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.....

Oz

I used to look forward to field trips.  I looked forward to them because I had this idea in my head that they were a free day - a day where I didn’t have to lesson plan or do any actual teaching.  As i’ve come to learn these day ventures outside of Reggio are the most exhausting days, far worse then normal days.  Days in which I come home with out a nerve left, having nearly walked into traffic numerous times on the way to my apartment.  The night of this this last expedition, I came home and watched the greater part of a Steven Seagal movie because downloading something decent required too much effort - not kidding.

We were going to watch a production of The Wizard of Oz, the Korean rendition of the classic.  When I heard the plan for this field trip, I once again grew hopeful, letting my mind wonder to a calm couple hours where my kids would watch a lovely theatrical performance about Dorothy and Toto, skipping down yellow brick roads, with helium hopped up munchkins giving them some nice soprano music to keep them on pace.  Unfortunately, the Koreans favor a darker interpretation - that or my memory of the storyline is completely wrong.  The bottom line is that once again, my dream of a happy effortless couple  of hours was dashed before we even sat down.

The backdrop looked as if someone on an acid trip had gotten ahold of neon paint, and while in the heat of their hallucinations, there was a loud angry song playing about flowers.  It was intense.  It was erratic.     It reminded me somewhat of Alice in Wonderland.  I wouldn’t be surprised if some wires got crossed there. When the cast came out singing with whistles and drums, I realized that they must have purchased all the costumes at a halloween shop’s going out of business sale.  There was pieces from a snow white dress, some mini mouse ears, a mad hatter costume, and various other mish mashed disney outfits.  Dorothy herself didn’t channel the original in the slightest.

The whole thing was in Korean, which was ok with me because any sort of incessant background noise gives me the chance to space out.  We’d sat the kids according to behavior and I had Ryan and JiAhn on either side of me and Daniel just one seat away.  Maybe 10 minutes in my co-teacher decided to explore the venue, or take a trip down the Han River, or go do some Christmas shopping, or participate in a telethon for children with cancer, or maybe she went to go get corn rows and a weave, I really can’t be sure where in gods name she vanished to for the greater part of this field trip, but I do know that the amount of anger I had inside me when I did see her again, gave me thoughts of her getting a house dropped on her head.

This play was scary.  It creeped me out and i’m a 24 years old.  This was the stuff that creates lifetime phobias and fears for a 4 year old.  At one point during the play I had a crying child on my lap, 2 beside me in tears, 2 children begging to go to the bathroom, but I had no way of taking them without uprooting my whole class (which looking back wouldn’t have been such a bad idea) there were maybe 3 paying attention and i’d completely given up on controlling the children i’d strategically placed beside me, allowing them to more or less wrestle each other and make all the noise they wanted.  I was playing hot potato with kids, shuffling them depending on how hysterical they were.  Trying to calm them down saying, “No no it’s not scary! Look happy Dorothy!”  All the while thinking; This is one fucked up play. Christ this is a fucked up play to show kids.  Who penned this out and decided it’d be good to show children? Hmm?


They ended the performance with this really aggressive drum sequence that more or less put my kids over the top.  Poor little WoongJay couldn’t stop crying, he just kept saying “Scary Lydia teacher. Many scary.” I thought about writing a letter to his mom, apologizing for the nightmares he surely had for the next few nights.

This field trip was once again one for the books.  I’ve learned my lesson though, our next outing is a couple weeks after Christmas break, we’re going to an indoor sledding venue.  I don’t even have a fraction of a thought of that being an easy day.

The class. Even Lena. 

Sweet Melody

Some of the kiddies singing the classic “I Can Sing a Rainbow”.  They hit a beautiful harmony in the middle, but Heather falters a bit with the lyrics towards the end...i’ve got confidence in them though...if they can clean it up there at in the home stretch, I think we might have a hit on our hands.




