LOST

The word that will best describe how I will feel come January once my girls have left me. But let's not talk about that.

What I really want to talk about are wonderful memories of the good times we've shared, most of which are already mentioned here, but one major event is missing:

LOST - Season 5

Many of us came over as crazy Lost fans, so naturally we began a weekly viewing party. We gathered in my apartment every Thursday night with wine and chocolate and a strict no talking rule. I will miss the bitching and gossiping about work over spilled wine and taking 3 hours to watch one episode because we constantly stopped to discus all the deep symbolism and meaning of every little thing on the screen.

This photo is a prefect representation of the time we spent together. Thank you ladies.

Life is like a box of chocolate...

Funny things about Saturday night:

1. Ordering a large pop at Papa John's and receiving an entire 1.5 liter bottle.

2. Standing in a freezing cold concert venue thinking we were going to see a jazz concert and ending up seeing what we thought might be a South African Christian rock group. Turns out D'Sound is a Norwegian pop band. I guess you never know what your gonna get.

Olympic (Park) Style Skating

Speed skating is a big thing amongst the youth around here. Alex Kim runs off to speed skating practice ever Thursday after school and then comes back the next day to show me how he does his turns. We've got elementary kids who show up in full spandex suits on their way to practice. Skating and soccer seem to be their big sports.

Just like at home, the winter season brings on the holiday decor and outdoor skating rinks. We hit one up this past week in Olympic Park. You can rent skates for a dollar and then they make you wear a helmet. It's sweet.

Home Again? Home Again?

I've been ripped through space and time and back again in the past two weeks and finally feeling like I have recovered.

Going home for Thanksgiving was certainly a special treat. I was given two weeks and a day to fly home, drive to Minnesota and fly back again. I like to think I made the most of it. I played Wii with mom, rode on the back of dad's motorcycle down Lake Shore Drive, cuddled with George, had a sleep over with the little girl cousins, bought shoes, bought jeans, bought presents, had quality Madge time and Skyped Carley at the same time, went downtown three times, ate steak, ate Chipotle, ate pizza, ate 43 lbs. of turkey and 20 lbs. of potatoes (OK, I may have had some help with that one), ate lots of stuff, saw some modern art, saw the preview of The Adam's Family Musical with Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth, went to The Burwood to see lots of old friends, went on an 8 hour car ride with all 5 Chicago Johnsons (that hasn't happened in a long time), went to my first Johnson baby shower for Baby Bot, hung out with my bros, hung out with the family and basically soaked up the U.S.A air. I felt like I was home from school on break. No major culture shock, just a little jet lag. It was wonderful being home and oddly enough I felt more home sick while I was there then I have since I've been in Korea. It was hard to say good bye.

I'm back in SoKo and again it fells like I never left. Gearing up for Christmas, the Drama Show and saying good-bye to my two favorite co-workers. December is going to go way too fast.....

It's Here

The swine flu has hit us. I may be about a month late...but we are finally feeling the effects of swine flu at school. I've heard through the grape vine that the choice to cancel kindergarten classes was made last night after 3 students allegedly went home with swine flu yesterday. One co-worker who was lucky enough to still be in the office at the time received word and posted the news on facebook. A phone tree of calls ensued after one person read it. This was the only "official" word of the situation I ever received. My boss never address all of us to tell us what is actually going on. We've got a great system of communication around here.

This is not really all that shocking. Most people I know at other schools have either had a similar situations of being stuck in their office while there are no students in the school. Others have been told to stay home for half pay and emailing homework responsibilities. The swine has taken Korea by storm!

My Misadventures in Baking

Megan is babysitting our old co-worker Chris' oven while he is in Canada chilling between Korea gigs. How do you babysit an oven you ask? Well, here ovens are a free standing unit more like an over sized microwave that you keep on your counter. We've had some interesting encounters trying to make the homemade baked goods we have so desperately been craving.

We've had some pretty hilarious evening sitting on her floor mixing ingredients in salad bowls based on one measuring cup and a cereal spoon. Megan's mom's banana bread was a great success, along with most cookie attempts. Sadly, the brownies from scratch were a serious fail.

The most recent struggle I encountered was with butter. I bought some supplies for cookies and banana bread and went to Megan's only to discover that I forgot butter once I had arrived. I went down her street to pick up the butter along with more flour and some extra walnuts if possible. I was searching so hard for walnuts to no avail, that I didn't pay attention to the butter and ended up with spreadable corn based margarine. Megan convinced me that I did not want to bake with that so I went back and got a huge block of "butter". When I started to cut the butter to soften it it broke apart like I was cutting up a block of wax. Deciding this "butter" would most definitely ruin the taste of my chocolate chip cookies, I made one last trip to the full on grocery store and would settle for no less then genuine Land O'Lakes butter. I was finally successful. Only had the energy and drive to do the cookies, but they are delicious.

I want to attempt my mother's unique banana bread recipe, but it calls for beating egg whites until they are stiff. Without an electronic mixer I find this task a bit daunting. There is a possibility I will try to use a blender. Update later.

ENT

I wouldn't normally go to the doctor for a little cold, but with the ever present concern for swine flu I stopped by the doctor on my way home from work after spending the whole day feeling progressively worse with muscle aches, chills and a small cough. There is an ENT office just across the street. I have never been to an ENT, so I don't know if this place is Korea weird or just ENT weird, but it was weird.

After waiting about forty minutes, I was called back into the office, which is actually one big room. I sat and watched as a family of three small children took turns having crap sucked out of their noses. The sights and sounds were just like a dentist's office. I finally got called up to sit in the dentist chair, and through broken English communication determined I probably don't have swine flu and just need to rest and drink a lot of fluids. He then prescribed some pills, none of which is an antibiotic, some kind of cream to put up my nose twice a day (not doing that) and said I should wear a cotton mask out around people. He stuck some stuff up my nose and sucked it back out again. Then I was moved on to sit at a humidifier for two minutes and then some other station where I stuck two prongs up my nose that glowed red. I have no idea what that was all about. The doctor's visit cost $3,200 won (less then $3). I walked across the street to the pharmacy and got everything I needed for $5,600 won within 5 mins. My meds consist of individual bags of 4 1/2 (yes one is broken in half) pills to be taken 3 times a day. 24 hours later I'm feeling much better.

