Kathmandu

I've made it safely back to Korea after two amazing weeks in Nepal and India.  I'd really like to share some of my thoughts and photos about my trip, but I have so many of both that it may take a bit of time.  I'll piece together some of my journal entries, emails, facebook posts and see what I come up with.  So I'll start from the very beginning, I've heard it's a very good place to start.

After many many flights, (Seoul to Taipai to Bangkok to Delhi to Kathmandu--all to save $500, and actually it was kind of worth it) I arrived in Kathmandu.

Kathmandu is unlike any city I've ever been to.  It appears to be one chaotic mess.  I got a taxi from the airport to my hotel.  The taxi driver let another random guy hitch a ride part of the way.  These guys were very friendly, I chatted with them for awhile.  The driver said he thought most Americans were very quiet and unfriendly but he was happy that I liked to talk.  I didn't see that I had much choice when they were firing a barrage of questions my way.  As the driver was chatting with me he was effectively avoiding cows, school children, buses, and garbage in the road.  When it comes to driving in Nepal, the rules are there are no rules.  (Except that you should blare your horn loudly and frequently.)  

I met my group at the hotel.  Overall they were a great group of people and I was lucky to get to know them over the two weeks.  My roommate was a Londoner named Olivia.  We had a lot of random fun throughout the trip and I was fortunate to be placed with her.  Although anyone on my trip would have made a great roommate.  

On our first day of sightseeing in Kathmandu we visited holy Buddhist and Hindu places.  

Monkeys just hang out in Nepal and India.  Here's a mama and a baby.
Cows also just hang out in Nepal.  Traffic doesn't stop for much else, but it stops for cows.

The holy Hindu place (sorry I forget the name and am too lazy to look it up right now).

An aerial view of a holy man.

Sneaky monkeys.

Hindu people come to this river because it is considered holy.  

Woman in a sari.

They also cremate people at this river.  Not sure if there is an actual body in there or if they're just stoking the fire in preparation.

Some dye.

Nepali schoolchildren.  So cute!

A Buddhist monk doing some drawing.

The Buddhist temple.  The prayer flags are yellow, green, red, white, blue and represent earth, water, fire, cloud (air), and sky respectively.

The Buddhist temple from the front.  Buddha is watching.

Anna Rickert Minnesota

"I think I'm going to Kathmandu...

I think it's really where I'm goin' to."  I will be MIA for the next couple weeks because I'm traveling to Nepal and India.  Dreams really do come true... I've always wanted to visit these countries.  I may write a post on the road depending on internet access and time, but I'm not sure.  When I come back, I'm sure I'll have plenty of pictures to share.  Until we meet again....

What are they teaching these kids? Part 2

Two weeks ago I showed you a sign that was up at my school.  I don't understand why the kids needed to know how to say that, but here is one of the phrases that was up yesterday.  Now this is some learning I can get behind.  

The Chaser

I try to keep you updated, dear readers, on the pop culture scene here in Korea (ok, so I do a poor job, I apologize).  I told you about my obsession with Boys Before Flowers.  I shared with you some of my favorite K-pop songs.  Well, now I'm going to let you in on another secret (ok, it's not really a secret, any well-versed movie buff has probably heard about this already), but there is going to be a Hollywood remake of a pretty well-known Korean movie.  This will be like the next The Departed which was a remake of a Hong Kong movie Infernal Affairs.  The Korean movie is titled The Chaser.  Supposedly Leonardo DiCaprio is in talks to star in the Hollywood remake.  I watched The Chaser a couple weeks ago and it's very good.  It's a far cry from the cutesy Korean dramas and romantic movies that seem so popular here.  I would highly recommend it, especially if you too want to appear one step ahead of the average movie enthusiast.  You can watch the movie with English subtitles here.   

Say Kimchi!

There are certain things I dig about Korea and wish we had in America.  The photo booth is one of these things.   As a general rule in Korea, nothing is ever too cute.  It doesn't matter whether you're male or female.  Ladies, you want to wear a pink jeweled scottie dog barrette in your hair?  You go girl!  Oh wait, you're forty?  Even better!  Guys, you want to wear a bedazzled purple tie?  Hey no problem here!  And you're straight?  No one would have thought otherwise!  So anyway, the cuteness meter can't get much higher in these photo booths scattered around Korea.  You can take pictures with your friends and then decorate them.  They also have hats, wigs, sunglasses, etc. that you can wear in the photos.  I've visited these photo booths many times over the past ten months.  Here are just a few of the pictures that I've actually scanned onto the computer:

Okay, Chrissy and I frequent the photo booths quite often.  

Celebrating Julie and Adi's birthdays.  We were pretending to be "Woo Girls".  ("How I Met Your Mother" reference)

And Chrissy and me again.

What are they teaching these kids?

