Fall '09 in Pictures

I think it's about time I give a glimpse at my happenings as of late. (For the full album, click here.) The first shots are pictures from the lantern festival along the stream through Seoul that we went to a couple weeks ago. Everything was made of paper lanterns--everything!









Everyone could sign the lanterns running along the wall of the stream.













There's me! Signed in red lip liner. (You gotta do what you gotta do when you are pen-less.)













One of the exhibits on the stream.















Scary!









It was like a very bright parade, only we did the moving and the exhibits stood still.















My coat matches the lantern!
















These next few shots are in Joy and Rob's alley ways by their house.















































Joy and I by a market near her place.



















The market.














And finally, these shots are some images of Korean fall at it's peak located in Lake Park, just a 5 minute walk from my house. This is where I go running, for those of you who would like a visualization of my daily activites. :)















This was a month or so back--the leaves are all pretty much gone now. But they were pretty while it's lasted!

A bus driver in a good mood.

This morning I left my house after a restless night of little sleep, ran to starbucks to get a badly burnt, badly made vanilla latte (why can’t Korea make better coffee!?!?!?) sprinted to the bus stop only to see the two busses I can take to school rush by as I desperately yelled for them to stop, and finally caught my bus 10 minutes too late, only to have my worst nightmare stare me straight in the face as I climbed the short steps onto my bus. From the driver’s seat, I heard a loud and enthusiastic, “Anyong Haseyo!” come out of the mouth of my smiling bus driver, as his kind eyes twinkled at me as if to say “Thank you for riding my bus! Welcome aboard!”

This is my worst fear. A bus driver in a good mood. I plan the timing of my morning around the assumption that my bus driver will be pissed off, angry, and in a hurry so that I can get to work on time. They sail through red lights, zoom through pedestrian crossings, nearly give the old Korean Grandmas a heart attack as they floor it while she’s still trying to find her bus card, and come to a halting rather than gradual stop, causing a wide-eyed and fearful frenzy at every bus stop as someone frantically waves, jumps, and then runs to the bus which stopped a good 10 meters ahead of the appropriate location. This is what gets me to work on time. This is what creates a calm, easy, and relaxed start to my morning.

This morning, however, after being greeted with the friendly hello, I knew it was going to be a disaster. This dreadfully happy driver calmly waited at every stop light, while other buses rushed past, laughed and smiled after nearly crushing a clueless old man, who, rather than waiting on the curb for the bus, waited in the middle of the intersection, and even waited for a solid 3 minutes at one stop because he saw a woman sprinting from literally a half a mile away towards the bus. And then we had to wait for a train. Needless to say, I was nearly 15 minutes late to work.

Bus drivers simply aren’t meant to be nice. It throws world order out of whack.

Down again down again, jiggety jig.

This week marks the end of another semester at Kookje English Village, which means final tests, report cards, speech contests, and 'market day' (where we throw a mini carnival and they get to spend the fake money we give them when they get enough stamps from doing their homework.) Finishing my second semester here also means I'm at the half-way mark of my contract. 6 months down. 6 months to go. It's all downhill from here. Downhill to....well, I don't know what's at the end of the hill, but either way, ready or not, I'm on my way to the bottom. Lately I'm feeling a little anxious about the, once again, unknown of my future. I'm applying to schools in 3 different countries, I have a boyfriend from Europe, and I'm currently living in Asia, which means that I could be living just about anywhere a year from now. I wonder when I'll be in a place that I'll actually stay for awhile. Sometimes I feel like it'd be nice.

