Killing Time at Gimhae Airport

I woke up at 8am this morning which was completely unnecessary considering that it takes maybe 30 minutes to get to the airport and my flight is at 2:20pm. Everything was packed and scrubbed in my apartment, I even cooked myself some eggs for breakfast!  Upon strolling to the curb with my enormous suitcases a cab rolled to a stop and the very kind driver helped me load them into the car. We chatted in Korean and English (his English was excellent) for the entire ride and my travel anxiety was at an all time low.

When I went to check in, I discovered my bags were 4 kilos overweight each. Considering my fairly new home scale weighed them in at precisely the limit (22 kilos) I was a bit annoyed. Especially considering that the fee for each bag was $50 USD. No matter, too late to change things so I smiled and joked with the clerk and went to the other counter to pay my fee. There I was informed by the kindly workers for Japan Airlines that I would most likely have to pay Again when I arrived in Tokyo because the fee only covered me from Busan to Tokyo, not to my final destination, New York.  Now, this would not be surprising if I had purchased two separate tickets. However, I bought the ticket as a package and it was labeled "American Airlines Flight ---- operated by JAL EXPRESS." This is very common, when I flew to NY stopping in China on the way home last year my ticket had something like that on it too and I didn't have to pay overage fees twice.  Trust me, when I get to Tokyo I will use all of my finagling to get out of paying $100 again. I'm an English teacher flying economy class.  Ugh. I think I will weight them again using my mom's manual scale at home to see if their scales are set wrong. If so, they will definitely be receiving a letter of complaint.

On the bright side, security and immigrations were a breeze.  I greeted each security officer with the most polite form of hello and chatted a little with them in Korean. After the scan a woman searched my purse and in my ziplock bag, pointed out that the toothpaste tube was too big for regulation. I pulled that sort of helpless, innocent smiley look and said in a pleading, light hearted voice (again in Korean) that it was 'just a little toothpaste left in the big tube'...and she smiled and put it back in my bag. Using my Korean skills to get my way always makes me happy.

Spaz update: I have a huge bruise on my hipbone from running into a desk yesterday which is inconsequential compared to the following bit of idiocy. A co-worker surprised me in class with a chocolate cake for the students and me. I ate a few bites of amazing chocolate cake because I didn't want her to lose face by realizing that I am allergic to milky cake in front of all of the students. I figured, I've been so good lately, I bet 3 bites won't bother me. Terrible idea. Was sick last night and this morning. I got medicine at the airport pharmacy though and am feeling better. Oh well. The students loved it and my co-teacher got to eat a huge portion since I didn't have much. My mom promised me a fabulous lactose free chocolate cake when I arrive in NY so long as I swore not to give her any. No problem, I have zero desire to share it with anyone except maybe my Dad.  Chocolate binge, here I come!!!!!

Note: Gimhae Airport is full of free internet lounges sponsored by various banks. Major win.

A Spaztastic Day-Moving Out

I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days as I repeatedly dropped things in the bathroom this morning. Luckily, the only permanent damage was to my favorite eye shadow which shattered into a million pieces and made a ridiculous mess.

Despite my reservations, I made it through the day without even painfully bumping into a desk or spilling my coffee! My students (with the exception of one slightly evil 6th grade class) were bummed that I am leaving and my desk had a small mountain of farewell notes and little presents.

After class I ran to the post office to get another box to try and get my suitcases down to regulation weight. I brought it home, stuffed 15 kilos worth of stuff in, and off I went dashing back to the post office. I made it half a block before the box ripped and dumped all of my stuff in the middle of a (thankfully dead) intersection.  Logical problem solving me was replaced by anxiety me-- who desperately tried to make the box go back into box shape so I could get out of the middle of the street. My stuff, instead of piling neatly sort of rolled about into an even bigger mess.

As I was desperately shoving away, a friendly grandmother came over and tried to help me--with a baby strapped on her back. She quickly decided that what I needed was tape and told me to hold on a minute. A minute later she popped back outside with a roll of industrial looking tape and helped me tape the box together. One of her friends (or another random elderly lady?) stopped to help us and in 2 minutes we had my box taped up and all of my stuff securely inside. I bowed deeply and thanked them both and then was on my way again.