Outside of my English Zone there is a sign that flashes English words or phrases and their Korean translations.  Each day the students are supposed to write down the words and then they are quizzed on them on Fridays.  Yesterday I noticed this gem of a phrase:  

Really, some students can't even understand "My name is...", but yet you want them to be able to say this?  And who decided to use Sharon Stone as an example (and then misspelled her name)?  I think 1992 called and they want their celebrity back.  Once again the Korean educational system fails to make sense to me.  

Two months!

As of Sunday, I officially have two months left in Korea.  Last week I booked my flight to Minneapolis for September 5th.  I have mixed emotions about this.  I am dying to see my family and friends, and I truly believe the happiest day of my life thus far will be when I step off the airplane at the Minneapolis/Saint Paul airport.  But I also think about all the people I will be leaving.  Most of them I will never see again, which is rather depressing to think about.  I fully intend to take advantage of my final two months here in Korea.  I will be living it up.  

Actually, I really only have a month and a half left in actual Korea.  I am traveling to Nepal and India from July 31st-August 16th.  Because my schedule didn't work out with any of my other friends, I will be traveling alone (sort of).  Yikes!  This will be a first for me.  But Nepal and India have been travel goals for me for quite some time so I figured I really have to go for it.  But because I didn't totally want to travel all alone (especially in Nepal where they are having some political unrest supposedly--the U.S. has even issued a travel warning), I am going on a tour with Intrepid Travel.    I will begin my trip in Kathmandu and end in Delhi.  

And in honor of going to Kathmandu, here's a little Bob Seger for you:

I couldn't have said it better myself.

If you'd like a clear telling of annoyances in Korea cast in a positive light, please read my friend Andrew's oxymoronic (I mean that in a good way) blog post here.   It's everything I'd like to say but can't without sounding like I hate it here (which I don't at all).

The first of many goodbyes.

Last weekend (not this past weekend but the weekend before for those of you keeping track--which is probably no one, so for my own sake) about 40-50 of us Incheon foreigners descended upon Deok Jeok Do (an island southwest of Incheon). I visited Deok Jeok Do last fall and it's really one of my favorite places that I've been in South Korea. It's really cheap to get there, stay there, and eat there and it's just a nice place to chill on the beach. We swam and laid out during the day and had a bonfire at night. As I left on the ferry on Sunday afternoon, I realized I will probably never go to Deok Jeok Do again in my life. It's weird to think about things like that, saying goodbye to some place for a final time. I'm not really trying to be morbid here, because overall it was a good time, but I just don't really have any intention of ever returning there. Anyway, it made me realize all of the goodbyes I am going to have to say in the next two months. I really hate goodbyes. Here are a couple pics from the weekend. I didn't take any because I took a million last fall, so I stole these from my friends.

We rented some tubes from our pension and laid out in the sea all day.  It was glorious.

Chrissy and me on the ferry.

One of the locals.  I'm not really sure how people survive on the island because it's not a huge tourist destination and there isn't much else going on there.  

Rockin

Can we just appreciate this line-up for a minute? This is a festival that's going on in Seoul in July. Ummm, Weezer, Oasis, Jet, Jimmy Eat World all in the same weekend? Yes please! I am especially looking forward to seeing Weezer in Korea. I've seen them a few times, but never in Korea, obviously. And as all Weezer fans know, Rivers has a thing for the Asian ladies. I wonder if that's why they tour around Asia so much? (Yes, I know he's married now...) Anyway, this should be good.

Lil Kim

I'm not going to lie to you, being within 40 miles of a country run by one of the craziest men alive does not give me comfort.  In fact, I worry about North Korea on a daily basis.  Sure we all know they would have to be extremely dumb to actually try anything because they don't really have any allies anymore, but I'm not sure that North Korea knows that.  Anyway, I equally love and loathe North Korea's newest threat about "wiping the aggressors off the face of the Earth once and for all."  Really North Korea?  Your last two missile launches haven't gone so well.  But anyway, here's a clip from "The Daily Show".  I don't know about you, but I think the mini Kim Jong-Il is adorable:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Welcome to the Jong-il
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Obama Style

Koreans love Obama.  I don't know if it's because they can pronounce his name really easily (unlike our former president who they call Bush-ey --Koreans put a vowel end on most English words), or because he's young or what exactly it is.  But every time I show a picture of a black man in a lesson invariably a few students will yell out "Obama!"  (Have I mentioned that most Koreans are a tad racist?  Because they are.)  Also, I used President Obama as an example in one of my lessons once, and in almost every class, all the students pointed to a student who "looked like" Obama, according to them anyway.  They think there's a certain look that some Korean men have that resembles Obama.  Apparently one of the teachers at my school looks like Obama too.  I don't quite see it.  There's also a restaurant near one of my friend's apartments named "Oh! Ba Ma."

