-07:00

Paul and I with Hyeon Jeong (woman in yellow jacket) and her lovely family
Some traditional houses in the Wonggok Village
View through the trees
Our friend Jenny teaching the kids about the bleeding heart flower
My new little friend Yu Bin helps me design my flower book

Yesterday was a terrific day. For weeks now our friend and co-teacher Jenny had been bugging us about her upcoming Field Day at Wonggok Village. Jenny has been studying environmental education outside of her position at AP, and is now quite learned about all things natural. Once a month her class plans activities around nature for families to participate in. They have become sort of Korean wildlife guides. It's a small group of adults training to be certified in conservation education. What we didn't know is that Hyeon Jeong (another Korean teacher at AP) is also taking the course.
So after a late night celebrating Peter (Babbie's boyfriend, and another foreign teacher friend of ours from a different academy), we were picked up by Hyeon Jeong and we headed out to Wonggok Village, a traditional clan village (several hundred years old) of about 40 families north of Sokcho, near Goseon. It's nestled in a valley of five mountain peaks, and was actually one of the areas left undisturbed by the Korean War (the North Koreans didn't believe anyone was living there--thus, all the homes have retained their traditional appearance). It's incredibly beautiful up there.
Our friend Rachel also came out, partly to support Jenny and partly to support us, I think (to help translate for us). We met the rest of Hyeon Jeong's family (her sister Soo Jeong and her family, and their mother, who were visiting from Seoul for the weekend). They were so terrifically friendly and fun. The conservation director, Sog Gun (who gives the lectures for the adult students and is also the pastor of the village church--"Five Peaks" Church; he is from the area, has lived in the parish for 25 years, and has also attended Methodist seminary in America), had us open the day with a song heralding the arrival of spring. He then introduced our guides for the day (we just luckily ended up in Jenny's group!), and the families split up in 3 groups for the day's activities. There were about 10 families.
Paul, Rachel, and I were in Jenny's group, along with 2 other small families (one who had twins). Jenny started us on our first task--Field Bingo. We had to find certain things around us that fit a given description (i.e. something red, something with heart-shaped leaves, something furry, etc.) and make a sketch of them in the appropriate box. This was kind of fun, especially with the help of Sog Gun, who seemed to know every plant and flower under the sun. I certainly learned the Korean names for a lot of familiar things, like dandelions, bleeding hearts, and violets. I also got a kick out of watching Paul draw, since he hasn't done much of this before.
Our second task was to collect a number of edible plants in the area. We'd been given a picture of each--we just had to get a small sample. I found out the lovely end of this activity soon enough. After we'd found every plant, we washed them and put them together in a large bowl...they would soon be part of a natural batch of bibimbap. I waited in line for our helping of rice, plants, and gochujang (Korean red pepper paste, or "Korean ketchup", as Hyeon Jeong's mother called it).
All of the families started preparing for our picnic. They laid out tarps, brought out frying pans and portable gas burners, and put out bowls and chopsticks. Time for lunch!! We watched Hyeon Jeong's mother mix everything together swiftly, dying for a taste. She had also brought several kinds of her own homemade kimchi. The bibimbap was fantastic!! So fresh, and all from our own hands! Soo Jeong fried egg for the bibimbap and also made the hwa jeon, flower pancake. She pressed edible flowers the children had found into pressed rice cake and cooked it in the pan. We then dipped them in honey and ate them--yum!
After lunch was finished, we started our third task, which was to collect flowers and plants we'd discussed for our flower book. We attached different ones to each page and wrote the names next to them. One of the little girls in my group, Yu Bin, who'd been impressed by my flower sketches, helped me design my book, and helped me with the Korean. She was really great. Then we reconvened with our group and showed off our books.
At the end, we all got together in the sanctuary of the church, sang some more songs (led by the guitar-playing, Thoreauvian pastor, Sog Gun) and "debriefed" about the day. The kids really had a blast getting out there and identifying things, putting the bibimbap and hwa jeon together, and creating books. All the families seemed quite content with how the day had gone, and with how much they and their kids had learned. I enjoyed myself thoroughly, especially getting to see Jenny "in action" as a conservation guide. She was really good with those kids--very enthusiastic and engaging.
Next month they will have another activity day, in an area of Sokcho called Soybean Village (very famous for their sundubu, or bean curd soup. Think we might tag along again for that one!

After it was all finished, Paul and I went with Hyeon Jeong and her family to the Kensington Resort seafood buffet. This resort looks right onto the beach, and they have a terrific restaurant. We had a blast with Hyeon Jeong and her family, who were funny, laid-back, and very very welcoming. We played jokes on the kids, talked about different dining customs, and got to know everybody. It was awesome. And at the end, Hyeon Jeong's sister and brother-in-law said they'd even like us to visit them sometime in Seoul! So nice.

It was a great day :) You can see all my pictures of it here.

"Auntie" and "Uncle's" Sunday afternoon.

2008-04-20T02:15:00.000-07:00

Julia and me
Paul, Jeong Hyun, and me
Pretty pink azaleas
Paul, Julia, and Jeong Hyun taking a rest

Today we had a special treat. Our friend Julia invited us over to her house (in Tower Mansion, near Yeongnang Lake) for lunch. She prepared some very tasty things, like stuffed bell peppers (yum!) and a traditional Latvian ham, onion, and bean salad. She also made Korean egg custard, grilled mushrooms, smoked sausage, and dwaenjang jiggae (traditional Korean soup with cucumber and tofu). Coffee and chocolate followed for dessert...fantastic!! Jeong Hyun entertained us and introduced us to his rabbit collection--they all have names ("This is pink rabbit, blue rabbit, white rabbit, and gray rabbit"). What was so endearing was that before we headed up to the apartment, we actually saw him watching from the fifth story window and cheering loudly that we had arrived. It's kinda nice when someone's that excited to see you!
After we finished lunch we headed out to the lake, to check out the blooming azaleas. Today was gorgeous--sunny, with a light breeze and in the mid-60s. We had fun climbing and running the lakeside path with Jeong Hyun, who kept us moving with his consistent energy. Many families were out having picnics, and some groups were getting ready for next weekend's spring festival (which will have traditional Korean music, dances, games, and archery).
Thank you, Julia and Jeong Hyun, for a terrific day!

Signs of spring.

2008-04-13T03:42:00.001-07:00

Cherry blossoms downtown across the street from the Sokcho Bus Terminal

Close-up
Flowering tree in a clan village north of Sokcho--note the puppy in the barrel
Cherry blossom "tunnel" on the way to Seoraksan
Flowering tree at our church friend Paul's home

It's officially cherry blossom season here in Korea. These trees are so gorgeous, and many tourists flock to Sokcho to check them out and take photographs. There are several areas of the city (like Seoraksan, Yeongnangho, etc.) where there are cherry blossom trees lining the streets, and it feels like passing underneath a snowy bower. Initially, when they first started to bloom, we had sunny skies and warm temperatures. It has since gotten cold, gray, and windy, which only hastens the life of the cherry blossom tree. Everyone is trying to get out to one of the best areas to get pictures of them before they pass! Last year they only lasted about 2 weeks, and I bet this year will be about the same! The ones in the mountains will last a bit longer, but I've already seen many around town completely green.
Our friend Jong Mahn was kind enough (per the suggestion and urging of his wife, Viviana) to treat us to lunch today at Seorak Sketch, a cafe on the back road to Seoraksan, where we had donkkaseu, ice cream, and coffee. Then we took a lengthy drive through all the blooming cherry blossoms near Seoraksan, where they are full, white, and gorgeous. They look especially striking at night against the lamp posts.

New friends.

2008-04-13T03:24:00.001-07:00

Cheon Young

Here is a photo of our newest little pal, Cheon Young. Cheon Young is the 3-yr. old son of Julia, another foreign hagwon teacher. She is from Latvia and her husband is Korean. We've had the pleasure of hanging out with them from time to time, and yesterday, Julia and Cheon Young treated Paul and I to samgyetang in the moggori (restaurant district in Sokcho). Samgyetang is the Korean equivalent of chicken soup, which is a universal comfort food. The only difference is that they give you a bowl with an entire chicken stuffed with rice in it, and the broth is flavored with green onion, ginseng, chestnuts, and jujube. At this particular place they also serve really good radish and cabbage kimchi, in such large chunks that they bring out scissors for you to cut it with.
Usually after we have lunch together Cheon Young is begging to be taken to the playground. So we headed to the one in the center of the eating district, and proceeded to chase him around the jungle gym. He is so energetic and playful, like my nieces and nephews. He easily gets us to try the slide and the swings. He calls us auntie and uncle, and it's really cute. When we part, he always gives us a big hug and a kiss. He's a smart little guy, and will be really ahead of the game one day when he's (probably) tri-lingual (Korean, English, and maybe his mother will teach her native tongue--after all, she speaks seven languages!)

Missing in action.

2008-04-01T04:44:00.000-07:00

Grandma Rosie and I

It's been over a month since I last updated, I know. March was a hell of a month. New schedules, new kids, new classes--new little shorty chemistries to get used to (especially the younger set--like around age 6 and 7...). It wasn't so easy at first, though now it is getting better. There were many days where I felt like I did last year (at around the same time!)--that things were just hairy, crazy, and chaotic no matter how much or how well I planned. My control in the class just didn't seem to be there, and it bothered me.

On top of that, we got word that my Grandpa Wise was living out his last days. He had been transferred to a round-the-clock residence where he could be monitored completely (he was suffering from the final stages of dementia, among other things). Being very far away during this important and delicate time in our family was painful, and I toyed with the idea of flying out for his funeral. On March 19, I received word (from my mother) that he was gone. With the encouragement from Paul to go, the okay from my boss, and the securing of a last-minute ticket, I was able to fly to Atlanta last week to remember and celebrate my grandfather's life with my loved ones.

Last week was a blessing in so many ways to me. I was a bit apprehensive at first about going. I love my Dad's family a lot, but I don't get to see them often. In fact, the last time I remember seeing my grandfather was at my wedding. But getting there and being welcomed into my aunt's home made me feel as if no time had passed.

It was an extremely powerful time of reunion for us. My brother and sister both came out with their entire families (which meant that all of my parents' children and grandchildren were present). My aunts and their kids were there (which meant that all of my grandparents children and grandchildren were present). Six of my grandmother's 8 sisters came to the wake and the funeral (Grandma Rosie was oldest of 12 kids!). In addition, there were friends upon friends upon friends of my grandfather that came by to pay their respects and share in his memory.

Missionaries to Indonesia (a married couple) were with my grandfather when he died. They were friends of my grandparents, and had visited them the day before, and just felt the need to visit him again that day instead of heading out to dinner. Noticing that he was close to death but still hanging on, they prayed with him (that the Lord would take him) and coached him to the finish line, assuring him that the angels were waiting for him. His breathing slowly and steadily declined, and he left.

This is just one of the gems of last week that impressed me. What also got to me was listening to people I'd never even met before recount such great moments and experiences knowing my grandfather (they shared these at the service and at the post-funeral luncheon). He'd (well, together with Rosie) friends at every church and every bible study, every neighborhood they'd lived in. The quality and quantity of their friends was a testimony to his faith.

I also couldn't get over the strength of my grandma. Rosie is 88, and she and Leon were married for 63 years. Tough, hospitable, southern belle that she is, she welcomed and visited with all of the guests for the 5 hours of the visitation, plus at the funeral, luncheon, and burial the following day. Plus, up until only recently, she'd been Grandpa's primary caregiver, which couldn't have been easy.

God orchestrated it all. He orchestrated the safe traveling of everyone involved. He provided the surprise visit of Scott Derkin (my Grandpa's business partner's son) all the way from Toledo. He gave the family and friends the words to speak at the funeral. He supplied the innocence, laughter, and joy of my nieces and nephews to temper our sadness. There was power and strength in his Word, shared that day, both in spoken word and in song. There was joy and love as we gathered together as one , united by our faith, our blood, and our memory of him. There was satisfaction in the truth of the Resurrection, as we stared death in the face at Easter, recognizing the fact that Christ had silenced death forever by rising again.

I will never know how much happened that week. Only that the experience of it was extremely satisfying for myself and for those I love.

They grow up so fast...

