Wednesday, June 29, 2005

Since You Don't Live With Me...

Not enough creativity for a real post. Here's a window into recently:

Last car ride:
Taxi home from the train station, last sunday morning
Last kiss: Paris, February 5th, Charles de Gaulle International airport, we were saying goodbye :o(
Last phone call: So-yun-i! One of my students called me to see if she could help me shop for a new mp3 player. What a sweetie!
Last time showered: yesterday evening
Last shoes worn: my black, chunky, four inch heels
Last song played: "Consuming Fire" Hillsong United Live
Last items bought: milk and chocolate/peanut butter rice cakes Tuesday night after tkd
Last annoyance: someone calling me from an office upstairs to ask me a grammar question
Last website visited: Singapore Airlines
Last song you sang: "Your Body Is a Wonderland" by John Mayer

Tuesday, June 28, 2005

Hapkido Night

I was sent home sick from work today, because I was extremely nauseated and teary eyed. For some reason I seem to be experiencing constant culture shock, even though I've lived here before. Working in Korea is a whole different ball game. When I arrived at school, the hallway next to my office reeked of poop and sour milk. There was some kind of malfunction in the boys bathroom and water had leaked out everywhere. In the girls' bathroom someone had dumped their unfinished bowl of noodles in the trash. The school is too cheap to use the air-conditioning very much, especially in the mornings. So the smells mixed with the humidity to make a very unpleasant atmosphere. I felt like the walls were closing in on me, and everything became overwhelming. My mind was racing, "What the hell am I doing here? I can't understand a word these people are saying!" Everything sounded like noise! When I expressed my concerns about the condition of the school, my co-workers laughed at me and said that this is the cleanest school in all of Bucheon. Sick! As the morning wore into the afternoon, I felt sicker and sicker and ready to vomit at any moment. The tears would not stop. I sat at my desk for awhile, IMing my boyfriend and sniffling. He was very sweet and patient, but I just really needed to go home. So they sent me. What a pathetic mope I was! This was definitely not one of my finest moments in Korea.

I cleaned my whole apartment- sink, drains, floor, bathroom and everything, and felt instantly better. Then lots of dinner and a nap, a brief chat with my new neighbor from London (who seems very sweet), and then off to TKD. Tonight was Hapkido night, which is basically learning safe methods for falling down. Essentially they tell you to jump up and fall down and don't get hurt, but there are certain ways to do that. How does one fall down gracefully? It spoke to me in my current situation. A very relaxing night on the whole. Before I left, my master said, "Sa-rah, tomorrow, no absent!" I had so planned to skip tomorrow. I don't think it's an option now. Vacation comes soon...

Sunday, June 26, 2005

Protector

It's raining steadily, the first soggy night we've had in a long time. Is this the beginning of monsoon season? I love it. Saturday night was a lot of fun but exhausting once again. I went to Panchos again and met with friends. They are pictured below, all Kiwis and Australians, except me, which was rather unusual. How did we get so many of you in one place? :o) Here in order we have Brad, Rochelle, a kiwi Sarah (not me), James, and Luke. Quite a fun crowd. The second picture is Rochelle, James, and me. We went to Mary Jane's, a cute little bar in Hongdae where they will play your 80's music requests all night, accompanied by free jello shots. We sang and danced and were silly. I had such a good time with them. Man, I love you guys from the giant islands!! Americans tend to be a little paranoid and spoiled from time to time, and I see that coming out in my personality. But when I'm with you water babies of Oceania, there is a relaxed, merry spirit that does my heart good.





So lately I've been hearing a lot of stories about foreign girls being attacked here. One of my friends was nearly raped by a taxi driver a few weekends ago. I don't feel afraid, but it makes me sad to think that those who are supposed to be fathers in the land would seek to harm the young women. What kind of a destructive people are we becoming, where we are blind to the necessity to protect and cherish the weaker ones? What does it mean to be a real man but to protect all that has been given to you and all those with whom you cross paths, not to exploit their weaknesses, nor use strangers for your own selfish desires. When you meet a young woman who is alone and unattached to a man, please see that she is in need of your consideration, at the very least. Do not try to take her home to bed with you just because she seems weak and lonely. Do not use your strength to force your desires on her, but rather win her by your willingness to use that strength on her behalf. We need you. We need your protection. As a woman living alone these many months in a foreign land, I have been mindful more and more of my God, my Keeper and Protector. Without trust in Him, I think I'd be a very fearful person, because I'm really not very strong or quick to run away. Tonight I am meditating on this thought from Psalm 121:

1 I look up to the mountains--
does my help come from there?

2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made the heavens and the earth!

