Twas’ the night before Cureesumaseu

Sorry for the hackneyed style. The terrorists made me do it. Here goes:

Twas’ the night before Cureesumaseu, when all throughout the Korean hills,
Not a creature was stirring, not even the Sun of the Communist Future Kim Jong-Il.
The intercontinental ballistic missiles were stored inconspicuously by the DMZ with care,
In hopes that competent UN weapons inspectors soon wouldn’t show up there.

Lee Myung-bak was nestled all snug in his bed,
While visions of a reunified republic danced in his head.
And ajuma Kim in her hanbok, and I in my hilarious Babo t-shirt,
Had just settled our minds that this season we would not get hurt.

When from across the neighboring norebang there arose such a fuss,
I sprang from my ondol mat to see if it was the regular used electronics’ bus.
Away to the window I ran like a kindergartener with a belly full of candy,
Flew open the glass and thought, ‘well this is just dandy’.

When, what to my unbelieving eyes should come into view,
But a cute little jeep, joined by lilliputan DPRK soldiers. But only a few.
Apparently, this was the mightiest military division they could spare,
And left me with a sense of confusion where all I could do was stare.

With the grotesquely obese senior officer, fat, yet quick like a steed,
I thought, this must be the only countryman they can afford to feed.
Slower than a waygook using chopsticks his entourage came,
And he barked and he hollered target locations by name!

“To Hongdae! And Sinchon! Then Myeongdong and Yongsan!
Onto Insadong! And Gangnam! To Jongno and Bundang!
To the top of Namsan Tower! Jump over the fence!
Now hurry and charge! Race, race away hence!"

His eyes were so dim. His face full of fear!
He was terrified, for just word, the allies would soon be here.
His original intention shrank like samgipsal on a hotplate,
And he realized their invasion attempt would just have to wait.

He sprang into his jeep, to his team gave a command,
And away they all sauntered like a paresthetic right hand.
I heard him announce in broken English they would be leaving,
"Melly Culeesumaseu to arr, and to arr a good evening!"

I Survived The Most Terrifying Experiece Ever

I might be a little strange, but I've always been a pretty huge fan of laughing. Over the years, I've also come to enjoy public speaking. So guess what I did this past Thursday? Yep, combined the two passions and jumped feet first into performing some standup comedy. I was joined by two buddies in attacking the stage, and we organized quite the group of friends to come cheer us and and provide some much needed moral support.

It was quite the experience standing up in front of 100+ wall-to-wall people armed only with my self-manufactured weapons of humor (I'll call my creations WMDs - Weapons of Mediocre Destruction). Now that I can say that I'm somewhat 'experienced', it is an excellent feeling to know that I took on the challenge. I guess there could be multitudes of reasons for doing something like this (and voluntarily exposing any vulnerability you may have to a group of complete strangers). Maybe people do it for a shot at fame? Just the rush of doing something crazy? A chance to pickup some comedy groupies? Winning cash and/or prizes? I guess my decision was influenced by a bit of all of it, and maybe even some other reasons.

What did I learn? Well, to be cliché, like anything, you can't really relate unless you have also done it. This was perhaps the first time in my life that I've even performed anything in front of strangers. So if you've at least done that, maybe you can relate to the feeling that there is none, and never will be, any kind of concrete consensus or absolute critique of your performance. Maybe you thought that it sucked. Maybe half of the crowd thought the same thing. Surely at least your friends will give you some sympathetic compliments. But, just maybe, some people actually genuinely enjoyed part of it. I've also come to a point in my life that I generally don't get anxious or nervous beforehand when giving a speech or taking part in some activity. Of course, you should always be prepared, but what purpose is served by getting worked up before you even start something? True, maybe you will die while participating in this activity. Maybe you will suffer a stroke and end up having to feed yourself through a tube for the rest of your life. But guess what, most likely, none of this will happen. And even if it does, why should you worry about it before it may even happen? Now you're stressed out, and you have a busted brain.

All of this is to say that we humans can control our emotions and even our states of mind prior to stepping out of our comfort zone, but we definitely can't always manage the after effects. It was a very strange feeling after delivering the set. I've always heard musicians say things like how they feel that with each live performance they give, they leave behind a bit of their soul. I always thought that must be some artist-load-of-BS, but maybe there's something to it. I felt as though I had just taken a huge mind dump on the stage, so of course you feel a little bit empty afterwards.

