Happy Christmas!

So you'd think I would've learned how to at least say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" in Korean by now...but I haven't. So English it is.

So last week I literally sat at school and watched an entire season of Desperate Housewives AND painted my nails (discreetly of course). I didn't have a single class because the kids had finals. Which meant that I still had to be at school but had nothing to do. Sort of sucked that I had to be there, but I also can't complain too much because I got paid to watch TV and skype my fam and friends. Yay!

Thursday was payday (!!) so I went with my friends Q and John to Myeongdong where we did some holiday shopping. Q helped me bargain with some of the people which was so nice, because they always raise the prices for foreigners, and with him being Korean and all, he was able to bargain them down to more reasonable prices. Woo!

Friday evening I hung out in Uijeongbu and snapped some pictures of the lovely Christmas decorations.

I bought myself a Christmas tree too :) Its about a foot tall and sort of resembles the tree from Charlie Brown Christmas. But all it needed was a little love, and now its beautiful (at least I think so!).

We had a Christmas party on Friday night with some of the people who live in this area - so we all exchanged gifts and drank Christmas punch and then (naturally) ended up at a noraebang where we sang lots of off-key and out of tune Christmas songs!

Werner, John, Q, me!

Bad Santas!

Holiday Noraebang!

Saturday we all just took it easy, since the holiday party the night before really took its toll on us all. Sunday I did some serious Christmas shopping. I know Christmas is only a few days away but it just doesn't feel like Christmas here for some reason. I think its the lack of snow. Or maybe its the lack of stress that I usually have this time of year as finals are finishing up. AGH. I don't miss those one bit, they were awful.

Monday I went to dance, as usual. I won't be able to go for about a month after this week, because I have some busy weeks coming up! Today I went ventured down to the COEX mall to get some last minute gifts. But just in case there is any doubt - here is proof that I have my gifts bought and wrapped before Christmas!

Attn Family: Gifts will be mailed Thursday at the latest - sorry they're late, but I promise you will get them (not to mention you'll be getting stuff from Thailand once I get back)! They're bigger than my little tree. Sorry about the lame wrapping/boxes/bags. I live in Korea. Christmas is sort of a holiday for couples here. Everyone celebrates, regardless of religion. So its not really all about family or Jesus. Its basically just commercial. Which is fine...but it sure does make finding certain things hard. Like actual Christmas boxes or wrapping paper. That's why your gifts have hearts all over them, and awkward Konglish phrases like "I love the fragrant" and "Sweet heart...you color my world with love". I'm not kidding, you'll see.

Next week I'll be on a ski trip with some of my teachers. The week after...Kelsey will be here! The week after that...Jane will be here! And we're planning to go to some dance classes at Soo Dance instead of the studio I usually attend. Willie Gomez is going to be here and is doing a week-long workshop, so we're going to try to attend some of his classes. Willie is a choreographer and is probably most famous for choreographing Britney Spears' most recent Circus Tour. He's really great and I'm excited to meet him and take some classes with him. And then of course the following 2 weeks I will be in THAILAND.

I'm starting to get really excited about Thailand. The 4 of us will be together the whole time, but a girl Sara knows will be meeting up with us for part of our trip, so we'll be 5 strong for some of it! We're really lax on our plans, except for a 3 night stay that we definitely want in Koh Phangan. We'll be there for the Half Moon Party. They have huge parties once a month for the full moon, but they rage for the half moon as well. I guess the full moon parties can attract upwards of 30,000 people. Half moon only brings in around 5,000 - but that's still a lot of people and I think we'll have a great time. You can look for Koh Phangan on the map - just click on the link! Can't find it? Look for Koh Samui (we're going there too!) and you'll see Koh Phangan just north of there. We're also going to go to Bangkok, Krabi, Phuket, and hopefully Phi Phi (but that's really a lot to do in the time we have). The only major city we won't make it to is Chiang Mai. I think if we had more time its a place we'd all love to go, but its just too far out of the way, and this really is more of a beach vacation than a touristy sightseeing vacation. So I guess that's just too bad. If we're lucky, we'll go back one day :) Can I also mention, with the exception of the flight, how disgustingly cheap this trip is going to be. Apparently for the bungalow we're getting on the beach in Koh Phangan all 5 of us can stay for 3 nights (with A/C) for 30,000won each. Yep. I'm paying around $27 for 3 nights in an air conditioned bungalow on an island in Thailand. I hope you all think about that when you're freezing in Wisconsin or Minnesota or wherever you are. The high in Bangkok was about 95 the other day. I win.

