Huam-dong

I walked around our neighborhood of Huam-dong yesterday to snap a few pictures of the things I see on an almost daily basis. I tried to be very covert in my picture taking since my neighborhood is not a huge tourist spot and most Koreans gave me funny looks when they saw me snapping pictures of octopi and marketplaces.

First stop: The Lucky market. If you turn left after this market, you'll be only a few yards away from our home. I visit this market occasionally to buy random Korean products for kicks (my favorite random purchases are often drinks and gum/candy) or to buy fresh produce. It's not an extremely large market, but it does have a good-sized section of produce though I've yet to figure out what everything is. There are, however, about 20 different kinds of tofu.

This is another market further down the street from us and is more typical of Asian markets in that the majority of the produce/products are outside on the street. This one is much smaller than our market, but it does have a better selection of gum. In case you were wondering....

I passed a lot of beautiful doors such as this during my wanderings. Buildings and architectural elements are always my favorite things to photograph and I'd love to leave Asia with a book full of doors.

I also wouldn't mind more pictures of the streets. This street is typical of the roads around here: hilly, narrow and full of obstacles.

But walking down the main street of Huam-dong, closer to the base, you'll come across the Home Sweet Home realty. Our very nice real estate agent (I guess that's what she is) named Julie works here and we call her if we have any problems. (Like when I somehow got locked out of our apartment this week and Julie sent some guy to pick the lock. That's a fun story.) We also come here every month to pay our exorbitant rent but thankfully, the government gives us money for that. (Though depending on the won rate, we sometimes have to put in some of our own money like this month because the dollar sucks right now. The exchange rate just keeps plummeting....which is not fun.) We couldn't afford to live here otherwise because the cost of our rent is almost as much as David makes in a month.

Across the street from the realty is Jeong Gam Eorin, our favorite Korean restaurant. We keep meaning to try out one of the other hundreds of Korean restaurants near our house but we just keep coming back to this one because it's so good. And they give you a kiwi pineapple apricot juice at the end of your meal that is simply delicious.

Thankfully, Jeong Gam Eorin is not a seafood restaurant (though we have gotten the odd seafood side dish now and then) but other restaurants that do specialize in seafood often have tanks full of sea creatures outside like all these octopi. I'm all for fresh seafood, but I don't like seeing my food alive right before I eat it.

As I got closer to Seoul Station (the subway stop closest to our house), I passed by this Presbyterian church. Like I said, I'm a sucker for buildings, especially things built out of stone.

This just seemed like a typical cityscape of Seoul. Small businesses and homes framed by large skyscrapers looming in the distance. You see this type of juxtaposition occasionally in some American cities, but you see it everywhere in Asia.

So now you know a little bit more what my neighborhood looks like. I need to carry my camera with me more often to capture some of the more bizarre and interesting things I see on a regular basis.

"Hey, where's Lizzie?"

So, I have to keep this short, because Liz doesn't know I'm writing this and there isn't much time left.... She's reading her new book and she's almost finished. It's called An Echo in the Marrow, or something like that. It the latest in some series of books that she's totally addicted to. I think it's so funny when she gets a new book because she just disappears for a few days. She doesn't say anything, just sits there engrossed in her book. I think I bother her a lot because I like to talk so much and end up interrupting her. I think she tries her best to ignore me.


She's been reading this book for a few days now, but she's just about finished. Now this is no small book! She reads about a million words an hour, so while it would take me a month to read this behemoth of a monstrosity, she's breezing through it in a matter of days. Sometimes we'll both be reading a story in a magazine and she'll finish and turn the page before I've even finished the first paragraph. It's really crazy!


As she reads a novel, every now and then Liz giggles a little, which I think is the cutest little laugh in the whole world! And sometimes she makes an exasperated groan leading me to believe that that part of the story is particularly annoying, or she lets out a huge sigh as though she is relieved that something worked out alright. She's really quite cute! The groans have become increasing frequent as she gets closer to the end of this particular book.