3 He will not let you stumble and fall;
the one who watches over you will not sleep.

4 Indeed, he who watches over Israel
never tires and never sleeps.

5 The LORD himself watches over you!
The LORD stands beside you as your protective shade.

6 The sun will not hurt you by day,
nor the moon at night.

7 The LORD keeps you from all evil
and preserves your life.

8 The LORD keeps watch over you as you come and go,
both now and forever.

Thursday, June 23, 2005

"It weaves, it catches, it overnights..."

Today was a rough day at work, and that's putting it mildly. It seems petty to rehash everything that happened, and I don't wish to complain, since the work load is actually very light. It's the work relations that have been frustrating. Maybe there's too much estrogen floating around the office? This week and next week I am conducting oral exams in my office for each individual student in my conversation classes. That's over 700 students coming in and out of the office. One particular class was never informed about this exam, thanks to my ever forgetful co-teacher. I noticed that there was a whole string of students who were doing poorly. In fact, I failed them one right after another, somewhat heartlessly, I must say, until I discovered that there was some injustice. I asked one of the boys who had lived in New Zealand for awhile if the students knew about this exam, and he said no. So I sent a note back to Jay, saying, "Did you even tell the students that they would have this exam? I'm failing nearly all of them. Do you want me to continue or should we wait until next week when they have a chance to study?" He came to my office all flustered and needed direction. I told him that the answer was simple- tell the students to study and have the exam next week. He suggested all kinds of illogical, inefficient ways to remedy the situation... for example, changing the questions or allowing this to be a practice exam and then have the actual one next week. Waste of time. Plus then they already know all the questions on the exam. Finally, he came to his senses and followed my instructions. That was the smallest problem of the day. The others are not worth mentioning, but I will post this next paragraph for your amusement.

I had to edit the school newspaper, nearly 30 articles of nonsensical, unintelligible sentences strung together haphazardly and riddled with error. Here is one student attempting to write a book report:

he time does not request plentifully to do and are ignorant the love which is pure and farmer and the grumble man with underdeveloped genital organ with spirit of young college lifestyle the once book in thin novel and it weaves it catches it overnights and when it goes it reads and it is a book. Now the personal attention advances frequently and only me this time when it thinks, once will read this book and the farming village which it will carry the hero who enlightens and it tries comparing will be meaning.

I think he used babblefish or some other such program. Korean students are infamous for cheating and plagiarism. They have to have parents come sit in the class room during exams as monitors, because students will try any way to get a good grade that they did not take the time to earn. But man, this editing was brutal. I wanted to pack up my things and leave.

In other news... My apartment is spotless. I stayed home and cleaned for several hours. Do you find that the landscape of your mind is much more peaceful when your surroundings are clean? I think it boosts motivation somehow. Also, I bought a little ipod Shuffle from an Irishman in my neighborhood. I'm not normally a fan of apple products, but this one is treating me alright. Tomorrow is Friday.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Don't eat the plastic.

Because lunch was weak again today, I went home after school and fried up some hot dogs and then had an egg salad sandwich, followed by oreos and coffee. The hot dogs took forever to cook. When I finally took them off the burner and took a few bites, I discovered that they were individually wrapped in plastic. I am almost ashamed to admit that I ate a couple bites of the plastic wrap, patiently thinking to myself that perhaps Korean hot dogs are different from our own. I mean, a girl's gotta have some level of tolerance for other cultures. I cannot very well expect them to be producing ballpark quality franks just because America does, now can I? Oh, what would me mother say if she could see me in such a state? More than likely: "I'll make you some cheese enchiladas and we'll have root beer floats for dessert. Why don't you go pick out a movie to watch?" I wondered what the bloated popping sound was coming from the frying pan. It must have been the heat wanting out of the plastic. Scientific things never made much sense to me. Why do I continually make these ridiculous food and/or fire related blunders? Have I exalted the name of Taco Bell too high and called down a curse upon my culinary skills?

