The Heart of Seoul

So in addition to sitting in on Jing's classes this weekend, I also spent a few days in Seoul. Erin set Dave and I up with a bed at the Yellow Submarine hostel in Hongdae for the weekend and it couldn't have been a better location. I think I've mentioned Hongdae before, but it's like the chic, though not too poshy, college atmosphere that I'm always looking to spend a few days in. You can find anything from cheap bars to blues cafes, not to mention a random little area that had an unusual amount of Spanish (Spain, actually, not latin America) restaurants and at least one Korean with an identity crises sporting a Videla mustache. But then again, maybe he was just showing off the fact that he was the 1 in 100 Korean man that could actually grow one; we'll never know.Basically, every time I head to Seoul I love it a little bit more. Whatever you're in the mood for, whatever atmosphere, food, or smell in the air that strikes your fancy--just hop on the subway and 1-2 dollars get's you exactly what you're looking for. With that in mind, I had my first truly American food at an Aussie bar in Itaewon upon first arriving. Though I haven't really had an special craving the Western grub, the blackened chicken sandwich, fries and beer really hit the spot.

I'll just jump right to it now and tell you the highlight of the weekend: Foreigner day at FC Seoul, the local professional soccer team. Let me just point out that a) they play in the Seoul World Cup Stadium (pictures to come shortly) so you know its a good venue and b) foreigner day means 10,000 won (~8.50) gets you a free vuvuzela, hotdog and beer (2, actually), and--though it wasn't exactly advertised--all the Makkoli you can drink. The stadium was decidedly

not packed with people (maybe 1/10 full) but the aforementioned perks along with the extremely loud and excited home

section made for an excellent time. Let's just say I found new and wonderful uses for the vuvuzela (videos available in due course) and just meeting some Buckeye fans donning the scarlet and grey jersey halfway across the world really made the day. This was actually my first time to a professional soccer game, and I was thoroughly impressed. To be honest, I think the Korean cheerleaders put the Dallas Cowgirls to shame--but they can certainly get away with a lot. I hear the Korean national team is playing Japan next month...though hard to come by I'm definitely gonna have to try to get ahold of those tickets.

Don't Compare

OK, let me just start by saying, Hell Yes. If there's one thing that can make up for waking up at 4:00 a.m., in a hostel, after a lovely night on the town in Seoul, it's watching the Terrelle Pryor and the Buckeyes walk all over Miami in the 'shoe--if only they knew how to play special teams, the score would have been much more devastating, even if the game were less interesting.

But on to equally exciting albeit less important matters...This weekend I finally got away from Mokpo for a while, first escaping to Daejeon for dinner with Chang, then a stop in Cheongju where I sat in andintroduced myself to Jing's classes. As I mentioned in the last post, this was my first time on a train, which I took from Mokpo up to Daejon on Thursday. Despite the 30 stops and 4 hour ride (I took the

MUCH faster KTX train on the way back), I'm now a loyal fan of the Korean train system. A competitive price (~$13 for a 4 hour ride), tons of leg room, few people, and even a concession stand on board make it all worth my while. Oh yea, I guess if I'm discussing first times right now, this was also the first weekend I've been harassed by hobos looking for money--twice, in fact. I don't think I'm even gonna talk about that one since it'll just put me in a bad mood, but let's just say--in line withKorean culture in general--they think it's Ok to touch and grab random people on the street when they want money. But anyway, what I really wanted to talk about today was Jing's classes and the age-old adage, "Don't Compare."