And another point - I have an even greater respect for professional comedians now. That's hard work! There are so many different aspects that you must consider - the preparation, delivery, strategy, timing, crowd management, human psychology, and the list goes on.. As I found, the venue and mood of the crowd are also so very key. And that's another thing that we can't manage. With my particular venue (i.e., a foreigner bar in Seoul, Korea) it seemed a bit like the crowd wasn't even really there to listen to comedy! It was just more like a typical night at the bar, temporarily interrupted by some assholes who wanted to grab a mic and hear themselves talk.

So that's it in a nutshell. Frustrating. Exhausting. Nerve wracking. Ambiguous. So much doubt, uncertainty, and so many opportunities to second-guess yourself. But, overall I'm glad to say that I've actually had the experience. I have tried several dozen times to upload a video of the performance, but the digital gods are not smiling on the practice. But if you're interested, and we're Facebook friends, check out the video there.

To keep the train rolling, shortly after that first time (exactly 3 nights later), my other buddy also wanted to give some standup a shot. A local bar holds an open mic for acoustic music on Sunday nights. I was doubtful that the owner would even allow a couple guys get up on the stage just to yammer. But we finally got the go ahead, and we opened up for the real talent. It actually did feel a little bit easier that second time, so maybe I'll keep trying this stuff..

Great Southeast Asian Tour

Hi everyone! It's been far too long since I've written anything on this, and I'm afraid that I've forgotten how to type. I've had so many interesting events and weekends to write about, but have been so busy with all of them, that I haven't found the time to actually put them down on paper (or, for that matter, computer screen). But I've finally had such a monumental week worthy of telling about, and if I don't spill the beans soon, all the details will be lost forever. Last week was our summer vacation, and I knew that I had to do something big or go home. Part of me just wanted a relaxing week of sleeping, watching TV, and destroying my liver in peace and quiet. But since I am living in Asia, and fearing that I will never get this chance again, I decided to book so many flights around the continent that it would make my head spin. And spin it did. In the 9 days I had, I stepped foot in 5 Asian countries (which is kind of misleading, because I'm counting my current home and an airport layover). The first stop was Cambodia, then Thailand, and wrapping it all up was the Philippines. So without further ado, here is a short recount of the week:

Cambodia

I caught my first flight from Seoul on Saturday, the 24th and made my way towards Phnom Penh: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phnom_Penh. After a few hours and a layover in China, we arrived in Cambodia's capital. If you were like me, you don't know much about this little country. Cambodia was the first time I've been in a third world country. The conditions are quite shocking to someone from the Western world. Apart from what many Westerners would call uncomfortable or even scary, the economy definitely has its advantages for a tourist. Ever paid $.25 for a delicious Asian meal? How about $1 for a sackful of souvenirs? I have.

Another bonus on this leg of my trip was the great travel companions. The flight to Cambodia was full of other foreign teachers from Korea (since we all share the same week of school closing). I left for this week with essentially no plans, and was going it alone with absolutely no hotel reservations, itineraries, or schedules. Very different from all of my other vacations, because I am, at heart, a planner down to the last detail.

So during the flight from Korea, I met some really cool folks. The first was another solo guy from the States. The others were a couple from Australia and Ireland. Motley crew, huh? Well luckily for us, we had one prepared person in our newly formed group. Jo, the Irish girl, had done her homework and already had a hostel in mind. She had friends who had previously visited Cambodia, so we had inside information.

On Sunday, our plan was to see all of the notable attractions the capital has to offer. I had heard of most of them, as the city only has a small few. And two-thirds of them are pretty depressing. Our first destination was to the S21 museum (see picture for a glimpse at the makeshift jail). S21, also known as Tuol Sleng, was Kampuchea's most famous (or infamous) stop on the genocide circuit. It operated from 1975-1979 (yes folks, that recent. It mostly flew under the radar because a good portion of the world was busy with another political snafu in a neighboring country), and saw an estimated 17,000 prisoners. Prior to torturing and eventually expiring doomed souls, Tuol Sleng was just a normal high school. Imagine. Basically, the Khmer Rouge targeted in this genocide all educated Cambodians, for fear that they would see the error in the communist thinking and incite a revolution. For more information on S21, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuol_Sleng_Genocide_Museum.

