babblefish

You know how in "The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy" they dropped the babblefish in their ear and they could understand all the language going on around them?

I want a babblefish.

A lot.

for rememberance

“If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion and avoid the people, you might better stay home”

I wanted to say something about this, but I'm tired so it isn't coming out right. But I don't want to forget it, either.

lists. again. because I like them.

1. The girls soccer team at my school WON against ALL OF KOREA!! Wow!!
2. I'm actually busy (!) with things that don't involve me being a big crybaby about food (though I have to say that the infusion of protein powder, protein bars, oatmeal and other assorted goodness is helping greatly with the anti-crybabyness)
2A.) I went to Jungma for dinner with a friend last night, will be going to a reception dinner-thing in Suncheon tomorrow, have a volleyball tournament on Saturday, and then will be spending the rest of the weekend in Yeosu.
3.) Next week is Chuseok, which has been described to me as Korean Thanksgiving. Tuesday I will be going to lunch at a co-teacher's house, then either that evening or Wednesday I will head to Gokseong to meet up with friends to head up to Seoul for a few days. Thursday we will take a tour to the DMZ (the only way you can get there is with the tour) and there will be sightseeing and shopping and good company.
4.) Even with the credit card wackiness from a few weeks ago, I love Home Plus.
reason #1
I can't believe it IS I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!!

Reason #2
There will be baked goods and they will be good. And toast. Who doesn't like toast?

(there were other, smaller reasons, but these stood out as particularly worthy of note.)
5.) Though I am literally size 100 here, I can wear Korean tops at least. Haven't had the courage to try on bottoms yet. The women's sizes are too short, but I can wear them. Now if I can just find stuff that doesn't have writing, strange buttons, useless doo-dads or other crap... Will hope for better luck for longer length, and less... well, just less STUFF in the men's section. but I'm not holding my breath.

And a memo to me:

Self:
To borrow a line from Stephen Colbert, you are being put on notice. I think I have been more than generous over the past month in allowing you indulgence in Oreo-O's, large amounts of rice, those delicious sugar (and I think crack) filled coffees, and all manner of goodness. And you have responded well by not only maintaining, but by letting the jeans get loose. But now it stops. The freak out phase of adjustment is over and there is a good 10-15 lbs we are going to part with. You can make this easy or hard, but it's going to happen. And it starts now.
Me

P.S. resistance is futile.

not awesome

Not awesome is when, after you have started your lesson, they tell you that they have restructured the 1st grade, and half the students in the room have already heard the lesson you are in the process of presenting.

Thankfully, there is enough of a clusterfuck with this change that they didn't realize that a class was supposed to come to me for 3rd period today, so instead of having the same giant mess (or totally improving for 3 blocks back-to-back) i have a chance to create something else.

Still, not awesome.

ETA: but what IS awesome is watching kids when you turn singing a Beatles song into a karaoke-score* contest.

It was probably one of the funniest thing I have ever seen, ever.

* in the noribang (singing rooms) the karaoke machine will give you a score based on how well you sing. I mean, I guess it does, as the one I tried in Japan just made a sad face at us.

lists

1.) I scrambled tofu, and while it wasn't as yummy as the pressed/pan fried/curried tofu, it was okay. Not great, but okay.
2.) I think I'm starting to get a cold. (okay, I've been "getting" this cold for a few days, but I'm fighting back with emergen-c, airborn, and lots of water and so far I'm still in limbo)
3.) probably NOT going to Malasya, at least not this winter. May be going somewhere else in addition to China, but that has yet to be determined. Am okay with this.
4.) I found a great website for ordering books within Korea. They have a physical store in Seoul, where they have MAGAZINES!! And will let you subscribe to magazines through them and send them to you. (about $10-20 more than the actual subscription, but with shipping to Korea then within Korea...). Am thinking about it for Interweave Knits and UTNE.


If you have a suggestion for a really amazingly wonderful book, I'd love to hear it. I'm more concerned with it being engaging more than topic specific (but lately, I've been more into non-fiction). In addition to general "this book is amazing!!" I know this is super-specific, but right now I'm really interested in reading more about feminism and religion, particularly within Islam and Catholicism, and women in Asia. Also, vegetarian cookbooks - which ones do you love? I'm not planning on becoming vegetarian, but I would like to incorporate more tofu and veggies into what I eat.

crush

Dear Korea,

The past few days have been beautiful, and with the warm and the sun and the flowers, well, I'm developing a bit of a crush on you. Just wanted to you to know.

