"You're not married AND half-Korean? I'll take $10 off!"

After a HORRENDOUS Friday when I told my boss that I am not coming back in January because I am going to go back to school, I promptly took some cash and went to engage in some retail therapy. In short, my boss was less than pleased to hear I was not coming back and decided to unleash the beast inside (ok, maybe not that bad, but it seemed that way yesterday) and pretty much make me feel like crap for the rest of the day and said some pretty bad things. Hopefully he'll cool off after the weekend. But anyway...went shopping, which is good, because things are so much cheaper here that it takes a lot less to make your problems go away!

I feel way more comfortable speaking Korean to people I don't know for some reason - maybe because I don't think I'll ever see them again so it's okay to make mistakes - and so it's super easy to talk to shopkeepers and restaurant people. When I was buying some dishes, the guys who owned the stall couldn't get enough of me! Mom asked for some metal dishes that they have here - rice bowls with lids and some silverware, and since I was buying a set of 8, they were kinda wondering why. They ask what I'm doing, where I'm from, etc etc, and then all of a sudden they ask me if I'm married! Did they think the dishes were all for my husband?? Who knows, but they were happy to hear I was 22 and not married as well as in Korea and half-Korean so they took $10 off - 1/3 of the price! Easiest bargaining I have ever done in my life! I was also bag hunting for a friend and once I managed to explain what I wanted as best I could ("perforated leather" turned into "a bag with lots of holes in it") he gave me a killer deal on a bag for me, and then escorted me to another stall a little bit away to show me what I wanted. After not finding it anywhere, all of a sudden, it was right in front of me! Either I'm lucking out and meeting super helpful people, or my Korean is getting better (hopefully it's a combination of the two!)

Went out to dinner with my internship people yesterday too. Have I mentioned that I LOVE my internship? Man, I wish I could work there for real. They rescued me from my day of hell and we went to this beautiful traditional Korean restaurant near one of the palaces downtown (yes, plural, there are 3) and then out to an old-style tea house which was so nice! They wouldn't let me take a picture of the place, but maybe you'll get an idea of what it looked like from the pictures.



My first food porn. It even includes the obligatory Asian victory fingers.



This is Joanna. She's from Poland and is one of the people who works at my organization.



This is Young-Hwan. He's been an intern/volunteer for years, and just got hired for a paying job. He's cool, and paid for my entire cab ride home when we found out the buses had finished, the subway was closed, and I was stuck downtown.



Me! Maybe you can get some idea of what this place looked like. It was really tranquil and had some kind of plucking music that sounded cool in the background. We were in this room that was raised up from the ground and you took off your shoes at sat around a little table on a heated floor. There were wooden poles and bamboo screens to section you off from the rest of the place. Then old windows that overlooked the cobblestone. Think of old Asian movies and stick us in a tea ceremony or something.

And here is the nicest subway toilet I have ever seen. I had to share.

Pope-o-meter (or whatever it might actually be called)

Most people know that Korea is pretty super-Christian. I tried to take a picture of the crosses that dot the night sky, but they come out blurry. When I go to the gym, the window by the bikes looks out onto a giant red cross on top of a nearby building that looks like it's sitting on top of one of the mountains in the background - just like the cross on top of Mt. Royal in Montreal (hence the subject line).

I was also standing in 7-11 grabbing a Coke and I turned to my friend and commented on the extra-large Spam gift pack. VERY quietly, who knows who's listening, right? Next thing we know, we're hearing all about how this guy has received a giant gift pack of the stuff from his boss. Who knew Spam was still a staple over here? Much less a highly regarded item...Think I'll pass on this one.

I've taken a few pictures of what my neighborhood looks like.

Ok, I'm trying my best to put up pictures as much as possible. The area of Seoul that I live in is Shihung, it's kinda on the edge of the city. Here are a few shots from my neighborhood...

