It's Been 1 Year!!

Wow!  I know this sounds cliche, but this year has gone by unbelievably fast.  I remember Aug. 17, 2013 so vividly that I cannot believe it was a whole 12 months ago.  I remember waiting and waiting for the day of my flight to arrive, and when the time came, I was choking back tears, saying goodbye to my family, and wondering if I was making the right decision.  Now, 365 later, I know that moving abroad was one of the best decisions I've ever made.  It hasn't always been easy living in Korea (missing holidays, time with family and friends and special events), but I wouldn't change anything that's happened to me in the past year.

A collage of some of my experiences this year, also featuring some of my favorite people here!

(Family visiting, rafting, Taekwondo lesson, paragliding, basketball game, etc.)

Learning Korean hasn't been easy, but it's slowly coming along.  The stuff in this picture is sooo easy now.

In honor of my first year in Korea, I’ll tell you my top 5 likes and dislikes of living here (in no particular order):

1. Clothes DRYERS!!!  I could desperately use a dryer, but there non-existent here, so everything must air-dry.  I hate waiting...and I just want fluffy clothes again.

2. Food, food and food.  Yes, I've adjusted to Korean tastes and I will definitely miss certain Korean dishes when I decide to leave, but nothing beats the variety of American food.  If you want PopTarts, there's literally 30 flavors to choose from in the US.  And the only time I can get good Mexican food here is when I travel to Seoul, and if you think I'm paying a reasonable $7 for a meal that includes free chips and salsa, think again.  I also miss crab rangoon, root beer, hotdogs, mac n cheese, etc.  Bottom line here, I'm definitely not starving, but American cuisine wins the food battle hands down.

3.  Time Zones.  Of course the time difference just plain sucks.  Korea is 14 hours ahead of the U.S. which can make calling/texting/Skyping family and friends a bit of a pain because these things can only be done in the morning and late at night.  Have something exciting to share with your parents at 3pm here?? Well, you'll have to wait because it's currently 1am for them.

4.  Age.  The whole age difference thing is just damn confusing.  Korean has their own special way to calculate age, while the rest of the world is calculating the normal way.  So when people ask me how old I am, I have to stop myself from saying "23" (which is my real age) and say "25" instead.  Why do Koreans want to be older than they are??

5.  Relying on Others.  I'm a really independent person and like to do things on my own.  I've had to face the reality that I can't do everything on my own here.  There a huge language barrier (even though I'm slowly learning), and some things are just impossible.  Luckily, I have an awesome co-teacher who is readily available to translate for me in cases of emergencies (phone problems, doctor visits, bank problems, etc.)  I hate having to ask her to do things for me--especially because they're occurrences which I'd be able to handle on my own in the U.S.--but sometimes you just have to ask for help.

One of the people I rely on most in Korea: Jae Hee, my awesome co-teacher

Sooo enough about the negatives; let's focus on the positive aspects of living in Korea.  Of course there's too many to count, but I'll try to narrow it down.

1.  Easy-living.  I'll be honest, I have a really comfortable life here.  I make a decent paycheck with no taxes, my apartment is provided for me, vacation time is substantial and I only have 3 bills a month that are pretty minimal.  Korea is also a really safe place with very low crime and I never worry about walking alone.  I couldn't live this comfortably in the U.S. that's for sure.

2.  Travel.  I LOVE TRAVELING. During my vacation time, I'm always going somewhere new whether it's abroad or within Korea.  This past year I went to Japan, Thailand and Cambodia, along with numerous places in Korea as well.  I already have a list of places that I want to explore this year: Vietnam, Indonesia, etc. When else will I be able to explore Asia??

Petting a tiger during my trip to Thailand in January.

3.  Music Scene.  The Korean music scene is unlike anything I've seen or heard before.  KPOP is in a league of its own, but I love it.  KPOP is so catchy, and I've already developed favorite groups and singers (check out G-Dragon if you don't know who he is).  I still have faith that it will make its way to the U.S. soon.

