Counting Your Blessings

Yesterday, Brandon, from South Africa, called me up. He had just gotten home from school and wanted to go grab a meal. Of course I joined him. Vacation has led to boredom for me. Well, Brandon and I had a wonderful day. I took him across town to a big office supply store that we call the "teacher store" where you can pick up anything that you need. We explored some new stores. We also found an underground grocery store and department store. Who knew it even existed? Not me.

Well, now comes the shocking news. Brandon was telling me about his winter English camp. His school, in their infinite wisdom, decided to farm him out to an even more rural school. This new school is 40 minutes from his current school (which is quite out there). Well, to quote Brandon, this school made him feel like he was in the movie "Deliverence," which does not bode well for anyone. At lunch time he was asking about a restaurant. There are no restaurants. Well, they had food for him. They gave him a nice soup. Now, playing "guess the meat" is kind of a game we have to play often. So, Brandon is asking "pig? Is this pig? Cow, is this cow?" Well, eventually someone just kind of nodded.

The soup was horrible and the meat was very chewy and strange. Later, a man used his cell phone and looked up the English word for what they were eating. Racoon. He was eating racoon. Today the menu contained rabbit. Thank God in heaven that I have NEVER had to endure that. I hope Brandon brings a lunch from now on.

Seoul After Dark

Here are some lovely pics of Seoul at night. I'm not entirely sure if these lights are due to Christmas or are just normal. I hope they're there all of the time, they're very beautiful.

Now, isn't that pretty? Wouldn't you like to see that everytime you go out at night? I also walked over a chanel that is a central walking/shopping district in Seoul. It's quite beautiful at night. I need to return during the day to see what is available here. The chanel runs for 3 kilometers, so it's a long walk to say the least.

And here is a picture of a sort of "bell tower." It's a beautiful building. The bell inside is huge. It's different seeing these buildings at night.

The Worst Thing I've Ever Had In My Mouth

This second week of my vacation has been an unenjoyable one. I went to the hospital on monday (which I already wrote about I believe). Well, on thursday I was back at the hospital. Same stomach issues. Same pain. This time the doctor and nurses yelled at me. They were yelling at me for not going to the outpatient clinic during the day, but they told me to go there if my pain was still there the next day, and it wasn't.

Anyway, I called my doc the next day. He told me to come in saturday morning. So my friday was spent just kind of nursing my tender stomach. By the way, I don't like these feelings at all.

On saturday morning Victoria went with me to the hospital. She's my Korean mother. I'm very thankful that she was there. At the hospital I had a chest x-ray, an EKG, sedation, and an endoscopic stomach exam. My blood pressure and x-ray and EKG were all good, no problems (for those of you who doubt it's existence, the x-ray showed that I infact DO have a heart).

Now, the endoscopic exam. First off, the doctor asked me which test I would like to have. My choices were to swallow some dye and take an x-ray or do the endoscope. He wouldn't make a recommendation. This is the Korean style. So I had to ask which is the better test. Both sound unpleasant, so which one will give me the most bang for my buck so to say. Anyway, I'm fairly certain that I did not get enough sedation drugs. I never fell asleep after the test. I felt the whole test. Drooled a lot. The endoscope was making me belch during the test. It was horrible.

So what's wrong with me you might be asking yourself. Well, I don't have an ulcer, which is good. I have gastritis, which is an inflamation and irritation of the stomach lining. This is caused by too much stomach acid. What's causing this though? Well, it could be stress (but I'm on vacation, how stressed can I be?), it could be food related (but it never happens when I eat spicy food), or the timing of my eating. I don't know. But, the doctor gave me a week's worth of medication. I will return to see him friday for a check-up. I will apparently be taking some kind of ant-acid for quite a while. Ah, Korea. By the way, this whole incident cost me only $50.