....*sometime later*... Back from tkd practice. I think I'm skipping tomorrow. Nobody tell! ;o) Sometimes you just need an evening all to yourself.


Some forecasts say it's going to be in the 90's Saturday. yikes! Random Korean phrases float around in my head when I am...oh so sleepy...*yawn* ...like what the elevator lady's voice says when I arrive at the 14th floor of my building and what the subway voice says when you arrive at your destination... and stuff...and, could I get a fluffier pillow, please?...

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Mushroom Soup

Sunday evening and I've eaten 800 cc of mushroom soup. I guess when you want something you want it, especially when you're feeling raw and exhausted. I spent saturday in Seoul with Miss New Zealand and later our new Korean friend Lucy. I had lunch at the Burger King in Itaewon, then went upstairs to the salon for a couple hours, then with Rochelle to Geckos. She had lunch and then we went about looking for travel agents. After that it was time to eat again ;o) Chicken quesadillas at Panchos, as pictured below. They make Midori Margaritas! My sister says that all the pictures I send out make it look like there's nothing to do in Korea but eat and drink. I dare not answer that statement. But let me just say that I miss home and I appreciate the proximity of Mexico to our great land.

After this we took the train to Hongdae to meet up with Lucy. A friend suggested that we try Mary Jane's bar, which we found by accident, though we had directions. (I'm terrible at reading maps and following directions. That's why I need my boyscout. :O) Free beers and jello shots for the ladies. Then we were off to the club for dancing. All in all it was a good time, but I was pretty much molested on the dance floor by a soldier and that was very unpleasant. Some of them are extremely ill-mannered, but I love soldiers in general. They are precious in their own way and are some of the bravest men and women I've ever known. My best friend from high school was a soldier, and I shamelessly promote her blog at every opportunity. ;o) Go ninja girl. Anyway, that guy at the club was just a pervatron. But we had a good time anyway. Some people pulled me up onto the stage to dance with the other crazies. I tried to get down, but they decided that that wasn't really an option. hehe. During the time we were there I was pretty much indefatigable, but suddenly I became bored and thirsty and wanted to leave.

The others came along, including a Korean guy who had made friends with the other two girls. He wanted us to go eat Korean food with him and his friends. There are many Korean foods that I cannot even stand the smell of on a good day, let alone at 3:30 a.m. They were all standing around a bit indecisive and nobody seemed to have a preference, so I said, "No thanks. Since nobody has a strong opinion, I'll let you know what mine is. I don't want to even smell Korean food. I want to go somewhere that we can drink water." So off we went to a coffee shop. I drank a glass of water and promptly fell asleep until the subway started running in the morning. I was awakened by my friends saying, "Time to go, Princess," which apparently is my nickname born out of affection and annoyance mixed in equal parts, I'm sure. Incidently, it's also the actual meaning of my name. Sorry. American girls are spoiled. Hongdae is ugly at 5 a.m., let me tell you - fliers littered everywhere, young people making their way home looking as though a giant rolling pin had sweeped through there and flattened them all. I took the train home and then took a much-needed shower. I may or may not have another. Heck, I'm going to post a picture of my shower, since I talk about it all the time. ;o)



So guys, I'd like to work for the GAP or Starbucks or some yuppie company like that doing PR and/or quality control (in a non-scientific area, of course). Let me know if you hear of any openings. For now, I'll be okay. I dont have to come to school for finals, which start in two weeks. I also don't have to teach class for the next two weeks- just interview students for an oral exam from the comfort of my office chair. Should be relaxing.



Thursday, June 16, 2005

Window to the Dollhouse

Tranquility, luminosity, intuition...such is the terrain of my mind when I'm in the refuge of my shower. If you've read this blog for any amount of time, you will find that I mention my water sanctuary far too often ;o) It easily makes the list of top 10 places for me.

So last night I came home after work, fried a couple eggs, and chit chatted to the boy before running off to tkd practice. Afterwards, late night shopping. I spent way too long at the make-up store, trying on every shade of glittery eye shadow, finally settling on one. I also picked up some Mint foot scrub. Starting taekwondo again has meant the end of pretty feet for awhile.:o( At least on the bottoms. This can be remedied with baby oil, lotions, and foot scrubs. I tried it in the shower last night, and it smells divine!

