My New Year's Resolution...

... is to continue to better myself spiritually, mentally, and physically.

To take advantage of every moment.

To teach.

To learn.

To travel.

To love.

To laugh.

And to continue to smile.

An exciting and safe New Year's Eve to all! Happy 2010!!

Namaste

The King of Pop Art

I can't believe I almost forgot to write about my first trip to a Korean art museum. The other weekend some friends and I decided to check out the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art in downtown Seoul. The exhibit was honestly one of the most well laid out exhibits I have ever seen. I was very impressed with the collection and the pieces they were able to acquire. There were the famous Marilyn series, Jackie O painting, Campbell's Soup Cans, Mao paintings, Michael Jackson painting, and some that I had never seen before including a black-light series of Jesus paintings. The only complaint that I had was the English translations for the descriptions were very poorly done. You would think that for all the money they spent on this big exhibition they could have paid someone to translate correctly. That was just my own small pet-peeve. Warhol's use of bright colors and vivid paints made me fall even more in love with his genius as my eyes moved from piece to piece. I really appreciate an artist that is not afraid to use color. The museum had an amazing collection of his work and I felt fortunate to get a fix of modern art in this strange land.

Warhol exhibit advertisement

Sara, me, and Sam at the exhibit

"They always say time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself."

-Andy Warhol-

Namaste

All You Need to Remember is Pizza and Fries

A couple weeks ago I had another public school training course and on our last day we went on a field trip to Icheon, an area popular in Korea for traditional Korean pottery. We visited a pottery studio for the day. First we were shown a video about how to make pottery (in Korean). Next, we were given a tour (again, in Korean) of the studio and shown some of the finished products. They then showed us how to use the pottery wheel (you guessed it, in Korean). We were taken to a studio to make our own clay pinch pots. During our arts and crafts time I had the chance to learn how to use the wheel and practice with some clay. The Korean pottery that we saw in Icheon was really intricate and beautiful. Some pieces ranged from small tea sets to gigantic pots that were almost as tall as me. The colors were really peaceful jade greens, blues, and soft browns. I was impressed at the amount of time and craftsmanship that go into making a piece of art like that. After finishing up with the pottery studio and browsing some gift shops, we ate lunch at a traditional Korean restaurant. Not a bad way to spend a paid day away from school.

pottery studio in Icheon

Korean pottery

using the pottery wheel

pouring some makkoli at lunch

Last week as I mentioned, I took over the after school English classes. I had 5 extra classes a day to teach in a small cold room after school. It was draining on top of all my other work, but the students were really adorable and their English levels were high, so we had some fun while pushing through their required curriculum.

cute kiddos in the after school English class

Check out a video of these little darlings: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100124321410759&subj=6804238

Christmas Eve some friends and I decided to go and see the Nutcracker ballet in Seongnam-gu (the city I live in) at the Arts Center here. It was a Russian ballet and was beautifully done. After the ballet we enjoyed a Mexican dinner for Christmas Eve and had a drink at the local bar before calling it a night. It was a lovely way to spend Christmas Eve away from home.

the Nutcracker ballet in Seongnam

ladies at the ballet

Merry Christmas Eve

My friend Sam and her friend Lucas came all the way up from Seosan (about 2.5 hours away) for the show so they stayed with me for the night. I had to get up at 5:30A.M. for my ski trip the next morning and I was looking forward to a good rest when I got home. As soon as we walked in the door around 12:45A.M. there was a terrible eye-watering, lung filling smell in my apartment. I had never smelled anything like it and it really freaked me out. We spent the better part of the night trying to figure out where it was coming from. We turned off my gas, opened the windows and doors, and decided to see what would happen. Around 1:30A.M. the smell was not any better, so Lucas went down to see if there was someone in my building office he could talk to. He came up after having talked to a security guard in broken Korean (or Konglish= Korean + English), and we thought that he had called someone to come and check it out. An hour later and no one to help, we decided to go to bed with the window open. A few minutes later the smell grew even worse and I went out in my hallway for some air. I saw my neighbor’s door open and decided to peek in only to find them trying to put out an electric fire from their heating pad that was now burning through their mattress with water. The entire room was filled with smoke and I now knew where the awful chemical smell was coming from. Lucas tried to convince them in Korean to take it outside, but they would not listen. Finally I went to bed with the covers over my face in hopes of getting a couple hours of sleep and we heard them taking the mattress out through the hallway a little while later. I cannot believe how idiotic you have to be to keep an electrical device like that plugged in for so long. Lord knows how many hours they were gone and what would have happened if they had not come home when they did. They could have burned down our entire apartment building. Definitely a Christmas Eve to remember.