2008-02-28T03:48:00.000-08:00

My 7C class: Hyun Jung, Young Sang, Ha Nee, Sang Min, Yea Sol, Eun Jeong, Dong Yeon (l to r)

Right now at A.P. we're going through what all American teachers go through around June--when students finish the grade they're in to go on to the next. Only in Korea, this happens at the end of February and the students start their new grade in March. Last year when this happened, I wasn't prepared at all and got a little depressed when I had to give up the middle schoolers I'd come to know and enjoy.
This year I knew it would happen, but that doesn't make it any easier. The class pictured above is my TOEIC 3B class, the class I've had twice a week (Tuesday and Thursday) at 7:00 for a long time now. These are middle school students, and they are my favorites. I have written about them often before (these are the kids with the great homework excuses, letters to Santa, and 'I Have a Dream' speeches). After this week they will be either starting high school or entering their third year of middle school (which they call third grade, and is really tough in this country), and they either won't have time to study English with a foreign teacher or they'll need to hone in on their grammar skills. Thus, next month, this class won't even exist.
I have enjoyed teaching these students so much, so tonight, to celebrate, we had a little party of sorts (chocolate dream pies and Cider) and played a trivia game (girls against boys--the girls kicked butt!). The girls were their usual chatty, funny, laughing selves. And that is what I will miss. Unlike most middle schoolers I teach, these kids love to talk. And they're interesting, smart, and motivated. I know that wherever they end up, they will do well.
Dong Yeon, the only boy in the picture above, is probably my absolute favorite middle school boy. He and his family attend our parish, and I have had him for two classes now. He is leaving on Sunday to go to high school in Chuncheon (the capital of our province). It's a great opportunity, but I am sorry to see him go!
And so, Hyun Jung, Young Sang, Ha Nee, Sang Min, Yea Sol, Eun Jeong, Dong Yeon, and Sung Chil (not pictured)--good luck to you all. It's been a great time and my privilege to be your English teacher! Thanks for making me laugh and smile on so many occasions :)

February 7, 2008.

2008-02-18T03:47:00.000-08:00

The Lama Temple
Incense everywhere!!!
The smoke rises above the masses...
One of the many Buddhas
Outside the temple looking around for a possible lunch joint...

Our second day in Beijing we woke up at 10:00 am!! It was later than I would have liked (we only had a few days there, after all), but it was some much-needed rest. So, we quickly got ready and made our first attempt to take public transportation. There were many buses outside of our hutong--the trouble was deciphering where they went...
We finally got on the 13, which supposedly was headed to the Lama Temple. Riding the bus in China only costs about 12 cents, which is pretty sweet. I had a paper with our destination written in Chinese, and we made sure to show it to many people so we could get off at the right spot. They motioned for us to get off, and we did, about 2 blocks from the temple. As we were walking, we came to what we thought was some kind of demonstration...there were hoards of people waiting for something, with part of the street cordoned off by police...
Our eyes found a whitey couple (from Canada) who filled us in on the situation. Since it was still officially the holiday, the crowds of people were lined up outside of the Lama Temple, which was about the only thing open that day. Did we want to wait in this line to get in, not knowing how long it would take? We decided we did, and made a bit more conversation with the Canadian couple standing nearby. This started at 11:00. Slowly, the crowd began to move...
...it would move and stop about every 10-15 minutes. And we were packed in like sardines. I'd never seen anything like it, and my mind began to think about all the people there are in China (and this was just in one city during a non-busy time!). My mind couldn't contain it all--the largeness, the greatness of China. Mind-boggling. People pushing into your back whenever the crowd would start to slightly move. Kids crying because they were cold and tired of waiting.
After about an hour (or a little more) of waiting like this, we got to the temple gate and bought our tickets. Now, there are many temples in Beijing. Here is a little about this particular temple (courtesy of the Lonely Planet China guide): The Lama Temple is Beijing's most magnificent Buddhist temple: beautiful rooftops, stunning frescoes, magnificent decorative arches, tapestries, incredible carpentry and a great pair of Chinese lions. The most renowned Tibetan Buddhist temple outside Tibet, the Lama Temple was converted to a lamasery in 1744 after serving as the former residence of Emperor Yong Zheng. The temple's most prized possession is its 17 m-high sandalwood statue of the Maitreya Buddha in the Wanfu Pavilion (and it's made all from one single tree!). An absorbing exhibition at the rear displays numerous Tibetan items and chronicles the lineage of the Dalai Lamas. You can read more about this temple here.
This temple was quite impressive, and the experience was made even more interesting by the throngs of people coming in to pray and offer incense to the many Buddhas. These people had literally tons of incense. One man even gave a pack to Paul to light once we got in there. There was smoke everywhere, and the stone ground was littered with incense sticks, dust, and wrappers. I kinda felt bad for the guys that had to clean everything up! I think it would have been a little nicer had we not been pushed through each hall by folks eager to light their incense--we could have more time to check out each of the statues. But hey, I guess that's what we get for going there during New Year! The Maitreya Buddha was quite a sight! To think she was made from a single tree!
After our unique experience at the temple, we wanted to follow up with our first restaurant experience in China. We walked away from the temple a bit and along the river, following the thousands of families out enjoying the day. We finally came to a busy street that had a lot of Western chains, stores that were closed, and some Chinese restaurants. After much walking (and it was 2:00 by this time and we still hadn't had breakfast!) we found one that looked pretty good. We went to the second floor dining room (passing by tanks of fish and frogs!), which was quite bustling. Eventually we staked out a table and, thanks to a pictures and English in the menu, were able to order with ease. We ordered wonton soup, peppered beef and onions, Mongolian beef and peppers, steamed rice, green tea, and Tsingtao beer (which tasted terrific--worlds better than Korean beer!). We ate with our long, long chopsticks (Korean ones are shorter and made of metal), waiting for our steamed rice--I wanted to eat it along with the sticky rich sauces from the meat dishes. But they didn't bring it out for a long time. Finally we flagged down a waiter and requested our rice. He brought it out, and we were curious as to why it hadn't been brought out with the rest of the meal. It turns out that in China the rice is brought out last, especially after all the alcohol has been drunk. Not only had we been hasty Americans, but we had also been drinking the beer from the bottle (which apparently is only something that drunks do in China!). Silly foreigners...
We left the restaurant and found the subway, where we took a train (for 25 cents--I love this place!) to Tiananmen Square (the world's largest public square!). Here we also had to wait, for it was about 5:00 and they were preparing for the changing of the guard (the soldiers are drilled to march at precisely 108 paces per minutes, 75 cm per pace). We found another foreigner couple (he from Australia, she from Ethiopia) and exchanged traveling tales and impressions of Beijing. Finally, we got to enter and check things out. Got to see the big portrait of Mao up close! (The dominating feature is the gigantic portrait of the ex-chairman, to the left of which runs the poetic slogan 'Long Live the People's Republic of China' and to the right 'Long Live the Unity of the Peoples of the World'. The portrait was famously pelted with paint-filled eggs during the 1989 demonstrations in the square; the iconoclasts were workers from Mao's home province of Hunan. A number of spares of the portrait exist and a fresh one was speedily acquisitioned). And all the guards in their long green coats. In the square, you stand in the symbolic centre of the Chinese universe. The rectangular arrangement, flanked by halls to the east and west, to an extent echoes the layout of the Forbidden City. As such, the square employs a conventional plan that plays obeisance to traditional Chinese culture, while its ornaments and buildings are largely Soviet inspired. Mao conceived the square to project the enormity of the Communist Party, so it's all a bit Kim Il Sung-ish. During the Cultural Revolution the chairmain, wearing a Red Guard armband, reviewed parades of up to a million people here. You can read more about this famous landmark here.
We left Tiananmen Square through the back gate and walked around 'til we ended up in Wangfujing, a famous market district. There they had a street filled with food vendors, selling the most exotic looking things on sticks (like scorpion, snake) in addition to seafood, grilled meat, and fruit kebabs. We played it safe and chose the fruit kebabs, which were "iced" in sugar...mmmm....
Then we walked further into Wangfujing, which has a hip, modern shopping area with many restaurants. First we warmed up with some hot chocolate at McDonald's (which are EVERYWHERE!). We wandered in and out of a few shops (including the official 2008 Olympic store!) and ended up in a really cool mall, where we eventually ate dinner (ate a nice cafeteria that makes up whatever you want right before you!). Then, we caught a cab and headed back to the hutong, to rest up plenty for the following day's agenda...THE GREAT WALL.

Pictures are to your right.

2008-02-12T04:44:00.001-08:00

By the way, if you'd care to check out our pictures from China, simply look to your right under "links" where it says "Our pics of Korea". There are three different folders there of our China photos. WARNING: there are quite a few in there! Enjoy!

February 6, 2008.

2008-02-12T03:25:00.000-08:00

Making pork dumplings with the staff
Paulie enjoying the common room
It couldn't be a true visit to China without fireworks!
Ooooohh....aahhhh....
A view of our hostel's courtyard

This past weekend, Paul and I had the distinct pleasure of traveling to Beijing to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Even though Korea does not take the whole week off for this holiday (as the Chinese do), we still got a lengthy 3 days off (plus the weekend). Being so close to this great country and having always been curious to explore it, we decided to (after an unsuccessful attempt to get to Hong Kong to see my cousin, Kristin) head to Beijing.
Traveling to Beijing is pretty easy from Korea. It's only a 2-hour flight from Seoul--piece of cake. It's getting to Incheon Airport that's a pain. We took the night bus to Seoul (leaving Sokcho at 11:00), which takes about 3 hours. However, once in Seoul at that time of night, the airport buses don't run. The subway also isn't running. So, you can either fork over a wad of won and splurge on a cab ride to Incheon (which is about another hour away), or, you can hang out in Itaewon (foreigner central) and take the airport bus that leaves at 4:00 am. So, we waited it out in the McDonald's (open 24 hours, baby!) and also a bit on the 4th floor of the Hamilton Hotel. After we got to the airport, we waited some more! (Our flight didn't leave until 11:00 am on Wednesday). There were plenty of folks heading out of town for Seolnal (Lunar New Year), especially to China.
The flight to China was pretty uneventful. We took China Southern airlines. First time I'd ever had a sweet fig for dessert on a plane! Once we got in, the plane unloaded on the tarmac, and we all got onto a shuttle, which took a while to get to the terminal. I wondered if this would be standard procedure for the upcoming Olympic Games...
Paul and I finally found the airport buses and the one headed to the neighborhood where our hostel was located. Having already changed our money to yuan in Korea, we were ready to start spending! Only about $2 to get from the airport to our hostel in Xidan (the first of many cheap transportation experiences in China!). We got off at the last stop, having read before online that the hostel was only about a 15-minute walk away...well...not exactly...
Our hostel, the Lotus Hostel, was in one of Beijing's many hutongs. Hutongs are the narrow alleyways of Beijing that crisscross the city and make groupings of courtyard homes. They were created after Genghis Khan's army sacked the city, and reached almost 6,000 in number 60 years ago. There are now only about 2,000 left, due to city modernization. "Hutong nearly all run east-west to ensure that the main gate faces south, satisfying feng shui requirements. This south-facing aspect guarantees a lot of sunshine and protection from more negative forces from the north. This positioning also mirrors the layout of all Chinese temples, nourishing the Yang (the male and light aspect), while checking the Yin (the female and dark aspect)." (Lonely Planet China, 137).
All of the signs for the different hutongs look very similar, and several times we thought we'd made it and went down the wrong one. We kept asking the Chinese for directions, who were helpful and friendly despite their lack of English. We finally made it there by about 5:00 and were extremely grateful!

Now, as many of you have seen on the news, there has been a bit of weather in China lately. Apparently, this winter has been their coldest on record in quite some time. This being said, I wondered if there would be any issues with our lodging. We were greeted by the owner and told that the room we'd reserved online was not fit for staying, since the pipes in the radiator had burst and it couldn't be heated properly. So, he put us up in the most expensive room (but we still paid the same price!). Here's a little information about the "north room": The most important rooms in a quadrangle courtyard are called the main structure or zhengfang. The main room is the north room, or the upper room, host room. With the ancestral tablet and the hall placed at the center, the main hall enjoys the highest position in the dwelling, its bay being much superior to other rooms in both depth and height. There are usually three bays in the main room, the middle one being an ancestral hall, the eastern one for grandparents and the west one for parents. Just like the traditional quadrangle courtyard, there are only two rooms in our north room, these two rooms have the excellent position and the most delicate decoration, thus the price is comparatively high.

