The Ups and Downs of Living in Korea 2

This morning, a male English teacher at school--who NEVER talks to me--came up to me and asked me "Stephanie, what do you do after school?"

"You mean after I go home?"

"Yes. After you go home."

"Different things. Rock climbing, dinner with friends..."

Turns out he didn't really care what I do after school because he didn't even listen to my response before he was already making his next statement.

"Why don't you exercise. You can go by the river and run. I will call you as soon as possible to go running by the river."

WHAT?! I guess the word is getting around that I look pregnant--and with twins.

Korea will pick you up and send your ego flying high as a kite with the number of curious stares and compliments from complete strangers, from young and old alike, telling you that you're beautiful. I've been called "beautiful" more times in the past five months than my entire life. As a foreigner here, you look just different enough to render such remarks, apparently.

But then there's the down side. Koreans, in general, are extremely concerned about image and appearance (hence the large numbers of plastic surgery, expensive clothing and accessories, name brands, obsession with make-up, young women staring at themselves int he mirror for hours). And Koreans, in general, can be very forward and will tell you straight out if they think you look fat. Or, in my case, if you look pregnant and that you should start exercising.

The Ups and Downs of Living in Korea

You can blame "cultural differences" all you want.

A middle-aged female teacher felt the need today to tell me the following:

"Yesterday, Stephanie, a student asked me if you were pregnant. He asked me, actually, if you were pregnant having twins. So I didn't give him any candy in class. He said 'Oh!' but I said 'No candy! That is very rude!'"

Yes, I've gained weight while living in Korea. I'd like to blame it on the mass consumption of rice and rice products (squishy Korean rice cakes are practically shoveled into my mouth at least three times a week), or maybe even the fluffy white bread that has now taken the place of whole wheat bread, which is next to impossible to find here (and no, I will never give up toast or PB&Js in my life so long as I have the choice).

But unfortunately, this one's on me. I was lazy all winter long. It was cold. Reeeeally cold. To leave the warmth of my apartment again after coming home from school was a huge feat (and one that I rarely conquered). But then spring came, and the weather began to turn and I was motivated to do things. I bought a bike and was going on long bike rides. Some girl friends and I started up a women's running club in Jinju. I was getting back into rock climbing. I was going on some amazing hikes. And one Sunday, I finally made it to the casual, yet competetive, soccer match that's held every Sunday by mostly foreigners (but with some Koreans).

But on that glorious day, all of my regained health shattered to the ground.

Within the first ten minutes of playing soccer I sprained my left ankle, and I sprained it bad. Now, over four weeks later, it's still messed up. In the past four weeks, I haven't run. I haven't biked. I haven't hiked. I've tried to climb, but only fell off the bouldering wall onto my OTHER ankle and rolled it. Yes, that's right. Luckily, the swelling disappeared after a few days and the pain was minimal. Seriously.

But, amidst all these things I haven't brought myself to do, there's one thing I have continued to do, and that is to eat rice. A LOT of rice. And toast. And well, I might as well be honest and say that I have also eaten a lot of chocolate, among other things, as well as drank a lot of beer. And wine. Dang.

And here I am, at this moment, dwelling on the fact that a 13-year old Korean boy asked if I were pregnant with twins...

The Joys of Working at an All Boys Middle School

As I sit here at my desk in the teacher's office staring out the window, I am watching flaming papers fall from the sky above (or rather, from a classroom above).

I guess boys in Korea get the same thrill out of lighting fires as boys everywhere else in the world...

Election Day

Elections are coming up in Korea. For a while I was under the impression that June 2 was just the local elections in Jinju, but it seems to be nationwide. (Although, it's not a presidential election).

And these aren't just your standard political campaigns (that I'm used to back home) of signs, commercials and speeches. Nope, these are hardcore Korean-style campaigns. But, after five months of living here, I wouldn't expect anything less.

The first thing I noticed was about a month ago. Suddenly there were strange, random men in suits and blue sashes standing on street corners with a cheesy grin waving at passer-byes in a robotic manner. They would wave with their white gloved hands, turn, smile, and then bow. And then they'd start the sequence over again. And again, and again, and...