It's A Small World After All

Random events of an evening took me in an unexpected direction ending in meeting a guy who played baseball with my brother in high school at a soju tent in my neighborhood. My mind was blown.

Another Hike

Went to see the dancing reeds of Mindungsan which meant another over night bus trip and early morning start. The plan was to reach the peak at 6:30 for a heart-breaking sunrise, then descend through tall reeds that dance around in the wind. Sadly, it was a bit cold and rainy, so the sunrise was lost in the clouds. It was still a glorious walk.And then there was the Jeongseon Arirang performance. Being that it's the best-known Korean folk song, we were all expecting a quaint little concert. Turns out we were very wrong. A full on musical portrayed a very traditional Korea in the 50's with a sudden US influential invasion. There were three main women, I'm thinking they were a mother and two daughters, the "mother" stayed in the traditional clothes, one came over from the US in a bright red suit and ended up in a US military uniform, and the third wore traditional handbok until the end when she wound up in an unidentified military uniform. It ended with the two military daughters shooting at each other and the mother running in the middle and being killed by both of them. It was crazy.

Broke the Bank

I bought a ticket to Malaysia for Christmas, 4 different kinds of cheese and over 6 pounds of pasta today...oh Costco.

In other news, I celebrated my second Chuseok here and feeling some serious déjà vu. Not so sure how I feel about it honestly. Did spend a nice weekend outside in the glorious fall weather though.

Bills, Bills, Bills

For the entire first year I was here the school collected our bills, paid them and charged us one lump sum at the end of the month. Once we added 4 teachers and the respective students, ours bills got to be too much for our lone accountant. When I was first told I would be in charge of paying my bills, I was sincerely distraught thinking of the Korean website I would be putting my US credit card info into or (god forbid) the idea of needing envelopes and stamps to mail cash or get checks from the bank. But Korea has evolved well beyond such things. Just follow these simple steps:
1. Walk into the bank.
2. Find the special bill machine, which you are quickly lead to by your friendly neighborhood English speaking security guard when you walk in holding a bill and looking confused.
3. Insert bank card.
4. Insert bill.
5. Press two buttons and a receipt prints for your confirmation of payment.

Downfall = have to go in during bank hours....but I still think it's pretty sweet.

Who needs a pet store....

when you can buy a bunny in the subway?

RENT

Saw the tour of RENT yesterday with the original Mark and Roger. I cried. The lovely Sara made this absolutely fabulous video of our fun jaunt in musical land. <3

The Sounds Around Me

When one thinks of the most common neighborhood sounds that would keep you up at night slamming doors and crying babies comes to mind. But not in Korea. I have found that the most common tread is people awakened by cat fights (literal cat fights) outside their window. Sometimes I'm worried because I think it's a baby crying or kids screaming until you hear the hiss at the end. It can get pretty crazy intense.

In High Tide and In Low Tide

Muuido has quite the interesting aesthetic. A small island off the coast of Incheon in the Yellow Sea, we were able to take the airport bus, plus a 15 min bus to a 5 min ferry to get there. Once stepping foot on the island, the Megans (Megan 1 & Meaghan 2) and I had exhausted the extent of our planning, so we just started to walk. According the posted map there was a hiking trail that would take us to the beach on the other side of the island. With little understanding of where we were we started up the stairs. Almost two hours later we completed a circle back to where we started and hopped on the $1 bus instead.

Once we hit the beach we searched for the tent rentals to no avail, and so were stuck paying $40 bucks for a beach side hut no bigger then a tree house. A rip off to say the least, but we did have a nice view. We were warned that it wasn't really a beach beach, but I wasn't sure how to interpret that. Turns out at low tide the water retreats for a good mile or so. All you can see is a big sandy mud pit. We settled into the dry sand anyway and all took a nap. By the time we were looking up again the water had started to creep in. I would say it took about a half hour before you could go swimming just fifty feet away from where we set up camp. It was crazy.

Diner consisted of my first sea shell grill session. It was crazy. When you put the shells on the grill they start to slowly open then they spit and pop. Lots of laughing and screeching was going on at our table as we attempted to man the grill and eat some crazy "meat" inside those bad boys, all while wearing a Michael Jackson glove. We even eat conchs. Just throw it on the grill and then pull it right out. It tasted nasty though.

We returned to our beach hut to see many expats gathered by a fire. Of course we all hung out because we are all white and that's means we are all friends. Ended up walking out in the low tide mud to check the most amazing thing I have ever seen in nature. See the video posted on Megan 1's blog. http://megsesladventure.blogspot.com/

All in all a lovely little get away full of fun and adventure. Around 250 pictures are on the way.

Pediatric Health Care

Two things I noticed about my children:

1. They get all their immunizations shot into one arm at one time around the age of 4. All of my kids have a crazy scare of 12-15 dots perfectly formed into a rectangle on their arm. I just imagine the doctor jabbing this huge block into their arms. Crazy.

2. Dental care is nuts. I have four year olds with sliver teeth. How does that happen? I can't decided if it is because they over do it or under do it. Either way, I've never seen kids with silver teeth before...

You Feelin' Swiny?

A whole new round of swine flu scare has hit SoKo. Some 3,000 people now have it here. Many schools are not allowing anyone (students and teachers) to return to school for a week after they have returned from an other country. Conveniently, our school is only applying that to our students. Couldn't have our new teachers quarantined for a week...they wouldn't get any training! We couldn't have that, now could we? Other precautions are extra hand washing sessions and temperatures being taken in the middle of class.

We even had our own little mini swine scare. One of our co-workers has had a cold since we returned from Indonesia, and then she found out one of her friends in Seoul has swine flu. She has since been tested and is certain she does NOT have it, but that was close to being our own little crisis. As much as I would love a few extra days off, I have a feeling it wouldn't be worth the school being closed down for awhile....

365 days later....

It has come to my attention that I have been away from US soil for one year officially. With the dawn of this anniversary I would like to renew my sense of wonder with my surroundings. I did "wondering observations" when I first got here. I'm going to try and do a better job of keeping it up this time.

