Mmm, I Love Me Some Creative Juices!

It's been way too long since my last update--I know, I'm terrible at this. I've been so busy and tired and I like to spend time on my updates. Let's just call it... creative absence. Yeah, that's it. 

I probably will make multiple posts to catch you up to speed, to avoid one really really really incredibly loooong post. First things first, I believe last time I posted I said I would talk about our trip to Gyeongju, the first touristy thing that we've done in South Korea. 

Gyeongju is one of the oldest cities (maybe the oldest?) in SK. However, pretty much everything has been rebuilt or reconstructed due to pillaging and war. It's very touristy, lots of temples and statues and things like that. It takes about an hour to get there by bus, so Marc and I had planned on leaving around 8am to get there; unfortunately, we're both tired and lazy so we didn't leave to go to the bus station until 9:30. By the time we got to the station, bought tickets, and made the trip to Gyeongju, it was noon. Not terrible, but not great.

There was a tourist center just outside the bus station, so we ventured in and found an English map. The girl behind the desk was very helpful and told us where the main attractions were, as well as the bus lines to take us there. Hooray! So our first stop turned out to be Temple Bulguksa, one of the oldest and largest Buddhist temples in Korea; we knew we should take the #10 or 11 bus, but where to stop? We decided just to look for the giant temple. Surely we couldn't miss it, right?

When we first got on the bus, there were maybe 5 people on it. Two stops later, it was completely FULL--as in, my elbow in some Korean guy's crotch for 30 minutes with him staring down my shirt. (I'm not sure Marc ever noticed that; this might be his first time hearing about it. Oopsie :) ). Anyway, we figured it would probably be best to just get off the bus when everyone else did because there was no way all those people were on the bus just for fun. Our plan worked, and we made it to the temple! Well, we made it to the bottom of the hill that we needed to climb to get to the temple. But whatever, we made it! 

I didn't get any pictures at the bottom of the hill, but I did at the top. I'm pretty sure I climbed a small mountain (at least my thighs were sure--holy moly). 

The view was pretty awesome; one of these days I'm going to take photos of the mountains around Daegu. I'm not used to living in a city with huge mountains like, right THERE. I asked some of my students if people live in the mountains here. They gave me a resounding, "Um, no. Hahahaha." I think they're lying though. People have to live in the mountains; what's the point of having mountains if there aren't mountain people to be afraid of? 

So we got to the top of our massive (small) mountain (hill), and there was a bridge. With fish in the water. Photo op!

Next there was a strange walkway with strange men in it. Ooh, la la. I like the guy with the snake-dragon-thing. Serpent?

Here are some people at the local watering hole. And a sexy foreign dude. Double ooh, la la!

And here it is, the great Temple Bul-guk-sa!! BEHOLD! Oh, and Sexy Foreign Dude again.

After walking around alot, we decided to move on the next attraction. There was a hiking trail we could take for 2.2km (about a mile?), or a bus. I demanded the bus because I was hot, sweaty, and had a sinking feeling the trail was completely uphill.

AND I WAS RIGHT! You know those movies that show people driving on scary curvy roads with sharp drop-offs if you make one wrong move? Yeah, that was what we took a bus on. Oi vey, uphill was an understatement for what this was---more like CURVY VERTICAL ROAD OF DEATH. I'm so glad we took the bus, with my luck I would have tripped, started rolling the hill and that would be it. No more Christina. I could hear the news headline already--"Female Foreigner Takes the Bul-guk-sa Plunge After Tripping Over a... Pebble?" 

So we made it to our next attraction, Seokguram Grotto. Long walking trail, followed by 98759827459872 stone steps WITH NO RAILING to walk up to the grotto. It's pretty neat, a giant Buddha carved out of granite. 

I hijacked this picture from Wikipedia because we weren't allowed to take photos inside the grotto.

And here are some photos that I did take. 

When you leave the grotto, there's a place to write messages and I guess people just leave them for others to read. Here are some that I thought were worthy of my camera.