Anyway, one of my students, Jin Sung, was entered in a city-wide English speech contest.  I had been helping him with his speech a bit over the last few weeks.  The contest was last Friday, and the co-teacher who I love, Sharon, got me out of teaching in the afternoon to watch the contest.   There were about 50 students entered in the contest.  After we watched a few contestants, I went out to practice with Jin Sung a few more times.  As we were practicing, Jin Sung told me that he wanted to do his speech "Obama Style".  I looked questioningly at Sharon because I had no idea what he meant.  Sharon explained that he wanted to hold the microphone instead of have it attached to a stand as all the other students had done.  This is "Obama Style". Apparently Jin Sung even asked the judges before the contest if he could hold the mike.  He seemed to enjoy practicing that way, so I told him to go for it.  However, I think "Obama Style" ended up distracting him a bit from his speech because he forgot a small part of it, but he does look cute:

Jin Sung's "Obama Style"

Obama's "Obama Style"

Anna Rickert MN

Korea vs. Iran

Last night I went to my first real soccer game. I'm kind of hooked. In fact I dare say I enjoy soccer more than football. I wish it was bigger in the U.S. As always sports kind of confuse me, but I guess it was the World Cup qualifying match for Iran. South Korea has already qualified for the World Cup. The game ended with a tie of 1-1. Apparently Iran still has a chance of qualifying.  And because Iran is in the news at the moment, the game even made the news in the U.S. as you can see in this Time article.  Here are a few photos from the game:

The World Cup Stadium in Seoul.

We were attempting to do "see no evil, hear no evil, and speak no evil."

Julie, Chrissy, me

And a normal photo...

My fave girls: Jen, Chrissy, me, and Julie

We weren't that close but still a very exciting game.  

Jen and Adam enjoying the game with the thunder stick things.  

Another year older, and another year wiser?

Almost two weeks ago now (wow, time just flies) I celebrated my birth with some amazing people.  Take my word for it, birthdays are a good time in Korea.  On Friday night about 10-15 of us headed out to Hongdae in Seoul.  My friend Julie outfitted us with sweet birthday hats that she made herself.  All of the hats had a lot of photos of me on them.  You can see some sported here:

My birthday ended up lasting most of the weekend.  On Saturday night we celebrated with a cake that Chrissy bought for me.  It's probably the cutest cake I've ever seen:

I was going to write some deep post about being 26.  It seems like such a jump from 25.  But maybe I'll save that for another time.  Instead let's enjoy some good time birthday fun pictures:

Inspiring

My bff Chrissy lent me the book Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coehlo a couple weeks ago.  I'm not very far yet, but I really liked the following quotation from it.  I think it really sums up my life right now:

"Up until then, travel and the idea of going far away had just been a dream, and dreaming is very pleasant as long as you are not forced to put your dreams into practice.  That way, we avoid all the risks, frustrations and difficulties, and when we are old, we can always blame other people--preferably our parents, our spouses or our children--for our failure to realize our dreams."

I think it can be applied to any sort of dream, not just travel, that anyone is considering but is too afraid to pursue.  Anyway, I just really liked it and I thought I'd share.

What shell I do?

There is a great little holiday here in Korea that was celebrated last Friday.  That holiday is Teacher's Day.  Now if I remember correctly, there may be a teacher appreciation day or week or something in the U.S.  But I know it definitely does not compare to Teacher's Day.  Korean students spoil their teachers with bouquets of flowers, candy, gifts, etc.  I received some candy from students and a corsage.  My favorite gifts were the cards that some of my students made for me.  Allow me to share a few of their (unedited) messages.  Please keep in mind that writing in English is definitely not their strong suit.  In fact, the students' English vocabulary is amazing, and they know more English grammar than most U.S. students, but unfortunately their speaking and writing is sub-par because they are not tested on it.  So here are a few of my favorites:

"Hi!  My name is Kim Dong Woo.  How are you?  You are so beautiful.  Thanks you.  Say good bye.  Kim Dong Woo."

"Hi?  My name is Yang Min Gu.  I am hate English because English is very difficult.  What shell I do?"

And this one is my favorite because he is the only boy who shows up for my conversation club on Friday afternoons...

"Hello Anna Teacher.  My name is Kim Dong Yeoun.  Every Friday I was taught by you.  I was nervous when the first class, but now I'm possible to talking a few in English.  I gratitude to you although this centence something wrong I want talk "thank you" to Anna Teacher."