After educating ourselves on the beginnings and details of the genocide, we hopped in a tuk-tuk and made our way outside of town to one of the 'killing fields'. There are dozens of killing fields one can see, and this one has been designed with tourists in mind. It is called Cheoung Ek, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choeung_Ek, and was host to a mass excavation in the 80's that uncovered nearly 9,000 bodies buried in the area. My first picture shows the stupa (in beautiful Khmer architecture) that holds remains found in the fields. And the other shows one of many shelves inside the huge structure. Obviously pretty disturbing. Luckily for us, we tagged along with another group on a guided tour of the grounds, which provided a lot of extra information. We spent several hours walking through the massive pits that served as graves and learning about the methods used there. One of the most indelible parts of the tour was when our guide repeatedly pointed out areas where debris has still recently come to the surface. I say debris to include bone, teeth, clothing, shackles, rope, etc. Gross.

So after seeing enough death to last a lifetime, we made the best decision of the week. Following a very quiet tuk-tuk ride back into the city, we arrived at a beautiful site: the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda. The complex includes dozens of specimens of gorgeous Cambodian architecture, which is very unique due to the blending of French colonial influence, Buddhism, and Khmer style. The picture will show you a little bit of what I'm talking about. The Royal Palace was definitely the best place to end our day, as I'm sure it prevented a week of nightmares.

I had a brief day in Cambodia on Monday, so after some discount shopping and eating of tasty vittles, I hopped on the next plane bound for Bangkok. I definitely hope to return to this beautiful country someday, hopefully this time to see some more uplifting sites, like some temples, including the famous Angkor Wat. But enough future talk, it's time to enjoy the present. Onward to the Land of Smiles!

Thailand

I'm aware that I didn't get nearly a full experience of the country, as I only had one night to spend in the capital city: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok. I knew beforehand that I wouldn't have time to see much of anything (it was a quick one night, an in and out deal). But after so much talk about the notorious 'One Night in Bangkok', I knew that I had to do it.

I stayed on Khao Sarn Road, which you know if you've ever visited Thailand, or even know someone who has. It's the Bangkok tourist trap, and houses a smattering of shops, restaurants, and massage parlors to attract Westerners. It does boast cheap hotels and many street vendors where you can buy goods and/or food. And if you're colorblind, let me help you out - all of the lights are red.

So after officially spending my one night, I spent Tuesday wandering around the city in search of the hidden gems - temples, buddhas, and food. Indeed I saw some nice sites, although the one place I really hoped to see was closed on my only day in the city (just my luck!) - the Grand Palace. But apparently, it was a special day in the city because all of the other temples were packed, and during the afternoon the roads were briefly closed for a presidential motorcade.

I came upon several nice old temples, and my favorite was Wat Pho: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Pho. I wasn't able to get a Thai massage in the temple, something for which it is famous. The temple is basically a small city, without restaurants (there's plenty of those outside the walls). I went inside a few of the buildings to pay my respects to The Enlightened One and take in the tranquility of it all.

Speaking of tranquility, if you've never taken a nap in a 3,000 year old Thai temple, I highly recommend it. Once you get past the heat and humidity, it will be by far the best rest you've ever had.

I still haven't finished that book, but it's a good read.

Back to the important details. Here's a plate of curry I bought from a nearby street vendor. For $2, I got the best dish that money can buy.

That's about all of my visit to Thailand. I saw the gritty side, and I now definitely need to visit the rest of the country and take the ubiquitous ride on an elephant and sit on a Thai beach somewhere. This now brings us to my third and final stop of the week:

The Philippines

After a long and restless redeye flight, I arrived in Manila at 5AM on Wednesday. Back in January, during my first week in Korea, and in the midst of reeling from culture shock, I met a great guy from the Philippines who was also on vacation. He graciously invited me to come visit his country someday. So come 6 months later, I did. I spent a total of 4.5 days in the Philippines, and was very fortunate to know a local. He was a great help in showing me around Manila where he lives, and we also took a relaxing 2-day trip down south to a beach for some great fun in the sun and scuba diving. I was particularly interested in the jeepneys throughout the country, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeepney), which are the unofficial symbol of the island nation.

