Sunday at the temples

George, one of my favorite students (okay, okay, I know I’m not supposed to have favorites, but I do), gave me a Buddhist prayer bracelet last week. It’s beautiful. Amber colored beads on a stretchy string. He told me that Buddhists use it when they pray. Each time they bow and say a prayer to Buddha, they rub one of the beads. When the entire bracelet has been rubbed, the prayers are finished. I was overcome by his thoughtfullness. He told me his father is a professor of comparative religion at the university here and invited me to go to temple with them one weekend. I said I would love to, not expecting to go anytime soon.

On Friday during class he asked me for my phone number. I was somewhat taken aback. “You know, teacher, to go to the temple. We will go this weekend to visit my uncle, who is a monk. Would you like to come?” Well, yes, I do, but is it really appropriate to give a 13 year old my phone number? What the hell. I write down my name and phone number in purple glitter ink on Hello Kitty stationery (yes, I really am in Asia), fold it, and give it to him in the hallway during the change of classes. I feel like I’m in 6th grade again. And I still tower over all the boys.

Another student grabs the paper from his hand and taunts him, “Ooo-oooo – George has got a date . . . George has got a date . . .” Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. George gets the paper back and tells me very respectfully that he will call me this weekend.

And he does. I love a guy that keeps his word. At 9 am on Sunday morning. I’m still asleep but try to shake off my morning voice. He asks if I was sleeping. “Oh,no, I’ve been up for hours.” He then says, “I tried to call you from 9 pm until midnight last night, but the phone rang and rang and rang. Where were you, teacher?” Fair enough question, but I don’t feel comfortable sharing that much with one of my students. “I was at a movie, but I’m so glad you’ve called this morning. How are you?” “I’m very well, teacher. Would you like to go to temple with us this morning? We will meet at Kate School at 10 am.” Okay. So after a quick shower and a bowl of cereal, I’m off. Except I forgot to ask what to wear. I have a feeling we’ll be on the floor at some point during the day, so I want to wear pants, but is it appropriate to wear pants to a temple? I settle on a long, black skirt instead.

I arrive at Kate School at 9:55. George is there with his mother, father, and little brother. We get into the car, the father, Yung Hay, driving, the mother, Chang Hyang, in the front seat; the brother, Pil Sang, then George, then me in the back seat. Pil Sang, the younger brother, is adorable. Absolutely precious. The fattest cheeks I’ve ever seen on a 12 year old. Except I can’t believe he’s 12. I know that Korean age is usually 2, sometimes 3, years ahead of American age, but he doesn’t even look 9. When Korean children are born, they are automatically 1. Then, if the Lunar New Year passes before their birthday, they turn 2. Then, when their “first” birthday arrives, they turn 3. It can be confusing. Pil Sang looks 5. The cutest child I’ve ever seen. And pretends to be shy. But I soon learn he’s not.

We drive an hour and a half to Yung Myung Sa temple, where George’s uncle is a monk. It is a small temple on a mountain. During the ride there, I talk with George and his father (who speaks English very well). It seems that the mother understands everything we are saying, but doesn’t speak. And Pil Sang is constantly poking George in the cheek, pulling his hair, just being annoying, but in such a cute way. And George never gets annoyed. He is so gentle with him. He rubs his hair, pokes back at him; they don’t fight the entire day we are together. At one point George turns to me and asks if I have a boyfriend. I tell him, “Still no,” and smile. He asks me this everyday in class. He then says, “But teacher, why aren’t you married?” I smile and tell him I used to be, but not anymore. “Used to be? What is this?” Oooo – bad choice of verbs. “I was married, but not anymore.” At which point his father sternly says something in Korean, George blushes and says, “Teacher, I am very sorry. That was an impolite question.”

We arrive to the temple. Fresh air. Beautiful mountains. Even though it is winter, the sun dances on the trees void of life. Yung Hay points out the buildings. The orphanage. The mess hall. The lecture hall. The offices. The house of prayer. And behind the house of prayer – ah! I gasp. An outdoor ampitheatre of Buddhas. Thousands and thousands of Buddhas. All different sizes. Arranged in a semicircle in amazing symmetry. Rows upon rows of Buddhas. Yung Hay explains there are 3000 Buddhas. This temple is dedicated to look after those people in hell. He then goes on to defend idol worship, saying it is not worship of the idol, but of the spirit of the idol. And he realized Christians do not believe in this, but . . . I explained that I found the different religions fascinating, and enjoyed learning about the customs of each, and did not think my way of worship was the best, or even the correct way. He smiled. I think he thought he might have to defend Buddhism all day.

Our attention turned back to the Buddhas, where George and Pil Sang were giggling. Pil Sang said something and the father laughed. He turned to me, “Pil Sang said that normally there are 3000 Buddhas here at Yung Myung Sa, but when he sits down among the statues there are 3001.” And it was true, he did look like a colorful laughing Buddha among the rows and rows of white statues.

The uncle had not realized the family was coming today, so he was at another temple giving a lecture. So we went to the mess hall and had lunch – rice, bowls of vegetables, soup, and, of course, kimchi. Everything was delicious. Chang Hyang was surprised I could use chopsticks. I made it through the meal without embarrassing myself. Milestone! Halfway through the meal Pil Sang snuck away, then came back. With a mischievous smile, he pulled something from behind his back. A tiny cocktail fork. He laughed and set it on my plate. It made me even more determined to use the chopsticks.

After lunch we went to the uncle’s office. We sat on the floor and Chang Hyang poured tea and prepared fruit and cookies. Wonderful, steamy, earthy green tea. And the coldest, freshest apples, tangerines, Asian pears (is it redundant to call them that here?), and persimmons. As we were drinking tea, George’s father started a story. “Many days ago, my son came home and told me he had the most beautiful English teacher. And that she wanted to visit the Buddhist temples. I have met many English teachers before, both here in Korea and in England, and have not found any of them to be attractive.” And I’m thinking, where is he going with this? “So I told my son that he could invite the beautiful English teacher to attend temple with us. And when I met you this morning, I thought, “My son was telling the truth. There really is a beautiful English teacher. I did not think this was possible.” I blushed and thanked him (in Korean). He continued, “I do not believe you were a teacher in the US. I think you are really Miss America.” I couldn’t hold back my smile. We all laughed and enjoyed some more tea. Chang Hyang commented, “And you know how to sit.” ???? Yung Hay explained, “Most westerners cannot sit on the floor. They are not comfortable with Korean ways. You have been sitting for a while, and still appear comfortable.”

Pil Sang had been working on his uncle’s computer. Yung Hay directed my attention there. “Do you see what he is writing?” Yes, I saw, but it was all in Korean, so it didn’t mean much to me. “He is writing in his diary about the trip with Teacher Lori.” And I looked again, and recognized my name in the title. Rori Teacher. When he heard his father say that, he switched the title so that they were in English letters. Then gave me a cheeky smile.

After a while, Yung Hay announced we would visit another temple. I never got to meet the Uncle Monk. George commented the uncle would be so disappointed he did not get to meet me; that he had lived in England for many years and spoke English very well. I was sad I didn’t get to meet the monk either.

We drove for awhile to the next temple, Chick Chee Sa. Maybe 45 minutes. Up another mountain. Along the highway, George would point out signs in Korean and say, “Can you read that?” I would sound out the syllables and he would laugh with delight. At on point we entered a toll plaza. He said, “Teacher, what does that say?” The words were in English and Korean, but I ignored the English and sounded out the Korean characters. “Sss… . . Saaa . . . San San!” “Yes, Teacher!” Then Pil Sang said something in Korean. I knew by his tone he had said something to the effect of, “Duh – it’s written in English. She just read that.” I turned to him and smiled and said, “No, Pil Sang, I didn’t read the English, I read the Korean.” His eyes got so wide. Everyone else in the car began laughing and exclaiming, “She understands Korean. It’s amazing.” Pil Sang smiled sheepishly and said, “Sorry, teacher.”

