bumin' in busan.

happy chuseok everyone!!! yesturday was korea's biggest holiday-- chuseok-- which, from what i understand, means the festival of the harvest and celebrating the ancestors. for an american living here, it means 5 beautiful days of no school. so i got myself tickets on one of the fastest trains in the world, and headed across the country to the southeast coast and visited a couple dordt friends teaching in busan, which many of you may know as pusan (it's spelled with a korean "b", but b and p are pretty interchangeable here it seems.) we had a fabulous time and i fell in love with the ocean, mountains, islands, curvy roads, and lack of sidewalks that i experienced in this cultural little coastal city. we spent monday hiking in the rain at bameosa, discovering budhist temples throughout the trees and rocks, and climbing lots of rocks while holding our umbrellas, and laughing about the rain and our lack of view from the top of the mountain (and by lack of view i mean a big white sheet of nothingness...), and we even had a good long night of rook like all good dordt grads would do. it was nice to be around familiar people. justin and adam made very good hosts and gave me all the peanut butter and jelly and lethal tap water my heart could desire. i put up some of favorite pictures of the weekend, but here's the link to more: http://dordt.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2008343&l=20bf2&id=148301063




budhist monks (they're called monks, right? if they're not, i'm sorry if my ignorance is disrespectful...). on the right, a woman reading through a window. on the left, men bowed respectfully during a ceremony.








on the left, bamboo. on the right, the confucius symbol of peace of serenity. does it look like another symbol from history? the nazi swastika perhaps? if that was your guess, you are right. the nazi stole the confucian symbol of peace and inverted it to symbolize war and chaos and hatred.








me and my umbrella.





inside one of many many rooms with budha and other ceremonial stuff. we got to hear bits of several ceremonies taking place--a lot of chanting, drum banging, yoga-ish bowing and meditating. it was a very interesting experience. the energy of the entire mountain was oozing peacefulness and reverence.

my humble abode.

finally, here are some pics of my little home:

this is my living area, taken from my kitchen. the dresser, chairs, coffee table, and desk in the left corner that you can't really see are all from the trash. not bad, eh?







on the left, my dresser up close. on the right, my living area taken from my loft where i sleep.







this is my bathroom, complete the bright blue rug i found and was SO excited about, only to get home, rip off the tag, throw it proudly on my floor, and realize it was in the shape of a heart. i really don't like hearts, but i also really don't like buying 2 bathroom rugs, so the heart stays.

this is taken from my living area. the stairs go up to a low-ceilinged carpeted loft where i have a mattress and that's about it. the door at the end of the hallway leads out and my bathroom is just to the left of the door. the kitchen is to the left of the stairway, just out of the picture. does that makes sense?







this picture is just to show you how i spent my friday night--i have decided to become a painter in korea. so last night, i stayed up till 1 am painting my flower pots and a few things for my walls.




this is my kitchen, taken from my living area.







here is my couch, no longer purple. (i figured out how to take the couch cover off. i hope it doesn't mind that i'm showing the whole world it's nakedness...)



this is what i see when i walk in the door. living area straight ahead, bathroom is the first right, then the kitchen. stairway to my left on the left. hopefully this give ya'll a better feel for where i spend most of my time. i've already grown rather found of the place in the month i've been here. i think we'll get along just fine.

a lainy day.

for all who have seen the movie "lost in translation" (my favorite movie and also where the title of my blog comes from), you will remember the hillarious moments when bob harris cannot understand the crazy japanese people trying to speak words that begin with "r." "lip my stockings!" "what, lip your stockings?" "yes, lip my stockings!" "lip them? lip them?" or "lock and loll." well, i am hear to tell you as an american living in asia who, when asking her students what the weather is like today, gets a room full of "LAINY!!! LAINY!!!!" that the movie was very much telling the truth.