Needless to say, we were pretty happy about that, not that we would have minded staying in the other room. But you can never complain about an upgrade. So, we dropped off our stuff and rested a bit, before heading to the kitchen to learn how to make Chinese dumplings. There were a couple other staff and some travelers already in there working on rolling the dough into small circles and filling them with a mixture of pork and carrots. The head cook and one of the other staff showed us the right way to pinch and seal them in a half-moon shape. How fun! They were making three batches: pork and carrot, leeks, and beef and vegetable. After pushing out a few we each got a plate of our own FRESH dumplings to sample. All I can say is WOW. Chinese dumplings are tasteeeeeeeeeeeeee.
Later on at 6:00 the owner invited all the guests into the common room for a little dinner of sorts. It is traditional for Chinese families to have feast the first night of the New Year celebration with an even number of dishes. He had wine, juice, candy, dumplings, sliced pork, vegetables, and many trays of candies and candles set up on the table for us. We toasted the new year (with Great Wall wine!) and sat around enjoying each other. The staff at this hostel was soooooooooooo fun and friendly--we had a great time getting to know them. After dinner, most Chinese watch the New Year holiday program on TV with their families. It showcases musical performances, comedy sketches, and fanstastic acrobatics. We sat around watching it with everyone. It's quite an elaborate program--I really wonder how much money goes into all the exquisite costumes and performers!
After that it was time for...FIREWORKS. We'd already heard them being set off in the streets before dark, and we'd passed many small shops selling them in our neighborhood. Our staff had bought a whole bunch for us to enjoy in the courtyard. Let me tell you, it was really fun being in China for Lunar New Year and setting off firecrackers. China is, after all, the birthplace of fireworks (they originated in China some 2,000 years ago). I think Paul and I felt like kids again, all giddy with the excitement of the light and the noise. And let me tell you, this noise kept up ALL NIGHT LONG...(and pretty much all week long, too!)
After a nice hot shower, we both sank into bed, grateful for two down comforters and the chance to rest again.

What's this song?

2008-01-31T07:07:00.000-08:00

Well, if you're Aubrey and you're teaching your 3B middle school class about Martin Luther King and the very famous patriotic song that he quoted in his "I Have a Dream" speech, this song is known as "the national anthem".

Unfortunately, for Aubrey and her now-misguided middle school students, The Star-Spangled Banner has the distinction of being the USA's national anthem. Put me down as thinking that the song above or something like America the Beautiful makes more sense as our national anthem (such songs are more about America itself -- not just our glorious flag -- and are easier to sing and remember). Be that as it may, facts, as John Adams once noted, are stubborn things. No word yet on whether a retraction will be forthcoming.

I have a dream...

2008-01-31T04:12:00.000-08:00

As you know, Martin Luther King Day was 10 days ago. If I'm able to, I often try to share what I can of important American holidays and figures in my English classes here. One of my middle school classes (3B), has proved especially interested and willing to learn about things like this. So we talked about the person that is MLK, what he accomplished, and what his vision was for America. It led into a great discussion on what it means to work for peace, and I asked them what Korean leaders they knew of who had worked to restore peace to their nation.
We also went over some of the more well-known quotes of King's "I Have a Dream" speech. I then asked them what their dreams were...what dissatisfied them about their nation, their community, their city...what burdened them that they'd like to see change...
...and here's what they came up with...

I have a dream that my country will have honest government. Because I saw an article written about Korean politicians. That summary is Korean politicians' illegality and corruption is high standard in the world.
So I want to change all dishonest politicians.
Next I hope that my country has no academy. There are many students who get a perfect score because most academic teachers teach school exam questions to them. I think that is very unfair.
Lately, I wish that Korea must have many jobs. Because there are many young people who don't have job. I think that is very serious problem. So Korea should solve this problem to produce many jobs and develop economy. (Hyun Jung)

I have a dream that my country be strong. We are very weak. So we have to learn foreign language. And we submit to America. It's too tired. Also, we lost our pride more and more. We don't have to obey to a powerful country. Of course we have to learn many thing from other country (like America's economic, Suisse's welfare, ...etc.) But we should keep our cultures and our spirits. If that is the case we can expect to develop country.
I hope that we should have little more confidence. And we should like our country. Then we could do everything together.
I believe that Korea has great brain. Korea would be the best in the world. (Ha Nee)

I have a dream.
Our country has a tendency that people are judged by scholarship. When we try to get a jobs, our scholarship or ours affiliated college have influence on the result. So Korea's teenagers study just school subject like English or math (for going to good university) though they have other interest and special ability. They can't achieve their dream target on. And mostly of them decay their ability.
I want that our country see not only men's scholarship but also their ability and disposition. So we are not griped of study and we develop anything we want to do or we good at. (Young Sang)

I have a dream that all children can have a free. Nowadays, young children don't have a smile. Because, they study more and more and go academy to study. In this country, academy education get more powerful. As a result school education get more weak. I'm so worried about this situation. These days, all education is for university examination. So, we have to change the education policy. Like developed country, we should be done individual education. Teach the architectural engineering who want to be an architect. And teach the design who want to be a designer. As a result, we can make an expert in his/her own field. If we apply this policy, we can reduce a lot of money, and have many experts.
Therefore, we can have economic growth and have stable growth.
I want, I hope, no. I don't have a question that Korea will become more bigger, more powerful, and more wonderful. (Ka Eun)

I have a dream. The unemployed have an own job. In Korea, we have so many the unemployed. They want to have their own job, but Korea hasn't many jobs. So, new president, Lee Myung-Bak, should make many jobs. For make many jobs, for example, make many buildings, bridges, storing reservoirs, or many structures.
If unemployed people have their own jobs, our economy will be good. Because most people have their own job, and they will be received money from their company. So, many people have their own money, and they can buy stuffs, foods, clothes, cars, apartments, ground, or many items. So, economy will be good!!
Many people can save their money. It makes also good for economy. I have a dream. Every Korean have their own job. And they receive money by their company. So, Korean economy will be good!! It's my dream. (Dong Yeon)

I have a dream that one day Korean education develops. That students want. Because, Korean students study too much. So they can't have time to volunteer, or enjoy their spare time. And I have a dream that Koreans help their neighbors such as poor people, orphans and handicapped people. They can't live without our help. These are my hopes. Maybe there are many people who expect to change Korea. So, if Korea improves these problems, Korea will develop a lot. (Sung Chil)

I have a dream that one day change our society. Because many people can't find job so many people can't gather money except rich people and one day change our education.
Because students are very hard and I want change my country bigger than now. Or change my personality. Because I don't like my personality a little bit. So I want have perseverance. I have a wish. Unification. (Sang Min)

Sokcho Fire Water Festival.

2008-01-28T03:31:00.000-08:00

Paul and I with Sokcho Man
A very lively (and Andrew Lloyd Webber inspired) dance troupe
Kelsey and Paul pull out the torches...
An authentic Fire Water ceremonial dance (I think...)
A view of Sokcho from Cheongcho Lake

This past weekend was the Fire Water festival in Sokcho. It seems that Korea is like Spain or Latin America--it's never too long before another festival! Traditionally, Sokcho hosts the Snow Festival in January, but I guess after last winter they were worried that they wouldn't have any actual snow again. Hence, the Fire Water festival (which sounds very Native American to me...). And comically, to me, there was plenty of snow this month (and it even snowed the day we attended the festival!).
Paul and I headed down to Expo and met up with Kelsey, Ruth E., Ara, and Ruth E.'s friend from Seoul. They have been plugging this festival for weeks, and Sokcho has been tattooed with advertisements and banners about it. They had set up a floating bridge on Cheongchoho with a traditional Korean ship at one end, facing a pair of water dragons. All around the bridge were floating metal baskets, which later on at dark held burning bundles of firewood. There were also traditional dragon boats all lit up passing through the lake. This festival started last Thursday at 6:00 with a set of fireworks, and I believe they set off fireworks every night (last night being the finale).
We weaved in and out of the tents to check things out. They had a ton of cool crafts and activities for kids (like make your own lamp, pottery, pinwheels, hats, puppets, teddy bears, etc.). They also had an inflatable stage with several performers, including (purportedly) belly dancing, Korean soloists, and that crazy ABBAish dancing troupe pictured above. You could even ride the gat-bae (Korean traditional ferry) or rent swan boats.
It was quite a cold day, but there was plenty interesting to check out (some Korean festivals can be kind of lame, so we were surprised and pleased that this one was so unique). At one point in the afternoon, they handed out torches to everyone and had us line up opposite each other near the lit archway facing the lake. When everyone had his torch, two groups of traditionally dressed folks came before each other and words were exchanged. I think that one group represented water and the other fire, but I cannot be too sure. We were just waiting with our torches and trying to dodge the Korean news cameras (which typically try to catch foreigners attending traditional Korean events). After their exchange, there was some kind of ceremonial dance, so I think the fire and water gods found favor with each other in some respect. The effect of the cold and snow, the colors of their costumes, and the lit torches against the backdrop of the lake and snowy mountains was quite dramatic and impressive. It was neat that we got to participate even in a small way. It felt very ancient and primal, but as with most things like this, we weren't entirely sure what was going on :)
Anyway, I've finally figured out how to make web albums (instead of trying to post all of my pictures on the blog, which was always so hard! Hard to choose!) So if you'd like to see more, check out my Picasa album here.

Gee but it's great to be back home...

2008-01-22T04:21:00.000-08:00

Snow-covered Seoraksan National Park

Hard to believe we've been back in Korea 2 weeks already!

I wasn't sure what to expect from January, or from 2008. We returned to Sokcho after a blissfully perfect visit home (to Chicago and Michigan) for Christmas, where time spent with family and friends was meaningful, fun, and relaxing. I wasn't sure if it would spoil the return to the Land of Morning Calm or not. And truthfully, I was interested to see if our convictions to come back for another year would be confirmed.

So far, being back in Korea has been awesome. Usually the month of January feels strange and uncomfortable to me, like discovering the fact that you're naked in a crowded room (or like being given a blank sheet of paper and being told to "tell someone about yourself"). The year is so new, and there's a lof of pressure to change and improve and have a good attitude. I was telling Paul that so far, this feels like the best January I've had in a long time! No depressing perpetually gray skies, as from my college years in western Michigan. No being apart from my love (as we were the year we were engaged), no weirdness from living in a new place away from my family (our first year in DC). No massive culture shock while being miserably sick, learning a new language and a new city (and a new job), and living in city that stayed brown all winter (January 2007 in Korea).

Getting back into teaching (well, we were only gone for a week!) was easy and natural, and unlike last year (at this time), the students didn't seem super hyper and obnoxious. Perhaps they've mellowed (or maybe we have!). The weather has been excellent (well, a tad cold, but that's befitting the season, eh?). We've had 8 snowy days already. It's extremely beautiful, and considering we have a view of mountains every morning, I ain't complainin' (Paul says his appreciation of snow is inversely related to not having to shovel or drive in it). It's properly winter here--winter being a white season. Also, when it snows here, the sky isn't gray. It's either white or blue--there's a difference.

Our health has also been quite good (and even if it doesn't continue, we have a HUGE supply of American cold medicine that we schlepped back with us). No horrible coughy cold. Not yet, at least. Our tummies are already adapted back to the spice and sour of Korean cuisine.

We have already had many lovely outings with friends, and have caught up with them about their own holiday travels. Given the weather we're experiencing here, they've been mostly quiet indoor activities--a spades tournament over a plate of roast chicken, movie nights with popcorn, poker with the guys, learning danggu (Korean billiards), a game of dominoes with warm mugs of tea, and of course, a night at noraebang. We even toured a new posh resort near Yangyang with Ara, Ruth E., and Kelsey, and found a spot that sells real italian gelatto!

Here you don't feel a push toward New Years' resolutions. I don't know if Koreans observe that tradition or not, but I feel content having "a year off", so to speak. This doesn't mean that I don't intend to accomplish anything (far from it), but it is nice to be away from the pressure I usually feel come January. The old year has made a natural progression into the new one, and life feels comfortable and warm and not so anxious (no white paper feeling).

But that isn't to say that nothing is going on. Paul and I are preparing for our upcoming trip to Beijing, China! We leave 2 weeks from tomorrow. We recently booked a room at the Beijing Lotus Hostel, which is located near the famed Tiananmen Square. We hope to visit there, some nearby temples, the Forbidden City, and the Great Wall, to name a few. The Chinese teacher at A.P., Hong, is currently helping us to figure out our itinerary (including what foods to try, where to shop, etc.). We're really getting excited about it! It'll probably be our last international excursion for a while, since I am going to start grad school this summer (and will use that time to take 2 classes in Michigan, while Paul heads home to New Hampshire for a couple weeks).

In preparation for starting at Cornerstone, I'm also filling out my FAFSA and we've just filed our taxes (already! I think this is the earliest I've ever done them!). What's nice about making money overseas is that you don't have to pay taxes on it (but we don't get a refund either). Korean class will also be starting up again in March (but right now we have a nice lull, and Fridays off). Also in March, I'll be taking a class in hanji, a traditional Korean art kind of like mod-podge. And Paul is looking for a classes in judo.

Life is good!

Monica gets married!