I was a little cranky the next morning getting up so early to head into Seoul to catch the bus for our ski trip. The first day I fell a lot, but the second day was much better and I did not fall at all. I only stayed on the bunny hills, but was proud to have basically taught myself how to ski with a little help and some pointers. Christmas dinner was accompanied by lots of soju and was followed by a small gag gift exchange at a noraebang. We drank and sang away the rest of the night. Saturday night we went to check out a casino near the ski resort. I had no idea until that night, but Korean people are not allowed to step foot into any other casino in the country except this one. The reason being that this is the only casino in Korea that does not serve alcohol. I have mentioned Korean drinking culture before and they are a people who easily become addicted to things like alcohol and gambling. We all know that when you mix the two it can be bad, so the Korean government has banned Korean people from entering any casino with alcohol. The result of this was a casino jam packed with Koreans sipping free juice and gambling away their lives. These people were nuts. Some had cigarette packs or coats on chairs of slot machines they were using and if you went anywhere near it they would push you out of their seat and yell at you in Korean that it was ‘their’ machine. The tables were surrounded by people playing three deep because there weren’t enough seats and so many wanted to play. The most annoying and interesting casino experience of my life. Sunday traffic was really bad and it began to snow as we got closer to Seoul. What was supposed to be a 2.5 hour ride ended up taking us 7 hours. Korean people are really poor drivers with normal road conditions and it was chaos with some snow added to the mix. By the looks of things on the road you would have thought it was blizzard conditions outside, but there were only a few measly inches of powder. People were stuck, going backwards, outside on the highway pushing their cars. It was quite a sight. Once we got back to Itaewon we enjoyed a delicious last meal together and then headed home. It was a fantastic weekend with new friends, ski slopes, soju, noraebang, numerous GS 25 stops, Disney references, You Tube videos, casinos, and lots of laughs.

up at the top of the slopes

group shot after the first day

Christmas dinner

sides

ski slopes in Korea

ski and snowboard gals

all the ladies

on the bus

bees and honeycomb that cost 800,000 won

dried squid at a rest stop

yummy

crazy roads after some snow

last meal at the Wolfhound

Check out the rest of the photos from the ski trip here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2745730&id=6804238&l=75d954b92f

Namaste

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a wonderful life, indeed. This week marks my 3rd month anniversary in Korea. Really can't believe that I am 1/4 of the way finished with my contract. This week has been a little hard not being home with family and good friends, but I am making do and have a lot to look forward to with the coming holidays and new year. For Christmas weekend some friends and I are going skiing at a resort in the eastern part of Korea in the Gangwon-do province. I am really looking forward to hitting the slopes, even though I will need to take some lessons because I am not a skiier. My friend and travel buddy, Sam, is coming to stay with me next week for vacation and we are planning to do lots of touristy things and explore Seoul. It should be a great vacation and is much deserved after picking up 5 extra classes a day this week! My mom is coming in February for a visit and I could not be more excited to see her and show her around. Life is good.

I wish everyone and their families a wonderful, safe, and happy holiday season! Merry Christmas and lots of love from the far east!

thanks for the scarf mom! she knitted this by hand- isn't she the most talented and amazing woman in the world?

Namaste

Eating Chicken Wings with Chopsticks...

...is really difficult. Don't believe me? Try it for yourself sometime. Whenever we have some kind of 'American' finger food like wings or ribs for school lunch my Korean co-workers dig in with their chopsticks and manage to eat it without any fuss or mess. I, on the other hand, feel like a 5 year old child with most of the meat still on the bone and the sauce all over my face.

My co-teacher and I went to see a new model apartment the other day in Bundang. She explained to me that they build these perfect models for people to check out and then tear them down and build the actual apartments elsewhere. I don't understand it. In America the model home is built and then sold for a family to actually live in. Everything is a lottery here in Korea and buying a new apartment is no exception. People have different amounts of points or credit and those with enough will have a chance to be eligible for a new apartment if they are chosen. As soon as we walked into the model apartment we had to take our shoes off (of course) and wear slippers through the 'homes'. The apartments were really modern and posh compared to those of my teacher friends I have seen around here. It was so funny walking around watching all the Korean people with their little brochures examining each new appliance and available option like they were picking out a new car or touring a museum. It was definitely different from any open house I have experienced in the States.

One thing I cannot get used to and grosses me out beyond words is males spitting in public. They do it wherever, whenever, and however they chose. There is spit on every sidewalk, pathway, road, even indoor floor that you step on in Korea. I am constantly walking by men while they hock up a huge phlegm-wad and project it onto the ground. Disgusting.

