March 2010
1 post
Mianhamnida (Sorry)
We are lame bloggers. Forgive us?
I’ll get back on the band-wagon here.
We (primarily me) have been homesick lately. We do things, but nothing feels noteworthy enough to take pics or blog about. At first, being in Korea was so novel and we were so excited about everything we were doing. Now, after 1.5 years, we feel settled. It’s nothing new anymore (except for the plate of hacked...
December 2009
1 post
Farming on TV
The only time we watch Korean TV is at restaurants or hotels. Out of the few times I’ve watched it, it always seems to be some sort of celebrity show, or a show about food and farming. And usually, on that said celebrity show, they’re put in a country house and forced to do some sort of manual labor, which usually revolves around food. This could all be pure coincidence, but I...
November 2009
3 posts
I miss you, but I don't miss the parking lots
Industrial Park, Ann Arbor, Michigan
From the suburbs of a small city in the USA, to a much larger suburb of Seoul, South Korea, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Blocks of tiny houses? McMansions? Expansive interstates, with convenient off-ramps to large strip malls and floating box stores surrounded by well manicured landscaping? For twenty-two years that was the world I knew. We need...
Thanksgiving
Just thinking about how I’ll miss eating all that delicious food.
I’m pumped to cook Thanksgiving dinner next year though. I plan to make things from scratch. Setting the bar high!
I don’t want anyone to bring anything. I want to provide all the food. I’ve missed the holidays that much!
Here’s a rough draft for the 2010 menu:
THE TURKEY
“Michigan...
Halloween Day at KDLP
For those of you who don’t know, or don’t remember, Cory and I were classmates in 2nd grade (until he moved to Ann Arbor a few months into the school year). We were classmates long enough to celebrate Halloween together in 1993, though we don’t remember each other.
We came to this realization when we started dating our senior year of high school. We found out (or maybe our moms...
October 2009
4 posts
Halloween Costume Progress...
I know it’s exactly what you’re thinking…
WHAT IS IT?
Truthfully I don’t know. It’s called, “What can you make using only supplies at a Korean Kindergarten”. Kindergarten Supply Room Monster? Mutant Swamp Frog Monster?
I paper-mache-d my head this afternoon. I’m sure I’ll post pictures of the completed costume after...
Our first trip to Costco...Ever!!
Things we bought:
Salami. This was about 15 dollars. I splurged in celebration for paying off my loan! Cured, or dried meats, are my favorite. When I go back to being a more dedicated Vegan/Vegetarian, I will let it slide when it comes to Salami or Korean Barbeque.
Cheese.
Salsa
Sour Cream, split with Mike & Kait (our coworkers), who have the membership…
(NOT...
Mixed-use
Today, after work, we got off the subway, walked the five minutes to our apartment to we drop off our bags. Then we went downstairs to one of ten restaurants near the entrance of our building and ate dinner with our friend (delicious Galbi). Afterwards, I walked right next door to get my hair cut. Then, I went back upstairs to our apartment, and in the elevator I thought, I’m going to miss...
Taiwan (Freshly Updated)
Cory:
Ask anyone their hobbies, or what they’d like to do, and “traveling” always seems to be in their list of answers (especially here in Korea among a bunch of expats), and yes, I have said it, but truthfully I don’t know how much I really “love” it.
Traveling is weird. I’m still not sure if I have really warmed up to it. I’m shy, and hate to be...
September 2009
4 posts
KAREN’S NOTE:
We browsed some antique shops in Seoul this past weekend and saw some great Korean furniture and stone sculptures. It was neat seeing Korean antiques, as I’m accustomed to browsing the interiors of antique shops in the Midwest. Even though we don’t need to purchase any such items (though some were really neat and the thought crossed my mind… How much would it...
Cat Cafe
A month ago, we promised our co-worker’s daughter, Jian (who attends our school) that we would go with her to a cat cafe.
Cat cafes (and dog cafes) are pretty popular among Koreans. You go there and enjoy coffees, teas, and so on while cats roam freely. You can pet them, play with them, and just enjoy their company and cuteness.