Teaching! Because that's why I'm here...but look closely and my students are playing KPOP-themed UNO.

4.  Friends.  I didn't know ANYONE when I came to Korea.  I didn't even meet any other English-speakers until about 3 weeks into my time here.  Well, it's safe to say I'm no longer friend-less, although it did take time to meet and develop relationships with people here, Korean and foreign alike. I can say now that I've met some amazing people, people who I will definitely stay in contact with for a very long time.  I have so many friends here now that it's hard to make time for them all!! Oh, woe is me..

Some of my friends during last Thanksgiving

My partner in crime, Cara, who has made this year a lot more fun and interesting to say the least.

5.  Seoul.  I love city life, which may be odd considering I grew up in a town of 5,000 people.  In my opinion, cities are full of life, interesting people, and city lights at night are absolutely beautiful.  Seoul may be similar to other big cities, but it's still a really cool place and there's a lot of fun to be had there.

So I’ve known this for awhile now, but one year in Korea is just not enough.  So, I recently decided to extend my contract for another year.  Here's to round 2, and only time will tell the rest...   

   

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

One thing I've really missed this summer is hitting up a few Cardinals baseball games, grabbing a delicious ballpark hotdog, and watching my main man Molina behind the plate.  Lucky for me, apart from soccer, baseball is Korea's second-most popular sport.  There are nine national teams in the Korean Baseball League and games are extremely cheap to attend.  I've gone to two games this summer and both have been extremely fun!

I went to my first game in June with my friend Cara.  It was 4 o'clock, we were already in Seoul and decided to take the subway over to Jamsil Sports Complex to see if there was a game since all games are played in the evenings.  We were able to get tickets for the 5:30 game, and we were asked which seats we wanted: the $10, $12, or $15.  We decided to splurge and go for the $15 seats between third base and home plate, about 12 rows from the field.  Not bad for the "pricy" tickets.  The stadium is divided into two sections: home team section and visiting section; so when you buy tickets, you choose which side you want to sit on.  We decided just to sit with the home team which was the LG Twins.  The visitors were the SK Wyverns.  All teams are owned by a major Korean corporation.  

View of the field

My second game was just a couple weeks ago, and I got to spend it with the people I love most: my family!  During our time in Seoul, it was a MUST to see a game since we all love a little baseball action.  Of course we "splurged" for the same tickets too.  This time we saw LG play the Lotte Giants, which we were told are the equivalent of the NY Yankees in regards to Korean fan bases.  The Korean guy sitting next to my dad was wearing a special All-Star jersey, which eventually lead to a conversation.  We found out that this guy had obtained his Master's degree from Washington University in St. Louis in 1996!  Talk about a small world!  Unfortunately this game was rained out in the 5th inning, but we still managed to witness a homerun and my brother and I left as jersey-holding members of the Giants fan base.

Family at the game...obviously I didn't get the memo about keeping our eyes open.

 My new jersey supporting Che Dae Seong, pitcher

The ballpark food isn't exactly what you would be able to find at Busch Stadium, but there is still quite the selection: Burger King, KFC, Pizza Hut, Smoothie King, etc.  Concession prices weren't overly inflated either which is always a plus.  Many people decide to skip the ballpark food altogether and order delivery to the stadium.  Fried chicken delivery is always the most popular choice for Koreans, and you can bring your own food into the stadium no problem.  My brother happened to be a huge fan of the $3 Budweiser tallboys.  Yep, you heard that right...$3.

Another great view from our seats.

If you go to a Korean baseball game, don't get upset when you don't heard the familiar "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" chant.  Instead, Koreans have their own chants which are led by cheerleaders.  Many of the chants are in tune to popular English songs; my personal favorite chant being the one to the tune of Disney's "It's a Small World".  

Hope you thought this post was a Grand Slam...sorry that wasn't as funny as I had hoped.  Until next time... 

          

Barbara in Korea: Adventures with my Mom

Ever since my mom booked her ticket to Korea in February, I've been counting down the days until she arrives.  Well, after a grueling 24-hour journey, she made it to Korea July 2nd.  I ditched school a little early so that I was able to meet her at the airport.  I had a big sign and smile waiting for her when she walked through the arrival gate; and, I got the hug I'd been waiting 11 months for!  

