Honestly, now.

Thus far, for the most part, I’ve really enjoyed my first month here.  It’s been great.  Fantastic, in fact.  Most everyone I’ve met has been kind and helpful.  I really like my students.  My job, while not easy, is at least rewarding and amusing.  I have a good place to live.  Overall, I enjoy my life here.

However, I still find myself rebeling against the culture in little ways.

I enjoy being feminine, however I also like the aspects of my personality that (at least in Korea) would fall under the other gender’s label.  I enjoy laughing at loud (instead of giggling behind my hand).  While I try and be polite, manners go out the door if I’m pushed too hard.  (No, you can not pay me to come to your house at ten tonight.)  And there’s other things that grate on me a bit.    I like wearing colors other than black, gray, tan, blue, and white.  I even enjoy being tall (thanks for instilling that in me, Mom).

So today I’m wearing a BRIGHT red skirt, black top, and heels.  If you can’t join ‘em, beat ‘em.  Okay, not quite.  But you get the idea.  On my heighth, I was browsing outside the stationary store when a man came and stood next to me.  Right next to me.  Okay, well there’s not really a concept of personal space in Korea.  I ignored him.  Until he stamped his foot.  I was crouched down looking at some paper.  I looked up.  Now every once in a while you come across a person who doesn’t like you for whatever personal reason.  (This man was one of these people) I  expect it.   However, I don’t really appreciate someone demanding my attention in order to let me know.  So I stood up.  And up.

Now granted I had boots on, but I was a full head taller than the guy.  I smile a little, make room as if I thought he wanted to look at the stationary, and returned to browsing.  He walked away.

I’m well aware that I have two choices in such situations.  One, I can get angry and perpetuate every single stereotype that abounds about Americans.  I know of people that do this.  Fine, their choice.  However, I have no desire to learn the ins and outs of the Korean legal system so I like to play nice.  Even when the other guy isn’t.  So I pick option number two.  I’ll stand my ground and be polite about it.

Besides, I really enjoy the confused looks on peoples’ faces.

Okay, I’m through venting.  At least for today.

I must admit, I feel rather silly for not discovering my roof sooner. 

Today I got up early (which is anytime before 9am) and took my journal and sketchpad up to the roof.  It was lovely.  It’s quiet (for Korea) and the air is much better up there.  There were a few other people around.  One woman was doing laps around the perimeter.  Two employees were chatting and the security guard also made a lap (he said “Good morning” to me.  Excellent accent, which almost made me fall over).  

The heat vents for the restaurants in the building come out at the roof.  So the combination of fresh air and good food cooking is an excellent way to start my day. 

There is also a putting green on the roof.  Along with some work out equipment and benches.

I think I’ll start having picnics on the roof (once again, as soon as I get paid). 

Also, for the holiday, the teachers got gift sets.  I really like it.  Granted, I think I have about a two year supply of toothpaste, but at least this is stuff I can use.  Also, shampoo and conditioner is expensive here, so if they’re going to hand it out for free, well, that’s okay by me. 

My inventory is:  six tubes of toothpaste, two shampoos, two conditioners, two toothbrushes, one box of hair reconditioner, and five bars of soap.  Not bad, not bad.

*dances around with glee*

My internet is working. My internet is working. Tra la la la la la!

Alright, I don’t have much time to post. I have to get to school and work on grading essays, but I’m VERY happy that I have the internet at home once again. Here’s hoping it stays that way.

 In other news, the countdown to Busan begins.  All I know is that I’m going to go play in the water.  Holiday starts on Tuesday (but I don’t think I’ll have many students on Monday.  Lots of people are going out of town.  Most of the teachers are tempted to either combine classes or just make all the rug rats watch a movie in English).  We’ll (Don, Kerri, Sam, Jen, Joe and myself) will take the train to Busan, where we will wander around for a few days.  Then we’re planning for a temple stay.  I’m excited.  Not about getting up at 3:30am with the monks and nuns, but about staying in a temple.  Then we’ll do some hiking.  Not much of a plan, but I don’t really want one.

Whoops!  The bell rang.  Better get to class!