tomorrow, tango pango (my school--funny name, huh) is adding a music program. who is in charge of this music program? me of course. they believe that having music be a large part of their school will make them unique from other english schools and will boast enrollment. so every class will have 25 minutes of music and i will be the teacher. so i have suddenly landed myself in the roll of setting up an entire music program for the whole school and teaching all 135 kids music. but music as a way of teaching them english. so english. through music. i have my own music room, and they said i can do whatever i want. i get to make my own lesson plans, decorate my own room how i want, and i can even put a totally cliche sign on the door that says "welcome to the music room" in bubble letters with little clef signs and time signatures and cartoon directors waving a wand decorating the paper. so even though they might change their minds in 2 weeks and i might be doing something totally different (because that is sort of what this school does--very irritating), i am going to throw myself into this and hope for the best. i'm really excited. as i was sitting on my piano bench playing through a few different songs and writing out a lesson plan (i have lots and lots of music curriculum for kids this age), i felt a surge of joy that i get to teach english to these little kiddies using the thing i love the most. the school has all these big ideas that i can start teaching piano classes and violin classes and teaching musicals and having concerts and programs and i feel a little overwhelmed. but mostly excited at the possibilities! ya! i am teaching music again! it's good to be back.

amen.

that was the only word i understood in the catholic church i fell upon today. how did i end up in a korean catholic church? i woke up this morning at 10:44 am after recovering from the flu last that hit me late thursday night and had two thoughts: one, i need to throw away that giant bunch of rotten bananas and show the door (and by show the door i mean furiously swat with an old book) to the family of fruit fries that has made a home in my kitchen and two, i need to find a place where i can take communion. so i threw my glasses on, put a scarf over my 3-days-without-a-shower hair (don't judge, i had the flu), and flew out the door, rotten bananas in one hand, korean to english dictionary in the other. so i looked up how to say catholic church (ka-tawl-leek kyo-hwe) and started asking people on the street and before i knew it, i was on the a giant scavenger hunt, going in one church saying in a questioning tone "katawlleek kyohwe?" and having them shake their head and point in a direction, and hopping back on my bike in the direction of their point, and then being pointed in another direction, and just when i thought couldn't take any more pointing, there it was. my catholic church. so i walked in and got a lot of stares that were followed by "i think i'll avoid that one" body language. after heading down a few hallways and going up and down a few stair cases, i found the sanctuary. my first thought was that it smelled funny. i thought i would get used to it, but i didn't. at noon, a service (i'm guessing it wasn't their first of the day) started and i didn't understand a word other than an occasional amen. oh and we sang one song with a hallelujah here and there. but, it felt worshipful to me. sometimes in english worship i feel like i don't really understand anything they're saying anyway. the art on the walls was really interesting and abstract, the hymns we sang had familiar tunes, the organ made me think of my mom, the blaring voices of the men's choir in the balcony made me think of my dad, and we took communion. i know as a protestant i'm not supposed to take communion in the catholic church, but as the priest was saying words i didn't understand before the sacrament, i was reciting the words i remember from the psalter hymnal--"this is my body, broken for you, do this is remembrance of me. this is my blood, shed for you. do this in remembrance of me." and i ate the bread and drank the cup, and i remembered.

here is another thing i miss about america: oatmeal. old fashioned, mix with water, throw in the microwave, eat it hot, oatmeal.

here is another thing i love about korea: recycling. everyone is required to separate all their trash. plastic, paper, styrofome (i have no idea how to spell that), glass, food items, bottles, cans, and about 3 other containers that i have to figure out what they are for. it can get a little complicated to have 6 different trash bags, but it makes the earth smile and say "thank you."

one man's trash is another woman's free dresser.

