Monthly Archive

“Travel broadens our perspective, enabling us to rise above the 6 p.m. news — and see things as citizens of the world. By plugging directly into the present and getting the world’s take on things, a traveler goes beyond traditional sightseeing.

“When we travel today we have the opportunity to see history as it’s unfolding. With knowledge of the past, we can better appreciate the significance of what’s happening today.”

Thank you, Rick Steves.  On that note, I am off to a traditional folk village in Suwon, outside of Seoul, for the day.  More blogging to come later…

Earlier tonight, on the subway coming home from a day in the city with friends, an older Korean gentleman looked at me with a friendly smile and said, “Are you from Russia?”  I smiled back and said, “No, America-Migook.”  He laughed, said to himself, “America, no Russia” and got off at the next stop.  I told my companions, all of whom have been in Korea much longer than myself, what the old guy said, and one of them said this:

“He was asking if you’re a hooker.”

Then everyone else in our party nodded their heads and explained that “Are you Russian?” is the same as “Are you a hooker?”…glad I learned that early on in my time here!

So awesome, I’m 21 years old and apparently I look like a Russian hooker.  Do I take that as a compliment?

Like I’ve said in the past, we have kids stay here at SEV for up to a week. At the end of their stay, there is a graduation ceremony. During the ceremony, the team with the most team excellence stamps gets a prize, which happens to always be a candy bar. Well, this week, as the head teachers were handing out the candy bars, the kids still sitting down starting yelling out to the winning team, “Melanine! Melanine!” No better way to kill a sugar high than to remind your friends that they may be ingesting harmful chemicals from China.

On a related note, the kids have a lot of trouble pronouncing my name. Who knew “Melissa” would be so difficult? Mom and Dad, I still resent not being named Eve, like you originally intended. Well, today, when I tried to get one of my classes to pronounce my name, one of the kids shouted out, “Mel…Mel…Melamine!” So yeah, now I’ve sickened tens of thousands of Chinese babies. Awesome.

And while I’m talking about melamine, I should say that a student left his SEV passport in the auditorium earlier this week. I picked it up and checked the name inside. Any guesses as to what it was? You guessed it-Melamine. Fits right in with Bishop, Big Bang (apparently a Korean boy band or something), L (with a circle around it), Ant, Paris, Carbon, Jety and Castle. Yes, those were the English names of the kids I had this morning.

Now, completely unrelated: I mentioned getting a nice silk sheet set the other day. Here’s a video that deserved posting. It is of Greg, the guy who gave me the sheets. In this video, Greg is dancing at last year’s SEV Christmas party. Oh, and the voice in the background singing “She Bangs” isn’t William Hung, as I originally thought. It belongs to one of the teachers here. Enjoy Gregory in all his glory!

I’m not going to lie, I suck at eating Korean food-too much pork and friedness. Which means I don’t eat a whole lot here. Which is bad for my overall health, but good for my summer bikini. I kid, I kid. Though it would be interesting to step on a scale in a few weeks. Not like I would understand anything-stupid Americans are the only people who use pounds; kilos are beyond me. Oh but don’t worry, Mom, I’ve finally started to take the vitamins you’ve been telling me to take for years.

Anyway, I don’t eat a whole lot most of the time, which might not be the healthiest thing, but it’s better than overeating, right? That all changed this past evening, when Erin and I went to heaven for dinner. And by heaven, I mean a Mexican restaurant called On The Border. Apparently it’s a chain, but like most good things in the world, doesn’t exist in my economically barren hometown (just kidding, I know my old bosses read this. Kingston is great and has a ton of amazing locally owned Mexican restaurants! I personally recommend Rosita’s and the Armadillo.). OK, so anyhow, our friend Karen, who just finished up her contract here, escorted us to this mouth-watering haven of deliciousness. Excited to have real (and very spicy) salsa again, I scarfed down what they put on the table and threw back a few glasses of water. We all ordered the same thing (by the way, when the kids here say two things are alike, they say, “Same same!” Not “Same,” but “Same same!” Which means I obviously do the same thing now.) some sort of chicken tacos. I have no idea what kind, but there was cheese in it, and that’s all I really cared about at the time. Anyway, I ate that food so fast and could barely move after. Sort of reminded me of the lowest, most disgusting point in my life-Thanksgiving 2006, when I had a really nice dinner at a fancy-shmancy hotel in Prague where I ate more food than I ever have in my entire life and threw up immediately after. Go ahead and judge me, I’ve already judged myself enough for it. To be fair, it was the first Thanksgiving three years in which I wasn’t sick and quarantined from my entire family (damn you mono, damn you tonsillitis). But don’t worry-I now know my limits.