Manila isn't the optimal tourist destination. I had been adequately warned of this by my buddy. But despite the horrible poverty, there were some very cool encounters. One morning while walking down the street, I shot some hoops with this little fella:

My time in Manila was heavily imprinted with a constant and strong desire of constant motion. This was to escape the hoards of homeless and prostitutes that are, in a word, relentless. But there were also many good things about being in the city, one of them being the gorgeous sunsets. For a glimpse, check this out:

My favorite part of the trip to the Philippines was definitely the beach. On Thursday, we drove down to the Batangas province(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batangas) for a most relaxing two days. We stayed at a nice diving resort along the water, and were the only guests in the entire place! This was the general theme in the area, as July is smack in the middle of the rainy season. This made for no crowds with which to compete and cheaper prices. And the cherry on top was that it never even rained! The diving was also some of the best I've ever done. The water is so unbelievably clear, and we saw tons of coral and colorful fish.

I would consider myself an experienced eater, even a true connoisseur. I've dabbled in many different country's cuisines and put a lot of 'strange' things down my gullet. But I obviously wasn't fully briefed on Filippino food. Two firsts for me were 1) a native dish called sisig. Sisig is pork meat (well, kind of): (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sisig). A look at the picture will give you an idea of where they get this meat from. And 2) is known as balut (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balut_(egg)). Balut is a boiled fertilized (to various stages of development) duck egg. Yes, fertilized. The one I ate was a fully formed fetus, with distinguishable appendages. Sounded pretty gross, but was actually quite tasty. And when you close your eyes, it isn't weird at all. At least, that's what my friend Bear Grylls tells me.

Finally, Sunday came and ended my time in paradise. Time to return to the real world of stress and screaming children. After buying some postcards and wandering around the slums one last time, I boarded my plane back for Seoul. Oh God, I want to retire and move to Cambodia.

Gluttony, Swimming & Friends with cars, Suwon Fortress, Children's Day

Hi again from Asia!


My first love is and will forever be: eating. I have always been a 'big' eater, and have also fortunately been involved in many sports and exercise activities over the years. Good thing, or I'd probably weigh well over 300 lbs by now. Well, I have finally found a place where eating like a pig is smiled upon, praised even - and that place is where I now call home. This could likely be my heaven. Let me explain: Whenever I eat anywhere here in Korea, I always receive compliments for being a 'healthy' eater. I have gotten this from my boss at school (where daily I eat heaps of rice and whatever is offered), from friends' mothers who invite me to come back after I eat their monthly grocery allotment, from restaurant owners (who of course have a vested interest, since I probably pay for the first year of their kids college education).


If I had to compile a list of my favorite Korean foods, the top of that list would say dalk galbi. Galbi is to us Westerners is 'Korean barbeque', and galbi usually consists of either beef or pork. If you ask me, you can't go wrong with either of these two, but 'dalk' (chicken) is even more delicious! There's a great local dalk galbi restaurant owned by a very nice gentleman. I'm sure he makes dishes other than dalk galbi, but I have no idea what those are (and probably never will - I have no need for them). Another favorite Korean food has become 'gop chang', which is ox stomach. Yes, sounds a little unappetizing at first, and the texture is a little, how should I say - chewy. But it is mighty tasty from the restaurants I frequent. What else you ask? Well there's dankas (breaded pork cutlets), bibimbap (bowls full of rice, meats/seafood, eggs, etc), cold buckwheat noodles (which are really tasty, and I had just thought the name was a character from the Little Rascals), and ttoekboki (rice cakes) just to name a few. Korean food in general is very different than other Asian foods, and is a bit of an acquired taste, but I am now a convert.


I have also mentioned that we foreigners get together every so often to indulge our 'western food' cravings. We've had a few potluck dinners (which seem to be becoming a montly tradition), and American-style barbeques. The hosts of the barbeques say that they only had one of these last fall, but have already held two in the past month, since the weather has warmed up again.


Our school recently had a farewell party for one of the supervisors. This was another opportunity for our boss to show us how great he is. We went to a local buffet, and food and drinks aplenty were paid for by Mr. Yoon. It was essentially a company sponsored food festival.