Teaching has been going well lately since I have been adding some different elements to my classes. Last week I did a music lesson with my 6th grade kids and we talked about music and watched music videos in class. The students really enjoyed it and actually listened/participated- it was great! This week I have added some Christmas games and activities to my lessons and you better believe I will be doing even more next week. I have been given the task of planning 4 weeks of winter camp for students. 2 weeks for 3rd grade (yay!) and 2 weeks for 4th grade. I am allowed to pretty much do whatever I want and I will have 2 different classes a day with about 15 students in each. You better believe my mind is turning with ideas and I cannot wait to try new and exciting things out with those age groups and manageable class sizes.

I have taught a Saturday class of 10 6th graders a few times and loved it. My co-teacher offered the classes to me for extra pay and I accepted. It has actually been a lot of fun to get to know the students better and talk with students whose English speaking ability is very high. Waking up on a weekend before 8A.M. was no picnic, but I am really glad I had the chance to work with those students. We had some really interesting conversations and I was glad to get their input on what life is like for Korean students and how to make English class better.

We went for dinner the other night to a great shabu shabu place. While it is a Japanese hot-pot dish, it is popular in Korea. Here is how you enjoy a delicious shabu shabu meal:

First, turn on your hot plate so the water can boil. Get a nice side dish of rice and veggies. Make sure you add some dried seaweed on top!

Next, collect some fresh veggies like sprouts, onions, greens, and mushrooms to add.

Choose some meat and fillers for your shabu shabu. Mandu (dumplings), beef, octopus, and tofu were my choices.

Dump everything minus your rice side into the pot of boiling water. At this point you can also add sauces and spices to your taste.

Cook until veggies are soft and meat is done. Turn down the heat on your hot plate. Finally, enjoy your yummy stew/soup-like creation! (The octopus got hard and was really chewy!)

Korean people do not seem to understand the concept of walking in a straight line. People in public places are constantly walking in front of, beside, behind you in the most round about way possible. They do not stay on the right-hand side. What makes it worse is that most of the time people are not paying attention either so they are just kind of absent-mindedly walking and bumping into things and each other. Another common annoyance to foreigners here is the bumping and shoving into you by others without so much as a glance or "I'm sorry". I have been elbowed, shoved, pushed, stepped on, you name it more times that I care to remember. It seems a little insensitive to us westerners, but to Koreans it is just another part of their "bali, bali" (hurry, hurry) lifestyle. I have grown so used to dodging people and walking in crazy zig-zag lines that when I go home to a right-hand-sided world I don't know what I'll do.

Check out what I have been up to the past few weeks:

snow in Bundang outside my apartment

view of the Han River from the subway

outside Dongdaemun subway station in Seoul

ribbon at Dongdaemun market

hanbok, traditional Korean clothing at Dongdaemun

shopping in one of my fav. spots in Seoul, Myeong-dong

best sales pitch I have ever heard- these guys were making honey and nut treats by hand

giant mushroom at Namdaemun market

Christmas decor at Namdaemun

Namaste

Sometimes Car Trouble is a Blessing in Disguise

My Korean-style Thanksgiving celebration was a success. We had delicious food, great company, and lots of fun celebrating last week.

homemade mashed potatoes & gravy

Sara, Hyun-jin, and I

not too shabby

As I mentioned, the Korean government mandated that all public school children receive the H1N1 vaccine in schools. Our students received the vaccine the other week and let me tell you, it was chaos. Mass chaos. First, there was a team of doctors, nurses, and public health staff that was brought into the school to set up their "station" in the science lab. All the teachers and office staff were running around like crazy trying to get everything prepared. Next they began with first grade and brought the students class by class into the hallway and lined them up. Their temperature was checked by sticking a thermometer into the students' ears, it was recorded on their sheet of paper, and then they were ushered into the science room for their vaccine. Many screams and cries were heard throughout the hallways that day. I was given the task of checking temperatures for 3rd-6th grade students. I figured that I stuck a thermometer into about 1,000 students' ears. I couldn't help but think about jabbing that thermometer a little deeper than necessary into the students' ears who constantly misbehave in my class..... wish I was kidding, but of course I would never..... The process took all morning and left everyone at school feeling exhausted and relived that it was over.

