Field Notes

• Mopeds and motorcycles have free range of the streets - and sidewalks. Helmets, license plates, speed limits, turn signals, and even shoes are not required. Upon hearing an excellerating moter from behind, I have abandoned the attempts to try and dodge the speedy little whatnots, and now simply flinch with the hopes they veer around me.

• I have, however, gotten impressively good at dodging loogies. Maybe its due to the amount of pollution in the air, but everyone has an unlimited amount of phlem to hack up, and really no concern as to where or when they dispose of it. The other day my shoe almost fell victim while coming down a flight of stairs, but a nifty little double sidestep avoided the whole possibility.
  

• The Korean equivalency of the F word is pronounced she-par, which is rather helpful to know before you give a lesson involving the phrase "sheep are"........

• Also helpful, is knowing the word for "toilet" (pyun-ki) rather than "bathroom" as the latter will quite possibly lead you to a public bathhouse full of those in their altogether.

• "In their altogether" doesn't seem like an appropriate term for naked; when naked it seems as though something is definitely not together.......
  

• There is so much seafood here that nearly every restaurant houses numerous tanks full of carp, tuna, octopus, squid, eel, codfish, pollack, and mollusks, still swimming around happily - until you order it and the cook comes from out back with a net and scoops it's little life right onto the burner and then your plate. I used to feel bad about the lobsters in the tank at Schnucks, but not here really.

• I think much of my English is being compromised just in desperate needs to get my point across. I recently caught myself saying, "I no go" and "me home".
  

• The Korean I know is rarely useful in the situations I find myself in. Funny enough, a good number of Koreans actually have faith that just because you're American or foreign, doesn't mean you're not quite knowledgeable when it comes to their language. I had an entire conversation with a little old lady waiting for the subway yesterday, not knowing what in the world either one of us said.

• The butcher does pull-ups while us girls sit at the tables outside the convenient mart across the street.

• It's against the law here for a doctor to reveal the sex of an unborn child.
  

• Eric is 4 years old and just started English lessons for the first time back in March. He knew no English, but was really good at repeating after you. Example: Eric, say good morning. "Ewic, say goon moning." No, just good morning. "No, just goon moning." How are you, Eric? "How all you, Ewic?" The other week, after 2 1/2 months of this, I asked, how are you Eric? and with a shrug he replied, "I'm fine, thanks."

• All washing machines eat socks; I never have two of the same.
  

Back To the Future

Every Monday I think I'm not going to make it. I look at the 8 classes that lie in the day ahead, and then I look at the other 31 classes plugged between now and Friday evening and think, "surely, this is the week they'll eat me alive." Yet some how, by the grace of God, I'm still able to get out of bed every Saturday morning. It may not be without a few bumps and bruises, or tears, or curses, or desires to drop kick people in the head, but I make it. And I'm often accompanied by enough laughs and discoveries that it makes it all worth it......

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. Its a birthday that seems significant - like 16, 18, 21 - except nothing happens. It was kinda like turning 10 or 20, except with those I could say I exited the single digits or the teens; now the only thing I can say is that the possibility of turning 30 actually seems, well, possible. It's not necessarily depressing, but I wonder when people actually feel like an adult When am I out of excuses, because sometimes I can still think a handful of them.

The evening, anyway, was marked by a nice dinner and dessert with girls from church. That, and a letter. When I was 17 years old, months before I graduated high school, I wrote a letter to myself over 7 years in the future. I had forgotten about it until I was getting stuff together to move to the other side of the world. I brought it with me, still sealed, and opened it just yesterday. As cheesy as the whole operation sounds, it was quite brilliant. Of course, some of my perceptions and aspirations have changed over time and aren't the same, but the fact that I told myself to make sure I took a trip to Ireland by now because I've wanted to since I was in grade school or to continue to pursue writing............is pure inspiration.

That's What She Said

“People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway. If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway. What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway. The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway. Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway. In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.” -- Mother Teresa

They Say It's Your Birthday....