(Mint foot scrub pictured below along with other necessities for living in this season.)
(also pictured: my "Evening at Home" candle that has three layers: Scented Bath Salts, Warm Hearth, and Clean Linen. This is the culprit candle that caught some things on fire in my apartment a couple nights ago. For some reason I have this intense, involuntary propensity for accidental house fires. Christmas Day last year, my boyfriend's garbage, smoke, flames, yelling... "Woman, what are you trying to do? Burn my place down?" hehe. The matches in the photo are from the Hard Rock Cafe in Fukuoka, which, much to my horror, chills their cabernet sauvignon to near freezing.)

Tonight: Work Dinner Party. Sam-gye-tang!! Oh baby, oh baby... A most irresistable Korean dinner for me. (for those of you not in Korea, it's like small chicken served in a bowl of rice soup with a lingering ginseng flavor, spring onions, and lots of course salt) Saturday in Seoul. The Salon, Shopping, Travel Agents, Dinner and Drinks, maybe Dancing. I want to buy some of those paper lanterns but not for like 40,000 in touristy districts like Insadong. It's possible that I may want to buy 10 of them. Where can I find them? Indulge me, wise ones.




Tuesday, June 14, 2005

The Phantasmagorical Schoolmarm


miss coffey teaches
better:

1. when she gets enough sleep.

2. when things don't catch fire in her apartment in the middle of the night.

3. when morning classes are cancelled.

4. when lunch is not just vegetables and rice. (do I look like I was born on Planet Vegetable? God made animals for me to eat!)

5. when she is in love.

6. when they don't blare Britney Spears and Creed over the loudspeaker during lunch hour ! Next up... "two trailor park girls go round the outside..."

7. when she remembers to bring breath mints to work.

8. when her boss locates the remote control for her apartment's air-conditioning.

9. when the school finally buys a drip coffee maker.

10. when her co-teacher gets her jokes.

I've had the benefit of two of these things today. Take your best guess. I'm ready for a nap in about three hours.

Papiamento

I didn't have the best morning. So we're watching the music video in my conversation class today with freshman boys, and after it's over one of them makes a racist comment about white people. My co-teacher pretty much reamed him for it and then we tried to move on, but the vibe was so rotten. I felt about two inches tall. There is so much xenophobia in Korea, and it makes me angry. I felt sick and wanted to leave the room. I mean, granted, let's hope that Avril Lavigne is not exemplary of our people and culture, but in that moment she represented every young north american girl and I felt so closed off to the students. They often treat me like I'm not human in the classroom, just some kind of speakerbox, and I went on later to lecture them about the fact that foreigners are not animals, nor are they aliens, but are actual people, too. That was perhaps the most valuable part of the lesson.

But oh, I wanted to go home. To be at my mom's house, eating mac and cheese, watching some mindless chick flick, blissfully undisturbed in my pajamas. And I want to wear my freakin shoes inside! On a happy note, I met some other foreigners in my officetel. I think it's a British guy and his girlfriend, but I forgot to ask him where's from. (You never know) The other day I thought that I heard people speaking English out in the hallway, but I dismissed it and said to myself, "That's your silly imagination!" They actually live on the 14th floor with me, just 8 doors down. I hope it doesn't put them into a shock when I knock on their door some evening and announce that it's dinnertime.

Have any of you ever been to Curacao? Do the same laws that govern Holland also govern the Netherlands Antilles? Sounds like a nice place to go chill out... Ah, no wait, I just read a bit more on it. ;o) Who knew?

Sunday, June 12, 2005

The Culture of the Fatherless

"Tonight, about 40 percent of American children will go to sleep in homes in which their fathers do not live. Before they reach the age of eighteen, more than half of our nation's children are likely to spend at least a significant portion of their childhood living apart from their fathers. Never before in this country have so many children been voluntarily abandoned by their fathers. Never before have so many children grown up without knowing what it means to have a father."