My first theme is my favorite common images:
1. Bikes are everywhere. It is very common to see people of all ages in all kinds of dress going down the sidewalk. Most bikes have baskets and racks on the back which carry anything from groceries to babies to women in skirts riding sidesaddle. My favorite is to see two high school aged boys, both tall and lanky, one riding a severely undersized bike while the other stands on the rack behind him. It's even better when one is hold an umbrella as they ride by.

2. The Korean squat. Male, female, young and old utilize this position when out and about. It's basically a catcher's stance, but the feet are flat on the ground, knees are at your shoulders and your butt is hovering no more then an inch from the ground. It is particularly wonderful when you happen upon a business man in a sparkling pink tie out on a smoke break just chilling like this.

Haeundae

So apparently my student is a movie star. My elementary students came in one day and one girl said she saw Morgan at the movies yesterday. So I replied with "Oh, you saw each other at the movie yesterday." Morgan shook his head and Sarah said "No, he was in the movie". Oh, of course.

He is the son of the lead in this disaster movie. He got his tooth pulled out. It was hilarious. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Not so sure I was supposed to though....

Conquering the Night

This idea was put in our heads by our friend Warren, a Korean hiking enthusiast who enjoys organizing hikes with expats at least once a week. His latest installment was a midnight to sunrise hike. Even with fair warning, Megan and I only decided to go commit as of Friday morning, recognizing that we hadn't hiked in far too long.

One would probably think of quite and solitude when you think of a night hike, but sadly 33 other people felt the same way about a chance to hike while avoiding the current heat wave we are going through. Walking with a loud group of head lamps flashing in my eyes was not exactly what we were going for, so at the first chance to really lag behind we did, and the rest of the night was amazing. We sat a stared at the stars and city lights for hours while listening to music. Each time we got a little restless or cold or too bugy, we just picked up and walked to a new beautiful rock formation, which was inevitably 10 mins away. We let our eyes adjust and just walked through the woods on our own. We may have spooked ourselves walking in the absolute quiet and the dark, but for the most part were completely at peace. However, Megan jumped and ran back twice. Once when a stray cat (the only "wildlife" we saw out there) came a little too close for her taste. She then proceeded to throw her bag of tuna gimbap of the side of the cliff so as not to temp it to come back. I assure you she feels bad about the littering, but was genuinely in fear for her life. The second time was in day light on our way down, when she walked into a spider's web and thought it was on her. It was not. Both times I thought she was going to fall down and creak her skull open.

As always, the way down was an adventure. Even though it was much easier in daylight, we did not know where we were. We almost always just pick a path that seems to be heading down and go for it. Not sure why, but we were temped by a narrow "path less traveled" kind of trail because it looked like it went down faster then the one ahead of us. We pasted a few "don't go this way" signs and ended up trekking through the woods out onto a fenced in soccer field. We were not supposed to be there, but we made it. I needed a night like that. Amazing.

The only downer for the night was finding out that the breakfast place that we wanted to go doesn't open until 11. Nothing around here is open at 7:30 am. Not even Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts. What's that all about?

Emily

...and that makes a full 12. Emily spent the first 2 days in complete silence. On day three, she spoke her first word to me: "bathroom". Day 4 was silent again and then today she raised her hand to come up in front of the class to answer a question. Go figure. The whole time she has sat very quietly and not interacted with her classmates at all really, but I can see her starting to smile. She is getting more comfortable and I have a slight feeling that she is going to open up into a big trouble maker. Let's hope not. Her worksheets look excellent though.

As long as she dosen't turn Damian on me, I'm really hoping that I keep these same 12 kids for the next six months. It's just easier that way.

Welcome to my Paradise

Bali and the Gili Islands, Indonesia

A mere 7 hour flight took us to the tropical paradise of fresh food, reggae music, cheap everything and beautiful people on the inside and out. I could get used to being there. For a week’s worth of events I think it’s just easier to list the memorable things…all firsts.

The first time I ever:

*went on a purely tropical vacation

*went south of the equator

*was anywhere near the equator

*was in a country where they drive on the right side of the road

*set foot in the Indian Ocean

*got motion sickness and threw up on a boat ~since I’ve never been motion sick before, I thought it would be fine to read a little bit on our 2 hour fast boat ferry to the Gilis. I was sorely mistaken.

*was on an island that has no motorized vehicles

*was picked up by a horse drawn buggy to go to a hotel

* shared a room with 8 girls and was forced to sleep outside (ended up sleeping outside the rest of the nights there because I like it so much)

*stayed in a place with regular rolling black outs

*went snorkeling in the ocean

*saw a bright blue star fish

*danced in a reggae concert mosh pit

*witnesses the skillful and artful use of a pianica (piano harmonica)

*held a monkey

*had a monkey pee on me

*was attacked by a monkey

*held an iguana

*rode an elephant

*played in surfing waves

*made friends with our “tour guide” ~Dade was the best! We were so lucky to have randomly met him on our first night while wondering the streets looking for a place to stay. We would have been lost without him for sure.

Most important lesson: taught to us by Sara

Always make sure you have more then 6 months left on your passport when traveling. In some places, like Korea, it may only mean a slight delay and minor paper at check in, but in other places, like Indonesia, a “fee” of a couple hundred dollars may also be required.

Costco

I went 11 1/2 months without going to Costco. I went this whole time with very few cravings for the western food I've been missing (really only Mac N' Cheese and banana bread). I woke up with the biggest craving for Nutri grain bars I have ever had. I can't stop thinking about what I'm going to buy next time. Stupid Costco...

Also, I went to Mudfest last weekend. It was rainy and muddy. That's all I have to say about that.

Efficiency

Koreans are nothing, if not efficient. I told my employer about all the issues with my apartment and they've had a guy fixing things for two days now. Lights and water were up and running yesterday. He even had the forethought to check my washing machine too, which was broken by the way. Apparently that was fixed today along with my speakers, monitor and modem. Apparently the electric company is reimbursing everyone for all repairs needed. All the is left is the blender, but when put in perspective I'll go buy a new one. I got it for free from a friend here anyway. =) Score one point for the good old ROK.

Hots Dogs and Kimchi

Happy Birthday America!

