The Red Devils and other stories

The year: 2010. It was a dark, humid morning. We met at 2:30, bleary-eyed in our red shirts and backpacks. There were three of us. We caught a cab and headed to City Hall where were greeted by an alarming sight: a sea of glowing devil horns. Ok, I fail at trying to make this sinister and intruiging. We went to City Hall for the 3:00 am S. Korea vs. Nigeria.

It was a little crazy, not gonna lie. Trying to manuver through a sea of seated people is not an easy task. I was last in line and was stopped by a group of girls who wouldn't let me pass without taking off my shoes because they didn't want me to step on their mat. I tried to backtrack but there was no place left to go. So, I took off my shoes and made it through. Squeezing through crowds was a little easier, because a) everyone was standing and b) I was behind Sean, a tall Canadian; the crowds parted for him. Or he made them part, I'm not entirely sure which but it's nice when trying to get through.

We tried to walk through another batch of seated people; we didn't make many friends by doing that. Someone punched my backpack. I felt bad, but this is a sports game, aren't we supposed to be standing and cheering? Apparently not. The only time people stood was for the national anthem and when Korea scored a goal. We walked until we couldn't go any further and then we just had to sit where we had been standing. People made room for us and we squeezed in. I sat in something wet and put my hand in something crunchy and sticky, but I preferred not to think about it too much.

Other than that little adventure, the game was great. There was a lot of cheering. And when Korea scored their first goal, we were all jumping up and yelling. The guy in front of my gave me a high five. Woo! It was fun. And then we walked to the subway, in the early morning light, and went home. To get some sleep before work.

This didn't turn out quite as planned. I was trying to capture how focused people were on the game. The guy on his friend's shoulder was a great picture of how intense this is.

Exploring Insa-dong (one week late)

Last weekend, I went exploring by myself. I went to Insa-dong, where I've been before with the other new teachers, but this time I got to poke around at my own pace. I love it! Perusing touristy Korean shops and art galleries and tables with jewelry and knick knacks; what a great way to spend a Sunday morning!

I also checked out an outdoor market/shopping center that Helena told me about. It was really neat. Very artsy and full of shops with funky jewelry or prints of local artists or all-natural drink stands. I wanted to buy everything I saw. Luckily, I'm quite broke so just looking is fine with me. But I did find would-be gifts for people, which was fun, sort of like mental shopping.

I went to an art gallery that was 3 stories and absolutely free. It was fantastic. It makes me want to surround myself with art. LeAnn's painting is the first of many, I hope. I got a print and some postcards for free too. Hello, bare apartment walls.

After looking around, I ventured out across the street to what I believe is another part of Insadong. Down a street with a tall wall on either side takes you to another set of tiny streets with boutiques, coffee shops, cafes and little restaurants. All the cafes and restaurants have open windows and lots of flowers. It's all very picturesque.

Walking around in the heat was tiring so I stopped for a smoothie. It wasn't my idea of a smoothie but it was pretty good. It was watermelon and ice blended together. It was kind of weird but pretty good. They had tomato too. That just seems a little too weird to me. But I may be missing out on something huge.

The outdoor shopping center.

Green space at the outdoor shopping center.

The wall next to a gallery (I just thought it looked neat).

Okay, so now I'm going to cheat and include pictures that were taken the first time I went to Insadong with J, S, and H. I just like them. We stopped in at this very fancy tea shop.

Rows of tea.

A tea display.

Tea, anyone?

Mini Reunion (2 weeks late)

The fact that, of a graduating class of less than 200, three of us ended up in Seoul, South Korea is pretty fantastic. So, of course, we had to get together. Plus it was nice to see familiar faces. And Leah was one of my go-to people when I was thinking about/looking at teaching abroad.

The first night, I met them up in Itaewon (a very western part of Seoul) where we proceeded to run into some of L-Bar's friends (I'm giving everyone "cool" nicknames for this post) and went to a pub. Drinks were had, cool people were met, and the night was a very interesting one indeed.

The next night, we went to Itaewon again to watch the Korea vs. Slovenia match. Unfortunately, we were surrounded by loud, rude, and obnoxious Americans who kind of ruined the evening and made me a little embarrassed to be from the States.

I love this picture with my cheesy grin and M-Rad's crazy expression. Gotta love it! And that's how Randy-Mac girls roll, what! Peace! S-Linky, out!

Dinner

Dinner and lunch for tomorrow. Delicious!

Bus Tour (3 weeks late)

As I haven't updated in gasp, 3 weeks, I've got a lot to write. Sorry. I have 3 weekends of pictures to catch you up on. And a cultural conundrum. I'll start from the beginning.

Three weeks ago, Jennifer decided to go on a tour bus tour of Seoul. You know the kind, they are all over the world. You pay a set fee to get on and off the bus all day so that you can see the sights of some famous city, such as London or D.C. I decided to tag along.

I think she wanted to see everything Seoul has to offer; I wasn't as ambitious. I just wanted to see a few things and get an overview of the city.

Do you know how hard it is to be a tourist? It's exhausting. You cram your day full of must-see attractions, so you walk everywhere, chase after the bus, and stop to take lots of pictures, while you figure out what you're seeing and what makes it important. It's mentally and physically tiring. Don't get me wrong, it was fascinating to see everything. But you can't fit all of Seoul into one day. Trust me. I tried. And only made it to two places.

