Adventures in South Korea

Move to a new adventure

2011-05-31T15:15:00.001+09:00

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THE END. (or to be confused with the beginning)

2011-03-07T18:32:00.002+09:00

Well, it's finally come. My last couple of weeks in Korea. I'm still a little aloof to the idea. I mean, it's just so unreal to me that thinking about everything I do here being my 'last' is unfathomable, ridiculous. Of course I'll return to Korea, teach these same children, eat buckets of rice and hang out with my foreigner friends every weekend, won't I? Yet, I know these things have an

Don't be a puffer fish

2011-02-14T10:04:00.002+09:00

Last week I took a quick vacation to Singapore and Bali. I needed both sun and a new environment, so a destination along the equator seemed like the best option for me and everyone around me. (Unsurprisingly, I'm not so fun when starving of vitamin D and fresh air.) So in Singapore I got the invigoration of being in a new city with new foods and lots of warmth, not to mention the added

The story of my dear Red Dragon

2010-10-18T14:58:00.002+09:00

About five months ago (so May?) I decided to invest in wheels, shiny red ones with three gears and a bell. I had been pondering the thought for a good month before I took the awkward- I now have to examine and pick a bike all in Korean without offending but also getting what I want and not what they want to sell me. (I've found most Korean shops push Korean goods more than those made in China. I

The main excuse

2010-10-14T18:17:00.003+09:00

WAH! It has been so long my own blog doesn't recognize me! I finally clicked on the tiny tab that is my blog in hopes of seeing a new one magically appear. The page came up and all I beheld was 'August in a Flash' in rosey pink lettering, reminding me what a lazy, weekend scrounging hermit I've been. I wished it had written itself in long verses of thought, etching all the details I've already

August in a flash

2010-09-07T19:44:00.005+09:00

I think it's a good thing that a month has gone by without a blog. This means I have something that resembles a life, with appointments, obligations, fun, friends, experiences and so on. Or like my mom says, no news is good news! And in this case it is most definitely so. August went by like my senior year of high school, no sooner had it started than it ended, and I was left wondering where

First Day Essay

2010-07-21T15:22:00.002+09:00

I'm supposed to catch a flight tomorrow. I'm supposed to see my best friend in a day. I'm supposed to be reunited with my parents on Sunday. And all next week I'm supposed to travel about Wisconsin visiting friends. All these things and more I will do. Or rather, I hope I'll do. It hasn't snowed in Korea for a month now. The fluff from the first storm

Winter Camp 2010

2010-02-01T12:51:00.004+09:00

Winter camp just finished last week. I'm a bit relieved and yet saddened. I loved my kids, and loved the time frame. Three hours of class every morning. A much more productive time span than the usual short 40 minute class. It was also extremely productive because of the teacher. Meaning one, one teacher. There was supposed to be a co, but she was pretty busy running around like a chicken with

Beggars

2010-01-16T14:28:00.004+09:00

I'm beginning to understand that no matter where I go there will always be some form of beggars, homeless and not. They were outside my front door and back in Madison while I lived on State Street. Heck, one even broke in my apartment hoping to get a warm night's rest. They were on every corner in Memphis, New York City, Seattle, London, Paris... any city in the world and you'll find the

Traveling

2010-01-14T18:00:00.004+09:00

The silly thing about traveling alone is that it's really easy to lose yourself. For me it's a good thing. I travel and I find myself lost in the dreams of sunken empires, young minds, grand buildings, sunrises and sets and whatever else I happen upon. I let it all change me, affect me. I want to feel it all and not miss a moment. This is me traveling like the cliche feather in the wind that I am

The Tea House

2009-12-20T11:33:00.003+09:00

Once there was a tea house snuggled deep within a city called Seoul. It was a charming place filled with exotic treasures, healing herbs and the most splendid, most delicate and most delightful array of birds. A colony of birds to be exact. Well now, to be absolutely accurate, these birds weren't simply delightful nor simply splendid nor simply delicate and beautiful, these birds were

Twas a Korean Halloween, it really was.

2009-12-12T13:43:00.004+09:00

I wrote awhile ago about preparing for a "Korean Halloween". It was a special after school party I put together for my "special students", aka those who had been determined "gifted students" by some random test done by the school before I came. They were actually tested on their science and math skills, then using those results were picked for special after school classes ranging from math and

Jjimjibang Reprise

2009-11-15T17:09:00.003+09:00

If you don't remember it, I wrote a post last June or so about my first experience in the jjimjibang, the mother of all the saunas in the world. In this place there is no room for modesty or fear, there is only room for more and more naked, saggy women. They lounge about as if they were forgotten goddesses, their beauty finally catching up with their age though ambivalent to the entire process

The spare time

2009-11-08T14:53:00.006+09:00

Being an English Teacher does not allow much free time during the day. I am usually running around after my co trying to figure out what I'm supposed to be doing, or teaching. So, when I get home and have the much needed free time I sort of become helter skelter. I can't decide what I actually want to do but know I must do something. So I start to pick up activity after activity in hopes of

The old man and Mary

2009-10-24T10:54:00.004+09:00

Last Saturday my friends and I had a "going away" get-together for our dear Korean comrade, Chris. He is a Korean-American, his parents immigrants to Florida, but his grandmother and extended family still living in Seoul. Not sure if it's his mix of cultures, but he is one the goofier Koreans I've met. It was sad to see him depart, but I suppose that's what we're doing here, coming and going.

