So I let my wife go shopping with her sister and this is what she comes back with. Now, I have had many dogs and they all came with a natural way to keep warm. We call it fur, but hey, maybe she does need a little something to keep in fashion…yeah I don’t think so either.
Went to a little place called “Buda's Belly” in Itaewon tonight and had some wonderful Thai food. Other than that, there is little else to say so I will say goodnight and talk at you later…
More to come…
Nobody worry, we are still here. I am sorry that I have been remiss in updating as I should, but I think the “honeymoon” stage of our acclimation period is on hold for awhile as we settle into the last few busy weeks of school. I think one of the teachers said we have about 19 days left in the semester. Sometimes it feels as if we have been here always, while other times I am still the lost sojourner at Inchon Airport. Life is full of surprises and living here is no different.
While I have little news, I will say that Charity and I are signing up for Hangul (Korean script) classes for the summer and while we are excited about formalized teaching, I can say that it is a most frustrating language for my English tongue to learn. I never really truly empathized with the missionaries attempting to learn a new language in adulthood till now. While my need to learn the language is not an absolute necessity, it would be wonderful to walk into a business, restaurant or even church on Sunday and have even simple conversations with the wonderfully kind local people.
Something that I just noticed recently, as not knowing Korean is much akin to a language cocoon, by trying to use Korean, they assume that I know waaaay more then I can actually say. I can simple say in my best pronunciation “한국어 조금 이해하다” which, as near as I can make out, means “I understand Korean a little” (literally though it is “Korean little understand).” Then they shoot down another lengthy list of Korean words as I repeat over and over again that I don’t know Korean in Korean. I then have to finally say “I don’t understand” in English and that usually ends the matter.
What is worse, some Korean words pop into my head at the wrong time and the right ones won’t come, no matter how hard I think. It is very awkward to say thank you when you should be saying hello…
A couple of quick items and then I will have to touch in with you all again later. First, I was asked and had the privilege of leading Bible Study last Sunday. It is a little daunting to be opening the Bible in front of the local body as I have not really done this before and because many in the local body have very strong faith and knowledge of the Bible already. My plea for prayer comes on two fronts. First, that I would not be the center of the teaching time and Christ would take preeminence. Second, that I would have enough time and diligence to properly prepare.
Second, this week has been insane! With the absence of one of the teachers this week, Charity and I have been picking up the other classes and while I initially thought it would be no big deal, it has been quite hectic!
All that to say that we are still here and I know I have been remiss in my posting, but I will try to get back to it shortly…
Until next time,
More to come…
To start my next post, I should say I had very little to do with the preparation for the wonderfully performed SCS Spring Concert. That duty and privilege went to two other teachers who worked (and continue to work) excessively hard to bring out the talents of those students.
However, I did have the honor of preparing and coordinating very small parts of the program. It is humorous in that I have a communications degree which would lead some to believe that I prefer the spotlight. I however have little to no desire to be in the public eye. I think it is because of my training that I prefer not to be in the public eye. For me, working in the background is where I prefer. No piety involved, it is really just my propensity towards the hermitical.
Two days before the Spring Concert, one of the lady teachers here asked me to take the boys in choir and band to demonstrate how to tie a…tie. SCS purchased regular ties for these young men to wear at the Concert and I assumed, errantly, these young men knew how to tie a simple tie knot. I also assumed, erroneously, that all I was showing them was how to tie a Full-Windsor knot, which is, of course, the sharpest way to tie your tie.
Was I surprised! Only about three out of thirty knew how to tie a tie and only one of them knew the Full-Windsor. The teaching lesson that ensued was as telling as it was comical.
Before I can get to this, I must explain my qualifications for my being able to teach this daily task to these young men.
I learned how to tie the Full-Windsor from my father sometime between the ages of 8 and 10. He must have been a good teacher because I have used it on and off for the last 15+ years. Subsequently, I learned several other knots but have always returned to the Full-Windsor as it is the nicest and cleanest knot. After years at church, formal events, performances, being a student at Bob Jones and later roles as employee has necessitated my tying the Full-Windsor upwards of 5,000 times. In fact I have done it so often that I have created a permanent neuromuscular facilitation (muscle memory, consider your vocabulary expanded!) which allows me to create the knot with no thought at all. I let my fingers fly through the knot as my mind ponders the coming day. This statement will come into play a little later.
