Monday, October 25, 2010
you can keep your brunettes too
It's a crime of nature that I wasn't born blonde. Haha. Any guesses as to what my Halloween costume is? Here's a hint-the flowered dress I am wearing is not part of it. The brown eyebrows are staying.
Thursday, October 21, 2010
chicken legs
As I may or may not have already said, fall has fallen in Korea. Fall air smells different. It feels different. It is different. My body knows this, and every year after the first time I walk outside and smell that fall scent, I start channeling my inner bear. I want to eat everything in sight and hibernate. Unfortunately, eating everything in sight costs money, and I need a job to get money. Hibernation is not an option. I have to settle for sleeping as much as possible when I am not at work. So needless to say (especially combined with the fact that unless there are skis and snow under my feet, I hate cold weather. I hate cool weather. Warm weather is nice. Hot weather is perfect), getting up for those AM runs is getting harder and harder. My runs are becoming fewer and fewer. I'm a summer runner, and I'm ok with that. But, in the interest of not gaining back the France weight I have lost, as well as not gaining any Korea weight, I decided to start going to the gym here. So tonight, despite wanting nothing more than to put on my pajamas and drink hot chocolate, I got home from work, changed clothes, and headed to the gym by my apartment. Having read a lot negative about Korean gyms, my expectations were low. But honestly, it wasn't that bad. I felt slightly scandalous in my tank top (bare shoulders!), and the machines were all slightly ghetto. But otherwise, it was fine. And working out in a gym for the first time in over a year felt awesome. I am going in on Saturday to get a membership.
There was one major difference about the Korean gym though. Asian guys are little. Average height is probably just slightly lower, but by little I really mean scrawny. I thought maybe if there was a Korean guy with big arms I would find him at the gym. Because at home, it is impossible to go to any gym without seeing at least two juiceheads. Nope. Not a single beefy gym rat in the pack. There were a lot of guys working out, lifting weights, etc. But they looked like a jr. high school basketball team's B squad rather than Bowlflex spokesmen.
Last weekend I went to Suncheon, a smallish (200,000 peeps, so not THAT small, but relative to Seoul) town on the southern coast of Korea. Suncheon is known for its bird sanctuary, with fall being the peak season. While at school a few days ago, I wrote all about the weekend. In order to not have my blog address saved on the school computers, I wrote it in Word, and then I was just going to email it to myself. Everything on the computers at work is in Korean. It makes doing really basic things a lot more challenging. SAVE AS didn't work. My blog is forever lost. So here is the condensed version, plus a few pictures.
The original plan-have an early night on Friday, and take the 9:30 bus Saturday morning. Arrive at Suncheon around 3 pm. Explore, go to the hot springs, see a temple or two.
What actually happened- Early night fail, me and my travel buddy found ourselves eating kebabs, chilling on the sidewalk around 5 am. We got home shortly after 5:30. We both slept through our alarms and missed our bus. So we took one that left at 2:40 instead. We got in shortly before 8.
Our hotel was in the middle of NOWHERE, outside of the city, very peaceful, but nothing to do. After checking in, we wanted food, so the lady at the front desk called us a cab to bring us back into town. It never showed up. But the front desk lady had ordered food for herself, and when she went outside to meet the delivery guy, she was shocked to see us still standing out in front of the hotel waiting. She ordered into the backseat of the delivery car, and asked him to drop us off in town. So we rode to town with this delivery guy, in his padiddle with what sounded like no muffler.
We woke up early Sunday morning in the hopes of getting to the bird sanctuary before it became overran with people, except we didn't know where to go, and the one hotel employee was not to be found. We just started walking. We actually found it pretty easily. What we did not find was any of the 140 species of migratory birds that were supposed to be there. But it was a lovely park.
We also went to Naganeupseong Folk Village. I wasn't sure how I felt about going, but we had several hours before the bus left, so I thought what the heck. WHOA. It was so worth the long taxi ride out there, and the questionable bus ride back to Suncheon, and then getting completely lost in Suncheon trying to find the bus terminal. People still live there, and it was probably one of the coolest things I've seen.
AND, it is harvest season. Once outside of Seoul, I got to see Korean combines. They are like miniature versions of American combines. And even weird than the mini combines, they put all of their grain on long black pieces of cloth, laid out on the sidewalk, road, wherever was paved.