Jian is ridiculously obsessed with cats. She wants to be...
Alphabets...
Since coming to Korea, and learning to read a new alphabet, I’ve developed an appreciation for different scripts. Korean, or Hangul, is a beautiful alphabet. Developed by the fourth king of the Joseon Dynasty, Sejong the Great, to make it easier to read and write. Before that Korea used Hanja (Chinese Characters) and everyone except educated males (who opposed the new script of course,...
Things I taught this week:
We’re teaching the kids about the world right now. Anything from culture, to geography, to wildlife, to the games children play. It’s fun, hard-work, and slightly absurd. This week, Europe (each week’s a different continent), I taught:
Monday
The Brothers Grimm (Germany) - We watched some fairy tales on you tube and discussed them.
Tuesday
Irish Castles - We looked at...
August 2009
4 posts
Each weekend I dream of a Michigan fall, and wish Summer and Winter passed
as quickly as the falling leaves and melting snow.
A New Desk Brings A New Arrangement
We found a new desk in the trash on Sunday. It’s pretty perfect.
We arranged our apartment, and it feels a little bit “homier”… though we still need a couple lamps.
I hate our couch, it wouldn’t be bad if it had that missing arm. It just looks awkward to me.
A lamp needs to go in that right corner
Our Return to the Jungle / It's hot right now /...
I can hear the cicada’s through the glass of our windows. The air is as thick as a greenhouse, and it smells like the inside of an iguana’s aquarium. It’s 93 degrees outside. Our apartment smells the same as the day we moved in, and I can’t help but feel some of the same nervousness, and homesickness as when we arrived a year ago. Yet, it feels like “home”,...
July 2009
14 posts
What's wrong with me...
We’re back in the States now (longer post, as more things sink in, and we have time to reflect)…
I will say though, that right now, on the third day of our trip, I’m craving Korean food. Which I think is because our last meal was so good. We finally tried the Galbi (Beef Ribs) place below our building. The Kimchi there was some of the best I’ve ever had. You simmer it in...
Sky Full of Dragonflies
Again. The Sixth Time...
I’m sick again. It feels like the exact same thing. Running nose, watering eyes, bit of a sore throat, stuffy sinuses… a cold. This is the sixth time I’ve had this in Korea. The irony this time is I have seen, or been near, a child in 5 days.
-C
OCD Cleanliness
Due to our school closing because of swine flu - and the need to create ridiculous busy work - we had to sanitize every toy in the entire school with a mixture of bleach and water. It was honestly a bit over-the-top, but I think the teachers did it because we still have to come to work and have nothing else to do.
The process consisted of this:
1. Carry every toy from all five classrooms...
Making Progress: 52% / 50%
A while back I found a list, 100 Korean Foods You Gotta Try. I, of course, wanted to try everything. I just checked, and I’m at 52%: 1. Myeolchi Bokkeum (Stir-fried Anchovies)
2. Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)
3. Bulgogi (Grilled Marinated Beef)
4. BulDalk (Burn-your-pants-off Spicy Grilled Chicken)
5. DalkBal (Spicy Chicken Feet) 6. Korean Fried Chicken
7. Dalk Galbi (Stir-fried...
Every now and then are apartment announces things...
In Other News Today...
Our school is closing temporarily due to Swine Flu. Two children in the next neighborhood apparently have it, and all the public and private elementary schools are closed to students for the time being. Our school will be closed until next Monday, but we still have to go in and sanitize the whole school (and finish any work we have). I’m hoping we can at least have Friday freeeeeee! We...
Monsoon Season
The rainy season lasts the whole month of July and sometimes into August. We’re been getting quite a bit of rain, at least one day a week. Lately it’s been like three times a week. Yesterday it rained all day long. It didn’t feel like that much rain, but the Tancheon (the river near our apartment) flooded… A lot.
This morning, we rode our bikes to work (which is what we...
