To Routine or Not to Routine

One of the biggest dilemmas I've had in Korea has been developing a routine--wake up, go to work, teach some classes.....Having some semblance of "normal" makes living in a foreign country that much easier. But while I'm eagerly searching for that daily comfort zone affordedby such a routine, part of me wants to keep shaking things up; keep steppingoutside that comfort zone, try new things and bend my mind a little bit more. I don't mean just trying new foods and so forth, that seems to come with living in Korea whether I like it or not--the question is whether I settle into something I'm "used to" or instead keep bombarding myself with uncomfortable situations and newexperiences. It's a struggle, because now that I'm teaching almost every day and getting to know the homestay family, I actuallyhave the option to lay back, kick my feet up and coast through the year. The flip side is the dirt path, scenic route to the well-trodden highway of comfort. The dirt path is harder but the rewards are always greater. If I've learned one or two things in this regard--it's that I'm always comfortable with the easy route but happier, though often physically and emotionally exhausted, with the scenic route. That, and I've found the tried and true method of always finding the scenic route: "Yes." By that I mean, the answer is always yes. Yes I'll take that drink. Do you want to come to X this weekend? Yes. I can't read this menu, but do you want to try this one? Yes, Yes I do.

I've posted a few pictures on here from the Seoul trip last weekend, including the lovely trip to watch FC Seoul crush Daegu. This week in Mokpo hasn't been particularly exciting, although I did get Thursday off and get a welcomed 6 day weekend next week...I don't know whether I should say a 6 day weekend or a 1 day work week, either way it might as well be 9 days off because going to work for 6 hours in one week is more like the "exciting" part of a 9 days of mandatory vacation. In any case, the break is for the Korean Thanksgiving: Chuseok. I'll be spending the first couple days with the (extended) homestay family--for which thoroughly expect excellent cooking, drunk relatives, and strangely colored traditional clothing. I'm actually pretty confident on that last one because, well, I'll be wearing some myself. For whatever generous and culturally magnanimous reason, the school decided to drop a dime and buy me a traditional Korean Hanbok. I don't have any pictures of it just yet, but you can Google "hanbok" and get a pretty good idea what I'm talking about. These suits aren't cheap, either, but I think the school had some special relationship with whatever seamstress I went to to have my measurements taken. I'll have to ask the FB office if I can wear the suit to the black tie 60th Anniversary Gala...I mean, it is a formal suit and all, but I don't know how that would go over.

On one last note, I think I had the first (or maybe 2nd, I honestly don't remember) dish that I

flat out didn't enjoy: sea squirt bimbimbap.

On one hand this dish really did not hit the spot, leaving me with the queazy feeling for a couple hours, but to be honest it wasn't that much of a disappointment. While borderline awful, if I hadn't eaten it I would never know what raw sea squirt tastes like--though I think it was actually the strange sauce that made the dish so unappealing. so that's an accomplishment in itself. Though maybe I'm just happy that I finally found something here that I don't like to eat. Oh yea, I also forgot to mention that my host dad brought home a whole pig head home the other day, then proceeded to hack away at it on the kitchen table. Out of shear curiosity I decided to sit there and watch him for a few minutes. He really had no idea what he was doing...but that didn't stop us from eating random chunks of pig head (ear, tongue....) for breakfast and dinner the next few days. Funny how I almost forgot about this, I guess that comes with the territory these days.