I don't want to be a Debbie Downer

Alright, time to be honest with you dear readers.  I didn't post for awhile, because for most of April I was feeling a bit negative about Korea and the whole teaching experience here.  And I didn't want to spread my negativity to others.  As I've always been told, "if you don't have anything nice to blog, don't blog anything at all."  I think that's how it goes.    I was rather homesick through most of April.  I'm not exactly sure why.  I think most of it stemmed from the fact that I was not getting along with Peter (my co-teacher) at all.  In fact I'm still not entirely getting along with him, but I basically just ignore him now.  He is a rather despicable person, and it's taken me awhile to realize this.  For the longest time I thought he was what all older Korean men are like.  But from talking more with my other co-teachers, he is a really difficult person to work with.  I'm glad it's not just me.  Anyway, I'm over my homesickness now.  I will be very excited to go home when the time comes, but for now I'm happy to still be experiencing what I'm experiencing.  I'm trying to focus on the positive.  And there's plenty to be positive about.    Allow me to list some good things about my life in Korea: The amazing ex-pat friends I've made here; Korean food that is veg friendly; the abundance of tofu; my co-teacher Woo Yeong (Sharon); my students; the technology at my school; ample mountains for hiking; shoe stores; Korean fashion; kimchi; my nice vice principal; the weather we're currently having; the hospitality of most Koreans; cute Korean children; going out for drinks with Koreans; knowing that I am missed at home; the travel opportunities coming up; spicy Korean food; Korean dramas; the parents in my parents class; the one student who shows up for my conversation class; students who tell me things like, "your eyes are the color of the sky"; having time to read for fun; hearing random English phrases from Koreans that we would never actually say; public transportation; a small apartment which means I have less to clean; soju and juice mixes; cheap food and drinks; pachingae (Korean pancakes); and most importantly, the friends I've made here.

English Zone

I received my laptop charger a couple weeks ago but for some reason still have not blogged.  For that I apologize.  Here's a video of my new office and the new English Zone at my school.  I grouped the two videos together, with the English Zone as the second part of the video.  It is a pretty sweet classroom if I do say so myself.  However, after using it for only a month so far, I can already see some wear and tear to my precious classroom.  I think this is mainly because my school sat around since October not doing anything to the English Zone then about two weeks before it was supposed to open, they put everything together.  I think they'll probably be re-doing the English Zone every other year or so, which is kind of a waste, but as I've come to     realize, is definitely the Korean way.




Anna Rickert MN

I may be MIA for a week or two

The unthinkable has happened. My lifeline (my laptop) is experiencing some technical difficulties. I have to order a new battery charger from the U.S. so it may be a week or two before I blog again. For some unknown reason Blogger does not work at my school, so the only way I can blog is if I brave the stale cigarette smoke, pubescent boys, fake palm trees, and blue lights that is the PC Bang right by my apartment. That is where I am right now (yes, on a Friday night, because I know how to party).

The broken computer is quite a traumatic event in my life. It serves many functions in my apartment. I use it to watch DVDs and stream television shows, listen to music and stream the Current from home, skype with my parents and friends, and waste countless hours on the internet. Now the only thing I can do in my apartment is clean or read. Guess which I'm opting for. I'll give you one hint: it's not cleaning. As the good English major that I am, I should be happy about this gift of extra reading time. But my charger has been broken since Monday night and I've already gone through two books. At this rate I will go through my books in about a week. I should consider myself lucky, my poor friend Andrew lived without a computer for two months, so I should be able to manage a week or two. Either way I have newfound respect for him.

Hopefully I will continue to write blogposts and maybe I will post them if I happen to brave the PC Bang or you may just have to wait until my charger arrives from the States. I haven't been the best about blogging lately anyway, so I can't make any promises. The next time you're enjoying your internet from the comfort of your own home, just think of me huddled in my apartment reading book number 98. Consider yourself blessed.

The students make it all worth it.

This is what I love about teaching.  I can be in a foul mood and then something will happen that will pull me out of my funk.  Today Peter was on my case (when isn't he?--more on that later) and so I was in a bad mood.  My next class was with a loveable group of eleventh graders.  It was their first time having class in the new English Zone.  Now I will upload video soon to show you my classroom, but it's pretty sweet.  Anyway, I was using powerpoint, and when I touch the screen it switches to the next slide (is this smartboard?  I'm not really sure).  Well, one of my students apparently decided it was "suck up to Anna day" because each time I touched the screen to switch slides he yelled out, "Oh Anna, you are so beautiful, you are so pretty, you are so wonderful."  Ok, so maybe it's not so funny unless you hear it with a Korean accent, but it was comical.  And as any good joke, it was funny about the first five times, but then each time I switched a slide, I had to tell him to stop.  But it still made my day.

Stephen Colbert is a god among men

Alright, for those of you not well-versed on your Korean pop culture, Rain is one of the biggest-selling and most recognizable Korean pop stars.  He kind of takes after Michael Jackson with his dancing abilities, as you can see here:

Well, I wasn't aware of this, but awhile ago, Stephen Colbert had a rivalry going with Rain on his show "The Colbert Report" as you can see here:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
He's Singin' In Korean
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

And then Rain visits his show and they have a dance-off.  Now I don't know if people who aren't familiar with Rain can appreciate this as much, but it is still hilarious.  Colbert and Rain's dance-off:

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Rain Dance-Off
comedycentral.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor NASA Name Contest

My newest K-pop obsession

Okay, so Super Junior has 13 members which may be a bit excessive, but I dare you not to dance to this song.  It's impossible.

