Dirt Pudding & Live Octopus

This past weekend was excpetionally good. Seth came to Cheongju, as well as my friend Josh. Friday night the two visitors and most of the Cheongju ETAs went to a wine party downtown that we had heard about from one of Kate's students (who is in h.s. by the way). None of us knew what to expect since nothing here is ever what you think it will be like. I am happy to say that for the first time, the wine party was exactly what it was supposed to be: free wine, good snacks, a nice atmosphere and new people to talk to. The party was hosted by Kate's student's English tutor who brought her middle-aged women students to talk to us. They were all very nice and everyone had a really nice time. We spent the evening on the terrace of a wine restauarant which was awesome since there are very few wine restaurants that I've seen in Korea...if any. Me and Kate with her student Da-bin (aka Mickey) Saturday I spent the day with Seth planning our winter vacation trip. I originally wanted to go to Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia, but we decided Indonesia was too big and too spread out to travel around during our limited time outside of Korea. I think we've decided to spend New Years in Singapore and then travel North through Malaysia and Thailand, stopping in various cities and at various islands along the way, and ending in Bangkok. It will save us a lot of money since we can travel by bus and train with the exception of our flights into and out of Korea. I'm now really really excited for traveling...it can't come soon enough. I'm also going to Beijing in 2 weeks for 4 days with my host mom and sister to see the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. Saturday night Seth came over to my host family's apartment for dinner. We carved pumpkins with my host mom and host sister, both of whom had never carved a pumpkin before. It was really cute and neat to share that experience with them. Seth and I also made dirt pudding with Tammy, which of course she loved since she loves anything chocolate (she eats her French Toast I make her with chocolate syrup). Let me jump back a little bit. While sitting with my host dad at the dinner table, the topic of sushi came up. A semi-common type of sushi here is live octopus. They literally take a live octopus and using kitchen scissors, cut off little pieces of the tentacles which are then eaten right away. The thing about these tentacles is that they continue moving for one or two hours after they are cut off. I've heard about this food from other Koreans and ETAs who have been served it, but I was able to avoid eating it...until Saturday night. Now fast forward to Saturday night...I guess Seth had mentioned that he liked the live octopus sushi and I mentioned that I had never eaten it. While the rest of us were busy eating our dirt pudding, my dad slipped out to go to the mart. He came back with a package of live octopus. While we are still eating our pudding, my host mom puts down the plate of live octopus that is still squirming...scratch that...not only squirming but trying to escape from the plate. I decided to try it because well, when else am I ever going to have the chance to eat something like that. Much to my surprise, it really wasn't bad! The weirdest part was having the octopus tentacles suck onto your tongue or your cheek if you didn't immediately chew it to death...literally. So anyway, that may take the cake for being the weirdest culinary experience in my life so far. Seth and the host fam with our pumpkins Tammy's Lisa Simpson pumpkin pathetic looking Spongebob pumpkin crushing oreos dirt pudding Eating octopus and dirt pudding...my host mom is in the midst of explaining what dirt pudding is to my host dad...quite the cultural exchange going on.


Octopus sushi

San Seong in the fall

Gyeongju Conference

Two weekends ago I attended an ETA conference in the southern part of Korea in an area called Gyeongju. There's really not a whole lot to do in Gyeongju, but we were put up in a nice hotel for 4 days with all of our friends we hadn't seen in August, so it was a pretty great weekend. The weekend consisted of lots of group meetings about various teaching topics, exchanging of teaching idea, motor biking around the hotel area, riding swan boats, playing frisbee in the backyard of the hotel, sleeping a lot, drinking a little too much, and eating delicious food.


Riding one of the mini motor bikes around the hotel area.


Kate and Kelly on their mini quad


too bad these bikes only went like 10 mph


safety first!


Swan boats


Inside the swan boat.


All of the rice fields turn bright yellow/orange in the fall which makes Korea even more beautiful than it already was.

teachers field trip

Yesterday was my school's birthday, which meant no school for students. OF COURSE teachers don't get off that easy. We had to go on a mandatory field trip with the other teachers in our grade. My two co-teachers and I went with the fifth grade teachers and the principal (big surprise...no one knew he was coming with us until that morning) to Daejeon to go and see Donghaksa temple. Donghaksa is the Korean temple where all of the women monks stayed. There are still some women monks living there. In typical Korean fashion, most of our day was actually spent eating and drinking, and we only spent a total of 10 minutes at the actual temple. Also in typical fashion, I really didn't know what was going on most of the time. I was able to bond a little with my co-teachers though and the scenery was beautiful so it wasn't too bad of a time. No one got drunk and tried to punch through a bus window like has happened in past years...not sure if I'm happy or sad about that. It might have made the day a little more exciting.


Me and the co-teachers (Min-hi and Min-ah) outside the Western-style restaurant we went to for lunch.


