I met up with a friend of a friend of a friend last night in order to hear about her experiences with Dahn "Yoga," in my attempt to find some sort of relatively inexpensive workout regime. Well, it turns out that Dahn "Yoga" is not really Yoga at all, but simply uses Yoga breathing and meditation. It is also quite expensive, and you have to sign up for six months. It does sound intriguing though, so if I can find a place where I can take a drop in class I think I'll try it.
Anyway, she was telling me about her Dahn teacher, who, on several occasions, grabbed her belly-fat (she doesn't have much of it) and yelled, "DIET!!" Appalled, I asked how she had dealt with it. She replied that she had been startled and rather upset, until several of her friends told her that they had had little old ladies come up to them in train stations and supermarkets and grab hold of their stomachs, screaming "DIET!!" in their faces. Compared to that, my friend of my friend of my friend said, it didn't seem so bad.
I almost feel that my Korean experience won't be complete until that happens to me. How Koreans stay so thin is beyond me though, as EVERYTHING is sweetened, from kidney beans to potato chips to cream-injected baguettes to tomato sauce.
Saturday, 13 October 2007
I HAVE A PHONE!
Hurray! I have a phone! Now I KNOW that you are all going to want to call me ASAP, so email me and I shall give you the number. OK everyone, ready, set, EMAIL!
....
I DON'T HAVE ANY NEW EMAILS PEOPLE!!!
Fine. Don't email. Don't call. Continue to post and use Skype, if you must.
Anywho, it is a cool phone and I like it mucho. It's funny that it is the bottom-of-the-line here in Korea. In Canada it would be (and is) wicked! It has a 2.0 Camera/Video Camera, MP3 Player, Bluetooth, Games, Seoul Subway Map(!), a Dictionary, etc.
The best part is, it was free!
....
I DON'T HAVE ANY NEW EMAILS PEOPLE!!!
Fine. Don't email. Don't call. Continue to post and use Skype, if you must.
Anywho, it is a cool phone and I like it mucho. It's funny that it is the bottom-of-the-line here in Korea. In Canada it would be (and is) wicked! It has a 2.0 Camera/Video Camera, MP3 Player, Bluetooth, Games, Seoul Subway Map(!), a Dictionary, etc.
The best part is, it was free!
Amendment to "A few of my Favourite (Korean) things..."
I would like to amend an earlier statement in the post "A few of my Favourite (Korean) things.." It has been brought to my attention that it was in fact my MOTHER who took me to the wildlife park, and I did in fact tell my FATHER that we had chips. Not the other way around. I would like to apologize to any I may have offended.
Sincerely,
JayainKorea
Sincerely,
JayainKorea
Monday, 8 October 2007
My First Korean/English Exchange
I had my first Korean/English exchange with one of the Korean teacher's friends yesterday. There was a mix up with where we were meeting (I stood at one corner for 40 minutes while she stood at the other), but once we found each other it went quite well! I'm excited for the next one, which will be at the same time, same place.
A few of my favourite (Korean) things... and a few things that are just plain odd.
Having been here now for three weeks, (wow!) I feel that I should talk about what I really like here, and what I find rather odd.
My favourite things (in no particular order):
1) Mocha raisin bread. Truly delicious, and like all delicious things, completely awful for you. It is nice thick raisin bread, filled with mocha cream and covered in powdered sugar. You never have to worry about having butter or jam for your bread with this stuff, b/c it is pre-sliced and between each slice is a big dollop of mocha cream. YUM!
2) Chicken Galbi, which is very spicy chicken, cooked at your table with lots of veggies and "rice cakes" (which are not really rice cakes at all but rather very thick, short, addictive noodles), plus all sorts of side dishes and lettuce leaves to wrap it all up in!
3) Marinated meat cooked at your table that you wrap in lettuce leaves. I know I kind of just mentioned this above, but it's so good that it deserves it's own number. I think anything hot wrapped in lettuce is delicious; I must try it with tofu.
4) Never-ending side dishes. I love that you can go to a restaurant, order a meal, and with it comes seven or eight side dishes and a jug of water which they refill constantly. Mind you, the side dishes are almost always the same from restaurant to restaurant, and I only like about three of them, but still, I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.
5) Fresh fruit Soju. Pretty much a daiquiri but with Vodka instead of Rum and lots of pulp and delicious fruity-flavour. They actually crush fruit and blend it with Soju. No disgusting, sugary, imitation fruit flavour. What a novel idea!
6) Coke is 70 cents. So are most ice cream bars, snacks and drinks. Awesome.