Chick Chee Sa was much larger than the previous temple. While walking through the grounds, Yung Hay explained the significance of the idols, the paintings, the architecture, the different houses. What a priceless experience. And what beauty. He explained he loved to come to the temple grounds and walk around, that he enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere. Me, too. Even though there were many, many people there, the atmosphere was one of the utmost peace. Children were running around, playing with Buddhas, playing in the streams that ran through the temple grounds, couples were walking arm in arm, mothers were carrying those too small or too tired to walk. Even with George and Pil Sang throwing snowballs (aka ice balls) at each other, there was a feeling of complete safety. Of calm. This is how life should be.

Chang Hyang and I strolled through the gardens arm in arm. She would point to the seemingly lifeless trees, asking if I knew what this one was, what that one was. I would draw a picture of the leaf of the tree in the sand, ask if this was the leaf of that tree, then say the name in English. She would then say the Korean name. Some of the trees were difficult to recognize; without seeing the leaves, fruit, or flower, I wasn’t sure of some names. At one point she pointed to a tree. I recognized it as a persimmon tree. We had been eating persimmon earlier; I immediately said, “Kham.” Her eyes grew wide, she exclaimed something to her husband. He translated with a large smile, “You are very smart. How did you remember the Korean word?”

After strolling up the mountain, Yung Hay announced we would go back to the city. That there might be a traffic jam, so we should get going. There wasn’t a traffic jam, but it did take a couple of hours to return to Daegu. On the return trip, George suggested we play “Scrabble.” ????? The first person would say a word, the next person would have to say a word that started with the last letter of the previous word, and so on. Rose, Early, Yellow, Wolf, Flower, Radio, Ostrich. “Ostrich? What is this?” I would act out, explain, make noises, or draw on the steamy windows to explain the unknown words. Can you imagine how many words end in “e”? And how few begin with “e”? We played for almost an hour. Explaining pronunciations, explaining definitions of words not familiar. Eggnog. Enoki. Entertainer. Eradicate.

Once back in Daegu, Yung Hay announced we will go eat traditional noodles. Oh, no. Not noodles. I have very recent memories of slapping myself in the forehead with wet noodles. And I’ve done so well today. Haven’t had any major cultural faux pas. We sit down, the waitress brings soup to the table and starts to cook it. And the endless supply of little bowls. And uncooked noodles and mandu. When the soup begins to boil, the waitress arrives and carefully puts the noodles and mandu in, along with kimchi and fresh vegetables. It simmers in front of us. And looks so good. Pil Sang waved his hand over the boiling pot, wafting the aroma closer to him. Chang Hyang whispers something in his ear. He giggles. He looks straight at me and says, “Teacher Lori, promise me you won’t leave Kate School until I am able to attend.” How can I refuse a request like that? “Of course, Pil Sang. I will wait.”

The noodles finish cooking. Chang Hyang serves everyone a bowl of noodles with vegetables, seafood, and broth. I hold my chopsticks, prepared for battle. Yung Hay tsks at me. No, no, no, that’s not the way to hold chopsticks. Oh, boy, here we go again. He shows me how to hold the chopsticks. I position the chopsticks in my right hand using my left to get them just so. I’m gripping them, prepared to face the noodles. He laughs. Relax. And a saying something to the effect of you can get more noodles with a relaxed hand than a tight one. I think something got lost in the translation. But I do relax and, to my amazement, it is easier to eat. I pick up a noodle as long as the Bay Bridge and hold it, wondering how I’m going to get it in my mouth. Yung Hay instructs me to hold my chopsticks in my right hand, my spoon in my left, and gently coil the noodle onto the spoon, then put the spoon in my mouth. I am so happy. I’m not going to make a fool out of myself. And it still takes me a long time to eat, but the food is going in my mouth, and not on my clothes, my face, the floor . . . After I finish my bowl, Chang Hyang takes it to fill it up. I tell her no, I’m full (I was). Yung Hay comments that westerners say they like Korean food, but then don’t eat much. I looked at him incredulously. I assured him I loved the food, it was delicious, but I really was full. George tugs on my arm and says, “Teacher, it is normal to eat 3 bowls of noodles for one serving. You have only eaten one.” Three bowls?!?!? First of all, if I were to eat 3 bowls, we’d be there til midnight. Secondly, I was full. I apologize, but I really can’t eat any more. Yung Hay accepts this and everyone else has another bowl. After dinner, they drive me home. “Bye, teacher, bye, teacher!” I climb the stairs to my apartment, exhausted, but a wonderful exhausted.

The trip to Osaka (or the Visa trip from hell)

To make our trip to Japan more relaxing, we decided to break the trip up – travel to Seoul on Sunday, spend the day there, then fly to Osaka Monday morning, nice and relaxed. Isn’t there some quote about even the best laid plans . . . .???? The flight to Seoul was relatively uneventful. We boarded the plane for the 35 minute flight, had the longest taxi period I’ve ever experienced (the teacher sitting next to me on the plane at one point asked if we were driving to Seoul), went up, came down, and we were in the capital city. One of the reasons we decided to spend a day in Seoul was that the head teacher, Ted, had lived there for a year and a half and told us he would show us where to go, the fun places to hang out, etc. From the airport we caught a bus to COEX, a large department store/mall area/hotel owned by Samsung. Picture this: Ted and Glenn disappear, saying they’re going to look for a hotel room, Mr. Pyong meets some business associates from Seoul, Chanta, Rob, and I are waiting for Ted and Glenn to return, so Mr. Pyong and friends take pity on us and take us to Popeye’s for dinner. Hot chocolate and fried chicken. Ted and Glenn return much later, hotel rooms secured. So then Ted goes to meet friends in Seoul (read: ditches us), Glenn takes us the most roundabout way back to the hotel – through underground tunnels, turning down alleys, crossing major roads. Chanta and I are trying to mark every landmark so that we can find our way out later that night. We get to the hotel, Chanta and I decide to share a room, we drop our overnight bags off, then decide to head out and explore. Rob wants to come with us. We head back over to COEX. As we’re leaving our hotel, I say, “Isn’t that COEX right there? Next to the really tall building?” We were 3 blocks away. Straight shot. Once there, Rob suggests going to another part of town that is supposed to be really hip and happening. It’s three subway transfers away, but he does a good job convincing us – we’re in a new city, let’s explore. What he fails to mention is that it’s the red light district. We have dinner at a yummy Thai restaurant then hit the streets. It’s Sunday night, so there isn’t a lot going on. We stop at the first bar, the Rock N Roll cafe. Second floor of the building, dark corners, bright neon signs in the window, smoky. As we enter, the female bartender says in perfect Engligh (no accent whatsoever, which is unusual), “Come in, perhaps you would like the table by the balcony?” and points to the booth in the corner, overlooking the window. Great – we head on over. As we sit down, we take in the scene around us. A couple is playing pool, a man and a woman. Man in business suit, getting his ass kicked by the woman. He appears surprised to see us and occasionally turns to Chanta and I and makes flirtatious comments in English. His partner is pulling off shots that seem physically impossible. And doing it while wearing a tight dalmatian fur tank top, tight black mini skirt with rhinestones, and stillettos that won’t stop. Many women sitting at the bar, dressed to the nines. Another American in a booth with a Korean woman, with their backs towards us. At one point it appears her head is in his lap. And there are whifs of a familiar odor that arise suddenly. Baby powder? After a drink or two Chanta turns to me and says, “We’re in a hooker bar.” Suddenly everything makes sense. Men (mostly American) were coming in, buying a woman at the bar a drink, then leaving together. The pool shark was an employee of the bar. We were the only female clients in the bar. No wonder we were getting funny looks. We turn to Rob, “We’re outta here – you can stay if you want or come with us.” He came with us.

