Hong Kong: Vol. 1 » Year of the Rabbit

Testing, testing… 1, 2, 1, 2.
It’s been a little over 3 months since my last post… No matter how hard I try, I will never fully understand why time seems to pass so quickly when you get older or when you actually stop thinking about it. Rebecca and I made plans to travel to Hong Kong since we both had days off for the Lunar New Year. Since our trip to Hong Kong has been even longer ago since my last post (*cough* 5 months), I’ll try to keep the commentary to a minimum and just let the pictures speak for themselves. 

Spirit taking full advantage of the window seat. 

Chinese translation:

 
Salinger in the clouds > Salinger on the ground.

Layover in Beijing/ Coke Zero pick me up. 

» World City. World Party. 

This is kind of funny. Rebecca and I thought that the name of our hostel was Dragon Inn, but as it turns out… we tried to check into the wrong hostel.

Laundry day on the 14th floor.

Our hostel was actually named Dragon Hostel which was just 7 floors down from the previous hostel and the difference of a word. (simple mistake)  

Overall we spent 435 HDK for 3 nights in a private room which equals around 62 US dollars. Occasionally we had to listen to our neighbors sing and most of the time our shower was on a temperature fritz, but all in all not too bad. 

 
Mong Kok. 

Need vs. want? Maybe… Rebecca convinced me that we should get our nails done while in Hong Kong. Unfortunately, we put it off until the very end of our trip and when we actually tried to get them done they were closed. But, for the record I had my eye on the pink goggle faced lady, 1st row 4th from the right. 

If there is one thing that Hong Kong has more of than Seoul, it’s meat stands. The only time I’ve ever seen hanging meat in Korea is at the market. In Hong Kong, you can literally walk down almost any street and buy a fully cooked, fully mantled duck/ chicken. (>.O)

In Mong Kok there are people lined all along the streets performing/ working for whatever you’ll give them… sometimes with their children sitting beside them. This man in particular was writing in salt. When Rebecca and I passed by the next day he was setting up his green tarp and duck tape for the day, and later that night when we passed by he was still there in the same position. 

Our first meal in Hong Kong?  » pizza. (avocado, feta, cucumbers, and black olives) To be honest with you, we ate this same meal at least 2 more times before leaving Hong Kong… with no shame.

 

Rebecca made plans to meet up with an old friend from college thats been teaching in Hong Kong for the last 3 years. As a result we ended up on this beautiful roof top. Pictured below: myself, Rebecca, and Jeff. 

As we were walking out of the door we ran into this man covered in blood. Timing… literally just seconds after. Our insensitive reaction? “I think the pizza place they were talking about is down this way.” 

3 a.m. pizza/potato wedge pick me up

5 a.m. packed subway… flowers, balloons, and delusional bodies. 

Morning from the 7th floor balcony. 

Beautiful little human beings outside a mosque on our walk through Central.

In Korea, the area I live in has little to no trees. I’m surrounded by restaurants and high rise apartments. After living in an area without trees for so long, I forgot how beautiful they were. Which was a really depressing realization. 

The back streets of Jordan.
Note: The taxi cabs reminded me of an 80s model BMW. Which just so happens to be one of my favorite models. Classic. More than once I thought about how I wouldn’t mind actually having one of these taxi cabs as my own car. 

 

Meat stand no. 4.

Enjoying a can of mango juice. This was taken right before Rebecca and I started following a man who was skip walking/ pausing to stand in the same place. That might sound confusing, but he was really interesting to watch from a far until he realized we were following him. (big mistake)

In most areas of Hong Kong the buildings are so close together you can’t even tell where one begins and one ends. All of which are clad with air conditioning units and clothes hung out to dry. 

Meat stand no. 5. 

Open market in Jordan.
Unidentifiable fruit. 

In the middle of a sale. 

Crusted duck head nonchalantly sitting outside a restaurant, spotted on our walk through Jordan. 

Its interesting, because most of the homeless people that I’ve seen in Korea/ Hong Kong are all of the older generation. In America, it breaks even with the middle to younger age sector. 

Mong Kok market is about 5 blocks long with typical knock off hand bags/ wallets/ watches/ seashelled dog figurines. This is where Rebecca tried to buy a Rolex for her dad… let’s just say there was some super sketchy activity going on during this process so we bailed. 

Wind up baby chicks/ puppies sold by the happiest man on Earth.