Regardless, I'm making the most of my life at present. I had a really great weekend. Friday night, we went to a new little Italian cafe near me, then out with friends to a punk-ish bar in Ilsan. Saturday brought a couple of episodes of Friday Night Lights (2 episodes away from finishing season 1!!!! Will the Dillon Panther's win state? Will Coach Taylor take the job in Austin? Will Tim Riggins get any hotter???), a tea and walk through lake park, thai food at Budha's Belly in Itaewon with John and Amanda, then a trip down to Bundang (South Seoul) to the Mosaic Cafe for their Art Night. The Mosaic cafe is run by foreigners and meant to be a cultural relief and it WAS!!! Just the cultural relief I needed lately! I felt like I was at the Humble Bean back at Dordt, or in a modern little cafe in Chicago, or at any ole cafe NOT in Korea! It was packed with foreigners and had performances all night, one by a friend of mine. I got to see Sarah Jane and Reuben and other friends from Bundang. Sunday Ali and I went to a cool little puzzle cafe in Ilsan, where you get to sip your coffee and tea (or beer and cocktail--not conducive to puzzles in my opinion) over a puzzle of your choice. What a fantastic idea!!!

I'm trying to get a good start to my busy week, and instead I spent the night looking for Christmas gift ideas online! Doh!

A few of my favorite things.

Some of my favorite things lately:

• Chai Tea Lattes from the Coffee Bean. I can't stop. They're warm, creamy, foamy, spicy, caffeinated...it's everything a fall drink should be. And my new discovery of sprinkling the top with a good layer cinnamon adds to the deliciousness. I almost don't mind that they're over $5 a pop.
  
• Shopping. Another thing I can't stop. I think it's due to 6 months of a steady pay check, and the knowledge that at some point in the near-ish future, I'll be in school, not earning money, but adding money to my already large pile of student loans. I gotta get the shopping in while I can. Today, Joy and I went to Hongdae and each had great success. I bought myself an early Christmas present of the most expensive bag/purse I've ever purchased. I'm not saying how much. I like to think of it as an investment piece. I also bought a long plaid shirt-dress, after months of hesitation about whether or not I wanted to jump on board this new trend. Who woulda thought that plaid would come back in style? And who knew the 90s actually offered a style that could be repeated? I sincerely hope that cargo pants and clunky leather shoes do not follow suit.
• My weekends. This one was filled with a seriously cool lantern festival along the stream that runs through Seoul, yummy Japanese food--complete with Sake--with friends, a sleepover at Joy and Rob's place, and strolling through the Hongdae boutiques with Joy.
  
• And at the top of my current list of favorite things is....FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS!!!! Oh my! This show was MADE for me! Kristin started watching it, said I would fall in love with it, and I have. OH I have! I'm making my way through season one, and I'm pretty sure there has not been an episode where I haven't shed several tears, several times during the episode. It's just so....GOOD! I'm a sucker for sports movies as it is, but this is so beyond any sports drama I've ever seen. It came at just the right time, b/c I'm still working on getting through the Sopranos (just started season 6!) and finishing before someone gives the ending away. Anyway, after watching a Sopranos episode last Thursday night where one guy hanged himself, one guy got shot, and one guy spiraled into a serious herione addiction, I decided that I'm much more suited to the Friday Night Lights sort of television, where the worst thing that happens is losing the friday night football game. Or getting a serious football injury that paralyzes you from the waste down, diminishing your dreams to go pro and be the best football player that ever lived. (I know that sounds tragic, but Sopranos tragic and Fright Night Lights tragic just don't compare.) Fortunately, Ali has also fallen in love with this show (less dramatically than I have), despite it's super American-ness. (What's more American than a show based on a highs school football team in Texas?) So we can watch it together rather than momentarily breaking up while I become infatuated with this series.
  

Monday Morning Music.

Well, I didn’t go to the dentist, I didn’t find a new winter coat, but I did start grad school applications! One out of three isn’t so bad. We’re back at school today, and only about 6 kids out of 23 are absent, so hopefully swine flu has come and gone at Kookje English Village. Fingers crossed! Many parents are pulling their kids from school for awhile, and a lot of private schools are suffering. My school is already just making it, and a sudden drop in enrollment is the last thing we need.

