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from the wonderful Shannon Soper

Bibimbop. Oh how I love you. My friend Sooryun showed me the wonders of Bibimbop and I've never fully recovered from shock and joy. How many times per week do you have it, Sadie?! In other words, how jealous should I be?!

---Hi Shannon! Maybe only two or three times... A DAY. Just kidding-- a week. ^^

Here, Jack-- I found a pretty uncomfortable bonsai tree at the local museum of modern art...

Here's Jimmy, Molly, and I at a showing of "Samurai X" (Rurouni Kenshin) on Friday evening in honor of the film festival that's going on right now. The main actor and director (Japanese) spoke beforehand, and a couple of K-Pop singers treated us with some well-received songs, too. I'm lucky enough to be going to another movie this afternoon-- "Thieves," a South Korean action movie that goes along an Ocean's 11 kind of theme.

Was the older couple that was fighting to see who would get through the door first a man and a lady? or two ladies (men). That is weird that they would punch each other to determine who would get through the door first. I once saw two women hitting each other because one was blocking the view of another at the Bolshoi. We were all in standing room. Observing Russian women fighting was as interesting as watching the ballet

haha, they looked like a married couple to me, a man and a woman. They looked so angry! I think it had been a bad day, maybe

a-hey, a-hey, a-hey-hey

I read a funny article today that I thought might be of general interest-- it's especially important to post as my dad recently accused me of being a "foodie" (I think to get back at me for insinuating that he was a technology grump in an earlier post... just kidding!). Here's the link:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/sep/28/lets-start-foodie-backlash?newsfeed=true

The article might annoy you more than the subject the author's so annoyed by. He sounds really invested in his critique--- the thing reads kind of like a call to arms, or a listing of war crimes, or something. Do you think that his prolixity (learned that word recently-- apparently it's a good highbrow word when insulting rappers whose rhymes and underlying messages don't mesh well) is sincerely unaware of its semi-hypocrisy, or is it a tongue-in-cheek satirical kind of thing? For someone who gets so irritated by pomp and pickiness (pumpkins and pickles) in food preparation, he certainly plays loose with his big words. On the brighter side, he's got a talent for flowery writing, and I found a couple of parts in the article particularly interesting-- especially when he talks about how reading the menu is one of the best parts of eating out. I totally agree, and I really miss reading menus!

This weekend was a holiday, but I've got to head back to school tomorrow : /. Today I ate bibimbap for breakfast, took a trip out to Nampodong and Gwangalli beach, ate bibimbap for dinner, and am now occupying myself with tea, candle, arts and crafts for school tomorrow, and Buddy Holly. Unfortunately, this tune of his that I liked a lot in high school isn't on any of the three studio albums I downloaded, but it's probably for the best. I think it went something like "Ooooh, misery, misery... What's gonna become of me..." which is something that could probably do without for the time being. What's with pop music, huh?

I posted some pictures below of the kids at my school in their traditional hanbok for holiday picture taking. The three little kids aren't my students (they're really young and just kind of toddle around) but I thought they were super cute watching this cartoon that some other teacher set up on her smartphone to keep them occupied during the picture taking. The two little girls, Sara and Min, are students of mine:). They're so adorable. In class, because she's just starting to learn English, Min will look frustrated and squeak "Mm mm mmm mm MM" to sound out the syllables of what she's trying to say to me, because she doesn't want to actually speak the Korean but doesn't know the English. I love it, it makes me laugh just to think of it :). The last picture is of Hong, a student a year younger than Min and Sara. He's very energetic and soooo loud. For some reason, Hong and the rest of his class, too, absolutely scream the English phrases, when they feel like learning. Either they mumble and don't pay attention, or else they put their whole bodies into it and yell so loud. It's pretty hilarious-- they're preparing with their main teacher for a parents' day when their parents come in to watch a presentation and then to sit in on some classes, and they're performing in pairs, reciting stories/songs/rhymes. Through the school, at times, echos "WHO TOOK THE COOKIE FROM THE COOKIE JAR!!!!!!!!," or "LITTLE ARABELLA MILLER HAD A [big breath in] FUZZY CATERPILLAR!!!!!!!" or, the best, "THE FARMER FEEDS THE SOIL!!!!!!!-- AND THE SOIL!!!!!--- IT FEEEEDS THE GRAIIIIN!!!!" Anyway, Hong's a good yeller, though I worry about his brain cells. I liked this picture because of the combination of hanbok, goofy smile, and Nike sneakers.