-David Blankenhorn, Fatherless America: Confronting Our Most Urgent Social Problem


Fatherless in America- so many young ones are, through broken homes, illegitimacy, or whatever reason. One of the videos I chose for my conversation class is "Nobody's Home," by Avril Lavigne. (Please dont shoot me or brand me an Avril fan. I'm really nothing of the kind!) The reason I chose this song is because of its use of the Present Perfect to describe the recent past and also the Present Continuous tense. The words are clear and not too difficult to understand. Also, Korean high school kids think she's some kind of a goddess. They watched in awe and silence, nobody speaking a word during the video. I admit, it was a bit unsettling. When I asked them if they've ever known any kids who tried to run away from home, they said, "Never." So we had a little culture lesson, and we discussed what it means to "run away from home," to "feel lost inside," to "be all over the place," and other various idioms. All the while I'm getting close to tears, coming to the full realization of the damage that single parent families inflict on children. Too many know what it means to come home and find that nobody is there. Mom is working and Dad couldn't couldn't care less about my existence. These kids grow up with this reality imprinted on their hearts and minds: Nobody's home. What is it breeding? For about 30 years we've been unraveling the fabric of family in America, and it has birthed a whole new generation adults who live hand to mouth, an increase in crime and violence, a culture of divorce, and a people who unconsciously feel aimless and lost. The way the feeling of abandonment translates into our culture is destructive to relationships across the board.

If you have a minute, please do read the article that is linked to the above paragraph. One thing that the writer makes clear is that young men are increasingly reluctant to make the investment that is required to be a father. I say that even deeper than that is the lack of courage to commit to the woman he loves and the children they produce together. We now have to coax husbands and fathers through legal means to give some kind of financial support to the women they promised to spend forever with and the children they had through that union or ouside of marriage. We may, by law, require a man to give financial support, but we will never be able to require the physical, emotional, and spiritual support that the abandoned child so desperately needs. A healthy society should be grieved at what this author calls the "deculturization" of paternity. We must do better.

When I was living in Tulsa, I'd be hanging out at my boyfriend's "ghetto" neighborhood apartment and he used to have some of the neighbor kids running in and out of there, playing on his piano, his guitars, pressing their noses to the sliding glass door and calling his name, .."Are you busy?" ....Some of these kids were from the same mom and different dads. To my shame, I remember thinking from time to time, "Why does he bother with these kids touching all of his stuff and running around his apartment?" But I started to understand that these children have no father in their lives, at least not a regular one. No one pays attention to them. There is no man who affirms their existence, plays with them, or tucks them in at night. Why shouldn't they be so eager for anyone willing to pick them up and acknowledge that they are there? We must get past our selfishness to care for the orphan, the stranger, and the widow. These are the marks of a compassionate people.

Friday, June 10, 2005

Lose the Ribbons, Ladies.

At the beginning of class my Taekwondo master handed me a wrapped present to open. "Sarah, present for you!" It had cute little bows on it and was twisted into a tootsie roll shape. When I felt it, I thought, "Lovely, it must be candles!" I opened it up, and low and behold there in my hands was a jump rope. Not what I expected, but hey, a present's a present, right? While I was opening it, he must have taken the black ribbon out of my hair and hung it on one of the hooks attached to the wall, because I saw it there after he instructed me to start jumping. Now, I always wear that ribbon in my hair to class, but fridays are sparring days. Time to hang up the ribbons. We were to jump rope for 10 minutes straight without stopping, wearing full gear. Then some kicking drills. Then sparring with partners. All the black belts were supposed to sit at the back of the room while the younger kids fought first.

The girls were such whiny little princesses, flinching at anything that came their way, and kicking like it's ballet or something- it was so freakin adorable! (Although I would have had my ass busted if I acted like that in taekwondo class back in the States) But then when you pair one of those girls with a boy her size who is much more aggressive than her female counterparts, she starts to get more intense and you see the untame version come out. I've seen this time and time again. It's interesting to see kids develop in martial arts over several years. It's not until one is about 12 or 13 that you can tell if he has the concentration/drive to be a real player, which none of us at this dojang happen to be. You have to train like five hours a day if you want to be worth a dime. I'm too old for that now. :O)

So there's no other girl black belts at my club and I had to spar with the big boys. Musopda!! But it wasn't so bad, since we were just doing target and speed practice, with less of an emphasis on power. Plus there's always like this unspoken rule when a guy has to spar with a girl: You hurt her- you die. ;o) At the end of class we were all dripping with sweat. I felt like I had turned into a salt water fountain. Our master bought everyone slurpies and wished us a good night. His parting words: You'd better sleep well this weekend...