2008-01-08T04:38:00.001-08:00

Monica and Jim at the rehearsal dinner
Nikki applying Monica's make-up
Cousin Jamie and sister Jessica help Monica into her dress
Posing for pictures!
Jim and Monica with baby Caroline

About 11 days ago, my dear friend Monica took the plunge. Back in August, she phoned with the joyous news that she'd gotten engaged to Jim, her then boyfriend. I was very excited for her (remembering the experience of being engaged, myself). Figuring she would be getting married some time in 2008, I looked forward to being back to attend. She surprised me again with the date of the wedding--December 29th, 2007! Would I be back in the country by then? Yes! Could I stand up in the wedding? You bet!!
So, while I was home, I headed to Grand Rapids for the wedding (which worked out well with our family Christmas--we had it the following Sunday). I had my red dress (which had been tailored for me under the gun by local Batavian (and Korean!) Joon, the seamstress extraordinaire), and looked forward to seeing my good buds Becca and Nikki (who were also to stand up in the wedding).
I didn't make it to most of the pre-wedding festivities (since I was visiting with family), but I certainly enjoyed the rehearsal and dinner following (the groomsman I was to walk with, Dale, was about a whole foot taller than me! But he was very nice, and we had fun chatting). It was great to be with Nikki and Becca again, and to see Monica's family too, who I'd gotten to know during my Calvin days.
The day of the wedding I headed to the church at 11:00 to get my hair done by Monica's cousin, Erin. She did a great job, and curled my now long brown locks and swept them up in back. It looked awesome, and I had definitely had fun getting to know Erin, a very sweet and talented girl. After a while the other members of the wedding party started to arrive, and we busied ourselves getting ready (Nikki was a savior and helped me with my makeup--thanks Nik!) for pictures. Then Monica came in with her hair all up, got her makeup done (again, genius Nik), and the girls helped her into her dress. I was quite impressed at how calm and collected she seemed!
We did the typical photo shoot, including some outside in the snow---BRRRRR! Everyone looked awesome, and it was really cute seeing the flower girls and Monica's niece Caroline in little white dresses made by Monica's mom.
The ceremony went fine and without hitch (Paul even found me and took the camera in so he could take a few shots!). I was in between Becca and Nikki up front. Monica and Jim were positively beaming up there, and the pastor said they were the happiest couple to be standing there he'd ever seen. Her dad sang the solo, Amazing Grace, toward the end, and I think that's when most of us lost it.
After the ceremony, there was a fun private bus for the bridal party to take to the reception at the museum. We had fun rocking out along the way, loosening up with beer and wine coolers, getting ready to get out on the dance floor. It was definitely a fun way to arrive in style.
At the reception, Becca, Nikki, Paul and I were at the same table with my college roommate Lisa and her husband Jason. It was great to talk with them and catch up, and to get out and boogie on the floor, just like we did in our college days. It was a blast being all gussied up, dancing and chilling with old friends all night long, reminiscing about the old days. It definitely went by too fast!
Monica looked amazing and she looked very natural circling the hall with Mr. Workman. They were bound for a getaway to Aruba, and by now they're probably back. I hope it was bon voyage, you two!

This time tomorrow...

2007-12-24T06:52:00.000-08:00

...I'll be home. Home for Christmas. Seems strange. I still remember when my folks took us to the airport around this time last year, to say good-bye for our year away. Tomorrow, I'll get to hug them at that same airport, only this time I'll be home for Christmas.

Ah-sah! Chicago, here I come!

Elves on strike.

2007-12-17T03:14:00.000-08:00

I just had my 7:00 class do a little Christmas writing exercise from Boggle's World (the absolute BEST ESL website ever!). It's a creative writing story prompt called "Christmas Elves on Strike". The kids have to imagine that they're Santa's elves and that they're disgruntled North Pole employees (because Santa has been overworking them, not giving out any breaks or holidays, not giving decent wages, and also making them wear embarassing, uncomfortable uniforms >:). Once the kids understood, they came up with some pretty funny messages to Santa (and some pretended to be Santa and replied to their fellow "elf" classmates' letters). Here are a few I found particularly amusing (these are middle schoolers, by the way):

Dear Santa Claus,
Hi, we are elves and I'm representative. We are angry with you. Let me tell you something about why elves are extremely angry with Santa. 1. We don't have any holiday. We should work 365 days. It's very hard and we are tired. We want that you make holidays for us. 2. It's too little monthly salary. The elves work at the toy factory every day but you give us too little money. We feel mortified. 3. Change toy factory's place to warm place. It's very cold here in North Pole. However we're elf, but if you work at the North Pole every day, you'll get cold exactly. We want change the place to um, for example, Chicago, Boston, or Sokcho. However we were friend long time so we'll work again. But you must think about us like you love children. I think you understand. Thank you for read this letter and Merry Christmas. Sincerely yours, Elf. (Joon-Hyung)

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry Santa because you don't make me rest day. I work every 20 hours I didn't sleep every day. And you didn't give me money. I want money. My family didn't eat any more food because I didn't get money. You didn't give us delicious food. We want to eat delicious food, and then we work hard. I want to work for you again, but these things need to change. 1. I want you make me holiday (every Saturday, Sunday). Because I'm very tired. 2. I want you give me much money (every day two hundreds thousand won). 3. I want you give me very delicious food. Because I don't have power. 4. I want 5 hours to work every day except Saturday and Sunday. 5. I want you have vacation 3 months (December, January, February). Yours sincerely, Hye-Rim.

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry because you didn't give me free time for three hundred sixty five days. I always work everyday for twenty two hours. I insufficiency sleep so I become sleepy everyday! And you give me insufficiency salary. I want to work for you again but these things need to change. First, I work 7 hours in a day. Second, you raise my salaray (3,000,000 won). Last, I will not work on Saturday and Sunday. You grant my request I will work hard. Good-bye! (Ji-Yoon)

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry, because you didn't give us breaks and holiday. We are very tired and get much stress so many elves are sick. You don't give us much money. I work hard but I'm poor. You can change something. I'll work and don't discontent. First, give us a lot of rest. You must give us twelve hours in a day. Give many holidays. You must give 6 months in a year. Give much money than now. I and my family are very poor. We only have breakfast and dinner. My children said "I'm hungry. I want to eat a lot of food." I heard that I was sad. Give me a new house. My family live outside. Someday we slept in the subway and bench. We were very cold. Please give me a new house. You will promise this things. I will work hard. With love, Elf (Eun-Ji).

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry because I don't have recess. I work all the time, everyday!! I'm very laborious, because I'm old!! And I'm very hungry. I work all the time but I eat little rice. Finally, I want holiday. I want oversleep, watch TV and play computer game!! You must make recess. You must give snake every afternoon. And you also make holiday for once a week. If you don't agree to me, I stop to work. You can choose. If you agree to me, I'll work hard for you. You must think deeply and decide. Min-Ji.

(Santa's reply) Dear Elf,
I am a god. I think that the post office mistake. I'm not Santa. But I think if I am Santa, I will fire elf. And I hire oompa loompa. They are work with Charlie. They love chocolate. Have a good Chrismas. I will say this letter from Santa.

Not Dear Santa!
I'm angry about you. You don't give money, time, holidays. You steal our frees. So we want somethings ways. First, we want freedom. Always, we only work very hard. We not sleep, we not talk, we not play and we not love. We are very tired. I think that you understand. Second, we want money. Everyday we work very hard, however, you don't give anything. So we want a few reward. We want money. We want to eat taste food, to see wrestling, to shopping. Third, the Chrismas finished, you are always drunken. You say that you work very hard. But we work harder than you. Please don't drink soju, beer, wine. Fourth, you have to diet. You are very fat. At first I see, you are very thin. But you drink soju, beer, wine, you become fat. Now your weight is 108 kg. How amazing! When you visit our workplace, our workplace vibrate. I think that this problem happen because of earthquake. Please I want to you look this carefully and wish our hopes. Still we are love you. Have a good Chrismas. Always love you, Elf (Jeong Gyu).

Dear Santa,
I am extremely angry because I work all day long. But I don't earn a lot of reward. I don't want to live!! Also, my life is same everyday!! I'm so boring everyday. So, I want to change my life. I want to work for you again, but these things need to change: First, I want to earn a lot of reward than now. I work very hard but my salary is 100,000!! Many people are surprise when they heard my salary. So, I want to get 5 million. And I want to have vacation like students!! I have break time an hour in a day. So I want to have vacation 3 months in a year!! Finally, I want to meet TVXQ!! If I meet them, I can work so hard than now!! If you keep my promise, I'll love you!! Bye! Your love, Elf (Si Won).

(Santa's reply) Dear lovely elf,
Um...I get your important letter. And now I know your suggestion. You want to make money more than now. But nowadays, our company is in the red. Most parents don't buy our nice toys.

Pretty cute, eh?

AP Christmas Dinner at the Kensington.

2007-12-15T05:43:00.001-08:00

Bon appetit!
Sam and Jay (her son); Jay's taking pictures of me with Sam's cellphone
Ara tells a story...
The happy staff of AP (except for Rachel)

Tonight Won Gi and Yeon Soo (our directors) treated us to an AP Christmas dinner at the Kensington Stars Hotel (a very nice resort in Seoraksan National Park). Saturday night is buffet night ($35 per person!) at the Kensington, and they have quite a spread: several different kinds of sushi, crab, duck, dim sum, salad, pasta, marinated mushrooms and peppers, salmon, beef, grilled shrimp, to name just a few. They also had the creamiest most delectable custardy vanilla ice cream I've ever had in Korea. It was FANTASTIC. We had our own private room off of the main dining area, and enjoyed the fine food and Spanish wine for about 3 hours. Won Gi and Yeon Soo were very generous to bring us to the Kensington for our last holiday party...thanks a lot guys!

O, Christmas tree.

2007-12-15T05:32:00.000-08:00

Note the perky angel sitting on the moon!
Close-up (I love this ribbon! It's light blue and gold)
All lit up

It may not be all that big, but this little tree has that soft warm glow that I was waiting for. I was going to just wait until I got back to the States (for the real deal!), but I couldn't resist. I broke down and bought this $2 tree at Good Morning Mart (our local grocery store). I found some pretty ribbon at the stationery store, some twinkle lights at E-Mart (Korea's Target), and some red ornaments and gold bells. I put it in the corner of our living room on our little tea table, next to some photos of family. When I look at it and see my nieces, I am reminded of where I will be VERY SOON!!

Korean concert.

2007-12-15T05:11:00.001-08:00

The beginner and intermediate Korean classes
The 2 classes perform 2 Korean traditional Korean songs
Paul gets his song on
Our friend and classmate, Rebecca (from England)

Paul and I (and Babbie, Hong, and Rebecca--our teacher friends) have been taking Korean classes at the Sokcho Library every Friday morning (10:00 - 12:00). It may not sound like a lot, but since the class only meets once a week, we cover a whole chapter each time. Every week we get homework, and of course, every week I procrastinate and end up tearing my hair out trying to finish it before Friday morning. But it is a very good class, largely due to the kindness of our songsangnim, Hye Kyoung (a kind, intelligent university professor of linguistics, English teacher, and Korean teacher).

A few weeks back, Hye Kyoung had the class meet at a noraebang (singing room) on Thursdays, in addition to Friday morning's class. There we were to learn traditional Korean songs. This exercise would A) help to improve our hangul (written Korean) reading skills, and B) prepare us for the end of the year concert (where each class has a small performance).

I ended up not going to most of the practices, partly because I got a coughing cold (and wanted to save my voice for teaching English), and also because I found out I wouldn't be able to sing in it anyway (the concert started at 2:00 and that's when my first English class is). But Paul went faithfully, the eager singer that he is (in fact, that's where he is right now--out singing karaoke with our friends!). He learned the songs and sang with Rebecca, Hye Kyoung, and the other intermediate students. All of the students (who may look Korean but are actually Japanese) and our teacher wore the traditional Korean garb (a hanbok), save Paul, who wore the only suit he brought to Sokcho :)

Kimchi 101, continued.

2007-12-02T05:50:00.001-08:00

Getting our hands dirty
Paul getting his kimchi on
Eeeeewwww--it's slimy!
Finished!!

Kimchi 101, continued.

2007-12-02T05:42:00.001-08:00

Red gold--the source of red pepper paste
Ruth E.'s deep kimchi wound
Fish sauce, green onions, and red pepper paste
Whaddya think? Does it need more pepper?
Adding the paste to the kimchi leaves

Kimchi making, 101.

2007-12-02T05:11:00.000-08:00

Paul salting the cabbage the night before
Everything we need: cabbage, radish, ginger, green onions, garlic, onions, red chili powder
Paul works on the ginger while Ara mashes up the garlic
Ruth E. cleans the radish
Don't forget the onions!

When most people think of Korea, the first thing that comes to mind is kimchi. What most people don't know is that there are over 200 kinds of kimchi! The most popular kind, tongbaechu kimchi, is the kimchi made from Chinese cabbage (what most people think of when they hear the word kimchi). Kimchi can also be made from cucumbers, radishes, and any other vegetable. Historically, kimchi was made to preserve vegetables so that Koreans could get valuable nutrients even during harsh winters.