So on to our next stop of the evening. We had heard about a reggae dance club, thought it would be fun to check out. No such luck. Couldn’t find it. So we are walking the streets, looking for fun on a Sunday evening in Seoul. This could be the start of a song. We see bright red neon signs for the “Twilight Zone.” Seems appropriate. We enter. Again, mostly females, but this time they are all blond. And not Korean. The waitress (straight out of the 80’s – Tammy Faye makeup and some serious height on the dyed hair) brings us a menu. It’s all in Russian. Yes, Russian. I decide to try the lemon soju. Even more dangerous than regular soju because it is so sweet it tastes like liquid candy. After listening to several renditions of Russian pop music, we decide it’s probably time to head back to our hotel.

Upon entering the hotel room (shoes off) Chanta and I start dancing. Literally. The floor is so hot we can barely stand it. We jump to the bed, but can’t find any room temperature controls. We get ready for bed; I’m ready first. I crawl back into bed and lay down. Ouch. The pillow resembles a puching bag. Really. That’s how hard it is. To test it out, I punch it. Thud! Chanta is in the bathroom, hears the thud, and asks what the noise was. I tell her our pillows. She comes into the bedroom, looking perplexed. She touches the pillow and exclaims, “Oh, my god. You’re telling the truth. What is in this, anyway?” Don’t know, but our heads did not move all night.

5 am – Monday morning, we get our wake up call. Which we had requested for 6 am. We decide to sleep a bit more, but know we have a flight, so we’re drifting in and out of sleep. Chanta gets up, turns the shower (hand held) on in the bathroom, comes back to bed. I ask her what she’s doing. “Just wait, you’ll see.” Smart girl. We had a true shower that morning. She let the water run until it got hot, so the bathroom got nice and steamy. So even once we turned the water off, we were still warm. What a great way to start the morning. Ahhh, it’s the simple pleasures . . .

Back to COEX – where there was an airline check-in area. Chanta and I check in, go upstairs to clear immigration. Ted and Glenn are already there. They’ve booked seats on the 8 am bus to the airport (we’re about an hour away – our flight is at 10). We go to book seats on the same bus, it’s full. All buses are full until 8:25. No worries – we’re checked in, we’ll just take that bus. Rob arrives; they won’t let him check in at COEX. Evidentally the check-in closes 2 1/2 hours before the flight; Chanta and I were the last ones to check in on our flight. Ted and Glenn leave on the bus to the airport. Rob is panicked. He doesn’t think he’ll make it to the airport in time to check in if he takes the 8:25 bus. So we get a refund for our bus tickets and get a taxi to the airport. Weaving through Seoul morning traffic, a gray, dismal day. Small snow flurries, lots of slush on the ground. And winds. Gusty, blustery winds. Each time we pass over a bridge, the winds seem to pick up.

We make it to the airport, Incheon. Chanta and I leave Rob at the check-in counter. We see a sign that says “Special – City Terminal passengers only”. It’s like magic. We pass through, avoid all the lines, clear immigration in no time. We arrive at our gate, but don’t see Ted or Glenn there. And Ted has all of our paperwork for our visas. He thought it would be better if he kept it all together. They start boarding. Still no boys. Chanta and I look at each other. Do we board the plane? Even though it’s pointless for us to go to Japan without our paperwork? As the gate crew is making the final boarding call, Ted and Glen stroll up. They had been buying cigarettes and liquor at the duty free. But still no Rob. We get on the plane, settle in. Right before take-off, Rob comes barrelling down the aisle. Whew. We’re all on the plane.

This is what I remember of Japan. Long lines at immigration. Catching a bus to travel over an hour to the Korean consulate. Photo booths to take passport photos. Dropping off our passports. Drizzly rain. Cold, but not as cold as Korea. Eating at the first place we saw – which happened to be an American restaurant with a picture menu. Macaroni and cheese with shrimp in it. Rushing back to the consulate. Getting our passports, running to the bus terminal to catch the bus back to the airport. Trying to use up all of our yen coins in the airport. Buying strawberry frosted Koala animal crackers. Comparing the different koalas with Chanta was the most fun, the least stress, of the day. The flight back to Seoul. Served spam and cheese sandwiches for dinner on the plane. Why do other countries love spam?

The Seoul airport. The third time I’ve been there in 36 hours. (Daegu to Seoul, Seoul to Osaka, Osaka to Seoul) It’s 9 pm and I’m exhausted. I’m so glad we’re being picked up by one of the Mr. Kims and being driven home. It should only take 3 hours to get home. 9:15 pm. Still no Mr. Kim. No problem, I buy a paper and start doing the crossword puzzle. 9:40. I finish the crossword, start the Jumble. Ted makes a couple of phone calls. “Mr. Kim left Daegu at 3 pm; he should be there any minute now.” At 10 pm we find each other. Evidently there has been snow and ice and the roads are bad. So we’re looking at a 7 hour trip back????? “Oh, no, I think the roads are much better now.” I think he was just saying that to get us into the van.

The trip home. The driver, well, let’s say, he was somewhat directionally challenged. Not a good trait for a driver. We had been driving for an hour, going through tolls, doing u-turns (not usually a good sign), driving, driving, driving. I look out the window and see the sign “Welcome to Incheon Airport.” We haven’t made any ground at all! We’re right back where we started from. Chanta and I noticed that everytime we went through a toll stop, the driver would ask the toll taker for directions. At this point, we are punchy. We’ve had no sleep, we just want to be home. So we do what any normal former girl scout would do. We start singing camp songs. Or, in this case, road songs. Gone awry. First we butchered sitcom theme songs: “Here’s a story, of the Kate School teachers, who were trying very hard to make it home. There were 5 of them, all together, they were on their own. Till the one day when they flew to Incheon airport, and they knew it was much more than a hunch, . . .” “Now listen very carefully, to these plans gone awry, Kate school teachers set out one day for a three hour tour . . . a three hour tour. . .” We were singing almost in whispers because the guys were trying to sleep. But after each song we would burst into a fit of giggles. After we exhausted our knowledge of sitcom theme songs (me, from first hand knowledge, Chanta, from Nick at Nite), we moved on to movie scores. “Somewhere, . . . in the country of Korea, we have a home. A very loving home, a very special home, which we’ll never see again.” After depleting our repertoire of movie scores, we moved on to popular songs, “The long and winding road . . . . leads back to the airport. The Incheon airport.” “I try to leave the airport and I cry, I try to leave Seoul and I crumble, can’t you stop for a map? Oh, please do this for me. . . ” Did I also mention, that in addition to being directionally challenged, the driver was tired (he had been driving for almost 10 hours at this point) and his head would occasionally bob, bob, bob, then jerk awake. And the roads were indeed icy. And there were gusty winds. And big semis that would rush past us and almost blow us off the road. In short, we all thought we were going to die.

We arrived to the city limits of Daegu right before 4 am. At which point the driver stopped. He said his leg was tired and he wasn’t driving anymore. What???? We were still almost an hour away from our houses. So Mr. Kim flagged taxis (I can’t imagine why there were any out at that time of the morning) and we continued the journey. I finally got home, got into bed, and was falling asleep close to 4:30/5 am. Knowing I had to be bright and cheery for my students at 9. Ohhhhhhhhh . . . .

Dining 101

I think my memories of my year here will be punctuated by embarrassing eating experiences. It seems like almost everyday there’s a new one to add to my repertoire. In between our afternoon and evening teaching sessions, Chanta and I decided to try a local restaurant, Insang Tuna. From the outside it appeared to be a sushi bar; we were in the mood for some good sashimi and miso soup. Little did we know . . .