A Nice Time In Seoul

Last weekend I spent some time in Seoul. With almost 3 weeks of vacation time, I have lots of free time and really nothing planned. So, I've decided to do some sight seeing in Seoul. Here's the results. Here is one of the remaining gates that marked the boundary of old Seoul. This one is in Deongdaemun, which is a huge shopping area in Seoul. If you want a bargain, this is the section of the city to visit. This was early in the morning.

Being morning, it was time for breakfast. Here is the most beautiful thing that I've ever seen. The first time I've had breakfast out in 9 months. Mmmmmm... mcmuffin bliss. Does it get any better than this?
Here is the most famous street in all of Korea. This is affectionately called "Hooker Hill." This street is in Itaewon, where all of the foreigners hang out. Lining the street are clubs. As you walk down the street, scantily clad Korean women come out saying "hey baby, come in here, baby, where are you going?" Won lives farther along this street. Also, at the top of Hooker Hill is the Central Mosque of Korea. Strange. When in Korea, you must visit the hill just once.

Well, Won joined me and we went to go check out the new (only opened last year) national museum of Korea. They had an exhibit from the Louvre, but that has to wait until another time. Here's some great shots from the museum.

Here is the view from the center of the museum. Here is the Seoul tower which is on top of a very big mountain. There is a gondola ride to the mountain and you can go up in the tower. You will NEVER get pictures from the gondola or the tower... I'm afraid of hights. This is as close as you're gonna get.Back to the museum. Shots from the inside.

Here's a big ancient style map of Korea on the floor of the museum. Pretty neat. Kids liked it. I liked it.

This is my cheezy pose. Big candle holder. A bit too over the top for my apartment though, don't you think?

Here is a giant stone seal, a name stamp. Sometimes called a "chop" by Westerners. It's about the size of a fist or larger.

This Buddha is about 3 stories tall. It scared the hell out of Won. Something about the color combination always scared him, as a child and to this day. It's pretty amazing. You can't really see it in the picture, but on Buddha's upper chest there is a swastika, which is a good symbol in Buddhism. It's an odd thing to see. Eventhough I know what it means, when I see it on buildings and temples, I always do a bit of a double take.

Okay. Do you know what this is? It's not a giant tylenol capsule. It's not a whale suppository. It's not a giant stone phallus. It's a coffin. How bizarre.

Here I Go Again

Well, I just got in from going to the E.R. Same old same old. Started to get stomach pains. Back started to hurt, sweating... the usual. When I felt the stomach starting to really squeeze, I got dressed and went to the hospital. Got a shot. Now I'm better. Whole thing took 30 minutes. Maybe the hospital can give me an extra syringe with that juice in it... so when I need it I can just put it to use. You think?

Tragedy

I know that everyone here jokes about the horrible way that Koreans drive. It's true that red lights mean little to nothing to about 99% of Korean drivers. Pedestrians are to be ignored and not watched out for. That said, on the way to Songtan today, Victoria and I were on the bus and we saw an old man dead on the road after being hit by a car.

The accident had been fresh, there was no stopped car. There was a stopped bus (maybe he was hit by a bus?) and a man calling someone for help on his cellphone. The poor dead man laid out all twisted, there was a big pool of blood on the road, and other types of gore laying around (I'm trying to be gentle). It was a horrible sight. And everyone was just kind of driving around him, as if this were just another day in Korea. I really hope that isn't true. It's very hard seeing the way that Koreans tend to disregard traffic laws, it's hard not to think of this as contempt or indifference to pedestrians. I mean, if Korean drivers weren't so "bali bali" (Korean for 'quick') maybe they would stop and think about this poor guy that was killed while just walking down the street, and they'd realize that red lights and speed limits have a point. I won't continue on this train of thought, because it doesn't end pretty as you can imagine.

One of Victoria's students was killed in the same way maybe 2 months ago, while crossing the busy street in front of her school. So, this is not a limited accident. I hope that it isn't as common as I really feel that it probably is.

