The Kiddies

The other day my mom says to me, "Jac, can you blog more about the kids?!" I suppose she has a point. Where to begin. I should first say that the effect these kids have on me is pretty unbelievable. I am constantly amazed by them. There are days when I wake up in a poor mood to find myself smiling and laughing in my first kindy class. There's just something about them...
Maybe it's their innocence? Maybe it's their fearlessness? Perhaps it's the fact that some of them are 5 years old and they can speak both Korean and English?! Is it their relentlessness to learn? What about the fact that they crave affection--in that every time I am near them, checking their work, assisting them with something, they will gently hold my arm, my leg, my hand, just anything to be touching me. Is it the fact that I am 28 years old and they are as young as 5 and I often feel as though I communicate better with them than with any adult in a given day? (What that says about me...I am not quite sure) Maybe it's just the fact that they're so damn cute. I mean, look at these pics. You tell me.


Now, you must know, it is not always gravy. Of course not. In fact, there are days, like today, where I am completely discouraged by my classes. There are days when I feel like all I did for most of my 35 minute class was yell, "Denny, sit in your seat!" "Chris, stop picking your nose!!" "Cindy, stop whining!" And the most famous, "NO SPEAKING KOREAN!!" Sometimes, all the kids want to do is play. They don't want to learn. They don't want to listen to this silly American teacher telling them, "Listen and Repeat: VEGETABLE." They want to shoot each other with fake guns and make fun of the teacher in Korean. Actually, sometimes they just make fun of me in plain ol English. If it gets too out of hand, I'll call in the Korean homeroom teacher. You should see their change in attitude when a Korean teacher appears in class. It's like they all become angels. But as soon as she leaves, playtime resumes. It can be really frustrating, but overall, I think, if I can try and get at least ONE new concept/idea/grammar/vocab/lesson with each class (I have 8 classes on MWF and 7 on TTH) then I think I'm on the right path. We'll see!

Sunbathing in Korea?

So, it has been gorgeous here the past few days and for me, when summer's around the corner and it's the beginning of bathing suit season, I like to work on my tan. This is the opposite of what Koreans like to do. I have realized, that this is why many Koreans are often dressed in full clothing when outside--no matter what the temperature. When hiking on a 75 degree day, they will be dressed in black hiking pants, black hiking sweatshirt, full visor, handkerchief, and hiking boots. While I prefer, shorts and a tank--hence the many stares. When I go to the Clinique counter to get some "bronzing powder" they tell me, "I'm sorry ma'am, we only have whitening powder." Many Koreans wear whitening creams/lotions/makeup, to try and make their skin look lighter. To me, their skin is beautiful. I guess once again we always want what we don't have.
Anyway, to work on my tan, I have resorted to the closest possible option for sunlight: my rooftop. Do not be fooled, this is not some fancy rooftop deck with a pool, chairs, etc. Oh no. If you came to the top of my building you'd see my friend Matt, Mallory, and I laying out amongst the air conditioning fans and other maintenance objects that cover the top of the building. But when you have good company, good conversation and the sun, you can pretty much just pretend you're at the beach! (I'll save the pics for when my tan is in full effect.) ;)

Street Festivals, yes please.

Last Saturday Mal and I decide to go and do one of our tourist things and take a tour of this stream downtown. The subway drops us off at City Hall station. We step out into an "informational fair." We walk around, booth by booth, looking at the displays. This is a street fair, geared towards foreigners, to show us all of the different organizations that are here for our benefit while in Seoul! We get pamphlets, business cards, maps, even free gifts!! There were booths representing medical centers, Seoul history museum, dental & derm offices, English theater arts, etc etc. It is very nice to know that there is this entire network of people that are here, to help us if we need anything at all!