So, at this moment, Liz is reading the last 1 or 2 pages of this book, A Reverberation in the Vertebrate, or whatever it's called. The suspense is building and all the plot lines of the previous 1000 pages are coming together. She'll be done soon, and then I'll say...


"Oh, there you are Lizzie!"


It'll be nice to have my wife back.

Crazy Asian Drivers

Most of the time, I just go along and do my thing and totally forget that I live in Korea. I spend most of my time on base, which aside from all the Koreans who work there, is just like being in America. So it's easy to forget that I do actually live someplace that is not America outside the walls of the military base as well. But there are random moments when I'll be walking down the street, snooping around the Korean market like the impostor that I am, or laughing over the gaping mouths of Korean children as they watch me walk past with my pale pale skin and blonde hair and get struck all over again that I do, in fact, live in Korea.

I had one such moment last night.

David and I hung out with friends to eat a little dinner and rock out. [I think I'm about ready to step it up to hard on drums.] We left a little after midnight and if we leave that late we generally just take a taxi home. So we waited on the curb where we know we can generally flag down a taxi. I should have instantly known this ride would be an adventure when David flagged down a speeding taxi cab and the driver hit his brakes so hard and fast that he skidded a little and killed his engine.

Still, we hopped in fast and took off, just happy that we'd managed to get a taxi so quickly. (We generally have to wait a little while to get an open taxi.) My second clue that this would be a hair raising adventure came when David and I realized--with a little bit of horror--that the seatbelts had been cut out of the backseat. I don't know why you'd cut out seatbelts from a car, especially a taxi, but we had no choice but to dig our feet in and hold onto the door handles and each other.

Since only designated cabs are allowed access onto base (and this wasn't one of those cabs), the quickest way to our neighborhood from our friend's house was to go around the base and drive through a convoluted series of twisty streets barely wide enough for two cars, down a mountain. So our speedy cab driver was barrelling down these streets, barely slowing down at the speed bumps or when passing another car and generally driving like a crazy person. Halfway down the mountain, I realized that "I'm not in America anymore" and started to laugh.

We had the cab driver drop us of a few blocks from our house and walked the rest of the way home, laughing over the ridiculousness of the ride we had just endured.

But hey, at least it was the shortest cab ride home ever.

But next time, I want a seatbelt.

Some Photos.

I haven't been too busy to post anything new. It's just that there hasn't been much to write about. I always have a running list of things I'd like to post about, but there are often more of my own personal editorials on history, food, and politics rather than what I'm doing with my life (answer: nothing) and I'm not sure if people have much interest in reading what I have to say anyway. Still, I always enjoy reading about the philosophies of my friends and so I may just bore you with my thoughts anyway.

Until then, how about a few of the photos that have been sitting in my camera for the last few weeks?

This is the old gate at Dongdaemun Market, which is in the northeastern section of downtown Seoul, not many subway stops away from our house. David and I went out to visit Dongdaemun a few weeks ago because I heard there was lots of good shopping and I enjoy the sights and sounds of Asian markets. What I didn't know was that the main buildings at Dongdaemun are full of fabrics, zippers, buttons, threads, yarn, lace, and beads. Being there really fueled my desire to take up sewing again (I'm also learning how to knit......for like the third time). Walking in and out of aisles full of gorgeous fabrics and notions also really made me wonder how the contestants of Project Runway would fair in such a place and what they could produce from some of the materials there.

From Dongdaemun, we continued walking in the direction of our home, along the Cheonggyecheon Stream. Until a few years ago, the stream had been basically boarded up and there was an elevated highway that ran through this area. But Lee Myung-bak, then the mayor of Seoul and now the president of Korea, spearheaded a big public project to restore the river and make it a public recreation area.

Now you can walk along the river and there are murals, artwork and fountains all along the way. We walked along the stream all the way home, until we turned south and headed into Myeong-dong.

