For ever and for ever when I move

Truth be told, it’s hard to be exempt from politics.

Sometimes it’s lucky. When the Korean teachers are all sharing their stresses regarding the new Principal and how harsh she is, I can’t participate in conversation because I simply don’t speak the language. “She scold… is too harsh… very stress. Many teachers very unhappy, is very difficult….” is about the extent of what I get from the few teachers that are brave enough/ care enough to try and let me in on the loop.

I’m also lucky, because I can virtually do nothing wrong. The Principal cannot speak English: consequently, our interactions basically boil down to an occasional exchange of bows in the hallway, in which I say, “Annyong haseyo!” and she replies, “Naaaay, annyong haseyo” and looks tickled pink that I’ve spoken Korean. I am exempt from teacher meetings; I am unable to participate in opinionated discussions; I have thus far been unable to have an adequate opinion regarding the Principal, since I have not felt the direct sting of her slowly- growing rule over the school.

Until this week.

Story time: if you all recall the beginning of the year, I was honored with the opportunity to play soccer with the male teachers every Wednesday here at school. They bought me bright red, brand new soccer kicks. They bought me shin guards. They welcomed me with full fervor and a more- than- appropriate amount of excitement and praise for my skills. The women teachers continually told me they were on the sidelines cheering for me. The students lined the field and cheered, screamed from the windows of all four floors of the school and left sticky notes with messages like, “Amanda! Hi~! You play soccer good. You understand? Sorry… English very hard -.-” etc.

Every Wednesday day I was greeted with an, “Amanda! You soccer? Today?” throughout the day by all members of the school, and after a couple hours of celebrity- status soccer, in which I feel my skills adequately matched but rarely surpassed the skills of the teachers, except for a few of the amazingly fast with beautiful- footwork players, the male teachers would take me out to a communal pasta meal to eat dinner with them.

Soccer in this school has been by far the most culturally inviting motion that has ever been made to me. Sure, I’ve had some incredibly amazing gestures from individuals in Europe. I’ve had incredibly kind gestures from friends, families and teachers in America. But I have never, ever had hundreds of people be so, so kind and inviting to me. I have never felt so welcomed in my life.

End feelings. Continue story. Three weeks ago all the teachers were supposed to go to this field with real grass (total excitement, big deal). They told me about it all week. I brought all my stuff. I waited. The time at which we were supposed to leave came, and then it passed. I waited still. And waited. And then, I asked Mr. Choi when we were leaving. “No soccer today.” Hm. Okay.

I went home.

Next Wednesday, no soccer.

Next Wednesday, still no soccer.

I’m clueless. And sad. But hope still remains.

Until this week.

On Monday, Mr. Choi, the other Mr. Choi that isn’t my desk buddy, asked me how my soccer shoes were doing. “They’re too clean!” I told him. “Yes,” he agreed. (Still clueless.) Finally, I asked for the scoop. Regretfully, I got a clear answer.

There will be no more soccer played at school.

As I understand it, the Principal fears that the male teachers gossip about her when they are together, and, consequently, they are no longer able to get together to play soccer.

Crushingly, this also means that I will no longer be able to get together to play soccer. There will be no more celebrity soccer status for me. There will be no more weekly requirement of exercise and community. There will be no more conversations and bonding with the shy non- English speaking teachers that want to tell me they (a) saw me play soccer, or (b) were impressed while playing with me.

It’s pretty much the saddest thing ever.

And so it is, though I may not understand a single word in the river of words that is constantly flowing over my head here in Korea, and regardless my level of understanding, I still feel the effect.

As it is, the Principal seems to have the say for everything here.

All artwork has been removed from all the walls.

The cool Asian goldfish are gone, tank and all.

The teachers continue to talk in dismay.

And now, there will be no more soccer.

** In a seemingly unbearable turn of irony, the writer of this post has concluded the post after returning to a completely empty sea of teacher desks. Cluelessness, sans the company of other teachers. Confusion a la cluelessness. The phone keeps ringing and there’s no one to answer it. Where is everyone? Where, oh where, have you gone? Why have you left me behind?

Sigh. Oh, the irony. Oh, Korea.

Best decision of the day:

Purchasing a tiny box of chocolate milk for my walk to school this morning. Amazing.

Best part of my weekend:

Climbing up a mountain in Juwangsan national park and making friends with a huge group of Koreans that had spread out two tarps and were having a giant picnic at the top. Best gimbop of my time here. So good. It’s incredible what a smile can do. We subsequently ran out of time and kindof had to run back down the mountain. Almost died three times. Worth it.

Best rememberance:

Remembering to bring colored pencils with me on the hike. I didn’t end up using them, but it made me proud that I remembered. Good job, self!