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g)

(a) All over the city, there are little setups like these. Kinda like Seoul's answer to lack of gardens, grass, and trees. They're usually pretty busy at lunchtime, and old men are always napping in them. Can't forget those who have had way too much soju by early afternoon and are passed out in the corner...

(b) and (c) The first picture is this odd collection of what looks like could be lawn ornaments or memorabilia taken from a movie convention. Can you see the Golem statue? Do you see the guard house in the next picture? This two pictures go together - this little garden is along the wall of the army base near my house. See the guard house? These lovely dinos stand beneath it. They're about 6 ft tall...Interesting...

(d) The front of my apartment building. I'm on the third floor, on the other side, and of course, my apt is messy, so I'm not going to show you a picture of it right now.

(e) This is what my street, and most of the ones around it look like. I walk up and down this hill every day - I'm going to have killer legs by the time I'm outta here!

(f) Market Street. At least that's what we call it. You can find ANYTHING. From fakes to food to clothes, dishes, and toys. It's cheap. It's fantastic. I'll miss it.

(g) These little bundles you see all over after lunchtime are because when you order delivery from Korean restaurants, you get real dishes and they come back and pick them up. So much nicer to get take out in a real bowl with real silverware instead of plastic and cardboard. And it cuts down on trash, which they're big on here. If you want bags at the grocery store, or most stores for that matter, you have to pay either per bag, or a small fee. My big red bag not only fits a weekend of clothes, but a pretty decent amount of groceries...

I'm craving bacon and eggs like only Place Milton can make them. Or a bacon, egg, and cheese on a bagel from Commuter. Aaaah! If only you could mail such things...

What a week!

Woohoo! So I'm going to grad school! I got accepted to NYU a couple of nights ago, so I think I'll start in January. I'm excited! I'd like to make it back here though at some point. My Korean has improved by leaps and bounds and that's what I'm really sad about not being able to continue with. Maybe I'll get a place in Flushing so I can make sure I have to speak Korean at least sometimes...

My boss at school just asked me if I wanted to sign on for next year, the day before I got into school. Aah! I wonder if he'll be upset now that I'm not going to stay...Feeling a little guilty that we're just now setting up a bank account, got my alien registration card, and a cell phone number finally, and I'm out in 2 months.

Been super sick this week too, how come I've lost my voice twice in 3 weeks?

Pictures to come, I promise. I will make sure I go sightseeing this week so I can finish my roll of film so I can finally develop my last pictures from Taipei and some more of Korea. Saw some beautiful palaces downtown the other day, so I think I'll try and make it there.

Went out to celebrate someone's birthday this weekend and so we all dressed up in these "Be the Reds" t-shirts (Korea's soccer team) and it was crazy! There were 11 of us I think, sporting sweatbands and these shirts roaming around the city, pretty much just attracting attention because we're foreigners in soccer shirts. Pictures are on their way...

Found a dirt cheap trip to Japan too, so thinking about going there. Been pretty good about saving money, though now I want to go to Beijing and Japan before I leave, so a decent chunk may go there. Hopefully going to see Wilson in a few weeks, just gotta get last minute travel info together. Can't believe my time here is half over! Now it doesn't seem like I've got that many weekends left at all...aah!

Ok, to work.

Guess who's going to grad school?

Me me me!

Ain't we hot...

Ok, so here are pictures from our fateful foreigners' night out last weekend.



This is Candace, she teaches at Wonderland with me and we live in the same building. We hang out a lot, she's from Winnipeg.



This is her boyfriend, Majid. I'm not sure what he does, but he's great...

Ew...

Have you ever killed a mosquito mid-bite? I must've slapped one in the middle of the night last night in the middle of biting me because I woke up this morning with a big bump on my lip and my pillow had squished bug and grossness on it. Yuck. I look hot.