Here's a Catholic church on the hill in Myeong-dong. *sigh* I love Western architecture (and I love Gothic even more!). Myeong-dong is a fun little area, also full of fun shops and restaurants and one really good gelateria. (Which I love going to because even though everything is in Korean, it's also in Italian which I can read!) We also stopped in at a restuarant where we ordered fried rice which they cooked right at our table.

The rice was quite tasty but we also didn't realize that it was KIMCHI fried rice which meant that my mouth was on FIRE after eating it. Thank goodness there was that gelateria nearby to put out the flames.

Other than that, we've been hanging out with friends and playing a lot of Rockband. We always love Rockband parties because David and I don't have a TV and we can't rock out whenever we want. Which is sad because I want to practice my drum skills some more. I typically play drums or sing vocals, although I dabble a little in guitar.

David, however, is all about the guitar, as you can tell by his expression. He gets really into it.

And in other news, I still love this cat.

Even though she's crazy.

Suyom

I love this cat.

She's endlessly entertaining.

And very photogenic.

She's a bit of a box whore.

But we try not to hold it against her.

I love cats. They are such regal creatures. I'm often very glad that I have Suyom with me, especially on the days that David works his 14 hour shifts. I just realized that we've had her a little over 6 months now. I think we'll keep her around.

She really is entertaining. Especially with her new rats. (Thanks Nicole!)

Why I Want to Homeschool

A few months ago, I made an offhand comment about how I wanted to homeschool my future children, and I had an (unexpectedly) good response from many people. (I always think people are going to think I'm a crazy loon.) I don't feel that I need to justify my reasons for wanting to homeschool, but I thought I'd share them with you all the same. (It's rather lengthy.)

There are a lot of reasons motivating my decision to homeschool (which I’ll discuss below) but I think that the main reason I want to teach my (future) children at home is because I want to instill in them a lifelong love of learning. My mother gave it to me and I’ve always felt it’s one of the greatest gifts I have. I know this gift is more dependent on the individual child than the institution in which they are taught, but I feel that a public school education can often hamper or stifle a child’s growth because it teaches to the lower common denominator and doesn’t always account for other learning styles. I’ve also read studies that suggest that school teaches children to only learn at school or to only learn from their one designated teacher. It may be cliché, but I believe that the world is our classroom and I never want my children to stop learning no matter what they are doing. I’ve broken my reasoning into two sections: educational motivations and institutional motivations.

