Day 4: the demonstration

well, sorry kids, i didn't get any of those line dance pictures for you. it was way too risky. this morning was even more hilarious though, because i got there for the ending and they all lined up and started hitting eachother on the back and on the butt. then they all had a good ol' laugh. i really felt like i was looking onto a prison yard scene or something. those silly koreans...

anyways, we started our day off with some lunch at a little whole in the wall place. we found a coupon on the street, so we thought we'd try them out. (we constantly see the businesses place coupons on the ground instead of handing them to people.) they handed us aprons because it was like spaghetti but with a spicy red pepper sauce. so, there we were, with our little aprons on, sitting on the floor, eating noodles with chopsticks. what a sight.

we finished and hopped on the subway. in the back of every car, there are 6 seats. i found out from jean that its an unwritten rule that you leave those seats for the elderly. but when the elderly get in fist fights, you can step in and take one of their seats. Luckily, thats what happened today. there were 2 grandpas sitting next to each other, and one of them said something in low form to the other. thats another big no no. so, they started yelling at each other and then shoving each other around. Jean and i bravely intervened, but Jean got punched. it was pretty funny and we all had a good laugh.

we got out at MyoungDo, which is a big mall. if i was a girl, i'd probably think it was heaven. there were shoes and sunglasses everywhere. its almost seemed that this was the only thing that korea was manufacturing. it got boring real fast so we caught a taxi and went to a museum. the place was a ghost town. i guess everybody else already knows korean history, so we had the whole museum to ourselves. there was this ceramic pottery puzzle for children that was impossible. it took Jean and I about an hour to put it together. if i had every wanted to become an archaeologist, i buried those hopes in that moment. it just proves how genius these asians really are... minus Jean.

after that we hit up a demonstration against american cattle regulations. i don't really know what it was all about, but there were about 300 police officers standing to pounce at the scene of a riot. people were throwing water balloons at big signs of ranchers and stuff. it was crazy fun. we actually went to go see the fountains and stream that ran through the plaza, but when we showed up, we couldn't turn back because the police had blocked the way. so, Jean and i made the most of it... meaning that we walked through it and found another way out. but atleast now you can say that you have a liberal friend that participates in demonstrations against the united states.

Day 3: the conquering

I can't wait for tomorrow to go back and take a picture of what i experience this morning. on my morning jog through the city, i discovered a mecca of elderly fitness addicts that were doing some kooky version of line dancing for aerobics. I'm starting to guess if that is where everyone is in the morning, since they aren't working. It is a little park full of pull up bars, circle things, jumpy things, push down things, weight benches, and a courtyard for hitting birdies for badminton. (you actually can't play badminton, you can only hit birdies to each other... simply amazing!) Sneaking a photo might be like sneaking into Tibet, though. Its definitely doable, but highly tricky.

after the stores opened, i made my way to get some school supplies for Jean. i don't know if its because i'm white, but every store i walked into, i had somebody follow me around like i was going to steal something right off the shelf. at first it made me uncomfortable, thinking that they couldn't trust me and all that jazz, but then i made a game of it. when i was in the shoe section, i asked them if they knew what kind of shoes the president of korea wore, because i wanted to buy the same kind; when i was in the electronics section, i asked where the typewriters were (that took me a while to translate typewriter); and when i was in the bakery section, i asked them if they thought that i'd gain a lot of pounds if i ate cookies everyday. seeing the looks on their faces was priceless!

Jean showed up on time and we studied for a couple of hours. we got hungry, so we made ourselves some ramen noodles... korean style. (thats actually how they are supposed to be since the koreans have mastered the art of the complex ramen noodles) Jean is a pretty good cook. he added just the right amount of water to the mix and it turned out perfect. during lunch i found out that he has a girlfriend that he has been dating for 2 years. she goes to some university, but they both don't want to get married until they are atleast 30. (i guess thats a normal thing here.) so they are betrothed to each other until then.

after lunch we packed our things and went hiking. but first we had to take the subway. i saw my first white person today down there. i'd love to hang out down there more, but its so stuffy and crowded, plus people think you are weird if you hang out in the subway. it took us about 40 minutes to get where we were headed, and then we had to take a 10 minute taxi drive to get to the mountain. its called NamSan. it is actually an old fort that the chinese built in 1280. from the NamSan tower, you can see all of seoul. it was awesome. i bet it would be even more beautiful at night, where everything is lit up. multiple people told us to come back with girls so we could get some action. ha ha. what you do is you grab a lock, and there is only one key. the lock is supposed to represent your unbreakable love for each other, and the key is the only key to your heart. real sappy, but there are thousands of these locks at the top that are locked to wires from the look out. i felt like i was some korean dimension of sleepless in seattle or something.