While most of our friends back home are buying Christmas trees, putting up lights, and baking Christmas cookies, we're making kimchi! Right now is the season for gimjang, or kimchi making (usually late-November to early December). The supermarkets are brimming with sales on cabbage, fish sauce, and extra-large tupperware containers. Many Korean families have been making kimchi over the past few weeks to keep for the coming year!
Ara, Ruth E., Paul, and I decided to attempt preparing the national dish. Ara had made it once before, and we had a recipe from one of the Korean teachers (Rachel) at AP. We bought 4 Chinese cabbages, quartered them lengthwise, and set them to soak in some heavy salt water overnight. The salt gets into the leaves and makes them softer and wilt. The next morning, you rinse the cabbage in water.
Today, Ara and Ruth E. came over with supplies from the downtown market: radish, green onions, onions, garlic, ginger, red pepper powder. We got to work dicing, chopping, and cutting all the vegetables for the so--kimchi sauce. After you put in the veggies, garlic, and ginger, you add the red pepper and some Korean fish sauce (which will make it into a kind of reddish paste). Red pepper powder is potent! And, you have to be careful, because it really stains!
After a couple tastings (getting enough red pepper for that famous zip!), we divvied up the cabbage, put some plastic bags on our hands to protect us from the red pepper, and went to work smearing the paste onto the leaves. It's pretty fun, because everything is rather mushy :) You just keep working the paste into the cabbage until everything is covered.
Of course, this whole process took longer because we had to document it :) After you finish, you leave the covered kimchi in a cool place for 2 days...then it's ready! (Or, if you're super traditional, you can put it in a stone pot and bury it in the ground, the way Koreans used to do).
We're very excited to try our kimchi! We'll let you know how it turned out!

See you later!

2007-12-02T04:42:00.001-08:00

l to r: Bryan, Aubrey, Shauna, Baby Hana, and Paul

This weekend we bid farewell to a great family: Bryan, Shauna, and Hana. We met Bryan and Shauna very soon after arriving in Sokcho, at The Western (the local foreigner hangout). They worked for another English academy, ECC. Though we didn't see much of each other at first, we always chatted at group parties and eventually started hanging out. They are a wonderful married couple (rare to find, here!), extremely warm and friendly. Paul joined Bryan's poker game night, and I found through talking with Shauna that we had a lot in common, from family to personal interests, musical tastes, and future pursuits.
They have been here a year, and are the only foreigner couple we've known to get pregnant and deliver a baby in Korea. Pretty courageous, if you ask me! Bryan has been offered a job at a university in Daegu teaching English to future health care professionals (which is great, because that's what his MA is in!). They will begin their new gig in March.
On Saturday they hosted a good-bye brunch in their apartment. Most of the ECC and the AP crowds were there, and Shauna and Bryan even gave away goodies from their kitchen and home to us! Paul and I were very lucky to take home many new spices, a bag of flour tortillas (SCORE!), rice, curry, and rye bread.
After the brunch we stuck around for a little while to chat with them a bit more, and see if we could help out with anything. We took a few boxes downstairs so that Bryan could take them to the academy for winter storing. Shauna and Bryan then took us to the new sandwich/coffee shop near AP (after I'd been raving about the sandwiches there--Shauna's bagel club ended up being on a blueberry bagel--sorry, Shauna!) and treated us!
We had a great last afternoon with them, and hope this is just a "see ya later!" Have a great break, guys!

Love the ones you're with.

2007-11-28T04:26:00.001-08:00

Christmas Tree at Daley Plaza

Today I got my plane ticket home for Christmas.

There are no words to describe how excited I am to come home (well, okay, I suppose there are a few).

It is funny to hear my family and friends tell me over the phone about the present scramble to get things ready for the holidays (decorate, bake, buy gifts, etc.). I have to remind myself that it is that time of year again, because there are virtually no reminders of it around here. No (sometimes annoying) Christmas music blaring in every store. No Salvation Army Santas on the corner. No special Christmas candy out for sale yet. No pine tree lots, no twinkle lights framing home windows, no holly wreaths, no egg nog or peppermint stick ice cream in the freezer case.

It took the special Thanksgiving foods we enjoyed (and have been enjoying since Sunday--thank you LEFTOVERS!!) and having a "houseful" to bring me back to the feelings of being with family. Eating mashed potatoes and chicken, and having punkin pie with ice cream brought me back to glorious holiday weekends (especially with the Andersons!) with my family. And friends are never a substitute for family, but sometimes, your friends become your family. This experience made me hunger again for those original family times, in a way I hadn't up 'til now...it made the realization of the coming Christmas even more real.

The thought that I will soon be able to hug my mother and father so very tightly (many times, probably several times a day if I have my way!), sit and catch up with my brother and sister, tickle and joke with my nephews, and laugh with my nieces, is sooooooooooooooo thrilling. Just 27 more days 'til I can do it. I can't wait. It will be so wonderful.

There have been so many moments over the past year when I've thought "Man, I wish I could talk with ______" or "Gosh, I'd sure love a hug from _________" or "There's no one who understands me quite like ________". In these moments, I could never access the desired person. Sometimes I was by myself, and sometimes I was with other people, but they just weren't what I needed at the time. And during the past months a song has come to mind--"Love the One You're With", by Crosby, Stills, and Naish. It's a super cheesy reference, but the lyrics are true for this situation--"when you can't be with the one you love, honey, love the one you're with".

So many times I haven't been able to be with the ones I love (and that's just part of the bargain in being here), and since I cannot do a proper job of loving from afar, I have poured my love into those around me here. Our friends. The other teachers. The kids. So often when I've wanted to be playing with my nieces and nephews, I put that energy and desire into the students. And with their excitement and laughter and joy, they minister to me. They love me back. The other teachers offer encouragement and support when I've needed it, and our friends show kindness and loyalty to us. We have loved and have been shown love greatly.

Babbie (a fellow teacher) and I were showing "The Santa Clause" movie to some of our kids yesterday (it is yet again exam time for the middle school students, and we were trying to do something a bit lighter). Now, the Santa Clause is by no means a great movie (especially not as Christmas movies go), but I hadn't seen any holiday films yet. And I don't know why, but it got to me. The reciting of the Christmas Carol, stockings, Christmas trees, even talk of Santa Clause. It got to me. It got to that warm, fuzzy, nostalgic, I-just-wanna-be-home-with-my-family part of me--I guess you could say, the kid in me. My mind started to wander to family dinners, being snuggled up on the couch in front of the fire with my mother, playing games, listening to good Christmas music (of which I forgot to bring any!) and seeing my father cooking in the kitchen, taking walks at night to see the neighborhood lights. Getting theological with my brother and my Dad, and talking about the church. Talking over friends and relationships with my sister.

I don't know what the conversation will be like this year. I won't be good at discussing movies, music, or most pop cultural references. I'll be lousy at going over the latest and greatest in American politics (I'll leave that to Paul). I don't know what the new trends are in fashion or the best new shows on TV. All I can do is share my experiences, and my hopes for the future, and to eagerly listen to theirs.

That, and more importantly, to embrace them all severely and say...I love you. I've missed you so much. It's so good to be home.

Thanksgiving continued.

2007-11-25T06:17:00.000-08:00

"The Homemaker" atop our LG microwave
Our little corner cabinet that Paul is SO proud of (because it fits perfectly in the space)
Babbie and Bekah - the sweater dress twins
YUMMM!
My dessert creation, made expressly by Bekah

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2007-11-25T05:28:00.000-08:00

Paulie mixes up mashed potatoes
Babbie and Bekah get the (HUGE) salad ready
Let's eat!!
Ruth E. carves the chicken
I made Dad's orange glazed carrots!

Happy belated Thanksgiving!! Here in Korea we Americans were really looking forward to Thanksgiving, even though we had to wait until the weekend to celebrate it (our thoughtful boss at AP remembered it was a holiday for us Thursday and brought in fried and grilled chicken, which was sweet!). We've been planning for weeks now, and since Paul and I were hosting our first Thanksgiving ever, we were pretty pumped.
Being able to communicate via Facebook (and cellphone--yes, we have one now!!) made the whole process a lot easier, what with planning who was bringing what. Paul and I were on the hook for mashed potatoes, orange glazed carrots, and drinks. Since we thought we'd have several vegetarians attending, we also made a salmon salad (which almost no one ate because there was so much food!). Ara, the only one among us with an oven, graciously offered to make a roast chicken, homemade stuffing (with cranberries! Mmmm...), gravy, and meat empanadas (which were awesome!). Babbie truly came through with a HUGE bean and broccoli salad (enough to feed an army!). Kelsey brought two dishes of corn casserole and a fresh veggie tray with french onion dip (made with real sour cream!). Ruth E. brought wine and our old coworker Chris (and his son Kevin) brought pizza ;) Bekah, the resident dessert artist, brought two kinds of sponge cake, ice cream, and peaches (she whipped out several very sophisticated cake a la mode treats!). Then, a little while later, Bryan, Shauna, and Hana came over with a REAL PUMPKIN PIE (that they'd ordered from Costco!).
Originally, we were expecting between 16-18 guests. For whatever reason, we only had about 10 show up. We were a little disappointed (since we'd been planning for so many more), but it was a perfect mix of folks and we all fit on the sofas in the living room and had a great time eating, sharing recipes, and laughing. It is so fun to have a warm, bustling houseful, especially when the house is clean!
Eating all of our family favorites was truly satisfying. Being in a place like Sokcho, it's also just cool to see a big western meal "come together", because people's creativity really does shine. Not having all the conveniences of our homes in the U.S. (like ingredients, counter space, OVENS!) makes cooking an adventure. Luckily, the dumpsters have been quite good to us lately--we scored a small LG toaster oven (the "Home Maker"), a corner cabinet perfect for serving drinks, and 4 table chairs in the trash over the past week. Even though we didn't end up using most of the chairs, we were pretty stoked! And there are many more parties to be had!
Having our friends over was such fun. Bekah and Babbie, the sweet ladies they are, even stayed behind after everyone left to help us clean up. They washed dishes and cleaned the table, while we sorted various leftovers (of which there were a ton! Yay! No lunch prep this week!) and put them away in the fridge.
It definitely made me want to host another Thanksgiving. I know we didn't have the huge task of preparing a turkey, but we did spend most of the weekend cleaning the apartment and cooking (Paul made 45 potatoes worth of mash and I cooked 2 kg of carrots!).
I am very pleased with how it turned out, and appreciate the help and friendship of all our new buddies...thanks guys! Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Birthday to me!

2007-11-05T05:15:00.000-08:00

Chocolate cake and gifts from Paulie :)
Beautiful, colorful Seoraksan
The Buddha
Paulie, Ara, and Courtney on the bridge
Meditating monk

Happy 28 to me!! Though I was rather reluctant to turn 28, it was a great birthday weekend. Friday night after work Paul surprised me with a dark room (lit only by the soft glow of birthday candles), Etta James' "At Last" playing on the ipod, chocolate cake, and birthday presents. Scored the latest Over the Rhine album, a book of contemporary Korean poetry, and a really hilarious (bad English) birthday card.
Saturday morning we headed to Seoraksan National Park with Kelsey, Ara, and Ara's friend Courtney (who was in town visiting). We got on the bus and waded through the sea of cars to the park--which was packed. We saw so many whities there! Holy cow, it was like being in Itaewon (foreigner central in Seoul). But it was a gorgeous sunny day and the colors were outstanding. We met up with Becca and Kunal (who had just scaled Ulsanbawi), and headed toward Bisondae and the cave (Geumgangul). We left Becca, Kunal, and Kelsey to enjoy some squid and kimchi pancake (and regain their strength). It was lovely to be walking around on such a beautiful day.
Geumgangul had a lot of steep stone and steel stairs, but not nearly as many as Ulsanbawi (800+!). At the top we ran into Ashley and Steve, two other local English teachers. After snapping some shots of the surrounding mountains, we headed up to the cave. At the top we met up with a group of teachers from Seoul (one even from Gurnee, IL!) and chatted with them. At the top, inside the cave, there is a small area at the back to honor the Buddha (and a few monks up there who sell souvenirs and make sure no one falls off the stairs). The view from up there was absolutely fantastic, what with the jagged peaks, the broccoli rainbow of trees, and the sunlight streaming in.
After Seoraksan, we all headed downtown to introduce Courtney to our favorite food--gamjatang! She really got into our beloved pork spine soup. Then we headed to Ara's to play rummi 500, eat up his Twizzlers, and digest our spicy savory dinner.

Mafia.

2007-10-31T07:42:00.001-07:00

"Everyone, go to sleep..."
"Who is the mafia?"
"Who thinks that Je Hyun is in the mafia?"

One of my favorite parts of the day was watching Paul teach the middle school students the game of Mafia. Admittedly, he looked more like one of the Sopranos than President Roh, so it was pretty funny seeing him facilitate this game. The students really got into it too, and ended up being good at accusing each other.

From room to room...