Educational Motivations (What and How Subject s Are Taught)
• To that end, I want to inject a lot of hands-on projects, experiments and field trips into my children’s education. If we’re learning about marine biology, then you can bet we’re going to visit the ocean, an aquarium, Sea World, whatever, to give them a chance to see these animals, touch them, smell them, watch them play. If we’re learning about the American Revolution, I’m going to take them to museums or battlefields, have them read the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, dress up in period costume and act out scenes from the Continental Congress. It’s these types of activities that enhance learning and make it so much fun. That’s not to say that you can’t ever learn anything while sitting at a desk, listening to your teacher speak, because I certainly was able to, but this just sounds like so much more fun to me. It also allows us to set our own schedule, and to spend more time studying those subjects that most interest my children.
• I like the idea of tailoring my children’s education to what they are most interested in and how they learn best. I can learn a lot of different ways, and I did just fine in a public school setting but I have a friend who did poorly in school, and not because she’s an unintelligent person. She’s an extremely intelligent person but she is almost 100% a visual learner. She can’t retain any information from a book, but she can watch a movie once and remember everything about it: plot, character, dialogue, scenes, etc. As she always tells me, she can read 10 books on volcanoes and not learn a thing, but if she can see one, hike up one, smell it, touch it, and be told about it while standing in front of it, she’ll remember everything single detail she’s told. If this is how my children learn, then that’s how I want them to learn. If I stick them in a regular class, they’re just going to be miserable and unhappy and learn to hate school, and that’s exactly what I want to avoid.
• Standards and curriculum in public schools is appallingly low. And I say this as a person who has worked in public schools and for a publishing company that produced standardized tests for public schoolchildren. Again, they only strive to reach the lowest common denominator and make school boring and unchallenging for the brighter students. They mandate what teachers must teach and the introduction of the No Child Left Behind act and increased standardized testing have placed too much emphasis on language arts, math and science, and, in some cases, almost completely eliminated the funding for history, art history, arts appreciation, music, foreign languages, physical education, and elective programs. I would like my children to attend high school because it can offer a lot of great clubs, electives, A.P. classes, and social activities that are, I feel, essential to the life of an American teenager. But if they are going to cut out band, choir, theater programs, academic and service clubs, athletics, and other elective courses, then what’s the point? I can just sign them up for club sports, private music lessons, and college courses to get the same experience. And a lot of homeschooling networks have formed in many communities to create the sort of social activities that a regular high school creates, with a lot less drama. (I hope. Oh, how I hated the drama of high school.)
• I think there are many wonderful educators who chose to teach public school for all the right reasons. But there are a lot of restrictions placed on them about what they can and cannot teach. I believe in teaching all angles of a subject (i.e. evolution and creationism) but people who decry the separation of church and state would have public schools completely eliminate any discussion of creationism, despite the majority of people (regardless of their religious beliefs) who accept this principle. I recently read a book by James W. Loewen called Lies My Teacher Told Me which discusses the pathetic way that American history is taught in public schools. Instead of teaching about our controversies, about our failures and foibles and the issues of race, class, and gender in American history, most high school textbooks simply paint America as the savior of the world and try to induce students into blind patriotism for their country. All this does is alienate some students and make history incredibly boring. I love my country (and history) precisely because I understand where we have succeeded and where we have failed and I also understand where we are headed. I do not want to deny my children the chance to learn truths. And I certainly don’t find it necessary for them to know what the Smoot-Hawley tariff was or when Chester A. Arthur became president.
• I’m also concerned about the new debate over how sex education should be taught in schools. I think it’s the parents’ right and responsibility to lead this discussion with their children but unfortunately, there are way too many uninvolved parents out there who are more than content to have the schools take over the teaching of this topic. I cannot prevent my children from learning about this from other sources, but I should be able to teach them about my beliefs and what I feel are the right and moral decisions to make regarding sex. And I want to teach them on my own timetable when they are mature enough to understand what I am trying to teach them.
• Most of all, public school is a big fat time waster. Think about how much time is actually spent learning. In a 6-7 hour day, I’d say only 2 or 3 hours of that is actual education. (Speaking from personal experience.) I’d rather spend 3-4 hours with my children doing schoolwork and then spend the rest of our time playing, doing crafts, going on field trips, and making learning fun.
• One of my more selfish motivations is simply that I love to learn. And there is no better way to learn than by teaching. I look forward to teaching my children all sorts of things because, in the end, I’m also learning myself. Plus, I should also pick up a thing or two about patience, which I’m sadly lacking in these days.