There was one major difference about the Korean gym though. Asian guys are little. Average height is probably just slightly lower, but by little I really mean scrawny. I thought maybe if there was a Korean guy with big arms I would find him at the gym. Because at home, it is impossible to go to any gym without seeing at least two juiceheads. Nope. Not a single beefy gym rat in the pack. There were a lot of guys working out, lifting weights, etc. But they looked like a jr. high school basketball team's B squad rather than Bowlflex spokesmen.
Last weekend I went to Suncheon, a smallish (200,000 peeps, so not THAT small, but relative to Seoul) town on the southern coast of Korea. Suncheon is known for its bird sanctuary, with fall being the peak season. While at school a few days ago, I wrote all about the weekend. In order to not have my blog address saved on the school computers, I wrote it in Word, and then I was just going to email it to myself. Everything on the computers at work is in Korean. It makes doing really basic things a lot more challenging. SAVE AS didn't work. My blog is forever lost. So here is the condensed version, plus a few pictures.
The original plan-have an early night on Friday, and take the 9:30 bus Saturday morning. Arrive at Suncheon around 3 pm. Explore, go to the hot springs, see a temple or two.
What actually happened- Early night fail, me and my travel buddy found ourselves eating kebabs, chilling on the sidewalk around 5 am. We got home shortly after 5:30. We both slept through our alarms and missed our bus. So we took one that left at 2:40 instead. We got in shortly before 8.
Our hotel was in the middle of NOWHERE, outside of the city, very peaceful, but nothing to do. After checking in, we wanted food, so the lady at the front desk called us a cab to bring us back into town. It never showed up. But the front desk lady had ordered food for herself, and when she went outside to meet the delivery guy, she was shocked to see us still standing out in front of the hotel waiting. She ordered into the backseat of the delivery car, and asked him to drop us off in town. So we rode to town with this delivery guy, in his padiddle with what sounded like no muffler.
We woke up early Sunday morning in the hopes of getting to the bird sanctuary before it became overran with people, except we didn't know where to go, and the one hotel employee was not to be found. We just started walking. We actually found it pretty easily. What we did not find was any of the 140 species of migratory birds that were supposed to be there. But it was a lovely park.
We also went to Naganeupseong Folk Village. I wasn't sure how I felt about going, but we had several hours before the bus left, so I thought what the heck. WHOA. It was so worth the long taxi ride out there, and the questionable bus ride back to Suncheon, and then getting completely lost in Suncheon trying to find the bus terminal. People still live there, and it was probably one of the coolest things I've seen.
AND, it is harvest season. Once outside of Seoul, I got to see Korean combines. They are like miniature versions of American combines. And even weird than the mini combines, they put all of their grain on long black pieces of cloth, laid out on the sidewalk, road, wherever was paved.
At Suncheon Bay Bird Sanctuary, bird population- zero
Every garden needs old teapots
Almost unreal, and slightly touristy, a perfect combo.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Thursday twofer
I forgot this, which I have been laughing about all day. It was yet another gem from Hye Rin, the hurt tape girl. In order to fully appreciate it, you really have to know her. She is weird. She is one of my favorites, but she is weird. Like I said before, she asks me daily if I am pregnant. She calls me mama. She spends a lot of time rolling around on the floor, and frequently gives me baby wipes (water tissues) as presents. I don't have a picture of her, so here is one I stole from the school's website.
She is the one in the pink polo shirt.
I start every day by asking how the kids are. It gives each one a chance to speak, as well as wastes a good 15 minutes of class time.
Me: Hye Rin, how are you today?
HR: I am happy and odd.
Me, thinking no way I heard that right: Did you say you are happy and sad?
HR: No, odd.
Me: You are what?
HR: Odd.
Me: Odd? Do you understand that word?
HR: Yes.
Me, trying not to laugh: Who told you that you are odd?
HR: My mother.
She is the one in the pink polo shirt.
I start every day by asking how the kids are. It gives each one a chance to speak, as well as wastes a good 15 minutes of class time.
Me: Hye Rin, how are you today?
HR: I am happy and odd.
Me, thinking no way I heard that right: Did you say you are happy and sad?
HR: No, odd.