I know that if the situation was reversed I would have done the same thing but to have that sort of help when I really needed it was just fantastic.  It's not so bad being a spaz if someone is there to help you out.

Note-I came to Korea with 2 suitcases. I am leaving Korea with 2 suitcases and having mailed 4 large boxes. This does not count the 100+ books I have gotten rid of. I must try to curtail my accumulation habits!

A Cure for the Thanksgiving Blues

I will admit it--I had fully prepared to spend my Thursday evening holed up in my apartment with a bowl of instant ramen and a book. However, my lovely co-workers had other ideas for me! As a thank you for doing the English club they took me out to Vietnamese style shabu shabu and then a coffee shop to sit and chat over our drinks.  The oldest member in our group commented half jokingly about how lame we were--no drinking or noraebang! Let's face it, what elementary school teacher wants to go have a wild night knowing they have to deal with small children early in the morning?

Instead of feeling sorry for myself that my more traditional Thanksgiving plans had fallen through, I even had a good time. It was really sweet of the teachers to take me out and everyone even made an effort to speak mostly in English for the evening. After all, it was an English club gathering. Even though they didn't realize that the night they picked was Thanksgiving, it still meant a lot to me to be with people who I cared about for the holiday.

My family is still forbidden from speaking about the details of their amazing meal today until after I arrive in the States. Details about the exquisite gourmet food when I am denied access is just cruel.

I have three more teaching days left. I don't want to say goodbye to my students!!!!!!!!!! I will really miss them.

Alex's Adventures in Asia: The End of the Road

I've been dreading making this announcement for months but here it is--on December 1st I will head back to the US for the indefinite future.

It was a difficult decision. I love the nomad lifestyle and the never ending adventures but I have a new nephew I want to see--not to mention the rest of my family and friends.

Perhaps I'll go back to the States and be horribly sick of it in 18 months or utterly jobless. Regardless, at one point I'm sure I'll end up back on the road and blogging.

This blog has been good for me. In the beginning (and dear god are those embarrassing posts) I used to just ramble on endlessly. I suppose I still prattle on a bit but I've gotten better at editing. I'll miss easily sharing my life with friends and family.  Then again, being in the same time zone it will be easier (and cheaper) to pick up the phone.  Maybe I'll keep blogging. I have no idea right now. All I know is that my apartment is mostly in boxes at the moment and I can't believe that these 2 years are already over. What happened to the wide eyed newbie who mimed in restaurants in an effort to get some sort of meal brought to her?

Expect a few more end of Korea posts before the death. To everyone out there, thanks for reading.

Naewansa

Today we got to leave school at "2" to do some staff bonding. I'm not sure why they planned to have us leave at 2 since everyone teaches until 2:10 on Monday and then have to get the students cleaning and such. In any case, instead of grading papers and lesson planning we managed to head out by 3 to Naewan Temple (Naewansa) for a bit of "hiking" followed by food. Excited by the prospect of a bit of light hiking I brought out my full North Face gear and layered up.  We arrived at the gate where most of the teachers promptly decided it was too cold to hike (??!) and drove around to the temple. We walked maybe 200 meters. I would have preferred to walk with the few teachers that did but not speaking much Korean I was confused about what was going on sort of thrust back into a car. I didn't mind terribly, it was still ridiculously gorgeous. Observe:

We are actually having a bit of autumn this year instead of heading straight into freezing weather. My co-workers laugh at my layers (I wore 2 shirts, 1 cashmere sweater, a fleece, and a winter coat...not to mention the leggings under my pants, hat, scarf, and mittens) but I maintain that it's warmer than winter. I just don't like being cold.

I asked my co-teacher about the funny bricks. Apparently they are for making some sort of soy product? Anyone have any insight into this?

Likewise, I have no idea why they were stringing persimmons but they sure do look pretty.

I love door pictures. Absolutely can't get enough of them. I can't count how many strange stares I've gotten for taken pictures of doors while traveling but I tend to get stared at no matter what, I might as well be doing something that I enjoy. Besides, isn't the turtle cute?