Flashback to the teaching session. There I stood on a makeshift podium with collar up and tie draped over neck. Across from me stood about 30 mirrors of me, sans podiums, waiting expectantly for the first cross of material. For the next HOUR my hands and voice labored in vigorous attempt after attempt to teach the basic concepts, techniques and movements needed to attain a suitable Full-Windsor knot.
However, after about the fifth time, halfway through the sixth knot, I could not remember the next step. My brain as well as my hands went into lockdown and I stood there dumbly. Worse, I tried from the beginning—letting my hands do all the work—and I still couldn’t remember how to do it! So there I stood floundering in something I have done automatically an average of five times a week for the last 15 years! While eventually I did recover, I still felt silly trying to remember something so habitual.
I would like to say congratulations to the many young men and women that participated in the program as it was very well done and encouraging to me.
Also, to preview what might be coming in future posts:
Some of our favorite foods in “I Just Ate What?!?!?!?”
The progress of our current Korean lessons in “I Never Meant to Imply…”
A recent poll among students about our fairness in “Teeeeacherrrrr, You So Meeeeeean!”
Or Charity and Daniel’s many trials training a puppy in “Those Were My Favorite Shoes…”
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Also, I would like to say that my thoughts and prayers are being sent to the family and friends of David Anders. I worked with Mr. Anders for several months and we both travelled to Toronto on the same business trip. The shock of his sudden passing has brought back the sobering reality that we all have very little time on earth and even less time to waste. Rest in peace
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More to come…
Ok, as promised, I will fill you in on the activities of last Friday (4/10/2009). I know that I am over a week late, but I totally underestimated the business of the first week back to school. If you go to the Map that I created here. You can see not only the many paths of our travels in and around Seoul, but I also updates as we go on our little excursions. Take a look around and especially take a look at the satellite view of Lotte World, it is pretty cool.
If you would like to see a few pictures of Lotte World, then check those out here.
So first impressions? It was like walking into Disney World—without the super-long waits for rides and super-long walks from one ride to the other—right down to the cartoon characters and teenagers running a majority of the rides.
It was a blast! They officially have one of my top 5 favorite rides. It is this giant swing with a rotating disk on the “seat” of the swing. Here it is at the apex of the parabolic movement.
Also, the vast majority of rides and places to get something to eat or drink are actually inside!
The dome in the video is actually the indoor section of the amusement park. It is quite the sight to see!
I thought I might be uncomfortable in some of the rides due to my size, but found most of them to be quite nicely sized. Lotte World is not a Six Flags, Worlds of Fun or Cedar Point, but its rides are slightly better then those I remember at Disney.
As for the other entertainment, I dropped about 8,000 won at the midway games to win about 3,000 won worth of prizes. It was a bit of fun to shoot a gun that looked remarkably close to a an AK-47. I am not in the West anymore!
Also, there was show on the main stage of the interior part of the park. I really couldn’t understand what was being sung and said, but Captain Hook, Peter Pan, Snow White, some bears, a few Dutch people and a couple of guys in shiny shorts and glossy pants were all singing and prancing around on stage. I love Korea… Koreans love English words and they did say and sing a little in English. What little English came through seemed they were singing about believing in yourself, having confidence and being positive as those things will give you a wonderful life…or something. Very strange and a little comical.
Otherwise, it was a very fun day.
Ok, I can’t leave this post without stating a few contrasts… To understand the first contrast, you would almost have to see the men here. While there are many women here who take great time to make sure that they are well put together. You can see these ladies, young and old alike, pull out their mirrors every couple of hours to make sure their face is still perfect, hair is all in place and that their clothes have not rumpled incorrectly. The humorous part is that the men here are equally if not more concerned about their appearance. After every ride, I would get off and slowly stroll to the exit as I became spectator to this odd phenomenon of everyone else taking 5 minutes to check how they look in the back of iPods, cell phone screens (called hand-phones here) or nearby windows. As one, they participated in this little ritual before continuing their day. All this really brings me to another point.
I would call them “pretty boys” back in the States and would probably look upon them as less than a “true man.” However, they are considered very attractive here. Too my Western mind though, I find it difficult to not look at them like vain peacocks.