XOXO,
J

Today is beautiful! I lazed around, did laundry (which is almost dry!) and wandered through the market area. I have a ton of peaches and other good stuff, and was proud of my logical reasoning at the grocery - when looking at the tofu and trying to guess what might be the most firm, I noticed that there were different pictures on the packages - one of a hunk of tofu in chopsticks, one with chunks in soup, and one that looked kind of like a pudding or something. I decided that the one in chopsticks was the firm kind, so I went with that and i am currently trying to press out more water. Last night I let some tofu soak in a little enchilada sauce, and it wasn't bad. Tomorrow, I think I'm going to try to scramble some. Tonight, I'm going to be way brave and attempt a veggie/tofu curry thing. Fingers crossed.

I was thinking about taking the bus over to Gwangju's Foreigner's Day tomorrow. Either that, or the good gym/jimjilbang. We'll see.

ETA: of the good, when I went to the gym, there was almost no one else there, so I was able to set up the fans for a cross breeze so it wasn't disgustingly hot. What was going to be a 10-15 warm-up run turned into a 5K that was GOOD and HAPPY. I would like to get back to daily 5K runs, and while I've felt like crap DURING the run (as in, hot and cranky and "DANG, I hate the treadmill!"), my times have been at a pace slightly faster then before I left Indiana. And as for the cooking, while the curry packet wasn't what I thought it was going to be, it wasn't bad at all and the tofu was DELICIOUS.

Tofu

I have decided that I should learn to cook with tofu.

The fact that I don't cook much in general? Not going to stop me.

Tofu is a cheap and easily available protein source, and while I can find chicken all nicely packaged in a somewhat close neighborhood, it is an expensive cab ride home to go there all the time. Beef is expensive, and most of the fish... well, let's say I am not fond of the idea of having to shell, shuck, skin, debone, etc. in order to get to dinner. I've been eating a LOT of tuna, but it time to move on.

So, resources for the cooking of the tofu (I am currently without oven, but in the very near future, a toaster oven will be mine!!) so for right now, I'm looking at stuff that can be stir-fried, sauted, or the like. Soon, I will be able to BAKE!! And there will be much rejoicing.

Unrelated, volleyball is going well. According to my co-teacher (who volunteered the information - which is a bit of a rarity inandof itself) the teachers at my school think I'm nice "and easygoing." Cool. I'm having fun, and I am considered a valuable player, which is awesome. And a first. I have been told I need to practice spiking and blocking, which, well, duh. They are teaching me local "slang" and while it is somewhat disconcerting to listen to a conversation and only be able to recognize my name (so I know they are talking about me) at least I THINK it is mostly positive.

Also unrelated, I had a protein shake with plum and banana, and it was delicious. And I am cooking chicken in green chile enchilada sauce, the weather is incredibly beautiful right now, and while it WAS on the treadmill, I had an awesome run tonight. Things are good.

Embarrassment of Riches

!!!!

Today, I received another box from home!!! Morgan and Anna and Dad and Pat - thank you thank you thank you!!!

I am so grateful. I seriously almost started to cry in the teachers' room when I saw the box.

I know it sounds silly - I really should be better about finding what I need here, but just having some of the things that are "normal" just makes me feel, well, normal, I guess. And it is stuff that is easy to get there that I cannot find at all, and it is astounding how those little things can make the difference between feeling at loose ends and being more grounded.

Also, I am humbled that so many people are are thinking of me. I am so lucky to have people who care about me like this. The past two days have been amazing. Thank you all so much!

Mail call!

Today was an excellent day for mail!! A box from my mom arrived, and was filled with deliciousness (cereal!! Luna bars!! spices!! green chile enchilada sauce!! oatmeal - plain and yummy!!) fun stuff (stickers, pencils for the kids) and necessary things (vitamins, hair color because I wanted something I knew worked before attempting Korean hair color so I have a back-up, ). So happy. So much stuff!! All kinds of wonderful.

Also, Brandon sent part of the order we placed on-line a couple weeks ago! Melatonin! and a baggie of protein powder!! Woo!!

I will be able to both sleep and eat for a good long while. I am so happy about this, I can't even say.

AND I have cookie crisp cereal. I mean, really. A bowl of cookies - does it get any better than that?

chin-up

I am so freaking close to being able to do a chin-up.

This was one of those, "yeah, right" goals that even I never thought would happen. And now, starting with a little bit of arm flex, I can get my nose to the bar. I think I was so surprised that I was so close that I just lost it.

I think that by Halloween at the lastest, I will be able to do multiple chin-ups from the floor. That is incredible to me.

So, the new "yeah right" goal is multiple wide-grip pull-ups.


