I went to Namdaemun Market.

Today, I went to Namdaemun market. Kara and I wandered around town starting at Myeong-dong, which is a popular shopping area. We started walking towards the subway and got sidetracked by the market. There were so many people here! Good grief! I don't love going out when things are so busy. I grew up in a very small town--just a few hundred people--and get a little clausterphobic! There are a few hundred people living on my block in the city!

The weather has gotten pretty hot lately. My skin gets a little sweaty (gross) and then I am covered with dirty, polluted, yellow sand at the end of the day. The subway cars have turned on the AC (called air-con here). It makes things much better! Especially when you are sharing a car with a few hundred people! :)

Career in acting?

Last week, I had my debut in acting! :) My friend Ken (in the hat and jacket) is an aspiring director and asked me to appear in his short film. I had a small role (very small--5 lines), but it was fun anyway. The short film was for an English class. We were supposed to model a dialog in a 'natural' setting. After our street scene, we went to a galbi restaurant (bbq) and finished up there. After taping, the guy with the blond wig and I got into a heated argument/discussion about patriotism. I am slightly patriotic. OK...not slightly. I love my country and will defend it despite its shortcomings. This guy is American, but is not as devoted as I am. He doesn't believe in what America stands for--he thinks there are so many problems and that the country is a joke! He challenged my patriotism and got me angry. I don't like when Americans say horrible things about America! I could go on and on... We argued and discussed this topic for awhile, and were even able to part peacefully.

Fan Death

I had an interesting conversation this week with my co-worker. She informed me of a very dangerous appliance used in many people's homes: the electric fan. I pulled some funny, yet widely believed, information from Wikipedia.com and fandeath.net:

From Wikipedia:

Fan death is a South Korean urban legend, which states that an electric fan, if left running overnight in a closed room, can cause the death (by suffocation, poisoning, or hypothermia) of those inside. This belief also extends to air conditioners in the car. Fans manufactured and sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.

From fandeath.net:

The only country to believe in fan death is South Korea. If you ask any Korean about fan death, they will almost certainly vehemently argue that it is indeed true. It seems Koreans of all ages, professions (including doctors) and education backgrounds believe it.

Koreans use the media as proof. Newspapers and TV continually attribute deaths to fans.

If you approach a Korean about this issue, their first instinct is to defend their culture to foreigners even though they may not agree with the belief themselves. I will commend anyone on his/her effort to convince a Korean that fan death may not be true, but I think it would be a very difficult task. Even if they did believe you, I still secretly believe they would turn off the fan, or make sure the window or door was open, when they went to bed.

The yellow dust is here! Gross!

Today was really gross! This morning, the sky looked green, and this afternoon, nothing was visible! The yellow dust has hit. It is the worst day for the dust I can remember. The pollution is high enough that there are all kinds of alerts to not go outside. Especially, we are not supposed to exercise.

Chongdong Theater and the Cartier Exhibit

Last Tuesday, my co-worker, Mrs. Kim, took me to the Chongdong Theater to see a traditional theater performance. There were lots of drums, dancers, and fans in the performance. We couldn't take any pictures while inside, but I snapped a couple of blurry photos outside after the show. It is a must-see in Korea! Great performance!


I forgot to mention, before going to the theater, we killed a little time by visiting the Cartier jewelry display at a nearby museum. It was definitely one of the coolest exhibits I've ever seen! Tons of jewelry and huge, sparkling gems! My favorite was a huge piece (way to big for 99% of women to wear) with tons of diamonds, rubies, emeralds, topaz, and other shiny things encased in an extremely ornate platinum necklace! Beautiful! :)

Mr Ko's Art Exhibit

My art teacher friend, Mr. Ko, had the opportunity to display some of his work at a national art gallery last week. He displayed 9 pieces he sculpted from various woods and metals. He asked me three days in a row to come and see his exhibit, so I went on Wednesday when I finally had my afternoon/evening free. He was so proud of his work and his exhibit--he is really talented and should be proud! My favorite piece is this one:


It is a 3-dimensional piece made from iron. It has a view from all angles. He was selling it for $300. Not bad if you are in the market for some good art!


I always hunch over when taking pictures with shorter people. I am wearing heels, but still, don't I look gigantic?