I celebrated with a meet up group trip that included these firsts for me:

• white water rafting - it was tame
• walking along /in /swimming down/ being carried by the current through some tiny natural water slides in a river for about 5 hours
• jumping off a rock into a semi dangers whirlpool of water
  
• seeing tadpoles with legs
• eating asparagus, muenster cheese and hot dogs off the grill in Korea
• doing karaoke on a moving bus - all the tour buses here are equipt with it, just hadn't been on a trip that had broken it out yet
• gone on a trip without taking more then 10 pictures...it's not well documented, but I have hopes of stealing some

Meanwhile, back in Seoul, when I got home from work yesterday I had a light fixture explode over my head as I was taking off my shoes. I continued into the apartment to turn on more lights and they were much much brighter then before. Then, they too burnt out, just not quiet as dramatically. Within a few minutes my power was turned off completely. Apparently the was on purpose, in order to fix the problem. My whole block was out of power for about 2 hours. Once the power was back on I found that many of my appliances were blown from the power surge including:

1. three light fixtures: entrance, kitchen, bedroom
2. heat/ hot water control
3. blender
4. external computer speakers
5. TV screen size external computer monitor: good-bye movie and LOST parties
   
6. modem: no internet for me at home
   

Stupid Korea.

In Memoriam

Another one bites the dust. Claire's last day at Kid's College was June 30th, the day before open house. Sure she was a little stinker, but I like to think we had developed a bond by the end. I was really starting to enjoy her. This just leaves another open spot for some new kid to come in and mess with the whole dynamic again. I swear it's like starting over ever month around here.

In other new, open house went well. I went to Outback Steakhouse that night to celebrate it and Canada Day. Good times and good ribs were had. We even told the restaurant it was Suzie's birthday because she was dressed in red and white (purposely trying to look like the flag) and they brought her a dinner roll with hot fudge on it. We all sang (we American's attempted) the Canadian national anthem instead of Happy Birthday.

Update: local and global

You know how they say "If you don't like the weather, just what five minutes." Well same applies here. Sunny is back! Apparently, he is too young to study English in the Philippines with his sister, so he's back. Less then one week later. Go figure.

In other news, we all woke up to the new of Michael Jackson's death at the age of 50. Farrah Fawcett died at 62. North Korea still threatens to bomb the U.S. You know, same old, same old.

We Came, We Saw, We Scooted

Jeju Do (Jeju Island) - the Hawaii of Korea

I'm finding that I really enjoy going places with little to know previous knowledge of the sights and sounds in store for me. I'm lucky that I'm usually with someone who was motivated enough to figure some things out ahead of time or a local who can get me to the path less traveled. It's sad to say, but I really like it when people tell me what to do (as long as I don't already have my own opinion.) =)

Jeju was lovely. By no means did we see all this small island has to offer in the less then 48 hours that we were there, but we fully embraced what we did manage to get to. A perfect balance of ambition and relaxation if you ask me. Friday evening we met up with Megan's local friend Matt, settled into a love motel in Jeju City, ate some Mexican food and found our way to the ocean/sea/straight...whatever you want to call it. Saturday took us to the east side of the island. Oddly enough, we seemed to have the same cloud from two weekends ago follow us to the island, but luckily there was no rain this time. We did a small hike up Songsan (Sunrise Peak), not at sunrise, but it was still an impressive sight to see. Our protective cloud was just rolling across the top of this green crater at the peak. It was incredibly windy up there and Maranda's skirt was falling all over the place. So much that she refused to walk around up there for awhile. Good times. Again, some might have been disappointed with the cloudy view, but we all found it beautiful. We then headed over to U-do, an even smaller island on the just across from Songsan where we were able to fulfill our goal of renting scooters and hanging out on a beach. We even got some swimming done in there. It was freezing and exhilarating at the same time. I had forgotten how intimidating it is to swim in a huge body of salt water. My heart was racing the whole time, in a good way.

List of firsts:
drive a scooter
walk on volcanic rock (it was everywhere)
stand on a white rocky beach with clear blue water

We did not even come close to conquering the island. We didn't even see Mt. Halla (the tallest mountain in Korea) the whole time we were there because of the clouds. We also missed out on all the sweet tourist traps such as Loveland, numerous waterfalls and lava tubes. (Lava tubes sound sweet, don't they!?! Turns out they are just caves...no one want to check them out but me...wah wah) Needless to say we are itching to go back. Talk of moving there to get a new teaching contract has even been mentioned by a few.

And now a brief history lesson: the Haenyo (sea women)

Haenyo are skilled divers who are known to be able to hold their breath for more than two minutes and dive to depths of 20 meters.

Until the 19th century, diving was mostly done by men. The job became unprofitable for men since they had to pay heavy taxes, unlike women who did not. Women took over the diving and, because of the great dependence on sea products in most places on Jeju, became the main breadwinners. Gender roles were entirely reversed. Often men would look after the children and go shopping while the women would bring in money for the family.

Starting from the late 1970s, exports of sea products to Japan such as abalone and conch have made the sea women richer than ever, allowing them to fix their houses, build new ones in Jeju City and send their daughters to college. However, there is a threat to the haenyo's continued success: with their daughters choosing to work in the island's tourism industry or in the big cities, the haenyo will most likely disappear. While in 1950 there were as many as 30,000 haenyo on the island, in 2003 there were only 5,650 sea women registered as divers, of whom 85% were over 50 years old. - Wikipedia

These women are incredible. The very definition of tough as nails. They are such an icon of the island, with statues and monuments all over the place, not to mention all the actual woman out in the water. It's hard to imagine that something so fundamental to this culture's history and still so prevalent today is estimated to die out completely in the next couple decades. The most interesting thing about it is that it's not dying out because technology is replacing the need for the position, it's just not appealing to this most recent generation of woman. They want something better for themselves now that they have an education. Fun how that works....

And thus concludes yet another wonderful traveling experience with the M sandwich of the office. A special thanks to our side of fries Matt, the best tour guide any girls could ask for.

In Memory of Sunny

My favorite little break dancing cherry left for the Philippines today for 3 months with no warning. Not sure if he'll be coming back to Kid's College when they get back. I didn't even get to say good-bye. Wah wah.