Also, and completely unrelated, I am not even letting myself look at the new Macintosh stuff. The little tiny shuffle that slipped through the filter? Pretending it doesn't say, "Please take me home. Look how cute I am." and I don't even want to know about the nanos that have a gazillion gigs or something like that.

And also unrelated, Chuseok (basically, Korean Thanksgiving from what I have been told) is in early October, and from the looks of things right now, I'm going to be heading to Seoul with some friends. Also, a trip to China (and possibly one to Malaysia, but I'm not sure how solid that last one is) is being sketched out for winter break. Details will follow as things get worked out.

gym talk

The little gym I go to is closed on Sundays, so today I headed to the big fancy one that is connected to the jimjilbang (the sauna/bath/i guess a lot of other stuff).

The gym part was okay, but it looks like I will have to choose between inadequate overall, or really inadequate in one aspect, but somewhat better for everything else. The nicer gym doesn't have a squat rack or power cage. They have a smith machine (ick, and not good for squats) and a leg press, but not a place where I would be able to do squats at all. However, everything else is in better repair, there is more room, there are plenty of fans, the treadmills are better (but still in english - yay!) and they have a 20k bar for bench, which i would be able to load and move easily for deadlifts (which is a major pain at the current little gym). The only other thing that would be impacted would be overhead press, and I can find something else that will work shoulders in the same way. This gym also has a bar that is high enough that I don't have to bend my legs at the bottom of hanging leg raises, which is awesome.

Right now, my squat is pretty high, and I honestly don't feel a burning need to add a whole lot to it at this point (jeans that fit my waist and hips are too tight in the thighs right now) and I am pretty sure I would be able to at least maintain strength if I were to do leg press stuff ("stuff" meaning a variety of foot positions, full depth, all that), DL, and run, with occasional squat rack stuff when I visit friends. The nicer place costs a little more, but if I get 3-6 months at a time, it would be the same as having to buy a day pass two times/month, and includes access to the jimjilbang.

Access to the jimjilbang will be a good thing once I figure out what the heck I'm supposed to do - I couldn't figure out if it was BYO-bath stuff or what, or if i got stuff at the counter, if I had to pay more for it, and if so, how much. Also, it was PACKED and I really didn't want to try to figure out the logistics when it was that crowded. I need someone to tell me what to do, but wasn't sure how to go about that today and after being the center of attention in the weight room, I really didn't want to continue being stared at. Particularly when naked. I mean, if I knew the routine or the layout of the room or what to do, that would be one thing. But to be clueless, the center of attention AND naked? When it was really busy? I had to take a pass today.

markets and yarn

Today I wandered to the main street in my neighborhood. I went to a yarn store and bought a couple balls of plain wool to swatch for a sweater and they gave me circular bamboo needles for free!! Yay!! And they were very nice, had some BEAUTIFUL cashmere blends and we were able to communicate at least to a basic degree with gestures and me guessing at what she was trying to tell me.

Also, I'm the most Irish girl ever. I went to the outdoor market, and the first vegetables I bought in Korea? Potatoes, carrots, and onion. (I also bought squash, but still...) I'm going to try to make a soup of some sort this weekend, and those were what sounded good (and what i could easily recognize). I WILL become more adventerous, but baby steps. From what I have heard, fruit and vegetables are really seasonal here. I didn't see any tomatoes at all, so I think I may have missed out for the time being. There are still a ton of peaches, so i will probably head back for those later in the week.

And to clarify, it isn't that I'm worried about gaining - I'm working out and walking all the time - but I'm just not losing as fast as I would like, so I feel like I need to start locking down again. The freak out stage is over. This is a good sign.

Shopping

I have amazing friends and family.

Right now, I am drinking a diet coke (on ice!!) and eating a kids cereal, which, although it isn't as peanut-buttery as I would like, isn't bad. I have downloaded episodes of Project Runway, Survivor (don't judge), the Daily Show, and The Colbert Report (and as an aside, I'm a little bit in love with Stephen Colbert), and will head down the street to investigate vegetables and the shops on the mail street some more. I will probably head up to Suncheon tonight to hang out for a while, and I will again attempt to figure out which buses actually get there quickly.

I went back to Home Plus (of the credit card debacle) last night, and though I wasn't able to REALLY get it solved, I at least I know I'm not going to be charged a million times by them and they know they have made a mistake. Thanks to a friend, I was able to find tuna in water (though it seemed to be a little oily for just water, better than the straight-up oil packed) and found boneless chicken, Classico Tomato-Basil sauce, and lots of other goodies (fresh pineapple!! Brown Rice!!).

I also bought more pillows last night, and slept really, really well.