Oasis

I've been digging the band Oasis since I was in seventh grade.  For some reason I've never seen them live.  Most bands I've liked for that long I've seen in concert.  Well luckily that changed on Wednesday.  Oasis came to Seoul and me and a few friends were able to go to the concert.  It was a good show and they played all of my favorites.  Here's a clip of "Wonderwall".  Liam's voice was not the best on Wednesday, but it was still a quality show.  Awww it brings me back to those angsty seventh grade years...

Oasis on stage

Oasis concert poster in Hangul

Me and Chrissy at the concert

Anna Rickert Minnesota

Seoul Fashion Week

 Although I may not look it, due to lack of funds, I enjoy fashion.  A lot.  I am a Project Runway devotee.  I don't think there is a better reality TV character than Tim Gunn.  And Michael Kors and his M.O.B. (mother of the bride) references?  Come on, it doesn't get any better.  So anyway, when I heard that Seoul had a fashion week I knew I had to go.  Really, I was hoping to see some famous Koreans, i.e. the F4 from Boys Before Flowers, and they were there, just not at the same time as me unfortunately.  

Last Saturday some friends and I made the long subway trek to where the fashion week was being held.  We got tickets to a fashion show on Saturday afternoon.  We got the tickets two days before the show, so needless to say, it was not the biggest designer in the world, but it was still great to see an actual fashion show in person.  The clothes were alright, although most did looked frumpy on the models because they did not seem to be tailored properly.  

Here are a few photos from the show, and also a video of the runway.  Check my Flickr account for more pictures I took.  I also stole some pics from my friends who are much better photographers than me.  For some reason I did not think to use the zoom on my camera at the show, so the pictures are not of the best quality. The woman towards the end of the video is the designer.    

On the way to the show in the subway.

On the runway.  

Me, Chrissy and Julie posing.  

Me and Chrissy on the runway after the show.  

You had to be there... always a great way to begin a story...

(I wrote this post over a week ago and then being the true procrastinator that I am, I didn't post it.  So this Saturday that I'm talking about was on March 21st.  Sorry for the delay.) Alright people have been clamoring for more blog posts or emails (and when I say people, I mean my mom) and since I can kill two birds with one stone with a blog post, updating the masses and my mom all in one fell swoop, I will finally write a blog post.  It will be long.  And I will attempt to do the impossible:  I will try to recount a "you had to be there" story which never works out well for anyone.  But it was a hilarious occurrence, and I wish you were there to witness it.  So carry on my wayward reader, and if you'd like, you can skip down a few paragraphs to the hilarious/scary/entertaining "you had to be there" incident.  My weekend started off on a dull note.  I was not feeling great all week, on account of the yellow dust I believe, (by the way, I'm blaming everything that happens in the next month on yellow dust), so I took a nap after school and did not wake up.  Well, that sounds a bit morbid, I did wake up, just not until about 2:00 am and I realized my Friday night was shot so I went back to sleep.  Luckily I woke up rested and refreshed Saturday morning ready for a day o' fun.  I started the day with a pot of coffee.  Then I felt like it was a good idea to grab a Starbucks coffee on the way to meet my friends Julie and Jen at the subway.  I tell you I have never had such a caffeine buzz, it made the day a lot funnier for me than most.  Julie, Jen and I headed into Itaewon on Saturday afternoon.  For some reason we had a problem with a transfer at one of the subway stations, and while we were trying to find the correct train, we were assaulted by a crazy man.  We were walking up some stairs and this crazy man threw something at Julie and me.  Being that my senses were slightly heightened (i.e. the seven cups of coffe I had just consumed) I ducked and covered my head like he was throwing a grenade at us.  I don't think it was anything more than a piece of paper, but since I was already jumpy, it scared me a little bit.  Then crazy man stood up close to Jen and waved his arms in front of her face.  That was the first instance of crazy for the day, but it would not be the last.  (You like that foreshadowing right there?  Yeah, I should probably be a novelist or something.)  It was a nice little Saturday.  We did a little shopping in Itaewon.  We got coffee (yes, that's now eight cups of coffee I drank, for those of you keeping track), went to the English bookstore "What the Book" (best bookstore in Seoul I would argue because they have new and used books).  Sidenote--I have an addiction to buying books, I can't leave a bookstore without buying at least one book, whether I'll read it or not.  My bookshelves at home are full with books that I haven't read yet.  Anyway, we also went to an Indian buffet where I stuffed myself silly with samosas, hummus, and the like.   Afterwards we met up with some other friends and played some darts at an Irish pub in Itaewon.  We then made our way to Hongdae to attend a benefit concert of local bands playing Beatles covers.  Overall it was a good time.   Around 3:00 am Julie and I decided to catch a cab back to Incheon.  Now sometimes the cab ride from Seoul to Incheon can be a bit pricey so we often stay out until 6:00 am to catch the first bus back to Incheon.  But Julie and I had had a full day, so we decided to split a cab to a central location in Incheon (Bupyeong) and then each take cabs back to our own apartments.  So we found a cab driver who had a meter and he was willing to use it.  Often cab drivers will try to cheat foreigners by not running the meter and then charging whatever they please.  The driver drove us to Bupyeong, I paid him what was on the meter and Julie and I got out of the cab to catch different cabs to our apartments.  As soon as we got out of the cab, the cab driver ran out after us yelling in Korean.  He ran over to us and started screaming in our faces.  At one point he grabbed my wrist, and I screamed.  Then Julie tried to kind of push him away.  He continued to yell at us in Korean.  I think I may have even gotten into a tae kwon do stance ready to punch him or something, I don't really know what I was thinking.  There was a large group of people standing around watching this scene.  Finally, Julie and I both tried to get into separate cabs to head home.  Julie's cab took off and mine was about to, when the crazy cab driver opened up my door and started yelling to my new cab driver.  My new cab driver then told me to get out of the cab.  I got into the next cab.  Again, the crazy cab driver opened up my door and started yelling at the new cab driver.  He told me to get out of the cab too.  Finally I got into a third cab and he was willing to take me.  I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to be able to find a cab driver to drive me home.  Julie and I still aren't quite sure what the problem was, but we definitely caused in a scene in the middle of Bupyeong with many people watching.  It was a bit scary but also incredibly funny in that "is this actually happening right now?" kind of way.  So that's my "you had to be there story" and really you did, but just imagine a short Korean man screaming in Korean while we yelled back in English and then screaming and then I almost brought out my tae kwon do moves.  That's exactly how it was.