a note from Paul

I actually very much enjoy your "blah-g" Sadie as you have some very interesting insights. Hearing about your meals is also interesting. I can tell that you are having a great time in general and also with the food. (You are a "foodie"). Much more interesting than most Blah-gs.

The last couple of days

I have some pictures to share, finally! Last weekend I took a hike up my friendly neighborhood mountain, Jangsan. Down below I've included one of the trail on the way up, one of the warning signs about mines left over from the Korean War, one of the view from the top (it was a cloudy day), and then one of the library I passed on my way home-- I thought the building was cute and the trees out in front were pretty. Maybe I'll even see the inside someday!

Anyway, after my hike on Saturday I went to a free outdoor movie with my coworker, Jimmy. We had to endure the resident institutes' students' dancing and singing demonstrations (one performance was, inevitably, a rendition of PSI's Gangnam Style), but the movie was well worth waiting for, even though I couldn't understand any of it. It was called 대국기, or "Korean Flag" (Korean including both North and South) and was a new movie based on a ping pong team in the seventies (I think) that was made up of both North and South Korean players. It was a pretty predicable against-all-odds-sports-movie, and predictably enjoyable. The photography was beautiful and suspenseful (the camera's close ups and rapid swivels and bird's eye shots rendered the ping pong tables unexpectedly fascinating) and (what I assume is a minority of) the comedy wasn't lost on me! It felt good to be laughing with the Korean crowd-- thank goodness for slapstick. It's incredible the effect that a movie can have even when it's dialogue is incomprehensible; the music, the visual effects, and the fact that I was watching fellow human beings still made for an emotional experience. I read an interesting article about how making eye contact with someone, even if they're otherwise anonymous, can make a big difference in how you'll act towards them. I know it seems like a no-brainer-- it's funny how many of the articles I find myself reading would fall into this category-- but it's still nice to put an official stamp on these tidbits. Here's the link, if you're interested in reading the article.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=rudeness-on-the-internet

While I'm posting links to articles along this vein, here's another one that seems to apply to the blogging world I've recently entered (and am enjoying, for the record). It describes some of what goes on in our brains when we talk about ourselves.

http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2012/10/the-selfish-meme/309080/

To celebrate my picture-taking capabilities, here's one of my lunch!!!

new post!

Twenty minutes ago I walked into my apartment and opened up my computer with the single-minded intent to sit down and start writing a new post, and somehow... Here I am, woken from my internet fugue (does that mean what I mean it to mean? ...Quinn would know. I know he and I have talked about fugues before though I can't remember what was said). I probably would have closed my laptop without even remembered my initial goal, if I hadn't looked down at this candle stub I've got on my desk, wanted to light it, and wondered "Why would I light a candle? I need to go!" Ah, but wait: and here I am, candle lit and paragraph written. My mind is a foggy thing sometimes, and there are so many distracting things in this world. This isn't only an excuse not to be keeping up on these posts, though-- on the contrary, its the very reason why I have a lot to write about!