I AM have a Scarlet O'Hara moment ("I'll think about that tomorrow") because I'm pretty sure that the rice/grain blend I've bought a couple of times may have contained moth larvae of some sort, as the picture on a different brand indicates such. EwwEwwEwwEwwEww. I really can't think about that, so tra-lalala, didn't happen - my brand MUST be the larvae-free one. But I'm never, ever buying it again. I now have to add "surprise bugs" to my list of bad things to be surprised by (for the record, "surprise fish" and "surprise kimchi" are both better than surprise bugs).

Right now, larvae aside, things are going pretty well.

what will bring me home

It won't be loneliness, though I am often lonely here.

It won't be the language, though it is almost overwhelmingly frustrating to speak and read like a kindergartner.

It will be food.

I am so hungry for good food. Heck, not even good food. I want boneless, skinless chicken breasts, or at least a chicken that doesn't look like a cornish game hen. I want protein bars and cottage cheese. I want tuna in water. I want egg beaters or separated egg whites or eggs that are really inexpensive so i don't feel guilty for throwing away the yolks, and I want to not have to horde oatmeal. I want peanut butter flavored cereal. Did I say tuna in water? 'cause I really miss that. I want chicken enchiladas from Garcia's, and refrieds and rice. I want whole wheat tortillas - heck, ANY tortilla - and medium salsa. I want Diet Coke by the case. I want an oven so I can have roasted vegetables. I want whole grain bread and Kashi Go Lean cereal. I want to go somewhere to eat and not be grossed out by anything on the table. I want fish with heads and tails and bones and skin removed. I want to be able to identify everything on my plate.

And what sucks is that much of what I am comfortable eating is somewhat calorie dense without being all that nutritionally sound (at least I know that the rice is just rice, and there is no surprise kimchi or red-pepper paste), so in order to knock out the last 10 or so lbs, I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to start measuring food and at least guess-tracking calories. It will need to be ballparked to some degree, but at least I'll know a little bit more where I stand at the end of the day. And I don't think I'm going to allow myself to buy the oreo-o's cereal for a while - it is too good, and before I know it I've killed the whole box.

Of the good, I'm getting at least a little better at counting and stuff like that, so I can at least understand how much people want if I go to the street market for vegetables. And I priced toaster ovens and I might make that a "first paycheck/hey you finally got your settlement/flight reimbursement check" present to myself. And I will probably have to learn to cook more with tofu, as it is an expensive, lower calorie, easily available protein source.

Oh, and I think I've been "washing" my clothes with fabric softener instead of soap. Oops.

Life

Yesterday as I was walking to and from the gym after school, it was almost constant, "Hi, Jessheka!! Jessheka!! Hi!! Hello!!" the whole way. Children hanging out of windows from after school hogwans (private schools), kids hanging out at game rooms, walking home from study sessions. To the point where some parents turned and looked at me and said, "Jessheka?" as I walked past.

There is no anoynomity. At all.

I knew that going in, but I didn't think that every walk - to the gym, to the market, to school - would be almost constant calling out to me.

There is SO much similarity between middle school kids everywhere. The same shrieks in the hallways, the same desperation and fear of acknowledgment, the same glow of happiness when you remember a name, the same sighs of exasperation. If it is now in a language I just let wash over me, it is not much different from the crash of noise in New Mexico or New Orleans.

Today I played in both the women's and the men's volleyball game (there were a couple of other women invited to play, though we weren't really allowed to do much) and hit the gym after. Tomorrow I will be practicing for the team that competes against other area schools. I've been eating lunch in the cafeteria for the past couple days, trying to connect more with the other teachers at my school, trying to get used to the flavors of Korea.

I can't understand most of the words I hear, but I can understand that people are glad I am trying to become a part of the school. The people at my school are kind, and just by showing up, I am becoming more a part of this place.

There are still frustrations, but they are the same kind of frustrations of moving to a new place, only now they are compounded by an inability to communicate and the need to be dependent on others to find out basic information. There are also the stupid life frustrations of not getting the email you wanted to get, or having to deal with credit card companies, or not having access to decent gym equipment. That is the same no matter what the language.

This weekend I'm going to stay here. I will probably try out the new gym and run along the mountain trail. I will explore the shops along the main street, and MAYBE take the bus to Jung-ma Dong to see what is available there. I will read and sleep as late as I can, and buy vegetables and cook something other than rice or boiled eggs.

I will start to make this place more mine.

Pictures make everything more interesting

I was able to get a battery charger, so was able to upload pictures! And pictures make everything more fun!

So, the boat trip when we were rescued from the dock?