Since she's arrived, I think she's already experienced quite a lot; some things we've done together, and some things she's done alone because I'm still at work during the week.  On our first weekend together, I made sure to take my mom to the "hotspots" of Jecheon.  First on our list was Urimiji Lake, which is a reservoir on the outskirts of the city.  While there, we walked around the park which surrounds the lake and took a ride on a swan-shaped paddle boat.  There are a few food vendors in this area, so I was excited to have my mom try some authentic Korean street food including a chicken/coke cup and a spiral potato stick (which is a whole potato cut into a spiral shape, fried, and dipped in a seasoning of your choice).  We also took a walk through the rice fields.  Rice is a staple at every Korean meal, so there is a lot of land devoted to growing the stuff!  

My mom also got to see Cheongpung Lake, which is a large nearby lake.  My one landlord was kind enough to drive her there, give her a tour, and take her to dinner since I had to work.  

At Urimiji Lake

With the Jecheon characters

Street Food

Rice Fields

Afterwards, we stopped at the dog cafe to get our animal fix since we both miss our pets a lot.  As I've mentioned before, animal cafes are very popular in Korea, and we both really enjoyed playing with the several dogs that were there.  

This past weekend my mom, my co-teacher, a co-worker, my friend and I all headed to the east coast of Korea to see the infamous Haesindong Park, aka the Penis Park.  It attracts many visitors every year, especially foreigners...I'm sure you can guess why!  Yes, the park is filled with nothing but penis statues: fat penises, skinny penises, short penises, long penises, pensises with faces, and even a penis teeter-totter.  You get the picture.  The penis park doesn't just exist for dicks and giggles; there's a story behind it.  

The Tale:

Supposedly a long time ago, there was a young virgin girl who drowned in the ocean in which the park overlooks.  After the drowning, fishermen noticed that fish seemed to be disappearing from the water.  The fishermen concluded that the loss of fish must be because the girl was haunting the ocean and was angry after dying a virgin.  In order to appease the girl's spirit, the fishermen built penises, and more penises and more.  

Obviously these fishermen were smart, because, duh, what else does a virgin girl want?  Nowadays, the park is just a interesting place to visit in a very conservative country.  Did I mention there were families with young kids there?  No?  Well there were, and it was weird.

Penis teeter-totter

Since we were already near the coast, we decided to hit up a local beach.  The beach scene in Korea is quite different from the U.S.; instead of swimsuits, everyone is swimming in regular clothes, and instead of beach towels, there are tents set up on the beach.  Koreans even cook ramen and barbeque on the beach!  It's just a different experience here.  

Food is a big part of Korean culture, so I've had fun taking my mom to some different restaurants to try out Korean food.  The first place I took her was a traditional restaurant in which you eat on short tables and sit on the floor.  Traditional restaurants often serve each person a bowl of rice and then everyone shares multiple side dishes, usually soups and vegetable-based dishes which have been fermented.  We also ate Korean BBQ one night.  BBQ is my favorite here.  BBQ consists of cooking meat (pork, beef or duck) at your table and it is also served with many side dishes.  Surprisingly, my mom has seemed to enjoy Korean food; this was something that I definitely had to adjust to when I first arrived.  My mom has faced one major setback though: chopsticks!  She has been a trooper and tried using them at every meal, but the waiter always ends up bringing her a fork.  Some things just take time.  

Using chopsticks!

My mom has also visited my school on a few occasions and met many of my students and co-workers. Everyone has enjoyed asking her questions like "How old are you?", and we've also heard several times, "Same face!".  It's been a really great experience for my students to meet another "foreigner" and for my mom to finally meet the kids I've been teaching to the past year.  

Next week, we will be off to Jeju Island and Seoul for more adventures since I will be starting summer vacation.