We entered the restaurant and were the only patrons. We asked if they were open, “Yes, Yes, sit down.” We took two seats at the bar. The manager (?) and chef greeted us as well. They brought the menu. Oh, no. Most menus here are picture menus. Literally. They have photographs of what is offered and the prices. So it’s very easy to look, make a decision, and point. Insang Tuna had a traditional menu. Words and prices. All in Korean. So Chanta and I started sounding out the letters, trying to see if we would recognize any of the words. We must have looked like a couple of kindergarteners. “Ssss – oooo – no, that’s the letter for aaaa – oh, look there’s the symbol for ng. Okay, so if we put it together, saaang – gu. No, no, oh, this says sushi. Duh.” On to the next line. We finally just picked the first two items on the menu, thinking we had ordered sushi and sashimi. All tuna. As the name suggested. We forgot that everytime we’ve been to a restaurant here we not only get what we’ve ordered, but tons of extras. So first they brought a green salad with a yummy sesame dressing. Then a salad with shredded root of some type and raw tuna and a spicy sweet sauce. Then bowls of miso. Then a sizzling bowl of rice that the waitress mixed lots of other things into. Then a seaweed soup. Then tempura. And sizzling mushrooms on a hot plate. Chanta and I just looked at each other – how were we going to eat all this? And then the sashimi and sushi. And small pieces of seaweed to make individual rolls, as well as bowls of additional ingredients – ginger, onions, and other things we didn’t recognize. Everytime they would bring something to us, they would smile, nod, and bow. We would do the same back. When they brought the actual sushi and sashimi, the manager stood there until we tried it, I guess to make sure we liked it. Chanta picked up a piece of sashimi (rice with tuna over the top) with her chopsticks and dipped it in her soy sauce. The manager about had a fit. “Ani-o, ani-o . . .” then a lot of words in Korean. We stared at each other. Then it dawned on me. A friend had told me that it was considered rude to dip your rice in the soy sauce, that you’re supposed to turn the sashimi over and only let the fish touch the soy sauce. I explained this to Chanta. She just looked at me like, “You have got to be kidding.” No, I’m not. Try it. She tried it, but then the fish fell off the rice, landed completely in the soy sauce, splattering it everywhere. The manager had another fit. And told Chanta just to use her fingers. Okay. So then he turned to me. And showed me how to put a piece of the raw fish on the small seaweed pieces, add an onion or ginger, wrap it, then dip it in another sauce. Okay, simple enough. My turn. I picked up the seaweed with my left hand, picked up a piece of tuna with my chopsticks, was bringing it to the seaweed, and – splash! It slipped from my chopsticks and landed in the seaweed soup. At this point I think the manager was glad no one else was in the restaurant. The positive aspect of all of this? Chanta and I learned a new phrase, “Mi an hamnida.” I’m sorry. And the waitress gave us her phone number, because she said she wants foreign friends. And, the next day when we passed the restaurant, the manager was outside and he said hello and smiled. So I guess he wasn’t that upset with us.

Getting Sick in a Foreign Country

As if I don’t have enough problems just figuring out how to eat here, I recently had the added experience of trying to figure out how to get medicine. After New Year’s I came down with a nasty, nasty cold and cough. The cough continued to get worse, so on Wednesday evening I went to the pharmacist. Smiles, hello, how are you? Then the charades begin. 1st word. Me. 2nd word. Sick. So I start coughing. Pantomiming runny nose, sneezing, more coughing. Oh, yes, yes, he nods. He disappears and returns with a sheet of capsules (they look normal enough) and a row of foil packets. Okay – haven’t seen anything like that before, but, I’ll work with you on this one. He tears off two of the capsules and one of the foil packets. And pantomimes to take them together. Got it. Two capsules, one foil packet, take until all medicine is used, I’ll be better. I pay him, thank him, and leave. I get home, pour some orange juice, take the capsules and open the foil packet. Oh, my goodness. There are about 20 tiny pellets – like little bbs – in the packet. And they kind of smell funky. Am I supposed to swallow these? All at one time? A few at a time? Or make a tea? Hmmmmm . . . So I decide to swallow them all at once. Then drink a lot of hot water. Just in case they were supposed to be a tea. Then I realize I don’t know how often to take the medicine. He only gave me 5 doses, so one a day for five days? Morning and evening? Morning, afternoon, and evening? The next day I take everything to school with me. I show Eun-Ju the medicine and ask her how often I should take it. Morning, afternoon and evening. So he only gave me enough for two days? Yes. Okay. Maybe it’s a miracle drug and will work quickly. I then ask her about the foil packets, if it’s ok to swallow them. She laughed. Of course. I asked her what they were. She laughed again and said she did not know the word. And, surprisingly, by the end of the day, I was feeling better. My cough is not entirely gone, but has diminished incredibly.

Random Observations

I don’t know what it is about whenever I’m in a foreign country, but I’m obsessed with keeping my apartment clean. Really. I sweep my floor every morning, always wash my dishes (all 4 of them) right away, put away my clothes as soon as I take them off. Why doesn’t this behavior translate to life in the US?

Another observation. They love hair color here. Everyone. Grandmothers, babies (yes, babies), children, teenagers. Both men and women. And it is cheap. The stripe look is definitely in. Not just blond stripes. Hot pink, electric blue, shades of green. One of my students has the finest, most precise hot magenta streaks in her hair. I want them to make that part of the Kate School uniform.

Okay – I’m about to fly to Seoul for the day. Tomorrow we head to Osaka to get our work visas. Supposedly then everything will fall into place. I can get a phone, I can open a bank account – we’ll see . . . .

New Year’s Celebration – Korean style

Wow. It has been an experience. New Year’s Eve we taught until 9pm. As soon as classes were over, the Korean staff was waiting to take us across town to the New Year’s Eve party being hosted by the school’s president, Mark Kim. As the only female still at the school (Chanta had one of her classes cancelled, so had left to freshen up) I made an executive decision. I told the staff they would have to wait until I went home and changed, that I was not ringing in the new year in my Kate School uniform. Before anyone could protest, I sprinted out the door, to my apartment, a mere 5 minutes away. Once home I donned everything I had that had sparkles. Black pantyhose with rhinestone seams. A lavendar skirt with multitudes of sequins. A black fuzzy sweater. A hairclip with a ridiculous amount of rhinestones. Then Chanta appeared with a tube of sparkly gel. We rubbed it on our bare arms, in our hair, on our cheeks. And in the process downed a couple of glasses of wine from a bottle she had picked up from the 7-11 around the corner. Quality.

When we arrived to the school, the men were sitting talking, not looking very festive. We bounced in, sparkles galore, and announced that we could depart. We took a couple of cars across town. Chanta, Eun-Ju (the accountant at the school) and I were in the back seat. Mr. Pyung was driving. He told us that he had gotten snacks for us. There were a couple of cans of Pringles and some cookies in the back seat. They love us! As we were driving across town, Eun-Ju pointed out a nightclub, Athens. She said it was really fun. Then sheepishly smiled. We asked why she was laughing. She said it was a place to go for “booking.” Booking? What was that? She laughed and said she could not explain it. Which made us even more curious. We asked Mr. Pyung what booking was. He just laughed. Eun-Ju hit us and shook her head no, that we shouldn’t ask him. So we asked her again. She proceeded to explain that booking was meeting someone. We asked, like a blind date? She laughed. Yes, sort of. We asked if it was a place to meet people that you had talked to on the phone, but never met before, or to meet someone in person that you had talked to on the internet? She shook her head no. Okay, so what is this booking? I asked her if she had ever booked? She laughed and said, once, when she was 20. Chanta and I looked at each other and started laughing. Hooking up! Club Athens is the Balboa of Daegu!

After about 40 minutes we arrived to our destination. Party. No, that’s not just what we were going to do, that was the name of the bar. When we arrived, the teachers and staff of the other Kate School were already there. Hugs all around, great to see you, how have you been? Endless supply of Korean beer and soju. Oh, the evil soju. A Korean drink. Maybe like vodka? Just incredibly strong. You do shots of it and wake up with a horrible headache. But it’s the national drink here.

Then – the highlight of the evening. Karaoke! Yes! I finally realized my dream of being a back up singer in a rock and roll band. Okay, maybe not in a band, but I was in demand. I think not so much for my singing ability (or lack thereof) but for my moves. Oh, yeah. My sequins were sparklin’. I put the Supremes to shame. Everyone wanted me to be their back up singer. I do-wapped like there was no tomorrow. Surfin’ USA, House of the Rising Sun, Macarena, Fools Fall In Love, you name it, I was singing it. At midnight we didn’t have a ball to watch drop in Times Square, so Brian (another teacher) improvised and dropped a round Korean pastry as we finished the countdown.