The mood soon changed when we saw an old fashioned beheading for us! (that, i wouldn't take a girl with me, but it was still sweet!) there were these people that acted like traditional fighters for the army and they cut stuff up, including a fake person. It was like the last samurai, but more real and less blood. what else could someone ask for?





on the walk down from the mountain, i figured that koreans love to be extremely close to whoever they are with - meaning that they are pushing you wherever you go. not only was Jean leaning into me, but everyone was shoulder and shoulder. when we got to the bottom i felt like i had been rubbing against a wall for a couple of miles.

We ate dinner with Kim Young and her husband. it was a 5 course meal that was super weird and super expensive. we had everything from crab (head, claws, body) to moss/algae soup to clam stew to halibut to swordfish. it was disgusting; it was amazing; it was indescribable.

day 2: the jet lag

You know, if everyone wanted to follow D&C 88, flying to korea would be ideal. this whole "early to bed, early to rise" thing isn't too tough when you are super jet-lagged. i woke up yesterday morning around 5, went and ate some rice and kimchee from our little shared kitchen, and started my day. (the thought of eating kimchee probably disgusts many of you, especially for breakfast. but i say, "when in rome...") i worked a little on the english program, not knowing where to start, and then finally went to go get some shampoo, a towel, and a few more things from the store. It was about 8:30 in the morning, but this place was a ghost town. the only people walking around were school kids dressed up in their little uniforms trying to catch the bus. i walked around for an hour, but didn't find one store open. (not even coffee stores!) so, i just went home and waited for Jean to show up. but i realized that i still needed to shower, so i grabbed some soap from the kitchen and used an extra t-shirt for a towel. there's nothing like being a boy-scout and improvising...

Our lesson was supposed to be at 11, but Jean didn't show until 12. i'm starting to think that i should get used to this kid being late. anyways, we studied for a few hours, and then i made him go with me to buy the things i needed. i asked what time the stores usually opened, and he said that they open around 11. we played the 20 questions game so he could practice asking questions. when it was his turn to guess, he would always say, "it is big?" it took us about a half an hour before he started saying, "is it big?" He's a funny kid, but i don't have my work cut out for me.

on the way back i saw 2 people drive down the sidewalks. they don't have curbs here, so its pretty easy to just pull up on the side walk and do whatever you want. so, the city has started to implement little 3 foot pedestals every few feet to discourage this behavior. it doesn't really work. since there is no parking, people just park their cars wherever they feel like. its pretty amusing.

when we got back, Jean came back up to my room and used the internet. he said he usually goes to a internet cafe (which they call PC rooms) and checks his email and plays starcraft. but since i have it for free, why not use mine? we made some plans for the upcoming day, i gave him some homework and then he was gone an hour later. i thought i'd take a quick cat nap because of all the walking and trying to pull the lost/forgotten korean from my brain. i slept for 12 hours, and woke up at 4 in the morning..."early to bed, early to rise..."

The Arrival

Who doesn't love to fly? I don't see how one couldn't when they are surrounded by 4 nuns for a couple of hours, and then given their own little entertainment center to try to keep them from killing themselves on a 12 hour flight. Plus, theres the occasional random screening and watching another man get full on patted down and violated in public. ahhh, the wonderful aspects of flying...

anyways, i left Monday morning and arrived Tuesday night. I schmoozed my way through customs and went and picked my bags. I was told that I was going to have Jean (the 20 year old college guy i'm teaching english to) be there with a limo. well, that was only half true. Jean showed up a half an hour late with a public bus. Furthermore, he doesn't speak a lick of English. Luckily for me, he was able to use his sweet techno cell phone to translate all the words that he wanted to express. He is going into the service in October (its a mandatory thing here in korea) and then he's going to go to school for exercise science. He's a pretty easy kid to talk to... for as much as I can get across to him.



we rode the bus for 2 hours and arrived in Jeunho. We pulled my luggage through the streets for a couple of miles and then finally arrived at where i'm staying. its called "싱글하우스21" which is "singleshouse 21". I'm on the 4th floor with a studio apartment. well, i don't think studio is a good word for it. more like a crawl space. the cool thing is that i have my own little bathroom. you shut the door and its a toilet, sink, and shower all in one. the land lady is pretty cool, but i don't understand a word she says. ha ha. this is going to be a fun 6 weeks!

When i woke up this morning I thought i woke up in a hot sweat, but then realized that there was just condensation on everything in the room. its extremely humid here and you feel like you are drowning. running this morning was like swimming through an extremely dense, invisible, and smelly fog - definitely took a few years off of my life.