some Fo-Toes

here are some photos from my past week:

I am with Eunice, one of my new friends. this is us in our pre-movie excitement (and very cold) on the deck outside the cinema.
here is the same deck, same view without people in the way. i didn't know movie theaters came with views this good.my cool korean friends Katie and Eunice, posing with Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

I am eating korean food (as usual) with korean teacher, Esther one of the korean teachers (in photo above). This is directly following my korean bath house experience. do i look dazed and awkward and yet distinctly relaxed? well, mainly my hair just looks a little crazy. :)

oh yeah

about my other "new experience" of the week:

i bit the bullet and went to a much-feared korean bath house (feared by me, not by the koreans).
if you don't know what this is, two words: unclothed and awkward.
the push that got me over my fear was that i really was in pain because of falling on some ice two days prior. And, I figured,...this whole country does it, it couldn't be that bad...
and, i will say, it was remarkably relaxing. according to the korean teacher i went with, "you have truly become Korean when you realize you love the bath house". that realization is yet to quite come.

considering that... this bath house experience took place within the same week as 4 acupuncture treatments, a lovely touch of korean food poisoning and a god-awful additional acupuncture treatment on my stomach, upon discovering my sickness (note: acupuncture on the stomach is something i pray no one has to experience) ... I now see myself as a stronger woman.

it's my mom's birthday today.
happy birthday mom.

this week

This week went unexpectedly. After a dramatic fall on some ice, a trip to the Korean hospital, several doses of electro therapy and acupuncture, i am back (almost) to normal.
So, this became the week of Korean firsts. My first Korean hospital, my first acupuncture, my first trip to the Korean cinema, my first cold noodle soup, and some other firsts that i'll get to later.
But, most importantly, I was given my Korean name today. It is "Shin-ae". It means Belief and Love. Pastor In gave it to me. I like it, I think I'll keep it.

saturday: a wedding and seoul

a pastor who helps out at the church on sundays got married in seoul this weekend. though, in typical korean fashion, the teachers weren't actually invited, it was just assumed that we'd assume we were. i went because some korean girls from church/work had arranged that i would come with them to the wedding and then spend the day with them in seoul. so, i did.

it is my practice to observe as many foreign weddings as possible. weddings say a lot about a culture. this wedding resembled a western wedding in many ways. . though, we ate before the ceremony and the people i was with seemed in no hurry to get up to the sanctuary once the "warning bell" tolled. by the time we made it upstairs, the wedding was very much in progress.
supposedly the "eat before hand" practice is not common , but i completely endorse it because we got to eat fabulous food and not starve during the ceremony. plus, we could jet as soon as the ceremony was over. so, reception and ceremony totaled no more than 90 minutes. no complaints here.

i left the wedding with my new korean posse. two girls from church, one girl who teaches the korean kindergarten class at my school. they are fun and sweet. though, i speak only 10 words of their language and they speak (maybe) 20 words of my language. so, the day was good, but my arms ached after the day charades and my brain hurt after a full day of fill-in-the-blank.
and, even though it was so good to be with these new friends all day, it (sorta kinda) made me miss my old ones (a lot).

we went to Insadong and Myongdong, places that mean nothing to you if you've never been to korea. but, i highly recommend both neighborhoods for your next visit to seoul. we ate great korean food and went shopping and drank espresso. and it was good.

a year ago i was in Italy

I'm a sucker for culture. And, I confess, I'm determined to see as many countries and eat as much of their food as possible before I die. This Korea thing caught me off guard. Those who know me know that I didn't expect to be living in Korea. Ever. But here I am. Though I must admit that I have wondered since arriving to this place why I couldn't live a year in Italy instead. But, then I remembered, there is always next year...

Now it's time to play a game:
Which of these photos is not like the other.
These are all from Italy last year, except for one Korea photo.
Have fun. :)








I hope this came rather easily for you. :)
(the bottom photo is Korea)

(Italy photos by Jamie Stumbo)

random shots in Seoul

I think this middle man would be my friend if there wasn't that whole language/culture/age barrier. I really think we would hit it off.
These photos are in the Seoul train station, waiting to go back to Yangpyeong. Waiting, not wanting.

Crap Meat Pasta

Note to self: If I ever own a restaurant, never make the mistake of this typo: Crap Meat Pasta

7 days ago...

...It snowed. Exactly a week ago. This time it was real snow. The kind of snow that keeps falling. One of the teachers suggested that I try living in Alaska because of how happy the snow makes me. Not a bad idea actually. The kids made a snowman with me. Then the kids knocked it down about 15 seconds after I walked away. Now...if only we could get the Koreans to understand the concept of a snow day.

old news

This is dkukbukkee. Or however you want to spell it. Even when this Korea experience makes me want to dropkick the kids into a ricefield, I've still got dkukbukkee. I'll always have dkukbukkee to get me through. I love you dkukbukkee.

This is almost assuredly the coolest bench in Seoul. In the Insandong neighborhood. I was afraid to sit on it.

my bright idea

for about 4 minutes yesterday, i counted exactly how many days i have left in korea.
bad idea.
it is a lot of days.

i suppose i should have anticipated this, but my days back since being home for christmas have been exceptionally hard. i'm crawling out of my skin here. i had grown a thick skin, a numbness to it all in my first three months. then i went to america for 2 weeks and was ruined by all it's goodness. now i must again build up the crazy-school tolerance, fielding the numbness to the waves of frustration that crash against my face all day long in this palce.

but the teachers did go to the orphanage on saturday. and that was good.
and i did go to Seoul for New Year's Eve. that was good.
and, i've been enjoying korean food, i had been going through serious spice withdraw in america.
that has been good.
and the kids are still cute at school. that is good.
and, in comparison with my entire life, the amount of days that i have left in this place won't suffocate me (entirely).
that is very, very good.