so tonight i was on my home from my 14 k run with hannah (she is training for a half marathon and i am helping her) and what do my little eyes spy in the trash just one building away from mine? a beautiful wooden cabinet. that beautiful wooden cabinet is now residing in the corner of my little apartment, happy to be recognized by someone as not-trash-worthy. i bet all of these dressers, tables, bikes, desks, chairs, and speakers just LOVE when foreign people come around. just like i love all the crazy looks i get from all the koreans everytime i lug another piece of owned-by-another furniture out of the garbage up to my second floor apartment. it's like i've just invited the plague to come live with me. the security gaurds in my building just laugh and smile at me everytime i run out my building yelling "anyong haseyo!" (hello.) they are these little old korean men and they have nicknamed me super man after watching me carry loads of groceries, desks, my bike, etc. up the stairs with (GOD FORBID!) no help from a man. so when i walk by now, they all laugh and point and call the others and say "ooooohhhh! superman! ooooohhh!" and then they strike a muscle pose and i correct them and say "superwoman actually" and strike my muscle pose back. they get a huge kick out of it.

so this week i have attempted to tackle my washing machine. if you'll look closely at these pictures, i hope you will agree that washing machines are not supposed to have this many options, this many buttons, this many words in KOREAN! so i chose a setting, pushed a button, and opened the little container that i assume is for detergent. there is a #1 slot and a #2 slot. which one is for detergent!?! what's the second one for!?!? so i throw a little detergent in both and hope for the best, push start and away it goes. a few minutes in, i found another towel to throw in, so i attempt to open the door. after nearly breaking my back and screaming words of hatred, i realized the door locks once press start. ok. deep breath. 30 minutes in, i'm sitting on my couch and i start hearing this deep rumbling that gets louder and louder and all i could think was "it's gonna blow." it sounded like giant bouncy ball made of metal had emerged from the depths of my overly-complicated korean washer and with each spin was pounding hole after hole into the walls of the machine that was supposed to be gently handling my clothing with care. an hour and 37 minutes later, my load was done. AN HOUR AND 37 MINUTES!!! have you ever heard of one load of laundry taking that long? so i pull it out, soaking wet, and turned my apartment into a giant drying rack. the next morning, i awoke with the wonderful anticipation of clean clothes only to find that my freshly cleaned clothes were hard as rocks. so i put my brick clothing on and headed to school. add to the shopping list: fabric softener.

here's some traditional korean food for you. this is called a korean barbeque and they are everywhere. there is a hole in the middle of the table and they put flaming coals underneath and give you raw meat and vegetables and away you go. i think i ate more pork tuesday night than i have in the past 8 years combined.



this is one of my co-teachers mary as we put are 38th piece of pork into our mouths. nothing like eating an entire pig to remind me why i don't eat red meat.

a bike with a basket.

i have a bike!!!!!! it was unwanted, lonely, and emotionally scarred by its difficult past of rejection, and i have given it a home. yesturday, we took a nice long walk and got to know each other, and then i took her into the bike shop and gave her a new back tire, a re-energizing squirt of oil here and there, and a little lovin in the wash-off-the-years-of-dirt-and-grime-from-not- being-used sort of way and she was good as new. the best part? my new best friend has a child seat in the back that i like to call a basket. she took a HUGE package of toilet paper home yesturday that just would not have made it without the basket. she's not
exactly a speedy and smooth ride, but she's a ride and she's trying the best she can. and i love her.

i'm getting really good and using the internet when everything is in korean. even as i write this blog, everything other than the actually words i'm typing is in korean. i have to guess which box says "post blog" when i'm done. or which box says "edit" or which box says "save" or where it says "cancel." my goal this week is to learn to read korean. i don't think it's very hard.

tonight i went to get some fruits and vegetables at the little market in my courtyard and they were having some sort of sale on peaches i think and there were about 8 korean men trying to get me to sample one bite of peach after the other. they were quite literally shoving fruit down my throat. i felt bad for all the other korean shoppers wanting to try peaches while i was on peach sample #7. they probably thought i was brittany spears since my hair is blonde. a fat brittany spears. i'm not being self-depricating, but everyone here thinks us foreign women are fat. the parents will even make comments like "you're not as fat as when you first came i don't think..." or "why are you eating? didn't you just eat?" not exactly a subtle way of saying YOU'RE FAT!!! LOOK AT US KOREANS! YOU ARE TWICE OUR SIZE!" but they all still think i'm a movie star because i'm blonde. so i can deal with the fat comments.