Elementary Homework

How would you be kind to someone?

I want to have friendly relations with everyone.

A Chicago Style Weekend

I am a lucky girl to have so many wonderful people to help my celebrate an other year older and another year wiser, but here and back at home. I felt the love via mail from in the form of homemade banana bread, chocolate and butterscotch chip oatmeal cookies, mac n' cheese packets, socks and a note redeemable for a tickets to see a show when I'm home in November from the rents. Madge sent me some Mike and Ikes, colored flame birthday candles and a pot with seeds to grow my own flowers. And last, but not least I got a huge banner birthday card from the Johnson side which will hang in my apartment until I leave. Thanks guys!

As for the amazing people here...they rock. We had quite the crowd eating at the picnic tables outside of UNO pizzeria. We sampled from a large variety of pizza toppings including a regular supreme, cheese burger, sweet potato deep dish and Gorgonzola garlic thin crust. It was a spectacular spread. Suzie even baked a cake! A very pleasant surprise. We then enjoyed some adult beverages down by the lake on a beautiful night and hit up a norebong. Perfect.

Saturday evening was a joint celebration for Liz and I, since Liz's B-day is the 14th. A typical evening out in Hongdae, a college neighborhood, where we spent most of the evening trying to find a well hidden bar called Freebird. We finally made it, but lost many people along the way.

Sunday was great because Megan and Maranda took me to "Chicago". We spent a lot of time debating if it would be in English or Korean. It was all in Korean, except they said the names and "all that jazz" in English. Also, cellophane is cellopong in Korean, which made the song "Mr. Cellophane" very entertaining to listen to.

Thanks for the sweet brithday weekend everyone!!!

Things I missed at home this weekend:
Mom and Dad's 32nd Wedding Anniversary
Ross' 21st birthday
Cousin Micheal and Lindsay's Wedding

Sorry guys!

Crazy and/or Gorgeous

The discovery of MeetUp.com is going to drastically change the shape of the next nine months. I've joined the Seoul Sports and Hiking Group and Hiking in Korea along with the Facebook hiking group I did Bukansan with two weeks ago. Between all of these I've got notification of hiking trips with other expats every weekend. It's possible that my updates and pictures are going to start sounding very similar (if you don't think they have already...)

This last weekend was particularly hardcore, but spectacular. Our group of 44 met at midnight to board a bus and sleep on our way to Samchoek City on the east coast. We arrived as the sun was raising and the drizzle was falling just before 5 am. Each of us slowly departed the warm bus to eat breakfast in the cold rain. We started the hike at 5:25 on the dot. The entire way we were walking in drizzle or mist. No down pours, but we were all soaked in the end none the less. The constant moisture keep my camera in it's bag most of the way, but I did manage a few pictures. The first peek we hit was spectacular. Amazing rock formations with small pools everywhere. Felt like we were in the movie "Into the Mist". It almost made up for the fact that when you went to the edge all you could see was fog. The next peek was not as enjoyable. It was raining a bit harder and we stopped so long the we all started to get very cold. The way down was a long and muddy trail, not without it's fair share of slips and falls. At times it was painful, but oh so worth it. We finally got a chance at a real view of the mountain along with following a river of waterfalls the whole way. All in all, I wouldn't have trading the weather for anything else. It was like walking through the rain forest the whole time. We arrived at the base a good 9.5 hours later excited to get on a warm dry bus and head to the beach.

Sadly, it was not really beach weather, but my companions and I didn't mind. We got ourselves some hot and spicy soup and went to bed. We spent the morning on the beach instead. The next point of the itinerary needs some explaining.

The Legend of Penis Park:
Once upon a time, in a coastal village there lived a beautiful girl who used to gather seaweed. In the distance there was a rock called Aebawi where plenty of seaweed grew. One day, this young girl was taken out to the rock by a man in a boat. The man, who had a pact to marry her, promised to return to the rock to pick her up after she had collected seaweed there and he went back to the village. At dusk, she waited for him the man to come and take her home, but he was unable to come and fetch her due to wild waves. That very night a terrible storm arose and a large wave struck the rock, drowning the ill-fate girl. From the time of her death, the fishing catches turned bad for the village and so a rumor started circulating among the villagers that is was due to the dead girl's bitter soul. Finally, the people of the village decided to offer carved wooden phallics as a sacrifice inside Haesindang to console the bitter soul of the unmarried girl.
Mysteriously, after that, the village again enjoyed a good catch. The ceremony where wooden phallics are offered is still held even today on the first full moon of the lunar year.

And so explains the penis status.

Next, on to Hwanseongul, the largest limestone cave in Korea. 3 km of open space. It was spectacular to say the least.

I left the weekend exhausted, but refreshed after falling in love with mountains all over again. It's funny, but it seems to happen every time I go to one.

June is busting out all over...

and changes are springing up. Nothing unusual of course.

four new teachers, three new kids, two broken teeth, one kid gone and a signed renewal contract

4 new teachers: don't really have the skinny on the newbies yet, but I do know that I will be missing Emily, Joceyln, Denielle and Ari (my Chicago buddy)

3 new kids: Alex started a few weeks ago and Alex Kim and Jack started this week...three new boys brings me up to 12 kids

2 teeth lost: the first new Alex was running during a break time on Tuesday and fell down. I came back to a class room with a screaming, bleeding child. The helper teachers had it relatively under control, but it certainly broke up the day a bi t. Turns out he had to have oral surgery that afternoon. I also had to speak with his father after school. Thank goodness he was a level headed guy.

1 kid lost: Olivia is not coming back. Apparently she was always stressed out about school. It's tough being 4.

A renewed contract: The beginning of June marks my official half way point. 9 months in with 9 months to go. With my contract I also get a plane ticket to come home for Thanksgiving. I'll arrive in Chicago on November 14 at 3:48 pm and leaving from Minneapolis on November 29 at 1:00 pm. I am already really looking forward to those two weeks.

Healthy Food

Last week's Show and Tell was bring in a healthy food. Thomas' mom sent in a juice pouch for everyone in class. Literally a small plastic bag with a straw. It looked like apple juice and it had what seemed to be a fall motif on the front of it. Upon closer inspection it had apples, oranges, grapes, pumpkin and onion on it. Yes, each of those things were part of the flavor. No, it did not taste very good. Yes, the kids seemed to like it.