Mr. Park. He was awesome, and does waterski trips out of Yeosu. He was also maybe a tiny bit hung over. Once we were able to determine the differnece between 50 and 15 thousand won, we were good. And I love him a little for getting me to the boat.



Me on the speedboat. Mom, notice the wearing of the life vest? See, not reckless.

I love finding random midwest stuff in strange places. I think I'm going to start collecting pictures of it. While this license plate isn't nearly as cool as the patch from a Schaumburg high School letter jacket I saw in Chicago's in Harijuku, this was awesome to find in a random store in Yeosu. midwest represent.




me and kids from the school I go to on Fridays. This class was awesome, and they wanted a picture of me to show the student who wasn't there. I told them only if I could get a picture of them, too.


Daap, where the school is located. Of note, there are no apartment buildings on the hills near the school, and there are no powerlines across this tops of the mountains. This picture does not do this area justice.


We were teh dumb, and the picture of me with this shirt is on a phone without email capacity in Yeosu (had we thought and his wife or I used our phones for the pic, we would have been able to send it.) So you get Brandon instead of me. It says, "Danger country. America is the greatest of opportunities and the worst of influences."
Word.

lists

1.) I don't get how it has suddenly gone from being too hot too sleep to cold enough to need a jacket so quickly.
2.) I have been asked to play on the volleyball team that competes against other schools in the city. They have practices and everything.
3.) I might be taking a TaeKwon-Do class.
4.) My teacher workshop today went pretty well.
5.) I wasn't able to leave the store with groceries yesterday, but now it looks like there are several hundreds of dollars charged against my credit card. Which would line up with the number of times they tried to run the card. Awesome.
6.) Skype rocks my world. And you can use it to call toll-free numbers in the US for free. That is really nice when combined with #5.
7.) running also rocks my world.
8.) my neighborhood market almost rocks my world, because they take my US debit card, but they do not have salsa or cinnamon or all bran cereal. But they do have these blueberry cookies that are freakin' AWESOME and oreo-o's cereal.
9.) I am really close to being able to do a chin-up. As in, if I talk myself into it, I probably can, and I TOTALLY can if I jump a little.
10.) I need to see if my school will be willing to get me more blankets.

Analogy

My relationship with Korea is not unlike a really dysfunctional relationship - when it is good, it is really, really good, but there are so many little not good things that you wonder why you put up with it.

I will preface with the fact that in the end, this weekend was pretty amazing. I went to Yeosu again, this time for a boat trip with a bunch of other foreign teachers. I have poor planning when it comes to public transportation. Full stop. Also, I am not able to determine the difference between the "express" bus and the one that takes a freaking lifetime to get to the place I want to be, obviously. I was going to Yeosu with another teacher who lives in Gwangyang, and when we realized we were going to be late for the boat, we tried to call one of the folks who was organizing the trip. And the number? Wrong. So, as our taxi pulls into the marina, the boat was leaving the dock. Literally, just leaving the dock. (But I should note that while late, my plan for getting there was correct. Just a lot slower than I thought it would be.)

So, I call a friend, hoping to be at least be able to drop off my stuff while we make other plans for stuff to do in Yeosu for the day. A series of phone calls fly back and forth, and amazingly, they found someone with a speedboat to run us out to the big boat. Seriously. Amazing. I was just looking for a way to not have to drag a bunch of stuff around for the day, and I ended up being taken to the boat!! (will post picture of the driver when I have uploaded the photos)

Amazing day on the boat in the Sea of Japan and in Yeosu, with sun, amazing banana bread, good conversations, peanut m&m's, people who made me laugh a lot, the gym, and computer geekery.

Sunday was more gym (and another 5k treadmill run - this time with a better time and less "it's so hot i wanna throw up") chicken which was fairly spicy, but somehow set my lips on fire instead of my tongue, and an awesome little shop where there were two cannot-live-without purchases that will be documented once the batteries are charged. they must be seen to be believed.

I got to the bus right in time to catch the straight-to-Gwangyang bus (which isn't straight there, but I only had to buy one ticket, and it there was less backroad travel than on my way TO Yeosu) and took a cab to the big department store.

This is were things started to fall apart.

If someone were to say, use a credit card in the electronics department of a department store, what do you think would happen if that same card was used in the grocery section? If you use logic, you would THINK it would be fine.

You (and I) would be wrong.

