Kids, Climbing

Kids get away with all kinds of exciting mischief here. Sometimes I wish I were a kid again...

Upscale Porta Potties

At the same park, there was a nice public restroom with ample toilet paper in good dispensers, toilets with both seats and lids, running water and heated air dryers. But really, this nice, clean restroom was just a porta potty. No flushing, just sanitizing suds. But man, I'm tellin' you - if you have to have a porta potty, at least do it with style. This restroom's done right.

(P.S. - Power Sweat's apparently an energy drink. Funny that that's in the trash can, though.)

It's Like Wii Fit - But Real

Today my friend and I went cycling around the gorgeous lake and park nearby. The paths were white dirt and gravel, the views were worthy of a thousand postcards, and the scenic ride was both superb and pleasant.

It was just like the bike ride in Wii Fit! The only thing that was missing were the crowds of strangely-drawn people standing around applauding. I did, however receive several (I think) approving nods and smiles from older men and women who were themselves cyclists, and yes, they and many others there were decked out in exercising uniforms, just like in Wii Fit.  I'm telling you, sometimes this country's too good to be true.

At the end of our adventure we ran across a live orchestra performance, but I think they were rehearsing for a real show later tonight. I might go back and watch them some.

Only 999 Left to Go

Tonight my oppa (older brother) made a paper crane out of a receipt while my friend (his girlfriend) and another friend and coworker of ours talked at a coffee shop.
I've never been able to learn anything from those origami books where they show one simple picture and a line or two of cryptic, vague instruction, so I'd never been able to make one before.
I asked if he could teach me how, and it turns out he's an awesome teacher. Behold my debut paper crane - the first, I hope, of many:

A Pair of Unexpected Books

I wasn't expecting to see these books on the shelf...

Wait, Why Are You Happy?

Yesterday in my two o’clock class, I started out by asking all the kids how they were doing today and why.  One girl said, “I am angry today, because my friend me hit this.”  She stood up and mimed slapping her bottom.

Usually when they do this I tell them how to say it properly in English so they can make a sentence.  So I tried to think of the least inappropriate way for her to say it: “I am angry today, because my friend hit my behind.”

This girl has excessive spunk sometimes, though, and she said, “Teacher, again, what is this?”  (Referring, of course, to her behind.)

So I stood up and said, “Where is it?  Is it in front of you?  No!  It’s not in front of you…it’s behind you.”  And I hit my butt to emphasize that that was where it was.

The whole class cracked up.  When I finally got them quieted down, I tried to resume our warm-up rounds.  Alas, you can imagine what 99% of them responded on their turn:

“I am happy today, because Teacher touched her behind.”

Great.  Thanks, guys.  I’ll just wait for my co-teacher to come and demand an explanation for the talk that’s going ‘round.

A Vampire Birthday

Every month we have a birthday party for our kindergarteners. It involves a lot of singing and dancing and shouting, as well as being in the spotlight if you're one of the kids whose birthday was this month.

My class is age 5 Korean, which means they're about 3 years old by Western gauge. This is their first year at our kindergarten and the birthday party is still overwhelming and confusing for them.

Today one of my students had a birthday. He is very talkative in class and super bright. We just learned about the letter V and I taught them the word vampire. I hummed an eery tune with it and they all seemed to enjoy it (and some even tried to emulate me).

But at the birthday party D got very quiet and nervous. He loves to sing and dance in class, especially when I'm trying to teach and he should be sitting quietly, so I was worried that maybe he was sick, but that wasn't it.

When I was helping him stuff his present into his schoolbag, I asked him.

Me: Was the birthday party fun?
D: No! NOT fun.
Me: Why not?
D: ...
Me: Was it scary?
D: (quite gravely) Yes.
Me: Why? Were there...vampires?

I hummed the tune and he cracked up immediately: "YES!"

A Night for 선생님s

Tonight all the teachers from our school went out together. Our director didn't go but, I'm pretty sure she paid.

We went to a really nice, really good place owned by the mother and brother of one of our kindergarten teachers. We had a great time and got stuffed, then went to a nearby coffee shop for coffee and dessert. It was great and I look forward to our next adventure.

Field Trip

Last week we went on a field trip with our kindergarteners. We visited a museum and then ate lunch and played together at a park. I had an awesome time and really had a blast with the children on the playground.

There was an interesting structure in a field by the museum, though, so I took a picture of it. I asked one of my Korean co-teachers what the balls in their mouths were, and she said that they were marbles, that according to legend, dragons always have and hold them and guard them - they are theirs.

Now I'm really curious about the legend, so maybe I'll see if I can find out more.