Bushy! and how I appear to be an alcoholic...

Last week we began a new school year.  Because my school is new, they add a new grade of students each year.  So I am now teaching a new batch of tenth graders and then the eleventh graders I had last year.  Being here six months made me forget the celebrity status I enjoyed back in September.  But last week brought it all back for me with a new crew of students.  God love 'em all.  They are hilarious.   Because they are so curious about me, I give them about twenty minutes of our first class together to ask me any questions they would like about me.  Some of my favorites included: "What do you think of the Free Trade Agreement between Korea and the United States?" Uhhh... what?  "What is your phone number?"  "Are Korean students or American students more handsome?"  And this was a popular one:  "Bushy or Obama?"  (meaning do I prefer Bush or Obama as president).  Sidenote:  In Korean, all words end with a vowel sound, so most Koreans put an "uh" or "ey" sound on the ends of their words.  My favorite is when they call George Bush "George-uh Bush-y".  Most of my students are obsessed with Obama.  I'm not entirely sure why because they actually don't know that much about him.  Another favorite of mine: one of my students asked me, "Do you like beer?" Peter quickly responded, "Yes, she likes beer very VERY much!" Thanks Peter, make me out to be a drunk.  But as I've mentioned before, drinking does not have the same stigma it does in the U.S. so the students thought nothing of Peter's emphatic answer. After I told one class that I liked K-pop (Korean pop music) one of the boys got down on his knees begging me to sing a song.  He then started chanting "Sing Sing Sing" until all the other boys chimed in.  I did not subject the students to that torture though, so I did not sing for them.  Anyway, with a two month break from most of my students I forgot what an adventure teaching high school Korean boys is.  I love it.

Since I'm on the topic of Korean pop culture...

Here are a couple songs that I can't escape right now (and why would I want to?) because they're everywhere in Korea.

Big Bang: Haru Haru:

Girls Generation: Gee

Ah, I can't help but love K-pop.

Boys Before Flowers

You may have noticed my lack of blogposts lately.  There are many factors that contribute to my lack of posts.  One of the reasons may be my new obsession.  That new obsession would be Korean TV, specifically a show called "Boys Before Flowers".  My dear friend Chrissy recently referred me to a website that has Korean dramas with English subtitles called MySoju.com.  

"Boys Before Flowers" reminds me a little of "Gossip Girl" with a very Korean twist.  Sure there are cheesy moments and stupid sound effects, but I would expect nothing less from a Korean TV show.  Also, there are four attractive Korean men that are known as "F4" in the show.  Here they are:

Now those are some sexy Koreans, no?  They'll definitely keep me watching.  So if you're wondering what I'm up to on a Monday or Tuesday night, I'm most likely catching up on "Boys Before Flowers".  