Now, Victoria is very into the "new age" spirituality. Wether you subscribe to it or not, she does. She said that she projected her spirit to the man, whom she said was just looking down at his own body and confused about what to do. She said that she helped him to find his way. If you believe it or not, it isn't important. But it is very comforting to think that just maybe that poor man had my lovely friend Victoria to help him out in his most desparate time. That doesn't mean that I completely belive, but I'd like to think that in this case it truly happened. Victoria has been such a great help to me, I hope in some way that she helped this man just as much.

This whole experience is one that I hope I never have to have again. Once is more than enough for me.

Bored

Well, after going to school and reading English aloud everyday for 20 minutes, I'm finally on vacation. I have 2 weeks off without anything to do. My next day of school will be February 3rd. The real bad thing abut this is that I'm running low on money right now, so that I have to be mindful of the money that I'm spending. This leaves travel and adventure basically unavailable for my 2 weeks off. The most excitement I have to look forward to is a couple of trips to Seoul to visit the museums. So, vacation is good... but vacation when you're kind of poor... that's bad. I'm just trying to make it to payday with a little bit of money left in my bank account so that I'm not living on ramen noodles at the end of the month.

Samgyeopsal

No matter how you try to spell it in English, the Korean dish samgyeopsal is good to eat. Samgyeopsal is a vital part of the Korean diet and is probably the most popular dish to eat out. It is the heart of Korean barbeque. It consists of pork belly grilled on a table-top grill at the dining table. The pork is then cut up and wrapped in lettuce leaves, with garlic and any other sides added to it before it is wrapped up and shoved in your mouth.

I've been planning on getting a table-top grill and grill pan so I could have a samgyeopsal party. I finally broke down and got them. The grill is something that everyone in Korea has. This one cost $14. They all take a small can of gas that is sold in every corner shop in Korea. The can lasts for about 2 hours of constant cooking. The grill pan I got at the new Lotte Mart (kind of like Korean Wal Mart). It was the perfect pan for me. $20. It has a drain in the middle for the fat and grease to drip out. Once the garlic is cooked, it is moved to the side (by the handles) to keep warm.

Well, I went to Lotte Mart with Brandon when I got the pan. On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store and bought the pork to break in the pan. So, my party was just a party of two! This impromptu dinner turned out quite well. Here is the table all set and ready to go.

Starting at the bottom left of the picture there is: ssam-jang sauce which is red pepper paste mixed with soy bean paste. It's nice and mild. Next there is sliced garlic in the upper left corner. Beside that (partially hidden by the pan) are some steamed bean sprouts. On the right side of the grill is the pork (mmmm... pork), 2 kinds here, pork belly and pork shoulder. Lastly there is the lettuce leaves.In this pic on the very far bottom left corner you can see the last touch to the dinner... kim-chi. This was what I did on a short nottice. But it was quite quick to get going. Here is the pork cooking. Does it look happy to you? I think it's ready to get in my belly! Notice the garlic cooked and warming on the left side. And what drink do you serve with samgyeopsal? Beer of course. Here is Brandon's hand holding a 1.6 liter bottle of Hite beer. This is a plastic bottle. Pretty strange. This is a cheap Korean brand of beer, but it does the job nicely. I really think I should be the new spokesperson for Hite beer. What do you think? By the way... I have so much grey hair at my temples, it's ridiculous.

What a glorious night. Delicious pork, good conversation, cold beer, and kim-chi. I couldn't think of a more perfect way to christen the new grill and grill pan. This is also a very cheap way to eat. $6 worth of meat and lettuce will feed two people quite easily. Sure, your arteries may be screaming "NO MORE PORK!!!!" but we'll just ignore that for now. "Shut up and enjoy the beer!"

Christmas Arrives Late

My sister sent me a birthday present in September. It never arrived. Well, the package eventually made it back to the U.S.A. in December. So, Sandra added some Christmas gift to the package and sent it back. This time, it arrived. I got it the week after Christmas. Now, the first package did not arrive because it was wrapped like a football in brown paper. She just took a book and some cds and wrapped them in newspaper, garbage bags, and brown paper bags. Not the favorite wrapping method of the Korean postal service.