2007-10-31T07:27:00.001-07:00

Mummy TP Relay
Sam painting faces/hands
Jenny painting hands
Paulie's pumpkin coin toss was a big hit--kids were lined up out the door to play!
Ara's candy bob

It really was quite enjoyable reliving our childhood through these kids! All of them were racing around, with spiders, butterflies, pumpkins, and cat faces painted on them...some were covered in flour from Ara's candy bob...some had TP still stuck to their shoes from making mummies...fun times. I just hate to think of the clean-up job for the cleaning lady tomorrow morning...we made quite a mess!

Sure is lovely being married to the president!

2007-10-31T07:11:00.001-07:00

For Halloween I was a horse and Paul was SK president Roh Moo-Hyun
Babbie, Amy, and Rachel enjoying some Halloween goodies in the Teacher's Room
Aubrey, Hong, and Jenny (the Shaman)
Ara (the zombie hobo) and Aubrey
The real Roh Moo-Hyun

When coming up with dress-up ideas, I joked with Paul that he should be South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun (just wear a suit and dye your hair black!). There are no costumes or masks in stores here, so one has to be creative. He actually did it, and wore a pink tie to boot! (Korean males are known for wearing soft pastels). His neck was dripping black from the color spray and his hair was shellacked with hairspray, and he had to shave his goatee, but he definitely looked the part and got several chuckles from the kids.
I found a cheap felt horse mask at a stationary store and thought it would be great. I wore all brown, and even had my clogs on so my feet would make that clip-clop sound. Sadly, even with my pipe cleaner tail, all the kids thought I was a cow :(

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T05:48:00.001-07:00

Paulie the carver (this pumpkin was for his classroom coin toss)
Paul's door (we had the kids decorate)
Sooji, a mummified Clare, Adam, and Ji Hyun
Hye Rim and Ji Soo
Jin Ho and friend

Korea doesn't really dabble in other countries' holidays, but for some strange reason, they make a big deal of Halloween (in the hagwons, anyway). For the past few weeks we've been planning, decorating, and getting the kids excited about this day. Each teacher was to have an activity planned for his room, and the kids would roam from class to class. Though things have been a bit crazy, we were really eager to have a "play day" (which never happens here!)
Paul decided to have a pumpkin coin toss in his classroom, and I would have a mummy toilet paper relay. Ara had bobbing for candy (in flour!), Rachel did a Halloween quiz, Amy did balloon darts, Babbie did a guess-what-this-slimy-thing-is game, and Hong, Jenny, and Sam did face/hand painting. The kids went from place to place, and after completing each activity, received some candy.
It was a very fun day, but TIRING! I thought it would be a cinch, playing games all day, but I think it really tuckered us out. It was really fun watching the kids get into each game, and seeing them laugh, smile, and poke fun at each other. All told, I think I went through about 80 (double) rolls of toilet paper in my room! It just kept piling up on the floor, and poor Mrs. Kim (one of the secretaries) kept coming in to sweep it all into a corner.
The kids had a great time, and definitely were enjoying their sugar high. I had several "repeat offenders" try to come in several times and trick me into giving them candy by making mummies of each other. After a while I figured out who I'd already seen, but I know I gave extra candy away today. What can I say? They were wrapped in white! I can't tell them all apart!

Gutting the salmon.

2007-10-21T06:28:00.001-07:00

This is the stomach...
Freshly cut salmon steaks
Paulie gets in touch with his violent side
Washing off Ruthie's whopper
Now that's a big 'un!

Salmon Festival continued.

2007-10-21T03:59:00.001-07:00

Lots o' salmon!
Awaiting their doom...
Rebecca and Kelsey enjoy salmon cutlet
"Inking" the salmon
My trophy print (he's just painting the eye on it)!

The victorious salmon fishers!

2007-10-21T03:10:00.001-07:00

We did it, honey! Paul and I race back to our fans with our wriggling wins :)
I caught a salmon!
Aubrey and Ruthie (note that Ruthie's is so big it doesn't even fit in the picture)
Yay! Now we don't need to buy groceries!
Four happy, dripping folks (l to r): Toby, Aubrey, Ruthie, Paul

This was such a great experience! Don't let our smiles fool you though...size does matter. We found it pretty hilarious that all the Koreans who were congratulating us were saying (to Paul and I) "Wow, your salmon is very small!" Korean kids 1/3 our size were in there catching salmon twice the size of ours. Oh well. It was a blast, nonetheless.

Salmon Festival in Yang-yang.

2007-10-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

Yang-yang Salmon Festival 2007
The ABBA trio (and their hilarious male back-up dancers)
Dried salmon, anyone?
Where the action is--the salmon catching grounds
Hey man, where's the hot chocolate? It's freeeeezing out here!!

(I would like to dedicate this post to my brother-in-law, Kevin, who absolutely loves to fish and who I know would have had a blast at this festival were he here.)

One of my middle school students told me once that because Sokcho is a tourist city, there are more festivals in this area than in any other part of Korea. I don't know if that is true, but we've had some pretty unique and entertaining festivals here recently (they've been happening so fast, I haven't even gotten around to blogging about the Mushroom Festival in Yang-yang or the Seorak Fall Festival in Sokcho!).
All week long (heck, all month long!) we English teachers have been eagerly anticipating the Salmon Festival in Yang-yang. We'd heard tell tales (and seen pictures) of our predecessors catching live salmon in the river at this festival with their bare hands. And now, it was about to be our turn. Having never attempted something this primal before, we were all pretty excited.
We headed down to Yang-yang (a town just south of Sokcho) on the bus with about 10 other Sokcho teachers. We were ready--we'd brought towels, a change of clothes, extra shoes and socks, and of course, our cameras (to capture the winning moment!). But nothing had prepared us for the level of cold! It was very chilly and windy yesterday, and we were about to jump into a frigid river to chase salmon?!! Insane! But the will is more powerful than the body, my friends...
We arrived early in order to register and check out the rest of the festival. A lot of it was similar to other festivals around here--many tents grouped on the edge of the river, selling handicrafts, clothing, jewelry, and food. There was a main stage with entertainment (a guy performing magic to Yanni-esque music and a dancing/singing trio in multi-colored winged jumpsuits who sang ABBA songs in Korean!!--frickin' sweet--I about lost it when they started to sing "Dancing Queen"). Since this was a salmon festival, they had tents selling dried salmon, whole salmon, salmon cutlet, salmon-painted t-shirts, everything possibly salmon-related. We also saw a ton of foreigners there--it looked like several had come over on the ferry from Russia. It's very unusual to see so many foreigners in these parts...we're always a bit intrigued and curious when it happens...so many whiteys being let out of their cages...
But of course, the zenith, the glory, the wonder and ecstasy of the day came during the salmon chase in the river. They rounded the group of us (about 40) up and herded us down to the bank and over the bridge, where we waited breathlessly for the starting signal (a sounding gong) before we splashed into that icy water. We were ready! Paul, Toby, Ruthie and I were ready to get in there and get our paws on some salmon! But it wasn't as easy as the Koreans made it look. Even with gloves on, those buggers are slippery! I had my Tevas on and was trying to move quickly to forget the coldness of the water, but in the process was scaring all the fish away. Ruthie was a maniac! She just pursued one and flopped on top of it in the water (a method which served her well--she caught the largest salmon of us all and she was the first one finished!!) I looked up and saw several folks out of the water, already brandishing their prizes with satisfaction. So, I carefully inched over to the side and very slowly padded through the river, following the moving fins in the water. Whenever one would stop and rest, I would reach in slowly to grab it. After doing this with several salmon, I finally caught one unawares and put my strongest death grip on it's tail. It fought me as I waded out of the river--but I had done it! Caught a salmon with my bare hands :) I searched for the rest of our party and the lot of us posed for many cameras, cold and shivering, but beaming proudly at our accomplishment.
After that exhilaration, we took our salmon back up to the festival, where the staff individually inked them for us and made a print of each caught salmon on rice paper for us to keep as a memento.
Ara, Ruthie, Paul and I then headed back to Ruthie's place, where Ara helped us (taught us how) to gut and filet our salmon. We learned all about the anatomy of our fish, how to cut them, prepare them, and store them. (My brother-in-law Kevin would have been soooooo proud!) Paul actually cut his salmon himself! It was cold and chilly still, but we were all so happy and glowing inside a toasty apartment, content with how much fun we'd had (Ara was particularly proud of Ruthie for catching such a big salmon--especially since our friends had taken bets on our performance and she'd won him some cash!). After disinfecting the sink and the knives and setting aside our salmon steaks in ziploc bags, the four of us headed out to a cozy neighborhood chicken place, where we polished off 3 tasty birds (each prepared differently) and a pitcher of beer.

It was a damn good day and one I won't soon forget!!

It's official: we're not leaving

2007-10-16T02:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's correct. Aubrey and I have decided to stay in South Korea for another year. We'll be teaching at the same hagwon and living in the same apartment. It's a great lifestyle here. There are downsides, don't get me wrong. Nothing's perfect. But overall, we feel like the advantages for us, at this stage in our lives, outweigh the disadvantages. We know that we won't get a chance to experience what we do every day ever again. We know that this is a special opportunity. We just want to make the most of it.

So that's the latest big news. We'll be home for a quick visit around Christmas, but that, unfortunately, will be the only visit to the US for a little while.

Seorak Fall Festival, Part 1.

2007-10-14T00:06:00.000-07:00

Hong, Jenny, and Paul in the stands
The riders prepare for their jaunt around the track...
Aubrey and Jenny enjoying boribap (barley rice)
My favorite pic of one of the Korean riders after he'd shot the target
The riders line up for applause at the end of the competition

Yesterday we had a special treat. This week is the Seorak Fall Festival in Sokcho, which includes many festivities around town. At the other lake, Yeongnangho, there is a horse track, which holds traditional Mongolian horseback/archery competitions during select festival times. We missed the one in the spring, but yesterday we got another crack at viewing one...

Jenny picked us up and we headed to Yeongnangho with her and Hong, our Chinese teacher. It was a bit overcast, but I figured we'd still see a sizeable group of spectators out for this event. Not so. The horse track, tucked behind the lake, had about 15-20 Korean viewers--mostly families. Riders (from Korea, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany, and USA) in traditional dress were stationed at one end of the field, tending to their horses and preparing to start. At first there was one archer's target positioned midfield, and each rider would race toward it without stopping and shoot an arrow, trying to make the 5-point bull's eye. Impressive stuff! I'd never seen this sort of thing before, and it felt like we were at a Renaissance fair. The horses were beautiful, ranging from coal grey, to dark brown, cream, black, and one that was painted. The Americans were quite good at hitting the target, especially two middle-aged gentlemen and a young woman (who had flowing wavy strawberry blond tresses that looked spectacular as she rode her black steed--a definite crowd-pleaser!) After a short break, they set up two targets, so that the riders had to shoot one head-on and the other behind them as they turned the curve of the track. This definitely made things more exciting! It was such a thrill to watch them in action. The leaves are turning here and the weather (for the most part) has been amazing--sunny and cool with a clear cloudless sky. It's been a while since we attended something like this, and this is just the time of year when you feel like going to an exciting outdoor sporting event--like a football game or a soccer match. Since we can't get the football, we'll take the horses! We had fun marveling at the different riders (their speed, their accuracy, their posture as they triumphed or failed, their horses).

Then, after a leisurely stroll around Yeongnangho (to check out the changing leaves), Jenny suggested an early dinner of boribap. Boribap means "barley rice" in Korean (bori=barley, bap=rice). There's a great little spot by the downtown bus terminal that serves this dish. You get barley rice and many dishes of different vegetables (kimchi, of course), like greens, mushrooms, bean sprouts, etc. to add to the rice. Then you season it with gochujang (red chili paste) or taenjang (soybean paste). They also serve pumpkin, kimchi pancake, and a really great crispy fried fish with the meal. Jenny, the ever great and generous Jenny, treated us! Thanks for a lovely afternoon!

Our newest little chingu.

2007-10-06T22:06:00.001-07:00

Little Won Bin
Won Bin and his godfather
Won Bin and his godmother
Piggies!
Pearl (the new mama!) and Won Bin

(Note: This post is woefully overdue!) About three weeks before Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving--late September), I called our friend Pearl to see if we could get together to hang out Saturday night (it was Friday night). It was late, but I figured she'd be up since she said she'd been having trouble sleeping in her last stages of pregnancy. She answered the phone, and I said "Hey Pearl. It's Aubrey. Paul and I were wondering if you and Andrew (her husband) could hang out tomorrow."
"Well, I'm in in the hospital actually. I just had the baby a few hours ago."
"Wow! Er...congratulations! I'm sorry--you must be exhausted. I should probably call you back another time!"
"No, it's okay. I'm just resting right now. Would you like to stop by and visit this weekend?"
"Sure, of course. We'll be by tomorrow afternoon--is 2:00 okay?"
"Sounds good."
That's not word for word, but pretty close to how the conversation went. I was so surprised that she was willing to talk after just giving birth!! I would have probably just handed the phone to my husband.
So, that weekend we brought some baby goodies over to the Joong Ang maternity hospital, where Pearl was staying. Her in-laws were there looking after her (her parents live in L.A.). The room was steaming hot (they always keep Korean women very warm after birth)--it felt like a sauna! Her mother-in-law began furiously cutting up fruit to give to us from a basket given by Andrew's company. We sat on the floor and chatted with Pearl (who looked really good after just having had a baby!). She was very happy that she'd given birth naturally, especially since 80% of Korean women have C-sections. She wasn't hooked up to any monitors or anything.
They hadn't named the baby yet. Andrew's father-in-law was supposed to come up with the name (which is typical, here). We didn't get to see him that day, as the hospital kept strict visiting hours for the babies.