these pictures are from my bike ride through lake park tonight. it's a big lake just a mile or so away from me with a lot of beautiful scenery, wide open spaces of grass, trees, paths, asian tower thingies like this one to your left. it was a nice night to be out.

chopsticks.

i have decided that one of my favorite things about korea is the excessive use of chopsticks. in my apartment, i currently have one fork, one spoon, one knife, and about 50 sets of chopsticks. i have never used chopsticks to eat so many things. chopsticks for eggs, chopsticks for chicken, chopsticks for ramen, chopsticks for fruit, chopsticks for my juice i drink in the morning. ok, not this last one, but i have a feeling that's the next step. i thought this was such a great picture, a bunch of construction workers on their lunch break. where in america would you see tough, dirty construction men gathered around bowls of rice and vegetables, sitting indian style, sharing their lunch with, ofcourse, chopsticks.

week two has been much better. my apartment is really coming together. i bought about 25 candles the other day, and a few plants, and some paint, and i'm going to paint myself some picture frames for the pictures i brought along. it makes living along much more less alone-ish. i've never lived alone before. it's hard sometimes--i've resorted to waking up in the morning and telling my shower head about my funny dream from the night before. or coming home from work and telling my wooden spoon mixing my stir-fry about my crazy boss. i'm sure my house hold utensils really appreciate my company.

here are the things i miss most about chicago (other than all the people):

1. my bike. oh my poor bike, if you could only be here with me in korea. we would be best friends. i found a bike in the garbage the other day. it needs a new tire and has a huge basket on the back. not exactly my speedy little specialized sirrus. but the basket will be nice for groceries i guess.
2. trader joes. the other day i spent 2 hours grocery shopping b/c i have no idea where anything is, what's organic, what ingredients are in what, what juice is 100%. it's no 30 minute buy-everything-you'll-need-for-the-next-2-weeks-and-love-life-cuz-it's-all-organic-and-natural trader joes trip. all you back in chicago, give trader joes a big hello from me.
3. jay-walking. walkers follow the rules here. crazy, huh? everyone waits till the little walk sign turns green. it's the most in-efficient form of getting from here to there i've ever experienced. there are no cars in sight for miles, and still the koreans sit there, waiting for their little walk sign. i, ofcourse, jet across in every situation possible, and they all look at me, then look at the the "no walk" sign in red and then look at me again, and then at the sign. as if to say, "DO YOU NOT SEE THE NO WALK SIGN!" some just flat out start yelling at me in korean. whatever, korea, you'll catch on. just wait till you see how much time i save...

i have found the hippies in korea.

wow, so much to talk about!!! my internet connection has been very sketchy the past while, which may be a result of the fact that it's not actually my internet connection, i'm stealing it from someone named "iptime4". but tomorrow i get my own internet!!! my apartment is really coming together now. koreans don't believe in re-using anything, so everday when i come home from work, i skip to the garbage and see what they threw out today. so far i've found a large bookshelf, a desk, hangers, a little table, a coffee table, and today my big garbage grab were a full set of speakers. i was THRILLED. so above is pictured my archnemisis (or however that word is spelled...i don't think i've ever actually written it...), the purple couch. but alas, today i discovered that the couch cover comes off! after a full week of glaring, frowning at, and squinting my eyes in such a way that shoots darts of disaproval and hatred, i have finally ripped the puke purple off my couch and now it is just black and sort of naked looking. but that's better than puke purple.

