One of my favorite things (Day 94)

  I love coffee. In fact, my morning coffee is more important that my morning shower, though thankfully I’ve only had to make that choice once. Koreans love their coffee as well, though theirs is often in a disgusting instant coffee form or else espresso based, with various stages of success. Despite the variant quality of said coffee, the great thing is: you can get it anywhere. And I do mean anywhere. And today’s captured Korean moment expresses that quite well, since it’s a picture of me. On top of a mountain. With coffee. Splendid.

National Obsessions, Part I (Day 95)

 

 

 

 

 

   One of the best things about traveling about is seeing all the different interests, perspectives, and obsessions different countries have. In my experience, things can get pretty eclectic in the more westernized countries, where individuality reigns supreme. Here in South Korea, people are unabashedly all about fitting in, being one of the crowd, and not standing out as different (naturally, there are plenty of exceptions to this, but it’s the general sense of things… unlike in the U.S. where everyone demands that they must be as different as… umm… everyone else). As a result (and, in my opinion, a pretty sad one), there is a national obsession with plastic surgery, everything from double eye-lid surgery–the most common surgery–to bone-altering jaw-bone reconstruction to give women, and men, a slimmer face. I’ll save my commentary on this for another time, but one of the consequences of this is the plastic-surgery belt in the Gangnam area, where there are literally dozens and dozens of plastic surgery clinics lining the streets. As I was walking by one day, one clinic caught my eye. Nothing like a catchy title to get people to remember you 😉

The silver lining… (Day 96)

One thing I’ve learned about Korea: fine print matters. A lot.  And “red tape” ruins many a well-laid plan. Sadly, since my contract is for one full year, and that hear happens to end on a Sunday, I can’t leave the country quite as soon as I had hoped. As annoying as it is to have to wait two more days to head home, I’ve decided to focus on the fact that my blog is now actually pretty up to date as far as my 100-posts-in-100-days thing goes, so… great!

So, day 96. I’ve been meaning to grab my camera as I head out the door, but I keep forgetting. This is, naturally, because I’m usually running behind and trying to frantically grab what I need before I start the day. The reason (for the camera, not the tardiness, for which I blame my mother… because… well… she should have raised me better, maybe?) is the beautiful flowers I get to see every day as I walk to school. There have been a great deal of variety over the past few weeks, but now it’s rose season and they are absolutely stunning. The seem to sprout from every hedgerow and fence around, which I think is lovely. The school fences are covered with climbing roses and it always seems to get my day off to a lovely start. So, with the help of my ever-present camera phone, I can give you a glimpse of my morning view.

Mom and Dad Take on Seoul (Day 97)

Back in December/January, I got some visitors 🙂 It was pretty cold the entire time they were here, so Mom bought a ridiculous (but very cozy) hat to keep her warm. Naturally, Dad wanted to share…
Miss you! 97 more days!

I really do have the best of intentions (Day 98)

Sometimes I fear that forces conspire against me whenever I set up a new challenge for myself. Only days after I decide to embark on my 100 day challenge, I got sick. Quite sick, actually. I’ve been very blessed health-wise while being here, but Saturday I was dizzy/sore/cranky and just out of sorts for most of the day. I teach my favorite class on Saturday mornings (high school debate for the win!!), but it was terribly difficult to drag myself out of bed. I had had a really weird dream involving a Korean ahjumma (middle-aged woman), North Korea, and missing paperwork. Needless to say, when North Korea’s on the brain, it’s not that easy to get a good night’s rest (I still have no idea where that dream came from… but when I’m sick, things get weird). The bus ride to and from class didn’t help, so I spent the rest of the day in bed. Sunday too. Despite my overwhelming desire to chow down on ice cream (it really is the only thing that seems appetizing when you feel sick, in my humble [yet always correct] opinion) and watch TV all day, I stuck to my guns. Sadly, the one part of the challenge that did fall to the wayside was my blog update. But there is hope, for I can certainly post the missing snippets and all will be well. So, on behalf of day 98, here you go:

A few months ago I participated in a Templestay Program, sponsored by the department of Education. I traipsed around the historic grounds of Suwon, walked on a Fortress wall, visited the tomb of a King, and then spent the night in a Buddhist Temple. Overall, it was quite the cultural experience. I can’t say that I found “myself,” as the lantern promises above, but I did find some tasty little rice cakes, so… victory!

Today in Unnecessarily Adorable Things from Korea… (Day 99)

As I’m sure future pictures will demonstrate, Korea is just adorable. I don’t mean this to be demeaning or trite. It’s just… well… true. Everything is cute. Everywhere. And sometimes, the cuteness of things is just more than I can take.

I give you exhibit A. What is it?

Aw… so cute.

I found this one at the epicenter of Korean cuteness: a store called Daiso. It was so cute, I had to get it. Of course, to understand why it’s so adorable, you must understand its purpose.

That’s right, adorable and useful.

Now no sewing kit is complete without a little house measuring tape. Perfect for all those times you need to measure fairies or baby bunnies.

Until next time.

 

A New Challenge (Day 100)

I officially have 100 days left in Korea. On one hand, I almost wish that it was already through and I could get on a plane tomorrow. However, there are still a lot of adventures yet to be had and things I’d like to take a few moments to appreciate before I go (as well as some habits I’d like to solidify as daily practice before I head back to the grad-school grind). With that in mind, I’ve created a 100 day challenge for myself. Among other things, I’ve given up TV completely. This may kill me, but if it doesn’t, it’ll be great to kick the habit of zoning out in front of 10 episodes of some show I don’t even like before going to bed (yes, that happens… a lot). I’ve also decided to take the time to document, here, one thing a day about Korea. A small daily snapshot of Korean life. After all, I figure 100 daily snapshots of Korean life should be more than enough for the ‘ole memory files. This can be anything from my entire trip, past or present (I would say future too, but it might be hard to talk about stuff that didn’t happen and still maintain a semblance of reality-based blogging, so…). This will also give me a chance to write a few things about my daily happenings and reflect a bit more on my last few months here. Plus, since I’ve given up television, it’s not like I’ll be short on time 😉

Today’s addition: adorable Korean rice cakes. These small cakes are a pretty frequent part of my school life. Teachers give them to each other for virtually every occasion and I often find a box (sometimes as fancy as this, sometimes just wrapped in plastic… but warm and delicious…) sitting on my desk. Once in a while I find out who gave them out, but most of the time, I just enjoy them and move on with my day. When I first got here I was a little hesitant about them, but I’ve now grown quite attached to a wide variety of rice cakes and snacks. I expect withdrawal when I return.

Rice Cakes