I also found this gem of a video of Lee Min Ho who plays the lead male in "F4" when I was googling the show (okay, I may have a problem).  The poor guy fell on the red carpet recently.  He looks rather embarrassed  but still attractive nonetheless:

My School

My school just opened a year ago and I am the first native English teacher to teach at the school.  Most other Korean public schools have an English Zone where the native English teachers teach.  However, because my school is still new, they are currently building my English Zone.  Work should be completed by the end of this week.  Let me tell you, I might as well be on a TV show titled "Pimp My Classroom" because that is exactly what is happening.  I will have a sweet computer with a touch screen that projects onto a huge screen that is a touch screen.  There are a bunch of computers on one side of the room, the students will sit at nice tables, there are large wooden signs that swivel, the room is divided into two rooms, the walls are brightly painted, and I don't even know what else because it's not finished yet.  But it is going to be sweet.  AND I get to move my office so that I am no longer in the same office as the vice principal.  I love her dearly, but it will be nice to not have to pretend like I am always working on days when I have absolutely nothing to do (like today for example).  

Today Peter told me to think of a good name for the English Zone.  Usually most schools just call the English room "English Zone" but he thinks it's too overused.  He suggested the name "English Dream Room" but the vice principal didn't like it.  So I have to come up with a name that will be painted on the outside of the "English Zone" wing of the building (yeah, the English room has its own wing).  He told me to email other people and ask around and think of a good name.  Then later in the day he told me that he thought of the name "Albatross Talk Room".  At first I didn't think I heard him correctly because I was not sure how "albatross" fit in with an English room, but then I remembered that the albatross is the school's bird (like a mascot, maybe?).  I tried to tell him politely that if I were a random person walking into the school and I saw that sign, I would have no idea what it meant.  So if you happen to have any good ideas for renaming the English Zone, please feel free to let me know.  Right now I'm thesaurusing "Zone" and not coming up with too many winners so I would love some help.  

So I made this video of my school in December I think, but never got around to uploading it.  Once my new classroom is finished I will probably take more video because this one will be out of date.  In the video you can see the outside of my school, my current office, and some of my students.  I hope I don't cause anyone to have a seizure as they watch this because the camerawork is a bit shaky.  I do apologize.

My co-teacher Peter

I have an odd relationship with my co-teacher, Peter.  I've written a bit about him before.  He's an interesting character.  Quite often I know we don't see eye to eye.  He could not be any more opposite from me if we tried.  He is fifty years old, a devout Christian, politically conservative, has very different teaching ideas from me, and to top it all off, is an older Korean male which affects how he sees the world.  A couple months ago we did not have the best relationship and I'm not exactly sure why.  In Korea there are never conflicts between people, and if there are, they are dealt with in a passive agressive manner so that no one actually ever argues.  It's very different from what I'm used to.  I think if two people have a problem, it should be resolved in an open and honest manner so there is no resentment between both parties. So I don't really know what I ever did for him to basically ignore me most of the time and order me around.  But that's what he did for most of November and December.  It was incredibly frustrating because I don't like being told what to do and feeling like I'm a burden to anyone at school.  When I told my friends here about it, they all said it sounded like Peter was a total jerk (actually they didn't use the term "jerk" but I'm censoring for those who do not prefer profanity).  As one of my friends so eloquently put it, "Having a co-teacher is like having a parent who you can't talk back to."  But I still felt bad calling him a "jerk" because overall he had done so much for me.  As far as getting things done and worrying about my safety, Peter was the perfect co-teacher.  But lately everything has been smooth-sailing between Peter and me.  He came out of his funk sometime in January and I try to be on my best behavior around him, because he really is a nice guy when you get down to it.  I laugh at all of his jokes.  He giggles at his own jokes, kind of like a little schoolgirl.  It's actually really cute.  One of the other English teachers at my school is moving to Wyoming in March for some English training.  I was telling Peter how Wyoming is not the most populous state in the country.  Today he said that he thinks she'll have to find some deer and bears to talk to because there won't be enough people for her to talk to in Wyoming.  Wow, did he get a kick out of that joke.  He giggled about that for twenty minutes and then had to tell the whole office about his joke in Korean.  Then he kept saying, "Anna, don't you think so?" because that is what he always says to me and since I laughed at the joke the first time, I was suddenly in on the joke even though it was now told in Korean.   So anyway, I wish I could carry a tape recorder around with me to record some of our conversations.  He likes to use me as his own personal English dictionary and etymology expert.  Now I can provide the meaning of a word, but as far as its origin, I'm usually at a loss. A few weeks ago, when Michael Phelps was caught smoking pot, Peter and I had a discussion about it.  It went something like this: Peter:  I heard Michael Phelps was caught smoking bong. Anna:  Yes, he was caught smoking marijuana. P:  What is the difference between bong, marijuana, and pot?  Why are there so many terms for marijuana? A:  Well, a bong is what you smoke marijuana in.  So it's not actually the drug.  Pot is a slang term for marijuana.  There are many different terms for marijuana. P:  Why are there so many different names for bong?  (This is where he likes me to be the etymology expert.) A:  Actually, it's not called bong.  We call it marijuana and a bong is what people use to smoke marijuana (I often have to repeat myself a couple times).  I don't know.  Maybe because it's an illegal substance and people have made up different names to keep the drug secret... P:  What are some other terms? ...And the conversation went on from there where I suddenly became the marijuana expert.   I have another great Peter conversation that I laugh about to myself all the time.  Now to preface it, I must tell you that social drinking and drinking to get drunk is incredibly common and acceptable here.  I have seen more Korean men puking in the streets and stumbling down sidewalks since I've been here than I saw throughout my college career.  So it is perfectly acceptable to talk about drinking, to get drunk with co-workers, and to have a hangover.  A few times when I've not felt well at school and so opted out of lunch (completely unrelated to drinking, usually related to the flu) I'm always asked if I'm too hungover to eat.  The other day I had a conversation about drinking with Peter after we had gone out to lunch with the principal and a few other older male teachers.  Peter:  We all got drunk last night. Anna:  Oh, did you have fun? P:  Yes, but I am very hungover today.  The soup we just ate is good for hangovers.  What do you call food that is good for hangovers? A:  Well, I usually just call it "hangover food" but I don't know if that's the technical term.  P:  Hangover food?  Would people understand me if I used that term? A:  I think so, but again that's just a name that I call food that is good for hangovers.  (...or so I'm told from my friends.  My friends say fried food is the best.  I wouldn't know because I don't drink...).   P:  Ah, hangover food.  Hangover food.  Hangover food.  (He likes to repeat things over and over when I teach him a new word or phrase.) It's so odd to be talking about a co-worker's, especially an older co-worker's/superior's, hangover.  In America it seems like we try to keep those types of things concealed. A few weeks ago we had a conversation about literature and somehow To Kill a Mockingbird came up.  I was trying to explain the book to him and why so many American students read the book.  I'm quite familiar with the book because I taught it for three years in the States and it's one of my favorites.  I tried to explain the main themes and the characters, particularly Atticus Finch.  This week Peter started reading it and has asked me to explain four different parts of the book already.  And he can't even be past page 25 yet.  It is going to be a long couple of months if this continues.  With the colloquial speech in that book and all of the historical and cultural references, I am going to be quite busy explaining and translating.