I was supposed to attend a training last weekend with my co-teacher and vice principal. I woke up bright and early at 7A.M. on a Saturday and was picked up a half hour later by my co-teacher. None of us were particularly excited about going to a voluntary school-related event on our day off, but the vice principal asked us to come and we kinda couldn't say no. (Actually I was running all my excuses through my head the night before, but decided to suck it up.) So we began the hour and a half journey to the very northern part of Korea for the event. Looking around us at the scenery we were seriously almost in North Korea. There were Korean army guards stationed at posts just off the highway. We got almost all the way to the city the training was being held in and my co-teacher's car broke down in the middle of the highway. She called for help and we had to stand outside in the freezing cold waiting for a tow. I was pessimistic thinking that it would take forever and amazing enough one showed about ten minutes later. We went to the mechanics and waited about an hour for the car to be fixed. While waiting, my co-teacher turned to me with a sly grin and said "I guess I have to call the vice principal and tell her we won't make it today." I knew what she really meant was "thank God we get to go home and crawl back into bed." My thoughts exactly.

We celebrated my friend's last weekend here in Korea Saturday night. We began at one of my favorite places in Seoul called Rainbow Room. It is a little hippy hookah bar with dim lights, floor seating, and a chill atmosphere. Then our night took us to Hongdae where were danced the night away in true Seoul fashion. Great weekend with great people.

Rainbow in Gangnam

yum green apple hookah

goodbye Mina

I attended a training course for GEPIK public school teachers in my province Monday through Wednesday of this week. I was dreading it a little, but was actually a lot of fun. It was helpful speaking to people teaching in similar situations as me with large class sizes, unruly kids, and problems motivating students to learn English. I got a lot of great ideas, made some new friends, and drank a lot of soju.

Since Christmas is coming up and my birthday just a few months after that I thought I would put together a small wish list for anyone wanting to send me something over here. I am not asking for presents, but just thought if it had crossed your mind to send something, but you weren't sure what- here are some ideas of things I miss/would appreciate. Most of these things can be found here, but are really pricey and/or far away to purchase, especially good books/mags.

• Christmas cookies
• Orbitz whitening gum (spearmint or peppermint)
• Kraft easy mac
• Elle or InStyle magazines (used would be great too! they are $7 or more a pop here!)
• books (would LOVE some more good reads)
• English picture books to use for teaching
• stickers, book marks, other fun things for my students
• Jergens self tanning lotion
• Burt's Bees chap stick
• watermelon sour patch kids, sweedish fish, or green package of starburts

really excited to see Christmas decorations up

If you have never read "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho do yourself a favor a pick up a copy. It is a short read jam packed with great insights about life, love, and the pursuit of your destiny. I just re-read it for the umpteenth time and wanted to share some of my favorite quotes.

"The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon."

"When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it."

"One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving."

"Because it's not love to be static like the desert, nor is it love to roam the world like the wind. And it's not love to see everything from a distance, like you do. Love is the force that transforms and improves the Soul of the World."

-Paulo Coelho-

The Alchemist

Happy December!

Namaste

Small Request

If everyone reading this blog could please keep the Regal family in your thoughts and prayers right now I would appreciate it very much.

Kam-sa-ham-ni-da. (Thank you.)

Namaste

So Blessed

I am feeling a tad melancholy and nostalgic this Thanksgiving holiday being close to 6,500 miles from home. I love Thanksgiving and it seems strange to be away from my family and close friends this time of year. While thoughts such as "man, no turkey this year" and "I can't believe I won't be partying in Chicago or having a Valpo reunion at Northside this weekend" have taken over my mind, I need to stop and remember that I have oh so much to be thankful for in my life. I just wanted to take a minute to reflect and share some of my (many) blessings.

I am thankful for...

love and peace in my life

family, my number one supporters

true friends who have withstood the test of time and many miles that separates

new friends

spirituality

a roof over my head

good health

my job

food in my belly

clothes on my back (let's be honest, most of which are darn cute)

shoes on my feet

clean water to drink

my education

learning something new every day

life changing experiences

new opportunities

hope

different cultures

American freedoms

beautiful art

kind strangers

teachable moments

enjoyable books

adrenaline rushes

well written lyrics

photo albums

strength and inspiration from the world

the internet

beer

autumn leaves

Elle magazine

cheese and wine

Indiana Hoosiers

Chicago hot dogs

Ugg boots

palm trees and white sandy beaches

Edward Cullen

Burt's Bees chap stick

HBO

Midwest thunderstorms

cell phones

hot showers

Broadway musicals

Marc Jacobs

long convos while porch sittin' on summer nights

cheese pizza

Above all I am thankful for a beating heart and constant reminders of how amazing this life is. It is amazing indeed.

I wish you and yours a blessed Thanksgiving holiday. Please enjoy some turkey for me (or in my brother Matt's case, a loaf of home-made bread followed by a late night run to T Bell or Arby's). Either will suffice.

Namaste

"Teacher, your ears is big!"