Post-Pirates Fencing and the Like

We saw the new Pirates of the Caribbean tonight. It was a lot of fun and I enjoyed it. Thanks to the rain earlier in the day, we all had our umbrellas, so we did some swashbuckling of our own. It reminds me of how much I miss sparring. I need to find a place to learn Taekwondo here soon.

(Check out my cool ticket stub. And you thought eight bucks was bad...how about 8,000? Ha, just kidding - they're about the same.)

To the Post Office at Last

We're finally no longer understaffed (well, at least as far as foreign teachers go), so I'm down to teaching just one class for kindergarten again. This means I now have a little free time in the mornings to take care of my own business.

So today I took off on my trusty bright banana (-colored) bike and ventured to the post office. I'd never been to this one before, so I wasn't even sure I'd find it. But I found it just fine, and in no time, too, thanks to my speedy new ride.

My trip inside confirmed the rumors that I'd heard before that you can't buy stamps to mail things to America. You have to go and have them weigh and put a sticker on it.

So I only mailed the things I'd already written, and it may be some time before I get out to mail more. But there you have it - "the letter's in the mail."

한국어

Had another great Korean class tonight. I still can't get over how amazing these classes are. I'm gonna keep on going back.

In other news, my bike's my new obsession. As soon as I set foot on the ground again all I wanna do is ride some more.

Life is really good right now.

서울 (Seoul)

We took the bus to Seoul on Saturday and saw a lot of beautiful and interesting things. Whenever I began to ponder the age-old passengers' question "Are we there yet?" the GPS function on my phone could pinpoint our location.

As we drove on, we passed many mountains. I loved seeing them and all I kept on thinking was, "I wanna climb that mountain."

But they got bigger and bigger. I saw one of the highest mountains I have ever seen behind the palace that we visited in Seoul. It was a great backdrop.

At the palace there was a beautiful pavilion. When we went to the aquarium at the massive Coex Mall, one of the displays had a model of it in the background.

The aquarium also had cute and interesting fishbowls, and even had one fish in a toilet bowl! At the very end you could stand on a conveyor belt and travel slowly through a tunnel with water overhead and on both sides. Huge sea turtles, hammerheads, and assorted other sharks would glide by all around while speakers played the theme from Jaws and other scary mood music.

The subway was really cool. The cars were spacious and wide - not to mention bright and clean - but people were packed in like sardines.

The rides were very quiet, too, and the platforms are separated from the tracks by tinted windows and sliding doors. The trains are fast and they come frequently, but they are always perfectly aligned when they arrive so the car doors open at the platform ones. I was totally impressed.

Also, both the subway and the mall had interactive touchscreen maps with search and zoom features, like a giant smartphone set up for the public. It was pretty cool.

I'll try to post some pictures from Seoul soon.

Check Out My Sweet Ride

Today I bought a bicycle. It was only 150,000￦, so I was very happy. You can ride on sidewalks here, so I've already ridden it a great deal, even though I didn't have time to make it to the park. It's really nice, and I think it will be hard for me to walk now knowing I can have a super enjoyable ride anytime I want. I can't wait to take it out again!

서울에서 가자!

Today we go to Seoul. :)

한국어를 공부하자!

Tonight I went to a free Korean class hosted by a wonderful Korean couple I met through an old co-worker. The man is also our banker so I get to see him when I transfer money home, and his fiancee is always more than generously kind to me.

I was astounded by how much I learned in one night and am sad I didn't attend sooner. My new co-worker lives down the hall from me and is already a diligent student of Korean, so I expect he'll help inspire me to put my language learning skills into full throttle and be an eager practice partner.

A Dreary Day Downtown

Another teacher and I walked downtown today. We stopped in a stationery store, that cool coffee shop I'll try to post some pictures of someday, and the music store where I bought my guitar. It was a nice walk, but it's been sticky and grey outside of late, and there's a constant threat of rain.

Please enjoy the pictures that I took along the way of a cool, old-looking house and a bike that seemed like it was made to linger by that flower bed.

(Much of this was actually the same way I walked Thursday, except that on Thursday I turned left at some point so I could see the sea.)

Fishing at the Sea

Today a bunch of us went fishing at the seawall. It's on the Yellow Sea, and we even saw a ferry on its way to China.

There were huge, jack-like barriers all along the wall, and you could climb down on them to cast your line into the sea. At the end of the long stretch of wall there was a red lighthouse. Alas, the heavy metal door was locked.

Two of our Korean companions caught fish, but one dropped his back into the sea by accident, and the other threw his back on purpose.

All in all it was a great experience--super scenic and a ton of fun.

Sorry in advance if my pictures turn out sideways again; I still haven't figured out yet how to post stuff from this phone!