By the time we finished at Seokguram Grotto, it was too late to visit anything else. We were exhausted anyway, after all the walking and sweating and touristy-ness. We plan to visit again to see more sites. I'm particularly excited about this: 

Cheomseongdae is an astronomical observatory in Gyeongju, South Korea. Cheomseongdae means star-gazing tower in Korean. Cheomseongdae is the oldest surviving observatories in East Asia, and one of the oldest scientific installations on Earth. It dates to the 7th century to the time of kingdom of Silla, which had its capital in Gyeongju.

Ah, so that was Gyeongju in a nutshell. Well, half of it anyway. Okay, maybe one-third. But still! Stay tuned for more updates from your favorite waegookin (Korean for foreigner) blogger!

You've Seen One, You've Seen Them All

I'm in Starbucks trying to do some lesson planning for my classes tomorrow--however, I've been much more successful at checking Facebook and reading reviews on a book I just finished (Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult). 

People in the US or wherever might make fun of Starbucks because every store is so cookie-cutter, but let me tell you--whoever decided that was a good thing was extremely smart. When I worked at Starbucks, I learned during my training that Starbucks' goal is to make their stores the "third place". Basically, every person spends the majority of their time at home, work/school, and that elusive "third place"; Starbucks wants to be that place, a place you can relax away from the hustle and bustle of home and work. 

Well, I've discovered another wonderful thing about the cookie-cutter store--even when I'm thousands of miles from home, I can come to Starbucks and be back in Birmingham. The music, the drinks, the colors, the furniture--it's all the same. I must say, their food is much better than what I've had in Birmingham. Now I'm also listening online to Live 100.5, and I almost think I'm not in Korea (except when I look up and realize I'm surrounded by Koreans. But, you know, that's just a minor detail.). The stores here are also HUGE. I just counted about 45 tables, and there are more in the front of the store that I can't see. Luckily, I have to walk about 20 minutes to get to Starbucks, so don't worry, I'm not spending all my money on coffee :) 

Later, gators.

Can I Ask You a Personal Question?

Or better yet... 

Student A: Can I ask personal kestion? 

Me: Sure.

Student A: Have you tried diet? 

Student B: **Gasp!**

Me: Eh? (and thinking, "Crap, here it comes...")

Student A: Have you tried diet? I think you are so fat and must be unhealthy. You should eat Korean food.

Student B: **GASP!!**

Me: I eat Korean food.

Student A: How many hamburger you eat in week?

Me: 1 or 2.

Student A: Ah. You try Korean diet. Much healthy than hamburger.

Because, you know, eating hamburgers makes people fat. Nothing else. Just hamburgers. I'm aware that I'm overweight. I don't need a woman who probably wears about a size 2 giving me diet tips. (Speaking of which, I've already lost 2 pants sizes since coming to Korea. Woohoo!)

I wanted to tell this student that her question was very inappropriate and if she asked that to people when she traveled she should be prepared for a good punch in the face, but I didn't. I see her once a week in my Saturday class, and it's just not worth the hassle. Especially since she's like 45 and probably won't change her ways anytime soon. 

Have I mentioned that most clothing stores here don't carry anything above a size MEDIUM? I went into Gap with Marc to find a belt for him and noticed their ladies clothes only go up to size 8. EIGHT. 

End rant.

Marc and I went to a touristy place today. I'll post pictures later, but right now it's bedtime. Goodnight!

Spring is HERE!!!

Spring is FINALLY here! I thought winter would never end---whew. I was quite tired of the freezing mornings and cold afternoons. Marc and I had started taking taxis everywhere, and since the base fare just jumped to W2200 (about $1.65 as of today) it was getting a tad expensive. However, yesterday and today were BEAUTIFUL, so here's hoping it stays like this :)

Marc and I went to a baseball game yesterday--go Samsung Lions! Teams here are not associated with cities, but with companies, even though the teams are from specific cities--like the Samsung Lions are from Daegu. But they're not the Daegu Lions. They're the Samsung Lions. Okay, enough of that. I have pictures!

Here we are waiting for the subway to take us to the stadium. It's only crowded because this is the transfer station. Usually there are not that many people waiting for the subway. 

As you can see, Marc is brimming with excitement. This is Marc's excited face. He's super-excited about going to the baseball game. I'm just excited to be going somewhere.