And for the only time I think I will ever say this - Bush did something right! He signed the North Korea Human Rights Act this morning, so while it might not mean that action will actually be taken, it's at least now a law and $24 million in aid is promised to help promote human rights and freedom over the next 4 years. It also ensures that North Koreans won't be barred from eligibility for refugee status or asylum in the US and that the government can give non-profits grants to support programs promoting human rights, democracy, rule of law, and the development of a market in North Korea.

And since I've started this entry - woohoo! BBC Radio called our office and I think I inadvertently became the "someone at the Citizens' Alliance of North Korean Human Rights in Seoul, Korea" who offers an opinion in some kind of interview. Hope it flies...

Look at me at my internship! Thank god my killer bug bite's on the other side of my face...Hee hee, the caption says I'm pretty.

"Anyonghaseyo, Brad Pitt imnida!"

"Hello, I'm Brad Pitt!" is the translation of that subject line. And the guy in the yellow sweater is the one who said it:



This is the picture I took of "Brad Pitt" It didn't come out all that well - the point of the picture was to show you these guys who stand in the middle of these mountain roads with light sticks (can you see the little red lights behind him?) trying to get cars to come to their restaurants - all of which sell the same exact thing, pork cutlet and grilled ribs. After our crazy night last night, I went for a big walk around the city on my own and ended up going to Namsan Tower which is Seoul's Space Needle pretty much. It's been a bunch of things since 1394, but most recently a Japanese garrison in the 1890s and then various Japanese fortresses during their occupation and it became a park in the 1960s. It's a few bucks to go up in the cable car, and only about a dollar more for a round trip because lots of people walk back down the mountain - one guy told me had just finished running up it when I was walking around. It's a 3 minute cable car ride, I can't even imagine how hard that run might be. It's really pretty up there, you get off the cable car at the top of the mountain and then you walk up lots of teeny steps to get to the tower area. I remember going when I was younger and FLYING up the stairs. Now, however, it was a bit more of a hike. The view was nice, but none of my skyline pictures turned out that well. Just lots of lights amid the darkness. It was a beautiful, clear night though, so being up at the top of even a little mountain was great!

(a) (b)
(c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h)

(a) What the tower looks like during the day and where it is, pretty much smack in the middle of the city. (Thanks asianinfo.org)
(b) The view during the day, now you can see what Seoul looks like! (Thanks SeoulSearching.com)
(c) Namsan Smoke Signal Station - Way back when, they had smoke signal stations on the top of mountains to communicate between areas. They fixed these up and now they greet you hike up the steps after the cable car.
(d) Before you get to the tower, you see this pagoda. There are benches for people to sit on and you can see most of the area from where it sits. Not as crazy as right by the tower, when I went it was nice and quiet.
(e)&(f) The top and bottom of the tower. You can go to the observatory in the tower too, right around where the blue meets the red, but the line was really, really long so I didn't go.
(g) Me with some skyline behind me.
(h) This guy made killer cotton candy for 75 cents. His cart has been there for over 40 years (he took over from his dad)!

Sorry some of the pictures are blurry, but you get the idea...HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDMA!!!

Americans, Canadians, and English-speakers - oh my!

Oh what a night. Going to the mountains didn't work out, so I went out with one of the other teachers and her boyfriend to one of the big foreigner hangouts. If anyone ever questioned why foreigners have a bad name some of the time, many of the guys I saw last night were representative of the reason why. We started off the night trying to see a fireworks show, which we missed, and then heading to a big intersection where there is a Burger King and a hotel that people use for a meeting point. We were waiting outside for her friends and this guy walks out with his friends and slaps me on the butt saying various inappropriate things - to which my response was to turn around and tell him to get away. Yes, I probably should have ignored him, but oh well. He went to do it again and when I turned around and started walking away, he was shouting all sorts of names at me, as if I was the one doing something wrong!