A group of friends usually goes to the local swimming pool on Saturday mornings. The pool is attached to our City Hall complex, which is about 20 minutes away by bus. Another bonus is the free shuttle provided to the city hall area. So I joined the group a few weeks ago and it was a great time. It had been many months, maybe even years, since I'd swam for the purpose of exercise. I forgot what a good workout it is, and that afterwards I should have an entire slaughtered animal on hand. But the greatest revelation that came from our swimming trip, was realizing how nice it is to have a car again. Since I've been here in Korea, I've never especially had a need for my own auto. Public transportation is quick and accessible, and the cold weather put a damper on a lot of excursions. All this has changed now that Mother Nature's mood has changed. So now I am super glad to have made some Korean friends with their own wheels. My Korean buddy Johgwha joined us on my first swimming trip (and he has a car, so was able to give us a ride). It was excellent not having to rely on the bus - which meant no waiting at the bus stop, and a much quicker commute time. We went swimming a second week, but this time Jongwha wasn't able to join us. So we had to catch the bus to get to the pool, but fortunately met a nice guy while there named John. Well, after we had know John and his dad for about 20 minutes, they offer to give us a ride back (ah, Korean hospitality)! My friends Travis and Megan also last month bought a car. They have a dog, who is not allowed on public buses. So, of course, the obvious choice was to find a cheap used Kia that they can use as a knockaround car. The past month they've been taking weekend trips all over Korea (for a camping trip, to beaches, to visit friends, etc). I'm pretty jealous of their newfound freedom. It recalls the days when I was a freshman in high school and only a handful of the cool kids had their licenses so could actually drive.


I visited a local fortress here in Yongin. It's called Hwaseong, and is in the town of Suwon (about 30 mins away by bus). Us foreigners usually simply refer to it as 'Suwon fortress'. It's a very old guard post, and was also used basically as a vacation palace for the royal family. I guess Yongin was a nice place to relax and get away from the rat race in Seoul. Like it still is today!













May 5th was another great holiday over here - Children's Day. It's a magical day for everyone to celebrate skinned knees, colds, and Korean kids studying until their noses bleed (I'm told this is a real and common occurance). And it provided an extra day off for us teachers! It unfortunately fell on a Wednesday, so we weren't able to make many real plans, but it was still a nice mid-week vacation. And we all know what else falls on May 5! (Hint, it rhymes with Sinco de Mayo). So a bunch of us foreigners had a Mexican-style party! It was held over at our friends' Travis and Megan's (and Megan did the majority of the excellent cooking - complete with tacos, burritos, and guacamole).



Our week vacation from school will be the last week in July. Originally, we had planned for my family to come out and visit. But alas, airline prices and some health problems have reared their ugly two heads. So, I have 9 days to see as much of Asia that I can! I've booked my flights to see 3 countries during the time. I'll be spending 2 nights and days in Cambodia, the same amount of time in Bangkok, and my last leg is a 4 day visit to the Philippines. It'll be a whirlwind tour! I'll plan to devote a post entirely to that week. Stay tuned.



That's all for now. Talk to you again soon!



Matt

Movies, US Taxes, 10K, Return of Godzeera, and a BBQ

Hey again. It's hard to believe, but I've already celebrated my 3 month anniversary in Korea. That means I'm already a quarter of the way through my stint here! Feels like I just got here. I feel like I've finally gotten over the learning phase, and I'm starting to fall into a comfortable rhythm (i.e., grit my way through teaching kids all week, have a glorious weekend, rinse, & repeat). Speaking of good times, I've had some pretty eventful times since the last post:


In my last note, I forgot to mention that I had finally filed my US taxes. My taxes are pretty straightforward every year, but I still procrastinate as long as possible because I dread it! I really don't know why though - you would think that I wouldn't mind the process after doing accounting for all these years. On a side note, I have an accountant friend who prepares his taxes by hand every year (he manually prints in ink on the hardcopy IRS forms. Kind of archaic, huh?). He believes that a 'true' accountant should do so, because he's experienced in the mystical ways of numbers. I don't think so - I rather agree with my other friend who compared this as follows: 'I have a pair of legs, therefore I should run a marathon'. Think about it. So I guess the tax process is just another thing that I'll never get accustomed to - just like the summer heat in the southeastern United States. So anyway, I finished the chore, and was even rewarded by Uncle Sam with a nice return!




In April, I joined the Kindergarten classes on another one of their monthly field trips. This one was a visit to a nearby energy plant. We visited the educational area, where they talk to the kids about energy generation, distribution, conservation, etc. Since my last job was at an energy company, I figured that I might be able to lend some knowledge, or perhaps another perspective. It basically was just another babysitting session, and everything was spoken and written in Korean, so I didn't get much out of it. But parts of the visit were enjoyable, so I wouldn't call it a total failure.