We stumbled home very late (early?) after an evening of incredible comaraderie. I slept in til about noon. As soon as I got up, Chanta knocked on my door. She lives right below me and heard my footsteps. We had the ultimate college dorm room day today. Clad in pajama bottoms and t-shirts, hair pulled back in ponytails, we finished off the bottle of wine we started last night, played cribbage for hours and listened to our favorite CDs. We also discovered a surprise treat. Laying on the floor. Yes, you read correctly. The heating system here is in the floors. And floors are kept incredibly clean everywhere. You don’t wear your shoes in restaurants, in homes, anywhere – they’re left at the door. For some reason I was on the floor today, maybe getting something out from under the bed, and I realized how incredibly warm the floor felt. So we laid there. I can’t even begin to explain how comforting it is.

After being inside all day, we decided to head out to the saunas. We had seen a sign advertising them close to the school. We were expecting a combination between a health club and/or spa. Not. We walked in, took off our shoes, got lockers and disrobed. We were looking around for the towels, or robes, or something, but none were to be found. So we entered the sauna room. Which, I think there was a sauna somewhere, but basically, it was just a room of huge baths. And showers everywhere. All along the wall, and at small stations throughout the room. A huge bath that was hotter that any water I’ve ever felt, a warm bath like a hottub, a freeezing cold bath, a steam room, a salt room, rooms to lie on the hot wooden floors. We tried each of the baths, each of the rooms. I think that since private homes don’t have tubs people come to the saunas as sort of a social occasion, but also to soak, and scrub. Women chatted animatedly as they scrubbed each other’s backs, washed each other’s hair. Mothers were there with their children, friends arrived together as well. We stayed until our fingers and toes resembled shriveled raisins, then got dressed and left.

We were famished. As we walked down the street, we smelled a delicious aroma. We decided to check it out. Another cook your own food in the middle of the table place. We sat down and the waitress brought us salad and condiments. After a while, we noticed that people were going to a corner in the restaurant and coming back with platefulls of raw meat. Chanta sent me over; I returned with a variety of meat, garlic and onions. We cooked the meat (burning quite a few pieces as we did), rolled it in lettuce, added roasted garlic and dubbed it the Korean taco. We didn’t eat a lot though, something about just eating meat is really filling. Chanta’s comment of the evening was, “There’s got to be something wrong with just eating animal fat for dinner.” True, so true. After a while, exhaustion set in. We called the waitress and asked, “Ol mayo?” She told us 10,000 won. I stood up, took out a bill, and tried to leave. She pushed me back down to the floor. She pointed to a few pieces of meat we had not eaten and began talking loudly in Korean. She kept motioning for us to eat it. We pantomimed that our tummies were full. At this point everyone in the restaurant was staring at us. She left in a huff; Chanta and I looked at each other, trying to figure out what to do. Was she telling us we had to clear our plate? We we committing a cultural faux pas? She returned with a beer, sat down beside me on the floor, and proceeded to pour two glasses. “Service, service.” Nooooooo – no more alcohol. Even if it’s free. We just wanted to leave. She poured the beer and motioned for us to drink. So we did. We noticed that on her apron the word “run” was embroidered with lots of flowers around it. We decided that the next time she went to the kitchen that was what we were going to do – run. We had our chance — we quickly got up, scurried to the door and tried to get our shoes on as quickly as possible. Not quick enough. She saw us and across the restaurant yelled, “Annong kay-seyo” (good-bye). We smiled, bowed, returned the salutation and left. After further pondering, we think she was giving us the beer because the restaurant was all you can eat and we had not eaten very much. So she was giving us a free beer to make sure we got our money’s worth. But when you don’t understand any of the words coming at you at an incomprehensible speed, there’s often quite a bit lost in the translation.

Hainsu Temple – My First Field Trip

My first field trip out of Daegu. Another teacher, Mark, and I decided to visit Hainsa Temple, one of the UNESCO designated world heritage sites today. Consulting our Lonely Planet Guides, we determined we needed to take a taxi downtown to the bus station, a bus to the park at Hainsa (maybe an hour ride?), then walk to the temple. At the bus station the schedules were in both English and Korean – whew. We bought our tickets, headed for the turnstile, and gave the ticket taker our tickets. He began screaming in Korean, what we assumed the English equivalent would be, “Run, run, there goes your bus!,” all the while pointing at a bus that was leaving. I started towards the bus, when another man stopped me and grabbed my ticket, pointing to another bus that was parked. We stood there bewildered. Several people came up to us, took our tickets, saying, “Hainsa? Hainsa.” And pointing to the parked bus. So we got on the parked bus, fairly confident that we were on the right bus. As it turns out, a bus leaves for Hainsa every ten minutes; we had just missed the 9:30 bus.

The bus ride was about an hour and a half through sparsely inhabited countryside. Rice fields as far as the eye could see, frozen solid. We were driving farther and farther up into the mountains that border Daegu. Stopping every so often to let someone off or pick someone up by the side of the road. There didn’t appear to be any designated bus stops. A passenger would say, “Yahgi,” and the bus would stop. By the time we got to the park where Hainsa Temple is located Mark and I were the only two passengers on the bus. At the park gates the park ranger came on and collected our admission fees. We continued climbing higher and higher, winding around increasingly smaller, curvier roads. The bus stopped in a make shift parking lot area. We made our way to the front of the bus and asked the driver which way to the temple. He told us it was back down the hill we just came up. So Mark and I started down the road. As soon as I stepped off of the bus I noticed it was considerably colder than it had been in the city. And what was flying around me? Snow! Bright, sparkly flakes gently swirling to the ground. There was an unusual beauty about the park. A desolate, haunting beauty. The trees were stripped bare of any foliage, their barren, dark limbs exposed to the biting cold. And so quiet. The only sounds were the creaking limbs of the trees and the slow, gentle flowing of an icy stream nearby.

We made it back to the “main area” where the trailheads for the temple and other sites were. There were a few tourist shops there selling cheap souvenirs, snack food, film. We stopped at one; I wanted to buy a scarf. The lady was incredibly friendly. In my best Korean I asked if she sold scarves, then pointed to Mark’s. “Oh, muffler?” And she showed me a gray knitted scarf. I nodded yes, then asked, “Ol mayo?” “10,000 won.” Ay yi yi. Okay, it was only $7.80, but it just sounded like so much when the price is in the thousands. I told her I would like to buy it. She then headed to the back of the store and said, “Service. Service with scarf.” This is an interesting concept. Almost always when you purchase something, you get “service.” Which means something free. The service we got with the scarf was two cups of incredibly delicious hot tea. That in intself was worth the seven dollars. She explained the tea had been made by combining 5 different teas together. As I sipped the steaming beverage, I could feel the hotness travel down my throat, my chest, into my stomach. After a bit of polite conversation, we were ready to find the temple.

We started up a dirt trail that could have been a service road or could have been the trail. The few signs that were posted were in Korean, so we weren’t sure if we were going the right way. Soon we saw an endless stream of schoolchildren coming down the path, so we figured we were going somewhere worth seeing. Some of the school children were wearing the familiar boy/girl scout badges and ties. Many would say, “Hell-lo!” as we passed then giggle when we answered them.

We saw what we thought was the temple. We climbed one set of steep stairs to the entrance gates, hewn wood painted in spectacular blues, reds, blacks, and greens. I decided to take a picture looking back down the deserted path we had just traveled. Nooooooo. My camera battery was dead. How could this happen? I later read that the battery doesn’t come charged from the factory, it has to be charged for at least two hours before using. And Mark had not brought his camera.