Institutional Motivations (Who is doing the teaching)
• Now, there are a lot of good teachers who loose their jobs because they want to teach controversial subjects. And there are a lot of bad teachers who get to stick around because they have tenure or belong to a teacher’s union. How about the 700 teachers on probation in New York City who still get paid their annual salaries to sit around and do nothing? (Granted, I don’t believe all the teachers held in these rubber rooms belong there. Others should have been fired long ago. Besides which, there are a lot of school positions which do not require any interaction with students that these teachers could have helped with instead of wasting time and money.) Of course, just because I pull my children out of a public school system doesn’t mean that my taxpayer dollars won’t still go to education but this is just an example of how poorly run and managed and wasteful our public schools are becoming.
• I was also very opposed to the CTA’s (California Teacher’s Association) donation of over a million dollars to the Prop 8 campaign. Regardless of their position for or against this proposition, I am ethically opposed to a teacher’s union getting involved in political issues. Education should be non-partisan but when a teacher’s union takes a stand on a highly charged political and moral issue, I have to wonder what else teachers feel is appropriate for them to teach in class. Should I expect my child to face a teacher like this during a presidential election?: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezrUd8xH0gQ
• I’m not really a fan of many teachers unions anyway because they don’t have the education of our children as their main concern. I’ll give you an example from my mother’s experience teaching in California. My mother has been unable to get a full-time teaching position at our school district, so she subs (often on long-term sub contracts) and teaches adult classes at night for failing students. She was planning on teaching an English class during summer school which would mainly have helped out band students who often need to take summer school classes to free open an extra elective to participate in the marching band. Because my mother is not a full-time teacher of the school district, she would have been paid less than a regular teacher. This also meant that the students would have been charged less to take her class (I think it was around $150). But the union demanded that a full-time teacher be offered the chance to teach this class ahead of my mother and be paid their regular salary. This also meant that the price of the class (because of budget shortfalls) would have to be raised to cover a different teacher’s salary. The new class price? $400. Who exactly does that benefit?
• I also have an issue with the credential system for educators. Public schools place far more emphasis on their teachers have degrees in education rather than the subject which they want to teach. It’s one thing to understand educational theories, but a good teacher will only become a great teacher if they know their subject well and teach it well. (This applies more to secondary education than elementary education, obviously.) So even though I have a master’s in American history, I’m unqualified to work in a public school over a credentialed teacher who took a couple credits of history in college. While I don’t totally disagree with a credential program, I do think they need to make more exceptions for other highly qualified candidates. For every good teacher I had, there were two or three awful teachers, who did more harm than good, who made learning painful, and who often made me wonder if they became teachers because they were qualified for no other job. (*cough*Harris*cough*)

You may then ask yourself, “Am I a qualified teacher?” Sure, I feel perfectly qualified to teach history, literature, art and elementary education, but I’m certainly not qualified to teach math or science. In this, I am glad that I have a partner (David) who is very supportive of homeschooling (he wants to do it more than I do) and can teach math and science to our children. There are also a lot of homeschooling communities that trade off in teaching different subjects. I’m also fully in support of our children taking college courses or A.P./regular courses at a public high school. And if any of our [currently imaginary] children wanted to go to school, I would let them go. I do believe that any child can get a lot out of a traditional school setting and curriculum if they have involved parents. There are days when I think I’d love to just dump my kids off at school and have some peace and quiet for a little while or to not have to hassle with lesson plans and curriculum. I wonder if we’d be doing them a disservice by homeschooling or that they’d miss out on a lot of necessary socialization and activities that children need. We will have to evaluate our decision for each child, but for now, we are both committed to homeschooling.

Thank goodness I’ve got a few years to get prepared. And to, you know, have some children. I guess that’s the first step, huh? (And no, I’m not pregnant.)

Herein lies proof that I have no life...

So, you may be wondering what I've been up to lately and the answer to that is a big fat NOTHING. I have, however, been watching a lot of movies. Some newer films I've seen at the base theater, but I've also been checking out a lot of movies from the Yongsan Library. While the library has a pretty pitiful selection of books, it does have a fairly large movie collection.....albeit a rather odd movie collection. They've got a bunch of popular movies, new releases, documentaries, tv shows and classics, but they've also got a sizable portion of just plain weird and obscure movies. And since so many people check out movies from the library, there's always new stuff on the shelves that I've never seen before.

Picking movies is always an interesting endeavor at the library. I always have to look at all the shelves to see what's there, what's new, what I've never heard of, and then whittle down all my choices to 5. Most of the time I grab the movies I've never seen before because you never know when you might see them again on the shelf. (You cannot reserve movies or be put on a waiting list.) Needless to say, I've watched some very interesting movies lately. For those who may be after some movie selections, here's a list of some of the movies I've watched recently.....the ones I can remember, at least....with a little commentary by me.

P.S. Please don't judge me because I watch some rated R movies. I know I'm a bad person.

There are four movies in particular which have especially stayed with me and I'd highly recommend.