School has been a breeze this week. I'm doing like a 10 minute lesson on rhyming - explaining what rhyming is and then asking the kids to rhyme simple words (cat/hat, mad/sad, sing/Japan...wait what?). Yes, its true. I asked my kids to rhyme with the word sing. And they did well at first: ring, king, thing. But then some kid yelled out "Japan!" and I knew it was hopeless so I just started the movie. I'd like to give a big shout out to Dr. Seuss for helping me teach kids how to rhyme. Woo! The Grinch is a big hit, and even though they can't understand everything, they still get the story for the most part and I think most of my kids have enjoyed it. I love the Grinch myself, but after watching it 10 times this week, I may never want to watch it again.

We have another holiday party planned for Christmas Eve, and then Christmas Day I'm not sure what the plan is. I think most of us want to Skype with our families and friends - so we'll spend much of the day doing that. Apparently its really common to go out to a nice dinner on Christmas, but we're a little behind on making reservations soooo maybe we'll just make our own dinner :) The day after Christmas, however, we have a fabulous holiday activity planned! So....in Hongdae where we always go out, there is a chain of bars called "Ho Bar". Sounds like a strip club or something, I know. But its not! Its just...a normal bar. Not sure how to explain it. Its just normal. It has been a dream of ours since we got here to do a "Ho Bar Crawl" because there's at least 10 of them in the Hongdae area, not to mention the countless others sprawled across the Seoul metro area. But, in the spirit of Christmas, we have decided to make this a "Ho Ho Ho Christmas Bar Crawl". We're smart right? So the whole gang and then some is getting together to celebrate Christmas and hopefully make to every Ho Bar within walking distance. Proper holiday attire is required.

Hm..I think that's all for now. Sorry its been so slow lately. But I swear, the next few weeks will be crazy and I'll probably have to make 2 posts for Thailand (or it will be the longest thing I've ever written).

Here's your K-Pop Song of the week! Not Christmassy (sorry). But popular! Its by a group called B2st (that's pronounced Beast). 2 in Korean is "i" pronounced "ee". The song is called Bad Girl. Not sure how old they are, I'm going to guess like...16. So again, Courtney and Meghan, they are all yours!

Missing you all and thinking about you during the holidays. To get into the holiday spirit - I've made a small donation to Amnesty International. For those of you who would like to donate somewhere, but don't know where, check out this website. The Life You Can Save website has a pledge you can take, as well as a list of charities and foundations you can give your money to. It doesn't have to be a lot - every little bit helps! AI is my charity of choice, but choose a cause that's important to you and GIVE! Merry Christmas (and Happy New Year!!).

"We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give." -- Sir Winston Churchill

Korea's Got Seoul

So my first day in Uijeongbu was interesting. I wandered around my neighborhood, careful about which turns I was taking so I didn’t get lost.

Main road through Uijeongbu, about a block from my house.

My neighborhood is really cute and I’ve noticed that a lot of the clothing stores are golf themed. There must be a big boom in golf here, and it will probably get bigger since the Korean golfer beat Tiger Woods. I passed a golf course or two on my way here from the airport, and another driving range type of place. So Dad, when you come visit, you can get some practice in and maybe be the next to beat Tiger!

After walking around my neighborhood I was still bored and had some time to spare so I thought I would try to go into Seoul. There’s a train stop only a few blocks from my apartment, so I figured it would be easy. HA. I got to the station, and self-service kiosks are entirely in Korean. I tried clicking the American flag on the screen that I assumed would change everything into English but no such luck. Nothing happened when I clicked the flag, and I stood there for probably 10 minutes trying to figure it out and I could not. So I gave up and went home L There’s a big red button next to it that says “call for personnel” and so I figured next time I would try pushing that. It has to be directed at Americans because it was only in English, not Korean. I also managed to buy a hairdryer. The little old lady at the shop only spoke 2 words of English and one of them was “English” so that didn’t help me much. But through sign language and lots of pointing and nodding I completed my purchase. I really do feel bad that I can’t even attempt to speak Korean. I can barely say “thank you”. Most people seem to understand that I don’t speak Korean and so they usually just point out the price to me and it works out ok.