If you’re in the market for tasty lingerie, Hong Kong has got you covered. (literally) Rebecca and I actually ended up buying a bird sling/ feather number for our newlywed friends back home. West and Faith, I hope they are serving you well…

Government infiltration: HKSAR GOVERNMENT WARNING. 
Smoking causes peripheral vascular diseases.  
I wish someone would put a label on a french fry container showing me how fat and alone they are going to make me if I keep eating them. 

Rebecca and I heard about a parade that was going on, assuming that it might be worth it, we headed down to the festivities.  

Hong Kong Tourism Board: North Asia. 
We agreed to do a survey while we waited for the parade to start. Rebecca told them we were living in Korea and then they stuck these stickers on our shoulders and walked away never to be seen again. The kicker? We walked around with these stickers on our shoulders for 2 hours, haha. 

To be honest this might have been the longest most disorganized parade that I’ve ever seen. Sorry, Hong Kong, but I had to say it. Totally anti-climatic. In other news, there were a lot of little cuteheads watching from their dads shoulders.  

That about sums up our first few nights in Hong Kong. To close out this post I’ll leave you with a tasssty shot of my fro-yo n’ green tea mochi ball pick me up. Stay tuned.. Vol. 2 coming soon. (hopefully in the next few days versus the next few months)

Hello Kitty Cafe and New Years dancsolutions.

When I was a little girl, my favorite store in the mall was this hole in the wall Sanrio shop below the food court. Surprisingly enough, Hello Kitty was not my favorite of the Sanrio characters, I had a weird fascination with Pochacco and Keroppi. One of my most prized possessions was this metal Pochacco purse about the size of a sandwich box. In reality, it was a lunch box with a strap, but that’s besides the point. The point is… Hello Kitty has her own cafe. (=^x^=)

On the very last night of the year, Rebecca and I had a few hours to kill before the new year’s countdown so we decided to stop in for a latte and a mousse cake at Hello Kitty Cafe.

If you have a strong distaste for the color pink, whisker wall cut outs, and plush red velvet HKC is not for you…

I have yet to visit a cafe in Korea that doesn’t have some sort of fancy snack waffle on their menu. I’m not exaggerating when I say that every single cafe has waffles. If they’re not drizzled in syrup, topped with gelato or fruit, they’re dusted with powdered sugar and cinnamon. 

Unfortunately, we didn’t order the tiramisu. Instead we rationalized ourselves out of it for a strawberry mousse cake twice the size and around the same price. Next time, there will be no rationalizing. 

This wall actually doesn’t exist anymore. After the new year they added an upstairs to the cafe so this area is now a staircase. Just in case you decide to visit and expect to see this cute nook. 

Behold, one of the cutest cafe pick me ups to ever be placed before me. 

I ordered an Earl Grey latte (which I would highly recommend). I’m not sure why, but ever since I moved to Korea I’ve been really into tea lattes. Green tea and black tea especially. 

I’ve never really been one for mousse cake, but this strawberry number was delicious.

Rebecca and her caramel macchiato. 

Dear HKC,
You had me at cinnamon sprinkled cat froth… 

Good to the last drop.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it once more… having a partner in crime makes all the difference in the world. Especially when visiting themed cafes and bringing in a new year. Which brings me to my next point… New Year’s Eve via Korea!

Also, if you’re ever in search of the Hello Kitty Cafe and you’re in the Hongdae area it’s located in an ally right next to Luxury Ho Bar.

Rebecca and I decided to spend our last few minutes of 2010 at the Bosingak Bell Tolling Ceremony in Jongno-gu. As I was standing there sardined between hundreds of strangers holding onto balloons with their new year resolutions, I realized that I was actually on the other side of the world…

with this man… It’s wild to think about the future. Where you’ll be, who might be there with you, what you’ll be doing, how you’ll feel experiencing all the things you never expected, etcetera. 

Having no real plan, Rebecca and I found ourselves at a triple hip hop party in Hongdae. I’m not really your typical club goer, in fact I don’t really dance as much as I just wiggle my hips and awkwardly bounce my shoulders, but sometimes I go to clubs and pretend like I can dance.  New Years being one of those nights…

It seems as if everyone else had the same idea… to say it was crowded would be an understatement. 

The best solution to lack luster dance moves? Incognito monkey masking.
Note: If you wear an animal mask on a dance floor in Korea, expect double handed high fives/ multiple dance partners whose only mission is to see the face behind the mask. 

Spirit (the great white wolf) has been missing in action here lately, but in case there was any question of his whereabouts on new years he was dancing with this guy and the asian Edward Norton lookalike in the lower left corner. 