Let me just begin by saying that everyone has a different experience over here. My students are a bunch of dicks but I love Mokpo and the homestay. Some people have amazing schools, but may work they're asses off in return. Checking out Jing's classroom let me see what a real, (for the most part) academically motivated high school is like. In most cases, the students were attentive, kind, interested, and even had some borderline knowledge of verbal English. The

irony is that I really didn't think my students were that bad, even if I knew they didn't really care about learning the language. The one "bad" class she had, in which the students were highly inattentive albeit quiet and well-behaved, was like a dream class for me. Anymore I'll happily take passed-out kids in the classroom--as long as they're not hitting each other and/or trying to talk louder than me. The flip side, of course, is that she teaches 25 classes a week and stays until 8 many evenings correcting essays and talking with students....My students can't write essays, let alone talk, so I think I'm safe in that department. I did, however, find it funny

how Jing's (English dept) boss made a big hubbub about showing me around the school and introducing me to various personages. That and her host mother, who's also a teacher at the school, took this strange and immediate liking of me--showing up and carting us off to lunch, getting tea afterwards, etc and inviting me to stay at their house next time I'm in town--despite the ostensibly cold welcoming that Jing's gets from her. I don't know if I'll ever take her up on that last offer, but it certainly would have been more accommodating than sleeping with 10 sweaty, snoring, Korean men in a bunk bed at the Jimjilbang--which, of course, I did (hey, for ~$4, that's hard to beat).

Oh, and I also wanted to mention (again, if I've already done so before) how Korean's LOVE ranking things. While at Jing's school (and this wasn't the first time) I was asked asked on multiple occasions to either pick the prettiest/most handsome person in the classroom or

rank such individuals standing before me. Naturally this is a bit awkward and, trying not to hurt anyone's feelings, I politely decline--yet teachers or other Koreans in the room act like it's completely natural to follow through on such requests. It's like they're (students, even adults for that matter) not comfortable unless they always know who the prettiest, smartest, most athletic...person in the room is. Though I also find it amusing how they a) actually care what I think and b) might be more comfortable knowing they're the "ugly" person in the room that not knowing at all. But alas, these are the kinds of cultural idiosyncrasies that I came over here to explore. And yes, they are being explored.

I love doing Everything Wrong

The host mom is out of town for a few days on a school field trip (the one I *politely* declined to go on) so that means grandma is over helping out with the cooking--at least during

the morning and evening hours. The woman is horribly nice, and I notice the little things she does to make me more comfortable when she's around (see: leaving food for dinner, then calling from her house during meal-time to see if the "American" likes it), though she never fails to help me remember that I'm actually not Korean. Like the way she talks to me; she knows I don't understand anything she says--especially when it all comes out with a heavy accent, slurred, and fast as all hell. I mean, most conversations start out this way. But most other people, if they're actually interested in communicating, either slow things down or eventually find words that I do understand. That last point is probably the greatest irony: I actually know a fair amount of Korean now--but when there are 10 different ways of saying the same thing, it's a guessing game for Koreans to figure out what I do and do not know. There's also the food thing...for which grandma was lambasting my host dad (about me) this morning. I.e. I do everything wrong.

Rule number 1: You don't drink while eating..."bad for digestion" (I usually don't do this here, to fit in, but I was especially thirsty upon waking up this morning). Rule number 2: When you finish your rice, why the hell would you ever eat anything else on the table? This second one is like a balancing act that I haven't quite mastered yet--timing how much rice I eat with other

foods so I don't just end up eating the meat or various styles of kimchi after my rice is gone...atwhich point the people here just stare at me curiously at I say, "what? It's delicious." Rule number 3: You always finish your rice. Panchon (side dishes) leftover's are completely OK. In fact, it's odd to finish them and what's left is generally stocked away for the next meal. But the rice! I think it must be in Section II, Article IV or the Korean Constitution: Thall Shalt FinishYour Damn Rice, though maybe not in those words.

Going back to the big picture, I think summer is finally heading out. It's bright, sunny, and in the upper 70's today. What I meant to say with that last sentence is that I can finally ride my bike around without looking like that sweaty American. Perfect timing too, I would say, since I have this little 5 day vacation, giving me a chance to enjoy Mokpo and travel around a bit. I successfully navigated the KTX (Korean Rail) website this morning and booked a trip to Daejeon for tomorrow afternoon, where, following dinner, I will take a bus up to the one and only Cheongju. I don't know why I'm so excited, except that I've never ridden a train before--except for the silly ones they have at petting zoos and various other urban rail systems. There's a first time for everything I guess.