So Sunday I attempted yet again to go into Seoul. I went kind of early because I’m still jet lagged, and woke up at 5am. I managed to wait til 10 to leave the house though. English still wasn’t working so I pushed the call for help button, and just said “English please!” into the speaker. The guy sounded angry on the other end, but a few seconds later someone was there to help me. All he could manage to say was “English out of order”. I told him which stop I wanted to go to in Seoul and he just pushed all the buttons for me. I can sort of sound out Hangul (that’s Korean writing), so I’ll have to remember to do that next time. Go figure, of all the stops, the one by my apartment doesn’t have English on the ticket kiosk. Now that I've gotten my "t-money" card I should be able to avoid all that mess. The metro ride there was hysterical. I wish someone else had been there to laugh with me. There’s me, literally the only white person on the train with all the Koreans laughing and talking, and then out of nowhere come these people selling what is absolutely the most random and useless shit I could ever imagine. One man is selling water bottle cozies…and not for nice Nalgene-type water bottles. No, this is a cozy for your plastic water bottle. Mmmk. And then came some lady with these crazy sleeves and gloves you could buy. Mostly in pastels but then there was this really ugly camo sleeve with purple hands. I mean really…do people actually buy this stuff? And finally was a man selling these weird fuzzy fringy cleaning mitts…or something. Why don’t they sell useful things on the subway? Like actual water, or popsicles, or gum? I was trying to keep from laughing but nobody else seemed very fazed by it. I guess it won’t faze me either soon enough, but I honestly thought it was hilarious.

But finally after all that commotion, I made it to my stop. Turns out that Lonely Planet Seoul book I bought was useful after all! It led me right to Bandi and Luni’s Bookstore. Basically a Barnes and Noble. The majority of the books are in Korean of course, but there’s an English section with mostly the best sellers, but also some basic fiction, history, computers, etc. There’s also a small section with flashcards and beginner books for teaching…I might have to hit that up again. So I bought a few books to keep me occupied until I get my TV from my school, and cable, and internet, and phone. The bookstore was underground, so after I left, I went out of the subway and had my first look at Seoul!! And I must say, I am unconditionally in love with this place.

Luckily there was a really tall Samsung tower just outside my stop that I used as my landmark so I could wander without needing to keep track too closely of where I was going.

I mosied around, stopped at a 7-Eleven (yep they have those here!) to buy some water, and then made my way to Cheonggyecheon Stream. Its this little stream in the middle of Seoul and its so cute. There’s a few vendors down by it, but mostly just people. Kids sort of splash around in the little waterfall and its just really peaceful even in the heart of such a big city.

Cheonggyecheon stream

Standing in the middle of the stream!

I picked a great stop because there are tons of restaurants (even some random American ones, like Outback Steakhouse).

I really want to see Seoul at night, because there were so many signs and I’m sure it would be awesome all lit up. Then, I found a great shopping area. There was a whole street that they had blocked off..and finally I found it. What has become my Mecca for shopping that I seem to run into no matter where I am. Zara!

I fell in love with this store in Italy, mostly because I love the European style of fashion. More stores are going up in the U.S. now, so soon it will be popular and not as cool to run into, but man was I happy to see it in Seoul. It also means that I will be doing some serious damage to my bank account in the future, but I managed to control myself and only bought one shirt. On sale. So there. I thought it was funny though because it was playing American music from like 12 years ago. Old Wyclef Jean and even the Spice Girls! Another store I found had to have been targeted to Americans because it blaring "Blame It" by Jamie Foxx and a Keri Hilson song simultaneously...haha can you say overload? Starbucks is about as common as it is in the U.S…basically on every other block. Dunkin Donuts is unbelievably popular here too. I thought maybe it was just coincidence that there happened to be one near my apartment, but man, they’re as common as Starbucks! After all that shopping I was hungry, so I stopped at a little stand on the street and wasn’t exactly sure what exactly I was looking at, so I purchased what I knew would be a nice safe skewer of ttoekbokki (finally figured out the spelling on that one…its those pressed rice cakes with spicy sauce from my first night, but the way they pronounce it the k's are really soft and you almost can't hear it. Weird huh?). So I followed what everyone else was doing and had a seat on a bench just outside a big department store. I felt so Korean. Then I went back to the subway where luckily the English was working at the kiosk, and made my way home. Overall successful first day in Seoul!

Bosingak Bell Tower - 1396

Cheonggyecheon Plaza

"Once in a while I sit back and think about the planet and most of the time I trip on it. To kick back and think about how massive it all is...well how many other are on it?" - No Doubt

Home Plus is a Must!