Rafting in Yeongwol

Over the weekend, a few friends and I went rafting in Yeongwol, a nearby town about 25 minutes away.  It's currently typhoon season, but luckily the rain stayed away Saturday and it couldn't have been a better day to go.  I was kind of expecting white-water, Colorado style rapids, but Korea didn't quite live up to those expectations.  But it was a great time nonetheless!

We were the only "foreigner" raft on the whole river, so of course many people stared at us and some even shouted some friendly "hellos" our way.  We quickly learned that it is Korean custom to splash the rafts that you pass or that pass you while you make your way down the river.  Koreans made the splashing bit look really easy, but I proved to be a terrible splasher...it was definitely harder than it looked!!  You had to smack you paddle across the water to splash the raft alongside of you...or if you're me, you try to do it, fail, and then cover your head so you don't get water in your eyes.  I definitely let my raft team down in the splashing competitions.  Oh well, I made up for it by being a great paddler.  

About halfway down the river, we were able to anchor the raft and swim for a bit.  Many Koreans can't swim because they don't get a chance to take swimming lessons and their aren't any outdoor, recreational pools anywhere.  Because of this, I'm a little surprised that rafting and other swim-related activities are so popular.  Because Koreans can't really swim, everyone had to wear lifejackets and helmets the whole time on the raft...bummer.  But it was still a great time!

A friend on the trip had a GoPro and was able to get some great shots of us on our trip.  Here is a link to a video he made with the footage...check it out!    

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNY3cqt7WUE&list=UUVO3AX99iovlmun5WfkHrgw

The rafting crew!

Snappin' a few during our swim break...

Busan: The "Miami of Korea"

A couple weeks ago I traveled to Busan, Korea's second largest city which is located on the country's southern tip.  I would describe Busan as the "Miami" of Korea because of its infamous beaches, coastline, warm weather, and skyscrapers.  Until then, I hadn't seen the south of Korea at all, so it was a nice change of scenery.  Korea's southern regions are supposed to be very beautiful, and Busan did not disappoint.

My friend Cara and I took the 6:30am bus from Jecheon and arrived in Busan around 11am.  We took the subway (which is a much, much smaller version compared to Seoul's system) to the Haeundae area. We stayed in a really fancy high-rise-apartment-turned-hostel with an awesome view overlooking a pier.  After checking into our accommodation, we wasted no time and headed to the beach.  Unfortunately, it was still a bit chilly to swim, but it was nice to walk on the beach nonetheless.  My beach experience in Korea was definitely different than any beach experience I've ever had in the U.S.  Koreans are very conscious of the sun and don't tan if they can help it; so instead of seeing people scantily clad in an assortment of bikinis and swim trunks, people were much more covered up (I'm talking long-sleeve shirts and pants).  To be honest, I maybe saw one person in a swimsuit (and it was a foreigner)!  Maybe that's because of the fact that many Koreans can't actually swim either.  As we were walking along the beach, we stumbled upon a sand-castle competition.  These weren't your average sand-castles either.  They were giant piles of sand with elaborate carvings in them.  Most had some sort of animal/jungle theme going on.

At Haeundae Beach

Sandcastle at Haeundae Beach

Haeundae Beach

Beautiful view from the hotel

Because of it's coastal location, Busan is very famous for seafood and it's fish markets.  We decided to walk through a fish market, and were astounded by the variety of fish/sea creatures we saw...and to think that they are all edible!  We went in looking for a specific type of fish, and we most definitely found it.  I'm not sure the scientific name for it, but it's nickname is the "Penis" fish.  I'll let the picture do the explaining...I'm sure it's not hard to guess why it's called that.

Penis Fish...yes, it's edible..but no I didn't try it.

Fish market findings

After we found THE penis fish we had heard so much about, we headed towards Busan's Cultural Village.  The cultural village is sometimes called the "Santorini" [as in Santorini, Greece] of Korea.  While Santorini's building are all white, the cultural village's building are a rainbow of various colors.  There wasn't really anything to do at the cultural village besides snap a few pictures, but it was still a great sight to see.      