We continued up another set of stairs and realized the temple was actually a collection of buildings. The main temple, 14 shrines, the monk’s living quarters, and the buildings where the wood blocks were housed. There were several levels to the complex. Each level had maybe 6 or 7 buildings. From the outside, they all looked the same. Weathered, dingy brown wood (the current buildings were built several hundred years ago). But inside. Oh! When I walked into the main temple I was awestruck. Imagine a large hall, in the center are several perfectly polished golden Buddhas looking down on you serenely. Beautiful flowers in shallow vases, perfectly arranged. Fragrant Easter lilies and lilies of the valley, pure in their perfect whiteness. The dark, polished wooden floors. And as you look up – oh! Thousands and thousands of the most brightly colored lanterns in perfect rows hanging from the ceiling. The hottest pinks, the deepest greens, the silkiest shiny red tassels. And in the distance you hear the constant soft ringing of the wind chimes that adorn the fountains in the courtyards. Your eyes move to the actual ceiling, to the walls. Not a single inch of unpainted wood. Patterns of lotus flowers, murals of folk tales. And all in the brightest colors. It is almost impossible to believe that the paintings are hundreds of years old. I expected to smell the familiar odor of the artist’s studio, of a just finished canvas. Mark started to speak. “Shhhh. . . .,” I said, with my finger over my mouth. Words would destroy the calm, the peace that permeated the temple.

Once outside we resumed talking. About the history of the temple, about the beauty of the location. From the courtyard you could see nothing but mountain ranges surrounding the complex. The snow was falling harder now, swirling in vicious patterns about us. The wind was blowing harder, causing the chimes to sound a louder, quicker song, though just as peaceful as before. We visited the buldings where the wood blocks were housed, amazed at the intricacy and the volume of the blocks. Row upon row of meticulously carved blocks from which scrolls and books were made, years before Guttenberg had considered developing the modern day printing press.

As we were carefully descending the steep steps from one courtyard to the next, we noticed another field trip of sorts in progress. A visiting group of monks. There must have been 70 monks, lined up perfectly in two rows, entering the complex. Amazingly identical in their gray robes and gray knitted caps covering their shaved heads. Oh, oh, oh, how I wish I had my camera. It would have been incredible to capture the contrast of the (outwardly) gray atmosphere of the temple complex compared to the encompassing gray of the monks’ outfits and the liveliness that conveyed.

Friday – the end of the school week. Yeah. Even though I only taught for three days this week, I’m still tired. This teaching situation is about as optimum as you can get. The students are respectful, the parents are respectful, the class size is never more than 5. But the hours are long, so long. Supposedly that’s only for the winter intensive session, which lasts until the first week of February. The administration is just a bit unorganized, but I guess that’s to be expected for a brand new school. At least once a day everyday this week, the director would come into the teacher’s workroom and announce the schedule had been changed. Not just the addition or deletion of students from the class roster, or changes in the location where classes would be taught, but actual changes in the teachers’ courseload. And often with just 10 minutes notice. I thought I was teaching elementary reading and bam! I’m now teaching advanced writing. What books do I need? What room am I in? At least twice this week I walked into a classroom, introduced myself to the students, took attendance, then realized I was in the wrong class. As gracefully as I could I smiled, bowed, told the students to have a nice day, and exited stage right. Then looked for a classroom without a teacher and hoped that was mine.

There are three sessions a day: morning, afternoon, and evening. Each session lasts about 3 1/2 hours and has four courses – reading, writing, speaking, and listening. So far I’m only teaching reading and writing, but at all levels – elementary, intermediate, and advanced. In between the sessions we have about an hour break. During that time I try to correct papers, grab something to eat, and catch up on email. In my evening advanced writing class I have a particuarly precocious child, James. He’s only 11 but his English is pretty flawless. I learned that he lived in the States for several years, which not only explains his fluency, but also his sassiness as well. Friday evening he entered the school a few minutes early; I was working at a computer. He said to me, “I *knew* you were wearing a red sweater today!” Which I was; Friday is considered “casual day” so we don’t have to wear our school uniforms. I asked him how he knew that. He said, “Because I’ve been watching you on the computer all day.” Damn web watch. One of the other teachers turned to me and in his best Mr. Rogers voice said, “Class, the word of the day today is voyeur. Can anyone tell me what voyeur means?”

Christmas Day

Well, considering we didn’t arrive home until this morning, I took the opportunity to sleep in. Ahhhhh . . . the joys of waking up without an alarm. I knew it was Christmas, but was in the mood to be alone, not around other people. I dressed as warmly as possible, hoping to find a park or hike where I could contemplate what has happened over the past couple of weeks. I started walking, through various neighborhoods, towards the edge of town where the mountains are. I had overheard one of the other teachers say that there was a great nature trail near his apartment. I wasn’t sure where his apartment was, but knew it was in the opposite direction from the school as mine. I think I truly captured the essence of meandering. I never found the nature trail, but discovered other parts of the city I’m not sure I could find again even if I tried. Streets and streets ( or more aptly, alleys and alleys) of older Koreans selling fresh products: oranges, apples (for which Daegu is supposed to be famous – they’re not bad), greens, tofu, live fish, dead fish, fried dumplings, herbs. An icy lake with animated duck paddleboats frozen in motion. An amusement park dotted with bundled-up Korean teens, screaming at the top of their lungs as the rides throw them this way and that, upside down and around. A river walk with elderly Koreans practicing tai chi, a couple playing a form of croquet, youngsters on bicycles, athletes braving the biting wind to jog along the river. A grounded jumbo jet that has been converted into a “Sky Park” restaurant. Vendors roasting chestnuts (yes, just like the carol) over an open flame. And street signs. I was amazed to discover that I can recognize Korean letters. I know the letters for L/R (it’s the same one, which makes my name incredibly hard to pronounce), S, SH, G, K, L, A, U, NG, O, I. I would stand in front of a street sign, staring, trying to sound out the name of the street, or the store. If I couldn’t figure it out I pulled out my alphabet sheet. After about 5 hours, the cold began to chill my bones. I was approaching the River Debec department store and decided to go in, if for nothing else, to warm myself before venturing home. Floors and floors of everything imaginable. Cosmetics, shoes, household goods, clothes, clothes, and more clothes. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, just continuing to practice my meandering. After I began to feel my limbs, I decided to head back to my new home, Suseong-gu. I flagged a cab and made it back to my neighborhood in time to grab something to eat then head over to the school. We were having a staff meeting at 8:30 pm to pick up our teacher uniforms. Yes, uniforms.

When the director announced the teachers would have uniforms, I thought, noooooooooo . . . I ‘ve never been one to conform. A few days ago we were measured by a tailor who didn’t seem to have experience measuring females. He wasn’t quite sure which measurements to take on Chanta and I. Or maybe he just wasn’t used to measuring bodies like ours. But I had still had hope. After all, the uniforms were being custom tailored. I arrived to the school and sure enough, there was the tailor, laying out all of the suits. Black blazer, dark grey skirt or pants. The director ushered Chanta and I into a back closet to try ours on. Chanta’s skirt, pants and jacket were way too big. The skirt barely stayed on her hips. My turn. Just the opposite. The pants give new meaning to the word “fitted.” And the blazer, well, let’s just say it emphasizes my endowment up top. The skirt fits fine, although Chanta and I were immediately scheming about how to make the skirts shorter (they are a very respectable knee length). I’ve never worn a school uniform before, but I’m feeling very Catholic school-girlish . . .

December 26

The first day of winter session! Arose this morning and donned my new uniform. Just to give it a splash of color also wore my red hat. Glad I brought several scarves with me. Although I guess that somewhat defeats the whole point of having the teachers dress the same.

Somewhere there was a miscommunication about how many classes each teacher would teach. I had understood that I would be teaching 4 40-minute sessions per day. Although when I signed the contract I thought that was an incredibly light teaching load. As it turns out, each teacher is teaching either 10 or 11 40-minute sessions per day. Add in a lunch break and a break between the morning and afternoon, and afternoon and evening sessions, and that adds up to a 12 hour work day. Whoa. Our first class is at 9:00 am and the last class ends at 8:50 pm. The director assures us that this schedule is only for the winter (and summer) intensive sessions, that during the normal school year, our day will be from 2:30 – 9:30 pm each day. I have to admit, though, today passed incredibly quickly. I have a mixture of elementary, intermediate, and advanced classes. I teach both reading and writing. My classes have anywhere from 1 to 5 students. And the students are adorable. A little shy, but really want to learn English. I have no doubt the winter session (only five weeks, with several holidays thrown in as well) will fly by.