So it finally happened.  I lasted a whole month.  Much longer than anyone expected.  After four weeks of temptation my resolve crumbled.  I could no longer resist.  So while I have to eat my words, I don’t even care.  That’s right.  I went to Dunkin Dounuts.  Perhaps it was all of the children imitating the comercials. (“Coffee.  Dounut.  Dunkin’ Dounut.”) 

 But the coffee machine at work is broken and I needed, NEEDED a cup of coffee.  Oh, sweet coffee. 

I didn’t feel like paying five thousand won for a cup of coffee.  No thank you.

 In other news, I went out to Itaewan again this weekend.  Patrick got a phone and we all hit the clubs.  It was okay.  Just okay.  A little drama, but it was alright.  I had a nice day to myself on Sunday.  All to myself.  I spoke to one person the whole day.  I bumped into (literally) a fellow round-eye at Mini-Stop.  He turned around and walked right into me.  I think he was surprised because he sputtered out what sounded like an apology.  I didn’t feel like talking to anyone, so I just smiled and got out of there.

I’m so excited!  Only four more precious days until payday.  Yeah! Three cheers for payday. 

I’m just in a funk this weekend.  I think I need to start getting up early again.  As charming as not needing an alarm clock is, I miss it.  I miss getting up and doing something with my mornings.  I miss being awake before the rest of the world. 

Oh, and I discovered that there is a garden on my roof.  I’ll take pictures this week.  There’s hardly anyone up there.  I’m planning on going up there tomorrow morning and read a book or take my sketch pad.  Who knows?

Ah well, planning awaits.  Better figure out something for the little kids to do. 

So I get my first paycheck next Friday.  Not a real paycheck, just money magically appearing in my bank account.  The nice thing is that the money that will be taken out for the deposit on my apartment will be evened out by the fact that I have an extra week of pay from August. Yeah!  So here is my to-do list.

1. Get whatever document I need to send money back home (once I get it set up, I can transfer money from an ATM).

2. Figure out the best deal on a phone.  The bank boasts that I can get a better international rate than with a phone card.  I know, I know.  I just need to get Skype working.  However, since my computer is crap and I won’t be able to get one for a few months, I’m going to get a phone.  That, and calling from a cell phone is just so darn convinent!

3. Pay Kerri back for my ticket to Busan.  We’re going there for holiday and Kerri picked up my ticket for me.  (Only about 40 dollars for a five hour train ride across the country).

4. Get some groceries.  Granted, take-out is super cheap.  If you’re careful, it’s actually cheaper than cooking.  However, there are days that I just don’t want to leave my apartment.

5. Take Don out for fried chicken.  I owe him.

6.  The weekend after we get paid, Kerri and I are going to Itaewan to go salsa dancing!  We’ll probably grab Mikey and Patrick and teach them how.  (I told Patrick since he’s latino, it should be instinctive.)

7. Also the weekend after we get paid, Kerri, Sarah, a bunch of the Korean teachers and myself are going to a spa to have our toes nibbled on by fish.  Really!  You put your feet in the water and fish come and eat the dead skin off.

8.  I’m going to get some stuff to put on my walls.  My apartment looks like a hospital.

That’s about all I can think of that I need to do.   In other news, I’m drinking a lot of this rather popular Vit. C drink.  It’s pretty good.  There are many little drinks that you can get that are really just vitamin drinks.  Some are yummy and some are….well…not so much.  I think I’m one of the few teachers who hasn’t been sick in the past few weeks.  I’m hoping it stays that way.

