Adventures in shopping

For Annie, Em, and Loftus, if you're reading this and wondering about fashion in Korea, this post is for you. One, everyone here is pretty trendy for the most part. Guys usually wear pretty tight jeans. They also carry purses. Or shoulder bags. Possibly because their pants are so tight they don't have any place to put their stuff. In any case, it's not really weird. At all. I didn't even notice it until someone pointed it out. It works. Korean fashion is anything goes. But they ALWAYS pull it off. Sarah says it's kind of 90's style. I'm not quite sure what that means...

It's considered immodest for women to wear low-cut or shoulder baring shirts, but they have no qualms wearing very very short shorts and skirts. Women also wear high heels. Everywhere. Even ill-fitted shoes. When we went to Mudfest (more on that later), there were women in heels at the beach. I just don't get that. I don't get anyone who does that. Ever. It does not make sense.

So far, I've been pretty scared about shopping here. Because people are tiny. And I am not. I've heard stories of foreigners who are small who have problems with people telling them they don't have clothes that fit them. It's one thing to realize that in the fitting room; it's another to be told that before you can even look at anything. Another thing that's different here is that in a lot of places you can't try stuff on. You just have to guess and buy it.

Anyway, today I faced my fear and I went shopping. I needed a shirt and shorts for Jeju (as well as for weekends; I am always amazed by the fact that I live in Texas but own more pairs of pants and sweaters than summer wear. Anyway.) I can't go shopping in Korea. The problem is I can find shirts for KW10,000 which is about $10. That's disgusting. I can't deal with that. That's like offering chocolate covered chocolate to a recovering choco-holic. Really?? Unfair, Korea. And I haven't even hit the motherload. I haven't gone shopping at the markets where you can haggle over prices. Luckily, I managed to restrain myself and just bought what I needed (ok, my Mom's reading this).

One funny thing that happened was, I was looking at a shirt when the sales lady came over and showed me the men's shirt, which looked a little big but I could probably pull it off, and then she showed me the 'women's' shirt which I'm pretty sure she took off a doll. It was tiny!

For those of you who have worked retail, be glad you don't work here. Most stores I went into had the sales person stay right next to me as I looked. I wasn't sure if it was to make sure I was helped or to ensure that I didn't steal anything. Hm. Also, I just left Hongdae and most of the boutiques were open. At 2 am. Just sayin'. I'm so glad I don't work retail here; talk about killer hours.

Re-connected and it feels so good.

I got a cell phone today. It makes me feel ridiculously cool and I check it between classes, although no one had my number at that point and I knew no one was calling me; it just was so cool to have a new phone IN MY HANDS.

I've been really okay being out of touch with technology the last two months. But now that I'm back in touch (sort of), it's exciting. I got the cheapest phone they had so it's nothing too special, but even for a basic phone it has a lot of nifty features. It reminds me of my phone in England; it was so light it almost seemed like a fake phone, but it had tetris on it and lots of things that could keep me busy for hours. Sadly though, I didn't get the phone with television access. What was I thinking?? Clearly I wasn't. So I can't catch Korean soaps or call Mars, but I'm pretty sure I can make phone calls and send SMS (text messages).

I also have access to the subway map (though all in Korean) and a dictionary and "life calculator."

Today I also discovered that I can call cell phones in the US with Skype. Rad. And I found amazing tacos. Which, yes, is a pretty big deal.

So good day in all.

Somewhere there's a message

Last weekend, I went hiking at the Bukhansan National Park. It's in the northern part of Seoul, near where I am. In the guidebook it told me what subway stop to go to and then said, take the bus and get off when everyone else gets off. That's what it says. So, when most (but not all) people got off the bus, I followed them and prayed I was in the right place.

Luckily, I was. The mountains in the area are gorgeous; part bluff, part forest. I didn't realize how much I miss trees until I saw them. I like living in a city, but I also like the ability to be able to get away and see the stars!

The climb up the mountain was steep and it was part stone steps, part dirt, and part stacked stones. I was puffing and panting as every inch of my body was covered in sweat. I imagined that I sounded like Darth Vader hiking through the mountains. It was rough. But when you're going climbing, all you think about is going up, getting to the top. Who cares that I was in tennis shoes and out of shape? I could do it.