As the new year would have it Rebecca met a boy named Jun Hyoung in which she exchanged dance moves with for the majority of the night. Sources say he may have been on Rumspringa…

You may or may not be surprised when I tell you that we danced until 7 in the morning. Undoubtedly, the club scene in Korea doesn’t die down until breakfast. Unfortunately, I do not have any pictures of our first breakfast of the new year, but just know that it involved a shot glass of Soju, spicy chop chae, an Englishman telling stories about his dog, broken English, awkward laughter, sleep deprived raccoon eyes, and the saddest part… no cereal whatsoever. Needless to say, the train ride home was a very long zombie like ride home, but definitely one that will not be forgotten along with our night of New Years dancsolutions. 

To close out this post, I’ll leave you with a few snapshots from New Years Eve 2010 via Washington, DC.  

p.s. In less than a month Faith and West will be married! (unbelievable)

So this is Christmas?

I know what you’re thinking. Wasn’t Christmas a little over 4 months ago? It was, and how unfortunate it is that I’ve waited this long to tell you anything about it, but for the sake of remembering my first holiday in Korea, here goes nothing. In reality, Christmas is really just another day or at least thats what I told myself when I realized that I would be celebrating Christmas away from my family. However, the nice part about living abroad with one of my best friends is that the holidays that would seem generally depressing, if I was alone, are at least laughable with her here.

There was really no question whether or not Rebecca and I would celebrate Christmas together. Of course we would, so Spirit and I packed up few things for the weekend and met her at the Express Bus Terminal in Seoul. 

If there is one thing that I’ve learned about spending the weekend in Seoul, it’s that less is more. Having to lug my suitcase (pictured on the right) up and down subway stairs/ en route to subway transfers made me want to literally throw it into a river.

Sigh, what better way to spend Christmas abroad than at a spa? Dragon Hill is located right next to Yongsan station on the blue line if you’re interested in getting away for the weekend and soaking in the sauna. Check in is 12,000 won, and you’re given a bracelet that keeps track of your purchases. 

After checking in we were asked to put our shoes in a locker, because this is Korea…

Along with our bracelets we were given a uniform to wear around the spa and two small towels. Which doesn’t really matter much on the women’s floor, because all the ladies just walk around naked. As Rebecca and I were walking to our lockers, the back of a lady with saucer sized polka dots caught my eye. Her whole back was covered with these oddly large dots the color of beet like bruises. Later I realized that a cupping treatment had just been performed on her. Undoubtedly, cupping therapy is similar to acupuncture in the belief that your body has certain centers that help your internal energy to flow properly. Cupping is actually a suctioning of your skin that helps release harmful toxins that are preventing or blocking a certain flow to these different centers. (just a little side note) 

After changing into our uniforms, Rebecca and I headed down to the main level where most couples meet up to play dance dance revolution and drink rice milk. While we were sitting down enjoying our dip n’ dots and cider the girl sitting next to us decides to smash a boiled egg on her boyfriend’s forehead. Which leads me to my next point, Korean people love to eat boiled eggs. I’ve seen more boiled eggs consumed in Korea than I have in my whole life living in the States.  My friend Kathleen once told me that her co-worker boils her eggs for like 12 hours. I didn’t even know that was possible, but again this is Korea.

It being Christmas Eve and all, our first experience at Dragon Hill was a crowded one. While trying to find where the women’s aroma room was located, Rebecca and I stumbled upon the main co-ed sleeping room. (aka the biggest cuddle puddle that I’ve ever seen) This is also where the ice room is located, in case freezing appeals to you. 

Here I am with old Saint Nick on Christmas Day. Merry Christmas via Korea!

We made plans to go to Everland on Christmas day, because they were running a holiday promotion for all foreigners. If you’ve never heard of Everland, it’s basically just a popular amusement park here in Korea. On Christmas day they were only charging 15,000 won for foreigners. After checking out of Dragon Hill we headed over to Yongsan station to catch a train that would put us closer to the bus we needed to take. Rebecca and I are really good at getting lost together, alone we’re not as prone to it, but together it never fails… so we made sure to ask for directions before leaving the station just in case this was one of those times.

Rebecca waiting for the train at Yongsan. 

The adventures of Panda Bear and Monkey will be a continuing saga of our life here in Korea. Not really, I just made that up. However, Rebecca and I have carried around a set of animal masks with us since purchasing a pair in Kansas City during her move to Colorado so maybe! Stay tuned…

We made it to Everland about 5:00, unfortunately the sun wasn’t too keen about sticking around. Shortly after we got there the sun went down and we realized that Everland in dead of winter might have been a really bad idea.

