I went north on Saturday! Not all the way into to the Dear Leader's stomping grounds, as I am lacking the time (most tours are at least 5 days) and the money (tours well over $1000, not including the cost of the visa for China and transport from here to Beijing). That trophy travel will have to be saved for another time. So for now I have to settle for peering at Kaesong via blurry binoculars that I paid 500 won to use for about 2 minutes. I can't really complain though, I have seen North Korea. There used to be day tours offered into Kaesong from South Korea. But due to conflict the past couple years, they are off and on. Obviously, right now, the tours are suspended. Perhaps if I stay here long enough, and NK can avoid sinking any SK ships or shelling any small fishing islands, those trips will start up again.

A 5 day tour of the DPRK would be the best thing. A day trip to Kaesong would be second best. So I suppose I did the third best thing, I took a tour of the DMZ. I am not sure why it's called the Demilitarized Zone, because it seems to be pretty heavily militarized. Aside from the few times I've been on the US Military base, it's the most militarized place I've seen here. There were massive barbed wire fences, as well as both US and Korean military guards everywhere we stopped. I felt too dumb to ask that question, but I always assume the prefix "de" means removal. So why is it called the DMZ?

I had a bunch of stuff written about my day, but really, it was largely forgettable. I've heard that there are USO tours, where you actually get to see some cool stuff, and that any other tour is just a bunch of nothing. After going on a nonUSO tour, I agree with that assessment. I deleted what I had written, because much like the tour I went on, it wasn't much of anything. For the curious, here are a few of the very few pictures that I took.

This is a locomotive that is covered in bullet holes from the Korean War. It signifies something...probably the unification of Korea or some such thing.

This is the 3rd Tunnel. I took this picture from Google Image because cameras are not allowed in the tunnel. But North Korea dug a bunch of tunnels into South Korea after the war. They have discovered 4 of them, but they think there are more.

If you squint hard and you use your imagination, you can see Kaesong. Our guide said it's the second largest city in North Korea, but the books I've read said otherwise. So I dunno. The weird thing though, is that even with the binoculars, I did not see a single car, person, bit of movement, etc. Nothing.

This is the Dorasan train station. It is right on the border, and was built with the intent of having some grand inter Korean rail system. Clearly, the North closing its border to the South put that project on hold. The ticket windows, security screenings, turnstyles, and waiting rooms are all there, just shiny new and unused. Because until the two Koreas shake hands and make up, this train station is a dead end...in a place with very little going on, ie no one wants to go there.

It was a bit weird seeing signs directing me to Pyeongyang though.

So there you go. As I said before, we didn't see a lot. So I'm looking into the USO tour. Other thoughts on the day.

One part that did stick with me was a short video they made us watch before we entered the 3rd Tunnel. The first part was about the Korean War. The video showed clips of war torn Korea, and there was one part that was two hysterical children. I guess it stayed with me because the kids appeared to be about the same age as my kids. It breaks my heart to think of my kinderhearts in that condition, and it makes me feel slightly less angry at the old Korean women who push me or seem to go out of their way to cut in front of me on the sidewalk.

The second part of the video was randomly weird...yet oh so Korean. It was about how the DMZ is good because it's this great place for nature, then it showed pictures of some grass growing in a former mine field, a goat climbing on an army watch tower, and some birds perched on a barbed wire fence. Oh Korea. I guess they are proud of this "nature" because they also had displays about it at the 3rd Tunnel museum. I believe one of the exhibit captions was "DMZ, where nature and mankind coexist in harmony"

While I was at the observatory, paying my 500 won to use the binoculars, another girl on the tour turned to me and was like "Do you think the regular North Korean people have any idea this happens?" An interesting question, and one that I had no answer for. Then I wondered if there was any other part of the world where this would happen, and I pictured Americans looking into binoculars at the border, desperately straining their eyes "Oooh, look, I see a Canadian!"

Just outside of Kaesong, there is a North Korean propaganda village. There's a HUGE North Korean flag flying in it, but otherwise it looked like that urban sprawl that is right off I-55, right after I-80. I guess most sources say no one lives there, it is just built to make the outside world think North Korea is a prosperous and nice place to live.

I guess that's all. I have other things of great importance to say (such as the new layout of my apartment, and WARM WEATHER!), but I am too tired. So they will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, here is a picture of the cutest kid you will ever see. I love my little Min Sol.

A few days in paradise, 110 days left in not paradise

I spent the weekend in the Philippines for Lunar New Year. It was an interesting place. I drank the water a few times forgetting where I was, and I didn't get sick...yet.

Here are some more Filipino observations, then some pictures. I'd say to check my shutterfly page for all the photos, but let's be real, I don't do really well at keeping that up to date. But sometime, within the next year, I WILL put the photos on there.

I guess the most important thing first-I became involved while in the Philippines. I didn't know a love like this was possible, but now that I've found it, I can't stop smiling. It's all I think about. I know that meeting your soul mate while on vacation is kind of the stuff Harlequins are made of. But seriously, have any of you ever had a really ripe fresh and delicious mango? YUM YUM YUM! Mangoes are everywhere in the Philippines, and I ate my weight in them and then some. I had mango pancakes for breakfast, mango shakes, juice, smoothies, cheesecake, and my personal favorite the plain fruit. SO good.

Everything in the Philippines was cheap. I got a pair of earrings for 5 cents. Eliza, come April start checking the mail cause there will be some 5 cent earrings being mailed your way.