Hedgehog Update
Willabee was found last night, thankfully alive and well. He was on his way to hide behind the water cooler, when one of the teacher’s scooped him up. Now he’s back in the original plastic bin, depressed and trying to sleep surrounded by rowdy kids. The teacher responsible for him is taking him to her apartment tonight. Hopefully he will have a happier life there.
AWOL Hedgehog and Korea's Inadequate Pet Care
A month or so ago, our school acquired a pet hedgehog from another school that could no longer care for it.
The hedgehog (which was deemed male and named Willabee), lived in a large plastic Rubbermaid tub with a make-shift wire lid. He burrowed under some wood shavings and lived what I consider a pretty crappy existence.
For some idiotic reason, some staff members decided to change...
How I spend some of my free time...
When I have nothing to do I research places to go. I think I’ve looked at the Wikitravel entry for every Asian country…
Right now I’m planning my dream vacation, which we may take after we leave Korea in another year or so:
Turkey -> Bulgaria -> Greece -> Italy
or, second idea, depending on the current political situations…
Turkey -> Syria ->...
Market Day
June 25 was our theme day; Market Day. Before theme day, we even took the kids to a grocery store and bought some things to practice our shopping skills.
For Market Day, the children were divided into AM and PM groups (it was a half day for students, and a busy full day for teachers). They came to school with one parent/guardian who helped them shop.
Each classroom was a store - Bakery,...
My Favorite Korean Dish:
The first time I had it I thought it smelled, and tasted, a bit like puke. It’s strong. It’s pungent. Tangy. Delicious.
Tonight we (well, Karen) made Dwen/Doenjang Jigae, my favorite Korean dish. From Wikipedia, Doenjang jjigae is a variety of jjigae or stew-like Korean traditional dish, made with doenjang (Korean soybean paste) and available ingredients such as vegetables,...
June 2009
10 posts
These Kids... This pretty much sums up my day to...
I’ve been meaning to put these pics on the blog from our field trip a couple months ago. These photos cracked me up… These kids… Sometimes I hate them, sometimes I love them to pieces. :)
I mean, look at my face here. This is my life!
I love this boy. He drives me crazy most of the time, but I feel like cuddling him a lot too.
Happy We Have Some Avid Blog Readers!
Also:
Aside from the obvious things such as friends and family, here are some things that I look forward to when I think of coming home….
my bed, my kitties, bbqs on the back deck, riding bikes around our old haunts, our old haunts in general, stuffing myself full of the following: mexican/indian/lebanese/korean (yes, korean) cuisine, arby’s, olga’s, panera bread, taco bell,...
Who Reads This?
Sometimes I feel like no one reads our blog…
Make a shout out if you are one of our consistent readers, and please, comment on our posts so we feel special! :)
xox
Small things I'm looking forward to:
The smell of Whole Foods
The tall ceilings and lights of Meijer
The tang of Arby’s Sauce
The crappy ground beef in a Mexican Pizza at Taco Bell
Putting a can of Garbanzo beans into a food processor for Hummus
Walking in my backyard
Parking in Maynard St. Parking Structure and walking to a bookstore full of books in a language I can read, and afterwards filling myself full of Indian...
“One night, with the liquor flowing, the conversation turns to a favorite...”
– http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/rediscovering-seoul/
“Ajumma”, in case you don’t know, is the term for an older married women. Everyone jokes about them quite a bit, whether it be their eccentricities, rudeness, style, etc…
Going to the Doctor
This past week I’ve had a nasty sore throat. So I went to the hospital on two separate occasions to have it checked out and to get some antibiotics. The process of seeing doctors in Korea (other than a few language barriers) is unbelievably easy!
I walk in, a nurse at the front desk takes my name and phone number, then I sit. Two minutes later (even though I have no appointment), I get the...
4000 Apartments Open Soon For 4000 Families...
The first time I saw Pangyo was on a bus ride into Seoul. I looked out the window and noticed row after row of ghostly apartment buildings, the sign in front of them read, “Humanasia”. Spooky! It sounds like a place where artificial human beings would live. It turns out it’s called Pangyo, and it’s a new Satellite city that will be opening up in December. There are 4000...