New favorite image of Korea:
A rest stop at 8pm on a Sunday evening. So packed, three rows of car traffic, music, travel agencies (or parking ticket collectors?) street food, music, and toilet paper!

Quick update to keep you posted.

I’ve been taking Korean lessons with one of the teachers at school, Ms. Park. She is one of the English teachers and is enormously patient with me, forcing me to correct each incorrect vowel and consonant that I, with my lame and slow tongue, have trouble pronouncing. It is enormously difficult for my brain to assign sounds to little lines with sticks poking out of them, and it’s even more impossible to understand how those sounds could possibly have a greater meaning. How does a horizontal line with a miniature perpendicular cross that pokes either up or down prove the difference between something sounding like an “oo” and an “ouu”? And what do they mean?

Anyways, despite my obvious inability to understand, my teacher likes to tell me I am, “Genius! Really… very smart,” and let me know that I’m doing well. I’m really not sure that’s very true, but she wants to keep teaching me, so I’ll keep going.

(I get the same reaction if I repeat a Korean word… anywhere. If I walk outside and say, “Chup-da,” all the teachers go, “Woo-ah” and are so proud of me. I just remember because chupda, or cold, sounds like a Chupa pop, and Chupa pops are pretty much the coolest things ever. Awesome free bonus points for me.)

The honest report is that my language acquisition pace is plodding, at best. But I’m trying!

Recent winner of the gold- star- for- what- would- make- American- children- cry- if- you- served- it- to- them- at- school- lunch:

Typical School Lunch, radial from left to right: Kimchi veg, Fish, Turnip Kimchi, Spam Soup, Rice

Kimchi vegetables, a variety that I thought were green beans but only just learned are the stem of a (?) sweet potato (?) plant, kind of cool; Entire Fish Delicacy, in which you use your chopsticks to tear apart the top layer of fried- skin and eat the white, salty fleshy part and try to avoid the bones and the oogly boogly glazed over win-the-staring-contest-every-time eyes, Kimchi of the turnip variety (my favorite), Rice with Beans (the beans an unusual but delicious addition) and Spam and Cabbage Soup (common, soup like this every day, but not always with spam).

I arrived at lunch this day and couldn’t stop chuckling; all through the meal I just imagined what children across America would do were this meal served to them. My ponderings included temper tantrums, tears, screams, shocked disbelief, bigger tears at learning this was actually lunch, and on and on.

Interesting fact: Spam became a part of the Korean diet after the widespread famine and poverty in the country following WWII and the Korean War. Along with the American military presence in Korea, there was Spam.

I mistakenly told one of the teachers that Spam comes from Minnesota, after which she asked me: “Why don’t you eat it?” I had no real answer for her. *

It’s really not uncommon to see Spam in meals. Once at dinner we just had sliced up pieces of Spam, fried in a sort of eggy substance, and I didn’t eat that either: one of the teachers asked me, “Don’t you like pork?” and I told her, only sometimes. Though it hasn’t happened to me yet, I’ve heard that oftentimes people will give Spam as a gift…. I (can’t) wait. As in, I can definitely wait.

Dakgalbi buds: two of my foreigner teacher friends, Ryan to the left and Matt to the right, with the remains of our dakgalbi meal. Meals are communal in Korea: you go to a restaurant, sit on the floor with the food in the middle and eat your fill.

Booby Love: the last picture and meal before I spent an evening and early morning puking my guts out. I might have to wait awhile before eating dakgalbi again. Hooray for the unexpected! Boo for realizing how much rice you communally ate earlier that night as you're forcing it all back out. Also, that white guy in the background is my tall bald foreign teacher friend named Brian. Coincidentally enough, if you've been following my blog, those three people pictured are the three that joined me in our YangPeyong in-testicle food adventure. Yuck.

I’m satisfied with the random assortment of gifts that have been secretly placed and sit waiting at my desk when I arrive at work. From the top of my mind, they are as follows: a personalized towel with the date, a day of no particular significance at all. A gift box of three 500ml bottles of Canola and Grapeseed oil. A box of pineapple chocolates from the class trip to Jeju-do Island. Handfuls of weird corn and octopus- flavored chips and bugles. Random small pieces of candy. An apple. Spontaneous invitations to have a dixie cup of (sugar) coffee. A chocolate- marshmallow moon pie. Occasionally a little bottle of super- sugary Vitamin C drink. Occasional offer to have a bite of raw sweet potato a student is nibbling on. Once an offer to have a sip of the Coca Cola a student was drinking. Occasional rice cake. Occasional piece of gum. Lots of little sticky notes of doodles and characters (adorable) and confessions of love: “I love you! Amanda! but I like boys (haha!)” and etc.

Well, that’s it for now. Until next time!

Love.