Good news: school has gotten a lot easier! Have I complained on here how exhausting it could be? As in draining, a little overwhelming and sometimes consuming my dreams (this is an exaggeration, though I did wake up one morning with my arm pointing straight up in the air, at an imagined whiteboard)? I think I was stoic enough not to mention it, but at this point, almost five weeks in (!!), I can let you in on my big sigh of relief. The kids I'm working with are really adorable and wonderful. I was a little scared of this one class of nine little 4 year olds, three of which seemed to (and still kind of do) look at me with suspicion and this menacing glint of disdain in their eyes, but thankfully I've begun to wrest away the loyalty of their classmates from these potential ringleaders as I slowly try to unlearn my boring adult ways and to think more like a child again. It turns out, too, that the sweetest kids take a while to show their colors-- some of them are so adorable and cute that I can't help but smile right now! On a similar note, the most devilish kids take a while to show their nicer parts, too, but it doesn't mean that those aren't already there. I still get nervous when planning my lessons for this particular class, but once there I often have more fun/get more absorbed than I do in some classes that are easier to teach. Notably, my schooldays are plagued by reminiscing about my own elementary school days. I had the kids do the classic handprint-turkey this week for their arts and crafts (Chuseok, the Korean Thanksgiving equivalent, is coming up) which brought back a lot of memories of drawing fingernails and knuckle wrinkles on drawn outlines of my hands.

For Chuseok, Koreans give gifts to show their appreciation to friends and coworkers (and I've heard that parents take the opportunity to show some 'appreciation in advance' to their children's teachers, though as a kindergarten teacher I'm not really expecting any holiday bribes), as well as visit the cemetery to give thanks to their ancestors. This evening after school I finally mustered up the courage to visit Shinsegae, a nearby department store, to do some Chuseok shopping. Shinsegae isn't scary or anything, but I've been a bit apprehensive to buy anything except food (there's a huge food court, complete with a sushi train (!!!!) and a grocery store near the bottom) while I'm there--- the amount of merchandise is pretty overwhelming, and nonperishable shopping isn't a can of worms I want to open, just yet. There're too many opportunities to go overboard here. I think that I read somewhere that "South Korea is the self-proclaimed shopping center of the world," and, based on what I've seen, I think I'm remembering that right. I've been there half a dozen times or so, and see something new every time: this so-called department store has an ice rink, a "Spaland," a regular old movie theatre which my coworker told me she's seen 4-D movies in with her daughter (have I been living under a rock? Has anyone else heard of this? Movies complete with wind, water splashing, and vertigo?), and, today, I saw a "Cine-cafe," which I think was a restaurant-movie theatre, which sounds so cool. I think a gift card for this phenomenal find is going to have to supplement Jimmy's (my friend/coworker) Chuseok chocolates, in the selfish hope that she'll invite me to share it with her :D.

Even if she doesn't, though, no hard feelings. She's been incredibly welcoming, and even brought me on an overnight trip to Changwan, a nearby city, with her daughter, where we went to a sauna/bath house (woo!) and to an international food festival put on by the migrant workers that live around there. She was surprised by the amount of foreigners there-- South Korea is a pretty homogenous country, from what I've seen, with the major minority in Busan being Caucasians who I can pretty fairly assume are English teachers. In Changwan, though, there were people from the Phillipines, Pakistan, Turkey, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam... Jimmy's friend's husband told me that it had recently gotten really rare to see young Koreans working in the industrial businesses in Changwan, jobs which are now occupied by foreigners and old Korean ladies. Interesting, I thought!

Speaking of old Korean ladies, on my way out of the restaurant I ate dinner at, I saw this very elderly couple physically fighting about who got to walk in the door first (not violently, but punching each other with angry/hateful looks on their faces), which was sadly funny. Speaking of dinner, I'm very proud to say that I've started enjoying the spicy red pepper sauce (gochujang) that comes with bibimbap (which is a rice/egg/vegetable mixture)!! I can stomach spicy food but haven't ever really gone out of my way to eat it, but I was surprised to notice this evening that I was subconsciously looking forward to the gochujang. I can taste through the spicy, which is something I haven't ever been able to do before, and the flavor pleasantly reminds me of peanut butter. Today was a great day, foodwise, in general. In fact, I think a memorial menu will close out this entry nicely :). I hope everyone's well and I really do promise that I'll put up some pictures soon.