Yeesh, this was a busy (and fantastic!) weekend.  It started at nine in the morning on Saturday.  Sam, Jen, Don, Kerri and I all met up at the sandwich shop.  After two bus rides, we ended up at Bukansan (sp?) National Park, which is in the middle of Seoul.  Huge park in the middle of the city?  Yep.  And we began hiking.  And hiking.  Bukansan mountain is 836 meters night.  All in all, we hiking about 10k on Saturday.  This picture was taken in the beginning hour of our hike.  We reached the park at about 11:25am.  All said and done, we hiked for about five and a half hours (including breaks and about a 45-minute lunch).  The weather was perfect, slightly cool and mostly cloudy.  I wore sunscreen, but between the trees and the clouds I really didn’t need it.  From left to right in this first picture: Jen, Kerri, Sam, and Don. About half way to the top, there is a wall that was built in the 300’s.  It has since been restored, but you can still see the original rock at the base.  It’s not very tall, but it’s placement is amazing.  Most of the time, the land on the other side of the wall falls away rather sharply.  Not everywhere, but mostly.  We followed the trail along the wall.  Second picture:(from left to right) Don, Sam, and Kerri all admiring the view of Seoul, which is fantastic!  The green patches are parks in the city.  I have been asked numerous times if it has been difficult making the transition from a small town into a city of ten million.  Those green patches certainly help.  I describe the trails I’ve been on as “The trail behind 2001 Outlet,” or “The trail behind the E-Mart in Yongin.”  It’s very true.  You’ll be wandering around and suddenly discover a park that you’ve walked by and ever noticed.  Granted, the trails are almost always busy (hiking is quite popular especially with the older crowd, though it’s pretty depressing when you’re being passed on the trail by a little old grandma and her tiny, tiny gradson), but if you want to get away, you can always go off-trail and find a small space to yourself.  Or travel to some place a little more remote.  I must admit, as an America, five hours on a train is nothing.  In Korea, it’s a long trip.  I have a feeling I’m going to be spoiled by the trail.  Oh yeah, Kerri and I bought out trail tickets for Busan.  Oh yeah for holiday! Nearing the top of the mountain, there is a metal cable that you must hang onto to pull yourself up.  Hmmm…….some gloves would have been nice, but now I know.  There were points that I was hanging on to the cable for dear life.  Okay, okay it wasn’t that bad, but I never would have tried to go all the way up with out.  Sam and Jen are climbers, but I’m most certainly not.   However, one thing I couldn’t figure out was how they got the posts into the stone without a machine.  Out of all of the posts that I pulled on, I only found one that was a little loose.  I guess it would only take one.  That night, my arms were rather sore.  The next day, too.   Come to that, I’m still pretty sore all over.  There are points on the trail that you must go single-file.  People are patient with us white kids, one man even offered to let us use his foot at a foothold for a boost.   These pictures were taken at the top, looking down. 

The trail was very, very busy (we saw hundreds of people).  It only cost about a dollar to get into the part.       

On the left: Sam and Jen show off their Corea sweat bands.  On the right: a very tired Anne and Kerri. These were taken at the very, very top. At the top, we (finally) eat lunch.  Wow, has food never tasted so good!  Everyone shared what they had, so we all ate quite well.  (My favorite was Jen’s butter-and-nutella sandwich.  No nutella in Korea, that I’ve found anyways).  Grrr.. this page is making me tired. I just want the pictures to go where I want.

Another mountain pictures.  The black dots are people.

On the left: Jen and Don getting down.  On the right: yeah, I climbed that! On the way back down, I fell.  Hard.  Falling down the mountain is much worse than falling on the way up.  For starters, you’re head has a long way to go.  I was tired, wearing running shoes, in a hurry and not paying attention.  I started paying attention at the large rock rushing towards my face.  Ouch.  That puts a dent in the ol’ pride.  Made worse by the fact that I’m a huge white woman.  Nice Anne, very nice.  I really just wanted to lay there a moment and collect myself, but like I said, the trails were busy.  Most of my group was a head of me (There were many Koreas shouting, “English people! White girl!”) and Jen (who blends in a bit more) was behind me.  I push my arms up to see blood on the rock.  Quite a bit.  And it’s becoming more.  Great, I’m bleeding.  Kerri was carrying my pack (we share mine) so I didn’t even have toilet paper.  Not to worry, Korean hikers are PREPARED!  Within two minutes, I had a handful of paper towels, Jen holding my hair, and a very kind Korean man putting a bandage on my nose.  All taken care of before the rest of the gang could backtrack.  Thankgoodness I know how to say “thank you.”  Today, every Korean teacher that has asked me what happened seem rather surpised that I haven’t gone to the doctor to make sure it doesn’t scar.  (Sam was a bit jealous, he said I look like a boxer and he wanted a scar.)  But today marked a first, I went to the pharmacy and got some ointment!  Kerri and I both love the pharmacy people.  They’re very good at figuring out what we want/need.  After the hike, we ate chicken and then we all (sans Don) went into Seoul to the sauna.   For about ten dollars, you get a towel and jammies and are set loose.  Men on one side, women on the other.  After stripping naked, (and decidedly getting to know my coworkers pretty well) we all showered and hopped in a bath.  There was a cold bath, hot bath, really hot bath, several massage bathes, steam room, steam room with salt that you can use to exfoliate, and a mugwort bath.  We played the bath version of musical chairs for a while, then put in our jammies and headed up stairs.  Speaking of upstairs there are five floors.  The baths were in the basement, the first floor was the changing room, the next floor was a food court and children’s playroom, the next floor was entertainment/library, the next floor was filled with different rooms with different temps. and scents as well as places to get a massage (extra) or get nails/hair done (also exra).  The final floor was where you could stay the night and sleep, if you choose.  We decided to stay.  (We all hurt too much to leave.)  The next morning (albeit, not the best sleep, Koreans and their cell phones), Kerri and I decided to follow Sam and Jen.  We went and saw two Buddish temples.  The first place had an information center for us English kids.  The man with whom we spoke was wonderful.  A retired education professor, he was delighted to answer all of our questions.  He told us to come to the Korean Folk museum on a Saturday between 10-2 and we could all go out to lunch.  I’m planning on going sometime.  The picture on the left is of the first temple.  The picture on the right is of me messing with my camera near the World Trade Building.  Nice nose!