Well, it's actually one more week but I decided to buy myself a present early. I have been wanting an digital SLR camera for probably 2 years - ever since I had a little photography stint with a magazine. They're rather expensive though, so I kept putting it off and putting it off. The camera I've been using my Dad bought me 4 years or so ago, and has given me a lot of bang for his buck. But after a couple of events here where I didn't get the pictures I desired, (i.e. the DMZ, the Lotus Latern Festival) I decided it was time to take Nike's advice and "JUST DO IT". I found one camera I liked which was on sale at a place nearby, only they didn't have any in stock. So I waited a couple weeks, went back, and they still didn't have any in stock. I waited another week, went back and then the camera wasn't on sale any more; they bumped it up another 250,000 won! Well, that pushed me to take Saturday afternoon and hop on the subway for an hour and 15 minutes to the electronics mart. I walked in to one huge mall of camera's and cellphones and had no idea where to start.............I expected all the salesmen to come after me and they did. But I needed someone who could communicate so I walked a little ways and started asking questions to the first guy who spoke descent English. I pointed out a couple of the cameras I had in mind, and knew this guy wanted to sell me one. Of course, I immediatly wished my business savy, size looming (especially over this little Asian guy)father were there but I have learned a thing or two from him over the years. I told this guy I wasn't looking to spend a fortune; granted, these are professional cameras, but I'm not a professional. However, I didn't want to buy the camera, and then have to go buy all the extras seperatly - so I needed it all at one price! I got him to come down on the camera 3 times, plus throw in a nicer lens, a memory card, a camera case, and an adaptor to plug it right into my computer to download. In the end, I spent about what I had expected to while browsing cameras online, but I think I may have been able to get him to come down one more time..............oh well. I was happy to just finally get the thing.

Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater

He actually refers to himself in the third person as such, ever since I started calling him that. He's six years old and the happiest kid, possibly person, I have ever met. Always smiling, always laughing, always sharing, and always dancing.......

Taking Mr. Rogers' Offer

(kinda continued from the previous post)
I realized right away that sitting around in my one room apartment for an extended period of time was going to get really old really quick. So I have forced myself to immerse in as many aspects of this country and it's people as I can. I am constantly amazed at people's willingness to start up a conversation with a complete stranger - in their second language nonetheless. It's a courage I don't even have in my first, so I'm certainly not accustomed to it. Though Korea can be rather rude and inconsiderate collectively, they are individually kind..........and completely enthralled with the fact that an American would want to come live in their country. For them, it seems that America is the end all and be all, so why would anyone ever want to leave? As an older man in my apartment building asked me the the elevator the other day, "What is a lady like you doing here?" I often ask myself the same question, but anyway, I have become a magnet for anyone with a tad of English in their back pocket. In the past week I've had two people stop me in mid-cross walk to ask where I am from and shake my hand with a "Glad to meet you." I've been invited to a party while sitting in Dunkin' Donuts; I've been invited to a festival while hiking; I've been invited out to eat while running late to school. Now that the weather is warm, I sit outside the school on my lunch break to read at a little table with an umbrella. Now, my school is about 30 minutes (45 by subway) outside of Seoul, in one of the "burbs" with a lot of rice and potato fields to the left and right, but I know for a fact that I am not the only foreigner around. I've seen them, but I get people stopping at that little table to sit and chat like I'm a fortune teller. One young man, in particular, went to the extent of getting my email address and phone number, and then following through with it to ask me to hang out a couple weekends ago so he could show me around. I was walking around the pottery and ceramic festival when this man walked up to me and invited me to paint with him and his two daughters. So I painted a plate, which he offered to have put in a kiln and delivered to me. I was on the subway last Sunday minding my own business until a man walked up to me and began a conversation that ended up lasting for 45 minutes. He also got my phone number so we can go hiking together in the next month or so. I then found out he was 73 years old! I've been hanging out with another guy I met from Uganda who invited me to his home in Africa after my contract is up......the list goes on and on. All introductions are generally and simply followed with "ok, we're friends." As frustrating as it is at times to be surrounded by the unfamiliar, this meet and greet commodity is truly a gem.