Hey everyone! So I’ve made it to South Korea in one piece. The flight over was very long (13 ½ hours), but overall uneventful. Watched a few movies, slept a few hours, ate a few meals. The usual. We basically flew straight north out of Chicago and then around the Arctic Circle (sort of). At first it looked like we were on track to fly straight over North Korea, but planes aren’t allowed to fly over their airspace, so we had to detour around North Korea.

We landed at Incheon Int’l Airport, which is the main airport servicing Seoul. It was 28 degrees (that’s Celsius) out and soooo humid. We were herded into the Swine Flu check where they ask a quick health history of the past 7 days, and then take your temperature. Easy stuff. Then we claimed our luggage and got through customs and waiting on the other side for me was my good friend Jane! She knew I was coming and met me at the airport to say hello. It was great to see a friendly face after 13 hours of sitting on a plane. She had a little gift for me and a big poster she made for my wall and made me cry…but it was so good to see her! Also waiting for me was my co-teacher Sang-Jin Kim (but I just call her Jin). She was so friendly and helpful, and I’m really excited to work with her this year. She’s younger, maybe 26-28ish and incredibly nice. She helped me wheel my two huge oversize bags of luggage through the masses outside Incheon. The cart I had wasn’t working very well and we had trouble controlling it. Jin and I are about the same size (so not very big at all), we must’ve looked crazy giggling and spiraling out of control with my luggage. From the airport it was about an hour bus ride to my apartment.

Speaking of my apartment…remember everything I said in the last entry about how I was going to live in Dongducheon and Anna would be living in Uijeongbu and we were close together and everything was going to be great? I take all of that back. None of it is true. Something I’m going to have to learn is to be extremely flexible because these people make changes last minute and don’t seem to mention it to anyone. I’m not sure if there was a mix-up somehow or what, but now I’m living in Uijeongbu, which I think has a population of about 400,000 and is just outside of Seoul. Anna’s school made an error and already has an English teacher, so now she is south of Seoul teaching in Yongin. So we’re probably 2-2 ½ hours away from each other by public transportation now.

So far Uijeongbu is great. It’s seems pretty crowded and literally nothing is in English except for the occasional street sign which is going to be a huge challenge. I'm not sure how prevalent English is here so watching me try to communicate is going to be hilarious. I live in a loft apartment and have a great view of the mountains. There’s a Dominoes, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, and Baskin Robbins all within 2 blocks of my apartment – although based on the dinner I had with Jin I won’t be needing that American stuff for a long time. After we struggled with my luggage to my apartment, Jin and I went out for dinner. She chose the place and did a fantastic job of explaining to me exactly what I was eating. We got kimbap – a sort of sushi tuna roll which was excellent, and something called to-po-i (at least that's how its said phoenetically). It was these weird sort of “rice cakes” which actually looked like oversize pieces of penne pasta, covered in vegetables and a really spicy sauce. It also had, um, a kraft single thrown on top with sesame seeds over it. I thought it was strange but I went with it. Jin failed to mention to me that it was spicy and it wasn’t until my eyes started watering that she offered up a polite “oh sorry…its spicy”. Yep. I got that. Thanks. But honestly it was very good and I’m sort of craving it again now. Dinner was extremely cheap – only about 5000 won total for the two of us, so I offered to pay for all of it to thank Jin for her help.

After dinner we made a list of all the things I needed to buy and then Jin introduced me to Home Plus. It’s this huge 6 floor complex that is basically a super super SUPER Target and its awesome. I would live in there if I could. Remember that movie where Natalie Portman has a baby and lives in the WalMart? Definitely could be done here. You could probably keep an army happy in this place. So Jin helped me find my way around and we bought some of the basic stuff, dishes, sheets, food, etc. for my apartment. I attempted to pick out shampoo and conditioner, but I couldn't read it since it was all in Korean and Jin seemed to be struggling with the translation so I'm pretty sure I just bought two bottles of shampoo, but at least I'll be clean. I think I'm going to need her help every time I go there because almost nothing is in English so its impossible for me to know what I'm buying. She also took me to the Korean version of a dollar store – except here its 1000 won store. She helped me back to my apartment and then left me to unpack and go to sleep. I’m still incredibly jet-lagged…I’ve been up since about 6:30am. I'm also eating some sort of Korean version of Frosted Flakes. They aren't that bad actually. I tried to sleep but I literally can’t so I’m going to try to hack into some more illegal internet (which I'm pretty sure I'm connected to) and then work on unpacking since I passed out immediately last night.

I’m in between the place that I’m from and the place that I’m in…a city I've never been. - The Fray