OK! So here's what I ate today (I can feel Dad rolling his eyes at the egocentricity of "blahging" as I write, haha! As well as hear his protests at this unfounded claim!):

**breakfast: a cup of brown rice green tea and a bowl of pumpkin porridge ("hoba juk"... mmm), heated up

**lunch-- a particularly good one today: dumpling soup (yum!), pieces of beef (often the school's meat scares me, but this was tender and tasty), the ever present "bap" (rice), this delicious pa-jeon (eggy pancake with green onions), and the also-ever-present kimchi.

**snack (also provided by the school): eodang (fish cakes) and dok (chewy rice cakes)

-------also, at the end of the day a teacher had some tasty little pastries filled with hodu, red bean paste (which I'm a big fan of in general).

**dinner: like I said, bibimbap, with a side of soup and some kimchi and fish cakes.

**To round it all off, I bought myself a little bar of German chocolate during my Chuseok shopping today, which I might enjoy later tonight if I get all of my class preparation for tomorrow done in a timely manner. Hooray!

Emailed updates

By the way, if you'd rather get an emailed notification when I post, instead of checking back here and getting horribly disappointed every time there's nothing new, click on the 'newsletter' option in the upper right hand corner of this page.

Three weeks in!

I’ve been doing a good job staying focused on my lesson planning all morning (go me!). This is probably the most concentrated work I’ve done since my last term paper for my last class for my last college semester; it’s great how I’ve been thinking This will be the last stretch, freedom awaits! for the past ten or so years in regards to school work, but my grade school teachers were right— homework really is neverending! In fact, instead of feeling more repetitive and mundane with each passing year, which is kind of how twelve-year-old me saw the future of schooling and work stretching out ahead of me, it turns out that as time goes by, the landscapes of duty and busy work can take on some really beautiful dimensions, especially without the distraction of grade point averages.

In any case, it’s time to reward myself with a break (= more writing!). What prompted this break? Well, for the fourth time in my three weeks here, a restaurant is playing Jamiroquai’s “Virtual Insanity,” which for me is a cause for baffled celebration. I probably eat at home about half of the time, so it’s not like I’m living in these places— it looks like it might just be one of those songs over here. Is it the same back home? I kind of felt as though my dad’s Jamiroquai “Traveling Without Moving” album was a basement treasure unique to my adolescence, and not exactly a well known playlist, let alone in South Korea (even though the first time I think I heard Jamiroquai was during Napoleon Dynamite’s “Canned Heat” dance). In fact, the music choices in cafes and restaurants have been pretty much on the money, if the goal has been to inspire nostalgia. Moby, Vanessa Carlton, The Proclaimers, instrumental renditions of The Lion King soundtrack…and during an incredibly relaxing face/head/back massage I was treated to on Friday, a radio station played an interesting mix of Frank Sinatra and My Chemical Romance, along with some Korean ballads. Surprisingly, I haven’t heard a lick of the Beatles or of Elvis, yet (or is that just a Japanese thing?).

Speaking of popular culture, I read this morning that a South Korean film was awarded ’best picture’ at the Venice IFF this year, which according to the article I read, is the first time a South Korean film has won first place at any of the three top international film festivals.

It’s called “Pieta,” and was directed by Kim Ki-Duk, the guy in the picture. He’s got a good smile! By the way, "The Master," which came in second, looks phenomenal. I'd like to see both in the near future-- I could see "Pieta," at least, in theaters here, but of course wouldn’t understand a word.

Actually, I might understand a couple of words… but only if there’s a lot of eating/cooking scenes. The majority of my Korean practice takes place when I’m eating with my coworker/friend Jimmy. She’s sweet enough to give me the Korean names for things like lotus flower root, pollack soup, sweet potato noodles, et cetera (you know, just typical school lunch fare); I, on the other hand, am not darling enough to actually remember the majority of these words, though luckily Jimmy is a teacher by profession and is pretty good about quizzing me and keeping my little grey cells (as my mom, a la Detective Poirot, calls them) on their little grey toes.

I hope everyone’s doing well, and I’m sorry to anyone that’s reading that I haven’t been posting as often as I imagined I would. I’ll write more soon, and maybe post a video tour of my apartment once I get it decorated a little bit more. I’m getting there, wonderfully: I replaced the gloomy brown curtains with some chique window shades, bought some candles, and… well, that’s about it, so far.