Since they know limited English, and Korean is no longer allowed in the classroom, they sing.  All throughout playtime, like the 7 dwarfs, they sing.  They also don’t realize the concept of song endings, so they just continue with the beginning whenever a song ends, or they just keep singing the same verse and chores over and over and over again...as you can see in the video.   They sang the exact same thing for at least 5 minutes after the camera stopped rolling.  It’s like the song that never ends...christ, I just got nauseous at the thought of them learning that jingle....Well! At least it keeps them occupied and out of the timeout chair.  And no one can deny that Jessica (little one in the white) has got some pipes.

Oh THAT North Korea situation...

I guess it’s time to address the North Korean elephant in the room.  I’ve received a pretty substantial amount of communication from people back home, obviously worried about the situation they’ve been hearing so much about on the news.  I wouldn’t dare say that this is being blown out of proportion by the American media, no never, but i’m going to go ahead and say that there is not a “state of crisis” and no one feels like they’re “under attack”.  Without outright saying that a lot of this is overreaction, because it is something that should be taken seriously, i’m gonna go head and say that things are going alright over here, and hopefully it stays that way.

My co-teacher, Lena, and I were in a GS 25.  I was perusing the cookies and crackers when I heard gasps coming from the counter.  I didn’t break stride because sounds of shock and disbelief coming from Koreans don’t phase me anymore, but as I walked up I saw stress and concern on Lena’s face - wide eyed, hands over her mouth, listening to the cashier.  I put my crackers on the counter and asked what was wrong.  It took her a few moments to answer, but she simply said “North Korea attacked.”  My stomach dropped, thought about it for a moment, grew skeptical, paid for my snack and headed back up to Reggio.  As we walked, we discussed the probability of this being true, all the while assuring one another that it was most likely nothing.  It was then that we decided we’d get the real story before panicking.  With the Reggio gate maybe 4 yards away, we see an ajuma running down the street and yelling.  I asked Lena what she said and she replied, “she say we at war.”

I’m happy to report that this was the most dramatic this situation’s gotten so far - on my end at least.  Initially learning about the attack, and the walk up to Reggio, was the most public display of worry i’ve seen from any Korean in the past week. Clearly i’m only speaking for myself, but it’s as if nothing has changed here.  I walk to work and the biggest concern for a lot of the Koreans still seems to be finding a wind free zone so they can light their glamor cigarette.  I’m not the Korean news stations primary audience, thus my news comes second hand, but from what i’ve heard from the locals, they seem to feel relatively ok.  And by ‘ok’ I mean they’re not petrified with fear, ordering portable bomb shelters, stocking up on bottled water and snack packs.  Maybe it’s because they’ve lived their entire lives with the threat of North Korea.  Maybe it’s because they’ve got complete confidence in the Korean military.  Maybe they’re delusional.  Honestly, I don’t know.  All I can say is i’m happy that things have maintained a sense of normalcy amongst “brink of war” comments and the amount of media attention being hurled at this thing.

This is not to say that there haven’t been a couple moments, since the incident on Yeonpyeong Island, where my mind hasn’t wondered to mushroom clouds, shrapnel, and wide spread meyham - because there surely have been.  For the past week Seoul’s been getting some very strange weather.  Weather that’s caused some late night thunder and lightening storms.  Nothing jolts you out of bed at night quite like a bright flash, followed by a loud thunderous sound, when there’s a psychopath in control of nuclear and chemical weapons, less than 100 kilometers to the north.  That has most definitely messed with my sleep, but in no way are all the foreigners tracing out the best routes to the embassy, with regards to distance from the military bases.

Maybe i’m being ignorant to the severity of this.  I do not have any sort of stock pile if something were to go down.  My cupboard is filled with chocolates and my fridge has a block of cheese, that might last me 2 days.  I don’t have a bag packed, ready to go on a moments notice, but I like to think that we’ve seen the worst and until I see a herd of ajumas running down the street screaming, i’m going to continue to live the day to day, where my biggest concern is lesson planning and figuring out how to keep Cat Class from turning into a WWE tournament.