But we kept telling ourselves “You just can’t beat 15,000 won for an amusement park… Ah! It’s Christmas!!” Which definitely helped there at the beginning. 

In honor of the holidays, I took a picture of a mom and her two kids freezing on a sleigh like bench. The temperature was close to -10 degrees C with the windchill. (note how they’re bundled)

I was unaware that Everland had a few animal exhibits. The skunk/prairie dog exhibit is definitely something that I didn’t expect to see, but then again, like stated twice before… This is Korea. 

Sadly enough, the only ride Rebecca and I rode was the chairlift, hahaha. Which is not really a ride at all. In our defense, they weren’t really running any of the rides. Undoubtedly, if the temperature drops below a certain point they don’t allow people to ride. I’m not trying to be dramatic when I say this, but my toes were so cold that it felt like someone was sticking needles in them. 

After admiring a few of the trees and hiding from the cold in gift shops and bathrooms we called it quits. The odds were against us this time, but I’m definitely making plans to go back to Everland this Spring/ Summer, because it seems like it would be a lot of fun. 

On the bus ride back Rebecca broke out the raspberry rice wine for warmth and a cheers to our first Christmas in Korea. Even though I missed spending Christmas with my family and friends back home in the good ole South, spending Christmas in Korea with Rebecca will be one Christmas’ that I’ll never forget.

To close out this post and to keep things Christmasy, I’ll leave you with the adorable Pickles Gill showing off her Christmas tutu. This was taken about a week before I left for Korea. 

Winter English Camp.

I arrived in Korea in mid-December, about a week before winter vacation. Not knowing how the school semester worked, I assumed that after Christmas our school would resume on a normal schedule. I was wrong, of course. Instead of teaching classes right away, I was told to prepare lesson plans for a 5 week Winter English Camp that I would be leading during winter vacation. I was later informed by fellow English teachers that usually schools only make you teach at the maximum of 3 weeks during Winter English Camp. I ,on the other hand, was given 2 extra weeks for being the new kid on the block. I’m not complaining though, I definitely needed those 5 weeks to figure out the quirks of Korea, and find my niche in the classroom. I met twice a week with grades K through 5. If you’re interested in teaching English in Korea or if you’re already here and have not participated in a winter or summer English camp it’s basically like an English daycare. During this time, most teachers are encouraged to use their paid vacation time seeing as how there is a 6 week gap in the semester. Since most students aren’t introduced to a set English curriculum until 3rd grade and there is a fairly large age gap across the board, you’re really just encouraged to pick a theme for each week and center games and activities around that theme, keeping in mind the grade level.

One of my favorite activities that my students did was writing letters to America. I know it’s been done before, but I’m a pretty big fan of handwritten letters. My good friend Traci Allen just happens to be an elementary school teacher in the States so my students were able to actually write to fellow students in America. A lot of my students are at a very low writing level, which is actually one of the biggest reasons why I planned this particular lesson. 

Okay, well if I’m being honest, maybe that’s not the biggest reason why I planned this lesson. The thing about handwritten letters is that they’re priceless, and children are the best at writing letters, because above any other group of individuals in the world, they put their heart and soul into personalization. I mean, when was the last time you drew lightening bolts, crossbones, and ducks on a letter you were sending to someone?

Sally not only drew a picture of herself for reference, but she also made sure to draw a heart around her name. 

Needless to say, there were a lot of ink hands at the end of this activity.

This is Tony, he recently changed his name to Mountain. 

I also, asked my students to draw a picture of a few of their favorite things to stick in their envelopes. When I asked Tony (aka Mountain) what his picture was of he said that he and a friend “shoot gun at dinosaurs”. (pictured but not mentioned, a pretty decent rendition of a whooly mammoth)

The view from the window of my classroom looked pretty much like this for all 5 weeks. (no joke) This particular day, my students were trying to fly kites. 

Here’s the thing about the snow… Not even a week after I arrived in Korea it started snowing. From December-January the snow remained on the ground, and I had to walk everywhere in the snow. Including to the bus stop at 7:30 in the morning. My feet felt like icicles all the time, even with an extra layer of socks. Anyways, back to winter english camp…

Since my co-teacher encouraged me to keep it fun, I decided to do a lesson about identifying animals with my 2nd graders. When given the choice of what type of animal mask to make, an owl mask was pretty unanimous.  

Just look at this cute hootie hoo. 