I saw the new movie, Clash of the Titans, at the local theatre. I remember watching and enjoying the 1981 Laurence Olivier version, but this modern version is even better. I've always really enjoyed Greek mythological stories, and this one definitely does not disappoint. The guy from Avatar plays a good part in this one too. I didn't get to see it in 3D, which may make the movie even better. Check it out if you get the chance.


A couple Fridays ago, we held our first monthly Movie Night at SLP. I'm saying 'monthly' because we're hoping to make this a habit. It was organized by one of the supervisors, and the director even supplied beverages. About 15 of us stayed after work, and a few other friends joined us too. We have an auditorium classroom complete with a projector and a big screen, so it's a perfect place to watch. Everyone chipped in for some pizza and food, and we watched 'Yes, Man' with Jim Carey. I had seen the movie before, but forgot how funny it is. Kind of the familiar Jim Carey schtick (if you ask me, this one is very reminiscent of 'Liar, Liar'), but still very funny. There's even a plotline in the movie where Jim takes Korean language lessons. At one point in the show, he speaks Korean to a woman, which was very amusing to our group of Koreans and Korean novices.




Last Saturday, my city held the Yongin Marathon. Me and a couple fellow foreigners signed up for the 10K about a month ago, and the three of us had a great time (Travis is fellow Yankee, and Toby is a Kiwi). I believe Toby is the first person that I have even known from New Zealand. Sounds like a really nice place. Have added it to my 'to-visit' list.


















Here's our gold medal ceremony after finishing the race. (Yes, they really did give us medals for finishing! Will be a nice addition to the trophy room.)



Last weekend was also the official Cherry Blossom festival in my city. The trees have been gorgeous around here lately. They say this year's fluctuations in temperature was especially erratic, so I'm sure that has affected the blooming. So maybe I didn't get to experience the optimal cherry blossom season. I guess this will give me an excuse to visit Asia again in the future.

The night after the race, my race buddy Travis (the fellow Yankee), and his wife had a bunch of us over for a barbeque. It was exquisite. You can imagine how much you can come to miss the comforts of 'home' when living abroad. Even when this comes in the form of hot dogs, hamburgers, and beer. We had a big crowd of mostly other teachers, but we always have the few token Koreans around too.

Here's most of the gang from the BBQ:

And Travis with his puppy, Otis. Great dog. He's a boxer, so is about 10X the size of all these little Korean apartment dogs.

Monday morning we were greeted by the return of our favorite supervisor, Susan. Susan is genuinely one of the best bosses I've worked for. She's very competent in her job, handles things in a timely manner, is constantly busy, but never appears flustered. As alluded to in the title (and mentioned in a previous blog), the students have what I will call a 'healthy fear' of Susan. That makes her a great asset when trying to handle rambuncious groups of kids. All of the kids seem to have great respect for her, and even some appear to be deathly afraid of her. That first week of her return, cries of child terror could be heard throughout our school of 'Susan Teachaa'.

And on a completely unrelated note, (I took this video and want to share it). As a general rule, Koreans are always in a hurry. All ages, genders, walks of life, anywhere, and at anytime. It's sometimes quite amusing to watch people run around like beheaded chickens. The various modes of transportation are the best way of seeing what I'm talking about. One great example is the buses. The drivers all must be mentally ill. I've learned through experience that prior to stepping onto any bus, you must mentally and physically prepare yourself. It's kind of like psyching yourself up before going, say, skydiving. Case in point, check out this video I took last week on one of these busrides. Notice how the driver rarely stays in one lane, he frequently speeds up and proceeds to cut off other cars, and it looks as though a cameraman from the show COPS took this video. Enjoy:

Monkies, Easter Eggs, Bombs, and Swing Dancing

Happy belated Easter!

Earlier this month, being a major Christian holiday, I felt the need to go to church. And you can imagine the rarity of English-speaking churches around here. Well a Korean friend, Jongwha, invited me to come to his church - it's about 25 minutes by bus, and called Antioch Methodist Church. Rumor has it that I'm the very first foreigner to attend! Obviously, my buddy speaks English, and there were two other congregants that I could talk to (one man, and a young 3rd grader). Apart from not understanding 95% of the verbal portion of the service, it was very nice. The music and the choir were really good, they fed us lunch, and even sent us home with food and easter eggs. So overall it was a worthwhile trip. The people were all very nice to me, and of course, they all want me to come back every Sunday.