Hi Sadie, Looks like you have little time to update your blog but we all have enjoyed what you have post so far. Your creative mind transposes into a brilliant read. That said, is a burning affair expressed as a 'param param?"

Hm... let's see if I can find this in my notes:

"pa-ram burl-aw-yoh" (바람 불어요) means "the wind is blowing"

and

"pa-ram pyaw-yo" (바람 피어요) means "an affair is happening," translating literally to "an affair/wind is burning."

Would that be considered a metaphor? If we say "the wind is burning" and we mean that someone's cheating? Or would it be... what's it called... a proverb?

Did you know that Korea used to be spelled Corea? Shannon's South Korean friend (former missionary companion) said that Japan and Korea have had issues over their border region (water) for generations. During war time (which one?), Japan realized that they wanted the first letter of their country's anglicized name to come before the first letter of their rival's anglicized name. Thus, they bumped the C back to K, making J number one. Curiouser and curiouser. Love you, miss you! ~ Auntie Gwen

So interesting! The huge mechanisms of the world seem to rotate on such trivial axes!

On a related note, my friend Jimmy was telling me that the first movie she saw in theaters was a Japanese animated movie about robots that had had its audio tracks replaced with Korean speech and music, and that the Korean people had been told that it was a Korean film-- they only found out years later that the majority of animated films from their youth were imported from Japan. At this point, Korea has a lot of great animators/filmmakers but they didn't at the time.

We got on this point because we were at a coffee shop that was playing classical scores of movie soundtracks, like from My Neighbor Totoro and from the Lion King-- I told her that my first movie theater movie had been the latter :) . Love you and miss you, too! Thanks for the note :) .

Wind day!

Kindergarten and elementary school were cancelled today in Busan; according to the government, objects under 47 kilograms (i.e. children) were at risk for getting blown away by the nearby typhoon! In the end, the weather hasn't been incredibly bad, but I'm glad that unnecessary casualties were avoided--- in this case, my mind and my sense of control of my surroundings. I learned a related word yesterday: 멘붕 (men-boong), which is a shortening of "mental collapse" to describe when it feels as if your thoughts have all flown out of your head (ah-ha! I just realized how similar this is to... how do they say it? ...blown = mind?). I certainly like where I work, but it was still pleasant to unexpectedly have a peaceful day.

Speaking of Korean (I feel like I'm going to be doing a lot of that lately (x__x;) ), during my free time I was trying to study some vocabulary words I learned last night at my first Korean class, and I encountered a familiar sensation: the same kind of bewilderment that I feel when trying to pack up a living space. Day to day, objects trickle into rooms and closets, almost unnoticed, and then suddenly, when it's time to leave, it feels like that Harry Potter scene where every piece of gold you touch explodes into fifty more. Where did all of these cups/socks come from? Do I actually USE all of these words??? I attempted, hm, maybe twelve verbs today, and spent quite a lot of time learning them (with lukewarm success), ...but there are SO MANY more verbs! Unpacking English and trying to move it into Korean seems impossible--- but read that as "very time consuming," please, for my morale's sake. Really, though, from where I'm standing, it just won't fit! The funny thing is that I never feel like I have enough socks--- and continuing the parallel, the perfect word for a situation is often hard to find. The nice things, though: 1) that the stuff always gets packed and 2) there's a lot of good books/movies/etc. out there, full of perfect words. OK, OK-- spare me from these overextended metaphors, you ask.

Moving on, I had a great day today: I went to the Korean hospital to get my health check for my visa, got some great food x 2, and learned some weather-related words! Listen to this: in Korean, the word 'param' can mean both wind and affair (the love/cheating kind); while 'param' (wind) blows, 'param' (affair) ...burns. It sounds so descriptive, so dangerous: burning wind!

Sorry that there's no picture again, but I think I made up for it with the thousand words alternative.

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