The delicious spaghetti, pork cutlet and steak meal I had at the restuarant


Donghaksa temple




beautiful trees



me and the principal...he later bought me necklace on the walk down from the temple :)

Hines Ward & North Korea

Today I had to take a group faculty photo for the graduation album. None of the other teachers wanted to stand next to me because they said I have a small face. This is actually a compliment. I get comments all the time about how thin or how small my face is. This is because most Korean women hate their round faces and always wish they were thin. I find this really amusing because I think all of the women who tell me this are absolutely beautiful. I kind of secretly wish I was Asian.

Today in my one teachers' class I was talking about American football, which they knew absolutely nothing about. I started naming famous quarterbacks hoping it would spark some sort of recognition. I wasn't getting anywhere so I gave up, until one of the teachers (who knows nothing about football) asked me if I knew Hines Ward (he is part Korean). I thought the Walko's and McGlynns would really enjoy that little tidbit. A lot of the Koreans I've spoken too also know the Phillies because one of the players is Korean. What a small world.

I had another of those moments today where I thought to myself, "Wow. Is this really my life right now?" I was in my evening teachers class, which is my favorite of all of the classes I teach. They are the nicest group of people, and we have some pretty interesting and eye opening discussions in those classes. Today I had the teachers read an article on Korean military service. For those of you who don't know, all Korean men are required by law to serve in the military for 2 years. Most of them do it in their 20's. I am absolutely fascinated by this and I try to ask as many Korean guys my age about their experiences as possible, without being rude. I just can't imagine growing up knowing that you have to dedicate 2 years of your life to the military, especially since its done during what are supposed to be some of the best years of your life. Anyway, I had the teachers read an article about it and then split them up into two debate teams. One team wanted to reduce the required time spent in the army, and the other team wanted to keep it the same. We ended up having a really intense debate about the topic. They started talking about their feelings on the threat North Korea poses, and about their brothers' and sons' negative experiences in the military. I thought to myself: Wow. I mean who knows what will happen with North Korea in the future. Regardless of what happens, I will always have this memory of sitting in a classroom in South Korea with these intelligent women discussing (in English) about politics with North Korea. It was a pretty amazing feeling.
After the discussion I asked the women to tell me how they really felt about mandatory military service since I made them argue certain sides, and every single one of them said that they hated the idea. They wish their service could be voluntary like America's. They the shared some of the things their male relatives told them about their experiences in the military, and it sounds really depressing. I think of some of the really sweet Korean guys I've met here and I can't imagine them in an army uniform carrying weapons and doing monotonous exercises everyday for two years. It's crazy.

Sometimes I can't believe this is actually my life.

My day consisted of...

Teaching my first teachers class about the Super Bowl, NFL, MLB, Neshaminy Sports, the Philly Phanatic, tailgating and Neshaminy football.

During my second teacher's class, I asked the teachers "What is one thing you wish you had done when you were younger?" One female teacher responded, "I wish I had drank more."

Cooking chicken fingers (using crushed up crackers instead of bread crumbs...actually really good), fettuccine alfredo, and steamed broccoli for my host family.

Teaching my host sister how to play the Rummikube game I bought her for Chuseok.

Funny things from class:

I've started having my advanced 5th and 6th graders journal for 10 minutes everyday. The only rule is that they are constantly writing in English the whole time. The are allowed to write about anything they want. Most of the kids write about their days or what they played during recess time. This is what one boy wrote.

"All plants need sunlight and soil in order to survive. However, sunlight and soil are not enogh to grow carnivorous plants. The must eat tiny animals. Sundew plants have sticky leaves that move quickly to trap fly."

I think I have a genius on my hands.

In another class, I had the students create their own bands and write what instruments they would include, how many people would be in their band, and what their number one song would be called. This was one 5th grader's response.

NAME OF BAND: I Kill You For the Music
INSTRUMENTS: sexphone <---- we just learned the word "saxophone"
#1 SONG: Boober

Another thing I find really funny is the conversation I have whenever people ask me where I'm from. The typical conversation goes like this...

"Where are you from?"
"Pennyslvania. Do you know Philadelphia?"
(usually a vague look of familiarity)
"What is famous there?"
"Do you know the Liberty Bell?"
(blank stare)
"You know, the big bell with the crack in it. L-I-B-E-R-T-Y-B-E-L-L?"
(another blank stare)
"The woman who sewed the first American flag lived in Philadelphia."
(slight nod)
"Do you know the movie Rocky?"
(enthusiastic nod) followed by "Sylvester Stallone." (or some variation of his name)
"Do you know the part where he runs up the steps and pumps his fists in triumph?" (usually said while acting out the running up the steps and fist pumps)
"Yes! Yes!"
"Well, those steps are in Philadelphia."
"Ahhhhhh."

my latest Hanji project

If I hear "traditional Korean" one more time...