Right, so I got off-topic AGAIN. On the subway home, Erin and Karen got on with no problem, but there wasn’t enough room for me on the train, so the doors slammed between us and the train took off without me. Apparently, my eyes got really big and “you should have seen the look on your face!” (thanks, Erin). No worries, we were reunited after I grabbed the next train and got to Suyu station without another problem.

So now I’m back in my apartment, with my washed laundry strewn around my room (the dryers are terminally broken and I have yet to invest in a drying rack). I am still stuffed from dinner, and expect to be for the next few days. I think I’m starting to kick the cold I get every autumn (which, in years past, has left me congested for three-ish months); I sat on, and subsequently broke, my sunglasses; and I made an adorable little girl cry this morning when I put a wig on her head in hair salon class.

So that’s my life, in all its glory. A few loose ends:

Happy birthday to Rachel Eve Nomberg, who is celebrating 22 years for another six minutes!

Happy birthday to Margalit Rosenthal, who hit the big 2-3 about 54 minutes ago, Asia-time.

Check out this site, sent to me by Ruthie. I just like to click on things on interactive websites.

When new kids come into SEV, they have to go through “immigration.” That is, they show their passports (miniature passports they carry everywhere that hold stamps from the different classes they’ve attended) and get nametags with their English name. Since SEV is an English village, we call each kid by his or her English name all week. Which is probably a really good thing, considering every attempt I’ve made to pronounce transliterated Korean has gone horribly wrong and resulted in kids laughing at me.

Most of the kids already have English names that they’ve used before, but some do not. That is where the fun starts. The “immigration officers” (teachers) give them English names, or help them pick out English names for themselves. Ninety percent of the names we get are normal, such as Sally, Amy, Tom and Joe. Then there are some weird ones-the boy named Jesica (the immigration officer even said to him, “You know that’s a boy name, right? Do you want to change it to…Jaysica?”), the girl named T.O.P. (no idea what it stood for) and random others such as Generous, Quiet, Fernando and my personal favorite, Cabin. The ‘b’ and the ‘v’ sounds are confusing for the kids, so Cabin is supposed to be Kevin. Easy mistake. Oh, and lest we forget the numerous Harrys, HPs, Herrys and Harry Porters. Seems J.K. Rowling is a hit over here.

The best conversation happened yesterday at lunch. One of the teachers we were sitting with worked immigration that morning, and was telling us about some of the kids. He said he had a kid who wanted her name to be “An jelly najoly.” Say it outloud. Though doing that may not even help you, because even as he was telling us this story, he didn’t realize the girl wanted her English name to be Angelina Jolie.

Speaking of the divine Ms. J, several students have started calling Erin by her name. Now here’s the big question: If Erin and I are an old married couple, does that make me Brad Pitt (aside from them not actually being married)? Furthermore, does this mean that I had sex with Jennifer Aniston?

That about does it for now-nothing exciting to report about today. I went out with some teachers last night and was very thankful to have today off. Lots of sleeping. Lots and lots of sleeping. And I took a shower. Might not sound like a big deal, but I LOVE the shower here. Aside from the fact that it drains into the floor, it’s awesome. I literally sat down on the toilet lid to shave my legs. Maybe that’s too much info? I don’t really care. You all should come visit simply because of the shower. And the nibbling fish that I’ve already promised to take every visitor to. Even if you don’t come until the spring, that’s cool. Odds are good that my pedicure, which I got nearly a month ago, will probably still be in top condition. I’d take a picture, but my camera is all the way in the kitchen, five feet away…

…and I don’t like that one bit.  So I promise to make more of an effort to update a lot.  A lot a lot.  Starting now!