Culture Village

Also while in Busan we decided to go see a temple, because honestly, what is a Korean trip without seeing a temple?  Haedong Yonggungsa Temple was built in 1376, and it was different than the dozen others I've seen because it overlooked the water--most temples are in the mountains.  It was a royal pain in the ass to get there (a 25 minute ride on an overly-crowded city bus, standing room only), but again, I guess it was worth it because the weather was absolutely perfect and the place was very picturesque.  It seemed that everyone had the same idea as us that day, because the temple was quite crowded with other tourists.  We took a quick selfie by the giant, gold Buddha statue (when in Korea, do as the Korean's do..), threw a penny in a well for good luck, and walked around the temple grounds.

Oh hey, Buddha!

Unfortunately the only thing I found lacking about Busan was the nightlife.  While the streetside adult slushies and cocktails were amazing, Seoul still takes the cake in the nightlife category.  I guess it's a good thing Seoul is closer to me then!    

One last stop before we headed back to Jecheon was Shinsegae Department Store.  It also happens to be the largest department store in the world!  It was filled with high-end stores like Gucci, Armani, Prada, Burberry, and Hermes.  Needless to say, I didn't buy anything...haha.

Dating and Couple Culture

This week I thought I would address a topic that I haven't really talked about at all in my blog: Korean dating and couple culture.  To foreigners, Korean couple culture may seem strange and vastly different than western dating, but after ten months here, I've come to find it really cute and charming.

In my opinion, couple culture is a topic that is brought up a lot because Koreans love to pry into everyone's love life.  They are obsessed with asking, "Do you have a boyfriend/girlfriend?" and if you say "no", they want to know why.  But, if you say "yes" you do have a significant other, there's a very good chance you were set up through family members or mutual friends on a blind date.  Koreans absolutely love to play matchmaker!  In the U.S., many single people meet potential dates randomly at bars, at work, through friends..basically anywhere; in Korea it's very different.  Koreans don't typically strike up conversations with strangers and ask for their phone number.  I've heard that their usually too shy to do such a bold gesture, so they rely on people they trust (aka friends and family) to set them up on a blind date.  Korean singles also like to date a person around their own age, plus or minus a couple years.  I believe it is pretty rare to date someone significantly older or younger than yourself here.

Once you have established an actual relationship with someone, the exciting "couple" things begin.  Once the relationship is official, couples will begin to document their time together by counting days.  While western couples will say they've been together for "X" amount of months, Korean couples will tell you they've been a couple for "X" amount of days.  It's very common for someone to say, "We've been dating for 62 days".  Reaching the 100-day mark is a very special occurrence for couples, and they usually celebrate this milestone anniversary by giving one another gifts.  Every 100 days after this is also a reason to celebrate (i.e. 200 days, 300 days, etc.)  Think it might be hard to keep up with the exact number of days?  Don't worry, there's a phone app to keep track for you!

Another way couples show their love for one another is by wearing couple clothes/outfits.  It is very common to see couples walking down the street wearing matching shirts, shoes, pants, hats, and even socks.  Sometimes they just might wear a matching shirt, or a matching shirt and hat, but other times, they wear the exact same outfit head-to-toe.  I am very curious as to how they coordinate this; do they text each other before going out and say, "Hey, wear your striped shoes and black button-up shirt today"?  I may never know.  I used to find these matching clothes a little ridiculous, but the more I see it, the more I think it's quite cute.  Another "couple" signature staple is the couple rings.  Not sure if someone has a girlfriend or boyfriend?  Look at their hands.  If they are in a relationship, they will most likely be wearing a couple ring.  Once couples are married though, you would think they would continue wearing rings, right?  Well think again.  Most married Korean couples don't wear wedding bands or any type of ring to signify that they are married.  I'm not really sure why couples wear rings, but after marriage you take them off.  So how do you know who is married or not?  I guess you don't really know, but kind of just assume.  If a Korean is over 30 and not married yet, they usually get a lot of pressure put on them by family members to find a spouse.  So I think most people assume that once you're over a certain age, you're most likely married.  Also, the couple clothes stop at marriage as well.