Looking in vs. Looking out

So I'm heading down the freeway yesterday withthe homestay family, on our way to Wochulsan National Park, and I got to thinking. Studying a different culture from abroad is like peering into diorama; you look, you inspect the intricacies and marvel at the detail, but you never really get to know the little figures, their lives, their thoughts, or really how they live. Just like anyone else, I can take a class on Korean culture and learn about the food, the daily routine, the history that "defines" the people--and I might know things, but I'll never really understand until I jump in head first and actually live life on the other side. I bring all this up because, well, I spent thelast few months looking in...getting ready and cramming my brain

with whatever I thought might help me get by over here...and now I'm looking out. Modern Korean history doesn't matter now. Sure, it puts certain emotions in context: like when my host mother tells me that Japan's youth is forgetting what happened during colonization (we had just gone to a modern history museum), but Korean people will never forget because all mothers explain these things to their children. Before, I was learning about Korea and trying to see the facts in real life. Now this is real life, and I try to put the facts in context. But then again, some facts do not need context. Why do Koreans eat kimchi and rice at every meal? Because they do. Why do mothers push their children so hard, make up homework when the school doesn't assign it, and send their elementary school children to

Hagwons (basically, after-school school) until 9 at night? Because they care? That assumes American mother's don't care, and I like to think I turned out alright playingbaseballand basketball every night instead of memorizing vocabulary words. No, so many of these things just are; not better or worse, just different. And the fact that they're different is what makes living in another culture interesting. Living in another world, surrounded by a different set of values, both changes the way I understand life--by nibbling away at my worldview--and fortifies the values I had before I ever came. I mean, how can I really know what I do value, if I can never understand what I don't?

Well, getting back to the beginning: I spent all of yesterday with the homestay family, hitting up a National Park in the morning and checking out some Mokpo museums later on. I've finally posted a couple pictures of the troupe for your viewing pleasure. First we hit up a small Buddhist monastery, then toured some Korean tea fields (pretty cool actually, although I dont

really know why). Then I took a nap on the rocks of a mountain stream while the tikes frolicked around in the water. Ahh, better yet, I added a new first during lunch: mudfish. Not alive thistime, but both fried whole and ground into a soup. This was another one of those joints that specializes in one thing, AKA like every other restaurant. Now, what makes a prospective proprietor come to the conclusion that mudfish, not beef, pork, skate (each of which has a number of sub-specialties) is the right call, I will never know. I think this fits into the worldview discussed above; i.e. don't ask questions, just eat. Regardless, the tub (or more like a trough) of live mudfish in the doorway, squirming around before a hoard of hungry businessmen swallow them up, speaks a thousand words.

Looking forward, this week I'll finally get a chance to travel around on my own. I'm off work after tomorrow (Tuesday) because the students are going on various field trips. I had the

option of traveling with the first year students...of which I *politely* declined. With all due respect, I get plenty of these kid's sass 3-4 hours a day that being a chaperone on an "educational tour" just didn't quite speak to me. But I digress...I'll instead head North, first to Cheongju to sit in on a few of Jing's classes--apparently they're dying to see a white person, a particular niche that I was born to fit. That should lead into a night of debauchery with the Cheongju Cherries, followed a brief spurt up in Seoul to greet David after his GRE. Give 'em hell, David, give 'em hell.

Wait, What?

So I watched I crime unfold today and I didn't do a single damn thing to stop it. Actually, I wanted to--but I couldn't. Here's the story: I was sitting behind the ol' Mart this afternoon, taking a drink break and enjoying the sunshine before hammering out another day in the gym. Suddenly, I look to my left and there's this little kid, no more than 8 or 10 years old....creeping, yes, creeping, his way in through the back entrance of the store. At first it was more amusing
than anything else, because I honestly had no idea what he was doing. Then as soon as he came running out what a candy bar of some sort, it was all painfully obvious. To be honest, I did nothing. I just watched. On one hand, I was a little shocked. But mostly I was just speechless. Let me emphasize that last part: I couldn't--and still can't--muster up even half the words in Korean to adequately describe what the boy did. I mean, these store clerks/owners eke out a pretty meager existence, so that's just shitty. But what could I do? I wanted to tell the clerk, maybe stop the boy and have him give it back--but really, imagine doing that using only hand gestures and dirty looks...Every day I have another source of motivation to learn this language.