Now we're outside the stadium. Of course, lots of vendors selling all kinds of Korean yummies--dried fish, flattened squid, fried chicken. Mmm nom nom nom. We're so going to get hot dogs and beer! We can eat dried peanut butter squid any day of the week--it's hot dog time!

Wait, this is Korea. Apparently you only get hot dogs and beer at American baseball games. So we settled on water and fried chicken. And then ice cream. Here I am after realizing you can't get real hot dogs at Korean baseball games. 

That's my fake smile. I'm actually completely angry and ready to throw down some Koreans. Me Hulk! Hulk Angry! **Oooh, Baseball!**

Okay, so it was a pretty warm day. The sun was beating down on us, and I even got a little sunburned. I think this is a good time to mention that Koreans are not big on sunglasses. They prefer hats. Not just any hats, though. No, they must wear special edition Baseball Visors! As you can see in the picture below, they can be purchased at the baseball game and they are the perfect unisex gift! They even come in different colors--Dorothy Blue, and Sandy Tan!

Also very stylish in Korea this time of year is the Newspaper Hat. It's a hat that looks like a newspaper that's been folded into a hat! You can also opt to wear it casually laid across the top of your head, as the young couple pictured below has chosen to pair with their dressy baseball-day attire of a suit for him and a dress with heels for her.

Finally, we have the traditional Baseball Hat. Go Red Sox!

All in all, it was a good day. The Samsung Lions beat the LG Twins 5-3, and Marc and I got out and had some fun. 

Oh, and we decided next time we're getting lunch on the way to the game at this place: 

I know, I found Subway! I'm so excited! Okay, I'm out.

Holy Frequent Posting, Batman!

I know, try not to pass out--more than one post in a week! I told you I was going to work on posting more, I just had to get into my groove. 

I've been sick for 3 days--not fun. It's just a cold, but it's a bad cold. It's actually a "Korean cold", as I was told by one of my Korean coworkers (and subsequent Koreans agreed to the terminology as well). Something about germs and I'm just not used to the Korean germs. In any case, I feel pretty crappy and my nose is so red and gross from blowing it all the time that I'm pretty sure I look pretty crappy also. However, today was the last day of the teaching month so that's good. Classes will start again on Thursday; normally we would have tomorrow off, but we have to go to a teaching workshop from 9-3--at least we don't have to be there at 6:30, so we do get to sleep in. 

Now for some pictures! Here is an example of some of my teaching....

I know, you're impressed. Here I am explaining present vs present continuous verb tenses to my level 2 speaking class. Oh, and here they are! I have 2 level 2 classes, 6:30 and 7:30am. There are usually about 11 students in the 7:30 class, but only a few showed up the day I was taking pictures.

Here are some of my level 3 classes. I have 2 more, but I didn't have my camera for the other two. The 3 ladies in the first picture are very interesting--they gave me low scores on my class evaluations (all of my other classes apparently love me) but they always bring me things--coffee, chocolate--today they even brought sandwiches! I just can't figure them out. The second picture is my favorite class--the girl hardly ever shows up, but the guy, Gary, actually WANTS to learn English. Right now he's reading Harry Potter and he also listens to an English radio station, so he always brings his books to class to have me help him decipher different phrases and idioms. 

Oh, so I heard something funny the other day. In Korea, the name for a married woman is "ajumma" and as they get older they can be characterized by their short, curly hair, sun visor, faux athletic wear, and a serious attitude. The attitude comes from the age thing--Korea is big on respect for elders--and since they are married and have had children, they have more life experience, etc. Basically, they deserve all respect because they've been through it all. They tend to be pretty tough cookies, a force to be reckoned with--you don't want to mess with these little ladies! 

Oh, so yeah, the funny thing. One of my students told me that Korea has 3 genders--male, female, and ajumma. So it's good to know that all Koreans are afraid of them, not just foreigners :) 

So that's all I've got for now, time to shower and get ready to go back to work. 

Wanted: Exciting Trip to Anywhere

Greetings to all of my faithful readers, I'm already posting again and it's only been 5 days! Maybe I'm starting to get the hang of this whole "blogging" thing--as opposed to the whole, "maybe I should write something so people know we haven't been nuked by the N. Koreans yet are still alive." *cough* Anyway.