1. The Lives of Others - This is a German film, set in East Berlin a few years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's beautifully written, fabulously acted and absolutely riveting. It won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2007 and deservedly so. It chronicles a Stasi agent whose life and views are completely changed while overseeing a surveillance project against a German playwright. It's a haunting look at a fallen socialist regime and the people who survived it....and those who didn't. I can't stop thinking about it. (And I want to rent it again but it's already disappeared off the shelves. Who knows when I'll see it again....)

2. Once - So I'd heard a lot about this little Irish indie, mostly because of its soundtrack and the sweet love story between two would-be musicians. It's a bit quirky in its plot and pace, but ultimately very satisfying. Also, great music. I'm also a sucker for unrequited love stories.

3. Doubt - The Academy heaped lots of praise and nominations on this film starring Meryl Streep, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Viola Davis, and Amy Adams. The movie synopsis didn't make it sound particularly thrilling, but I thought I'd give it a try and I'm so glad I did. All four actors gave great performances and I thought it was a wonderful study of faith, doubt, and human nature.

4. Dan in Real Life - So I seem to have a thing for dramas staring over-the-top comedians. Will Ferrell in Stranger than Fiction. Jim Carrey in The Truman Show. Now, Steve Carrell in Dan in Real Life. It's a very sweet story about a widower (Carrell) with 3 daughters and his loving albeit nosy family. And how he falls in love with his brother's girlfriend. Ouch. But in a good way.

I'll try to be more succinct with the other movies. :-)

5. From Here to Eternity - Classic. Schofield Barracks (on Oahu where this was shot) hasn't changed much. A little hard on the military, but still some truth to it.
6. It Happened One Night - Classic. Clark Gable, Claudette Colbert and Frank Capra. Why don't they make more movies like this?
7. P.S. I Love You - Warning: Must watch with box of tissues.
8. Cranford - Loving Elizabeth Gaskell right now and this has a great cast. (See also: Wives and Daughters and North and South)
9. The Holiday - A unique and ultimately charming romantic comedy with Cameron Diaz (I still don't think she can really act), Jack Black (charmingly goofy), Kate Winslet (love her) and Jude Law (man whore but so, so pretty).
10. Post Grad - Don't waste your time. So cliche and full of barely likeable "quirky" characters.
11. Northanger Abbey (2007) - The only Jane Austen book I hadn't read....so I checked out the book and the movie together. Read the book, then watched the movie. Eh. Not one of my favorites (book or movie). Pride and Prejudice and Persuasion (which just might be edging out P&P, gasp!) are still the best.
12. Strictly Ballroom - Love Baz Luhrman. (Still need to see Australia.) Visually appealing and offbeat, but in a good way.
13. Philadelphia Story - Um, hello? Katharine Hepburn, Jimmy Stewart, and Cary Grant in one movie! What's not to love?
14. Nightmare Before Christmas - I do appreciate and generally love Tim Burton's aesthetic (can't wait for Alice in Wonderland) but this one just fell flat for me. Though I thought it was brilliant visually and I liked a few songs.
15. Evan Almighty - I actually really enjoyed this film. I think we could use a little divine inspiration in Washington right about now.
16. Monster-in-Law - Okay, first off: Michael Vartan. I've loved you since Never Been Kissed, way before Alias. And Jennifer Lopez is very cute and adorable in romantic comedies. I thought this was pretty fun.
17. The Rocketeer - Not at all what I remember it being about. Timothy Dalton creeps me out.
18. Catch and Release - Pass. Not bad, just......not good either.
19. Mostly Martha - So I'm really into German films right now. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Aaron Eckhart did an English adaption of this delightful movie (No Reservations) but the original is much better.
20. Patton - They sure don't make generals like this anymore. "Rommel, you beautiful bastard. I read your book." Favorite line. Don't judge.
21. Chuck, season one - If you are not watching this show, you should be. Go!
22. Tess of d'Ubervilles - I couldn't finish the book and I couldn't finish the movie. Thomas Hardy, we are officially over.
23. Flags of our Fathers - Heartbreaking and horrifying and sometimes a little hard to follow with all the flashbacks. Great cinematography though. But whatever you do, do not get curious (like me) and read what happened to Iggy in real life. Just....don't.
24. Fireproof - Slightly cheesey Christian film (though I'm inoculated against those from all the cheesey Mormon films I've seen) starring Kirk Cameron, but actually has a sweet story and a good message about the importance of marriage.
25. Gentleman's Agreement - Another really great classic. A reporter (Gregory Peck) poses as Jewish to write an article about anti-semitism in America. Really eye opening. Also, I've got a thing for Gregory Peck. He's the thinking woman's leading man. Swoon.