Thursday, June 09, 2005

Umbrella Farming

It's raining today, and everyone has their umbrellas. This is an absolute necessity, since the pollution is so bad that the rain is known to cause people's hair to fall out. In the back of every classroom there are perhaps a dozen colorful, parked umbrellas, open to dry. I'm slightly sleep-deprived and amused at the thought that we are hosting small clusters of umbrella farms all over the school. Does anyone else find that your mind more naturally begins to personify inanimate objects when you're very tired? When I was a kidand went to the store, in the back of my mind I was mindful to try to touch as many things as I could, thinking that perhaps some of the objects had never been touched by human hands and would somehow feel left out.


So I'm planning my lesson for my freshman conversation class next week, and I need your help! We've been doing a lot of work on the past simple tense with an emphasis on being able to talk about what you did last weekend or what happened to you. Next week I want to use some English music videos that tell a story that may or may not match the lyrics. I just want them to watch and listen and then be able to simply articulate what happened using the past simple or past perfect tense. I think it will be fun for them and help them to lose some of their inhibitions about speaking in front of each other. I've been having them play some acting/trust games to get them to loosen up, and I think that watching music videos will be enjoyable and interactive. Do you have any suggestions for good videos to use for this kind of exercise? Please leave them in the comments section. Also, where is a good place to watch/download them for free? Oh and don't be snobs! It can be cheesy, pop music as long as it's clear and easy to understand. You'd be appalled at how indiscriminate my tastes can be from time to time. ;o) I have conversation classes, listening classes, and some extra classes for the smart kids, so ideally I'd like to get a lot of material together this weekend. I have to write the entire curriculum for all of my classes, since they didn't give me any textbooks, which is a bit of a pain and a lot of work. I feel so sorry for the kids having to be at school until 9 pm every night with virtually no play time, and more than anything I want them to have fun in my class. Any and all suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thanks, guys.

Ay amor es una tortura perderte

Due to the enthusiastic bribery of my friends and my undisguised affinity for fruity cocktails, I choose to continue Petite Syrah, despite recent personally cataclysmic revelations leading me to desire a more closed-mouth approach to existence here in Korea. My youngest sister, ever the voice of encouraging, soft sentiments, writes, "Kill yours or don't. It's the internet." Ah, indeed! I am reminded of one of my favourite songs of all time, which also, coincidently, echoes my thoughts on US foreign policy:

(Dre) Don't pull the thang out, unless you plan to bang
(Choir) Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!
(Dre) Yeah! Ha ha yeah!
Don't even bang unless you plan to hit something
(Choir) Bombs Over Baghdad! Yeah!

So, we will henceforth hope to affect a stylistic change in the content of this blog, adapting more of an emphasis on merriment and less on the maledictions of my homesick life in Asia. All that said, it still may sound like a girl is writing it, so don't be too disappointed if it still reads the same as before. ;o) It's an ambience thing. I'm working on it. Patience.

Another reason I must continue is because the mundane drudgery of public high school makes me bored at work and necessitates a worthy distraction, i.e. communicating my thoughts to friends and strangers. So yesterday I was bored, and on the way to our next class, I said to my co-teacher,

"Jay, I'm bored. Let's skip school Friday. Take me dancing in Shinchon."
"What? Where?"
"Hongdae. You went to school there, right? You must know all the fun places to go."
"Frankly speaking, Sarah, I don't like to dance."

Once again rejected by my Korean co-teacher. ;o) I'm starting to find it amusing to discover all the ways he can say no to me. I'm really not used to this.

Okay, so there's this Shakira song/video that I like, featuring Alejandro Sanz (And here's where the cheesy latin part of my blood takes over) ...La Tortura ... kitchen scene with the vegetable chopping. Very sexy. Spontaneity, boys. That's the name of the game. Aside from Shakira's ridiculous gyrations and the fact that she's covered in crude oil, I like the story and the lyrics. I am by no means fluent in Spanish, but I know enough to know that this is no love song. It's actually about the pain and torture of losing someone. So he says that his heart is hers, and she says, "Better save it for someone foolish enough to believe you." Whoah!