It's 6pm on Saturday; Marc went to work today to sub for another teacher from 3-7, and I've done NOTHING today. Well, except for waiting up at 6:15 this morning absolutely freaked out because I thought I was late for work. I'm not kidding. I opened my eyes, saw the sunlight, and practically leaped out of bed, hyperventilating. Marc was all, "What's wrong?! Christina, WHAT'S WRONG??!?!?" For 2 seconds I was almost violently angry because Marc didn't seem to understand the gravity of the situation but then I realized what day it was. I sank back to the bed, put my head in my hands and sighed, "It's the weekend, isn't it...". I blame it on the cold medicine I took last night.

In any case, I took a shower about an hour ago and have been playing on the internet since then. It's just so hard to get going when I have a sweet little cat named Elliot sleeping by my side! Oh well, we're going to a wedding tomorrow for one of Marc's friends so that's something. The cherry blossoms are starting to bloom, so as soon as it gets warmer I'd like to go to one of the various cherry blossom festivals around here. They're such a welcome sight (and smell!).

Oh, so, I do have some interesting tidbits to report on. First, I witnessed my first public urination last Wednesday. I've heard that Korean men really have no qualms about peeing in public, but I hadn't actually seen it until now. I was walking to meet Marc after he got out of work, and heard the sound of running water. I looked up and there's a man in a suit leaning against a wall just taking a leak like it's no big deal. The American female in me quickly averted my eyes and just walked a little bit faster. I'm not really sure why they have no shame about that, or about hacking and spitting in public (even indoors), yet they're so private about some other things. 

I'm also a little tired of people who are not Americans thinking it's okay to rag on America in front of Americans. Oh, and saying things like, "If Bush did that I'd say he's an idiot but since it's Obama, I don't care so much!" But, you know, whatever. 

I know there was something else I wanted to mention, but I can't remember right now. I'll post it when I remember it. Until then, I leave you with... "The Obama Song".

Night of the Living Teachers. And Signs.

Hm. It's obviously been much longer since my last post than I promised, and I'm sorry. I know you've been waiting ever-so-patiently (or maybe not) to find out more about our adventures in Korea, but hey, the time's finally come.

It's not that I've been just so busy, per se, just.... sleepy. This month I've been working 6:30 to noon M-F, and 7:30-9:30pm T, Th, and every other Friday. I usually end up taking like 2-3 hour naps in the afternoon, play on the internet, do laundry (I'm ALWAY doing laundry!), and in general, I'm just being lazy. I'm trying to fix that, however, and I think I'm starting to be more awake during the days. 

Teaching is going very well, I think. I don't really have any cool stories to tell but I do have some pictures. I have learned, however, that it is very difficult to make plans with Koreans because if they don't want to meet or they want to go someplace else, they don't actually tell you. For example, 2 Saturdays ago we wanted to get some dinner and drinks with some Korean friends. We set up a time and place to meet, but when we got there nobody was there. So we called one person and she said she had already eaten dinner--well, what the heck? You couldn't have just told us that when we made the plans? Then we called the other person and she said she didn't know the plans were for that night. Again, what the heck?? Whatever, man. Rather than do something that might disappoint the foreigners, they'd rather wait until the last minute, after we've already walked 25 minutes to meet them, to tell the truth. 

They're not that bad, though, it's just a pride thing that's inherent to all Koreans. Some of Marc's friends took him out for his birthday and bought him a cheesecake and everything. It was really nice, and the restaurant was great. Here's a picture of Veronica, Agnes, Bo, and Christi.

Christi is teaching us Korean on the weekends--I know the alphabet and some key phrases, but I read like I'm in kindergarten. It's okay though, it's progress! Here's one of Marc and Veronica...

It's very popular here to give the peace sign--anyone know why? I don't, but I'd like to know. Here's another popular sign...

Yeah, I don't know either. The restaurant we were at (Mise) had several of these. I'm not sure who told them it was a good idea, but whatever floats their boat. Here's another favorite sign of mine, and it's right on the highway...

Notice the "No Horse-Drawn Carts" at the top? I smile a little every time I walk by this. 

So we're about to go to Costco for some water, detergent, food, and PIZZA! I bid you adieu, mes amis.

P.S. Say hello to my sleepy boys! Don't miss Elliot between Marc's feet :)