What a lovely Weekend

Friday: K-pop concert

Saturday: a great girls movie night

Sunday: Seoul Hiking Group
A Korean guy by the name of Warren organizes hikes for expats. I had been meaning to do another hike like this for a long long time..... a great cap to a wonderful weekend.

side note: at the end of the hike we stopped for dinner and by the time we were heading home the sun was down and we were feeling very damp and cold. Megan and I bought matching wind breakers so we wouldn't freeze on the subway. As I tried mine on, the Korean salesman with good English helped me. As he zipped it up for me I said "Oh, perfect" and he said "perfect body." Hilarious.

Rainism

Oh my.....yesterday was awesome!

Titania has the best hook ups in Korea. She had a friend of a friend call her yesterday and ask if she wanted to go to a free concert with her at her university. They have been meaning to meet up for awhile, so this girl thought Titania might want to come to the school's 60th anniversary party. She wasn't really feeling it until she told us that Rain was going to be there and we freaked out!

Back story on Rain:
Born Jeong Ji-hoon in 1982. Know as 비(Bi) or Rain in English. Hit the stage in 2002 with his debut album. He has also stared in some very popular Korean TV dramas. In 2007, Rain topped Time's open online poll. He beat Stephen Colbert by 100,000 votes; Colbert jokingly retaliated by producing a parody of Rain's music video for "Ways to Avoid the Sun" called "He's Singin' In Korean". Stephen Colbert has since challenged Rain to a dance-off "or a cuddle-off, or a spoon-off". On May 5, 2008, Rain appeared in a "surprise" guest segment at the end of The Colbert Report and proceeded to engage Stephen in a dance-off. It was hilarious. Also, I have a calendar with two years worth of pictures of him on my desk at school.

So, at first we didn't really believe what she was saying. How is it possible that 4 white girls are being welcomed to a free concert with arguably the biggest pop star in Korea? We were intrigued, excited and ready for disappointment at the same time. We ran out after school to try to get to this concert having no idea what we were getting ourselves into.

A 50 min train/bus ride got us to a really college campus, with tree lined streets and everything. It made me very nostalgic....the girl (crap, now I can't remember her name...) met up with us and said that her friends had saved us seats. We battled the crowd to an outdoor stadium where we sat on stone benches. The whole time we were walking there we were all debating if it was really crowded enough to be a Rain concert or not. I looked at the crowd and felt like it was just a typical Korean even crowd....I think that might be a sign that I've been here too long, because it was packed.

We were in our seats around 6:15 and there was plenty of entertainment for the rest of the night. The first act was the school's own dance students. They were doing a lot of ballroom dancing type things. It was like watching a very bad version of the show "So You Think You Can Dance", where people try their best to dance a style they just aren't meant to.... A band with a student singing. A countertenor sang and Italian art song, which sang along to at the time, but now I can't remember what it was... and some other singing acts that did a lot of what I call "ajama" (grandma) music. It sounds like Korean polka ballads. And then there was the pop music.

It turns out they had quite a few pop acts that I had heard, but I just didn't know what I was listening to before. It made it that much more exciting, because the crowd would go crazy, we would ask our hostess who it was, we wouldn't recognize the name but when the song started we got excited because we knew it. Four major groups preformed: After School, Son Dam Bi, Lee Hyori and Rain. They only did about two songs each, but it was AMAZING!!!! I have a really bad video footage here. I also highly recommend youtubing these wonderful k-pop entertainers. It was a totally surreal experience. Can you imagine ever having a completely free concert with Justine Timberlake, Beyonce and the Pussycat Dolls that just anyone could walk into? This would have never happened back home. When I asked why they had this concert and how they got these famous people to come she just said that since its the 60th anniversary of the school, so the school put it on. Beyond that, she did seem to think it was all that crazy that Rain and Lee Hyori just performed.

Sadly, our hosts had to go do something afterward, but since it was only 9 pm at the end of the concert we stopped to get a drink and some food in this fun new area we had to explore. We went to Dorthey's Diary, which had a Wizard of Oz theme. Each page of the menu had a title such as "Run Scared Lion" and "Tin Lumberjack". Yes.

And now I leave you with a quote from the T-shirt I bought walking back to the subway:
I am a great person in the world. Love myslef... Some on who loves you will love the others about sojunghame...

True story.

GAH!

Two examples of the Korean way of business that drives me crazy!

#1: Last week I was told I would be getting a new child in my kindergarten class on Monday. At the end of the week I went to my supervisor to ask for new supplies for the kid. This prompted her to remember that the kid had been pulled out already due to some payment altercation that made the parents mad, so I did get things ready for him. On Monday morning I had a feeling that I might walk into class with a new student sitting there, so I checked with my supervisor just one more time. At this point a light bulb went off in her head and she said that "Oh, yes, he is starting school today." Sweet, way to let me know.

#2: During one of my 10 min breaks yesterday I was pulled into my principles office to all but sign a contract to stay another 6 months based on a conversation from over a month ago. They seemed put off by the fact that I still wanted to think about it and want to know ASAP. This is something I've been struggling with for the past month, and still not ready to make a decision.

Last minute and immediate. This is not the way I function....but at least I'm getting used to it and can see it coming.

May 15, 2009: A day to go down in history

Event #1: Spring Picnic
We boarded all the little kindergartners onto countless Kid's College buses and headed over to the "boating stadium", which is basically a short man made river made for rowing races. We went there because the parents complained that Olympic Park was too close. The theme of this picnic was color wars. We got pretty into it. Ari looked like a red version of Braveheart. The kids had fun running around and just being outside. I would say it was one of the more successful events days I have witnessed so far. My favorite part, however, was when we got back and had 20 mins to kill in the class room. I just opened a box of toys and told the kids to just play. Sarah P and Eryn decided they were going to play teacher. They sat in a chair at the front of the room and had me sit in front of them. They then proceeded to pick words out of a bag and ask me "What letter is this?" and "What word is this?" Adorable little 4 year olds.