First stop, Deoksugung Palace. We decided rather late to see this so I hopped off the bus, but the doors closed before Jennifer made it out. I saw the changing of the guard before Jennifer walked back and we met up to explore the palace grounds. It's so strange to me that the palace stands in the middle of busy bustling Seoul.

The colors of the palace.

A large statue of Buddha.

The changing of the guard.

Me next to an old outdoor area at the palace.

Our second stop was to the National Museum of Korea. The museum grounds were extensive as well as the museum itself. We only made it to two exhibition rooms and called it a day. Jennifer picked the archaeological room and I picked the art room. So we got a pretty good overview of Korean history and culture.

The museum was a mix of old and new as you can see from the huge glass and concrete building and the traditional tea house with the tiled green roof and red support beams. Yeah, support beams. That's romantic. We didn't go into the tea house, because you had to remove your shoes and neither of us was up for that, but we took pictures because it was picturesque and quaint and for a moment you could forget about the city around you.

We spent most of our time on the grounds. We went to Dragon Falls, where water misted over the top of a pond. We found a beautiful spring with gorgeous foliage and I, of course, had to stop and take a picture. We found really cool structures, whose names I don't know, but probably should.

The rest of the day was spent on the bus, driving past places that neither of us was up to exploring that day. I'm really glad that I got a chance to see the city, though. Even just part of it. I went all out and enjoyed being touristy and stopping every 5 minutes to take the next best shot. "This is it! This is the best shot!" to "Oh, wow! This is going to be the best picture. The one that stands out!" You know what I'm talking about. Or it's just me. And my dad. And that was my Saturday in Seoul.

Week One: Done!

Last night, to celebrate the great fact that the first week of teaching was officially OVER, the other new teachers and I went to Insadong for some dinner and drinks. Insadong is really neat. It's a street full of vendors and shops and art galleries and little boutiques and coffee shops and bars. It was very vibrant and sort of reminded me of downtown Austin or S. Congress because of all the nifty shops I knew I could spend hours in.

Helena and I fell behind the others because I kept stopping for pictures. Hey, I felt the need to be touristy. And I had the urge to update my blog properly. Hey, I know your eyes glaze over at about paragraph 3. Pictures help keep it interesting and you can actually SEE what I'm talking about.

We went to a restaurant/bar where they offered free fortune telling. Let me tell you, I was a little excited about this because I've secretly (or not so secretly) always wanted to have my fortune told. UnFORTUNEately (get it? I even did it in all-caps, so I'm sure you did and didn't appreciate it), because of the time difference and the fact that we're a day ahead, don't observe Daylight savings, etc, they weren't able to tell me mine. They did tell Helena her fortune. She was really funny. She was really excited when she found out my birthday and sign. We're the same sign and the same blood type. "We're such good people!" she said.

Oh, I know.

We went to a traditional Korean bar and ordered Korean "pizza" and spicy squid and veggies. We also had rice wine. I'd tried it before but I liked it this time because it was very cold. We drank it in tin bowls. I felt a little like Oliver Twist. Unfortunately, it gave me a headache so I don't think I'll have any more.


Coffee shop. I just liked the cup on the outside. And the open windows and flower pots. A lot of places were like that. I took lots of pictures.



The new teachers: Soo, Helena, Me, and Jennifer.

First week, check. Second week, bring it on!

Dodging Traffic

Walking to work is an adventure. Will I be hit by a car today? Will I be run over by a moped as I jump out of the way of an oncoming car? Sidewalks, you say? Sidewalks are not always readily available. On the way to work, it's all small, narrow streets and there are no sidewalks. Sidewalks don't guarantee safety either; scooters or mopeds may decide to drive on sidewalks instead of the road. Now that it's getting warmer, people on bikes are another hazard.

On the way home from the Immigration Office (I'm an Alien, btw. I've got my card and everything. Whoop!), we got out of the way of a car coming up behind us, only to be in the way of a car coming towards us. Once they squeezed around each other and we got out alive, we almost got run over by a moped. Jumping out of the way, we were almost hit by a very determined man on his way to work.

So you see, everyday really IS an adventure.

Day 2 and an apology

Day 2 was 5 new classes and one of the same classes I had on Monday. It was ok. Still brain is tired. Some students are great, some have the potential to eat me for breakfast. My favorite non-favorite part of the day was as I read a rule, "Keep your hands and feet to yourself," one of the students proceeded to touch everyone around him. AHH! Haha, and that's just one example.

But I liked Day 2 pretty well. One class, NHK 5-1, I have twice a day and each class rocks! They are great and I get to see what works and what doesn't and make any necessary changes. I still had to go in fairly early: 11:30 am. We're all supposed to be there by one, my first class doesn't start til 3:45 and then our day ends at
9pm.

Tomorrow is day 3 and things are getting easier (as I muddle through them), so I hope that's the case tomorrow as well.

My apology. Separate is S-E-P-A-R-A-T-E. This is the 3rd time my mom has called me out on it, so dear readers, I apologize, for grossly misspelling it 'seperately'. Gotta love having an English teacher for a mother.

Good night.