Me: You are what?
HR: Odd.
Me: Odd? Do you understand that word?
HR: Yes.
Me, trying not to laugh: Who told you that you are odd?
HR: My mother.
hills
As I previously said, I am not much of a hiker. But Koreans are nuts about hiking, and I wanted to find out why. So a month or so ago, when a girl I met in Beijing sent an email asking if anyone was interesting in a hiking excursion to the Taebaek Mountains, I thought ok. I'd never heard of the mountain range (or maybe I had, everything still sounds the same to me) or the mountain we were going to hike, Seoraksan.
After a bit of research, I still could never remember the name of the mountain, but I did learn that the mountain range is in both North and South Korea, and that Seoraksan, located in the Northeast corner of South Korea, is the third highest mountain in the country, with an elevation of 5600 feet. I also learned that this particular area is packed with peeps in the fall, as the colors there are supposed to be some of the best in the country.
So Friday night at 11 PM, sporting my trusty Niki running shoes (hiking shoes are EXPENSIVE and not in the nonhiker's budget) and my new hiking backpack, I boarded a bus headed for Seoraksan. Most Friday nights I go to sleep between 4-5 AM, so trying to get the few and only hours of sleep I'd get that night was easier said than done. I did manage to get about an hour and a half of "rest" before the bus pulled into a rest area parking lot shortly after 2 AM. The rest area was at the foot of the mountain, and was packed with buses and hikers. I thought to myself, "hmmm, usually Friday night at 2 AM, I am getting my dance on in Seoul. This is weird"
But I liked seeing this whole world of hard core hikers that I had no idea existed. We were told to use the bathroom, as it would be our last chance until we reached the top of the mountain. It was in the bathroom that I saw the only wildlife of the hike, a giant bug in the corner of the stall. After regrouping, we boarded the bus which then drove us about 10 minutes to the start of the path our group was taking. People clicked on their head flashlights (there is probably an actual word for those things) and we started up the mountain. It was really crowed, like seriously crowded, but we could really see nothing except a parade of flashlights. It was cool. We hiked up very steep rocks for about 30 minutes. My friends I went with, as well as myself, were all getting sweaty and tired. We found our leader and asked him how long the hike to the top of the mountain was, he smiled and said four hours. Then we asked if it was like this the whole way, and he said "it sure is!" I generally try not to complain, but when I say steep, I mean STEEP. At some points, it felt like we were climbing a ladder, made of uneven wet rocks, in the dark. I guess the hiking group chose this path because it's the hardest, but also the most direct. So we would be to the top in time to see the sunrise. So we climbed. And climbed. And climbed. And climbed. And climbed, for 4 hours, with no sleep, after working all day. I was surprisingly not tired though. Our group ended up getting very separated. So I spent a lot of the time climbing alone, but I was okay with that. It was a good chance for self reflection. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that it was the middle of the night, and I was hiking in the mountains in South Korea. Three years ago, when I was starting the application process to go to France, I never would have guessed this is where I'd be right now, but I am happy with how things are turning out.
A short 4 uphill hours later, I arrived at the top of the mountain, just as daylight was breaking. Sadly though, there was no spectacular sunrise because it was a misty/foggy/cloudy morning. The scenery was breathtaking nonetheless. We rested for a bit, then started our hike to the first shelter. Three shelters and 10 downhill (on rocks most of the way) later, we arrived at the bottom of the mountain. After a long drive back to Seoul, I got back to my apartment shortly before midnight Saturday.
Observations-
1. Ouch. 10 hours downhill on uneven and sometimes slippery rocks = a painful next couple of days.
2. Every Korean on the mountain hiked with what looked like ski poles. Is that normal?
3. No granola bars or trail mix here. Korean hiking/camping food = ramen noodles. They hook little pans on their backpacks in order to cook the ramen when they get to the shelters. And we're not just talking about plain ramen, they brought all the fixings (which, after 5 months I still can't identify) as well. They also drink a lot of makkoli while hiking.
4. Squat toilet outhouses, needs no explanation.
5. Ouch, more leg pain.
6. I fell...5 times.
7. Pushing is a national sport in Korea. While on the hiking trail is no exception. It didn't matter if the path was one person wide going, covered in uneven wet rocks. These hikers had places to be and couldn't be bothered to wait for us nonhikers. Sometimes it was funny. Sometimes it was annoying.