After a lot of not being able to understand what happened, much standing around, and no one who was able to explain what happened, I walked out of Home Plus incredibly frustrated and with computer speakers and a battery charger, but none of the stuff I actually needed.
*ETA - and right now, my credit card company thinks they approved all the times they tried to scan my card. Awesome.
But what was the annoying part was that they had some of the things I missed and was really excited to find - Classico tomato-basil pasta sauce, salsa, tortilla chips, cinnamon, lotion that didn't cost a million dollars, pillows. Nothing life-changing, just a lot of small things I was excited to find. And I walked out the door frustrated and confused and disappointed.

Which was just a reminder that not only can I not navigate basic transactions half the time, I cannot understand WHY I can't do it. Like not being able to have a shower that is hot the whole time on an irregular-but-frequent basis, or being able to consistently figure out a bus schedule - no clue why what works the rest of the time didn't work then, but it just... doesn't.

goodness

I spent my first day at the middle school I will be at once a week. I LOVE this place! It is tiny and super rural but so awesome! My classes had about 10 kids in each, there were only three classes total, and I see them every week. The teachers were VERY nice, and the kids were talking to other teachers about having fun in my class before I even left the building.

They dedicated the new library today, so there were lots of officals in the building, and there was a little "showing off the native teacher" going on after the ceremony, which was fine, but at the reception, I was seated at a table with local officals, the head teacher of the school, and my co-teacher. And they told me to try the kimchee on pork. Now, so far I have managed to avoid having to eat straight-up kimchee - I've had what I am pretty sure was a soup with it in it, but not full-on out-of-the-dish-on-the-table willingly. And with an audience, there was no getting around it without being totally rude.

And it wasn't horrible!

Now, I'm not going to be seeking it out - I still think it looks and smells horrible, and it didn't actually taste good but I will no longer feel like I have to avoid it completely.

In other food-related news, meat is REALLY expensive here. I am so desperate for protein that I've been eating a ton of tuna, and every time I open a can, I keep thinking it is the greatest thing I've ever eaten.

A snapshot of mood swings

Yesterday was a good day - lots of time with kids, and some classes really cracked me up (there are now MANY Korean middle school girls who have crushes on my nephew from the pictures I showed when I talked about my family) and afterschool I played in the highly competitive teachers' "sports day" volleyball game. Last week I wasn't able to play due to internet acquisition issues, so today was the first time. Being the tallest woman in town has its advantages. I played well enough to earn respect, but not so well that the "good" players were embarrassed. My principal was impressed, they are moving me to "attacker" position (here, they don't rotate. they also can kick the ball. who knew?), and I garnered a lot of goodwill by trying.

After, I had water delivery started in my apartment. The water here is not drinkable, and people even recommend cooking and brushing teeth with filtered water. The delivery serivce is less expensive then buying or renting a filter, and the dispenser it comes with can be plugged in to provide either hot or cold water. I unplugged it because I'm cheap like that and it seems wasteful for the amount I would use it, but it's kind of cool nonetheless.

And at the gym, I ran 5k for the first time in weeks. It was on the treadmill and it was hot, but afterwards I remembered why I love running. After running and lifting legs reasonably hard, I felt at peace. Like hitting a reset button. Oh, and I found brown rice at the market.

All in all, a very nice day. I felt like I'm starting to build at least the foundations for a life here.

Today was a low. It started out pretty great - my classes went well, the kids made me laugh, and students are coming up to me to ask little questions and try to get my attention all the time - I am trailed by middle school students calling out, "Je-she-ka!! Hi!! Hello! Je-she-ka Teacher!! Hello!" But the afternoon was spent watching an older woman dominate the hell out of the other women in my workshop at the elementary school and issues with my school reimbursing my flight and giving me the relocation money outlined in my contract, (I was told that the person responsible for making the payment had said I would get it, "sooner or later" - WTF??! are you kidding me?!) and feeling like the social order here is near to impossible for me to navigate, or at least manipulate to my liking. I am a youngish unmarried woman, which means basically I have no status, but I'm a foreigner, which means I don't have to play by all their rules. I'm in a grey area, and I'm just not sure what I really can and cannot do. Which eventually led to me crumpling like a house of cards.

So much of the time I feel like I am on the edge of good or bad and I just don't know onto which side I'll fall.

exercise

This morning, I tried to find the path that another teacher in my school insisted was close and fairly flat. What he neglected to mention was that "close" is about a 10-15 minute walk straight uphill (not a gentle slope at all). I think it would be great on the weekends, but for a regular morning run, it just takes too long to get there. Not long after I found the trail (which is rolling but run-able for the most part) I had to turn around in order to get home in time to get ready for school, and the road down was too steep to run. It is frustrating, and I'm struggling to find a place to train for a 10k. I'll try going the other direction from m apartment tomorrow, which I think will be a more gentle grade (though it ends with a fairly long uphill haul). Even the treadmills at my gym are stuck at a higher incline than I would prefer, plus 1)it is a treadmill, and 2) really hot. The 10 minutes on a slight incline at the gym in Yeosu was the best run I've had in weeks, which, as it is a treadmill and I hate them, should tell you something.