We went to this Canadian hangout after that and it was packed! Made me feel like I was back at school with all the maple leaf decorations and Molson signs. They even had pictures of the Canadian national hockey teams and paid tribute to Avril when Skater Boi played. Guys were much more well-behaved there - especially after the US military police came through and cleared out the army guys who were going against curfew. The whole area is pretty much off-limits to them and they've all got a midnight curfew right now, so it was amazing to see how many people left after that. We went to this place that seriously rivaled Peel Pub and all its dirtiness after that. We met up with some of her other friends and danced the night away. The guys there were persistent! Even when I told a couple of them I was really uninterested and the other girls came to my protection, one bought me flowers. So I gave them my number from 10 years ago and called it a night. At least I came home with flowers! A fun night overall - it was funny to be able to understand all the conversations going on around me, to be able to say "excuse me" instead of "shillehamnida" when I want to walk by someone, and to be around normal-sized girls! I've got a picture of me and Candace on its way, I'll post it when I get it from her. We were talking about how poutine would've topped the night off...Mmmm, fries and gravy and cheese curds. (It's still doable in few and far between doses)

Haha, Candace asked me if Americans normally wear cowboy hats all the time. There are SO many guys from the South in the army, and other people who wear jeans and cowboy hats here. God only knows why, it's not like we're near anything remotely cowboy-ish, except for a country-western bar on that street. Silly Americans...

And all of a sudden it's fall...

Woohoo! One of my kids was named Student of the Month, here we are!

How do you explain coming home to a toilet that seems to have flooded on its own? I left super early in the morning, came back really late tonight and surprise! Thank god we have a 24 hour store nearby that sells everything you could ever need for your house.

"Since destinations are written in Korean, japlish and Chinese, you can take the right bus without difficulties." This is what the Seoul Bus Info site tells you when looking for bus route information. What is Japlish? Do they mean Japanese? Japanese-English? I don't think I've ever seen Japanese on a bus even...They don't seem to be very fond of that country over here.

Hoping to go to the mountains this weekend, this one specifically. We figured it'd be good since no one would want to go if it's cold. Dead wrong. Apparently it's the busiest time of year for heading to the mountains in Korea because of the leaves changing. There's a place that's supposed to have the best sunrise in all of Korea and then hopefully where we'll be able to go where we want without an absolutely insane amount of people having the same idea...With any luck, you'll see pictures after the weekend!

What not to do on a bus...

...don't take a nap unless you're sure it's going in the right direction! I decided to take a new way home tonight and once I hopped on the bus, shut my eyes because I knew it'd be a little while. I woke up an hour later to find myself on the complete opposite end of the city. I live in the southwestern corner of the city and finally got off the bus in the very northeastern section of the city . Two and a half hours after that, I finally made it home. And to think I wanted to get home early and get some stuff done! I did read a lot of Fast Food Nation though, and I'm starting to think that I don't want to go to McDonald's, or any other fast food restaurant, or Disney-anything for a very long time...

Spanish Speaking North Koreans?

So I'm doing some research, putting together articles and stuff for our website and I come across "News from the Korean Central News Agency of DPRK," the national North Korean newspaper. Its website is based in Japan and it's published in Korean and English - with a special section for Spanish speaking people. The language used is kinda funny - feels like lots of SAT words are thrown in. Of course, it contains the expected propaganda and definitely shouts a "We are the best in the world and our enemies will fall because they don't have Kim Jong Il" theme.

It's actually pretty interesting to see what they think of what's going on though. They condemn the passing of an act in Congress on North Korean Human Rights, they blame the Bush administration for any delays in the nuclear issue talks - they insist that they are the ones urging them to continue, and have various articles on who supports them and their cause and who gave them praise. One of their articles ends with "The U.S. should retract the act at once. Otherwise, it would face a stern judgment by the Korean nation that opposes war and loves peace." They appear to have some valid points, like wanting to conduct talks only when both parties agree to treat each other with the same level of respect and the US must drop its double standards. They call the United States' lying a criminal act which they must be reprimanded for. Not that I'm sympathizing with the regime or thinking that they're good by any means...