Second, Korean couples love to dress alike. Here they have “couples outfits.” Couple outfits usually have a saying on one shirt that is finished on the other, cartoon characters that are the same or picture that complete when they stand next to each other. While this is somewhat silly on its own, it does speak to the simplicity of their love. They appear to simply enjoy the other person completely. This is only an external, public observation so I am hesitant even to say that. However, they do seem to have a wonderful time in each other’s presence.
Well, I should probably wrap this up. I will say that I am about a week or so behind and will be making a valiant attempt to get caught back up in the coming weeks. The one nice thing about being behind is what I will call the preview factor.
So what can you expect in the next couple of blog posts? At school we had the Spring Concert and I have a few thoughts I would love to share on that. Also, I Charity and I are looking at beginning our studies in educational Masters degrees and there are some interesting thoughts I have on education in general.
But as you can probably guess,
More to come…
In an effort to add a little interest to this blog, I will be doing a small two-part mini-series on some of the events this week. When you take either an entire day or most of a day going or doing one thing, it should be recorded.
On Wednesday, we went to meet a former teacher and friend of one of the current teachers. So Charity and I along with another teacher, Charity’s sister and her sister’s roommate went to meet up with this lovely lady and her young (toddler age) daughter. The interesting part of this first leg was really the trip itself. We rode the subway to Sadang and hopped on a bus to head to the specific part of Suwon we wanted to go.
The subway is never really that interesting except for the crowded conditions. The bus on the other hand was very interesting. First, they have what appear to be washable covers for the seats. While it may not seem like a big deal, if you assume that there are 48 million people in Korea (give or take a few hundred thousand) and that somewhere between 10 and 11 million of them live here in Seoul (again give or take…), it can be a little disturbing to know that you are sitting on the same seat as so many other people. Now to all the mysophobes out there getting ready to spray their Lysol indiscriminately, please realize, in order to go anywhere greater than 10 km—and most often way less—you have to ride in some form of transportation and having your own car is a luxury beyond our desires and means. Besides, germs are a good way to build immunities…right?
The next thing I noticed is how warm I felt. In fact, it is true of everywhere I have been in the last week. It is HOT! But no Korean seemed phased by the oven created in the bus full of human BTUs and the solar oven created by the metal bus with the glass windows. I may be overstating it a bit but it was really hot. All we needed was an open window to help cool off. For the first few stops I was standing and had no control over the windows. Here I stood in short sleeves and jeans in the midst of Koreans bedecked in sweaters and woolen hats who didn’t even seem warm in the least. Needless to say, my window was opened as soon as I got a seat. By the way, total trip time via public transportation is about an hour.
Ok, so we got to Suwon with little issue and met up with this former teacher and her daughter just fine. We settled on Outback for lunch. For those who may not know, South Korea has many American restaurants but if you want something with a nice atmosphere which also has good western food, Outback is a natural choice.
A minor side note here, if you look in the menus of at Outback, they are full of wonderful dishes. With each dish containing meat they include the country of origin for every meat product in the form “Pork.France” or “Beef.Australia.” Evidently there have been “Mad Cow Disease” scares with American beef and as a result, no self-respecting establishment will be found without the country of origin for their meat.
After nice meal of chicken and ribs, we headed out for the city of Suwon at large. I cannot say I know that much about Suwon. However, what I do know is that it was a main battlement and historically a place of refuge. I was able to find some info about the structures, but it is hard to find a lot of concrete history on the place. I suppose I will have to continue to look.
I guess a few things struck me as interesting there is Suwon. First, the city is like this growing/morphing organism that expands outward while constricting itself inward. The old fortress walls barely stand out against the ever encroaching new buildings. As you look out you can see the old battlements beside new, shiny constructions. Also, I think advertisers must overwhelm the public at large. If there is a way to advertise on it, it will have a poster or flyer or some other form of promotion on it!
I have posted some pictures here on Facebook. Also, you can check the map of our travels here. I might be adding some info to this map as we go and if you would like to follow along at home, feel free to use this map.
Well, that is all I have for the moment. Please post questions in the comment section if there are any and I will do my best to answer.
