California WOW!

I signed up for a gym membership last month at California WOW. I have had a gym membership for years, so it was something I looked for right away when I got here. It is generally the same here as in the States--that is one thing I really like. The only major difference I notice is the fact that the temperature is much much warmer in there than the gyms in the States. A friend told me that the Koreans really like to sweat when they work out and feel that they are getting a better workout the more they sweat. (I would like to see research on that.) Other than that, the gym doesn't feel like a foreign culture to me. It is just a bunch of sweaty people trying to get fit. Oh, today I had a funny conversation with someone at work. It is totally unrelated to my gym membership. I met a new co-worker at lunch and when we were walking back to our office cubicles, she pointed toward one a couple of rows from mine and said, "I live there." Her English is not great, so I assume she meant that she works there, but, haven't we all felt like that at some point or another? :)

AFN TV

I have a love/hate relationship with military TV. It is nice to have a few shows in English, but the commercials are almost unbearable! There is one about not shaking your baby ("It's OK to let your baby cry"), and another about not throwing away old uniforms ("You never know who is digging through the trash"). The commercials are geared toward the military, but I can't think those guys enjoy them any more than I do! The news segments are also really bad. The home videolike segments are all about military dealings and are not interesting. The nice thing is that there aren't any product commercials, only the military ones after the show is over. Anyway, recently my friend told me that AFN might be blocked to the general public, in which case my only English channel would disappear!! NoooooO!

Cue the M*A*S*H theme song now!

I have often had the M*A*S*H theme song rolling through my head since I have been here. It is predictable and unstoppable. As soon see the green, rolling mountains, it starts! I found a cool acoustic version for you to listen to as you read my blog...enjoy! :)

What do you mean exactly?

Whenever you have the chance to work with people who are learning English, funny conversations are sure to happen frequently! I had one of these the other day, and as I relayed the conversation to a friend here, she encouraged me to blog about it. So, here is the conversation I had with a 27-year-old, female English co-teacher:

Korean co-worker: Would you like some chocolate?
Me: Yes, thank you.
Korean co-worker: You know, it is important for women to chew on things like squares of chocolate. It keeps our teeth healthy.
Me: Really? I didn't know that.
Korean co-worker: Yes, that is why chocolate is good for women. Also, it is good to chew on gum and penis.
Me: Gum and what?
Korean co-worker: Gum and penis.
Me: (laughing) Do you mean peanuts?
Korean co-worker: Yes, penis.
Me: (laughing harder) I will write what you said on paper. (I write it down and hand it to her)
Korean co-worker: (immediately realizing her mistake and red in the face) Oh no!

No Keys!

I haven't had to carry around keys since before I left Minneapolis in June. I was kind of looking forward to having a set of keys and a cell phone again, but I don't have either in Korea! My apartment is opened with codes (and I secretly fear that I will completely forget my codes someday!). Also, as you may know, it is required to remove one's shoes when entering homes and some restaurants. I have acquired quite a pile and don't always put them away as often as I should! I brought a lot of shoes and even had my mom send a couple more pairs because my feet are unusually large here in Korea. It is embarrassing to tell the shopkeeper my shoe size! Their eyes bug out and they make a gesture with their hands that reminds me of how people describe the size of fish they caught! There is always about two feet of space between their hands! :) (I wear an American size 9 shoe)

Seafood Rissoto and Kimchi?

Dinner tonight was awesome! My friend and I went to a great Indian restaurant and ate way too much! We both had the seafood rissoto with a glass of their house red wine. It is great to have so many options of food available! In one building, there were two Italian restaurants, a Kebab stand, a German buffet, an Indian place...oh, and an oral surgery office! Seoul has almost every kind of food you could imagine. It is loaded with good things from all around the world--I thought Minneapolis had a lot of options, but I am constantly amazed at which restaurants are available here! Anyway, you can see in the picture that there is a liquid form of kimchi (it's more like a soup, really)...almost EVERY place I have been to here serves kimchi with the meal.

Overcrowded in Gangnam Station!

Lately, Gangnam Station has been under construction. This is inconvenient, but is OK during the normal workweek. It really gets to be a problem, though, during rush hour--especially Friday nights!! The construction workers have basically cut the stairwells in half to work on one side, and have built a dividing wall to do this. They are working back there...I hear their saws and hammers, but even after all these weeks, we still have to squeeze together to squish through the door! The picture above shows people in a long line waiting to exit the station...the line is about 6 people thick, and stretches almost to the subway stairs! I taught the word "crowded" to my students last week and should have showed them a picture like these...they would have instantly understood this word! :)

Health Drinks

I have been sick the past few days. Just a little cold, but it was enough to make me lose my voice. There are some other teachers with this same cold. We have magically had small bottles appear on our desks! These are health drinks...they are extremely sweet and incredibly potent. Anyway, I had to take a picture because I think it is so funny! I had teachers take my classes for me because they didn't think I was well enough to teach!

Walking Day and Art Day

Every year the students at my school have a day where they can display their art and classes are shortened so students and staff can look at it. Let me tell you--their art beats the American middle schoolers' art by 10 times!! Some of the sixth graders were drawing and painting stuff that looked professional! Wow!! I was so impressed as I looked over the drawings, ceramics, and even flower arrangements! I was asked to make something to share my culture, so I did a very basic poster board with lots of pictures of things to represent America. It was displayed between some really amazing comic book art, and some clay models of the brain. I was embarrassed at my measly attempt at "art"! :) The day after "Art Day" is "Walking Day" where all staff and students go to Grand Park and walk 6KM. It is actually a competition and there were awards given, but students were required to walk. If they ran, they got red X's on their wrists. This seemed ironic to me because they barrel down the hallways at school and never get red X's, but when we were at the biggest park in Seoul with lots of space, they were made to walk. Well, they weren't my rules! The guy in the picture wearing the bright yellow jacket is an art teacher. I taught my students the word "highlighter" a couple of weeks ago, and several of them came to tell me that his jacket looked like a highlighter! I am glad to know that they have learned something from me!

Food Festival?

Last weekend my friend and I went to a food festival that was about 5 hours south of Seoul, near the ocean. The interesting thing about this food festival is that there wasn't really much food there--at least, none of the delicious foods that were described to us in the brochure...just the same foods as in Seoul. We did see some interesting octopus on a stick being grilled, which reminded me of the MN state fair. I think I will try to market a new "on-a-stick" item--it might work! Most of the festivities were finished by the time our bus got there and we were at the tail end of the celebration. We tried to make the most of our time by walking around, meeting new people (like the mayor's wife of the town we were in) and looking at some of the ceramics, foods and toys for sale. It was a cold day. Cold and windy. It was nice to be out of the city and to be able to breathe clean air--I take that for granted sometimes, but here in Seoul the air is not clean. My friend and I found things to do until around 9 PM when we turned in for the evening. We had been told that we would be staying at a hotel, but we soon figured out that we had a room booked for us and three other people at a traditional-style room (pictured above--the cute, little cottage). That means a small, empty room with a stack of blankets in the corner (also pictured above, only these blankets were stacked on the kimchi fridge). There were five of us placed in this room (I only knew the friend I came with), with four blankets and two pillows. It was an interesting night to say the least! I think it is always a little ackward to sleep in the same room with strangers and is especially ackward to sleep on the floor with people snoring and rolling all around. Anyway, I survived the weekend, but have to say that if there is an opportunity to attend another "food" festival, I may just pass! :) I am really looking forward to a quiet weekend at home in a couple of days! I have Monday off to "enjoy the fall colors," but may just see what fall colors are out in the stores and shops in the city! ;)