On a lighter (or darker, I dont know which?) note, typhoon Kompasu just blew through Mokpo last night. And when I say blew, that's about right. It started around 4 in the afternoon...just in time to drench me on my way out of school...and finished before I woke up the next

morning. Apparently the winds were anywhere from 50-95 mph, but I think I just slept through the bulk of it and woke up to bright and sunny skies this morning. It was, however, enough to drench my lower half in the 3 minutes I spent walking from the cab to a restaurant with the other Mokpo ETAs: Sean, Auburn, and Michelle (seriously, Nora, you missed out). Aside from the typhoon, damn it felt good to speak English at a normal cadence again. On top of that, it was nice to just sit around after dinner, watch the rain, grab some brews (at the New York bar, slightly pricy but nice atmosphere...new goal: find the dive bar with the $1 drafts) and trade horror stories about the past two weeks. This week I think the trophy goes to Sean: getting hit in the chest with a middle school girl's shoe. I guess they thought he looked like W.--though it would be far more hilarious if I thought middle schoolers actually kept up with politics.

On a final note, today (or technically tomorrow morning) is my favorite day of the year. College Football kickoff. Yes, that really does deserve bold and italics, it's that important. The past two weeks, every minute of Gyomushil (teacher's office) free time, ever ounce of late

night energy, every smidgen of creative inspiration--has gone towards mentally preparing for the season. No, I won't actually touch a football, but I am going to try to watch as many games as humanly possible despite the fact that a 12 noon kickoff back home actually means a 1 a.m. kickoff over here. Goal #2: find a good replay service. You might think this description is overkill, but after long deliberation I decided that college football (and maybe a little NFL, OK, and good beer, too) would be the only lasting remnant of American culture to pervade and infiltrate my life in Korea. We all have our vices; it could be much worse. With that said, if you tell me the Ohio State score before I get to watch the replay, check your mailbox for death threats in two weeks. Ok, maybe three weeks--because I'll use media mail, I'm that cheap.

Btw: the middle picture is me making Kimbap with the fam; I can roll like a champ.

Turning a Corner

After a great weekend to relax a bit (see: get some sleep) I think I'm starting to turn a corner over here. By that I mean settle in and "get used to being uncomfortable" as the Fulbright staff would put it. I mean, everything has been great overall--no problems, issues, etc--but I feel like the whole first week I couldn't get enough sleep; My mind just had far too much to process--to understand, sort out--that sleep was the only logical answer. Every single day is a new, previously unimaginable experience. That is: there is no routine, no time "get comfortable." I can see why years abroad, especially for people who immerse themselves in the culture, can be a life changing experience...we'll just have to wait and see how I turn out on the other end.

I was also going to comment on some other things, but this evening was way too hilarious to pass up on. In a nutshell, the whole family (the host family, his brother's family, sister's family, grandmother) was trying to set me up with the niece--or so it seemed. I guess the moons aligned just right so I had to sit across from her at dinner. Maybe it was just a coincidence, though, that she came to dinner with a set of pre-prepared questions in English (!#@$@?????). No, it was probably just an accident that she ended up in our van on the way

home and we had to wait in the car while the family went in to buy watermelon. She was a very nice girl though, pretty...first year nursing student at some school nearby. I don't know how I feel about the fake (->plastic lenses) glasses though...but I guess that's just all the rage around here. Being an interpreter must be a bear, as I found out trying to decipher broken English for two hours. Let me back up though, it was still a fun time...though a little bit awkward for me and, well, only me. Nothing too fancy happened...so don't get your hopes up. Though this is a prime example of why I started this blog: Because I can't imagine forgetting *random* things like this.