In exercise news - I killed myself at the gym yesterday, but in a good way. Sort of by accident, since a) I couldn't figure out how to work the machines til I'd already been on them for a while and b) the guy who runs the place decided to basically be my trainer for the evening, but this was just as I was about to go. He took me through a whole other cycle of stuff to do for another hour and after he seemed to be satisfied, I could go. Then this lady in the locker room goes, "You're not from our country, but you can speak Korean. Why?" Keep in mind I go to a ghetto gym with incredibly cramped quarters making things like this unavoidable. And they're usually only being curious and want to know who I am, where I'm from, what I'm doing, etc so I don't want to be rude and not answer, but answering that question is like opening a can of worms...1/2 an hour later, nearly 3 hours after I first got to the gym, I got to go home...If these extra long sessions continue, I should be extra buff by the time I get home. Score for me...

"This one is good for pat people."

"For what?" we asked.
"Pat people. You know. Large size."

No, we're not talking discussing clothing with the shopkeeper. We were discussing oils that you burn to make your room smell nice. Apparently grapefruit is good for fat people, and since one of the people I was with is a little larger than most, the lady recommended that one. People definitely get credit for their honesty here - whether or not that's a good thing, that's still to be determined.

Finally made it to this Chagall show I've been wanting to go to. We tried to go yesterday and were told on the phone, "Please do not come. The line is over 500 meters long, please do not come." When we went by anyway just to see, they were not lying. So we went early this morning and by the time we got out, the line was at least 1/2 a mile long - no joke. The museum started selling the show catalogues outside because people began to realize they might not get in.

Went exploring here and there after we got out of the show and didn't know what to do. Here are a couple of things we found:



What you see walking towards a subway station near my house. (Yes, it does look exactly like what you're thinking.)



What the front actually looks like.



This guy carves wooden plaques with Korean poetry and sayings in front of one of the palaces downtown. If you look at his where his right hand would be, he lost it in a car accident when he was little and now secures a hammer to it so he can hit the knife in his left hand to carve out the characters.



One of the finished products.

Yay for finally getting drawers to put my clothing in as well. I know my room looks like a disaster anyway, but I'm trying to get better. Having drawers instead of suitcases is a good start.

Ho Lee Chow

Yay for American Chinese food on the big tourist street in Seoul! The food didn't actually look all that good, but the name is funny...

I also give myself a pat on the back for speaking zero English today until I had to explain that my camera was broken and didn't know the word for broken. Got everything else though, including a big discount on the one I wanted - success!

I've also become obsessed with fakes. I think this is because Keil wanted me to look for them when I first got here. I walked past the guy who sold me my little change purse and he offered me a "Returnee" discount if I wanted to buy again. I want to, I want to! It's so dangerous getting paid in cash. I think I'll exchange it into US dollars so I don't spend it and make sure some of it goes home with me. Maybe if I wait long enough, this will pass.

Almost done with the application essay...can't wait til the end of the week when it's on its way to school.

"Puck you all!"

Ha ha. Are we awful English teachers if we swap stories about funny/awful things our kids said? From "the frog shat (sat) on the pole," "the bug shits (sits) on the mat," and the stubborn kid who swore that he meant lice not rice - even after finding out that lice are little bugs, the best one so far has been the kid who ran into a classroom shouting "PUCK YOU ALL!!" and wildly waving middle fingers in the air. It's incredibly hard to keep a straight face and try to discipline the kid at the same time to tell him that's inappropriate. Apparently he was one of the lucky ones who learned how to swear before learning more acceptable vocabulary...