So, this package was put inside of a larger box when it was shipped as part of a Christmas gift. The gifts included the following: "Middlesex," a novel. It's quite good so far. 2 cds, Regina Spektor and the Havalina Rail Co. Good choices Sandra. Cough drops... because Koreans guard them so furiously like they're crack. A harmonica and book to go with it. Not too sure about that one. Maybe I will write a "Sick of sitting in Juksan high with nothing to do" blues. I'll let you know about that one. But, the very best thing in the package was a handmade Christmas card.

Sandra used watercolors and painted a card with a Christmas tree on the front. Best of all, she took a photo of us when we were young, and cut us out, sitting us under the tree. So, here are the pics of the card and of me and my sister when we were very young and cute. What happened? I'm so old and ugly now.

New Friends

I have a new and expanding circle of friends here in Korea. So, after talking about them a bit, here are some pics to put with the names. First, my Korean friend Won. The guy who drew the cartoon of me. He wouldn't let me take his picture, so he did it himself. I dont know why.
Next are the English teachers in Anseong. Here we have Anna from Oregon, and Maurice from South Africa. Both teach elementary school. Both love dancing, especially salsa. These are pics from bar Ouzo in downtown Anseong.
This is Devon from Toronto and my new friend T.K. from South Africa. We call her T.K. because her real name is a bit too hard to remember or pronounce. They're nice people. This was supposed to be a sexy pose... it didn't quite work out that way. Again, this is at bar Ouzo, where most of the foreigners hang out.
This is Brandon. My new best friend here in Korea. Brandon is also from South Africa. He's an amazing writer and a witty guy. Whenever we hang out together, it is always a good time. This is at a bar called Gekko's in Itaewon (where Won lives).
Maybe you've discerned a pattern. The common factor in all of these pictures is a bar. It's true... to meet people here you have to go to the bar. People are bored in Anseong, and the bar is the only place to go. I don't drink too much though, just a couple of beers, and it's a cheap night's entertainment. Always good to hang with new friends.

Chinese Cuisine

Being so close to China, and with China being the biggest importer to Korea, and China being the largest influence on Korean culture and language, I though I'd better comment upon Chinese food in Korea.

Chinese restaurants are probably the favorite "ethnic" food in Korea. There are Chinese restaurants all over the place. Some are easily identified by the Chinese writing on their signs. Others are not so easy to see. There is one by my apartment with the words "Chinese Restaurant" in English... so that one was surprisingly easy to find, although I haven't eaten there yet.

My exposure to Chinese food is a bit limited I'm sorry to say. But, this is what I've had and what it is. Tang-su-yook a.k.a. sweet and sour pork. Wow. You thought the stuff was sweet in the U.S.? This is basically fried pork in honey. I'm totally diabetic now. But, it's awesome stuff. Bad thing is that when you order it, that's all you get. No rice. No egg roll. No fortune cookie.

Jjajang-myoen. Ok. How to discribe. It's noodles. Chinese noodles are never cut, so they're about 20 miles long, and not easy to eat with chopsticks. Myoen is noodles. Jjajang is a sauce that is popular here. It is black. Black as ink. In Western cuisine there is no black food... unless it's burnt. The sauce also has lots of veggies in it, mostly onions, some peas, some beef. It's delicious. What does it taste like? I'm not entirely sure, but it's good, so shut-up and eat it. It's probably the favorite dish of Koreans in a Chinese restaurant. You can buy the sauce in the supermarket, but it's not as good.

Udong. Another kind of noodle. This time it's in soup. Oh my God, it's the best soup I've ever had. Noodles in a chickeny, seafoody, egg dropy broth. Some of the seafood in the soup is scary and I give it straight away to other people at the table. I mean, I am the one who gets food poisoned so easily. So, the squid, crab claws, shrimp (whole, with eyes and all), etc. go onto a Korean's plate and they are happy to have it.