Hello all! Well, I'm back from my really long and draining and fun and insightful and at times hell-ish Chuseok weekend with the family. Let me start by saying that I would normally not want to spend that much consecutive time with my real family over the holidays (no offense mom and dad), let alone a Korean family with whom I can only barely communicate. All in all it was a really fun time and the entire family is really nice and funny (I have yet to meet a Korean who I don't like) and very welcoming towards me. After two days however, I was ready to come home or at least have internet or a working phone (left the phone charger at home). We arrived at my host dad's mother's house Thursday night and a couple of relatives came over for dinner, including my two boy host cousins, Mun Shik and Won Shik, who are a year older and a year younger than me. They were my saving graces this weekend. They are really really nice and their English wasn't too bad. Friday afternoon they came over to pick up Tammy, me, and another girl cousin to go to a Traditional Korean Folk Village nearby. It was beautiful and we saw a couple of performances, including a Salmunori music group. Just when I thought we were going to leave the village we ended up walking not through an exit, but through an entrance to an amusement park that for some reason is connected to the village. We ended up spending like two hours going on all of the rides at the park. I love anything that lets me feel like a little kid again. Saturday was Chuseok, so we all woke up early, put on our Hanboks and after the men performed the ritual bowing to the ancestors, we ate the pounds of delicious Korean food my host mom and aunts had prepared the day before. In the afternoon my host cousins and family went to Suwon castle, which was built during the Joseun Dynasty (spelling?) when the King was trying to move the capital to Suwon. The only negative part about visiting the castle was that, as usual, I had no idea where we were actually going to. My host mom only mentioned something "cultural" so I mistakenly wore nice shoes with small heels and had to walk around in them for 4 or 5 hours. Typical. This morning the whole family went to a local park where we played badminton, ate cotton candy and cocoons (I did not partake in the cocoon eating), and rode bikes.
Needless to say, I am completely mentally and physically exhausted from the weekend. There were about 2 hours this afternoon where I just wanted to cry because all I wanted to do was go "home" and lay in my comfy bed. Sleeping on a wooden floor with only a thin mat, hard pillow, and shitty blanket for three days will make anyone miserable, regardless of how much fun the days were. There was also a moment when I was laying on my hard, uncomfortable mat last night where I thought to myself, "Am I really laying here in some strangers apartment in the middle of South Korea while my family and friends are halfway around the world? What the f*** was I thinking?" I have these moments a lot, but they're quickly overturned when I think, "Holy sh*t, I'm in South Korea for a year and I have the opportunity to have all of these awesome, once in a lifetime experiences." I think I'm going to leave with a love-hate relationship for this year.
Speaking of leaving, I often think about how weird it's going to be when I do go back to America. I've been told reverse culture shock is a lot worse than initial culture shock when you come to a foreign country, and I can already see that is going to be true. On my ride home I was thinking about all of the things that will be weird to encounter again after my year here. Here's part of my mental list: carpet (I have only seen carpet in nice hotels here), wearing shoes in the house, forks and knives, dryers, obese people, having taxi drivers actually understand where I'm telling them to go the first time I say it, tipping, buying anything (Korea is SO CHEAP), not having every stranger I pass stare at me, be able to actually read signs on stores without much effort, and television.
As a random note, Mun Shik was showing me his pictures from his trip to the US two years ago and most of the pictures were of the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas and San Francisco. But there was one random photo in the midst of all of the others ones of him standing with a Hooters girl. Now that's a true American experience haha.
Speaking of American experiences, I thought I'd tell you about my cultural contributions I've made to my homestay so far. First and foremost, my host mom and sister now eat toast with jelly every morning for breakfast with me. Host dad still hasn't given in yet though. I've also introduced them to french toast, although their version is sans butter and syrup...still better than kimchi and fish for breakfast though. My host sis and I also made banana splits the other night and shes asked for them every night since. I've also introduced my host sister to a bunch of American music like Beyonce, Rhianna, Justin Timberlake, etc. However, my favorite song I've gotten her into is "Rich Girl" by Hall and Oates. She can't get enough of it. I've also introduced the family to YouTube and their favorite video so far is the Korean baby singing "Hey Jude". My host mom walks around the house singing it all the time. I've also introduced them to a bunch of games like UNO, Egyptian Rat Screw and Rummikube.

Here are some pictures from my Chuseok weekend:

PREPARING THE CHUSEOK MEAL


FOLK VILLAGE


TRADITIONAL KOREAN MUSIC PERFORMANCE



MUN SHIK, WON SHIK, YOUNG GYEONG, AND TAMMY



LITTLE GIRLS WEARING THEIR HANBOKS



WON SHIK, ME, MUN SHIK


OFFERINGS FOR THE ANCESTORS


TAMMY, ME, YOUNG GYEONG IN OUR HANBOKS


SUWON CASTLE