Something else I learned today. The director of the school also owns a software company and has developed a product called “web watch.” I couldn’t figure out why there were so many tv monitors in the lobby of our school. I assumed it was for security purposes. Noooooooo. Every class is broadcast over the web, so that parents, teachers, basically anyone, can view it. Yeah. I’m still feeling a tad self-concious in class, wondering who is watching as I’m teaching. Definitely keeping me on my toes . . .

Christmas Eve – Korean style

Started the day by having coffee and toast (made with the new creamsicle orange appliances . . .) then ventured out on my own to see a bit of the city. Wasn’t able to get too far, because we had a staff meeting at the school mid-day. After the meeting, several of us went to eat tak-kalbi. Another new Korean dish that is delicious. Chicken and cabbage and hot sauce and pasta things and root vegetables all grilled together at the table. We decided that, since it was Christmas Eve, we should celebrate not only with our staff (the Suseong Kate School) but also with the other staff across town (Chil-Guk Kate School). It was agreed that we would all meet at Bennigan’s (yes, again . . .) downtown between 8 and 8:30.

About 7:30 the 5 of us from Suseong Kate School met to get a taxi. Three men: Mark, Ted, and Rob; two women: me and Chanta. We knew we would have to take two taxis, so we started trying to hail cabs. None would stop. At least not for us. We stood on the main street for almost 25 minutes trying to get a cab to stop. One finally did. We all looked at each other, which three should take the first cab? Chanta and I both immediately told the guys to get in the cab, because we felt we would have more luck getting a cab to stop than they would. The boys were off. Chanta and I return to the curb, taking bets on how long it would take us to hail a cab. My guess was under ten minutes. Bam! Three minutes later we were in a cab, heading downtown. Or so we thought.

Whenever we get in a cab, we tell the driver a major landmark, then get out and walk from there. The largest department store in Daegu is called Debec. And it’s a huge landmark downtown. So I told the driver Shinae (downtown) Debec. He drove, then let us out at Debec. It wasn’t until after we were out of the cab that I realized we weren’t downtown – he had taken us to the River Debec! So Chanta and I flag another cab (again, less than 5 minutes – sometimes it’s really convenient being a woman). As soon as we get in the driver says to us, “I am Korean man and I very handsome.” Well, okay, yes. He was a student and wanted to practice his English. A few blocks later he exclaimed, “Oh, I forgot meter! You so beautiful you make me (then a lot of Korean . . .)” He wanted our phone numbers (which we don’t have yet) because he said we would practice English and be best friends. It was an entertaining ride.

We walked to Bennigan’s and saw the teachers from the Chil-Guk Kate School. We asked where the boy teachers from our school were. They looked at us funny and said that they hadn’t arrived yet. What????? Chanta and I were able to hail two cabs, get lost, and get hit upon and they hadn’t even arrived????? They arrived shortly and claimed traffic was bad. The wait for a table at Bennigan’s was two hours. “Oh, darn, I guess we’ll have to go somewhere else . . .” Yeah! We wandered into a bar/restaurant, got a table for 9, and got a couple of pitchers of beer. The largest pitchers I’ve ever seen. 5000cc. I think that’s about 2 liters, right? Anyway, after a few drinks we decided we would have dinner there as well. We looked at the menu (typical bar food) – it seemed, well, sometimes English translations can be funny. Chanta and I decided to split a couple of dishes. She ordered “popcorn chicken” (yes, chicken, not shrimp) and I ordered “cooked potatoes with flavor.” Seriously. And guess what we had for Christmas Eve dinner? The smallest chicken nuggets I’ve ever seen and tator tots! Oh, yeah . . .

While we were eating the ever present techno Christmas music was playing. I was kind of dancing/bouncing in my seat. One of the teachers suggested we try to find a dance club after dinner. Yeah! I said I thought that would be a most awesome idea – that I love to dance! One of the teachers, Rob (also from San Francisco) looked at me and said, “I wouldn’t have pegged you as the going out type.” ???????? Little does he know . . .

I asked our waiter about dance clubs. He asked if we wanted a Korean club or an American one. Korean, of course! He told me the names of a few, but warned me there was a cover charge. Sure, no problem. How much? 300,000 won. Excuse me? Did I just hear you correctly? Yes, 300,000 , or maybe 400,000 won (roughly 210/250 US dollars). Per person? Yes. Okay, then, how about that American nightclub? Oh, it’s just around the corner, it’s named Elvis. So, armed with the name of the club and a rough idea which alley it was in, all nine of us head out.

We found the club without *too* much trouble. As we were walking up the stairs we heard some good beats. Chanta turns to me and says, “Oh, yeah, booty music! This is going to be fun!” And sure enough, it was serious shake your booty music. Only problem, though, no one was. Plenty of people in the club, but no one on the dance floor. So I turn to Chanta and say, “This just won’t do – come on.” And take her on the floor. We start dancing, and sure enough, within a few minutes, the floor is packed. There are a mixture of other American/Canadians and Koreans in the club. People seem to be pretty friendly. My favorite introduction of the night was this: I’m dancing and a very attractive Korean woman comes up to me and says with a huge smile, “Hel-lo, my name Kim Soo-Jun and I lesbian” and starts to dance with me. She’s with another woman (duh) and they are having a serious good time. Chanta turns to me and says, “Your mission tonight is to get her number – they look like the type of girls who know where to go to have fun.” Sadly enough, I wasn’t able to get her number, I think the only English she knew was her introduction. Alas . . .

About 4:30 am we decide to head back to our area of town. Ahhhhh, the issue of the cab. It’s Chanta, me, and Rob. We tell Rob to hang back until the cab stops. Sure enough, a cab stops for us right away. We’ve figured out how to beat the system.

Okay – most of you know how I love to make lists, so here are my first lists from Korea:

Things I’m really glad I brought:

Sheets and pillow (very hard to find here)

Framed pictures of family and friends (worth the weight in the suitcase)

Beach flip flops (for the bathroom after I’ve showered and there’s water everywhere)

Silk long underwear (it is *freezing* here)

Crossword puzzle books

Things that are useless here:

My shoe bag/storage unit for the closet (there are no closets here – besides, all shoes are taken off at the door and stay there)

Pastry cutter (there are no ovens here. Oh, I’m going to miss macaroni and cheese)

My CD player (forgot the cord, can’t get it to work)

So far, the list of things I’m really happy I have is longer, life is good . . .

Now for the tale of the day . . .

Sunday, December 23

My first day off. Yeah! And I am on a mission. As I mentioned, there are no closets here. Let me explain my apartment a little more in depth. A studio. Which is wallpapered. Pink and white striped on the bottom half of the wall. A dainty pink floral print on the top half. Not quite my style, but I’ll work with it. A double bed. With a puffy, yellow comforter. With little daisies embroidered on it. My table/desk has two chairs that look like they came from an ice cream parlor, with wire hearts and curlicues on the seat backs. My tv sits on a mint green cabinet. The sliding glass doors to the balcony have Minnie Mouse and pink heart decals stuck to them. As well as a poster of a popular Korean pop singer. I feel like I’m in a teenager’s dream room. I’m not going to fight the decor, but embrace it. I will have the ultimate “sweet 16” apartment by the time I am finished.

First mission of the day – to go to Nais Mart (pronounced Nice Mart-Ha) to get household appliances. It’s sort of the Korean version of Wal-Mart. Has just about everything. Including the ever present techno Christmas carols piped over the loudspeaker. That’s all I’ve heard since I’ve arrived. In restaurants, in bars, in stores, on the streets. Four of us go together, me, Chanta, Mark, and Ted. We each purchase what we feel we must have (my purchases included a white plastic bathroom shelf, pink and purple plastic coat hangers, some food items – not sure what – but the pictures look good, and a red rice cooker). Since I bought a rice cooker, I figured I would buy rice as well. Nearly impossible to find a bag smaller than 10 kilograms. I wouldn’t be able to eat that much rice in the whole year that I’m here. After much searching and a lot of sign language, I find a 2 kilo bag.