I was paid this lovely compliment by one of my most adorable students the other day. This little fourth grade boy reminds me of Dopey from Snow White. I’m not referring to him as a dope, but he has this cute little football shaped head and chubby cheeks that I just want to pinch.

Every time the students answer something correctly, get to play a game they like, win a game, or generally when something happens that would make American students say “YESSSSS!” accompanied by a fist pump of some sort, my Korean students say “OLE!” I’m pretty sure they picked this up from watching European soccer.

I know I have written about the respect that Koreans pay to their ancestors, but the same is also shown to the elderly people in Korean society. The security guard at our school is this really sweet old man who has to be in his seventies. He probably has one of the least ‘prestigious’ positions in the school as far as a job title is concerned, yet every time he walks into the main office where I work, everyone including the vice principals stop what they are doing to greet him. It is a small gesture, but it just goes to show once again the significance hierarchy of age plays in this culture.

Something that I have observed and thought a lot about is the way that foreigners are perceived and accepted here in Korea. Because I am ‘western’ and have ‘western’ features I am constantly being stared at. Constantly. It is very common that I will get onto the subway and realize I am the only foreigner and there will be people who will stare at me my entire journey. From the moment I step on board to the moment I step off the platform I can feel their eyes burning a hole into me. At first this really startled me because it is so different from the staring that I became accustomed to while living and traveling in Africa. In Africa people are always staring like they are in awe of you and most of the time they have a toothy grin to accompany their looking. It is very different here in Korea- people are staring without so much as a smile on their lips or an expression on their face. It can be unnerving at times.

My co-workers and Korean people that I meet are always telling me how beautiful I am. At first it was a little flattering and now I have just grown used to it and realized that it is not because I am particularly gorgeous or anything, (not fishing for compliments, am I?) but because I am ‘western’ and different looking. The other day my co-worker Grace and my vice principal told me that I should stay in Korea and learn Korean so that I can try and become part of a popular Korean talk show here called Global Talk Show or “The Chattering of the Beauties”. It is a talk show where foreign women who speak fluent Korean discuss their lives and cultural issues they face while living or studying here in Korea. My co-workers were telling me how I was much prettier than any of the girls on the show and Grace even told me that she would be my manager. All the other women in the office got into the conversation and they were teasing me about it for a good twenty minutes. It was really funny. Later in the day, Grace jokingly handed me a piece of paper and told me she needed my signature before I became too famous. Check out an episode of the show here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8mUDY_qb0A

Korean people seem to have a view that foreigners cause a lot of trouble while living here and every time something happens with a foreign person involved it is all over the news. I have heard of many instances of big news stories and issues involving only Koreans that have been quietly tucked under the rug. There was a huge article in the New York Times the other day about how some Korean women and foreign men are treated when they are seen together in public. Here is the link to the story of an instance just like this that has turned into a lawsuit: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/02/world/asia/02race.html The first thing that I thought of when I read this article is “how would these people have been treated in America?” The answer being that people would not think less of the situation and there would have most likely been no harassment at all. I do realize that America is the melting pot and we have grown accustomed to seeing many races and cultures of people mixing and living and interacting together, but Korea’s population of foreigners is increasing and don’t you think it’s time to learn a little tolerance? Tolerance. One of my favorite words. Ever.

The Korean government has decided that students are required to get a mandatory H1N1 vaccine at school on Friday so I will have no classes to teach. There are doctors and nurses coming into the school that will administer the vaccines. Each parent was required to sign a form and return it to school. I could never imagine something like that being mandated in US schools.

The temperature has dropped well into the low 40’s this week and it is getting rather cold. I realized today walking home from work that nearly all the leaves have fallen from the trees. Seoul saw it’s first snowflakes on Saturday night. For some unknown reason the windows in the hallways and in some of the rooms in the school are always open. It is absolutely freezing in the school. The students always have their jackets, hats, gloves, scarves, etc. on. Teachers are bundled up in giant sweaters and coats. I finally had to join the club and purchase an enormous grandma sweater-coat yesterday so I can stand the winter air indoors.

Saturday night/Sunday morning I had my first experience with norabang, or Korean karaoke. The karaoke places here are different from those in the US because in Korea they give you your own private room for you and your friends to make fools of yourselves without the encouragement of strangers. I went with a small group of people and we had a great time belting out everything from Disney songs to rock classics and when we finished and stepped outside we realized that it was close to 9A.M.

Namaste

Ipod Inspiration

"May the good Lord be with you down every road you roam.
And may sunshine and happiness surround you when you're far from home.
And may you grow to be proud, dignified, and true.
And do unto others as you'd have done to you."

-Rod Stewart, Forever Young

Namaste