I went snorkeling and scratched my leg on the coral. A jellyfish also swam right in front of my mask but I didn't get stung. Phew. But I think both of those things give me some serious street cred in the snorkeling world.

While enjoying the night air a lizard fell from on my head and ran down my arm. Gross? Cool? Bit of both?

The food in the Philippines is cheap, but overall forgetable. There is a lot seafood of course, and otherwise just the standard Asian stuff, rice rice and more rice. The island we stayed on, called Palawan is famous for cashews. Those were everywhere and tasty.

PICTURES!

The beach in Sabang

More of Sabang

Sabang, I guess it was photogenic

Chickens and roosters were running around everywhere.

I took this picture from the window of a car. I was trying to capture the government building in the background. Needless to say, that was a failure. BUT, I did (unintentionally) capture the tricycles, the main vehicle on the road in the Philippines. There are no taxis in Puerto Princesa. The most I paid for a ride in a tricycle was 80 Pesos, about $1.50. They are slow, and a bit sketchy. A+

Needs no explanation

Monkey!

Right outside of the Underground River. It was pretty cool, but I enjoyed the scenery around the river more than the river itself...and not just because I saw monkies, although that did play a large part.

Stray dogs are everywhere in the Philippines, and that includes puppies! I was able to coax this shy little buddy over to me by throwing pieces of my lunch on the ground. I wanted to take him with me.

The beach just outside of the Underground River

I like flowers.

In other happenings:

I found out some exciting news today. I can't really say it yet because it's unofficial until Thursday...but I will say this- Guess who gets a lunch break starting in March? THIS GIRL! Yes, that's right, my days of eating with my students are numbered. WoOt!

So, that's about all that's going on right now. I have 3 1/2 months left in Korea. So aside from a sad goodbye coming at the end of the month, I feel like things are good. The days are slowly getting longer, and will hopefully gradually start to get warmer as well. 3 1/2 months is not that long. I need to get out and see the things that I felt like I had all the time in the world to do. The first stop is the DMZ next weekend. And in the 3 months following, I've got museums, neighborhoods, cafes, and festivals to fill my weekends.

아침 식사 إفطار อาหารเช้า gosaria завтрак საუზმე reggeli 朝食 hommikusöök 早餐 नाश्ता

In the English language, are there words that are more exciting than "LET'S EAT BREAKFAST!"? I don't think that question mark is really necessary, because everyone knows the answer. Of course there are no words that are more exciting or make a person happier. Breakfast! Even as I write this, the very mention of it brings to mind pancakes! bacon! cheesy scrambled eggs! french toast! strawberry waffles! eggs benedict! hash browns! my mom's so delicious they seem unreal biscuits with jam! coffee! cinnamon rolls! sausage! omelettes! Lucky Charms! donuts! lotus simmered in soy sauce! rice! cold noodles! kimchi! seaweed! clear soup! Oh, Korea, where do I begin to explain everything that is wrong with "breakfast" here?

I am living in a country where I am not only illiterate (aside from being able to read\write the word "kim"), but my speaking is also limited to 13 words/phrases (hi, bye, thank you, one, two, stop here, right, go straight, jealous, American, water, yes, no). Needless to say, navigating the bus/train schedules can be a bit of a challenge. So I have found the organized trips through meetup.com and other such groups to be a great way to get out of Seoul, and do things that I otherwise would not have been able to. I've gone on several of those trips, most recently this past weekend, skiing at Phoenix Park on the east coast of the SoKo. Usually these trips depart early in the morning, so a breakfast stop at a Korean travel plaza along the way is always a given. Under normal circumstances, by that I mean in the US, truck stop breakfast is food fit for royalty. It's delicious, cheap, filling, and sometimes makes the consumer feel a bit nauseous due to the questionable sanitation and food quality of your average truck stop. What more could a traveler ask for? Truck stops in Korea are not like that. There is not a hash brown or a chunk of margarine melting between two pieces of unevenly toasted bread to be found. If you want cold noodles or seaweed/octopus soup, head down the highway in Korea and stop at any travel plaza along the way. There is no need to worry about time, because like American truck stops, breakfast is served all day, unlike American truck stops, that is because the exact same menu is used for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

I got lucky on this last trip though. Usually my breakfast while traveling is a boiled egg, or a hot dog on a stick, the closest things I can find to western breakfast. We stopped at a truck stop, and one of the menu items was a "ham toast" which was bread-mayo-ham-ketchup-egg like substance with carrots (or maybe squid, I am never sure) and onions-bread, then put on the griddle and cooked like a grilled cheese. For breakfast in Korea, it was pretty ok.

Why Korea has never jumped on that tasty breakfast train will forever be a mystery to me. Although I consider myself to be the president of the breakfast fan club, so maybe I am biased.

In other happenings...PHILIPPINES tomorrow. 85 degrees, here I come.

Since Christmas I've been taking mad amounts of vitamin C, and eating citrus fruits like popcorn. However, it was no match for these Korean super germs. I fought it as long as I could and actually spent 4 weeks cold free which is a record for me here, but in the end, my immune system lost the battle. I went to the doctor today. I am not exaggerating when I say in Korea, I've been sick more than I've been healthy. Until today, I'd not been to the doctor for it. So, drugs! Fingers crossed that at least one of the 6 different pills Dr. Yoon prescribed to me will work.

Winter concert is over. As adorable as my kiddies were singing, I can't say I'm overly sad about it being done. I haven't had 'Banana Phone' stuck in my head once in the past 5 days. Awesome.

February is my 9th month in Korea. Whoa baby whoa.