I have a membership at a small, poorly equip ed gym near my house, but when my month runs out I will probably pay a little more to join the bigger one that is an equal distance, but which looks huge and includes a korean-style sauna (basically, public baths). I'll get a day pass soon to check it out. I'd like to find a treadmill without as much incline and regular sized barbells. While I'm not at the point where I'm lifting enough to max out the plates at my little gym, having to use the shorter 10k bars throws off my balance, and I'm hoping that in a larger gym I can be at least a little less of a freak show. While I still expect to be stronger than the women, I hope that at least there will be more men who are stronger than I am which I hope will decrease my freak factor.

It is interesting to note that in the States, it was the middle-aged gym regulars who were nice and supportive and the young guys who were threatened and sometimes rude. Here, it is the opposite.

phones and teaching

I have a cell phone # now, and a sexy little black camera phone that was on-sale and can be programed to run in English!!! Also, it seems that they allowed me to have at least some sort of a contract - not that I actually understand it - and so between being able to use outgoing calls in Korea through my phone and outgoing overseas through skype, I'm actually connected!! To people in the outside world. Incoming calls are free. I also have an address!!

If you want either, I'm more than happy to send via email. Let me know.

Today was my first day with students. It went reasonably well, and by the third class, went pretty smoothly. I will be teaching this lesson for another two weeks - I really should document the difference between this lesson and what I teach the Friday after next. I found out that I have access to the English Lab for all my classes, which includes a huge tv and lots of stuff I don't know how to work, and a sort of little lounge. I need to see what the internet connectivity is like up there - if it is wired, I'm going to settle in up there a bit more. The teachers I worked with today were very complementary, and in the teacher's workshop after, one insisted to some of the teachers from the other schools that I was very good, which was nice and not at all necessary.

The English department took me out to lunch at a resturant with a beautiful view of whatever bay we are near, which was lovely and nice and a lot of fun. I really would like to be able to explore this area more than I can with just the bus, taxis and walking. The neighborhood I live in is pretty far away from Gwangyang City, so it is a pain to get in and out via public transportation. But I am saying this after never having lived somewhere where I HAD to use public transportation, so maybe I just really suck at it. Trying to learn while not being able to read or speak is bordering on the absurd.

Seeing friends this weekend was nice, and while I really am starting to like my school, my neighborhood, and the inside of my apartment, the transportation thing seems like it is my greatest issue at this point.

Yeosu

of the good:
+ being able to call home
+ wonderful home-cooked food
+ friends
+ friends who donate old cellphones
+ deadlifts
+ honest feedback
+ ordering on-line and splitting international shipping
+ bit torrent (*swoon*)

Of the bad:
- pace of public transportation
- not being as strong as I thought (when forced to use good form)
- headaches

The good most assuredly outweighs the bad.

I'm at a friend's in Yeosu, a nearby town. It should be noted that I have never lived someplace without a car and so when it comes to public transportation, I'm not well versed. When the directions aren't in Enlish and I'm sounding out city names like a first grader, well, let's just say mistakes were made in getting here, but I believe I've learned from them and this evenings return trip will go a bit more smoothly (fingers crossed), as will next weekend's return for a boat trip another person in my program is organizing.

Terri planned and orchestrated an amazing meal (vegetables!! that weren't pickled!), Brandon corrected my form at the gym and didn't complain too much about my exessive whining at having to go down in weight for correct form in squats, and I did reasonably well at deadlifting. I now have bit torrent on my computer (and I know how to use it!), an episode of "Real Time with Bill Mahar" waiting for me to watch tonight, and a used cell phone so I can set up basic phone service. Things are good.

I finally was able to look at a map online a couple of days ago in order to get a better idea of where I am in relationship to the surrounding area. My little nighborhood is fairly far out and it is kind of a pain to get out and around, but I think part of that has more to do with my feelings of lack of mobility do to lack of a vehicle and lack of familiarity with public transportation. MOM don't read the rest of this paragraph The suggestions of learning to ride a motorcycle or getting a car are fairly tempting right now, and while both are comparatively cheap to acquire here, I just don't know if they are worth the investment in the long run. We'll see. (and because I know you didn't listen to me, no Mom, I haven't been on a motorcycle, and yes I said you said I wasn't allowed.)

I'm feeling a lot better than I was a few days ago. There are still a lot of things I need to do to really feel like I'm settled in and at home here, but I'm getting much closer.