And then I got to .6km. I sat on a huge boulder, contemplating. I was good, I had been hiking for awhile, and I had to meet M-Rad later that evening. I could stop, turn around, and I would have gone on a nice hike. But part of me rebelled. I couldn't stop now. I had to, had to get to the top.

So, I kept going. That part of the hike was the hardest part. If anything, the land got steeper and more rugged. I sounded like Darth Vader with asthma. Ok, this is it, I thought, I'm almost to the top. That .6km was rough, but I did it. Here I am! Except I wasn't. I was still just .5km from the top. I'd only gone .1km. I couldn't believe it.

Of course then I couldn't give up. I was determined. I got to a gate, turned, and suddenly I could see an incredible view. People were sitting and lying down, enjoying the view. I took a few pictures, evidence that I had made it to the top, but the view wasn't as exciting to me as sitting on that boulder deciding to continue up. It was as if the journey was more important than the destination. There's a message in there somewhere.

I was about to start back down when I realized...

We pause this thrilling blog entry to bring you pictures of the view and Darth Vader  err, me.

At .6km. Should I stay or should I go?

I decided to keep going!

The path.

Hah! I wish those stairs were part of the hike, but they were blocked off. But look at that view. Worth it.

The view at the top!

Me, at the top. Why do I look a little preturbed?

And now, back to the story. Where was I? Oh, yes. I made it to the top! And then I realized it wasn't the top. And there was still more to climb. So, what did I do? I kept going.

And that's when I realized that I needed proper hiking boots to keep climbing. But I found this awesome wall. And this was as far as I went. After this, I turned around and went back down. All that means, is that next time, I get make it to the top. (Oh, god, I hope.)

Proof.

And then I turned around and went down. I learned two things that day. One, I need hiking boots and two, going down is much harder than going up. For some reason, I thought going down would be a breeze. What were you thinking, [insert full name here]??

Aside from awesome hiking experience, I met really cool people along the way. Like an old man who imitated the birds; his daughter and I were both amused. Or the little kid who almost ran to catch up with me so he could speak to me in English. It made me so happy. It was just a really good experience all around.

More school

And then of course, I had the day from hell, possibly every teacher's nightmare. One of my students was cheating on a vocabulary test and two of my students continued to disprupt class after I asked them not to several times. So, I had them fill out this letter that I've come up with, apologizing for misbehaving. And one of them filled it out willingly, the other cried and threw a fit. What a day.

But one more week and it's summer vacation. For a week, but I'm ready!

School

Today my students GOT IT. That must be the best feeling in the world.

Il, ee, sam, sa, o

Tonight I went to Dongdaemun market, which is, if not the, then one of Seoul's greatest fashion hubs. This place is insane. It's not just a place. That is, it's not just one market. It's street vendors lining the sidewalks to buildings with rows upon rows of stalls next to enormous sky scraper buildings with neon lights and flashing signs full of even more places to shop.

Even if you hate shopping, you have to go. Because it's an experience. I walked around gawking half the time I was there. The rest of the time, I followed Helena, Jen, and Esther (two new teachers. I'm not the newbie anymore!) flitting from stall to stall looking at shoes and dresses and shirts; anything and everything. One thing stood out, a navy blazer with silver buttons, but sadly, I'm too afraid to shop in Korea (and still too poor). If the teeniest foreigners here have problems shopping, I dread what they'll tell me.

Oh, but I did find a gorgeous necklace and asked how much it was in Korean! I don't remember how to say it now. But Esther taught me a few words on the subway trip to the market.

Il means one, but only when counting money. Ee - two. Sam- three. Sa - four. O - five.
Chon - thousand. Bek - hundred. So, il chon obek won is 1,500 won. Which is about $1.50. It's taken me almost 2 months and I learned all of that in one night. I really need to start taking Korean lessons. Or just get Esther to teach me everything. But numbers are easy. Words are much harder. I still only know hello, yes, no, and thank you. Oh, and foreigner.