We were a little off with the placement of the eyes, but the effort was definitely there. Also, I’ve learned that basic identification is key when learning how to speak English. Like being able to say “What’s that?” “It’s an owl… It’s a cat…” is just one of those building blocks native speakers don’t ever have to really think about, because it’s so basic and simple. I’m not sure if I want to pursue teaching English in the future, but being given the opportunity to do so now has really taught me how smart kids really are, Korean kids especially. A normal school day for a student in Korea doesn’t end until around 7:00 p.m. They start their day off at 9:00 and then after school most all students go to another academy for private lessons in language or the arts. 

This is Minny. I’m not going to lie, she is one of my favorite students. Not only doe she have the cutest teeth, but she is extremely smart. One day she decided to stay after class and eat lunch with me in my classroom. I, of course, brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Minny brought 5 boiled eggs. Strange, but common in Korea. Also, I loved watching her crack her eggs.

Another thing I love about Minny, is that she acts like an adult without knowing it or meaning to, and every time I ask her how she is doing, she says “I am happy!”.

While browsing through slides of a game my co-teacher recommended, I came across this… 

Also, did I mention that one of my students came to class dressed as a duck?

I have found that one of the perks about being a teacher is my students leaving tiny trinkets for me on my desk.

Not only did I receive a piggy bank charm, a hot pink bunny rabbit, and a crippled Winnie the Pooh this particular day, but I was also given half of a kumquat. 

The most liked lesson plan of Winter English camp was definitely my unit on taste. I remember making worms in the dirt as a kid, and thinking it was the best idea that my teacher ever had. If you’re ever doing a lesson on taste, I would suggest that your students taste the sourness of the worm before mixing it into the dirt. Otherwise everything just tastes sweet. The original recipe for worms in the dirt calls for instant pudding. I tried to find it in the grocery store, but undoubtedly they don’t sell it in Korea so I opted for ice cream as the base. Not finding instant pudding might have been the best thing that happened to our worms in the dirt. 

Warning: consuming wiggly worms in the dirt might be messy.

I also found that my students loved, and when I say loved I mean, LOVED smashing the oreos for the dirt.  

The 5th and final week of Winter English camp, I decided to do a mini indoor version of the winter olympic games. All of the challenges were really simple, and geared for the indoors seeing as how it was negative degrees C outdoors.

If you’re looking for some simple and fun indoor games I would suggest investing in some balloons and straws. Some of the games my students enjoyed was: seeing who could blow the biggest balloon, balloon between the legs race, balancing a straw on the tip of your nose race, and musical hot potato using balloons and Taylor Swift love ballads.   

Sigh, and that concludes my 5 weeks of Winter English camp. I’ll be honest with you, there were moments when I was a complete zombie of a teacher, and when some of my lesson plans just didn’t drive the point across… but all in all I’d say we had our fair share of fun. Evenso, here’s to hoping that I’ll only have to teach 3 weeks of Summer English camp!

To wrap up this post, I’ll leave you with the moment my dad offered me a tater tot over Skype.

Vegetable donuts.

Dunkin’ Donuts via Korea is now selling “healthy” donuts. Among the choices are spinach, broccoli, and carrot. 

While waiting on a friend to get to town, Alexis and I stopped in at our local DD. The notion of a healthy donut peaked our interest, but not fully so we decided to half one regular real donut and one “healthy” donut. I went out on a limb and purchased the carrot hoping it would taste like carrot cake. Nope, definitely not… For anyone who is looking for a healthy yet sweet pick me up I would just opt for an apple and save your kcalories. As some “healthy” marketing ploys go, the taste was a little anti-climatic. 

My first day at Jeong-gyo Elementary.

I teach at a Jeong-gyo Elementary School. It’s a public school outside of Seoul and about a 10-15 minute bus ride from my apartment depending on the morning. Which means I have to wake up early enough to catch the 7:30 bus. The first day of school my co-teacher along with the kindergarten teacher picked me up at my apartment. I rode to school in the backseat with Miss Hong’s snowboard trying to gage what kind of person she was and thinking about how awkward first days usually are. In my history of waking up for the first day of school, not only am I really tired from staying up all night staring at the ceiling, but there are at least 100 worms in the pit of my stomach. I don’t think anything really prepares you for what to expect when you end up in a place that you’ve never been to before. I just sat in the backseat, starring out the window thinking about how wild it was that this place has never existed in my mind until now. When we arrived at school the first thing I was instructed to do was take off my shoes. 