So until next time…
More to Come…
Thought some might get a kick out of this short movie of 미아 playing one of her new favorite games; Flick the Food!
As for the splattered paint. One of the wonderful teachers here at SCS had an epiphany for an activity to kick off Easter Break. PAINTBALL!!!
It was somewhat interesting to note that almost all the students disliked the idea of playing paintball. The opportunity to shoot your teacher with an exploding sphere of dyed glycerin propelled by a heavy *puff* of compressed air.
It was amazing to see the ferocity that arose in sweet student and teacher alike. The battle cry of one of the teachers as he stormed an “enemy” trench. The drawing of battle lines. The shots lucky to hit at a distance and the pain of the paint shot at close range.
While we all are probably still bearing the scars of the event, I believe that everyone had a wonderful time. I even think we maybe planning on doing this next year perhaps.
Now for the moment you may not have known everyone was waiting for…
While everyone has an April 1st, it seems that Koreans don’t place as much significance on the “Fools” part of that day. So one of the teachers here helped them learn the full meaning of April Fools. If you think that teacher was me, well, think again. I did some nice and easy April Fools jokes and basically had a good-natured laugh. Little did I know that my day would get…interesting.
I started the 9th grade class just like any other but halfway through—when I was writing something on the board—three of the boys stood up—turning over a desk in the process and creating a huge crash—and started posturing. This is an important juncture to point out that I probably outweighed all three of these boys and probably also outweighed any two of them combined.
When I took stock of the situation I immediately treated it as I would two dogs fighting—I went for the scare off. I slammed the ruler that I had in my hand down on a desk and proceeded to explain—in volumes none to quiet—that if one punch was thrown that I would be the one throwing the rest. Looking back, I am not sure that was the best action but live and learn… Two sentences in both boys had their tails between their legs. I then told them they both had detention for the next two class days.
As I went back to teaching, one of the girls raised her hand and told me “Mr. Moorehead, I am sorry, but you have just been punked!” Of course, there at the door was the other teacher laughing hysterically.
So consider this my bow to the fact that the other teacher spent her whole class period planning. :o)
I am sure there will be,
More to come.
Ok, I might have spoken about Doosan before and how we walk through the apartment complex either walking the dog or on our way somewhere.
What I might not have talked about is the garbage system here. It seems silly to talk about, but it is a distinct part of living here.
There are several types of waste depositories. First is the “food” trash. This is for anything of an edible nature. I believe this trash is taken to composting for the local farms.
Next is the recycling. To say “recycling” though sounds a little to simple for the complex nature of Korean recycling. There are trash cans for every aspect of that recycling—glass, Styrofoam, plastic, metal, cardboard, paper, etc—and supposedly, everything is put in the correct bin.
Third is the “everything else” trash and it is anything that doesn’t fit in the previous categories. In American terms, this is the garbage in the kitchen.
The last, and I consider the most interesting, type is the larger items needing a special sign so they get picked up. This sign means “free to a good home” in my American brain. So far we have picked up (literally) a computer chair, a computer, one umbrella-holding “kimchi pot”, one nice white faux-leather chair, two Korean tables (low to the ground for eating at the floor level) and now an older model—but still in great working order—TV.
No I said in one of my last posts that people throw this stuff out as a way of promoting their status (ie “If I can throw it out, I must be rich”), but it can also be attributed to the lack of a U-haul rental location or the fact that it costs soooooo much to move an apartment to a new location here in Korea. I think buying new things is as cheap if not cheaper than moving all the stuff. Plus, who wouldn’t want to completely furnish their new apartment with new things?
For those of you keeping Charity in your prayers, thank you so much. She has been feeling much better and as yet we have not gone back to see the doctor.
Next week is our spring/Easter break and we are excited to have the time off.
More to come…
With the recent poll on the blog I thought I would be the eyes, ears and nose of of your experience here in Korea. I really can’t give you the whole experience, but I can give you a small *snicker* taste of Korea.
From rolling out of bed to breakfast there is really no difference here than in America. However from moving from breakfast to the first step into the cold shower does bring its surprises. You see, the floor in the bathroom is one of only three places in the apartment that doesn’t have floor heating. The only comfort from cold feet is the seemingly endless hot water pouring from the shower head.