The choir, including my friend Jongwha:

And the ubiquitous Easter baptism - he was a cute little tyke!

After church, I went shopping at the local department store (and if you know me, this is a rare feat, as I hate shopping!). Although, I actually found buying clothes in Korea to be somewhat more enjoyable than back home - the sizes actually fit my slim frame! And fortunately for me, my buddy works at the store, and he let me in on the employee discount! I bought a pair of pants, but still need a few shirts. I'll have to break down and go back for some more clothes another time.

Some new threads:

On the Saturday of Easter weekend, I went to the Seoul Zoo. It was really interesting to see a different perspective on animals. Most of the animals in the zoo were ones I was familiar with - elephants, giraffes, lions, many birds, cats, etc. A few were different species than I knew - for instance, the dolphins were all the Pacific kind, unlike the Atlantic ones that I've usually seen.

Some familiar critters

I promised some monkies :)

Last weekend, I visited the Korean War Museum in Seoul. It was a really nice museum - very thorough and seemed to be an accurate portrayal of history. It's a very large place - with huge outdoor displays of planes, tanks, trucks, etc, and the building itself is 3 floors full of stuff from ancient Korean warfare up through modern war. The outside especially took me back to my previous life as a member of the military. The third floor inside showed us a 'War Experience' room which was a presentation where you walk into a dark room, and the walkway looks very much like a WWII foxhole. You stand in the room, looking out onto a battlefield reconstruction, and there are sounds of explosions, gunfire, and your (Korean, of course) compatriots yelling behind you. The room fills with smoke and lights, and it felt quite realistic. Pretty cool, but quite frightening at the same time.

The statue of Two Brothers at the entrance of the museum

Another monument. These men were 2 stories tall!

A Soviet tank out in the Yard

A centerpiece outside. For those AF folks out there, a B-52 BUFF ('Big Ugly Fat ..er.. Fellow')

This Tweet was my biggest reminder.

And a gorgeous blooming magnolia tree outside. It's almost Cherry Blossom time here!

After the afternoon at the museum, we ran into one of the coolest things I've come across so far in Korea. Walking on the streets of Seoul on any given weekend, you're bound to come across some type of outdoor performance. So far, I've seen several traditional music and dance shows. The latest was a 1950's-esque swing dance performance. It must have been some local dance group, because there must have been over 100 people. Everyone was dressed in retro clothing, and there was even a band that seemed to be channeling Buddy Holly!



Here's some of the dancers decked out in their bowties and rockabilly dresses:

This past weekend, several local teachers got together for a potluck dinner. One of my co-teachers, Jackie, has held one of these for the past couple months. Last month was to celebrate her birthday, but it looks as though this may become a monthly affair. It's so good to all get together, and everyone (mostly other foreign teachers like me) cooks some really good dishes. We have some Korean food, but mostly Western-style food that we all crave so much! Here's a picture of our pre-feast:

I'll keep you updated when some more interesting things happen out here, as I'm sure they will. Hope you're well & bye for now..

Matt

2 Months down!

Hey everyone, long time no talk. Entirely my fault - sorry for the delay since my last post. Here's some highlights from my past couple weeks:


Last weekend, I saw Alice in Wonderland (for the second time). But this time we watched it in 3D & it was very cool. I highly recommend it if you haven't been to a 3D movie.. The closest and best movie theater is about a 40 minute busride from my town. It's a CGV, which is a huge media company based in Seoul. They also have an English TV channel that I sometimes watch. They always play NCIS/CSI/Bones (i.e., forensic crime shows - they love them!). There is a closer movie theater in the local EMart complex, but the movies are unfortunately mostly in Korean.


I've discovered the magical world known as torrent downloading! I had heard about it before while in the States, but never tried it because of the slow connection speeds. The awesome technology here makes it so quick to download music and movie files. I've already nearly filled my hard drives now, I'm thinking about buying a new terabyte drive (1000 gigabytes!). These are also very cheap here. A terabyte drive will hold more than 1000 movies!