But learning some numbers tonight has made me a lot more excited to get out there and try!

In class

Let's talk about teaching. I love it, it drives me mad, there are classes I dread and students I love. Problem classes I'm learning to do more with, so we never have an awkward transition time for them to act out. It's slow going, but I think it's getting better. Some days I just have to go in and tell myself "Be positive!" It usually works.

Today, I wrote on the board "Should Susan teacher exercise everyday?" to make a "should" statement. Yes, I heard one little girl say, and diet. Oh, I could be insulted except that it's true. But they told me I looked like a grandmother! Which, yes, totally hurt my feelings! Because I have lines. Um, how do you think I make weird faces at you, children? That's what these lines are from; making faces. Amazing, expressive faces.

Or so I keep telling myself. Hah. Anyway, tomorrow is Friday and I only have 5 classes because one of my classes is a MW class; score! But I have grading and report cards to work on. All the extras that go with teaching that you sometimes forget about. But it's still interesting and I'm always learning new ways of doing things and finding out what works and what doesn't. That's what I like about this job, it's sort of a work in progress. You can always change, bring in new ideas, kick bad ideas to the curb... It's pretty rad.

Hanging in Hongdae

Even though I think, you know, I really should blog about this, it still takes me weeks to sit myself down and actually DO it. So, this is an update of two weekends ago. Just because it was a terrific weekend. And quite random.

I went to Hongdae, the funky cool area around Hongik University, to check out the outdoor market. It's a lot of artists selling their crafts and jewelry. Imagine etsy come to life. It was great. I saw a lot of really neat stuff and was half happy that I'm still low on funds, because otherwise I might have spent everything. Yes, it was that good.

I met up with M-Rad later and we got dinner. "I was thinking Mexican," I said. "Hm. I was thinking Indian," she told me. Sold! Indian it was. We found this Syrian restaurant (crazy!) but settled on Indian. It was delicious. It feels sort of funny to eat food from other countries when I'm in a completely different country to begin with. Half guilty, half bemused. I'm pretty sure eating kimbap for lunch everyday does not constitute exploring Korean cuisine. Unlike my first few weeks here, I haven't been daring or adventurous and tried anything too exciting lately. Part of me feels like I should be doing more of that before I go out and eat Indian food, which I've already experienced.

That's my brain talking, trying to rationalize everything. All my stomach said was yes, please! and thank you.

After dinner, we wandered the streets a bit. We had a couple of hours to kill before the Korea game. We both stopped when we heard this jazzy swing music coming from a doorway. We looked at each other and decided to check it out. Down the stairs and to the left was a room packed with people watching an 8 piece band. There were 3 saxes! And a trumpet! It was terrific. It was a classic example of music transcending language. After the jazz band, there was this guy with crazy hair who reminded me of a Korean G. Love and Jason Mraz mix. He had plenty of attitude and did a little rap and danced like, omg, I'm so going home and practicing that!

And then we found a bar where we crammed in with a bunch of other Koreans and foreigners and watched the game. It was so bad. The game, I mean. And Korea lost. It was so disappointing. I was wearing my new Korea jersey and everything.

And then on Sunday, I went for a walk in search of a stream and just when I was about to give up, I found it! It was truly exciting. There is a walking/biking path on either side of the stream and you can rent bikes (so I'm told) at the start of the stream. Despite the fact the water was an awful brownish orange color, it was very nice to walk along. I can't decide if the water is that color because of iron or mud. That little interlude with nature really made my day.

Since I've found it, I've been back. It's not really a good place to go jogging. In the evening anyway. Every Korean grandmother, parent, and child is out at night, strolling or powerwalking along the stream. Unfortunately, when you're trying to jog and get stuck behind the ones out for a stroll, you get nowhere fast. But even so, the path is nice and you can walk under a few bridges. There is exercise equipment on the side, if you want to workout. And there are a few spots where you can jump rocks to cross the stream. On Sunday, there was a gaggle of people sitting on a platform playing what I assume was baduk or chess.

And no pictures, sorry. I still need to go get batteries. Soon, I promise.