:-)

Little Joys

Yesterday while grading homework in class, my student sitting next to me, sweet, soft-spoken Emily, grabbed my hand and said, "Teacher look." She pointed to the scar on my left wrist, my high school battle wound from Olympic Steakhouse that serves as a reminder that I couldn't spend four years in the establishment and leave unscathed. Emily smiled brightly as she put her little wrist next to mine, and proudly displayed an identical scar. "Same," she said with eyes filled with wonder and adoration. In that split second we were kindred spirits and nothing else in the world mattered except that we were connected by our small, secret bond.

Another snapshot moment that I'm going to take with me when I leave Korea.

Love For Long Weekends, Part 2-Yeosu: fun, ferries, and fondling

The second long weekend in May was for Buddha's birthday. Friday night I chilled in Daejeon, Saturday I hiked Daedunsan (the mountain with the suspension bridge) and Sunday Tara and I hopped on a train to Yeosu, a port city on the Southern coast. I love everything about train rides, and the trip to Yeosu was the most scenic I've experienced yet. According to the man who gave us our tickets, we took "THE slowest train," and it was so worth it. For the first time I finally saw rural Korea. My eyes were glued to the window as I passed through desolate countryside and small village after small village with the ever present mountains gracing the horizon.

Even on "THE slowest train" it only took us about four or five hours to get to the southern tip of the country. That's including our 45 minute wait to transfer in Iksan. It's moments like these when I'm reminded how small Korea really is.

Yeosu was cool. We explored the port area on Sunday night and Monday we grabbed a bottle of Makgeolli (def. Milky-white fermented wine made from rice or various grains. It's cheap, unfiltered, and sold by the pot or in bottles...definitely an acquired taste) and took a ferry ride around the various islands. It was funny because we originally thought we were going on a tour ferry...not quite...we were on an actual ferry that took Koreans back to their island homes. It was fun nonetheless. As always, we were showered with generosity. I scored a piece of gum, a cup of coffee, and a creepy hand on my leg. That's when I decided to go inside and find Tara who was napping with the elderly.

All in all it was a good trip, and I got to see a new place in Korea.




Yeosu is really proud it's the home of the 2012 Expo

Random water show

Fine Dining








T Shive

Always new friends to be made.

Love For Long Weekends: Part 1-Lotus Lantern Fest

Long weekends are one of the many perks of being a teacher in Korea. I've had three in the past month. Not to brag or anything.

The first long weekend was for Children's Day on May 5th. Yes, that's right, all those times when you were a kid asking your parents why there was a Mothers Day and a Fathers Day, but no Kids Day to which they replied "every day is kid's day," you totally had ammunition to back up your argument..."but in Korea..."
Today the national holiday is often celebrated with parents taking their children to amusement parks. I, however, took the opportunity to spend another weekend in Seoul.

On that Saturday night I went to the World DJ Festival by the Han River. It was fun, but I could have done without it...just another night hanging out with drunk foreigners. Then on Sunday I went to the Lotus Lantern Festival (celebrating Buddha's upcoming birthday aka long weekend #2), which was so rad. A whole area near Insadong was closed off for the festivities. There were concerts, synchronized dancing, booths where you could make your own lanterns, a parade, and full Korean festival madness. Unfortunately I didn't have my G9 yet and was using a friend's older camera, so I'm not crazy about the pictures I took. Here they are nonetheless. Enjoy.











All the seats were full on our train back to Daejeon so we had to ride "standing." Luckily we found these pleasant garbage nooks. It's all about luxury.

All By My Chef

This kills me. Click below:

It's probably not as funny as I think it is.

The Korean Man Perm-uh: Not Always A Hit

My student, David (who was in the group that made the glorious family tree), wrote in his diary about the troubles of the Korean man perm:

I had a perm, but I didn't want it. My mother said, "Your hair is long. You must get a perm or a sports hair cut (*basically a mullet)." I was very afraid, so I said, "perm." Ah, when am I going to free my hair? It feels very funny for my head. I don't like my perm very much. I'm never going to get a perm again.

"When am I going to free my hair?" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

K Pop Is Taking Over My Life

I just can't seem to get enough.

This is my favorite song out right now and the music video is delightfully emo.

Epik High featuring Ji Sun (who resembles a Korean Hillary Duff, don't you think?) from Loveholic...gotta love the band names.

Move Over Wonder Girls

It used to be that any time I would say, "Tell me (the answer)" in class, my students, even the timid ones, would break out in song and dance to the Wonder Girls: "Tell Me, Tell Me, T-T-T-T-Tell Me!"

In the past couple months, a new "it" song by the pop band, Jewelry, has graced the country, so that now when I say, "One more time," my kids deliver their rendition of this little gem:



Also, one of the members, Seo In-Young, is considered to be the "Paris Hilton" of Korea, and has her own reality show, "Seo In-Young's KAIST." The program was produced to give Seo, a member of the female pop group Jewelry, the chance to experience university life. Because the singer debuted at an early age, she didn't get a chance to enjoy life as a student. A camera follows the singer as she attends classes, prepares for exams and chats with her new school friends. HanCinema

KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology) is actually in Daejeon (represent) and is often referred to as the MIT of Korea.

Thank you youtube for this:

Hair woes

I got my hair cut downtown last Thursday night at the flashing neon lit, 24 hour salon. I would have never even considered going to a place like that in the States, but both Tori and Emma left with killer cuts, so I decided to give it a go.

At first I thought my hair was funky cool, but now I'm realizing it looks like a long 80's rocker mullet. The little man thinned out my hair so much that I feel like I have nothing left but a few stringy strands. I'm trying not to be superficial, but it took years to grow my hair out. Now, it's just pretty janked up, and I'm eventually going to have to chop it off and start from the beginning.

I need to stop being such a girl. It's just hair, right? AND there are some attributes to having a thin mullet:

1. Less use of shampoo and conditioner = more money to travel
2. Less prep time in the morning = more sleep
3. Everyone loves a mullet
4. I could get a tuft
5 Or turn it into a rat tail

What was I thinking?
I've been scalped.
Stupid, gross thin hair.