Geometry of Time

When I was younger, I used to harbor a strong disliking towards wandering around without a general direction. My father would have these random impulses to pile everyone in the car without ever mentioning exactly where we were going. When we asked him, he'd say it was a surprise which we learned soon enough meant that he had no idea. He wanted out of the house for awhile, but understandably didn't want to be out by himself. He'd call it "going for a drive" because that sounded better than just "get in." And drive we did. For an entire Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Now for some, or someone, eventually finding a little place to eat or an old fashion car or huge rocks on the side of the road for the garden made the whole outing a success, but for those of us under 12 it meant a backseat stakeout with two of your siblings, arguing about elbow room, window views, radio stations, and who passed gas, none of which sounded very appealing.
Maybe this is how I've garnered such an affection for maps......even then I like to spread them across the walls in my bedroom - Australia, Russia, the Pacific Islands, a mountain trek in South America -ones I had found in my Mom's huge stack of old National Geographic magazines . I used to make my own also, penciling the neighborhood, the local park, or some place that only existed in my imagination. I still have this huge wall map where I once took different color safety pins and indicated all the places I've been, all the places I'd like to go and all the places I must go. When I venture to someone's house for the first time, or meet up with someone, I want a map drawn out with landmarks to guide me. Though my mini-van exploits were harmless and even character builders, I like to know where I'll end up, and what I may encounter.
I thought I would maybe be weened from this need when I went to Europe. Being completely charmed and enamored with the thought of boundless exploring, my friend Steph and I thought we'd just "wing it". However, we were rather ambitious with our travel plans, and visited 8 different cities in 4 different countries in 10 days. We needed a map. We actually needed a few of them to hit all the places we wanted to in such a confined amount of time.
So here, mostly in the beginning, I found myself attempting to follow the same map reference habits. On Friday afternoon or evenings I started spreading out my subway map, flipped through the guide to Seoul book my brother gave me before I left, and begin deciding my weekend destination. I plotted out a couple of places, research the weather, and come to what I believe to be a certain conclusion as to where I'm going. And often I don't end up there. I am constantly humbled by a language barrier, public transportation, and poor navigational techniques on part of the Koreans. I roam the streets as though no one is ever expecting me; I spend hours and miles roaming through parts of the city, up and down and up the same street; in single digit temperatures; through seams and alleyways, circling buildings and dodging vehicles and raindrops.......... And I'm okay with that.

It Takes 21 Days

I think I have a mild form of OCD. Now, for those of you laughing (especially my Father who I am constantly ragging on for having certain anal tendencies), I kid not.......it has become rather evident in my ample amount of time to observe and contemplate.
I can really think of no other reason behind some of the habits or patterns I've settled into, or why its so very hard for me to steer myself away from them. I don't need to wash my hands multiple times or avoid cracks in the sidewalk or circle around the parking meter 3 times before I can enter the building. However, I have a route I always walk to school, and that's the way I continue to walk, even after discovering a shorter way to get there. Same things with the walk to the gym - that's the way I've walked for 3 months so why change it? I run on the same treadmill too, and a guy I talk to sometimes recently asked "why you run on same, same all the time?" Well, heck. I don't know........I realized I ran on the same treadmill back home at the YMCA too; I have a preferred coffee cup and a shirt I like to wear on Fridays; I like to sit at the same place in restaurants, even order the same thing. That's my treadmill and my cup and my shirt and my table and my dish of food, meaning I think its sub- conscientiously a control issue. Yes, I will admit I like to be in control- my Mother has always affectionately called me the "Brother Police." But it also helps me feel safe and not so vulnerable - as soon as I open myself to unfamiliar territory, I could get side winded and bamboozled. When I stick to the program I can expect what's going to happen and prepare myself for it, gear my emotions towards a preferred outcome. Its the same reason I like things to be on my watch. I like my time, and I like to be able to do with it as I please. Sure, you can surprise me, but tell me when that surprise is coming and I'll let you know if it fits in there. Here I have had to come up with all new habits and practices, and have held on to them rather tightly. As excited as I will be to get home, I'm already thinking of how I'll have to come up with a whole new schedule again. I have a brother who will have been settled into his married life for over a year, another brother who settled into campus life, friends who have changed jobs, graduated school or went back to school, a dear friend in particular who will have been married and anticipating a baby for the past 9 months, and parents who have learned to be without children under their roof........
I have always thought of myself as just very disciplined, but I'm not so sure anymore. I've been thinking about a line from the movie You Got Mail, where she says, "I lead a small life......and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave?" I am trying - trying hard - to let other people and things in my life. I know what you're thinking: "You're on the other side of the world, how can you not let new things into your life?!" Its more complicated than that though; its still a matter of control. It's one thing to go out looking for things on my own terms; its completely different to allow things to pop up and "interrupt" my stride. It happens all the time here and I usually flinch or take cover. I believe there were a lot of things back home I missed simply because I chose to ignore them. I'm praying that won't be the case in 5 months.

On a completely different note, I noticed the other day that my gym still has their Christmas decorations up. Good for them.