A couple weeks later, we called Pearl to see how things were going with her new little one. Apparently, he'd just gotten over a case of jaundice and had recently returned from the hospital. She asked if we wanted to come over to see him. We agreed, and her in-laws picked us up the next day and took us to Pearl, who was staying with her aunt (Andrew works in Seoul and commutes home on the weekends).
Won Bin (the baby) was sleeping when we arrived. Paul and I went into his room to see him. I think Pearl had mentioned to Paul earlier that she and Andrew considered us unofficial godparents (since we are "spiritual", as Pearl put it), so she asked Paul to pray for Won Bin. Then both of us took turns holding him, which was fun. He was very good about it and didn't cry for a long time, until at the end of my shift when he got hungry.

Since I'm missing being around my nieces and nephews, and missing seeing some of my best friends being pregnant and about to have kids (you know who you are!), it's been fun to get to know Pearl and Andrew, and now, Won Bin :)

Not again!

2007-09-29T05:46:00.001-07:00

Babbie and Rebecca--aren't they adorable?
Dancing queens Kelly and Shauna
Paul explaining classroom discipline to a pensive Babbie
A happy gang (l to r): Kelly, Bryan, Shauna, and Shaun

Last night we gathered yet again for another farewell. Kelly and Shaun, a couple who've been teaching in Korea for the past three years (most recently at an English camp called GELC), are leaving the Land of Morning Calm for a well-deserved break (which of course will involve several months of travel). First, they will head home to England, then off for a jaunt to Italy, then back to England, followed by 7 or 8 weeks in India. We've really come to enjoy this funny and expressive pair of Brits during our time in Sokcho! It was good to get together at Aroha's apartment for one last good-bye (and these two have been here long enough to merit quite a large farewell crowd!). So long guys! Good luck and bon voyage!

Gyeongju.

2007-09-27T08:08:00.001-07:00

A view of Tumuli Park

We have now returned from our lovely Chuseok holiday in Gyeongju, the capital of the 1000-yr. old Silla Dynasty. What you see above looks like an ordinary hill, but it is actually a tomb. In fact, this city is littered with tombs. This one is called Hwangnam Daechong, and it's actually the biggest tomb in Gyeongju (80 by 120 by 23 m--this pair of tombs). There were 59,000 relics excavated here! And this was just one of the 23 tombs in this particular park...

Mummies continued.

2007-09-19T07:26:00.001-07:00

Yeongji gets wrapped...
"I can't see!"
"Hmmmmmph..."
Teacher's turn!
The Hunchback of Sokcho (the kids stuffed TP up my back!)

Mummies!

2007-09-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

Sue, Yeongji, and Donghwan tackle Wonsup
"Stand very still...remember, you're dead now..."
"Now I'll just put a bit over your mouth..."
"Hmmmphmmmmm..."

Recently in AC (that's afterclass) we've been doing a unit on Egypt. I used to really dread AC, especially when the kids I was working with were really little and I had a hard time communicating with them (the kids were fun, but more often than not I felt like a human jungle gym). Since Kirsty left, I've taken over her class, which is made up of several really advanced students (4th grade). We've studied Bulgaria, playwriting, the rainforest, superheroes, African mask-making--the sky is the limit with these kids! They're interested in everything and they are quite intelligent, which makes teaching them a lot of fun.
I was thinking back to my elementary school days at Hawthorne, and the unit we did on Egypt. I remembered making pyramids out of Domino sugar cubes, complete with mummies inside, and how fun that was. So up 'til now, we've studied hieroglyphics (and we made our own cartouches!), Egyptian painting, and the history of mummification (we've yet to do the sugar cube pyramids). But I thought the kids might enjoy mummifying each other. Typically, the mummification process in Egypt took 70 days...in my class...it took about 7 minutes...
Wonsup was first (and the wiggliest). The kids were all very excited that I'd brought my camera (I accidentally forgot it Monday when I mummified Sue and Donghwan). Next they wrapped up Yeongji, who resisted being a mummy at first but then began to enjoy it. And lastly, I got a turn! The kids were very involved in making sure I was covered head-to-toe in toilet paper! They piled it on my head and kept telling me "Teacher! You make a beautiful bride!" After each "mummy" was finished, the kids had a blast tearing out of the paper like the Incredible Hulk. After everyone came back to life, we had a fun "snowball" fight in the classroom.

English Land 3.

2007-09-19T06:44:00.001-07:00

L to R: Sooji, Adam, and Claire
Hamming it up. Check out Adam's mini John Travolta pants!
Chee-juh!

I love my English Land 3 class. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I get to hang out with these three cool kids. They're quite excitable, imaginative, and they love to talk (not something you can say about every class of students here!). Today is "activity day", which means we weren't using the book. After our usual 10-minute field trip around AP, where we interrupt other classes to practice our phrase of the day ("Can you paint a picture?"), we settled down to play a little round of alphabet flashcard spell-o. I kept track of points on the board. Sooji was the quickest on the draw, racking up far more points than Adam or Claire. But Adam was the most fun to watch, because whenever he was first to make the word, he'd jump up and shout "Asa!" (which is Korean for "Aw yeah!")
I also love this class because they make funny faces, crazy statements, and make me laugh. It's not every day you get to talk with folks who can actually fly planes, own pink horses, and have a purple tail. Plus, Adam soooo reminds me of my nephew, Josh (he is the Korean Josh!)--every time I see him I think of Josh and smile!

Korean traditional music.

2007-09-15T07:17:00.000-07:00

First set of drummers
Close-up
Second set of drummers
Marching into the auditorium
Traditional drummers dance onstage

Tonight our friend Jenny gave us tickets to a traditional music performance at the Sokcho Cultural Center. Not knowing what to expect (but armed with my camera per Kelsey's instructions), we arrived at 7:00 and got a seat halfway back. The performance was underwritten by the Sokcho City Museum, and was therefore free :) We'd seen short performances of traditional Korean drumming before at select area festivals, but we'd never seen it quite like this or quite so close.
To start out the program, six drummers were onstage beating large temple drums, synched together with colorful lighting. They were tremendous, and halfway through performing began to use glow-in-the-dark drumsticks as the lights went out, to create a cool effect. They reminded us of what Blue Man Group would look like in Korea.
The second act was a group of six drummers, who each had a set of four drums. They were incredible. They did several different rhythms, and beat with such fury and frenzy that I thought they might put a hole in the floor! I've never seen drumming that fast. It was fun to watch them, hair flying, lights strobing red, yellow, green, blue, beating with such speed it seemed their lives depended on it.
They were followed by a national treasure of Korea, a traditional vocalist. She was good, but we didn't enjoy her as much as the drummers.
The last act was a group of traditional drummers/dancers. They wore white outfits with red and blue vests, and hats with white ribbons that spun and twirled as they moved their heads, creating a really cool effect. Some of them spin and flip as they beat their drums, which reminded me of whirling dervishes.
Since Sokcho is not Seoul, we try to seize these little cultural moments when we can--cool stuff! If you're interested, you can read more about the meaning and history behind Korean drumming here.

Ruthie.

2007-09-15T06:34:00.001-07:00

Ruthie's watooey
Paul gives Ruthie a hangul lesson

In our recent outings, we've been widening our social circle. There are several "new recruits" (new teachers) in Sokcho, who are just beginning their contracts. Last night, Ruthie (pictured above) hosted a birthday party at her house--she turns 27 on Monday. As I've said before, special occasions are for sharing with everyone here. Originally planned for Sokcho Beach, we met up at Ruthie's apartment since it began to rain pretty hard.
She had made watooey--tequila (don't ask me where she found tequila in Sokcho!), sugar, orange juice, lemons, and oranges. All of AP was present, in addition to most of the ECC (another academy) crowd. We don't get together too often in the larger group, so it's always fun to see everyone and catch up on travels, teaching, and hagwon gossip. That night we met the newbies: Toby, Steve, and of course, Babbie. It's good to have fresh blood in the group.
We had a great time chilling out, talking over plans for the upcoming holiday, and sampling Ruthie's watooey. I was grateful to get to talk with Brian and Shawna, who are expecting their first baby very soon. I also got to talk with more of the ECC folks--especially Ruthie. Ruthie is a sweetie, funny, very outgoing, and very expressive. She's kind of like a comedy sketch in person.
I have realized that at the end of this contract, I will deeply miss the eclectic bunch of folks that have made my time here so enjoyable. Being so much in the same boat allows us to bond quite fast. I find myself inspired by so many of them, for the unique and different paths they've chosen, their desire to see the world and learn more about themselves, and their generosity and friendliness. Perhaps it's the situation we're in. They are all different, but I see myself in each of them, probably because they're all a bit oddballish.
Happy Birthday, Ruthie! I'm glad we're getting to know you better!

Conor's last week.

2007-09-15T06:00:00.001-07:00

The gang at Haimoni Gamjatang; (l to r) Julius, Aubrey, Babbie, Ara, Rachel, Paul
A honkin' pile of pork spine
Conor attacks a gamja (potato)
The gang
Seeing Conor off from Dongjin

This week (today, in fact) we bid farewell to another beloved English teacher and friend, Conor O'Leary. He is now en route to Seoul, where he will leave tomorrow on a plane bound for Thailand. He is going to spend the next few months traveling throughout southeast Asia (Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam) before returning to Ireland (his homeland).
We met Conor a few weeks after our arrival here, at Helen and Kirsty's Australia Day party (end of January). Conor worked at an academy (ECR) nearby AP, and we often hung out together with him and Ara. On a walk through the countryside back in early spring, he proposed the idea of a writer's group. That day a writer's guild (like C.S. Lewis' Inklings) was born, and he, Ara, and Paul started meeting faithfully every two weeks to share their writing, laugh, and discuss life (over beer, of course). Since then it has expanded to include a few new female members (Babbie and Ruthie), with promise to grow even more.
My first impressions of Conor are the ones that have remained with me to this day. The day I met him in the girls' apartment he was funny, friendly, and comically philosophical. Conor could keep any gathering lighthearted and jovial, yet he also had a very deep analytical mind. He was also so even-keeled that he brought great balance to our often mixed set of personalities and tempers. He was also not afraid to talk to anybody, Korean or foreign. When we'd get together at the Western, or ride the bus back from somewhere, it wasn't uncommon to see Conor sidling up to the locals, testing out their English, and using his personable charm to beckon a smile from them. He had a way of making others feel comfortable and happy with themselves, and helped us all not to take ourselves so seriously ;) I can imagine him right now, at a bar in Itaewon, making friends with the visiting foreigners...
Conor's final dinner request with us was for gamjatang (pork spine soup)--our favorite!! So we all headed to Haimoni Gamjatang (Grandma's Pork Spine Soup) Wednesday night. We had a great time joking with each other, teasing Babbie and teaching her Korean drinking etiquette (the youngest person has to pour drinks for everyone!), and savoring the 'tang with Conor.
Today, we went to the Korean buffet restaurant in Conor's honor (he didn't wake up early enough to join us!). Conor loved the buffet (who wouldn't? It's only $5!) and ate there almost every day (he didn't do much cooking at home). We then met him at his apartment and saw him off at the downtown bus terminal. Good-byes here are rather surreal. It's actually the suckiest part of this line of work--saying good-bye to really good friends. When waiting for the bus to arrive, the conversation is never the meaningful last note you want to leave on--it's just a necessary evil.
Conor, we hope you have eventful travels! We are really gonna miss you around here!

Jade mine walk continued.

2007-09-10T06:31:00.001-07:00

Red chili peppers drying
A burial mound
Rice farmer watering his field
Hanshi - note the delectable flounder in the center
Conor fights a snail

Jade mine walk continued.

2007-09-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

Hiding in the sesame leaf patch
Old tractor
Red chili pepper plants
Me and Paul
Over the hedge

Jade mine walk continued.

2007-09-10T06:13:00.000-07:00

Rice up close
Some kind of grapes or berries
Me
See the scarecrow?
Conor and Paul

Beautiful walk to the Jade Mine.