I had some more interesting new food last weekend. I was a little put off at first by the menu: ox stomach! But once you get past the chewy texture, the taste is surprisingly good! They say it's also a very healthy food - it must at least have some sort of minerals that I don't normally get. I went to this restaurant with a group of Koreans that I (again) met at the gym. The gym has turned out to be a great place for making new friends :)


Thursday morning of last week, I joined the Kindergarten classes on their monthly field trip - this month was a musical. It was the Korean version of 'Everybody Poops', and although it was entirely in Korean, I thoroughly enjoyed it! I had the fortune of sitting next to a fellow Korean teacher, so she was able to translate for me occasionally during the show. Here's the Readers' Digest version: The hero character (henceforth referred to as Good Poo) visits a racoon character, and they embark on a journey of discovery for how to defeat the 'evil poos' (played in the musical by bad poos of 3 kinds - with one carrying a devil's pitchfork, one a plunger, and one a toilet brush). Good Poo carries a magical rock that allows the Good Duo to travel searching for the 3 things that must be obtained to defeat the Evil Poos. They visit a variety of people and places - including the birthplace of all poos, a wise old frog, and a fun-loving skateboarding turtle. In the end, the 3 tokens turn out to be: 1) exercise, 2) vegetables, and 3) love. The Good Duo collects all 3 and unlocks the portal that sends the Evil Poos to their final resting place - that Big Toiletbowl in the Sky. So I saw a good show, learned a little more about Korean culture, and possibly learned something new about my GI health!






The Good Duo is here on the left, facing two of the Evil Poos.






Another new experience last weekend was finding a weather phenomenon worse than the pollen season in the Southeastern US. Until now, I didn't think I would ever come across another yellow coating that covers absolutely EVERYTHING outside. Well guess what they have here in Korea in the spring? It's called Yellow Dust (brought by 'the yellow winds'), and is said to be sand and pollution blown to the Korean peninsula from China. Many people wear face masks during storms like these, for great reason. Accompanying the Yellow Dust are winds that I have never experienced - it feels like being in a tornado. And not being able to see anything because of everything in the air makes it feel like you're in a whiteout. They advise people to stay indoors on days like this, for obvious health reasons. On a personal note, I had a sore throat and felt sick for over a week afterwards. I should really invest in a good facemask. Read more about Asian Dust here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asian_Dust.


The crazy weather hasn't been limited to only the disgusting dust, either. For weeks now, Mother Nature has played cruel temperature games with us. It has warmed up on several occasions to near T-shirt weather. But just when we're convinced that warmer weather is here to stay, a cold spell will snap again! Last Monday snowed hard all day long, but it only stayed for a few days before completely melting. It must have been right on the edge of freezing temperatures, because the snow was very wet and slushy. This weekend was rather chilly too. Hopefully warm temperatures will be coming soon..


On Saturday a group of us went to see the Korean show Nanta. Nanta is at the core a traditional drum performance, but it has also modernized the performance and added some comedy - it's very good. The show has toured all around the globe, and has even appeared on Broadway in the US. The show mostly takes place in a restaurant kitchen, and follows a day in the life of 5 characters. They have a lot of fun drumming on every imaginable surface and object - and the show even being largely unspoken, is very funny. I've definitely learned that comedy is universal. For more information on the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanta_(musical) or http://nanta.i-pmc.co.kr/en/about/nanta_01.asp.

We went for a special promo for Nanta too - it was a half price performance, plus they included a small brunch for us prior to the show. The brunch was quite unsatisfying though - I was expecting a giant spread like our American buffets, but all we got was some coffee and juice, a tiny sandwich, and a cupcake. But after the show, my buddy won a nice door prize - a Polaroid camera!


Also this past weekend, I went to my second FC Seoul soccer game. They play in the World Cup Stadium in Seoul, where the home team is obviously FC Seoul. They play other football clubs throughout the country - this last time the visiting team was Pohang. I've never been much of a soccer fan, but it's pretty huge here, apparently also in the entire world..! :) The fans get very into the games - lots of cheering. Here's a few pics:












Fireworks before (and all throughout) the game:












Wild crowd cheering, chanting, and waving flags:

Our team






Sunday I made the trip to the nearby Korean Folk Village. I had heard about it even prior to arriving, as it's very nearby in our city. Although, unlike most places, it isn't very easy accessible by public transit. So a taxi is a must-do, but taxis are also so very cheap around here. The village is very cool - it has recreations of all types of traditional houses - from slave quarters to yangban (the Korean aristocracy). My favorite part of the village was definitely the performances. They have all kinds of things ranging from music and dancing to tightrope and equestrian acrobatics.

Hoping all is well with you, and I'll update you again in the near future!


Take care,



Matt