Sports Day and Class Shirts

Sorak-san Mountain Hiking

Korean Cooking Lessons 요리 강습

Tonight was my first Korean cooking class! It was really cool because my friend Kara's student's mom invited us into her home (gasp!) to teach us how to make a couple of popular Korean dishes! It is really rare for Koreans to invite people into their homes--I'm not sure if it is just foreigners that are kept at arm's length or if it is everyone. I just know that I have been in two homes since I have been here and that it is BIG deal!

The first dish in our series of classes is my personal favorite: chap chay. I love it because it is full of noodles and veggies and has a sweet/savory flavor. I learned how to prepare it tonight and I am confident that I can reproduce the magic! :) The second picture I posted is the pre mixed dish. The final step in making chap chay is mixing all the ingredients together after the seasoned noodles cool a little. Kara and I were sent home with a large portion of fresh, yummy food (that won't last long)!

맛있은
("Mashita" means delicious in Korean.)

Racecorse Park

Yesterday was an easy day for me at work. The students had a poetry/painting/picnic day at Racecourse Park. We all had to be there at 9 and I left at noon!

Funny story: there were a couple of thousand students at the park. At least 800 of them were mine, but I couldn't seem to find anyone I knew (including teachers). The students were not in their uniforms, so it was difficult to tell who was who. A group of girls said hello to me, so I went over and sat next to them thinking they were my students. Well, after about 15 minutes of chatting, they asked me what school I worked at. They were from a high school in the area and were definitely NOT my students! I had to wander around for another 30 minutes before I found the kids that went to my school! At least I made it in time for lunch! :) The parents prepared a lunch for the staff in honor of Teacher's Day. We all received gifts and flowers and chocolates! I like this holiday! :)

After work (at noon), I went and ran a few errands that I had been putting off (hair cut, the bank, etc...) before meeting up with Kara for a movie. We saw Penelope at the mall. It wasn't too bad--it has a good message (especially for a culture with mirrors and plastic surgery everywhere--although, the same could be said for many other places around the world). Has anyone seen it yet? What do you think?

Snowy day on Fuji!

One more picture from Japan! :) Like I posted earlier, I met up with my friend Sarah and a friend of hers last Saturday near Fuji. It was so fun, but snowy (luckily, Audry brought lots of cold weather wear--like the Arizona State shirt and NYPD hat I am wearing)! It was the most snow I have seen this year! I just wanted to post this last Japan picture--good memories, great day! :)

I heart TOkyO!

Sunday, I ventured out into the city on my own for the first time! I went to the observatory at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Office. After being zipped up to the 45 floor at an ear-popping pace, I stepped out of the elevator to a 360 degree view of the city! On a clear day, visitors can see Mt. Fuji, but I didn't see anything but the tops of a bunch of buildings.

This is a picture of the inside of the subway station. I had to figure out where I was going in Japanese, purchase the correct ticket, then begin the daunting task of finding the correct platform! Luckily, I didn't get on the wrong train (I have become quite the navigator in the past years)! I headed to Harajuku to see the costume-play (and the girls from Gwen Steffani's song). Local teens dress up like Bo-peep, Frankenstein's bride, and other characters, and hang out on the bridge near the train station for the tourists. This girl posed for pictures as well as any celebrity I've ever seen!

These funky teens got a band together and played a few tunes in the park. I was so distracted by their appearance that I can't tell you how they sounded!

And, finally, I stumbled into a park in the middle of the city. Across from the park entrance, there was a Thai festival going on. I managed to make my way to the food stalls for a large portion of Pad Thai for 300 Yen! It was too crowded to do much else, so I went back to the station.


The rest of the evening was spent wandering through this neon jungle of a city, seeing the last few sights I hadn't had the chance to get to yet, dinner with friends from the hostel and prep for my trip back to Seoul in the morning! All in all, I had a great time in Japan! I would really like to go back again some day, although, I am going to bring a lot more money next time (it was REALLY expensive)! I recommend Tokyo for anyone looking to try something polar opposite of all things familiar. It is a vibrant, energetic city--I will be back Tokyo! Arigato and sayonara (I learned that from the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)!