Event #2: Teacher's Day
I received a gift from 4 of 9 kindies, plus one from Kelly from my last Cherry Class. I'm going to count that as 50% and be happy with it. I got another two pair of stockings that I will likely never wear, one being nude colored with gold glittering roses on them. Yikes! A nice bottle of perfume, a Polo baseball hat, and bath salts were also in the mix. Too bad I don't have a bath tub or wear baseball hats. Oh well, the cream of the crop was certainly my gift from Kelly. Picture a fancy barbie doll in a display box wearing handbok. Not exactly my style, but I'll be taking that one home.

Event #3: Kyle's Graduation
I missed it, but it happened none the less. One more Johnson child is released into the real world. With this and the baby of the house turning 21 next month, I'm feeling pretty old....

The Tale of the Runaway Octopus: And other short stories of Busan

The first thing we did was go the fish market. Indoors and outdoors people filled the area with stands of creatures of the deep, some dead and some alive. My favorite part was a small tub of octopus in the middle of the walkway. We just happened to see one escape over the edge and start to make a run for it. Megan and I stood in awe / in the way of the man in charge of the little guy. He was very accommodating in that he did not yell or push us out of his way. He reached over to pick it up, and after a few tugs (the octopus was clinging to the pavement and tubs around him like his life depended on it) he gave us the added thrill of shoving the suction cup end of this creature in our faces. Naturally we both jumped back with a little scream. I realized that this was just his attempt to give us a good photo op. just a little too late. I got off one clumsy shot which shows the octopus being held up, but not the same view of the tentacles coming at me that will forever be burned into my mind. The other disappointing thing about it is that the man's face is cut off. It's a shame, because he went through this entire ordeal with the exact same look of total and utter boredom that I really wish I could have captured. We also eat some wonderful fried fish while we were there.

We also rode a cable car up a mountain, found some beautiful rocks to sit and read on, took the cable car down the mountain and rode a kiddie amusement ride on our way out of the park. We spent quite a lot of time deciding if it was worth making a spectacle of ourselves, and it was. We were the only people on the ride, and each time our cars passed the operator he gave us a push for a few extra spins. We were both pretty nauseous.

Headed to the beach to see what all the fuss was about. Watch the sunset and the sunrise out there. Not continuously though...the worst night of sleep I have ever had was sandwiched in between those two events. At least the insomnia / bad bed / noisy neighbors made it easy to get out on the beach at 5 am.

Spent the morning on the beach and then headed home after lunch in China town. I personally felt we conquered all that needed to be conquered in the 27 hours we were there.

Photos to be posted soon.

Oh, and Happy Children's Day / Cinco de Mayo! No school today so everyone can celebrate their children. I celebrated with a margarita and steak fajita for $30,ooo won at On the Board followed by an outdoor orchestra concert inside Deoksugung Palace walls. A lovely little day.

Happy Birthday Buddha!

Seoul city street view:

8:30 am- two men, in their 60's -ish, sitting at a picnic table in front of the Mini-Stop drinking cans of Cass beer

9:15 am- a temple greeting patrons in hanbok for a special Buddha Birthday service also had vendors set up outside selling trinks such as prayer beads, lanterns and one man selling cotton candy

A great start to this (hopefully) eventful 4 day weekend. It's all still up in the air right now.....

To America

Again, this isn't even from one of my students, but it's too good.

On Saturday, I read about Linkcon. I wondered no slavers in America now. When North America and South Ameriaca foughted 60 ten thousand people died. I hope North America and South America be a friend and be nice to each other. I hoped while reading about Linkcon, America do not fight now, and hope be a nice land. When America do no fight, America will be perfect land. Just look at face color and say we are different, that is wrong. Americans are same. You have to say, it's Americans if they are Americans. You can't just look at the face color. I hope America be a nice land now.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Jass

I finally got out to hear some live jazz this weekend. We wandered around Apujang in search of a specific club, but ended up at "Jass". It was wonderful. A small dark bar with a few tables, a quiet crowd and a quartet with sax and occasional vocals. I felt just like I was at home, until they did "Fly Me to the Moon" and all I heard the whole time was "fry me to the moon"....so close. They were really pretty great, and I really enjoyed the evening. I had pretzels for the first time in 7 months and it was amazing. To top it all off, a man named Mr. Magic sang a rendition of "Summer Time" the close. Most people I know would stand by the fact that this is a song that should really only be done by a black woman with a big voice, but as long as you had an open mind it had it's own musical value done at a peppy speed by a 30 something Korean man, if only hilarity. No matter. I went home feeling all warm and fuzzy and nostalgic. Ahhhh......

Fishing Boats and Cherry Blossoms

Thanks to the prompting by the lovely Kay Frew I went on a trip out of the city. First, I think it is important to document just how I came to know Kay.

When I first decided to go to Korea, my roommate Emily told me about this girl she had become friends with in Boston that was already there. So I friended Laura on facebook in order to make contact, ask questions and stalk her life in Korea. Low and behold she went to IU and was good friends with Annie Gill, whom I lived with in San Fransisco when we did a summer program together. I got a reference to live with Annie back then because she had lived with my good friend Margaret when they studied abroad together in Vienna. Laura informs me that she knows another girl who is planning on coming around the same time I am. She also knows Annie, as she too lived with her in Vienna. Enter Kay, who knows Annie, Laura and Margaret. Laura knows Annie, Kay and Emily. Margaret knows Annie, Kay and Emily. Annie knows Margaret, Kay and Laura. I know them all and they all know me...now. As Kay and I arrived, Laura was getting ready to go home. She was so busy that Kay and I decided to met up for a blind date since we just so happen to live about a 15 min bus ride from each other. During dinner we decided that I had met her in her apartment at IU when I was there with Margaret about 4 years ago. It's a small world after all.