A Korean Halloween?

2009-10-14T22:46:00.004+09:00

Today I was given the chance to introduce one of my favorite holidays, that being Halloween naturally! I have always loved the holiday and have always, always, always dressed-up for it! So, my chance to actually introduce it to eager, open ears was all too exciting! (For a weirdo like me, at least.) Oh, and to make it all the better, the class was third grade! They are ridiculously adorable,

The Box

2009-10-10T11:53:00.006+09:00

If there is one thing I can pass on to others about Korea, it is most definitely the idea of "The Box", a concept not made of paper nor plastic, nor is it technically intangible either. I cannot even claim its existence outside my own rendering of it. But, to me, it is my imagined Korea. And in that, I claim its intangible tangibility. The Box could be made out of the box like peninsula that

My school and kids

2009-09-13T12:25:00.000+09:00

Thus far in my blogging I have covered many an adventure, but yet to have explained one major area in my Korean life. The one area being my school, my co-teacher and my kids! I have not written about them because I am perhaps so used to living with them that I've easily digressed into taking them for granted? Or maybe I've gotten tired of talking about them? Probably a bit of both, but more so

More on the Alaskan journey...

2009-09-06T18:53:00.000+09:00

This cute guy was my Alaskan boyfriend. I liked his britches.One of the tour buses for Denali Park. Mom is walking back to our room to retrieve some things. Our room's window is right behind the bus. -Also, I think that if you didn't know it, this pic looks like it could have been taken forty years ago. Kind of shows how time has stood still in the great outdoors.Mystic scene of Denali. This was

Trip to AK with the rents

2009-09-05T13:26:00.000+09:00

Here are some pics from my recent journey to Alaska with my parents. It was a beautiful trip (as you will see) but right now I can't remember any specific stories. We just hung out and talked, surrounded by gorgeous mountain views and cool fresh air. Who needs Hawaii for relaxation? This here is Mt. McKinley. She was quite bold the first day, but shied away from us on our actual tour through

The rest of wonderful Japan

2009-08-30T20:24:00.000+09:00

My, my. I certainly let the weeks carry me don't I? It does not feel like it, but it's already been a month since I was in Tokyo! And three weeks since the beautiful trip to Alaska, which is my next goal for a blog and will hopefully not take me another month to write! If it does, I'm afraid I may have no more details left in my memory to recount for you. They will have all shriveled in time and

Tokyo

2009-08-12T07:47:00.000+09:00

Tokyo, Day 1: First intro to Tokyo was the transportation system. It is an insane system of three separate metros all intertwined to compose a spiderweb of connections and transfers. When on the JR Lines, one can use the same tickets, but when on the other lines, one has to buy specifically for their travel route, meaning either separate tickets or transfer tickets. Either way, one has a

Scuba diving in the Busan Aquarium...with sharks!

2009-07-05T13:57:00.000+09:00

This is a very late post and I'm sorry once again! This happened on Saturday, May 25th and was a blast! My new friend, Anita (the girl whom I met on my fateful and barely attended Seoraksan climbing trip- she saved me from the chaos that is Korea), called me up on the Tuesday prior with an extremely tantalizing offer: "Hey! Would you like to come shark diving with me this weekend in Busan?" Now

Enlightenment

2009-07-04T15:12:00.000+09:00

Alrighty, now that i've bored you with some 'news', I'd like to 'enlighten' you with some pictures. These are of the temple that is about a ten minute walk from me. So close! If I were devout, I'd visit every day. But as it is, I'm quite the bum after a day of little, energy-filled rascals (I love them, really I do), but you must understand, I am actually getting older and therefore more tired- I

The news on the North

2009-07-04T12:57:00.000+09:00

I'm sorry to have been such a wretched blogger! My internet was taken out by a storm about six weeks ago, leaving me, my parents, friends and family SOL for any communication. I've been e-mailing my parents and facebooking like crazy at work, but any more free time to blog and post pictures is minute. I've also been busy every weekend, and quite lazy at night (I admit), that I have not taken

Ineffable luck, otherwise known as ‘God’, Allah, Buddah, IT and so forth:

2009-05-13T07:56:00.000+09:00

This past Friday I was invited to a get together by a hilarious British man named Jamie. He is roughly forty in people years, but fourteen in humor years. Thus, he entertains my twelve year old sense of humor like a Futurama character. Jamie is also an English teacher, as were all of the guests he invited. My best friend and ‘sister’ introduced me to all of these teachers a few weeks ago, but

The jjimjiibang

2009-04-28T21:34:00.000+09:00

The Jjimjiibang: A place few Westerners can imagine is that of a communal comfort in the nude. Definitely something I could not imagine before attending a jjimjiibang, and definitely something I found difficult while experiencing. Not that I wasn’t comfortable with my own nudity (as I kept their kind gesture of an exit from their cultural norm - i.e. a uniform - on at all times), it was more

Hwaseong Fortress

2009-04-18T07:30:00.000+09:00

Ahhh... pictures finally!! I'm sorry to have taken so long, but my camera is not the best. (I'm hoping to get a new one, as I finally got paid yesterday~ feels so great to be semi-grown up!) Anyways, these pictures are of Hwaseong Fortress which is a five minute walk from my apartment. I'll give you the textbook version of what it is and its history because I really cannot remember the names

The pulley system

2009-04-12T23:04:00.000+09:00

So when I was first introduced to my splendidly furnished apartment three weeks ago, I was also introduced to my future lifestyle. I only realize this now because well, real is what's finally sinking in, via the people, the language, the food. My apartment is now my refuge from all that is so strange and blaring. I haven't really decorated, so it's very cool and 'minimalist'... yes, right, on

A little about my life so far:

2009-04-07T21:17:00.000+09:00

I have explained my feelings and thoughts to the max and forgot about the actual stuff that makes them. Thus far in my journey I have met many nice people, observed many cultural differences, and experienced a lot of Korean etiquette, food and tradition. All of it has been enjoyable as it all is so different from home. Yet, all of it also requires a lot of memory, as each food, place and person

The sound of silence.

2009-04-06T21:03:00.000+09:00

Man, do I now realize how much I miss silence. By silence I mean that good, sweet, tranquil silence only the pure country or a close friend can provide. I had realized this before, when I lived in Madison. There I lived everyday over-exposed to the fast-paced business of others, via sight and sound. I could put in my i-pod and semi-forget the stress of it all, but really, the only stress

The foreigner

2009-04-04T19:13:00.000+09:00

A few months ago I read a book for one of my college courses on political theory. The book was called "The Foreigner" by Nahid Rachid. It was about a woman who was born in Iran, travelled to the United States to study, stayed there for a career, then travelled back to Iran to visit her family who she had not seen since she left for college. The main point of the book is in her forgotten

2009-03-21T08:27:00.000+09:00

I realized I should mention where exactly it is that I am going. I found out I was stationed in Suwon, one of the 10 largest cities in South Korea and located 1 hour south of THE largest city. It has almost 1 million people, 3 universities, many-many factories and thousands of years of history, including a 2.5 mile long wall called 'Hwaseong Fortress'. It's nearest attractions include: a

Another day. Another dollar. Another hotel.

2009-03-21T04:48:00.000+09:00

Well here I sit on another hotel bed at 90$ a night. I haven't changed my clothes since yesterday morning when I dressed comfortably for a long haul. I must have foreseen this much extended trip... maybe I have ESP? No, I think the fates decided to give me a break... possibly... and made me think to wear flamboyantly colorful and comfortable clothes. However, with every stare at my crazy

The positive irony:

2009-03-20T10:31:00.000+09:00

The positive irony of my limbo biz (I can now see it... five hours later!) rests in the reason I missed my flight. At the beginning of my travels this morning I picked up a new, simple but interesting novel by Kurt Vonnegut, fittingly called "A Man Without A Country". I thought it was fitting before my limbo interruption, but now I find it all too ironic. I got so into the book that I finished

In limbo for eternity?

2009-03-20T06:51:00.000+09:00

Hello again,I cannot believe my own stupidity, arrogance and failure as a pretty seasoned traveller. I missed my flight to South Korea by assuming O'Hare was not as big as it really is. Now, as I sit outside the International terminal and wait for my (really ANY) Holiday Inn shuttle to whisk me away to bed, I feel my face slapped over and over again by the tall, proud standing Republic of Korea

Getting Ready...

2009-03-11T04:53:00.000+09:00

I am currently in the process of getting ready to travel the 6,220 miles to Seoul, the capital of the Republic of South Korea. That milage is for the most part accurate, however flight duration is a matter of lay-overs. A non-stop flight, a rare novelty from Minneapolis, is roughly 15 hrs and 50 minutes, give or take wind current. As I will no doubt have succumb to one-stop, possibly two, my