Two different couples wearing matching "couple" shirts

Couple Shoes

I observe a lot of this couple culture on the street just by walking around in town.  Things like couple clothes are very obvious symbols of a relationship.  Other things I notice are how doting the Korean guys are on their girlfriends.  I often see the men carrying their girlfriend's purse...and with no shame! (not that there should be any shame in carrying a women's purse, but I definitely don't see this being done in the U.S.)  And if it happens to be raining outside, you best believe that the woman is not holding the umbrella, because that is left up to the boyfriend to do. Little gestures like this are things I notice a lot just because it's different than what I would see at home.  

One thing I found very interesting is that families play a limited role in Korean couples' dating process.  Korea is a very family-oriented society, so I expected parents to be somewhat involved with their son or daughter's relationship; but actually, I've found that almost the exact opposite is true.  Many times, parents don't meet their kid's boyfriend/girlfriend until they're getting engaged.  Meeting the parents here is a pretty big deal because it means the relationship is very serious, like on a marriage level.  Of course not every Korean relationship is like this, but from what I've heard from both Koreans and non-Koreans, meeting the parents usually occurs very late into a relationship.  I find this odd for for various reasons, but one reason especially being that the majority of Koreans live with their parents until they get married, and only then do they move out.  It's very common to be in your late 20s or even into your 30s and still living in your parents' house because you're not married yet.  Korean couples almost always hang out outside of the house (i.e. coffee shops, movie theaters, doing outdoor activities, etc) because going to one another's house would mean having to meet the other's parents...and what Korean wants to face that, especially after only 200 days of dating.

Well, I hope you enjoyed reading about Korean couple culture.  It has definitely been one of the more interesting topics I've learned about in my time here.  Remember that this is all generalizations too.  Obviously not every Korean couple follows these traditions/rules.  And I don't have any first-hand experience, but I have learned a lot about couple culture through my Korean friends.  It's always fun to hear about differences from one culture to the next, especially about a topic like dating.


























  

     

Stuff Koreans Do: "Asking Who is the Most Attractive"

So I am going to start a new segment of my blog titled, "Stuff Koreans Do", which will be similar to the popular YouTube videos, "Shit [insert type of person] Say".  I'm hoping that this segment of my blog will allow readers to understand a little bit of what I see/hear on an almost daily basis from Korean friends/coworkers/students/strangers/etc.  These will be subject matters that still confuse/astound/or interest me even after being here for 9 months.  I hope you enjoy!

My first segment of "Stuff Koreans Do" will discuss the topic of beauty ideals.  I have yet to write a proper blog post about this, but beauty standards are taken extremely seriously here.  Korea is one (if not THE) world-wide leader of cosmetic and plastic surgeries--but more about that in another post.  In this post, I want to tell you about one of the first questions I encounter when meeting a group of Koreans.  It never fails, upon meeting a new group of people, someone will always ask me or my friends to pick:

"Who is the best looking/most attractive?"  

(of the group)  

It is such an awkward question to be asked altogether, much less after knowing the asker of the question 10 minutes after meeting!  But to Koreans, this type of question is standard conversation.  One particular instance where I remember being asked this question was when my friend Cara and I were at the local bar, Rock and Roll.  We happened to be sitting at a table next to a group of 4 younger Korean guys, and we were casually talking to them.  Of course, their English wasn't perfect, but we were able to communicate some.  After talking a few minutes we were both asked to choose the one guy of the group who we thought was the most attractive.  Koreans are very self-aware of their attractiveness level though and accept it.  They know if they're pretty/handsome or if they got the short end of the stick in the looks department.  Because of this, the most attractive person at the table will usually be the one to bring up the question "Who is the best looking?".  Funny, right??

When asked this, I typically try to dodge the question the best I can.  I will compliment each of them on something, or say looks don't really matter, or something along those lines, because who wants to answer that???  Anyways, this is definitely a question that gets brought up when meeting new people and although I come to expect it now, I still find it strange.