My Birthday in Korea: The First Since the Day I...
My 23rd birthday…
For some reason, I always picture people having babies in the middle of the night, waking up and saying, “It’s time,” and rushing to the hospital still half asleep. So this year, when June 12, 2:40 pm rolled around, I was able to visualize what the day may have been like on my “birth day”. It was hot, the sun still high in the sky.
It...
What happened after Karen's birthday dinner and...
Last night we went to Hooker Hill,
and passed the women,
standing near doors,
“who pop out like cuckoo clocks,”
that’s how Carl describes it.
We drank from a plastic bottle,
at Polly’s Kettle,
cut in half:
Orange, Tang, Soju.
The DJ, who once was a man,
but now a beautiful woman,
played some songs that we knew,
so we danced and sang along,
until
our friend,...
It's official...
we’re staying another year (Sep 1st, 2009 - Aug 31st, 2010)! Also, we will be coming home for two weeks, July 25th through August 7th, 2009. Hope to see you then…
Why are we staying?
1) We’re not ready to come back. We still have more to see, more to learn, more to do.
2) We’re saving money. Money is good right now, and the thought of coming back and struggling to...
May 2009
9 posts
Pig Spine Soup (Gamjatang)
While pulling pieces of pork off a pig’s spine with chopsticks, and tearing apart bones to get to the spinal cord, I realized this has all started to feel really natural, and I love it deeply. Koreans know how to eat. It might not be my favorite cuisine in the whole world (this honor belongs to you, Lebanon), but getting to a restaurant, taking off your shoes, sitting down on the floor,...
Food We Miss (An Update)
I’m redesigning our blog at the moment, and was looking at old posts, when I noticed the “Food We Miss” post is due for an update. A lot of this we’ve found:
Beans: Korean’s have beans, just not the ones we love…
Fruit: Some of it is easy to find, and not too expensive
Family Dinner Night (Chexmix drumsticks, corned beef, tacos…): You can’t buy this.
...
"Oriental" Medicine
I put “oriental” in quotes because of its prejudiced meaning. It is an inaccurate way of viewing the Eastern part of the world. Orientalism lumped all of Asia and parts of the Middle East into one and depicted the region as backward, strange, and inferior to the Western world. I would argue, those same opinions of the East are still in effect today. I read this book by Edward Said when...
Some Jams:
May Field Trip: Seoul Arts Museum
This month we visited the Seoul Arts Museum.
The exhibit we went to consisted of artwork by children’s illustrators around the world - Korea, US, Japan, France, England…
Cory and I really enjoyed the exhibit; we thoroughly enjoy looking at children’s books and illustrations. The students seemed a little less impressed. Most of them were zoning out the whole time and getting...
Graduate Schools:
I’ve been looking into going to graduate school abroad the last week. It’s a bit cheaper and faster than in the States, and it would also give us more time to explore/travel. I thought I would share my current ideas with you:
Location
Tuition / Length / Avg. Housing Cost
Sydney, Australia (Pros: No Winter, Diverse, Beautiful, Australia! / Cons: Expensive, Snakes)
19,810 / One Year...
Happy Teacher's Day!
May is the month to celebrate those close to you…. There’s Parents’ Day, Children’s Day, and Teacher’s Day. All require gifts.
Today was our first Teacher’s Day. We felt so special. We got flowers and cute cards, and the kids said sweet things to us and gave us lots of hugs. :)
The Fish Came to Visit
My parents have this saying about “the fish rule.” When relatives visit you, they become like fish… They start to stink after a few days and you need to throw them out. Something to that affect anyway…
Well, I wouldn’t say their visit was that “stinky,” but we are glad to have our tiny apartment to ourselves again. We were crammed like sardines in...
Getting Naked with Other Women
I looooved the jimjilbang (bathhouse). I was never very worried about getting naked in front of others. I knew no one would care or look at me. I blend in here. I think I would have been more nervous if I looked like a foreigner, but Cory said no one really noticed him. You just have to have the attitude that no one’s going to care and get over it. Being naked is only a big deal in America....