Last week was our first full week of teaching.  I taught Art, Cooking and Ultimate Frisbee (Cohen, correct me on capitalization, please, if I’m wrong.  I’ve been away from my Stylebook for too long.), all of which were pretty easy and enjoyable for the kids.  In Art, I introduced them to the concept of still life and had them sketch a stool covered with fake fruit and flowers.  I couldn’t believe the detail some of the kids used-they’re probably more artistic at age eight than I am now.  In Cooking, we baked cupcakes.  A lot of cupcakes.  Tuesday, I had four Cooking classes in a row.  I had batter everywhere-literally.  It was in my hair, on my name tag, on my shoes (if anyone has any idea how to get dried batter out of Naot, let me know please!  It looks like a bird took a dump on my shoe!).  The upside to Cooking is that the teachers come by in between classes to swipe a cupcake or two, so that’s always fun.  In Ultimate, the kids basically just play a quick game of it.  Right now I’m the only girl that teaches it (I think), but Erin’s getting trained to do it this week.

I have some group activities, which I lead with other teachers.  Today I had two period of Kareoke.  Let’s just say I’ve heard kids butcher “Dancing Queen,” “YMCA,” “Isn’t She Lovely” and “All You Need Is Love” wayyyy too many times today.  Some of the kids get really into it though, and that’s always cool.  One group chose a slower song and put their arms around each other and swayed as they sang-ADORABLE!

Thursday was Yom Kippur, and coincidently, my day off.  I went to services led by the local Chabad rabbi, (in typical Chabad fashion) played with a small child and stayed for a few hours.  The fast, while pretty easy (considering most every day is a fast of sorts here-I still haven’t warmed entirely to Korean food), was nowhere near as fun as last year’s fast at school.  Broke the fast with our leftover Outback, which I craftily reheated on Erin’s hot plate.  After dinner, we decided to grab some ice cream in the main part of Suyu.  After ice cream we ended up meeting up with a lot of the teachers at the local hangout, a pub/restaurant called Penelope’s.  I haven’t even been in Seoul two weeks, yet I’ve been to Penelope’s three times.

Our other day off was yesterday (SEV has kids on the weekends as well, so I’ll usually be working one weekend day and have a day off during the week), and Erin and I hit up the Korean War Museum.  The museum had a ton of stuff in it, as well as a memorial to all of the U.S. troops who died in the war.  I think I learned more about the Korean War in the afternoon at the museum than I have in 16 years of schooling.  I’ve included some pictures, for your visual enjoyment:

And that’s about it for me.  I’m starting to really get settled in my apartment (pictures will come shortly, I promise!) and make it feel like home.  Last week, one of the teachers finished up his contract and left, but not before giving away some of his stuff that he didn’t want to pack and bring with him.  I wound up with a suitcase, an exercise mat and light blue silk sheets.  I’ve never slept on silk sheets before-it’s a much different feeling, if I do say so myself.

Oh, sidenote!  My blog name has changed.  So if I’m on your blogroll, feel free to change the link to my name, if you care that much.  If not, just admire my creativity and enjoy the new name.  And I really do promise to update more often.

With all that, I’m off to bed.  Work tomorrow, then off Tuesday!  Oh, and if you want to see the rest of my pictures, they’re on Facebook.

The jetlag finally wore off, just in time for our first weekend in Seoul. The past few days have been crazy. We only observed a few classes Friday, and in the afternoon sat down with the head teacher, Robbie, to talk about the job some more. In the evening, our friend Tanja took us to an all-you-can-eat Korean barbeque, which was ridiculous. When you go in, you take your shoes off and leave them at the door. Then you sit on mats set around low tables with a pit carved out of the middle. Someone who works there comes over and lights a small fire in the pit, over which you cook the meat that you eventually eat. When I say meat, I generally mean pork. Yeah, pork. Something I gave up eating when I was 15. It was really weird to eat it again, especially considering that we’re in the middle of the Ten Days of Repentance. I’m still not sure how I feel about it, but I know how difficult it is to live here for a year and not eat traif. It’s only a year, and I have a feeling I’ll stop eating it when I go back home. I don’t know. I don’t really want to get into it right now. That’s not the point of this post! This post is supposed to be about awesomeness!

