halfway around the sun

In some ways it’s hard to believe i’ve been living here for 6 months.  Part of me feels the same as I did when I arrived here--alien and out of place.  Yet so much has changed in my time here.  It’s hard for me to believe that I was scared of the subway, the streets seemed overwhelmingly frightening and I couldn’t figure out how to eat a decent meal without a guide only a few short months ago.  So much good has come out of growing comfortable and finding my feet, but the novelty of my life here has most definitely worn off and there are many things that have made it difficult during these winter months.  This is not to say that I don’t still love and enjoy it, it’s just coming to the realization that it’s not all bad food, poorly translated signs and a big joke for me to laugh at.  But i do still laugh at it. Most of it that is.

Some of my life as of late...

The food has grown on me and by grown on me, I mean i’ve learned to stomach it and enjoy it - sometimes and moderately.  I eat kimchi.  I eat squid and octopus.  The abundance of seaweed is still a little disconcerting, but i’m living with it.

I walked outside this weekend and for a moment...just a moment...I think the sun warmed my face.  If this really happened and wasn’t just a figment of my imagination, things are looking up and there is a light at the end of this frozen, frigid, drafty, inescapable tunnel.

Cat Class got a new member the day we returned from Christmas vacation.  He cried for 3 days straight. And when I say he cried for 3 days straight, I mean this child cried for 6 hours straight, from 9am-3pm continuously for 3 whole days.  At one point I sprinted out of the room and cried a bit myself.  Thankfully, he’s doing better now and has turned out to be quite the little sweetheart.  It was a terrible start, but things are looking up for Henry.  Here’s a video from one of his first days in class.




A while back I lost my coat and i’ve been searching for a new one all over Seoul, but it’s become very clear to me that people here have T-Rex arms.  This is in no way an exaggeration.  I have actually pointed this fact out to numerous other people and many of them also agree that, proportionately, Koreans as a race simply do have shorter arms.  I’d be happy to place a wager with anyone who disagrees with me.  I’ll gladly video document my trials and failures of coat shopping for anyone who cares to lose a bet.  

Putting up the double peace sign started as a joke, but it’s become my standard move in photos, thus proving that Koreans are rubbing off on me far more than i’m influencing them.  God knows i’m speaking more like a Korean child then a college educated American these days.

These past two months haven’t been a cake walk here, but hopefully the food will continue to sit well, the sun will keep getting warmer, Henry will save the crying for times when Lena teaches, i’ll find a jacket that hits below my forearm and the peace sign heyday ends. Here’s to hoping.

Kid Art

At this moment, I don’t believe there is a place that could possibly be colder than it is here in Seoul.  Earlier this week it was colder here than it was in Moscow, Russia. Yeah. Russia.  Currently I’m in my apartment, floor heat cranked, space heater on blast and oscillating, leggings, sweaters, hat and wool socks on my body.  Before this I’d never given much validity to seasonal depression, but being here has given me reason to reconsider.  Maybe living in California for the past 5 years has made me seriously weak when it comes to dealing with anything below 50 degrees - or maybe that’s what I tell myself as to not feel bad about continuing to whine about my frozen situation.  If I were to write a recap of my life at this point in time, it would read simply as incoherent and angry ramblings, because no matter what I try to think about, or write about, my thoughts always seem to revert back to my disdain for the weather or my growing case of cabin fever.  

So! Here are some more kid drawings, because even thought I live in a frozen tundra with no happiness and overwhelming gloom, the kid’s art always makes me laugh.  

 For some reason every drawing this kid makes has the crazy meth addict coming off a 5 day binge eyes.  WoongJay gave this to me after he’d be sitting in timeout.  I think this was his way of saying ‘i’m sorry’ and/or i’m going to kill you....with my legs...cause I don’t have arms.  

I really don’t know what David was going for here....

I feel like someone’s parents aren’t enforcing age appropriate television.  

Ryan’s happy dinosaur.  

Heather is still trying to figure it all out, but at 6 months in i’m not sure she’s going to. 

“Leedia teacha! Pwesent!”
 “Aww thanks Ryan! Who is this? Who did you draw?”
“Des es Leedia teacha.”
“Ah. It’s perfect. Thanks buddy.”