Yesterday Ali and I met Joy and Rob at church in the morning (an Anglican church with an English service that I really enjoy) for their Remembrance Day Service. Ali and I were 15 minutes late due to our bus getting in a traffic jam because of some festival or cycling race or something downtown, and the service in total was only 30 minutes, so by the time we found Joy and Rob, settled in, got our coats off and caught our breath, we said ‘Amen’ and it was over. Not sure what the rush was, but we made the most of the painfully early start to the day and headed to the flea market, where Ali got a guitar, and I bought some rip-off Fendi sunglasses that could pass as real if one is not looking too closely. We then took Joy and Rob to Everest, our favorite Nepalese restaurant in Seoul. Their garlic naan never dissapoints!

I’m off to go teach Monday morning music class. NOTHING beats loud instruments and obnoxious singing children first thing on a Monday.

Swine flu hits Kookje.

It's happened. Swine flu has hit Kookje English Village. Yesterday 7 kids were out, today we're up to 11, which is a lot considering we have 25 kids in the entire Kindergarten. So we've decided to "shut it down" in true 30-rock form. No school Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. It seems all schools are shutting their doors these days. Ali's has been closed for a week, along with what seems like most other public schools in the area. But I thought our little private school would be safe from the big bad flu. I guess not.

Is it possible to mentally persaude yourself that you're sick? Because I've been feeling a little off my game ever since I showed up to school yesterday and realized that little Sam in my homeroom class who coughs on me, makes me wipe food off his mouth at lunchtime, kisses and hugs me goodbye at the end of every day is at home with the swine flu, I've been having waves of "oh no, I'm sure I've got it too" feelings. I have a really bad headache, I went to bed at 9pm last night because I was so exhausted, and in general, I feel a little space out. I'm hoping it's just paranoia messing with me. Regardless, I'm prepared to fight this battle--I'm drinking about 5 cups of Ginseng tea a day (Korea's ward-off-sickness tea), and way above my daily need of vitamin C. You will not get the best of me swine flu!

The good news is that I now have a 5 day weekend! I don't know if this will affect my vacation time down the road, but I can't say I mind a little time off. I have big plans to go to the dentist, start graduate school applications, find a new winter coat, and make a costco run.

Stay back swine flu!

Good Grief.

It's been a busy month, to say the least, and it's rapidly come to a close. I'm hoping November is a little calmer and a little more relaxing. I made it through parents day this week, with a permanent smile on my face, and even managed to make my reliable cat costume a smashing success on Friday. As the week came to a close, I think I started to realize how tired and worn out I was from all the hustle and bustle of the past while, and I found myself crashing and burning to say the least. We were torn between two different trips to the mountain this weekend, and in true form, we waited to make our decision until 6am Saturday morning--the time we were supposed to be up and running to make it to either destination--which was to not do anything.

And not doing anything ended up being just the weekend I needed! I slept till 1:30pm on Saturday, got some tea and watched it rain, went to see the Michael Jackson movie that just came out, went out for a wonderful Italian dinner at a new place nearby Saturday evening, and spent Halloween night watching 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.' Charlie Brown just never disappoints! This was the first Halloween that I can remember not dressing up and going to a party. I must be getting old. Today Ali and I went to Lake Park and took pictures of the leaves before they all fall off the trees. I noticed at the park that despite all the people around, it was so quiet. Everything just felt still and hushed and calm. Korea's such a quiet place. I'm pretty sure that the same park scene in American would have been at the very least 5 times as loud.

Speaking of movies (I did speak of a movie somewhere in that last paragraph), I also went to see the movie 'District 9' last week and everyone must go see that movie! It was so nice to see a truly great movie that is beautiful and subtle and everything a movie should be minus the hollywood sheen and dramatization. Go see it! I think I might go again. Also in the movie plans this week is to see Quentin Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds.' It just came out in theater here. Has anyone seen it? Thoughts???

I watched Magnolia tonight for the first time in 6 years. I'm not so sure it was the best way to prepare myself for Monday morning. I love that movie, but I kinda forgot that it's a bit of a downer...

Happy November everyone!!!