Yes, yes I know, all of my favourite things have to do with food. It's not my fault, I blame it on my parentage. It's like the time I cam home from the zoo with my dad and my mom asked "How was the zoo?" and I said, "Great! We had chips!"
Ok here are a couple that have nothing to do with food:
1) Korean hospitality. So far everyone has been super helpful, super friendly and super understanding of my Korean-language ineptitudes.
2) The location of our apartment building. It's close to everything. Awesome.
3) My apartment. I feel very at home here. It's a nice space.
4) The mountains. You can't really see them here in Suwon, but they are all around Seoul, and they are beautiful.
Things I find bizarre:
1) Everyone holds hands here. Children, old people, middle-aged people, women and men. The woman-to-woman is strange, but the man-to-man is just downright bizarre. And men and boys here are very touchy-feely with each other. The boys at school love to stroke each other's hair and arms and hold hands, and then they turn around and beat the crap out of each other. It baffles me.
2) The fact that men are allowed to hold hands here, but they aren't allowed to be gay.
3) Women and their looks. Women are VERY concerned with their appearances. Everyone is manicured, pedicured, coiffed, designer everything, and always, ALWAYS high heels. For every occasion. Except hiking. Then hiking boots are required.
4) Couples wearing matching tshirts.
I'm sure there are more things but I can't think of them right now...
My favourite things (in no particular order):
1) Mocha raisin bread. Truly delicious, and like all delicious things, completely awful for you. It is nice thick raisin bread, filled with mocha cream and covered in powdered sugar. You never have to worry about having butter or jam for your bread with this stuff, b/c it is pre-sliced and between each slice is a big dollop of mocha cream. YUM!
2) Chicken Galbi, which is very spicy chicken, cooked at your table with lots of veggies and "rice cakes" (which are not really rice cakes at all but rather very thick, short, addictive noodles), plus all sorts of side dishes and lettuce leaves to wrap it all up in!
3) Marinated meat cooked at your table that you wrap in lettuce leaves. I know I kind of just mentioned this above, but it's so good that it deserves it's own number. I think anything hot wrapped in lettuce is delicious; I must try it with tofu.
4) Never-ending side dishes. I love that you can go to a restaurant, order a meal, and with it comes seven or eight side dishes and a jug of water which they refill constantly. Mind you, the side dishes are almost always the same from restaurant to restaurant, and I only like about three of them, but still, I feel like I'm getting my money's worth.
5) Fresh fruit Soju. Pretty much a daiquiri but with Vodka instead of Rum and lots of pulp and delicious fruity-flavour. They actually crush fruit and blend it with Soju. No disgusting, sugary, imitation fruit flavour. What a novel idea!
6) Coke is 70 cents. So are most ice cream bars, snacks and drinks. Awesome.
Yes, yes I know, all of my favourite things have to do with food. It's not my fault, I blame it on my parentage. It's like the time I cam home from the zoo with my dad and my mom asked "How was the zoo?" and I said, "Great! We had chips!"
Ok here are a couple that have nothing to do with food:
1) Korean hospitality. So far everyone has been super helpful, super friendly and super understanding of my Korean-language ineptitudes.
2) The location of our apartment building. It's close to everything. Awesome.
3) My apartment. I feel very at home here. It's a nice space.
4) The mountains. You can't really see them here in Suwon, but they are all around Seoul, and they are beautiful.
Things I find bizarre:
1) Everyone holds hands here. Children, old people, middle-aged people, women and men. The woman-to-woman is strange, but the man-to-man is just downright bizarre. And men and boys here are very touchy-feely with each other. The boys at school love to stroke each other's hair and arms and hold hands, and then they turn around and beat the crap out of each other. It baffles me.
2) The fact that men are allowed to hold hands here, but they aren't allowed to be gay.
3) Women and their looks. Women are VERY concerned with their appearances. Everyone is manicured, pedicured, coiffed, designer everything, and always, ALWAYS high heels. For every occasion. Except hiking. Then hiking boots are required.
4) Couples wearing matching tshirts.
I'm sure there are more things but I can't think of them right now...