  (This is more of me complaining of how irked I am that this page is refusing to do what I want, but at least you see it.)

It’s funny that there’s so many temples within the city of Seoul. The first two pictures of temples are pictures of the first temple that we went to.  (Sorry if this stops making sense, I’m pretty tired and I need to get to bed, but I still have so much to say!!!) The second temple that we went to had a huge Buddha statue outside.  There was the main temple, and them many smaller temples surrounding it.  There were little trails and gardens all around, you could meander around for hours.  There were actually monks! (See picture at the beginning.)There was some sort of processional going on.  We couldn’t figure it out for a while.  But there were quite a few Westerns standing around snapping away.   Well, it took me a while, but I realized that were were actually looking at a funeral.  *wince*  And the camera goes in the bag.  I don’t know if that’s all what was going on, but I know that there was at least a funeral going on on the side. 

 Final picture, walking around Seoul, we came across a sculpture that looked to be a series of gazing balls.  It was too fun to resist.  From left to right: Sam, Jen, Kerri, and myself.  Now it’s Monday and I’m tired, but it’s been the best weekend yet!  One final note: Jen took a picture after I got hurt.  The phrase, “Anne’s blood on the Rocks” cropped up.  We decided that it either sounded like a drink, a band or an albumn title.  Funny.  Cheers.  And sorry this is all buggered up, but I need to get to bed and I’m tired of fighting. (Okay, I lied.  Here’s the picture of the monk.)

Before I go into a slightly sad rant, you should check out Chad’s blog.  He’s on my blog roll.  There’s some pictures of the other night (we went out for Chad’s girlfriend’s birthday.  Morraccan food is fantastic.).  Good times.

I’m settling into life here quite easily. Back home I was drifting. I didn’t (and still don’t) really know what I wanted to do. Not in the next year, not with the rest of my life. The only thing I knew was that I had to do something, anything. I needed to abandon my comfort zone. My life back home wasn’t bad by any means. I have a great family. I have great friends. I didn’t have a wonderful job, but it wasn’t bad. I got a paycheck every two weeks. I got by.

But that was it, just getting by. Just getting to the next day and for what? To go through another day just like it? How many hours would I whittle away before I figured somethings out?

I miss my friends, those that are left. So many have moved away. I really miss my family, those people who know me best and still put up with me. That being said, I had a rather interesting moment while picking up a sandwich. I realized that I don’t feel any more or less at home in Korea than I did in Lawrence. It’s not that Korea is familiar. It’s just that Lawrence stopped being my home a while ago. I was slow to figure it out.

So here I am and on it goes. I’m glad I came here. If nothing else, I’ve meet a few peole like myself and can honestly cross “teacher” off my list of professions. I like it okay. Just okay. The handful of kids with that type of infectious enthusiasm make it worthwhile. Who knows? Maybe I’ll decide to stay and teach older kids. Maybe I’ll just stay and tutor (which pays rather well, about $45 an hour). I think a friend of mine was mostly right when he said that I would go and have a great time, but would be ready to come home at the end of a year. I think I’ll be ready to leave Korea, but I don’t know where I’ll go from there.