Moving on. Kay and I took a tour with the Royal Asiatic Society, Korea Branch to see the cherry blossoms. I jumped at the chance to have get out of the city with no planning or responsibility on my part. We left early Saturday morning for our 5 hour road trip to the south coast of So Ko. First we went to the island of Namhae. We visited a few points of historical interest of course, but most of that information went in one ear and out the other. Sadly, I am not now (nor do I ever plan to be) an Asian history buff. It was wonderful to but out in the "country" though, driving along the coast. The highlight of the day had to be the ferry boat tour we took along the coast. It was a tri-leveled boat. The top being an open deck, the middle being enclosed with plenty of comfortable seating and big windows, and the bottom being two large dance floors. As we entered the boat the party was already bumping with about 50 ajahshes and ajahmas (old men and old women) in full on hiking gear. I felt like I was on a post-prom-party boat, except it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon and everyone partaking in the rowdiness was over 60. We checked a few times, and the party was raging the whole two hours. There were even three white Ukrainian women dancers that were hired to keep the party going. Basically they come out every once in awhile and danced around in basically their underwear. Seriously. Also, I became obsessed with taking pictures of fishing boats during this time.

We went to a beautiful temple up in the mountains next and then off to dinner at a restaurant on the beach where we had a wonderful feast which included the most amazing oyster concoction I've ever had. I'm not much for sea food, but they looked so good (and non-Korean foodesque) I had to try one. We later came to learn that the restaurant owner had learned how to make them from a French friend. The Koreans love their fusion....

We stayed in a nice Motel with Korean style accommodations (sleeping on a mat on the floor). At this point I'm so used to my hard bed that the floor was no different. Plus, we had a bathtub. Score!

It was another early morning to head over to Jinhae for the cherry blossom festival. I kept hearing about how Jinhae is just a small town of 200,000 with a Naval Base that hosts over a million people each year for the cherry blossom festival. It wasn't quite was I was expecting. In my mind I was thinking it would be like walking through an apple orchard, but with flowering trees. Not so much. I almost felt like I was at a street festival in Chicago, but all the streets were lined with cherry blossoms. It also was not as crowed as I had expected. I think I might be too used to Seoul.

Another exciting aspect of it was the "road trip" like experience we had on the bus. Mainly, I enjoyed stopping at rest stops, which are crazy! Of course. Everyone has restrooms, gas station, convince store, Korean cafeteria style food inside and bad for you "street" food outside. And of course vendors are set up in the parking lot to sell you all kinds of stuff. I really think the states need to pick up on this.

All in all it was a wonderful little weekend. It also marked my official joining of the "Twilight" train. I hadn't even heard of the book series until I got here and the movie hit theaters in November. A couple of girls in the office wanted to see it, so I went. Seems like since then everyone has been reading the books. I finally got my hands on the second book and read the whole thing on the trip. I would just like to state that it is ridiculous, and I loved it. I am a Jacob fan.

Pictures are up too...

Just a little update....

So the weather sure makes me feel like home around here. In the month of March I wore my flip flops one day and a winter coat and scarf the next. We even saw a little bit of snow.

So, I'm loving that the newbies are pushing me to get off my butt and get out. Suzie found a community theater group of expats and we went and did a "24 hour theater" with them. I had so much fun I went back the next weekend and auditioned for their up coming show just for fun.

We also discovered a hiking group and had high hopes of joining them on a trip outside of the city for a 7 hour hike to the beach. Sadly we were all geared up and ready to go Saturday morning, but at the wrong station. Wahwah. I ended up leading the pack to Buckhansan and we still did a 7 hour hike. It was amazing.

Sarah K has finally had her first cry free day as of week 5 of school. She is now all smiles all the time. Go figure. I also got a new girl, Olivia. She seems like a smart one. It should be all good.

The on set of Spring is bring some fun and exciting things coming up. More soon I'm sure.

Ah, the Irish....

Had myself a nice little St. Patrick's Day. We had a green day at school talking about clovers and leprechauns. The school day culminated with a dance party in the gym with the entire student body. These are always ridiculously unorganized and awkward, but since I have the smallest kids my class gets the best seat. We were right up front and my kids ended up dancing on the stage most of the time. They loved it and I loved watching it. Claire is all about the dancing and would jump up on stage by herself for everyone and bowed when the song ended. Sunny broke out some break dancing moves on the floor and I about peed my pants. Sarah K is still crying, but she had a great time too. All my kids really are adorable.

Post work I went with Megan to further explore and new neighborhood in the beautiful weather we've got going on finally. We have been trying to break out of our comfort zone that we have built up over the winter. Included in this is the embracing of Korean style clothing. I bought a 4 piece outfit for 20,000 won tonight which includes leggings, short skirt, tanks top and over sized hooded t-shirt. I'm not going to be able to recognize my wardrobe by the time I leave here. A quite walk turned into discovering an Irish pub, which turned into a beer with Megan, Maranda and Megan's friend Chris from Chicago and his co-workers including two actual Irish peps. In short, a successful day. No, I did not have a Guinness tonight, but only because it would have been 15,000 won. I don't like Guinness that much.

And now I leave you with my favorite rendition of a leprechaun done by Warrick. Enjoy.

Those Crazy Canadians

I've been meaning to document some of the Canadian cultural discoveries that have blown me away. My passion was recently reignited, and you will see why below. Here is a short list of the things that still get me.

1. Poutine: a dish consisting of French fries topped with fresh cheese curds, covered with brown gravy and sometimes additional ingredients. It is a quintessential Canadian comfort food, especially in Quebec. I had never heard of it before. It now comes up in conversation at least once week.

2. Pie Assassins of Canada: instead of shooting politicians they are pissed at, they pie them. And it's no joke.


3. Kraft Dinner: One of the first major differences that struck me to my core was the fact that Canadians called macaronni and cheese "Kraft Dinner" or "KD". This craked me up. I simply thought that they had made up a nickname based on the brand that had spread country wide, while still picturing the blue box with "Macaronni and Cheese" in big yellow letters. Just this week I had my mind blown again when one of the newbies got a care package from home including Kraft Dinner, and she pulled out a box that looked like this:

WHAT!?!?


Oh, and Happy White Day! The 14th of every month is a love holiday in Korea, but only February, March and April are really talked about. On V-day girls gave boys chocolate. White is the time for boys to pay up. I'm not profiting form this in anyway of course, but luckily it's pretty much over shadowed by impending St. Patrick's Day and the extended celebration around here in the ex-pat community. It all just reminds me that I missed the South Side Irish festivities last year because I was in class to get certified to come here. Can't believe that was just a year ago...my, how times have changed.