Then, just in the past week, the city has become ridden with supporters of respective politicians. But, these supporters don't just stand around holding signs or wearing t-shirts or buttons with their favorite politician's name on it. They instead stand on street corners, or line up along a street or on a bridge in matching t-shirts and white gloves and, in perfect unison, perform some type of choreographed wave-bow-dance. It's really cutesy, just like most things Korean are. What makes it even better is that these acts are performed to music, which usually comes in the form of a large portable screen that not only blasts tunes like "Puff the Magic Dragon" (I kid you not, and yes, it was in Korean), but also displays videos or picture slide-shows of sorts.

Thank you Korea, once again, for opening my eyes to new ways of doing things and providing me with continued amusement. AND, for giving me a day off from school on the all-important election day.

Life is gooooooood.

Happy Birthday Buddha!

Thanks to the nationwide celebration of Buddha's birthday in Korea, I get Friday off from school. A handful of friends and I are heading out of town into the great unknown...

First stop, Gwangju. We're hoping to spend our Thursday night in a pet cafe. Yep, you read that correctly. It's a cafe/coffee shop full of dogs and cats that roam around looking for a warm lap or a pat on the head from the cafe's customers.

Next stop, Bogil-do, or Bogil Island off the southern coast. We're in search of beaches, beauty and--what's another word that begins with "b"? Well, regardless, on the top of my list is the exploration of a new place and some quality R&R (and the occasional mix-in of a late-night noraebang session and some good ol' quality Korean beer).

I shall report back upon my return.

Life is (still) gooooooood...

Take Me Out to the Ball Game...

I'm heading out soon to my very first Korean baseball game! The KIA Tigers of Gwangju will be facing the Hyehwa Eagles of Daejon this evening in Daejon. I've never been to this city of 1.5 million people, so I will face new territory twice today!

In fact, one of the most beautiful things about living in Korea is that rarely a day goes by that I don't cross new territory of some sort. It certainly keeps things interesting...

A few weeks ago a few friends and I went out for a drive with a Korean friend in his car, mainly in search of supposed dinosaur fossils and a lotus pond. Turns out we didn't find the fossils and the lotus flowers don't bloom until July or August, but we did get to eat chips and salsa (a rare treat over here) on some rocks by a river and enjoy the sunshine. We ended our afternoon outing at the Jinju Cultural and Arts Center to watch a friend's co-teacher perform some sort of ballet. That ballet ended up being a performance that was part of the Jinju Girl's High School reunion. So, we sat in the back of a massive auditorium, three obvious foreigners and a young Korean man, taking part in this high school reunion with hundreds of middle-aged Korean women with the same permed, short haircut. I couldn't help but clap along during the live music--performed by fellow alum, of course.

When we left (after watching the ballet performance to the Mama Mia song) there was a huge cloud of smoke along the river. But alas, this was not smoke but some sort of white spray that the city of Jinju distributes around town to essentially disinfect and help improve the health and well-being of Jinju citizens. WHAT?!?!

I also recently learned just how important the game of volleyball is to public school teachers in Korea. Unbeknownst to me, every year the teacher's volleyball teams from each local school gather together for a big volleyball tournament. They even cancel classes or shorten the day's schedule to fit in this major event. When the big day came, my co-teacher and I drove over to my friend Megan's school, a girl's middle school and host of our local tournament. There were at least six or eight teams there representing different middle schools, all with a fairly large fan club in tow. Most schools' teams had matching shirts, and one school's fan club (consisting of teachers and admin staff) even had matching bright pink t-shirts. The teachers watching made signs, had pom-poms, even a drum and megaphone. Our school had home-made pom-poms made out of newspaper. This was evidently a big deal.

So, myself, my co-workers, a few of my friends who had come with their respective schools, and everybody else crowded in this gym to see who the best of the middle school teacher's volleyball teams would be. There were rivals from previous years, and, naturally, that one team that everybody seems to hate because they always win.

As usual, Korea never ceases to surprise me. There's always something new waiting around the corner...

A Single Strand of Hair

Today, in one of my first grade classes, a student pulled a loose hair off the back of my sweater while I was walking around helping students complete a worksheet.

As I continued on with the class, I watched the student playing with that single strand of hair for the remaining 20 minutes or so. I think he was amazed by the color...

Never a dull moment in Korea.