Photos

I'll have to figure out how to rotate and position photos with this thing, apparently. ;)

Downtown Pizza

We ate lunch at a really nice pizza shop downtown today. The place seemed really classy, and their bathroom had live fish.

An Attempt to Blog from My New Phone

So I got myself a smartphone here. I also got the Kindle app, and one of the free books you could read was Treasure Island. So I read the first chapter yesterday.

But then I realized the irony of reading Treasure Island on my phone when it's actually one of the few English language books someone left in my apartment. So today I whipped out the old-fashioned one and contemplated reading it.

One way or another, I think it's good for me to read. So thanks for the inspiration, Samsung Galaxy S II.

P.S.

I wrote this on my phone; we'll see how quickly I can learn to blog on here.

Utility Bills

After paying my utility bills, I get this cool stamp from the bank:

My Children’s Day Adventure

Today is Children’s Day in South Korea, so I had the day off from work.  I wanted to go on an adventure and traipse around a bit.  I wanted to go by myself, too, because I usually have adventures with other people and then don’t do much independently.  I like having fun with people, but I want to be my own person, too.

So I set out—but first I ran an errand.  I don’t like to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, so I can’t be sure if this errand was successful yet or not, but I think I have secured myself a Samsung Galaxy S II—a smartphone—with an unlimited data/Internet plan.  I’m really looking forward to this, because I think I won’t be such a slacker with this blog if I can take pictures and upload them from anywhere.

I had plenty of amazing opportunities for beautiful photos today but I didn’t have my camera because I didn’t want to carry it.  I’ve noticed that I am more interested in blogging when I have a nice picture to put up, but I rarely have nice pictures because I never want to lug my camera anywhere.  I also don’t usually want to spend my limited amount of free time at home blogging when it’s the only chance I’ll have to check my e-mail and whatnot.  So I think getting a smartphone will solve a lot of problems.  I can swing it here, financially, and I’ve never had a phone like this before, so I’m looking forward to it.  I’ve always been good with computers but bad with cell phones, and my friend tells me I’d probably be fine with a smartphone because they’re like miniature computers.

Anyway, the man I spoke with in the shop told me to come back tomorrow because they didn’t have any in today, and that tomorrow I could seal the deal.  So I’ll have to wait and see if it works out.

After that, I started walking.  I wanted to find the sea.  I have a road map (in Korean) so I had some sense of what direction I should head.  But I didn’t want to stay on one straight road.  I wanted to walk and meander around the city some.  So I did.

Eventually I started seeing promising signs: the harbor was straight ahead, and the seawall was to the left, along with a tunnel.  I decided to go left, because I figured other people have been to the harbor and might be inclined to go with me, but this was my adventure, so I had to take advantage of going anywhere I wanted without anybody else’s input!  So I thought I’d find the seawall and the tunnel.

I found the tunnel—it looked long and huge—and I wanted to go through it.  But I also wanted to explore the interesting-looking mountain village to the right of the tunnel.  So instead of going through the mountain, I explored the village to the right of it.  Slowly I went up and up, through fascinating cement alleyways and tiny houses, and I caught a glimpse of some very interesting-looking stairs.  I wanted to go back and wander through the tunnel, but I really wanted to find out exactly where those stairs would lead.

So I walked up.  And up and up and up.  And at the top I heard music, and people were relaxing, and there was a beautiful garden, and there were small cafe-like restaurants and hikers walking past.  And on one side of the path there was a beautiful view of water and a red and white striped smokestack.  And on the other side there was a breathtaking view of the village I’d walked through and the whole city down below.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get to take that view in much, because there was some sort of ceremony going on (I think so, anyway), so I couldn’t get up very close.

But then I decided to keep walking, to keep finding better views.  And before I knew it, I had hiked around the mountain.  I came back down again, back through another mountain village, and saw the tunnel there behind me.  So I had climbed over the mountain instead of digging under it.

I didn’t want to go back yet, though.  I had seen the sea and I knew it was this way.  So I kept walking—and there I saw the water.  There was the main town part, and then a short barrier, and then dirt and fishing equipment and the water.  There was a gap in the barrier and no signs in any language, so I wandered through and looked at all the boats and massive nets and people fixing things and shelling clams.

There were piles and piles of empty shells in places and the smell reminded me of Senegal.  Several dogs barked at me, and several people eyed me suspsiciously, and a handful of people scraping seafood out of massively huge shells tried to talk to me a little (they were very friendly), but I don’t know much Korean, so we gave up eventually and I kept walking through.  At last I reached the end of the little fishing section and had to go back to the road.  I could see that there was construction happening on huge ships behind walls and through cracked doors with giant padlocks, but I knew I wasn’t supposed to wander into all those places, so I didn’t.  I kept going.