That's all I can remember. I'm sure there are more, but I suppose they weren't that memorable. I just checked out a documentary called Helvetica today and I'm super excited to watch it. Yes, I get twitterpated over a movie about typceface.

I'm a nerd with no life.

Please don't judge.

Also, does anyone have other movie suggestions?

Three Thoughts for Free

Drive-by posting with two.....no, three random thoughts.

1. Is it totally conceited of me that whenever I see anyone's wedding pictures, I always think, "My wedding dress was SO much prettier!"? Because it totally was.....

2. Related to weddings, we saw The Proposal tonight and quite enjoyed it. It made me really want to visit Alaska and gave me a little crush on Ryan Reynolds.
2a: I really like seeing movies on base because 1) they are free and 2) they always play the national anthem before the previews. It always makes me a little teary-eyed.
2b: My wedding dress was so much prettier than Sandra Bullock's in this movie. Just saying.....

3. I ate a 누룽지 (nurungi) flavored Korean hard candy the other day. According to our Korean dictionary, 누룽 지 is the "the crust of overcooked rice; the scorched bottom layer of boiled rice." It's like eating a Bernie Botts Every Flavor Bean and not one of the good kinds. I'd put it up there with earwax and vomit. But Koreans apparently like it. So much so that they have a word for the burnt layer of rice at the bottom of a pot. Go figure....

I lied. I have a fourth thought.

4. Koreans make me laugh.

The end.

Seoul Tower

On Wednesday, David and I decided to take a walk up to N Seoul Tower. We live right at the base of the mountain on which the tower sits and it's a big landmark in the city. I always know how to get home once I see the tower, which is very convenient for me.

We began our hike a little after 6pm, once it had cooled down. I did not realize just how big the mountain is until we started climbing it. But it was a beautiful walk. There is a large pedestrian path up the mountain which winds through lots of trees and bushes. I'd forgotten what it felt like to be around pure, untouched nature. You don't find a lot of it in Seoul. (One downside is that I did meet with a lot of mosquitoes along the way. And I'm like candy to mosquitoes.) The path is great for exercising (in fact, most people walking up and down the path were obviously doing it for exercise) and there's even an outdoor gym of sorts near the top.

We finally reached the top before it grew too dark. The tower boasts several shops (including a Coldstones! I must return and get some), a teddy bear museum, restaurants, and observatory. You have to pay to get to the top of the tower (there's a restaurant at top that even rotates one revolution every hour) but David and I opted not to go up. Though it was a pretty day, I'd rather pay the 7,000 won on a clearer day. Besides, we still had a pretty amazing view from the base of the tower.

This is looking at the southern tip of Seoul that is to the north of the Han river. (Did that make any sense?) You can barely make out the Han River and all the traffic as people leave downtown Seoul to head into the outskirts. If you notice on the left hand side of this picture, where there are actually trees, vegetation, and it doesn't look like a massive crowd of buildings, that's the base. And you can also probably tell by its prime location in Seoul why the Koreans would like to have that space back. Most of the troops in Seoul will be re-located farther south, near Osan and Camp Humphreys, in the next several years.

The railing around the base of the tower are full of these locks, most with love notes written on them. At least, that's what David told me. There were some in English, but obviously, the majority were in Korean. It was actually pretty neat. And the "love benches" up there are designed to slope inward so that you have to sit near each other.