Day trip to Fuji~

This Star Wars-esque train was my ticket out of Tokyo for a fun day on Mt. Fuji! The bullet train is famous around the world, so I didn't want to miss the chance to ride on one while in Japan! This thing got me to Shin-Fuji in just 72 minutes! (I have no idea how long it would take a regular train, but it would be over 3 hours for sure!)

I met with a friend of mine, Sarah, and one of her friends for a conveyor belt sushi lunch! Each plate was 100 Yen (about $1.18USD) and I even ordered dessert through the intercom box at our table (Some choco cakey please! Arrigato!)! We finished 22 plates between the three of us!


This is the 5th station at Mt. Fuji...believe it or not, there are stairs below all that snow which lead hikers to the trail up the mountain. I guess we came at the wrong time of the year!


If you know me, you know that I LOVE ice cream! In fact, I could eat it every day and not get sick of it, but this flavor turned me off a little. Horseradish? It is also known as wasabi flavored ice cream. I didn't try that one, but did order a cone of neon purple sweet potato ice cream! Not bad...not bad.


Here is a waterfall that we went to after we realized that hiking was out of the question for the day. It looked Hawaiian to me, but was still really cold! After being outdoors for quite awhile, Sarah and I headed to an Onsen (public bathhouse) to soak the chill out of our bones! The public bathhouse is really popular in Japan and Korea and promotes 'oneness' and is viewed as a social leveler. Young and old come together (in gender separate rooms) to scrub down, soak and steam out toxins while spending time with friends and family.

All things Japanese...

Tokyo is a busy, crowded place! There are 12 million people and they all seemed to be in Shinjuku on Friday! The picture above shows one of those crazy crosswalks that have diagonal options as well (the only other place I have ever seen these is in New Zealand). The fashion is really interesting--in the picture below, the person on the right is a guy! He is wearing a crushed velvet, leopard print tank top, clips in his hair, and is carrying three purses/murses! I think one was his girlfriend's, but the others were his (it is common for guys to carry their girlfriend's bags in Korea, so maybe it is the same in Japan)!

I spent the day with a couple of British guys from my dorm. They invited me to spend the day walking around and seeing the city with them. They were great companions throughout the day and tried to cure me of my "terrible American accent" by teaching me funny sounding British phrases! It didn't stick--I'm American through and through and proud of it! :) During the day, we stepped into an arcade and played a few games. I tried the drums below and, I have to say, was pretty good at it!

Here is what I always pictured Tokyo to look like--I didn't see this at night, but I can only imagine what it would be like! There was always something moving, flashing, flying, beeping and buzzing--a little too much stimulation for this small town girl at times!

We finished off the night with some good, old fashioned Japanese karaoke! This was really fun for us--10 of us in a small room with two microphones and a phone book sized selection of old and new songs for our singing pleasure! I sang a duet with each of the three people in the picture: Fergie's "Glamorous" with the guy in purple (his request), Rihanna's "Umbrella" with the guy in stripes (his request), and Michael Jackson's "Beat it" with the girl sitting next to me. A great way to finish off a busy day!

First things in Tokyo...

I returned from Tokyo yesterday exhausted, dirty and feeling very content and happy! I had a really awesome time trekking around the city, meeting new people and exploring a new culture! I arrived on Thursday morning and left on Monday morning with three and a half days of Tokyo in between! I stayed at a youth hostel which was near the buildings above (and met a lot of really great people from all over the world). The hostel was located in a really traditional part of town, and I passed through this Buddhist temple on my way to the subway each day.


Japan is really fascinating in a lot of ways. I really liked the clash between the old, traditional icons and the new, modern hipsters who are changing the face of the culture. It is a strange contrast. My first afternoon in Japan was spent settling into my dorm room and exploring the surrounding area on foot. I randomly bumped into a guy who helped me find the right train at a transfer station 30 minutes from the hostel--it was strange to turn around and see him again (and no, I don't think he was following me). Thursday night was spent sitting in the common area at the hostel and talking with other backpackers! This is a little dangerous for me because I hear of all these great places I haven't been yet and start making plans to try to figure out ways to go! We all decided to get up really early and see the giant tunas being auctioned at the Tsukiji Fish Market. We had to leave really early (4:30AM) to see them before they were whisked away by buyers. This was a really fun excursion--there were mountains of octopus, rows of giant tuna and tons of other sea creatures lurking in tanks throughout the building! I read that about $15.5 million dollars of fish are sold here daily!