I decided I was satisfied that I had seen what I had come to see, so I figured it was time to head on back.  Instead of going back the way I came, however, I decided to keep walking on a different road that seemed to curve in the general direction of the tunnel.  Instead, I ended up at a rock-climbing facility (and saw someone reach the top and rappel down) with other woodsy obstacles (it looked like a youth camp course, perhaps), and only two ways out besides the way I came.  Both were paths going up a mountain.  One had stairs and one did not.  I figured it was the same mountain I’d already crossed so I went up the stairless one, but at the top there were more options.

I could go to the youth camp (no), or hike over one of two mountains.  I didn’t know which one to take, so I chose the one that involved walking across the historical levee of the city’s first resevoir, built in the early 1900’s.  It was beautiful.  But there was another lengthy walk ahead of me again, and I was tired and hungry.  Fortunately I had eaten an apple on the road before I came and bought myself some water in the city.  But on I trekked…and at last I reached a strange playground at the top.  There was a map posted, and I realized I was nowhere near the mountain I had crossed originally.  I was much farther west and even somewhat south compared to where I’d first climbed up the mountain by the village.  The only way to get out was to keep on walking, though, so I kept on traipsing down and down.

Near the bottom of the hill I saw some strangely-shaped statues and recognized them as the kind I’ve seen in pictures of temples.  There was a Buddhist temple there, and in the distance by the mountain I could see a Buddha statue.  The temple was very beautifully decorated, and I wandered into the gate around the courtyard for a few steps because I was curious about what it looked like, but I felt too creepy going further so I left and wandered out.

At last I wandered into a small town and bought food on a stick at a small shop.  I didn’t know what the food would be, but it turned out to be a hot dog that had been fried (sort of like a waffle?) around it.  I got ketchup on it and departed.  It was good, but I’d had two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for breakfast at 10 or 11 in the morning, and it was 3 or 4 p.m. by now.

I kept wandering, thinking I should go back, but the air was cold and breezy suddenly, and I recognized it as the wind that comes from being near the water.  So I followed the wind for a while and ended up at an industrial park.  That was interesting, too, but it was getting to be 5 o’clock and I was tired and still hungry.  I studied my map for a while but wasn’t sure where I was now.  At last I went inside a chicken place and rested for a while.

I had a great time there and ate a lot of chicken and the people there were very kind.  I think maybe it was run by an older man, his wife, and his daughter, but I can’t be sure.  The daughter (if that’s who she was) showed me where I was on the map and showed me how to get to the neighborhood I’m from (it was pretty simple, really, after seeing where I was, haha).  The older woman was very kind to me and gave me a free mug when she wrapped my leftovers to go.  She kept talking to me in Korean and mothering me and acting all impressed by my feeble Korean skills.  I think she wants me to come back a lot but I live an hour’s walk away, even by the direct route, heh.  Anyway, when I got home, I took some pictures of the bag, because it was so super cute.  So here, there’s finally some eye candy to break up this long post:

And without the handle in the way:

Here’s the side:

And check out the close-up of the SuperCuteness Characters:

If I’m reading the Hangeul right, their names are (from left to right): Mexi, Kana (rhymes with Ghana), Cheeky, and Chico.    Hahaha, so cute!

Then I set out with my cute bag and new mug and leftover slightly-spicy-but-delicious chicken.  I passed an open hardware store, so I stopped in.  My former coworker left me his bike, but it’s way too high for me to ride.  I think I need a wrench to adjust it.  I had been at a loss as to where to buy a wrench, but hey!  I was wandering around the industrial zone!  Unfortunately, the wrench I ended up buying was too small.  Maybe I should try size 17 next time.  The folks inside were pleasant, though, and asked me where I was from.

I kept getting alternating feelings as I walked around.  Sometimes I felt out of place or like people weren’t necessarily thinking favorably of me, but at other times I felt exceptionally welcomed or treated kindly.  The chicken place and hardware stores are places I would like to visit again if I go back someday.

Then I walked back.  The view was beautiful.  To the right were farms and grasses and other fascinating views.  The sidewalk was blue and slightly squishy and had bicycle lanes on it.  At some point I walked past a marine store that had all kinds of interesting sea creatures in tanks outside the shop.  One thing looked like a huge earthworm trying to wriggle itself free of the other animals.  Its mouth was strange, like a hole full of strange and needly teeth.  It reminded me of the desert monster in that Star Wars movie, sort of.  And I saw other things that may have been sea cucumbers!  It’s always fascinating here.

But like I said, when I got home, I found out that the wrench I got was too small.  So I’ll have to figure something out…

Sorry that this post was so long!  I hope it was still worth the read!