Thailand versus South Korea

Yeah that's right.  Two posts in a row.  I know how to party.  And I'm still riding the caffeine buzz wave.   So I've been wrestling with this question (and been asked by some) since returning from Thailand: which do I like better, Thailand or South Korea?  The jury is still out, but let me share my thoughts.  I loved Thailand.  I loved how laid back it seemed, I loved the foreigners from all over, I loved the food, the weather, I loved how inexpensive everything was, I loved the unsafe transportation (tuk-tuks and scooters), I loved the street food and vendors, the cheap massages, and I loved that almost everything is in English.  But is this really Thailand?  I stayed mostly in the touristy parts of Bangkok and Koh Chang was a tourist mecca mostly visited by Europeans.  Most of the things I enjoyed about Thailand existed because of tourists.

In contrast, Korea experiences very little tourism.  Most foreigners are part of the U.S. Army or English teachers, all of who stay for an extended period of time so are not really tourists.  Outside of Seoul, it is difficult to find people who speak English, the weather is much colder, stores are not geared towards tourists, food is decidedly Korean (i.e. fermented, pickled, or covered in red pepper paste), I rarely see non-Korean people unless I'm hanging out with my foreign friends, there is a much more closeted sex market, and Korean people are hard workers not known for their relaxed attitude (from what I've experienced anyway).  

In some ways it's refreshing to live in a country like Korea where there is very little tourism because I know I'm experiencing the real Korea.  I live it everyday by teaching my students, interacting with my co-workers, and eating the cafeteria food.  

Another downfall of tourism is the total dependence on it for many people's survival.  While in  Bangkok, we were approached so often by people selling items on the streets while we were eating at restaurants.  There were many people begging for money on the streets, people trying to get us to go for tuk tuk rides, or on other tours.   During dinner on our second night in Bangkok, we were approached by a ten year old girl (I think she was about ten) who wanted to challenge the guys at our table to thumb wars.  If they lost, they had to buy roses from her for all the ladies at the table.  Now this girl, Bebe, was hilarious.  She was such a great con artist.  She worked her magic by calling the guys ladyboys and losers until they agreed to go against her.  Then she quickly beat them in the thumb war and they had to pay up.  We saw her many times while we were in Bangkok.  She had to be pulling in quite a bit of money because everyone seemed to love to challenge her or just loved her and gave her money regardless.  But at what cost?  We asked her if she attended school, and she said that she did.  But each night she was out and out quite late at that.  There were quite a few girls who did this.  They were great at the trash talk and the thumb wars, but it definitely felt as though their innocence was somehow lost.  

Bebe challenging Fil to a thumb war.

Bebe calling Ryan a loser.