8. Saying this place was beautiful seems like a gross injustice. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Even with the 4 hours of steep to the point of feeling like we were climbing up a ladder uphill parts and the 10 hours of knee killing downhill parts and the hoards of people, I have no regrets about going. The only regret I have is that I did not know about Seoraksan before going. It makes me wonder how many truly spectacular places there are in the world, that I will never see simply because I do not know about them. At least I can rest easy knowing Seoraksan is not on that list.
9. I'm happy for the people in Chile.
10. Some of the pictures from the hike are on Facebook. For those of you not on Facebook, why not? All the cool kids are doing it. But all the pictures will be on my Shutterfly site sometime hopefully within the next week or two.
11. I need life advice. What should I do next year?
12. That's all I can think of about the hike.
One of my preschoolers grabbed my hair today and said "TEACHER! Hair is real?"
After a bit of research, I still could never remember the name of the mountain, but I did learn that the mountain range is in both North and South Korea, and that Seoraksan, located in the Northeast corner of South Korea, is the third highest mountain in the country, with an elevation of 5600 feet. I also learned that this particular area is packed with peeps in the fall, as the colors there are supposed to be some of the best in the country.
So Friday night at 11 PM, sporting my trusty Niki running shoes (hiking shoes are EXPENSIVE and not in the nonhiker's budget) and my new hiking backpack, I boarded a bus headed for Seoraksan. Most Friday nights I go to sleep between 4-5 AM, so trying to get the few and only hours of sleep I'd get that night was easier said than done. I did manage to get about an hour and a half of "rest" before the bus pulled into a rest area parking lot shortly after 2 AM. The rest area was at the foot of the mountain, and was packed with buses and hikers. I thought to myself, "hmmm, usually Friday night at 2 AM, I am getting my dance on in Seoul. This is weird"
But I liked seeing this whole world of hard core hikers that I had no idea existed. We were told to use the bathroom, as it would be our last chance until we reached the top of the mountain. It was in the bathroom that I saw the only wildlife of the hike, a giant bug in the corner of the stall. After regrouping, we boarded the bus which then drove us about 10 minutes to the start of the path our group was taking. People clicked on their head flashlights (there is probably an actual word for those things) and we started up the mountain. It was really crowed, like seriously crowded, but we could really see nothing except a parade of flashlights. It was cool. We hiked up very steep rocks for about 30 minutes. My friends I went with, as well as myself, were all getting sweaty and tired. We found our leader and asked him how long the hike to the top of the mountain was, he smiled and said four hours. Then we asked if it was like this the whole way, and he said "it sure is!" I generally try not to complain, but when I say steep, I mean STEEP. At some points, it felt like we were climbing a ladder, made of uneven wet rocks, in the dark. I guess the hiking group chose this path because it's the hardest, but also the most direct. So we would be to the top in time to see the sunrise. So we climbed. And climbed. And climbed. And climbed. And climbed, for 4 hours, with no sleep, after working all day. I was surprisingly not tired though. Our group ended up getting very separated. So I spent a lot of the time climbing alone, but I was okay with that. It was a good chance for self reflection. I couldn't stop thinking about the fact that it was the middle of the night, and I was hiking in the mountains in South Korea. Three years ago, when I was starting the application process to go to France, I never would have guessed this is where I'd be right now, but I am happy with how things are turning out.
A short 4 uphill hours later, I arrived at the top of the mountain, just as daylight was breaking. Sadly though, there was no spectacular sunrise because it was a misty/foggy/cloudy morning. The scenery was breathtaking nonetheless. We rested for a bit, then started our hike to the first shelter. Three shelters and 10 downhill (on rocks most of the way) later, we arrived at the bottom of the mountain. After a long drive back to Seoul, I got back to my apartment shortly before midnight Saturday.
Observations-
1. Ouch. 10 hours downhill on uneven and sometimes slippery rocks = a painful next couple of days.
2. Every Korean on the mountain hiked with what looked like ski poles. Is that normal?
3. No granola bars or trail mix here. Korean hiking/camping food = ramen noodles. They hook little pans on their backpacks in order to cook the ramen when they get to the shelters. And we're not just talking about plain ramen, they brought all the fixings (which, after 5 months I still can't identify) as well. They also drink a lot of makkoli while hiking.