I really like my kids (I’m not using their real names, or even their made-up English names) . Probably because they are mine, all mine! Funny how you can figure out which ones will always know the answer and which ones will be trouble the very first day. There’s a quiet Eva in my class that I am completely charmed by. She sits in the front and is easily drowned out by the other kids. In all of my classes, there’s at least one student that sticks in my mind. Dave, who is so small that his legs swing when he sits down. He never seems to be paying attention, but always has the answer when I call on him. Randy, who will be trouble unless I keep an eye on him. There’s so many more. The classes are divided like this (from lowest level to highest).

Rainbow Basic, Rainbow Intermediate, Rainbow Advanced (RB, RI, RA)
Eagle Basic, Eagle Intermediate, Eagle Advanced (EB, EI, EA)
Wisdom Basic, Wisdom Intermediate, Wisdom Advanced (WB, WI, WA)

There’s also special classes for Chom Shim. Chom Shim is a middle school that only accepts one hundred students a year. Most years, twenty-five students took classes at Avalon. The school is extremely difficult, made worse so by the fact that all classes are taught in English. Every subject, in English. Middle school determines high school. High school determines university. University determines the job. The parents (and mostly the kids, too) take it rather seriously.

But back to my day. I teach RB, RA, and EB. (I get the lower classes partly because I am new and partly because I’m a woman.) Today we played “Simon says.” (We used it to learn names then just played the game like normal.) Funny, because the kids all police to see who messed up. Since there is no grade (honor) at stake, they can all laugh about who messed up. It’s pretty fun.

Also today, I set up my bank account at the Korean Exchange Bank or KEB. That was interesting. Kerri went with me. We both felt like four-year-olds. Everyone is so nice here. Kerri and I discussed the fact that we are so trusting. Not that we have too much of a choice sometimes. Here, take my passport. Here, take my immigrant card. Here, take all of my information. Please.

There were also lots of “I love Korea!” moments. Something just make way more sense here. You get your debit card at the same time that you open your bank account. I can send money home by using my Korean debit card. Stationary (fun, English-words-misused) is cheap and plentiful. Golgi mundo is less than three dollars. (Mundo or mondo? is a steamed dumpling with pork, veggie, or kimchi inside.) So, besides being asked WAY too often if I’m Russian, I’m having a pretty good time.

Oh, and I got a WONDERFUL care package!  Thank you sister of me!  They don’t have the gum flavors that I like (Korea has an apple/mint flavor that is everywhere, but I just can’t get used to it.)  Stickers for the kids (and me), candy, and life-saving drugs, all for me.  Thanks again!

One last thing, I can’t find my where I wrote everyone’s addresses. So, if you get a chance, please email them to me. I found postcards and fun stationary! Thanks a bunch.

So there was a lunar eclipse last night and some of us (Myself, Kerri, Don, Sam and Jen) decided to try and escape the light pollution to see it. So, at a little after one in the morning, we meet up at the E-Mart in the town over and start our hike (I’ll try and put up pictures this weekend.) Hiking in the dark isn’t too bad. No one else is out and it’s fairly cool (almost cold). After hiking up and up and up (and being fairly certain that my legs are going to fall off), we hit the clearing. It was amazing. Take-your-breath-away amazing. The trail let to a huge burial ground (with burial mounds in an mix of tradition-Korean and Catholic decor). It’s covered several hill. The moon was full and you could see all around (and stars! I haven’t seen stars since I arrived!). We sat on the hill and watched the moon. It was almost eerie it was so quiet. A perfect night. I didn’t get home until nearly six in the morning (the sun was just starting to rise). I’m pretty tired today, but it was more than worth it. Even now, I’m still struck by the place. Kerri and I are planning on going back in the daytime to see what it’s like then.

Yeah…..computer is still being evil.  I can almost hear it mocking me, “Internet?  What internet?  I don’t know what you’re talking about?”  *blinks innocently*

This is getting old.

I don’t think I’m going to go rafting during holiday.  I think I’ll put that money towards a new computer.  Ah well.