I wanted more time to play around with the light options on my camera but the teachers definitely just wanted to glance around get to the eating. I can't say I blame them. Not everyone got to start off their day with leftover homemade pancakes made from scratch drizzled in maple syrup.

Spaz update: We were talking about family at the table in sort of Korean/English. Three female teachers all had older brothers, 'oppa' in Korean. Unfortunately I tried to ask a male teacher in Korean if he had an 'oppa.' Apparently I implied that he was a woman because males use different words to refer to their siblings than females which I sort of knew but can never remember (let alone remember that 2nd male vocabulary set). He laughed riotously though it took a few minutes of trying to explain what was so funny. I will probably remember not to ask boys about their 'oppas' anymore. Probably.

The Accidental Interpretor

Yesterday, I was chatting away with my dad on Skype at the PC bang. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Only about 15 minutes into the conversation, the college student who runs the desk came over to ask me something. This is unprecedented. Even though he tried to speak slowly, I only really caught the words 'chat,' 'talk,' and 'other foreigner.' I figured that I was bothering the other foreigner (who I hadn't noticed) with my chatting so I asked if chatting was okay. I had no idea what he was saying back to me only he kept mentioning the other foreigner. I stand up and realize that sitting on the other side of the divider is another foreigner, albeit he doesn't look like an English speaker. I ask the guy if my chatting is bothering him anyway and he shakes his head. I go back to being confused.  Just to make sure I'm not bothering anyone I tell my dad that I have to go (which was a little sad because we were having a nice chat) and hang up. Finally something the college boy says clicks and I realize that he is trying to ask for help--the other foreigner is trying to set up a chat program and can't do it and the college boy has no idea either. Most people come to PC bangs exclusively for gaming.

I walk around to the other side and realize that the man's browser is in Russian. Despite being about 75% Russian I don't speak a word of it. Not even hello. I sigh, and explain in Korean to the college boy that we are both foreigners but I'm American and he is Russian and I don't speak Russian. That doesn't mean that I don't try to help. I go to google.com, search 'google Russian.' Then I ask the guy 'Skype?' Head shake. 'MSN?' Head shake. He slowly pronounces MAIL RU, which I type into the search engine. I click on the top search option, click on the download icon I see on the homepage and Voila, 2 minutes later the guy has his chat program running.

Obviously, I rock. The guy looks really grateful, says 'thank you' and happily logs on to talk to his family. The college student is also appears really grateful. Unfortunately by that time my dad has to go back to actually working and I go back to idly surfing the internet.

Spaz update: NONE!!! This is probably because I have done absolutely nothing this weekend except for cleaning my apartment and reading in Spanish. Unless of course you count going to make chocolate chip pancakes and forgetting the chocolate. However, plain pancakes still taste incredible, especially for dinner.

Kimbap--Making Changes (or Not) in Korea

Today, I thought that I would try something new. Rather than eat in one of my few tried and true restaurants (ie, their food doesn't make my allergies decide to rip my body apart from the inside) I decided to stop in a new kimbap place. Kimbap restaurants are generally safe, so long as I am careful about the side dishes. Deciding not to stop at the new locale, I figured I'd order a new dish too. The following conversation has been translated from the Korean.

Me: Hello. I'd like one tuna-kimchi kimbap please.
Cook: One tuna kimbap?
Me: No. One tuna-KIMCHI kimbap please.
Cook: Ah. One tuna kimbap, one kimchi kimbap. Two kimbaps?
Me: No. One tuna AND kimchi kimbap.
Cook: No. It can't be done!
Me: ~sighs~. Okay. One tuna kimbap please. ~sits down~
Cook: (with other cook) Weird foreigners. Tuna kimchi kimbap. ~shakes head~

I'm kind of baffled by this. Now, I know from being turned away from restaurants that refuse to make me pizza without cheese ("it won't taste good!") that Koreans can be a little weird about order substitutions. However, since both kimchi kimbap and tuna fish kimbap are on the menu I figured it would be okay. I don't mind paying double. I just wanted something a little spicy for dinner.