Chanta and I share a cab back to our apartment. Normally we tell the cab driver the area of town we’re in (suseong-gu) and the name of a major department store that is only a couple of blocks from our house (DongA) then walk the rest of the way. But we had lots of gear. We decide to try to give specific directions. I had grabbed a piece of old mail from my mailbox before leaving the house. I showed the address to the taxi driver. He looked puzzled (we live on a small alley, so it’s not surprising he didn’t know the address). With much sign language, we were able to guide the cab driver back to our apartment. Victory!

We put our purchases away and embark on the next mission – lunch. We had noticed a new restaurant was opening (by virtue of the helium baloon arch and dancers in white go-go boots) near our house. It looks good, so we decide to try it. We take off our shoes and are led to a table with a burner in the center. We sit on the floor and look around. There are no pictures, the menus (on the wall) are all script. Korean script, of course. The waiter comes and asks us what we want. At least that’s what we think he’s asking. We point to the first thing on the wall. He asks us if we want 3. (I know the numbers). We say 2. And then the food comes. Amazing. Bowls and bowls of salads and vegetables. Then he turns on the burner and places more vegetables on it. As well as kim chi. I am loving the kim chi. And served warm it is so good. Then, another platter with what looks like the thickest bacon I’ve ever seen. He fries that up for us as well. A most delicious lunch. I look in my phrase book for the phrase “this is delicious.” Mashi isso summnida. Chanta is laughing. She thinks they won’t be able to understand me. The waiter comes back, I try my new phrase. He understands me, but does laugh. A lot. Okay, so maybe the pronunciation isn’t quite there yet, but the meaning was conveyed. At least I think it was . . .

Update on what I can say in Korean. Thank you. Please. Yes. No. Maybe. Hello. Numbers. How much? I’d like this. And now, this is delicious. It’s amazing how much meaning you can convey with those phrases and a smile.

As we were leaving, the owner handed us a box. I guess when a store/restaurant opens they give gifts to the customers. We open the box – a Hello Kitty dish towel! Score! Another item for the teen dream apartment!

We’re off to the furniture district. Wandering throughout alleys and alleys of small furniture stores. Each seems to have a specialty. All chairs. All desks. All nightstands. Chanta finds a wicker shelf. I’m looking for a wardrobe (no closets here). I see a baby blue one. Oooo – that would fit in well. But then, I see a silver and white one that has a full length mirror on one of the doors. Blue? Silver? The silver wins. I need a mirror. As I walking, I see the perfect nightstand. Pink. With green sides. We pay for our purchases and the women explains (through sign language) that they will deliver the furniture right then. I show her the old piece of mail. She nods, the driver motions for us to get in the truck. We do. And once again, successfully navigate back to our apartment.

Unload our purchases with the help of the delivery man, and we’re off again. This time to the electronics market. Or so we thought. We tell the taxi driver where to take us and he drops us off in a market. But each alley is a different ware. One alley is all food. Another is all clothes. Another is all shoes. Another is all toiletries. But no electronics. We say hello to a passing Korean and say CD player? She busts out with Korean, assuming we understand. We smile and say thank you and follow where she pointed. And sure enough, there are the electronics. Leave a short while later with a couple of more additions. A periwinkle CD player. Oh, yeah. A Creamsicle orange toaster and coffee maker set that Chanta and I plan to share. I will have the dream pad soon enough . . .

Let’s see . . . the days are already running together. So here are highlights from the last few days.

FIRST – I have a mailing address (it’s for the school, which is the best place to send mail):

Lori McLeese

Suseong Kate School

1288-29, Jisan-dong

Suseong-gu, Daegu

SOUTH KOREA

Lots and lots of placement testing for the students. I was excited to see that the school will have a great number of younger students (I had been told upper elementary to high school). It’s so exciting to be back in a classroom! The ability of the students ranges from “the blank stare” to quite decent conversationalist. We’re having a staff meeting this afternoon (Saturday) to find out what each of us will be teaching. I’m hoping for the younger students, either the reading or speaking modules.

The first morning in my apartment (Thursday) I went to use my hand held shower. I turned the sink faucet on and let the water run. But it wouldn’t get warm. Oh, I forgot. The temperature controls are such that the heat and the hot water can’t be on at the same time. So I scurry back to the main room and turn off the heat, turn on the hot water. Scurry back to the bathroom. Turn the water on, and sure enough, it warms up. So I’m ready to use the shower. I push the only knob I see, thinking it is the shower control. It’s not. It’s the stopper for the sink. Hmmm. Look around. See no other controls, knobs, buttons, etc. And I’m getting very cold. And feeling very stupid. I turn the water on and off, but that doesn’t affect the flow of water to the shower head. I pick up the shower head, turn it over, see nothing there. Getting colder. And feeling stupider. Turn the water back on. Just start poking. And pulling. Finally pull what looks like a permanent part of the sink fixture, think I’ve broken the sink, when all of the sudden, whoooooooooshhhhhhhhh. Okay. Not exactly whoooooooooshhhhhhhhh. More like driiibbbbbbbbb-bble. Nonetheless, the shower is working. Victory.

Tried my first street food yesterday. Not sure what the name of it was. But it was tasty. On a break two other teachers and I were walking through the neighborhood. All along the sidewalks there were people squatting, selling their wares. Mostly foodstuffs. Stands of hot noodlelike dishes, rice cakes, fish cakes, pancakes type things. So Chanta (another teacher) and I shared a bowl of what seemed like gnocchi with tobasco sauce. With a little fish thrown in. We then bought a bag of bread-like, pancake-y, sort of sweet, but not too sweet, things. Some were shaped like little peanuts (and had peanuts in them), others were shaped like walnuts with a sweet fish paste inside (go figure). The streets were lined with women and men selling live fish (looked like tadpoles), dried fish, dried squid (huge mothers), bok choy, sprouts, and vegetables I’ve never seen before.

Last night (Friday) we were taken out as a staff for our “Welcome to Kate School” dinner. To a traditional Korean restaurant. Sitting on the floor (which was heated – I love that!) at a table with burners in the center of the table. And many, many bowls of, well, I’m not sure what, but it was good. Lots of bowls. Everything is in a separate little bowl. I pity the dishwasher. I was sitting near the owner of the school, Mr. Kim (of course), and he suddenly exclaimed, “Lori-ga!” I’m not sure what the “ga” means, but everytime someone says it to me instructions are coming. Not quite, but almost, the equivalent of “Hey, lady!” Maybe it’s just a way to get someone’s attention. Mr. Kim, through the aid of an interpreter (he doesn’t speak any English, he says it gives him a headache), told me I was holding my chopsticks incorrectly. I was trying to move both of them. He showed me how to hold them the proper way, anchoring one against your thumb and moving the other like a pencil. Throughout dinner if I slipped and reverted back to the “improper” way of holding chopsticks, I would hear, “Lori-ga!”

International diet trick #1: If you don’t know how to use the utensils, you won’t eat as much. Because it takes twice as long to get food to your mouth because you’re always dropping it.

Halfway through the dinner I was trying to pick up bulgogi (marinated beef) that is served with slippery, clear noodles. The noodles seem like they are miles long. They just keep coming and coming and coming out of your bowl. I couldn’t figure out how to get them on the chopsticks and into my mouth without looking like I was a 4 year old slurping spaghetti. One of the other teachers explained to me to bite the noodles and let the remainder drop back into the bowl. Okay. So I had picked up some noodles, was putting them in my mouth, and heard Mr. Kim exclaim, “Lori-ga!” It startled me such that I gasped, causing me to slurp the noodles, which proceeded to flip up and slap me on the forehead. We had not been given napkins, so I was trying to keep my composure, gracefully wipe the bulgogi juice off my forehead, and turn my attention to the senior Mr. Kim. I decided that I probably had had enough to eat (though I was still hungry . . .)