We followed traditional advice and treated ourselves to a VERY fresh sushimi breakfast! The meat was so delicious--the absolute best sushimi/sushi I have ever eaten, although it was a little weird to be eating it so early, and right after seeing them all piled up at the market!


I am in the left hand corner of this picture, and the rest of the people are from the hostel. Canadians, Brits, New Zealanders and a Dutch girl! It was a fun morning and we were all back in bed by 9AM for a nap! :)

Interesting Day

I saw a video today at work--it was embedded in another person's blog (yes, I spend my working hours surfing the internet...sometimes I have 4+hours of prep time...gets boring). It didn't work to upload, but it was showing guys doing really great tricks with a soccer ball. I think these guys are super talented--I have never seen anything like it! I can't even do that stuff without the ball! Sorry it didn't work to upload! I will try again another time...

I am not sure why, but today I had an interesting day. More interesting than usual.

I have been addicted to this blog for the past two days: http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/. It is written by the author of the book The Four Hour Work Week. If you have some spare time (at work, if you live in Korea), check it out. He has posts on how to manage your time, take mini-retirements and how to lose up to 30 pounds in a few weeks without going overboard. I am attracted to the travel posts, such as the one about living like a rock star in Buenos Aires! :)

On the way home from work, I noticed the street fruit stand trying to sell their watermelons for $25! I can't believe that anyone would pay that much for a watermelon! They aren't even the XL oblong ones sold in the States! Martin and I bought a watermelon off a street stand this summer in Romania for a couple of dollars--and that was a top-of-the-line model! $25? No way! The price of fruit here is unbelievable. I just bought three apples for $3.50 (which isn't actually horrible if you didn't grow up eating as many as you can eat off the tree) and passed on the $19 strawberries.

Today I received no less than 3 aloe drinks (pronounced "aloe-ay" here), one box of apple juice, a white dress shirt from a student's mom (it is Teacher's day soon), and a box of homemade donuts from a co-worker's friend! It is not uncommon for me to go home at the end of the day with health drinks or rice cakes, but today was quite the mother load!

I am leaving for Japan on Thursday morning--I am excited to get there! Has anyone been to Tokyo? What was your favorite thing to do?

Bowling in Korea

Last night, I went bowling with a couple of friends near Yongsei University. We met a new group of people: the international students from this university. It was so fun to hang out with these new people--most are around my age and are here as students. There was a guy from Egypt, one from Hong Kong, a girl from Belgium, one from Japan, and one South Korean. It was so fun for all of our cultures to come together and just hang out for the night. They were really refreshing to be around because they were all career/education minded and a little older and more experienced than many of the English teachers in Seoul.


If any of you have ever bowled with me, you know that bowling is not my best game! It is pretty hit or miss for me--sometimes I bowl an awesome game, and other times I struggle to even reach a score of 60! Well, tonight was a pretty good night for me! My score was 128 for the first game! I got a couple of strikes and a couple of spares!


When we left the bowling alley and headed to a restaurant to finish off the evening, I saw this sign and decided that some of you would get a kick out of the spelling error! It never gets old for me! I laugh every time I see English mistakes! On the menu at the restaurant, you could order "grirred godfish." No lie. We contrived that the item must be a griLLed option, but were not sure what kind of fish was being served. Goldfish, maybe? Ewww! Cigalettes anyone?

Birthday Brunch

Yesterday I met up with a former co-worker for our joint birthday celebration. We ordered our meal and shared this special pecan pie for dessert.

This co-worker is planning to come to the States for a study abroad program this fall, and she will be located in San Diego! It will be fun for me to be able to show her around in my country and introduce her to my culture. She has never been out of Korea, so it will be an eye-opening experience for her, I am sure.


I have added a new page element to my blog: a countdown! I want to clarify that I am not adding it because I can't stand it here so much and can't wait to leave--that's not true. Things have leveled out for me lately and I don't mind being here (although, I am excited to get back, too). It's just that I saw a couple of other friends have these on their blogs or facebook pages, so I decided to put one on mine too! I think it is pretty cute and didn't realize that I only have 3 1/2 months left! I'm coming up to the one year mark really fast! Is America ready for me? We will find out soon enough! :)