The kimbap was delicious. However, as if to drive home the point that tuna and kimchi don't go together they didn't even give me any kimchi side dishes. Which, if you know Koreans is the height of strange. Koreans generally eat kimchi, in many forms, at three times a day. I think I shall ask my co-teacher about this tuna-kimchi combo question on Monday. Her mom makes amazing kimbap, she probably has an expert insight into  the situation.

For those of you that don't know about kimbap, you can read this earlier post (scroll down until you see the pictures) or google it.

Last Night...at the Norae Bang

For those of you living under a rock (or you know, outside of Korea) norae bang is Korean for 'singing room.' It's like karaoke but instead of singing in a bar in front of a bazillion people you get a private room. (Think of that scene in Lost in Translation.) After having dinner with my co-workers I was pressured into going to the norae bang next door. It's not that I didn't want to go...I would have just rather gone home and curled up with a book than subject anyone to my singing before massive amounts of alcohol.

Going to a norae bang with Koreans was completely different from going with foreigners. For starters, no one sat down. Everyone was standing, clapping, shaking tambourines and hooting encouragements to the singer. Of course, being the newbie, I was up first with a horribly off key rendition of 어머나, a song that I learned in Korean class a while ago. Later came 'Dancing Queen' with my co-teacher who can carry a tune but is just as shy as I am when it comes to singing in a room in front of 40 of your older coworkers. It was okay though I might have gone a bit red when the chants of 'ALEK-SUH!' started.

Whenever someone got a perfect score, the teachers would start chanting and the principal or vice principal would take out a 10,000 won bill spit on it a little (or pour a tiny bit of beer) and slap it on the TV screen. Their contribution to drinking money apparently. All in all, not a bad way to spend my evening and it did get me out of the house.

Spaz Attack: We finally got the new desks that we've been begging for all year (everyone else's desks got replaced last year but ours...and they were decrepit). Now my 6th graders actually fit under the desk without slouching awkwardly! Yesterday, I was circulating around the room before class started, asking students how they were, etc. when I walked into the edge of the desk. I promptly discovered that the edges of the desks desperately need to be sanded...since I managed to cut open my finger and start bleeding. None of my students have been harmed yet but let's face it, I'm far more of a klutz than they are. I had to run to the health room to get band-aids (and a sterile wipe to clean it out).  The nurse worries about me.

Korean Socks: The Start of an Addiction

Last year, when I bought a handbag, I got a pair of socks for free with my purchase. At the time, I scoffed at the ridiculous white, pink and gold bunnies and wondered what about me said 'I like to wear animals on my feet.'  They went to the back of my sock drawer, where they stayed...until I was low on socks one belated laundry day and put them on. It was so utterly ridiculous that I actually enjoyed the experience and put them into my regular laundry rotation.  

Earlier this year while shopping in a Korean market I saw a pair of socks with a cat lovingly holding a fish on them. For 1,000 won (less than a dollar) I figured, why not? I started wearing the cute socks on the first day of clean laundry instead of as a last resort. And no one even noticed at work because EVERYONE ELSE WEARS THEM TOO. I'm talking 40 year old women with cute animals on their feet. Why not? If you are going to go around in socks all day why not have them be absolutely adorable? 

Friday was the grand opening of CNA in Yangsan. CNA is a shop full of amazingly cutesy things and school supplies all for very cheap. It was my favorite store in old Yangsan area but since the Hemingway closed I don't go as often so having a local branch makes me exceedingly happy. Somehow, with no purchase over a few bucks I managed to spend 33,000 won...including a giant pile of adorable socks.  They cheer me up having something so ridiculous on my feet. 

I am currently wearing the weight-lifting monkey socks. They are amazing. 

Indian Summer BBQ in an Abandoned Park

One of the local expats decided that it would be a great idea to have a barbecue to celebrate the gorgeous end of summer/fall (...yes this is from mid October but I was lazy then!). Theoretically, this was a fabulous idea. He knew of a beautiful park that was seldom used. Everyone was gung-ho and planned out what to bring.  At 2pm on the appointed day I called around to get more specific directions.  No one knew where it was.  There was no helpfully drawn map ala Microsoft Paint on the Facebook event page. It wasn't remotely near any major landmarks or labeled streets. There wasn't a name we could give a taxi driver. Finally, I got a hold of a slightly agitated Brit (agitated from all of the very lost people calling him I imagine) who was not the host but appeared to be the only one to have found the park successfully.