In Korea, you’re supposed to take off your shoes when entering certain places. I didn’t even think about this until I was at school slipping Rain (K-pop super sensation) into a pair of slippers. After putting my shoes in a cabinet, I was taken into the teacher’s room to meet the other teachers. One of the first things my co-teacher says to me is “The special education teacher is not married.” Which is one thing I came to learn really quickly about Korea, be prepared to answer these 3 questions: “Do you have a boyfriend?”, “When are you getting married?”, and “What’s your blood type?” Apparently, when someone asks you what your blood type is, it’s like they’re asking what your sign is. Anyways, back to the subject… after everyone was in the room the principal introduced me to everyone in Korean and then asked me to say something to all the teachers in English. I wasn’t really that intimidated by the situation, because I realized that most of the teachers didn’t speak English. Especially after I received a loud round of applause for pretty much just saying my name, where I live at in the States, and what I majored in during college. (all scripted by my co-teacher)

Next I was taken to a classroom and was asked to introduce myself to a group of these little muffins. As I stood behind a podium trying to hide my K-pop socks from plain view, I noticed that there was a video camera in the middle of the room. I’m pretty sure there is some sort of footage of my first day introduction out there in Korean cyberspace. (pictured above from left to right: Julie, Sara, and Sally)

After introducing myself to pretty much the whole school, I was asked if I had eaten anything. I hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet so the answer was no. Luckily, that was the right answer, because I was told not to eat anything until after my health physical later that day. In order to apply for an ARC card (alien registration) you have to get a physical. While I was waiting until it was time to go the hospital, I thumbed through old student work books in my classroom. At first, I read this one wrong. I thought that it said “I have a tomagotchi” (as in virtual keychain pet), and then I realized it said I have a tomach ache.  

So eventually my co-teacher and vice principal took me to the hospital to do my health exam. I wish I could’ve gotten a picture of this, but when we pulled up to the hospital there was a man standing outside the entrance in a gown holding his rolling IV in one hand and dragging a cigarette in his other. Oh, Korea…  I always get nervous about health exams, like they’re going to tell me that I have an inflamed liver or that they detected no antibodies in my blood and it’s all from drinking way too much Coke Zero. In reality, my physical was pretty painless and pretty standard: weight, height, put your hand over your left eye and read line 2, big needles, tubes of blood, korean soap operas blaring in the background, hospital gowns, x-rays, blood pressure machines, ect. Since I’m blogging months after my first day at Jeong-gyo Elementary happened, I can jump right to the part where my health exam came back in good standing and how I  was able to apply for my ARC card. I received it in the mail about a week after I was taken to the immigration office. Not only am I an official alien, but I look like one. I was pretty excited about getting my ARC card, because without it I wouldn’t have been able to apply for internet, a bank account, or a cellphone. 

To wrap up this post, I’ll leave you with a link to Rain’s infamous dance off with Stephen Colbert. »Rain Dance Off via The Colbert Report
Just in case there are any doubts about the street cred of my socks. 

Partners in crime.

Rebecca and I started applying for jobs in Korea at the beginning of May. When applying we had hopes of ending up in the same city, possibly the same apartment. Well let’s just say we had high hopes. I actually ended up moving to Korea about 5 months after Rebecca arrived here. I had a pretty difficult time getting a job, believe it or not. The fact that I was born Korean worked against me which definitely caught me off guard. Apparently some schools have a certain stigma about hiring someone who doesn’t look American or like a foreigner, odd but true in some cases. I ended up being offered a position at a public school near Seoul and Rebecca ended up at a Montessori school in Pohang, a beach town about 5 hours away from Seoul. Even though we ended up in different cities, I’m extremely lucky to even have her here. I’ve always wanted to live abroad with one of my best friends, and as life would have it, it’s happening. 

Halloween 2008
Rebecca as a Best of Hanson cassette
Myself as Mr. Cunningham the red tape recorder

Crossing the Colorado stateline. July 2009

Crossing the Colorado stateline. March 2010

Smuggling Faith’s 24th birthday cake in a tiny suitcase en route to DC.