I don't have to teach class today, by some pleasant forture, so I'm working on pictures from this weekend and drinking Solomon's Seal Tea here in my office. Saturday I went to Insadong and wandered around the shops until I became I became unbearably lonely, seeing the couples walking everywhere together in the early evening and missing my own "solomon" poet man. On my way to the station I met a girl from Slovakia, and we decided to have dinner. She was on vacation from her English teaching job in China. These European women are very independent, I've noticed, especially the northern culture ones- She quite casually mentioned that she wanted to vacation alone and left her Canadian boyfriend in China! She had no place to stay, so I invited her to stay over at my place and we had a good time talking about eastern European drinking parties, boys, mothers, teaching, and Arkansas hick fundamentalists (she had a unique homestay experience to make a long story short ;o) So I met my first Slovak.

The following are pictures from Insadong. I love the paper lantens...




Monday, June 06, 2005

american bathtub

McDonald's has green tea mcflurries.
I'm sick of this blog, and I'm thinking of quitting.
Homesick. Candles, bath salts, a towel that smells like Tide. Baby oil, lotions, ancient christmas carols in the player. I'm homesick for an American bathtub. Punctuate, punctuate. The end.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

let it burn

I've been having a Performance Assessment Test with my listening class students, using an interview style. When asked what he could do to make his parents want to kill him, one student answered, "If I smoking and drinking beef." I'm quite certain he meant beer, but it was all I could do to keep from laughing. Then I asked them what their personalities are like. One student described himself, and then he said, "And teacher, I think your personality is sensitive and hot-blooded." My, but the young ones can be so intuitive ;o) Another student came in to complain and whine about getting a 19/20 and wanted to know who got perfect scores and why. I do not tolerate that kind of behaviour and told him so. None of this begging, pleading, and arguing. Maybe that's where they see the hot-blooded... ?? Get out of my office if you're going to try to whine yourself into a better score that you didn't earn.

Does anyone remember the song "Nothing At All," by Heart from the 80's? Yes, it just so happens that I've found a new love in Korea that completely subdues and unravels me. Ah, curious ones, I'm sure you're wondering who he is...

I would walk home every evening
Through the pyramids of light
I would feed myself on silence
Wash it down with empty nights

Then your innocent distractions
Hit me so hard
My emotional reaction
Caught me off guard

It was nothing at all
Like anything I had felt before
And it was nothing at all
Like I thought no it's so much more
No one else has ever made
Me feel this way
When I asked you how you did it
You just say
It was nothing at all

Now I walk home every evening
And my feet are quick to move
Cause I know my destination
Is a warm and waiting you
From our first communication
It was clear
Any thought of moderation
Would soon disappear

It happened all at once. The truth is that I've fallen madly in love with green tea ice cream. Just give me a tub of the stuff, preferably Haggen-daas, with a giant spoon, and leave me alone. Have you had it? Ah, again, you've not yet lived...

So yesterday I found a new dojang, and I'm really excited about that! I've been looking for quite some time for the right taekwondo place to train in my neighborhood, so I wouldn't have to travel quite so far as I had been to get to the other place I was working out. I met the master yesterday and he was really sweet and cheerful and wants to train me for my 2nd degree over the next few months, came up with an integrated training plan and everything. So I'll be there every night mon-fri starting tonight. I feel like a little kid in a candy store.. I've been having a really hard time in Korea lately, but I think this is going to be good for my emotions, perhaps to exhaust some of that pent up energy/frustration. Maybe I'll stop waking up at 6:30 and cleaning obsessively. This particular dojang is really friendly, too, mixing kids with adults, reminds me of where I first started in the States and the reason I came to Korea so many years ago. The kids are really playful, and even though their technique can be really sloppy, they are so adorable and full of energy! Seeing little kids kicking and yelling is about the only thing right now that makes me want to think about making babies ;o) There's just a good vibe there from what I can tell. One thing that I've found about Taekwondo in Korea is that most of the masters are really relaxed, like to play soccer, and don't think that they're too cool for school. I think it's just a healthy atmosphere that happens as a result of making a career out of teaching exercise. There is something to be said about a man who makes it his business to know how to use his body. He becomes more balanced in his character. Here I noticed that when the kids do well or are trying really hard, he always says, "Yes, I like, I like.." (in korean) That's another thing. Nobody speaks English at this dojang, so it will be good for stretching my language skills as well as burning my muscles and wearing me out every night before bed. I like. :o)