On a side note, I can probably add a few more foods to the first time list: chicken feet with beer, pig's feet lettuce wrap (I guess this was just a foot kinda week), skate with makkeoli (like stingray, tough and gnarly as balls).

And I found out what its like to be lactose intolerant. Out of curiosity I made a point to go without dairy when I came here. I had a couple pieces of pizza that first week, but went about 7 weeks without any. Of course I eat some pizza without thinking on Friday, and of course the cheese on the pizza proceeded to mold itself into a screw and churn its way through my intestines. I didn't think I would change that fast, but I have no otherexplanation under the circumstances. The homestay family saved the day yet again, though, with some random pellet mixture that actually helped. Live and learn. Live and learn.

Getting to Know Mokpo

Haha, the title rhymes. I'm way to proud of myself for that one. Regardless, I'm sitting here relaxing in a coffeeshop (7 Monkeys Coffee ???) which I though I'd mention is a very...strange...thing to do in Korea. First of all, it's borderline taboo to go to a coffee shop alone. Second, you really only go if you're a) a woman, or b) a man who wants to

ostentatiously flirt with his girlfriend. I don't really fit any of those categories so I guess I'll just be the social outcast and enjoy my airconditioning (surprisingly hard to come by in Korea), free wireless and delicious green tea latte. What do I care? Back to the important stuff though: I bought a bike on

Sunday. I got a yellow and back Lespo road bike from one of the shops in down (yea, I know, yellow. But this one actually looks pretty snazzy). This is a huge step forward on several accounts. Now I can get into downtown (like a 20-30 min walk) a lot faster and also come home from work early (1.25 hour walk, which sucks...I've done it twice now). I'm actually too big for the frame, materials, etc-- but getting a bike that actually fits me here--in the land of small people--would be damn near impossible. I really haven't been

out very far from home yet, though, because I've made a point to spend some time with the homestay family (TV, games, dinners, just talking)--I figure getting to know them and forming good relationships now will pay off in the future. On that note, they really are a great family. The kids are so well behaved, and yet smart, interesting individuals that its almost shocking. By no means do I think all Korean families are like this, so I guess I got lucky. The mother mentioned that she stressed etiquette very early on....so I take note.

On the flip side, I guess I've been ignoring the elephant in the room: school. My first day of teaching was Monday and by now I'm definitely starting to settle into a routine. They've got me teaching a total of 18 hours a week (the rest of the time I can pretty much do anything I want...which naturally means reading about NCAA football and why the Bucks are going to win the championship). I get out early (like 1) 3 days a week, and stay till 4:30 on Wed/Thu.

School is

definitely good, but to put things bluntly: I am teaching all the better-school rejects. It's a vocational school to begin with, so the majority of students are not college bound (or so I'm told) and in the words of my host mom (who teachers there as well), "most of the students come from bad or divorced families"...I'll let you interpret that as you will. It's really not all that bad though; as with any school you have your trouble makers, your girly boys, manly girls, and everything in between. English level is definitely on the bottom end on the spectrum, though there are a few students in each class that seem to have a decent grasp of the language. This of course presents a conundrum that--as I now realize--almost all teacher face: who do I teach to? Should I keep

yelling at the talking students in the back and push the sleeping students out of their chairs...or do I spend more time with the students who actually want, and might benefit from the extra attention. I guess the best answer, which I've heard before, is to "teach to the middle." Hopefully I can find ways to both do well and have fun with it--though I can tell you that about half the students in each class have no intention of learning English.

I've been pretty longwinded with this post so far, so I'll leave with the "What do you know about America" responses (to the question that I posed at the end of a few classes, to fill that last couple minutes before the bell rang). Obama always comes in the first two or three. Las Vegas shows up in every class, as does the Statue of Liberty and Harley Davidson. Aside from that, I've gotten "Mad cow disease" (if you remember, about 2006 or something like that, there was a big scare here over MCD), New York, Apple and Lebron James, among others. It's always interesting to know what foreigners think of us.