Lost on the DC metro with Spirit the Great White Wolf. December 2009

Our first meet up in Seoul. December 2010

I was actually really nervous about meeting up with Rebecca for the first time. I’m the kind of person who has a knack for getting lost. Up until our first meet up, I had never taken a bus or ridden the subway in Korea. Normally, I wouldn’t think twice about getting on a bus or taking the subway, but with everything being in a different language and the fact that I’m really good at getting lost, I was nervous. A teacher at school took the time to print off a map for me, highlight the route I’d be taking, and write down what I’d need to say in Korean if I got lost. I ended up catching a 9:30 bus, in order to give myself plenty of time for error. When I got to the bus stop there was this little old lady who kept saying “Uijeongbu, Uijeongbu.” Which was fate, because Uijeongbu is the name of the station that I was trying to get to. We ended up sitting beside each other on the bus. My co-teacher had written down on a piece of paper for me “I’m sorry, but I cannot speak Korean. I need to get to Uijeonbu station. Please, help me.” Even though she realized that I couldn’t speak Korean every once in a while she would ask me something in Korean, I think to test me, haha. Once we got off the bus, we parted ways and I handed my piece of paper to a man who looked like he was en route to the subway. I know all this seems really silly, but honestly living in a different country has really made me appreciate the little things in life, like seeing a Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows movie poster in the subway or being able to buy a week’s worth of groceries or just being able to catch a bus. Believe it or not, I did not get lost! Not only did I make it to the X, but I was early. 

I ended up meeting Rebecca and Darby at the Hongik University stop in Hongdae. A truck full of baby oranges just happened to be waiting for me.  

Along with this cutehead. 

This was also the day that I first met Ashton and Darby. Which I was excited about, because I had already heard so much about them from Rebecca. (=^x^=) Rebecca actually met both Ashton and Darby before coming to Korea. Ashton at the Korean Consulate and Darby in Colorado while waiting in line for their criminal background checks. 

After dinner we walked around Hongdae where I found this message for all aspiring artists. If only I had seen this before spending 4 years of my life majoring in fine art… 

We didn’t really have much of a plan on what we wanted to do for the rest of the night so we ended up heading to Myong-dong where this girl was giving out free hugs. 

Sometimes really precious things happen.

To wrap up this post, I’d like to leave you with a picture of me and my partner in crime sitting on the floor of a questionable love motel, drinking diet coke and eating Kelloggs triangle bites. The point of this whole post is really just to say that having Rebecca here with me/having a partner in crime makes all the difference in the world.

It’s the tragedy of loving, you can’t love anything more than something you miss.

On Friday my Papa Leland passed away. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer disease about 10 years ago. I think that Alzheimer’s disease has to be one of the most unfortunate diseases that you can have. To think about how long term/short term memories are really the only form of the present that you can keep with you and how they just deplete once the disease starts going through its first few stages. He has’t been able to eat solid foods or use any of his motor skills for the past 5 or 6 years. His state of living really wasn’t living at all. I used to work in an assistant living home and I saw cases like this everyday with my dementia patients. No one wants to really talk about this part of life, because its sad and a hard realization to deal with. I share all of this not because I want you to feel sorry for me or for anyone, but maybe if you have the time and you’re looking for something to do with your time there might be someone out there who would really enjoy your company or a letter or just the chance to hold your hand.


My mom asked me to write a part of Papa’s eulogy since I couldn’t be at the funeral. I wanted to keep it short and truly what I remembered.

“I’m sitting in my apartment nearly 10,000 miles away from all of you, and all I can think about is a tomato garden and the sound of that old green pick up truck pulling into his back yard. It’s funny because in the last 10 years, whenever I would think about Papa the first thing I would think about was his sickness. Now that he is at peace, I don’t think about that much anymore. I think about how Papa and I used to sit on the swing in his backyard and listen to the creek behind his house and eat the grapes we had picked off his grapevine. I think about the way his hands looked when he cracked open a pecan shell, and how he loved to eat chocolate jelly cream pies. I think about all the times I walked with him to church and how much those dogs scared me and how he would throw a stick at the fence to make me feel better or maybe because he was scared too. I think about how he always did things like clockwork and how he was never late to anything. How when I would hug him he smelled like Old Spice. I think about how he hated the sound of Mama’s birds late at night, and how in the summertime he was always watching an Atlanta Braves game or working in his garden. I always loved that mama’s name was Lucille and that he would always call her Lou. Together they were Leland and Lucille Leonard, their names fit perfectly together. I think about them together now and then. But mostly importantly I think about how lucky I am to have such memories at all. I’m sure you all have your own memories of Papa, which makes us all lucky to have had him in our lives.”

Donut holes and paramedics.

Written: December 17th, 2010
Location: Dunkin’ Donuts
Time: 4:56 p.m.