this weekend i went to a korean music festival out in the woods called flow fest. i had no idea what i was getting myself into, but at about 5 pm on friday, i got a call from josh confirming their plans, and just a couple hours later, i had a bag packed for the weekend and my "ready-to-dance" game face on, and i was on the subway headed into the heart of seoul. it was my first experience on the subway here and if i were to compare the seoul subway system to that of chicago, i would have to say it's like a donkey compared to a cheetah. chicago's being the donkey--slow and stubborn and constantly being yelled at-- and seoul's being the cheetah, fast as lightening and spotted. no not spotted, but that would be cool and would also help my metaphor. and i met josh and his friends there and we were on a bus, headed somewhere 2 hours out of seoul. i had no idea where we were going or what i was going to exactly, but it was all worth the ambiguity. we got there late friday and stayed till sunday and it was a rockin time. it was in the woods somewhere (i still don't know where we were at), surrounded by mountains, peaceful as music festivals in the woods ought to be. saturday night i danced my little heart out. my bum is still sore. i got home sunday and headed out to a soccer game here in ilsan. the under-17 world cup. england vs. germany. mary's boyfriend (mary is my co-teacher) is british so we were all cheering hard with him. so in short, i have been in korea for a week and it feels like a lifetime already. i think this weekend, there will be more staying at home going on.

tango pango (my school) is going better everyday. it was very difficult at first because here in korea, they don't have a word for communication. just kidding, i'm sure they do, but i bet no one here knows it because it's never used because it doesn't happen. i'm still not sure what my role at the school will be--english teacher, music teacher, piano player, professional cutter-outer of crafts. it's a very new school and i think the vision of the place is still up in the air. the director would really like me to be the music teacher, but the way the classes are set up, it would be difficult for me to teach music on top of teaching english and helping with the lesson plans. there are 4 of us teacher--hannah, raquel, mary, and myself--and we plan the lessons together and share the teaching load. here is a funny (actually not funny, infuriating) teaching story before i end this blog. today i was teaching a class of 8 little korean kids (obviously korean) and they were getting out of control. i mean, in my entire year of teaching kids from the ghettos in chicago, i have never had a classroom like this. their moms are all standing RIGHT outside the door peering in the window the whole time, the kids are getting up and running out of the room to go the bathroom, to get a drink of water, to be spoiled by their mamas who apparently have nothing better to do than to stand in front of a door and analyze every move i make and every word i say that they don't understand but still find a reason to criticize, and i was just not having it anymore. so i put a chair in the corner and in the simplest english and biggest gestures i could muster, explained to them that this was the time-out chair and if they didn't listen or left their seats, this is where they would end up. so sure enough, on we go and at one point while they were coloring their "when i grow up i want to be a..." pictures, my room turned into a hurricane of tiny korean voices, none of which i could understand, and i said, "ENOUGH!!!" and i pulled little luke into the corner of the time out chair. and i mean PULLED. he fought and i fought and i finally got him into that chair and what does the little rascal do? he bawls. bawls like i just sent him to prison. tiny little korean prison. so i leave him there to cry and tell my korean assistant not to console him and the kid does not shut up. so i finally go sit over there to explain to him why he got put in the time out chair, but let me ask all my readers: how do you explain to a bawling kindergarten prisoner the reason for their punishment in a very logical and leveled tone of voice when neither party has any idea what the other is saying? so since our words were lost on each other, what does the little rascal do? he pukes. that's right. PUKES! all over me and my new hot pink skirt that kate made me before i left. i could not believe it. and all this while his mother stood outside the door, peering in, judging me every second of the way while i babysat her little brat of a child and cleaned up his puke. unbelievable. you will not get the best of my little luke!!! i have fight left in me!!

this is the longest blog in the history of blogs. and to make it even longer, here's some pictures from my weekend.













from the porch on our pension we stayed in. (which was just one huge room with about 10 little pads which were thinner than blankets that we all slept on...atleast the view was nice!)






the entrance to the festival included walking under old train tracks.










walking in the rain trying to find food.







a few of us that went.








korean performers. you can't see it very well in this pictures, but this is to prove that koreans where high HIGH heels in ANY kind of weather. this girl is walkign thorugh the mud, in the rain, with the highest heals i've ever seen.





SUCH a beautiful place we were at. mountains everywhere. so refreshing.