Again, nothing really new or exciting between the shower and getting dressed.
Upon opening the door to our apartment onto the stairwell, the first smells hit. Sometimes it is the smell of fish and rice being cooked from across the hall. Sometimes it is the musty odor of all the wet ads laying on the floor close to the entry way. Yet other times it has no smell at all (which I find in some ways to be very comforting).
Stepping outside the apartment for the first time in Korea almost made me gag. If you haven’t lived in a city then you don’t know what kinds of smells are associated with city life. I lived in Toronto and got used to many of the smells locally in Toronto.
Korea is no different. However, the smells here have different mixtures behind them. Everything from the cleaning products to the foods, even to the containers products come in play their roll in cornucopia of aromas meeting the nostrils. The open sewer at the road in front of our apartment always brings its own major wave of smells.
The walk to school is a short one, but the road is far from the even, nicely paved roads on the highways and suburban streets in the US. It is an uneven, pot-hole-ridden walk to school (or to any traveling over non-main roads).
Now a walk down the main road is a slightly different story. There is nothing inherently wrong with the sidewalks. In fact a stroll down the main road provides many sensory stimuli. The smell of the squid, octopi, shellfish along with various other fish being sold at the fish market. The smell of diesel fuel hanging in the air lingers in the nose(most of the cars seem to be diesel). The sound of the scooters and extremely small delivery “trucks” passing on the road as they dart and weave through traffic. If you ever have the opportunity to smell silk-worm larva being cooked (they seemed to be eaten much like popcorn…) you will never forget the musty, sickly-sweet smell.
Also, an interesting thing happens as people in Korea pass each other. Now, Koreans drive on the right side of the road as does US. The crosswalks likewise are marked to pass each other on the right. The funny thing is many Koreans naturally want to pass each other on the left. This gets awkward at time for yours truly. I find it best to simply stay towards the left and hopefully there won’t be this “no-touch” dance as we figure out how to pass each other.
Last, but certainly not least, is the subway. I will attempt to pull all the stops to describe the complete helplessness that comes with participating in the subterranean, human mass-transit system. Now, please don’t think it is like this all the time, but there are time its seems the green line (the subway line through Bongcheon) is this crowded. I don’t think I will ever forget stepping onto the green-line subway one day and completely losing—for about twenty minutes—any preconceived personal space boundaries. I stand between 6’ and 6’2” depending on what shoes I am wearing that day and how tall I decide to stand. Needless to say, I am Goliath to about 11 million Davids. I stand easily a head and shoulders above the average Korean. This height difference makes for an interesting ride as I attempt to keep my face out of the head of hair in front of me while also keeping my 230 lb. body from turning the people closest too me into the first to fall in a long line of human dominos and making sure that I do not take up more than my allotted space and encroach upon the boundaries of any other person on the subway. Fun, fun.
Honestly though, it costs usually no more than 1,200 Won (currently, less than a dollar) to go from Bongcheon to anywhere else in Seoul. Also, if we didn’t use that mode of transportation, then it would be nearly impossible to meet some of the nicest people Korea has to offer.
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I would like to take a break and ask those of you that pray, that you would pray for Charity. She has had some difficulties adapting to some of the food and lifestyle changes and somewhere along the way has picked up an ulcer in lower opening of her stomach (at least that what Dr. Cho said when we went to visit him). I do not believe it to be a serious health risk, but it is giving her no end of grief and he pain is my pain (or at lest I wish it could be…). There is a chance that she will have to go in for an endoscopy and I think the thought of that procedure is more frightening than it actually is. For those that have been reading this blog regularly (and even those that haven’t) I would ask that you might leave a comment of encouragement to her as I know that would mean a lot. Besides, I always love it when people leave a comment on my blog. :o)
Lastly, I would ask for your prayers over our testimony. I do not know if all my students are saved and those that are, may not be living up to their full potential (who really is). For some of them, I do not think there is a desire to even seek after God.
More to come…
The Korean above is pronounced "ttŏk" or “teok” if you say it with a hard “T”. To call 떡 simply rice cake is like calling chocolate a minor form of candy. Just like chocolate has so many forms and so does the Korean rice cake.
Now, according to the recent poll that I added to this blog, the two top things the readers want to read about are customs and foods. Well lets just say that I plan on answering.