4. Squat toilet outhouses, needs no explanation.
5. Ouch, more leg pain.
6. I fell...5 times.
7. Pushing is a national sport in Korea. While on the hiking trail is no exception. It didn't matter if the path was one person wide going, covered in uneven wet rocks. These hikers had places to be and couldn't be bothered to wait for us nonhikers. Sometimes it was funny. Sometimes it was annoying.
8. Saying this place was beautiful seems like a gross injustice. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Even with the 4 hours of steep to the point of feeling like we were climbing up a ladder uphill parts and the 10 hours of knee killing downhill parts and the hoards of people, I have no regrets about going. The only regret I have is that I did not know about Seoraksan before going. It makes me wonder how many truly spectacular places there are in the world, that I will never see simply because I do not know about them. At least I can rest easy knowing Seoraksan is not on that list.
9. I'm happy for the people in Chile.
10. Some of the pictures from the hike are on Facebook. For those of you not on Facebook, why not? All the cool kids are doing it. But all the pictures will be on my Shutterfly site sometime hopefully within the next week or two.
11. I need life advice. What should I do next year?
12. That's all I can think of about the hike.
One of my preschoolers grabbed my hair today and said "TEACHER! Hair is real?"
Saturday, October 9, 2010
in the end, I'd still prefer the sound of the wind in the firs
Before I start, here is this. I like to exploit my kids' cuteness for the enjoyment of others. With my mom's birthday last week, I saw the perfect opportunity to do just that. Just in case you are not my mom's friend on FB, here it is again. Watch for the slap the occurs at the end. The boy is the worst behaved in my class, and spends most days sitting in the corner. The girl he slaps is the biggest bully in class, and the nemesis of the boy. So I have to break up fights between the two of them daily. I love my kids.
I went on a hike yesterday. I'm not a hiker. Case in point: last weekend I went out to buy hiking clothes (or just clothes that would be suitable to wear hiking) and came home with two new pairs of pajama pants and zero articles of hiking attire. So I'm not really sure why I agreed to go on this hike because it was serious hiking business. But I thought what the heck, and what a great decision. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It would seem surreal, except that my legs are in excessive amounts of pain today.
I'll write more about my hike later. I'm tired and have a stomach full of practice Thanksgiving (aka Canadian Thanksgiving) dinner.
Here's two pictures.
I went on a hike yesterday. I'm not a hiker. Case in point: last weekend I went out to buy hiking clothes (or just clothes that would be suitable to wear hiking) and came home with two new pairs of pajama pants and zero articles of hiking attire. So I'm not really sure why I agreed to go on this hike because it was serious hiking business. But I thought what the heck, and what a great decision. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. It would seem surreal, except that my legs are in excessive amounts of pain today.
I'll write more about my hike later. I'm tired and have a stomach full of practice Thanksgiving (aka Canadian Thanksgiving) dinner.
Here's two pictures.
Saturday, October 2, 2010
kiddie konglish
One of the number one rules at school is "don't speak Korean!" I hear this being yelled between students at least 30 times a day. Most days, the kids abide by that rule quite nicely. However, since they have a somewhat limited vocabulary, they have to come up with other words to describe every day items for which they do not know the English word. For example-baby wipes are water tissues. Worksheets are paper study. Sometimes it takes me a minute to figure out what they are referring to, and I usually smile when I realize what it is. I had to bite my tongue when I heard this one the other day. This was courtesy of a student named Hye Rin, who despite asking me daily if I am pregnant, is one of my favorites.
Hye Rin: Teacher, I is ouch and hurt tape.
Me: Ouch? Uh oh, did you hurt yourself?
Hye Rin: Yes, but hurt tape and I is ok now.
At this point, I am thinking, hurt tape, what the heck? Then she pulls up her sleeve and shows me a band aid on her arm.
Hye Rin: Teacher, I is ouch and hurt tape.
Me: Ouch? Uh oh, did you hurt yourself?
Hye Rin: Yes, but hurt tape and I is ok now.
At this point, I am thinking, hurt tape, what the heck? Then she pulls up her sleeve and shows me a band aid on her arm.
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