One lone lock and note and the view of Seoul.

We stayed up there for about 45 minutes, enjoying the breeze and the view. By the time we left, it was pretty much dark. But I snapped one last shot of the tower before we headed home.

On the weekends, they shine different colored lights on the white shaft of the tower which is pretty neat to see. We'll definitely have to come back up another night to go to the top and eat some Coldstones. It's always nice to have a little flavor of home in a foreign country.

Life as I know it....so far

You know, I generally want to update my blog regularly, but....well.....there's just not a whole lot to say most days. I've taken to staying indoors recently because even though jangma (monsoon) season is over and it rains infrequently, it has become unbearably hot. I don't do well in the hot, hot heat of the burning Asian sun. I swear that Asians don't sweat. They still wear layers of clothes and skinny jeans and look perfectly composed while I try to wear as little clothing as possible and sweat like a pig. The hour-long trip to church (walking/subway) simply exhausts me. I'm always ready for a nap by the time we make it to our building. I can't wait to get a car but I have no idea when that will happen.

Poor David is absolutely swamped with work and school these days. He works 4 days and then has 4 days off. The first two days, he works a 12 hour shift in the morning (7am-7pm) and then on the third day, he switches and works two 12 hour night shifts (7pm-7am). Add in the two hour roundtrip commute to his office, and you have one long day. The fifth day he usually spends sleeping and then the next 3 "off" days are usually filled with pointless military things and homework. We barely see each other on the days he works and don't have time to do anything else the days he does classwork. I try to be as supportive as I possibly can because I know how stressed out David is and want to make life as easy as possible for him but it's hard to find things to occupy my endless free time while he's so busy. One of these days, I'll venture out on my own, but I often get overwhelmed by the fact that I can't communicate with people even though most Koreans speak some English. I have no problem riding the subway and getting to where I want to go, but I don't know what to do once I get there.

I've applied to several more jobs; one in particular at the U.S. Embassy that sounds absolutely perfect for me. (I actually meet all of their qualifications, and while I'm slightly over-qualified, I'm not so over-qualified that they wouldn't give me the job. Believe me, it's happened to me before.) I'm trying not to be too overly optimistic about my chances for the position, but I haven't been very successful with that. I think I've got a really good shot of at least getting an interview. In the meantime, I'm going to continue looking into teaching English or possibly subbing at the American schools on base, at least until I can find something more permanent.

Church, on the other hand, should keep me pretty busy. For those who care or know what I'm talking about, I have two callings and I'm pretty excited (and slightly apprehensive) about both of them. First, David and I were called to be the co-activities chairpeople. It's the perfect calling for us to do as a couple. David is very much the spokesperson/MC type, while I'm the quiet planner/organizer. It helps that we can do it together, especially since David has such a random schedule that doesn't allow him to attend church on a regular basis. At least we can plan activities on the days he doesn't have to work. Our first big activity is scheduled for next month. It's just a back-to-school/fall BBQ event, but I'm trying to make it as exciting as I can with games, contests, and prizes. I loathe ward activities where you eat and then just stand around and mingle. I'm trying to come up with activities for everyone.

A few weeks after calling me to be the activities chairperson, they also called me to be the Sunbeam teacher in Primary. I sat in on the class yesterday and will take over next Sunday. I have 5 students (2 boys, 3 girls). I'm excited to be teaching, even if it is 4 year olds, but I'm also not quite sure how I feel about being in Primary. I expected to be called to Primary eventually, but I find the thought of not attending Sunday School or Relief Society to be a bit unsettling since it's what I've been doing for the last 8 years. I expect it will be good practice for when I have my own children and teach me some much needed patience. I hope I won't get lost in primary like so many other women (meaning that you never know anyone who doesn't also work in primary or have children that age). But, my other calling should take care of that. And if I can get a job soon, I can start to feel like a productive person again. I tell you, I function so much better when I have too much to do and not too little. If I have too much free time, I become a lazy slob and I'd really like to snap out of that as soon as possible.