After collecting our fair share of freebees, we turn the corner and 'Voila'--an international food festival!! Uh-maz-ing! This reminds me of Taste of Chicago except that it is not uber hot, it's also really clean, (remember that somehow there is no garbage in Korea) and the food is not just from Chicago, rather it's from all over the world. We eat pad thai from Thailand, chicken satay from Indonesia, spinach cake from Greece, wine from Argentina (a Malbec of course,) and beer from Vietnam. Delish!!
We meander our way towards our original purpose--the stream, aka Cheonggyecheon. The stream is gorgeous, set between beautiful marble walls, with fancy decor along the way. Walking along the stream with our beers...(in Korea you can drink your beer anywhere you want!!) these two very nice Korean girls come up to us and ask us to take their picture. We do so, and then we start chatting. One of the girls speaks really good English--she lived in Canada for a year. They ask us if we'd like them to show us around the area and of course we say we are happy to walk around with them as we have no plan. We walk through Insadong where I buy two sun dresses from a street vendor, and we see a lot of the traditional food and art that is Korean. We finally sit down at a traditional Korean restaurant and eat Korean pizza and drink Makkoli--a rice wine alcohol that you drink out of a bowl, is ladled into your cup, and is semi creamy, yet has bubbles?? Sounds strange I know, but is quite good--and gives you that nice relaxed feeling one would expect from rice wine alcohol. :)

After dinner the girls take us to a "sticker" photo booth. These are very popular in Korea. You go with your friends to a venu that is filled with photo booths and people. There are many props to wear/dress up in. You take your photos, and when finished, you can edit your photos electronically by putting all of these silly decorations on it. And print--you've got yourself some funky photos. (See below.)

Then they take us to a Karaoke bar. First true Karaoke experience in Korea = SO MUCH FUN. You rent a room for about $15/hour. The room is awesome, clean with fancy couches, an entire sound system, a flat screen TV, and some mics. What more does one need? We sang, "Dancing Queen," "Bohemian Rhapsody," and "Toxic" to name a few. Once again, GREAT day/evening in Seoul!!

Biking the Han--my first Korean holiday!!

So in Korea they have something I always thought we should've had in the states: Children's Day. I mean, we have mother's day, we have father's day, and both are important days honoring important peeps, but I mean, what about...the kids?!

Children's Day = holiday for everyone in Korea! Although I am selfishly happy as this effects me, it is truly for the kids. This is good, because the kids here go to school, ALL THE TIME. Everyone I have spoken to has said that the main one focus for their children is education and English English English. If you don't know English, supposedly you are doomed to be unsuccessful. These kids go to public school during the day, private English schools in the afternoon and night, and many of them go to school on Saturdays!! That's practically illegal as far as I'm concerned. I find that I am constantly reminded of this when I ask the kids on Monday, "So, how was your weekend!?" to find majority of them responding with, "Not good, I had school on Saturday." Oh yeah and also, they go to school YEAR AROUND. NO summer break!! What happened to a kid being a kid? I am almost certain that one of the most important things about growing up is having some good ol playtime and even some time to get in a bit of trouble...

But I digress. So Mal and I decide that on our holiday Wednesday, we are going to bike the Han River. We take the subway into the downtown area and are dropped off steps from the river. I have smelled many scents in Korea, however this Wednesday I experienced a new one. That was the smell of silk worms. Yes, eating boiled silk worms is a popular snack here in Korea. To be polite, I would say it smells just like you would think boiled worms would smell.

Anyway...we get in line and rent our beach cruiser bikes--basket and all!! And the trek begins. I have no idea how far we bike, I just know we bike for about 4 hours. Not bad. We take some very precarious routes as we decide to cross the river using some not so bike friendly bridges. At certain points, this involved carrying the beach cruiser up many flights of stairs, in flippy floppies. Ankles, feet, toes a bit banged up. However all in all, it was a great day!

A bit of Hongdae

Saturday evening is one of Mallory's coworkers going away celebration so we go to Top Cloud--restaurant/bar on the 33rd floor of a large office building. I feel as though it might be similar to having drinks at the top of the Hancock Tower. It is an entirely glass floor, and the views of Seoul are unbelievable. There is a woman in a fancy dress singing "Did you ever know that you're my herooooo," when we walk in. "Beaches" anyone? The place is beautiful but drinks are expensy. One drink there and we're off to our next spot. Unfortunately we spend the next THIRTY minutes trying to hail a cab to go to Hongdae. (AKA Buzz kill.) The problem isn't that there aren't any cabs, because there are. It's the fact that the cabbies can opt not to pick you up if your destination is not ideal for them. Hongdae is a very popular place where many foreigners go to hang out. There are many bars, shops, restaurants, and universities. On a Saturday night, cabs don't want to go there because there is so much traffic and it will take them a while to get in and out of there. Ummm for serious?? Where are my Chicago cabbies honking at me to ask them for a ride?! We finally get a cab who wants to take us because he we are foreigners and he wants to help us. (Do you think we look out of place?!) We get dropped off at this tiny hole in the wall bar called "Vinyl." It is amazing. LITTLE place with two smallish couches and a couple of tiny stools to sit on. You order your drink and it comes in a bag. Not just any bag, no, it's a fancy bag that stands up. See below:


The Long Island is pretty deec! You can basically order whatever you want, and the best thing about it--the bag can be to-go!! Genius.
Anyway, we walk over to some club where they are charging 10,000 won (a bit less than $10) to get in. Mal and I peace out on that note--time for bed.

For more pics: http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af117/jjmelnyk28/A%20bit%20of%20Hongdae/

Woori Market

On our way back to Mal's, we are starving and so we stop at Woori market to get some grub. In Korea there is ALWAYS an option for food, wherever you go. Yet to me, it is ironic (and unfair), as it seems Koreans are always eating, yet they are all relatively thin. Perhaps rice diet is the way to go??

Whether it is from a street vendor, one of the many markets with fresh produce, or one of the restaurants, you will never fall short on food. We opt try some new things. The thing with street food is, although it's usually awesome, you don't always know exactly what you're eating. I could pretend and say that this is part of the adventure, but this is something that scares me. Mal on the other hand, is fearless, but me, not so much. She even tasted the dried anchovy salad--sound yummy? Not so much. Anyway, we try some mandu and O M G it is delicious. I think it's actually vegetarian!! (Finding vegetarian options in Korea is a bit tough.) Anyway, the mandu--is a steamed dumpling the size of a golf ball with veggies and tons of flavor inside. Mmmmmmm. We walk through the market, see some interesting things. Fish section: live octopus, fish, crab, every type of seafood you can imagine. Smells nice. Some people here like to eat raw freshly killed octopus when the tentacles still move and they can wrap around your throat. I'll pass on that one. Next food for us: corn dog. De-lish. Then once again we opt for our favorite: the fish-shaped waffle like treat with sweet beans inside. Sounds bizarre maybe but it is SO good. I'll even call it grood. And once again it is nap time to prepare for the festivities of the evening.
For more pictures on the Woori market, click here: http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af117/jjmelnyk28/Woori%20Market/

Mt. Acha

So, last Saturday wakes us with another gorgeous day in Seoul. Mal and I decide to explore the mountains in her neck of the woods. We walk the 30 minutes up the winding sidewalk trying to find the entrance to the base of the mountain. After several trial by errors we find it. The Mt. Acha base starts near these tennis courts where you notice people are playing some sort of tennis-soccer? (This is where one would think--insert picture--sorry bout that.) We begin to climb the stairs built into the mountain and then notice that much of this mountain is also a cemetery. Sounds creepy, but it was actually really beautiful. After attempting to talk the first tenth of the way up (mind you we have no idea how long this trek will be) we realize we are climbing at about a 45 degree angle--which is why we are completely out of breath. Don't worry, we continue. We go along the winding path on the edge of the mountain through the blooming trees that form tunnels around us.

Nature presents us with flowers of some ridiculous colors. There are many fellow hikers on the path with us. Side note: something odd to me: it is 70 degrees and sunny yet every Korean is wearing long pants, long shirts, and INTENSE hiking gear. But, no shorts! I wear shorts because well, that is what I do when it's warm. Only to be stared at more than normal for my strange outfit. Now not only am I an American in foreign territory, but I am an American wearing short, running shorts! Bah! But I digress. About halfway up, we think we MUST be close, and this nice guy who speaks English starts asking us where we are from, etc. We come to find out that he owns a cafe in Hongdae (one of the popular Western hangout-shopping-bar spots in Seoul) called Siru. He tells us that his cafe has live jazz as he also tells us we still have a decent climb to the top. A little under two hours and we are back at the base. A bit sore the next day but well worth it!
To see more pics click on this link: http://s999.photobucket.com/albums/af117/jjmelnyk28/Mt%20Acha/