Living in Korea has its pros and cons, one pro that I’ve come to appreciate is when I’m done with school there is no particular place that I need to be. Right now I’m sitting at Dunkin Donuts watching a mom pick through the donuts holes. Since I don’t have internet at my apartment yet, I’ve been coffee shop hopping. There are a lot of conversations going on around me right now, none of which I understand completely. I’ve become especially interested in body language and direct eye contact since moving here. Sometimes I find myself just watching people… the way they move their hands or how they just sit starring into someone’s eyes or out of a window without saying anything at all. There is a Korean boy sitting across from me eating a donut and drinking hot chocolate. I’m guessing we both don’t have much of anywhere to be as we just sit here facing each other. The ladies next to me seem to be gossiping, who knows maybe they’re talking about how much they love Christmas or how it annoys them when some people crinkle their forehead when they get mad. They seem to be gossiping, a lot of hand motion is involved with what they are talking about. Right now, the mom in the corner is dusting donut crumbs off her daughters hand as the little girl sings to the ceiling with this glazed look in her eyes. I like watching mom’s fix their son or daughters hair. They always pause for a moment when they finish. The boy across from me is taking his time with his hot chocolate. I like that. You know just taking the time to enjoy something.  He reads with his hand resting on his left knee, I find that interesting. Another thing I find interesting is that he hasn’t bobbed his knee up and down once since sitting there. Most people who sit alone tend to shake their leg or jolt their foot at least once or twice. He seems to be a very calm and unbothered. I wonder if he can feel me writing about him sitting there across from me? I find myself watching people for long periods of time here, I’m sure that makes me a creep. There is a steady flow of sugarheads coming in and out of the door. Its Friday, and lets just be honest we all deserve it. My first week in Pocheon has been the biggest transition of my life and to be honest really difficult. I’ve come to believe that we are not meant to know too much about our futures for a reason, that reason being we would ruin them. Many people have the tendency to overanalyze themselves out of happiness if given the idea that it’s going to disrupt their current happiness. At least, thats what I thought about a lot before moving here. Maybe I’m rambling, but I say all this to say that the fact that I’m able to feel myself go through this transition and be unsure of myself in the most ordinary situations like buying a bagel or catching a bus has been really good for me.

 



The lady beside me is crying really loud, in the way I would cry if Ryan Gosling ever died (my cat) (well joint cat, Faith is taking care of him forever now) The hot chocolate guy and I are trying not to stare, but we both know whats going on.  Well we both know that she is really upset, why she is upset is still a mystery.  The lady with her is standing up.  I saw the hot chocolate guy look over this time. I’m really starting to wonder what’s going on now because the lady is breathing really heavily with her head on the table.  The other lady is on the phone panicking.  I have no idea how to say “Do you need help or are you okay?” in Korean, because I left my “How to Speak Korean in Plain English” book on the plane. (slaps forehead) Her breathing sounds like she could be in labor, but she is really skinny. It could be possible, I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard of a television show that features girls who didn’t know they were pregnant until they had their baby. Crazy, I know. Now I feel really bad that I assumed they were gossiping. Why is that? Why is it that I feel bad now that something has happened versus feeling bad about it from the start?

 
I stopped writing, because I couldn’t just sit there peering over the edge of my journal so I helped the hot chocolate guy move chairs and tables out of the way so the EMS workers would have a clear path to the lady when they arrived. I also managed to take a discrete photo of what was happening. Basically, the lady who was crying hyperventilated herself into a state of unconsciousness and her friend had to move her to the couch seating, in the exact same spot that I was sitting. Something really comical happened in the midst of all of this… A little boy came into buy a couple of donuts, one looked like a bear claw from what I could tell.  It really was so funny, because he didn’t even flinch at the site of this lady with her whole body stretched out in the middle of this little donut shoppe. He just pulled out his wallet and waited patiently for the worker who was busy helping with the situation to notice him and return to her register to ring him up for his donuts. After she rang him up he shuffled out of the door with is little Addias backpack and bag of donuts completely unconcerned with the situation. When the ambulance came they brought in what looked like an electric chair on wheels. After placing the lady in the chair they made their way out of the door, and that was that. One interesting thing about the EMS crew in Korea is that their 911 is printed 119 on the back of their jackets. The normal part of it all is that afterwords, life went on in complete oblivion that anything out of the ordinary happened. Now people are coming into buy donuts and they have no idea what just happened. Which makes me wonder how many times I’ve walked in 5 minutes after a situation. What are the chances that I was here in  Pocheon, South Korea to witness this happening from beginning to end?

 
I’m glad that I don’t know how to say, “I hope she is okay, what do you think happened?” in Korean right now, because I don’t really need to have a commentary with anyone about any of this, because we’re all probably thinking the same thing. I can actually feel it and see it on our faces. Which is the really beautiful thing I’m learning about living here. Words are not the only devices that make us understand one another as human beings. When it comes down to it, they’re unnecessary sometimes. More later…