I am not able to tell you all about the many types of 떡, I will tell you about the ones that have left the greatest impressions on me.
To start, you must understand that while 떡 comes in many different forms, there are really two main types that are prevalent—at least in our area that is.
First up is a dessert 떡. There are loads of dessert rice cakes out there. Some of the main kinds either look like some form of doughy candy or in other cases like white colored fruit cakes. The first time that I had the dessert form of 떡, I really thought that living in Korea was going to be tougher than I once believed. It had the consistence of slightly cooked bread dough and a taste like sweet rice. I immediately missed my mom’s cake… However, I have tried many other forms of 떡 and have grown much more fond of a few of the other types.
I currently have two favorite kinds. Both of them have red-bean centers and both have some form of color palette and coating.
This is an example of my new favorite. I really have no idea what the powder that coats them is, but I know they taste really good! Each of the colors has a slightly different taste. For instance the yellow ones taste distinctly lemony and the green ones like lime.
My other favorite looks just like the others only bigger and coated in coconut. Both types have a red bean (Azuki bean) mash center. It sounds a little strange, but it creates quite the taste experience.
A couple of others in the desert category are 호떡 (Ho-tteok) which is basically a pancake with the syrup on the inside and the one I will never purchase again…green tea 떡. The reason I won’t is because when you put them in your mouth and bite down they pop like oversized caviar. I do like green tea by the way, but those seriously put a damper on my 떡 desire.
Now lest you think that rice cakes are relegated only to dessert foods, let me tell you that rice in this form reaches far and wide.
One of the most popular dishes in Korea being sold at every street corner (or so it seems) is 떡볶이 pronounced “tteok-bok-ki.” It is better not to think of it as only one dish, but rather several dishes made from thick, short rice noodles. I have yet to acquire a taste for this dish even though it is really spicy hot and I do enjoy a mouth burn every once in awhile.
Sadly, I can think of very little else I know about these dishes and I have been borrowing heavily from my reading on some of the 떡 that I have not have.
By the way, I do not use Wikipedia as my only source, nor do I think it is always the best source. It does, however, provide its information freely and it usually can give some info about whatever I am trying to talk about at the moment.
FYI: I am adding a google map on the right side of the blog that shows you some of the places and interesting markers that you can see about life here in Korea.
So, until the next time.
More to come…
Ok, for all of you dog/animal lovers out there…I know there are a few, I am devoting this short post to the diminutive defecator of all thing dear to Daniel. Yes you guessed it, I will be talking about that little, loveable, annoying animal Mia.
Don’t get me wrong, I will absolutely love this dog when it learns to use the facilities or learns to squelch her nocturnal whines.
She is cute though. It is sometimes hard to punish her for using the bathroom in the wrong place when she looks up with the large black eyes. *sigh* I suppose I shouldn’t expect too much when she is still only about 2.5 months old. She has been doing better now that we have a semi-solid routine of going to bed, waking up and getting fed, going outside (emphasis on the going) and finally coming home and waiting patiently till we return from school.
Speaking of school, I found out how to make Mia’s name phonetically in Korean. It is “미아,” which unfortunately means “Lost Child” in Korean…
Ok, I know you have been wanting to see some pics (or more pics) so here they are:
Ok, now you have seen her. Expect to hear little snippets about Mia peppered throughout this blog as she has become one of the family, but don’t expect her to take as much space as she has today.
I am thinking of doing a small ongoing series on foods, customs, mannerisms or places. Please vote in the poll towards the top of this page and I will see what we can do about getting more information out.
Lastly, I am going to attempt to post three times a week. Hopefully I will have a longer post over the weekend and then two small posts during the week. Please don’t hold me to it as I have been somewhat unlucky in having frequent or for that matter, consistent posts.
Thank you to all that are reading and:
More to come…
With very little of interest to write about, I thought I would give a a couple of things that I think Korea does better than the US and a bit of the activities of the past week and weekend.
While I could describe more colorful events of the week—especially Thursday, I am much more interested in giving you a glimpse of living in Korea.