When the teacher who picked me up in Gwangju dropped me off in my apartment, she said something like, "this is poor people's apartment building. Lock your doors." And while from the outside, I'm assuredly living in the low-income housing complex, the other night I was walking to take out the trash (an amazingly complicated procedure, I might add, but that is a story for another time) and heard someone practicing piano. Every night about the same time, I can hear it, and it is coming from the third or fourth floor at the other end of my building. I live in a walk-up. Someone had to love that piano enough to get it up at least three flights of steps. This cannot be too bad a place to be.

drums and Gamagol Village

drum.jpg
Originally uploaded by recklesswater.

This is from last week at Gamagol Village. We were inside because of the rain, so it was wicked loud. (50+ people, 2 different kind of drums and these handheld cymbal-like things.)

More pictures

Here are a couple more little pictures from my apartment.

When I got here Monday, I read this as a message from the guy who was here before:

Now I just think it is sorta cute.

And I love finding hearts in places. These are in the plaster of my living room wall (there is another little patch of them further along the wall, too):


And a picture from the first floor teachers' room:

Apartment

I probably should have taken more "before" pictures, because as barren as it is right now, it was MUCH WORSE a few days ago. I think the guy before lived in the bed room and used the others just for storage or something. Which I understand, as the bedroom is the bigest room in the apartment, but whatever.

View of the front door. I'm thinking about moving that shelving unit into the bedroom for more storage there, where if I put it under the window, plants would get more light.

Living room. The sliding doors lead to the balcony where my clothes drying racks live.

My bedroom. The wardrobe has been shifted so that it faces the door. The bars are because my apartment is on the first floor.

Kitchen. The door leads to a back balcony where the washer is.

The dining room, I guess? I don't know. If I had craft-y stuff like a sewing machine, it would be for that. But as it is? Who knows.

food

I actually almost sorta cooked tonight!

The guy who was here before left rice in a sealed container - the kind that has some sort of wild or whole grain rice and turns kind of purple (I know it wasn't bugs - they had it at one of the restaurants we went to last week) and after extensive examination for bugs or ick of any sort, I tested out the rice cooker. Rice and spicy tomato tuna, and then a little more rice with tony chacher's on it. So.Good.

I realize that dumping rice and water into a pot and opening a can of tuna doesn't really count as cooking, but considering that before I was just eating the tuna out of the can and having some coco puffs (actually, on the box they have "cocoaballs," - which reminded me of the South Park "Salty Chocolate Balls" song. Can you believe they let me teach children?), I'm a damn site closer.

Tonight, I'm saving the cocoaballs for desert

hike

hike
Originally uploaded by recklesswater.

This isn't the greatest picture of me ever, but I look happy. Right now, I feel that way too. This was from the Temple/Hike last week (wow, was it only a week ago? Hh.) and is after I went a few kilometers up and back (oohh, lookit, she's using metric!!)

and there was joy!

Finally!! Internet at home!! And there was singing and dancing and tears of joy.

Okay, not really, but I am really, really happy.

Of course, now 99% of the people I would want to talk to are asleep. But still!! Internet!! At home!!

And after this weekend, I'll have a cell phone, too!! Like a real person and everything!!

Last night, I noticed that one of the bakeries near my house had french bread. After a disappointing roll/cookie bakery experience, I was a little hesitant. After some charades of "sweet" (me pointing to the cakes) and "NOT sweet?" (pointing to the bread) the shopkeeper and I determined that it was bread that was not sweet, something that is rather rare from what I can gather. I'm at the point where I'm actually fantasizing about whole wheat tortillas or multi-grain bread, and at least having not-sweet bread was something. And it was cheap and good.

Things overall are good. The sun is out and it isn't horribly humid - I have my hopes that my laundry will actually dry (though I haven't yet figured out how to make the washer do a cycle that is less than an hour) and it is beautiful outside. I feel like I'm starting to settle in at least a bit, and while I'm still frustrated by basic things (like how I can manage to get the boiler to let me have a hot shower one day but not the next) they are manageable frustrations.

I just got a message that they will be at my apartment to set up internet tonight at about 5. This is a beautiful thing. Also, one of the teachers told me where there was a trail very near my house that can either be a hike up the mountain or a flat run around it. I am unspeakably pleased by this. I'm trading explanations of idioms and slang for maps and bus schedules from him, and I think he is the head of the English department. It works out well for both of us, though I fear he is going to pick up an awful lot of American slang, as I find it almost impossible to not to use "awesome" or "cool" as interjections, in addition to the rest of the stuff that I say without thinking.