Thailand Part 2 - The Crash

I heard a lot about the “Koh Phangan tattoos” before heading to Thailand.  Mopeds are the most convenient and cheapest way to get around and scooter novice backpackers, hopped up on Chang and Thai whiskey, often make the poor decision of getting on their bikes, which often results in a crash, which often results in some sort of painful physical marking, hence the term “Koh Phangan Tattoo”.  I’d been mentally preparing for the dangers of Thailand scooter driving, drawing upon all my past knowledge of 2 wheel vehicle navigation and safety - I was confident that i’d come out on top, successfully avoiding becoming a statistic or “oh you should see what happened to my friend on the island” type of story.  And i’m happy to say, I did just that.  I followed the rules of the road, and while I was in control of the scoot, there were no crashes, not-a-one.  But I wasn’t the only one operating the blue scooter from Golden Hill Resort.

I don’t blame him.  I really don’t.  It’s easy to get the gas and the brake mixed up.  People do it all the time. You get situated on the bike, half asleep girl on the back, groggy because it’s 7am and the decision’s been made that going on a journey to get breakfast sounds better than simply walking up and ordering something from the kitchen, and it just happens. You turn the right instead of squeezing the left.  Easy mistake.  I’m assuming Saba was eyeballing the best route to take to get up the unpaved and treacherous terrane of our bungalow’s driveway when he gunned the gas like we were in a motorbike drag race.  Before I even had time to react I was sailing through the air, barreling toward one of the people doing yard work on a patch of grass, below a coconut tree.  After we hit the bump that sent me flying, Saba was able to regain relative control of the bike, staying on board, just clumsily and ungracefully tipping over the bike.

This little mishap left a scrape on my leg and ended up costing a bit of money when we returned the bike later that week, but all things considered we made out pretty well.  There were no broken bones, the damage costs weren’t outrageous and my leg has more or less healed.  Nothing permanently harmed or broken - except maybe Saba’s scooter driving ego...I think that may be gone forever.

Thailand Part 1 - BAM! You’re welcome Bangkok.

Coming back to Korea after 8 days in Thailand has been difficult.  These past two days in the minus 15 degree weather/reeling off the high that is traveling to a foreign place and doing whatever you want, whenever you want, has left me dangling on the ledge of depression, questioning why I even liked it here in the first place.  I’m sure Korea will gain its light back, but right now the pictures and thoughts of Thailand are still in the forefront of my mind and all I can think about is getting back there. It was a truly amazing week and knowing that i’ll go back there as soon as possible will get me through these cold couple of months ahead.


My time in Bangkok was more like a stop off.  Our flight arrived at 5:45 and we got to Koh San Road at about 7pm.  This was after I told my good old buddy old pal, Saba, that we’d be there at 2:45 - I’m still sorry about that.   Once the 3 of us arrived (Steph, Karin and I) we threw our backpacks in our rooms and headed out to do some shopping.

...As it turns out i’m the worlds worst barterer.  If I were taking the easy way out, i’d blame the sizable Changs for my poor addition and subtraction skills, but i’m not gonna do that, it was completely and utterly my inability to undersell these Thai people.  Especially when they were continually calling me “friend” and telling me that they’d “give me good deal”.  I guess I believed that while I was sifting through the racks of sweat shop clothing, that they’d marked up 300%, we’d had some sort of connection and surely they weren’t gonna rip me off.  Saba stood back and watched this amateur American tourist hour a handful of times before he stepped in.  After I offered an honest looking Thai woman 1200 baht for 3 dresses priced at 350 Baht each, he put a stop to the slaughter and from that point on all negotiations were discussed with him first.  All in all, i’m sure Thailand economy is thankful for my visit to the vendors, as I did leave with a whole new wardrobe - a wardrobe that’s going to lie dormant in my Seoul apartment until the frost melts and the blistering heat returns.  None the less, it was fun.

It’s no surprise that Bangkok is a complete tourist trap -these people make a living of ripping off wide eyed fools like myself.  However I wasn’t expecting the in your face aggressive nature of it all.  The physical pushiness of Korean people is quite different from the verbal sort dealt with in Bangkok.  Saba had been there for a couple days already, thus knowing not to entertain their offers with even the slightest glance, but this proved to be another failure for me.

Whenever one of them would walk up and say “tuk tuk?” then whisper “ping pong show?” i’d always lose a bit of focus and look at them in what must have signified interest, because then once again Saba would have to step in and shoo them away.  I don’t know what kind of look I was giving these people, something tells me i’m not the typical ping pong show frequenter, so i’ll need to figure it out and correct that behavior before my next trip.  If I hadn’t been with someone else, along with paying a few Thai people’s mortgages, i’d also have the images of a ping pong show burned into my memory.

The next morning at 5am Saba and I headed to the airport to catch a flight to Surat Thani and then hop on a catamaran that would take us to Koh Phangan (also known as Heaven).

Tough time at the airport.

More to come.....