So right, Korean BBQ. We cooked the meat, garlic and onions over the fire, then wrapped it up in a lettuce leaf with rice and various sauces and ate it. Amazing!! My favorite wrap was a meat/rice/roasted garlic slice/onion combo. I let the meat soak in soy sauce before putting it in the wrap, and it was so ridiculously good. To top off the meal, we ordered rice wine, which came in two small wooden carafes. I think the total price, for both, ended up being about $3.50 American. It was very sweet, but so addicting. Needless to say, we polished off both carafes.

After dinner, we walked around the area, which is called Suyu. Seoul is divided into a whole lot of neighborhoods. Suyu, where our school is, is pretty big, but fairly walkable. We came across this coffee shop called Dr. Fish. Right next to all of the tables are a few elevated tubs. In the tubs are hundreds of tiny fish. YOU PUT YOUR FEET IN THE TUBS AND THE FISH NIBBLE THEM. I blogged about this concept over the summer, because CNN.com ran an article on a place in Virginia that offered it as an alternative to using a razor during a pedicure. Here’s the huge difference: The place in Virginia charges over $30 for a 15-minute session; Dr. Fish charges the American equivalent of $1.60. I believe I said, “I can’t help but wonder how my ticklish feet would fare in one of these places.” Well, not well. For the first ten minutes, I was doubled over laughing, with the occasional squeal or squeak thrown in. Erin got this great shot of me:

Want to see what the tubs looked like? Again, courtesy of Erin:

Anyway, if you come to visit, I promise to take you here.

So Saturday, we made our way to Changdeokgung, one of five palaces in Seoul. The palace dates back to the early 15th century, though various portions of it have burned or collapsed over time and been rebuilt. The highlight of the palace was the Secret Garden, which was this sweet area full of trees, flowers, ponds, streams and pagodas. The only downside is that despite being on the English-language tour, our guide spoke very poor English. We probably would have learned just as much had we gone on one of the Korean tours. Here are some of the photos I took from the tour:

After the palace, we metroed back home and hung out for a few hours. That night, we went into the “Western” district, Itaewon, to Hard Rock Cafe for someone’s birthday, but left fairly early. The metro here stops running around midnight, even on the weekends, so unless you want to mess with a Korean taxi driver, you have to call it an early night. Or walk.

Sunday, Erin and I hit up Insadong, which boasts an impressive shopping/antiques area. We saw a lot of touristy shops, but found a few good things (a hat for me, a scarf for Erin). Erin was much more adventurous food-wise than I was, buying a fish-shaped pastry made with red bean, cooked in a waffle iron contraption. It was…interesting. And surprisingly good. Definitely the best food discovery of the day. We eventually left Insadong and headed to Dongdaemun, another district with good shopping. Dongdaemun was insane, and I mean that in a good way. It felt very Asian, very untouristy, and that was nice. We walked through markets and past a million different stalls, selling headbands, socks, jewelry, porn, CD players, power tools, used shoes. You name it, it was there. We came across a creek that flowed through the city, complete with stepping stones and fountains. After hours of perusing the stalls, we headed back to Suyu, where we had a very Western dinner at Outback Steakhouse. We got back to campus around eight and parted ways. I ended up hanging out with some of the other teachers for a bit and had my first shot of soju, which is pretty much the national alcohol. It’s cheap and goes down easier than vodka, so I guess I can’t complain. Here are some shots of our day:

That’s it for the pictures I’m going to post here. I’ll post more on Facebook tonight. Eventually, when I get my room set up, I’ll take pictures and post them. Erin and I begin teaching tomorrow (Tuesday) morning…she’s teaching Transportation, I believe, and I’m teaching Art in the morning and Cooking in the afternoon. Four hours of baking tiny cupcakes, here I come!!!