2007-09-10T05:43:00.001-07:00

Big waves on the northern coast of Sokcho
Conor, Paul, and me
Whoa! Did you see that one?!
Rice fields on our hike up north
Jade mine - 200 km

To our great joy, Saturday turned out to be sunny and warm with a light cool breeze (after over a week of rain!). We met up at Ara's to take the bus to Bupyeong, a neighborhood at the northern end of Sokcho. From there we would hike around the rice fields in Ganseong and search for the elusive jade mine (which we found, but couldn't go into, because it was closed).
It was an absolutely gorgeous day, and we had Ara, our fearless guide, to take us around. Paul and I owe probably half of the beauty we've seen to Ara, who regularly explores the backroads of this area. He accidentally got us off the bus too early, and we ended up doing a little bushwhacking. (It's no walk with Ara unless we get off track momentarily! That's okay, it keeps things adventurous...) We jumped a creek, blazed through a cornfield, found a random driving range, and then Ara saw...a SNAKE! And he freaked out so bad that Conor, Paul, and I all thought he was playing around. He was breathing really fast and hard and shaking. Conor was in front of him and Ara goes "Go quickly, because when it's my turn, I'm running for it!" We never saw the alleged reptile, but it was pretty hilarious watching Ara go bullistic over it.
The rest of the walk was just lovely. As I've mentioned before, walking through rice fields lined by mountains is just relaxing. It's like being in old world Korea. Only a few weeks remain until harvest time, so the rice is almost ready. You can actually see the rice pods on the plant now. Farmers were out watering and tending their fields. We saw several white cranes fly in and out (they love to hang out in rice fields). Men on tractors with tall rubber boots and straw hats. Women picking and drying red chili peppers (it's kimchi season, folks!). Curious smiling children watching us. Old people who were very friendly and smiled at us when we walked through their village.

We've hit true fall weather in Korea, which is blissfully sunny with cloudless skies, but slightly cooler. Pretty soon, the second tourist season will hit Sokcho as the wave of travelers flock to Seoraksan to see the beautiful fall foliage.
We ended the day with a visit to a hanshi restaurant (traditional Korean food--bulgogi, flounder, hotpot rice, kimchi, squid and jellyfish, mushrooms, etc.--very tasty!). This was Conor's first visit to this place, and I think he enjoyed it! The staff even brought out a second buttery crispy flounder after we literally devoured the first one. Since Conor is leaving in just a few days (aw man! Not again!!), it was a great day to be together.

Out with the old, in with the new.

2007-09-05T05:59:00.000-07:00

Mark's farewell at Pelicana (Mark is second from left)
Babbie and Ara at AJB (Korean barbeque restaurant)
The gang out on Friday night to celebrate Babbie's arrival

Almost a week ago, we gathered at Pelicana (a chicken restaurant) to hang out with Mark, an English teacher at Dari (where Helen and Kelsey used to work), for one last time. Mark has spent almost 3 years in Korea now, and has definitely put in his time teaching kids. (He also taught adults at the Sokcho library, in addition to studying Korean furiously). This guy was busy! Among us, he was the best Korean speaker ever. In fact, he was the one we started to take lessons from when we came (until he got too busy).
It was fun to sit out last Thursday night over fried chicken and beer, discussing Mark's time in Korea and his plans for the future. He's been accepted to grad school in Seattle, where he will pursue an MA in Asian Studies. We know he'll do well. And, since he's an avid cyclist, he will be happy to be back on the west coast, where he can get some great time in on the road. The only difficulty (besides probably missing Korea) will be leaving behind Nam Soon, his Korean girlfriend.
Farewell Mark! We'll miss seeing you around Sokcho!

* * * * *

Some of you may remember that 2 months ago now we said good-bye to two other teachers, Helen and Kirsty, who were bound for a spate of international traveling. Well, after waiting out July and August, Kirsty's replacement has come to Korea. Her name is Babbie, and she is American (she's from Norfolk, VA). She arrived last Friday, and we spent part of the weekend showing her around Sokcho. On Friday we took her to AJB for galbi (only to find out that she's a vegetarian!). Saturday the gang went out to the Western for beers, soju, and a chat. Afterwards, with the help of Aroha's Korean friend, we found an empty noraebar, where we stayed out to sing karaoke until 4:00. I don't know if Babbie enjoyed the singing, but the regulars were in rare form! Even I got up to sing a Madonna number (Like a Prayer).
We promised to take Babbie to mass on Sunday, but we overslept! And she was waiting for us at AP! We felt pretty bad when we found out about that on Monday, but she was gracious and let us off the hook.
So far she's doing fine at AP. The kids especially are really excited about her, and are full of curiosity. It's good to have a new pal! Welcome, Babbie!

Pizza for women.

2007-09-01T01:44:00.001-07:00

Mr. Pizza sign
Mr. Pizza restaurant--see Paul and Kelsey in the back
Kelsey and I enjoying our pizza!

Last weekend, Kelsey, Paul and I went to Mr. Pizza. We used to get our pizza delivered from I Want Pizza, but sadly, to our collective dismay, they went out of business. Now we get our pizza from Pizza House (which is behind our apartment building). It's pretty good, but a bit pricier. But last Saturday, we decided to dine in house.
Mr. Pizza is located downtown Sokcho, right next to Dari, another English academy (where Kelsey and Helen used to work). It's a happening spot most days, and they have all sorts of interesting pizzas (for instance, I would never think of putting sweet potatoes and shrimp on the same pizza, especially when that pizza has raisins, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds on the crust). One of our students at AP (who's in my Gogo 2 class) happens to be the son of the owner of Mr. Pizza. I don't know his name, so I affectionately refer to him as "pizza boy".
One of the funniest things about Mr. Pizza is its slogan: Mr. Pizza--pizza for women. "Mr. Pizza knows how to please women because he understands them and knows what they want. Because he cares about women, Mr. Pizza strives to make a more delicious pizza. Now, fall in love with the taste of Mr. Pizza" (taken from the Mr. Pizza menu). What more could you ask for in a pizza?
We certainly enjoyed our chicken tenders and mustard sauce, and then, our Mr. Pizza Special--Mr.Pizza’s signature pizza with delicious ham and fragrant bacon (also beef, onions, and green peppers). That was about the most normal pizza we could find on the menu.
But I guess, it really only matters what Kelsey and I thought of it--it is, after all, pizza for women.

Paul's a writer.

2007-08-28T08:06:00.000-07:00

Well, you probably knew that already. I write (very occasionally) on this blog, after all. And I have my own stories and essays that I write from time to time. But now I've been invited to write for the website The Only Orthodoxy (TOO) as a one of the core group of permanent writers.

TOO is a new site that exists for people who want to discuss important issues (social issues, politics, religion, morality, etc.) without having to do homage to the little "orthodoxies" of the day that generally go by the moniker of "political correctness." That's why the motto of the site is "Where the only orthodoxy is reason." It's a really great site and I encourage all of you to at least take a look at it. I think it's really great and I'm excited about this opportunity. I've always had too many opinions and a big mouth, but now I actually get to use them!

When the well is dry, we know the worth of water.

2007-08-27T05:36:00.000-07:00

This is a Korean proverb that I learned from one of my students this evening. She had written a story about two girls who had been friends since youth. Their friendship was very strong, but they eventually betrayed each other (the more beautiful of the two was blinded by a man's love, made the other friend believe she had suddenly died (by taking a mysterious potion) in order to feel sorry for her, and then the other friend killed herself out of sorrow for her friend. The first friend, upon waking, discovers that her friend is actually dead, and thereafter kills herself with a knife. Did I mention also that they're both mermaids?) Basically, it's a cross between The Little Mermaid and Romeo and Juliet. Despite the heavy plot borrowing, I was still impressed with my student's relative creativity. When I asked her what made her think of the idea, she cited the above proverb, saying she'd read it in a book and it'd stuck in her head all day. I can only assume she meant (in her story) that one realizes the value of a friendship, when it has been lost.

For me, this proverb is something of a wake-up call, and flows with my general mood about our time in Korea as of late. It's probably obvious that since our return from the Philippines (and probably even before then), the frequency of my blog posts has decreased. This is no indication that life is dull or boring here. Quite the contrary (though oftentimes it is quiet). Recently I've been feeling the need to slow down and just live. To live and not document, either through writing or by pictures.

Yesterday I took a hike up Mt. Cheongdaesan and around Sokcho (behind our apartment) by myself. Cheongdaesan was one of my first discoveries here, and I remember that I found it on a sunny, still winter morning. I walked up there to enjoy the spectacular view of the city and the coast. You can see everything up top, and it was breezy and peaceful. Surveying Sokcho I was reminded again of how unique and special this place is, and how we'll never be in a place like this again. I just wanted to stand there forever, gazing out over the city.

And so, as much as I want to communicate about our time in Korea, I've been realizing more and more that I want to seize the moments we have left here. To be with our Korean friends, and continue learning about the culture and language. To enjoy (and I really have been, especially lately) teaching and my students. To relax and just look, without stopping to worry if I got the greatest photo. It may be that when this year is over, and only then, I will know how valuable our time here was.

Barbeque continued.

2007-08-15T07:18:00.001-07:00

I'll race you to Japan!
I think I'll just kick it up here--that water looks cold!
Printing on the tube
A pretty yard in Yangyang

Barbeque in Yangyang.

2007-08-15T07:01:00.000-07:00

The sexy Conor poses for the camera
Aroha cuts up cucumber for the salad
Julius chills with some ramen
Grilling--a communal effort
Don't forget the Hooch!

Today we tried a new beach in Yangyang (the town just south of Sokcho)--Osan Beach. Though not quite as secluded as we had hoped, Osan was a quiet pretty little beach. We found an empty patch of sand away from all the families and set up the barbie. Aroha (the resident Kiwi) prepared the salad, Paul was in charge of grilling the chicken, the pork cutlets (marinated by Ara), and the sausages. Conor brought bread and beer. Julius and Shawn picked up some extra charcoal when the fire got low. We cooked all afternoon and enjoyed grilled veggies, meat, even banana (thanks Kelly!). We took a few dips in the water, but it was extremely cold and we didn't stay in long. It was a very relaxing day of eating, talking, and laughing. Thanks, guys!

Sokcho Music Festival 2007.

2007-08-14T05:14:00.000-07:00

Every summer the largest Korean music festival happens in our little Sokcho. In fact, it's going on right now, even as I write this post. The band performing this evening is Typhoon. The festival lasts for 5 days (today is day 4) and takes place at Expo Park near Cheongcho Lake (which is a 5-minute walk from our home). With many Koreans passing through to visit Sokcho's great beaches, Seoraksan National Park, and the festival, this town is a happenin' place. We've only been down to check things out once (the stage set up in front of Expo theater is actually quite impressive). In the past, this festival has been "fantastic" (my students tell me) and has drawn really big musicians (mostly pop and rock stars). Last year they had Super Junior (a really cheesy, but popular, boy band here)!
I love music festivals (outdoor music of any kind, for that matter). I grew up going to summer concerts at Adam's Park (Wheaton), Cantigny (Winfield), Grant Park (Chicago), and Ravinia (near Evanston). Of course to find out that the biggest music festival of Korea was dropping on my doorstep impressed me--er--until I actually went to it.
Perhaps this year the festival didn't receive as much funding as in previous years, because the names they drew aren't that big. The biggest I heard about were FT Island, Typhoon, and SG Wannabe (don't you love those names?!), and most of the kids I polled weren't too interested in any of them. Also, in the past the festival had a lot more to offer in terms of food and souvenir vendors. This year all I saw were tents selling yellow fleece festival vests (in SUMMER?!), dried squid (of course), maple bread, and one selling used clothes (the one appeal for me--I found some cargo pants and a striped tee for $5). There were also some kiddie craft tents, but that's it. No Coke stands. No ice cream vendors. No elephant ears. No funnel cakes :)
Also, when each band performs, they only play 2 or 3 songs. The festival starts at 9:00 each night and only goes until 11:00--only 2 hours! I'm used to the lesser bands performing during the day and being followed by the main attractions. It seems silly to spend all this time and money setting up a stage when it's only used for 2 hours a day.
It seems significant to mention that tomorrow is a holiday in Korea--Liberation Day. Tomorrow Korea will have enjoyed 62 years of freedom from Japanese rule. We have the day off, as most Koreans do, from work. When I asked my students how their countrymen observed this special day, they could only think of two ways: families put out the Korean flag, and there is a movie airing on TV about the historical event that people watch. That's it. No parades, no fireworks, no special food or music. No red bean pie :)
For all the constant complaining and hating on Japan by Koreans, I would think their liberation celebration would be a bit more jubilant. Anyway, we're using the day to explore some new beaches in Yangyang and have a barbeque--we don't need much of an excuse to celebrate!