Hiking in Korea
I went on my first hike in Korea this weekend, which is a big deal, because hiking is HUGE here. It is quite different from a Canadian hike, firstly because it is so popular that there are hundreds of people on the hill with you, and second because they all wear colour-coordinated brand new hiking gear, from special hiking boots and shirts to brand-name hiking sticks and uber chic hiking packs. I read a review of "hiking in Korea" that said, "The rules for mountain climbing demand not that you climb a mountain, but that you dress up in heavy boots, alpine hat, coloured jacket, and have a knapsack or pack over your shoulder. If you are thus equipped you are "mountain climbing", even if you get on the wrong bus and end up at the seaside." This may very well be true, but I would be lying if I said I wasn't passed by well over half of these people; most of whom were twice my age!
My hiking buddy and fellow teacher, Shaun.
What is looked like for most of the hike
(Roughly) where we were hiking to
Shaun looking out over the city, near the top
One of the peaks near the top
View from the peak in one direction
View from the peak in another direction
View from the peak in another direction (toward Seoul)
Coming back down
My hiking buddy and fellow teacher, Shaun.
What is looked like for most of the hike
(Roughly) where we were hiking to
Shaun looking out over the city, near the top
One of the peaks near the top
View from the peak in one direction
View from the peak in another direction
View from the peak in another direction (toward Seoul)
Coming back downMonday, 1 October 2007
2 weeks!
I can't believe that I've been in Korea for 2 weeks already! The time has flown and it's all been really great! It's funny though, that after 2 weeks I only taught my first class by myself today. The 1st week I simply observed and the 2nd week was holiday, which brings us to today. As I write this I realize that it was EXACTLY two weeks ago that I arrived. Well, in one hour it will be anyway.
My first solo class was drama, and it was quite great. The kids responded well, and we were able to get through the entire "Clang Clang Rattle Bing Bang" script without too many problems. Bravo, Team 1! They seem like a really good group of kids so far.
Today I also found out that the Taekwondo class near the school is $90 for unlimited classes/month. I'm not sure if I will sign up or not, but I will at least try one class. It would be neat to say that I learned Taekwondo in the place it was created.
After work today I was the recipient of more Korean hospitality. I was trying to figure out the automatic stamp machine at the post office, but it would only give me domestic stamps. The post office was packed, and everyone had a number, but the man behind me came up and tried to help me and then marched me over to the counter (by-passing the very long line), explained my predicament to the lady, and proceeded not only to get me the stamps I needed, but also to get my money back from the domestic stamps I had from the machine. It was pretty sweet!
When I got home today I was in desperate need of exercise, but as it was raining (a common theme around here), I decided to look for Yoga videos online. Although I didn't find any free videos, I did find a pretty cool podcast which took me through a nice 30 minute class. I added another hour of my own practice to it, and it was great! I'll definitely be checking that out again, maybe tomorrow. (http://wordpress.com/tag/home-practice/)
In other news, I love my rice cooker. It is awesome. You pour 1 cup of rice in and 2 cups of water, and man oh man, it does the rest! I am sitting here right now writing this as it makes me a perfect cup of rice that I don't have to even check on! It's awesome. Apparently you can also use the rice cooker to make soups and stews and all sorts of yummy things. I'll let "y'all" know how that goes when I try it :)
Ciao for now
My first solo class was drama, and it was quite great. The kids responded well, and we were able to get through the entire "Clang Clang Rattle Bing Bang" script without too many problems. Bravo, Team 1! They seem like a really good group of kids so far.
Today I also found out that the Taekwondo class near the school is $90 for unlimited classes/month. I'm not sure if I will sign up or not, but I will at least try one class. It would be neat to say that I learned Taekwondo in the place it was created.
After work today I was the recipient of more Korean hospitality. I was trying to figure out the automatic stamp machine at the post office, but it would only give me domestic stamps. The post office was packed, and everyone had a number, but the man behind me came up and tried to help me and then marched me over to the counter (by-passing the very long line), explained my predicament to the lady, and proceeded not only to get me the stamps I needed, but also to get my money back from the domestic stamps I had from the machine. It was pretty sweet!
When I got home today I was in desperate need of exercise, but as it was raining (a common theme around here), I decided to look for Yoga videos online. Although I didn't find any free videos, I did find a pretty cool podcast which took me through a nice 30 minute class. I added another hour of my own practice to it, and it was great! I'll definitely be checking that out again, maybe tomorrow. (http://wordpress.com/tag/home-practice/)
In other news, I love my rice cooker. It is awesome. You pour 1 cup of rice in and 2 cups of water, and man oh man, it does the rest! I am sitting here right now writing this as it makes me a perfect cup of rice that I don't have to even check on! It's awesome. Apparently you can also use the rice cooker to make soups and stews and all sorts of yummy things. I'll let "y'all" know how that goes when I try it :)
Ciao for now
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