Got yelled at for the first time for looking Korean and not being able to speak it. After successfully navigating my way around the grocery store, which is kind of half market for all the fresh foods, half store for frozen foods and household products, I was pretty proud of getting everything I wanted. On the way home, the taxi driver was seemingly beyond pissed that he couldn't understand my directions (even though I haven't had a problem so far) and proceeded to roar up the street to my apartment and nearly left with my groceries in the car. "Are you Korean? Why can't you speak Korean? Why aren't you learning Korean?" he asks in Korean. "I'm learning." And that was followed a string of mumbles and various hand gestures that looked less than positive. So I quickly got out and after he refused to give me change (it was only about 50 cents) was happy I at least got my groceries out in time. Everyone else I've met has been pretty positive about my fumbling around in the language as it shows I'm trying, even if it takes a couple of tries to get the point across. I suppose I had to meet someone who felt otherwise eventually...

"Thank you for letting us look after you. We look forward to flying with you again."

That's how Cathay Pacific ends their flight. Were they babysitting us? First sign: "Drug Trafficking is a crime punishable by death." Next sign: "Welcome to Taiwan!" You'd think they might've changed the order of the signs that greet you at the airport, but at least they get right to the point!

Taipei was great. I was very happy to see palm trees lining the streets as there is a severe lack of trees going on in this city, unless you're at a park. Did lots of exploring and wandering around the city and seeing family. The subway and bus system was pretty simple even with my absence of Chinese skills and their tourist guidebooks are good. Through pointing and a calculator, I managed to go shopping very well (of course, I'm sure I could do that in any country). At one of the night markets, I found myself following a lady who offered Louis Vuitton bags to her "warehouse" which involved going down an alley or two, up some stairs, and finally entering this room with wall to wall LV. If only it wasn't so expensive, it would've been great. Came home with enough VCDs to keep me busy for a considerable amount of time. Tip: go on a rainy day when there aren't many other customers, then prices drop like Montreal winter temperatures!

The weather was kinda crappy the first and last days, but I still saw lots - Temples, of course, and memorials and we spent a day at Yehliou, which is this beach with volcanic rock formations "said to have been carved by the Sea God." Ended the week with a visit to a restaurant up in the mountains, where we couldn't read the menu, so we ended up ordering some things that we might not have ordered had we known what we were ordering. On the way back though, we accidently made a wrong turn and in the process of backing down, managed to slip off the road a little and the car starts leaning. Yay for rainstorms and slippery mountain roads. But thanks to a few carfuls of people, we pushed the car back as Dad maneuvered. Not quite the way the night had been planned. But all is okay and I made it back in one piece. If you ever fly Cathay Pacific, eat BEFORE you get on the plane. Their meal fare leaves something to be desired and you kinda regret eating it after. Good dessert though, and that's important. Overall an excellent trip, more pictures on the way when I get the rest of them developed! Sorry I'm only in one - that's what happens when you go exploring on your own.

Pictures from Taipei

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m)

(a) Me in the rocks at Yehliou - they're all at least a foot taller than me, to give you some idea of how big they are
(b) This looks like I stopped off on another planet. It's one of the rocks there, listed on the postcards as the "Crescent Moon"
(c) The most famous of all the rocks: The Queen. It's image is on buildings and stuff all over the town
(d) The entrance to Lungshan Temple. There had to be at least one temple picture up here - it's Asia
(e) Ok, even though the picture didn't turn out the way I wanted to, it was great because this guy's hat said "Public Enemy No. 1" on it. He looks intimidating...right.
(f) The inner shrine at Lungshan Temple
(g) Outside of the temple, next to the street, is this big waterfall. Not what you'd expect in the middle of the city!
(h) The greeting at the Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. They don't even say this at temples! But he's so important, there are strict rules at the place
(i) The Chiang Kai Shek Memorial. It's MASSIVE. I think I was standing about a hundred feet away in order to make it fit into one picture
(j) The inside of the dome in the memorial - the sun from Taiwan's flag
(k) I happened to come for the changing of the guards. They have just flipped their guns around with one hand and then are tossing them back and forth to each other, using only one hand. There is also a bayonet at the end of the guns, makes me nervous thinking about it!
(l) Some of Madame Chiang's painting
(m) The entrance to the Sun Yat Sen Memorial Hall. And then I got spoken to for taking pictures so I had to put my camera away