For instance a simple thing like a toilet paper holders all over Korea look like this:
While it looks minor, I can’t tell you how handy the metal flap is to tear off your next needed section of tp… Come now, who hasn’t gone to get a few sections one-handed and had most of the roll spin off to the floor? Now these are used all over Seoul and I am guessing Korea. Maybe a small thing, so let me see if I can find something better.
Next for your consideration, the shower:
As we move from the bathroom lets look at a much more complex item:
And directly in front of that item is:
Ok, again, I might not be able to definitely say that this is a Korean invention or that America does not have these, but the next item is still very convenient:
Due to the lack of a dishwasher—or am I the dishwasher…—and the lack of counter space, this rack comes in really handy. Basically it is hung underneath the cabinet and we can put all of our dishes on it with no problems whatsoever. With a two foot by two foot counter top this makes so much extra space.
Having momentarily run out of items to talk about, I thought I would discuss our last trip to Costco. First though, you should check out our wheels:
This is the school’s “bus” for all purpose transportation. I know what you are thinking, ‘What do they call it?’ and ‘Where can I get me one?’ Sorry, you can’t because I don’t think anyone else in Korea has a van this vintage and totally awesome! Yes, it is on the old side, but it is really fun to drive. You might remember me telling you from a previous post that I drove this the last time to Costco, well this time I let Linda drive as I will be taking the second half of the group of teachers at SCS back to Costco on Tuesday. What is the best about this vehicle is that it was made for a Korean and as such, I have to cram the stick (it is a manual transmission) deep into my patella just to get it into 1st gear. Then I have to grind it against my femur to get it locked into 2nd before being able to find the relief gear of 3rd. Not as much fun as you would think.
The Costco run again proved the single-mindedness of the culture here. Cars cutting each other off all over the place. Others driving on the shoulders (even on the freeway!!!) simply to go a car or two further up in line at the next stop. I think what is most frustrating about it is the sheer lack of understanding. Most people simply do not gain that much from their erratic driving nor do they foster goodwill. Before coming, my assumption about the spirit here is that people would be more generous. While that seems to be true for some things, the ego-centric attitude is what creates a problem. BTW, they treat lines at Costco like traffic lanes and carts like cars. Chaos to say the least.
After Costco, some of the teachers gathered at Linda and Jessica’s apartment (they have the biggest and nicest apartment ergo they often will host when more than 6 people are involved). On the way there I found this:
On the way back we also found this:
While most American’s look at items like these and see salvageability, most Koreans would look upon minor defects as too overwhelming to accept. Please notice that this is all being filtered through an American’s eyes and therefore tinted in shades of red, white and blue. Bongcheon, where we are living, is not known for its extreme wealth. In fact I would be surprised if the majority of people living here are much above what American’s would consider the poverty level. The truth is that disposability is a way of showing status. if I can throw it away, then I must be rich.
Americans may be wrong on many things. Believe me, when you get a little change in perspective, it is easy to see some flaws. Please don’t get me wrong, I love the ‘land of the free and the home of the brave’ but it isn’t perfect. Still, it saddens me that there is so much needless waste here. If these people would take the time to see how ‘one mans trash is another mans treasure’ then perhaps Korean national debt would be on the decrease unlike its current state. Just a few thoughts, really nothing more.
According to the program I use to post, I am now almost to 1,200 words and climbing so I think that I will stop for now. After all, who wants to read this book of a post?
More to come…
After a relatively quiet night Friday, we arose at a not so early time and Charity, Mylinda, Lisa and I went to Itaewon.
Itaewon is near the Army base and because of the location, there are loads of “Americanized” shops. Now the Western influence is heavy-almost everyone speaks English. The problem is that few of them actually are capable of engaging in true American business. For example, this is a little shop across from the pita wrap place we had lunch.
Which brings me to another bit; the pita place-I wish I could remember the name-was a little joint above some other store. It reminded me of Chipotle or Z-teca only with pitas and sandwich makings instead of tortillas and Tex-Mex fixings. Absolutely delicious!