Unfortunately for me I was traveling alone (since it started at 2 and I was running late) and thus had no one to foist the direction getting task on. Doubly so that I am terrible with directions...especially when given by someone speaking with a strong accent, rapid fire, and with distances given in meters. Nevertheless, by 3pm I made it to the park, only 10 minutes behind the rest of the hoard.

The park was absolutely magnificent. The entire area is being developed but none of the high rises are done yet. All of the infrastructure was completed in advance--right down to the neighborhood parks.  I will admit that it is very eerie to walk down empty 6 lane roads, pedestrian bridges linking nothing in particular, and sidewalks with benches almost hidden beneath weeds.

Yes, Crazy West Coast Boy (I think I may have referred to him in an earlier post as Bike Boy) brought a BB gun with him. Luckily, the only things harmed were a single soda can that he managed to find for people to use as target practice. I shot a gun for the first time in my life. It was a very strange feeling. For the safety of everyone involved, I aimed in the general direction of emptiness. I mainly took pictures of where the people were gathering, on the pavilion and the big game playing area but there was also a giant playground complex and some grassier paths. Most notably was the working bathroom (albeit without toilet paper or soap but I came prepared for all contingencies).

Yes, we cooked food for about 20 people on two tiny little grills with two tiny little skillets. Good thing people brought side dishes. I made several very well appreciated contributions:
    ~Orange juice not mixed with alcohol for those of us on antibiotics/not wishing to drink.
    ~50 cups
    ~a gigantic garbage bag (you have to buy special city ones, basically you pay for how much trash you have)
    ~a roll of paper towels
    ~a big bunch of bananas for people like me who get cranky when food isn't readily available (and you                              know, for dessert).

The pavilion where we gathered and ate.  Everyone is turned to watch our very riveting game of kick ball. None of us had played since elementary school but someone got the amazing idea that we should play. With ripped bits of cardboard for bases and a soccer ball we were ready to go. It was Team America (I think we actually called ourselves Team Scrambles but everyone else called it Team America) versus Team Accents (for everyone from South Africa, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and Canada). Obviously, Team America won. I even managed to play without causing bodily harm to myself or anyone else. And while I managed to score some runs I did not once manage to catch or contribute usefully to my team in anyway while manning the field. This did not exactly come as a surprise to anyone involved.

See the flying figure with bright pink shoes? That's me! Running successfully between second and third base. And no, I haven't suddenly developed a paunch, that's my sweatshirt bunching awkwardly. Though it does bring me to a very awkward lunch conversation from today:

After finishing everything on my plate I go and get a giant second helping of rice.
Me: (in response to an incredulous look) I'm hungry!
Co-worker: Don't you want side dishes?
Me: I ate them already. See? Points to obvious sauce stains from the 3 sides.
Co-worker: Rice has many calories. Eat some side dishes and some rice, not so many calories.
Me: But I want the calories.
Co-worker: Looks absolutely incredulous.
Me: If I don't get enough calories, I get dizzy. The vegetables don't have enough calories.
Co-worker: Shakes head. Okay.

I do usually get seconds of the veggies too except that today they were so spicy it hurt my mouth. The gigantic helping of rice was also to help get rid of the pain.  And before you scold me Mom, I did go grocery shopping this afternoon for fruit and nuts to stash at work for when I get low on sugar between meals. I even got enough to share with my co-teacher.

Back to the conversation: In America, when people make pointed comments about your food being fattening they are usually trying to hint at something. However, in Korea I weigh what I did back in high school. I'm thin even on the Korean scale of things. It makes it very awkward to have conversations that you Know aren't meant to be insulting in the slightest and yet somehow leave you feeling slightly despondent.

...Back to the BBQ.

It was a gorgeous night. An easy night where it was effortless to be in the moment and just enjoy life.

Sorry about the once a week posting. I have several post ideas lined up but not having a computer makes me an extremely lazy (lazier?) blogger.