Scary seafood dish. I don't know what this is. I was out with the teachers and they ordered this. Why? It had shring, squid, fish, octopus, sea cucumber, and jelly fish in it. Sea cucumber is like a log of jello that is sandy and gritty. Mmmmmm.... and jelly fish looks like a pile of snot when it is raw or cooked. Yeah, I don't think I'll eat this one. I'll just fill up on some kim-chi, thanks.

Side dishes at the Chinese restaurant are a bit odd too. You get kim-chi (duh), picked radish (duh), raw onion. You dip this into black thick sauce (which I'm guessing is the base of the jjajang sauce). They also have white vinegar that they put on the onions. They also mix the vinegar with red chili powder. So, basically, I don't eat these things. I will eat the kim-chi and radish though.

So, that is my very limited trip through Chinese cuisine. It's pretty good. You must realize though that there is a Chinese proverb that says "If it walks on the earth, it must be good to eat." In other words, they eat any and everything. Think fear factor. So, unless there is a picture or an english speaker to tell me what something is... I'll stick to the jjajang myoen, thanks.

Old Hat

My blog is becoming a mundane disaster. Where is the fire of months gone by? Where is the indignity? The deeply rooted hatred? The sarcasm? Gone, all gone.

In the beginning life here was strange and foreign in every sense of the word. Everyday I'd see things that needed to be commented upon. From beating students to the way Koreans brush their teeth obsessively. Now, it's all so normal and mundane that there is nothing left to comment upon. Now that I eat kim-chi and am not being food poisoned daily, there is nothing left that is interesting in my life. I'm boring. I'm wonderbread. I'm kraft singles. I'm beige.

So, I will try to force some life into my blog, but I can't promise anything. Maybe you should look somewhere else for your daily thrills. I recommend Fox News or something equally as innane.

Laziness

As the crisp cold winter air embraces me, one thought runs through my mind. Why do I have to get out of bed? Explain that one to me. Going to school for just a few hours to read English aloud for 20 minutes and returning home at lunch has lulled me into a complete laziness cycle. I find myself returning home at lunch, laying in bed and spending way too much of my time napping. I also spend my time downloading tv shows and movies from the US. I'm completely obsessed with the show "Heroes." I've already watched all 11 episodes, although AFN in Korea has only shown 2. It takes all of my effort to do anything productive. I could blame this on my hacking cough that refuses to go away (Korean cough remedies are useles... a pill for a cough? what's that?) but it is my old adversary really. When I have lots of free time, I get nothing done. It's a fact. When attending WMU, I had lots of free time and did no studying, no nothing. At WSU, when I had to work full time as well as be a full time student, I was involved in orchestras and bands and everything else, and spent much more time studying. The old adage is true, idle hands are the devil's play things. He must be having a field day with mine then.

So Old

Just to let you know, those of you who want to be mean that is. On new year's day, I officially turned 30... in Korean age. So, while the actual 30 may be 2 years off, you may pick on me if you wish. Yes, I'm old. Yes, I have grey hair. Yes, I'm pathetic. Blah blah blah.

Useless

Not to say that I'm completely useless or anything... but... It is winter vacation for the students. It is also time for winter English camp. Now, working at a school of underachievers, no one has signed up for winter camp. I don't blame them. Do you want to spend your vacation learning English when you get no credit or benefit from taking the camp? I wouldn't. Plus, it's cold at school! Well, instead of letting me stay home, which would be the nice thing to do, I have to come into school each day for about 2 hours. Just long enough to write a few emails, and read some stuff out loud for the remedial English courses that are being taught right now to the kids who scored poorly on their exams. Yesterday I read things to one class. Then went to lunch with the teachers. Then I went home and napped. All done by 1pm. Today I didn't even get picked up until 9:30, instead of my usual 7:30. This is so pointless, but at least it isn't demanding. They haven't demanded that I spend my time researching or writing things. Eventually I will work on some lesson plans, but until then, I'm just hanging out and going with the flow.