Now you might think that after 2 months in country, the only reason that we went to Itaewon to get some Western food. However, the true reason lay in something that is eaten less often in the Asian countries than you might be led to believe. Mylinda had contacted an animal shelter that had one little white kitten up for adoption. Needless to say their was a huge amount of “ewwwing” and “ahhhhing” when the tiny feline was brought out. The joys of being a pet owner…
Back to Itaewon at large. The shops around there have many English speakers who seem to have only clothing to sell. Which was good as I have been needing to find ties that go with a few of the shirts I have. Being a man, I have very little need to go to a place to purchase clothing (especially when my normal size of Large and X-Large are now 2X and 3X-Large in the Korean standards). I did find out that for about the price of a shirt back in the States, I could have a shirt made to size and with the fabric of my choice. I may have to try that as what I would consider feminine colors such as blushing pastels and vibrant shades of pink are considered more than acceptable for Korean men to wear. While mentally I can justify it, physically and…optically, I have a hard time bringing myself to wear some of those things. Maybe in time…
I let the girls head for the house and I went to Yongson on the way back. *sigh* For the nerd in me, Yongson is paradise in silicon and integrated circuits. It is hard to describe the sheer magnitude of electronics being sold there. Everything to the smallest of computer parts to the washers, dryers and refrigerators are sold between about 6 different main buildings and hundreds of vendors and shops. If the world of electronics makes it, it is probably at Yongson. After I had my fill of trying to convince store owners that what they were trying to sell me I didn’t want and that they did not have what I wanted. I headed back by subway to Bongcheon and to home.
As I got on the subway though, this 230 pound plus 6 foot 2 inch male was squished into a space for someone that was about half my size. Evidently, everyone in Korea rides the subway between 8 and 10 at night on Saturday. Crazy.
Well, it 11:30 and I should have been in bed a couple hours ago. I did add some photos here: Facebook Photos enjoy and I will hopefully write again soon…
More later…
I wish that I could give another great little tidbit here about all the exciting things we have been doing, but to be quite honest, we have done little since we returned from out Valentine's weekend in downtown Seoul.
I have a couple options here, first I could answer questions given on my New Challenge post but seeing that only one person (thanks so much Michele!) has asked any questions, I will postpone that at least a little while longer.
Perhaps I could talk about some of the funny things happening in the class...or maybe our search for a puppy (or kitten as Charity has a hard time making up her mind).
Well, as I can't decide and chronology is my default, lets see what happens with a little shift to topical.
My students, and this seems somewhat typical of Korea, have a great ability to memorize and store amazing amounts of facts, formulas and passages. However, they have a very hard time with analytics, general logic and powers of observation. Now while most of math is based almost entirely on cumulative memorization, geometry breaks that mold a bit. My students have a hard time applying what they know to what they see.
For instance, they can tell me how to measure a triangle’s area but they have a hard time seeing the relationship between the measurement of a rectangle and a triangle. Ok, for those of you that haven’t taken geometry in a while, go find a 9th grader and have them explain it to you.
The long and short of it is that I have been learning some new techniques for making them THINK! First, those that read ahead haven’t been overly surprised at my new “pop” quiz (I say pop as I have been warning them to be ready for quite some time now.
Also, I have been using word games such as the one that goes “When I drove the bus, at the first stop 9 people go on 2 people got off…” and at the end when they have been trying to keep up with the passengers on the bus, you ask something like “What color are the bus drivers eyes"?”. I think the record for the most repetitions was something like 6 before they caught on. Usually when they figure it out they get very loud and the groans can be heard on the floor below. Not only are those types of stories very enjoyable, they also test their powers of observation.
On another note, there is a Korean “old wives tale” that states, those that have been here can back me up on this one, “if you fall asleep with a fan on blowing in your face and all the windows are closed then you will die.” I have been trying to find out the origin of this belief and to date am still lost. While I found it very humorous, many intelligent Koreans still believe this saying to have some merit.
I found out that my 9th graders believed it when I made reference to an American old wives tale. When they asked me what that was, I told them it is something that is believed to be true but isn’t backed up with any real evidence like the Korean fan myth. Stunned silence met my remarks and then “Oh, really?” and “Are you sure?” (which are very common expressions from them) rang out. Whoops! I think I burst a cultural bubble there…
And that is about all can think to say. I will hopefully have some more interesting things to say after this weekend. I think Charity, Lisa, Mylinda and I are going to go to Itaewon for some electronics shopping and probably go and look at some kittens for Mylinda…they taste just like tender chicken.
Just Kidding!!!
More later…