*A concerned reader has recently brought to my attention the fact that additions and adaptations of previously posted blog posts are crudely against blog etiquette. And I quote, “I mean, how am I supposed to finish reading the interweb if it keeps changing on me? I’m not even sure I have time in my life to read it *once*”. Well stated, concerned reader. Your concerns have been deemed reasonable and it is our hope that you will find them to have been suitably accounted for.

Accordingly, due to my recent induction into POEM, aka Professional Organization of English Majors, I must apologize for the ignorance of my actions and subsequently must reject the addition of the obvious, “Spam is gross,” in order to assume the previous and unaltered state of equanimity and impassivity in attitude toward Spam.

With warm regards and grateful consideration, this disclaimer has been posted by the publisher of this blog. Adieu.

Time slips away so quickly, I am so busy.

Weekends are spent exploring and the school weeks are packed with working, and where does the time go? I want very much to write a valuable post for all you at home, miss you much, but instead will leave you with a few pictures and short remedies:

Whole Chicken in Broth.

Another weekend in Seoul, this time pursuing the Global Gathering 2010 Electronic Music Festival (YUM) really amazing night of flashing lights, crazy dancing in the midst of happy, innocent K-Pop dancing Koreans, and general enthusiasm for life.

For the meal before the show we walked into a restaurant, and, exhausted, couldn’t even attempt to use the little Korean we had, consequently shuffling awkwardly around for a bit before saying: “Chicken?” and seating ourselves in the mostly- empty local restaurant.

Result: The delivery of an entire chicken in a bowl of broth. We each got a bowl with an entire chicken in it. I have never been so happy at the result of random ordering. Hooray, Korea! You win!

Cute, Boy: Cute, Sweater

Next story is more visual than visceral in terms of understanding. Notice adorable boy to the left; notice adorable boy to the left’s adorable sweater.

Two kittens, hugging over a spool of yarn!? Is there anything more adorable than that!?

And is there more to say after that? Everything in Korea is adorable. I love Asia.

Note: This picture is valuable insight to what it is like riding on an empty Korean subway. Now just imagine being packed in there like sardines! Oh boy.

At their request, Domino's Pizza Party at my apartment.

Third and final story before I go collapse in bed and begrudgingly drag myself out of bed in the morning, too early in the morning: I have been slowly forming a friendship with many of the teachers in my school, which is amazing! I am so happy they want to get to know me. 🙂 We finally managed to find a time we could all (most) get together, and two of the teachers took me for a traditional Bibimbop dinner and we met two others later at my apartment. I must admit it was a little exhausting, five extra hours of language barriers in my usual relax- and- sit- in- English- safehaven- of- an- apartment. The struggle to speak to be understood, as well as struggling to understand, is really a lot of work. But they are all so sweet to me and after we click into certain topics it really is fun.

Oooookay, one last thing. I totally made apple pie today at school. It was amazingly delicious, had to make it all from scratch. I hung out in the Special Education room all morning and had a cooking class with them, showed them how to make apple pie, and made enough to distribute to three offices of teachers!

So, you may want to ask, what happens when one gives a group of Koreans an apple pie to share?

Delicious apple pie for all!

Oh! Lucky you, I have the answer.

When one gives a group of Koreans an apple pie without utensils to accompany, they may or may not stand around talking incomprehensible-to-you language, laugh a lot, take the pie and flip it upside down on a tray (where did that tray come from!?) amidst yelling and pointing, and then pick it up with their hands and attempt to flip it back right side up: after the pie is completely demolished on a tray (a beautiful sight), they will attack with chopsticks and it’s completely fair game. Delicious. Happiness for all. Yum.

With happiness and love, and a whole lot of tiredness, signing out from Yeoju-gun, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea.

Hello family, friends, random strangers from the web:

Another week in Korea has passed beautifully by. The mountains today are peaceful, beautiful, fading gently as the train weaves through the landscape, the green hue of the trees transformed to a soft and gentle blue in the midst of the fog. Amid the distant sounds of construction, I spent my day quietly, breathing the cool breeze and enjoying the warmth of the sunshine, the color of my pencils, the scratch of the pen.

There are few thoughts in my head but to tell you things are quite busy, as per usual when life is spent exploring and meeting people. The more familiar I become with Korea, the more beautiful it is, though it may be noted that my romantic perception of life is, indeed, romantic, and though there are many things in Korea that are perceptually and culturally different from the land of purple mountains majesty, the bad things do not in any way outnumber the good. I am happy in Korea: everything is new and interesting to me.

There are many things I miss from home but such is the constant state of life, and I am happy to be here now.

A few pictures to speak louder than words:

Welcome to Korea, Modern and Ancient: Gyeongbokgung Palace in Seoul

Market Day in Yeoju.

Happy Audience: Seoul World Design Fair 2010