Kelsey in Korea

Stairway to (my own personal) Heaven

2010-11-17T00:19:00.000+09:00

Disclaimer: this post has a lot of photos.

I love fall. I love the leaves, I love the smell, I love the food, I love the skies, I love EVERYTHING. I love wearing scarves again after our summer separation, I love bundling, I love crunching leaves on the sidewalk, I love how invigorated I feel just walking outside. I love wearing a sweatshirt and cupping a warm mug of something delicious. I meant 'everything' just now when I said it. Seriously.

So you know how Korea's kind of been a challenge for me? Well, fall had definitely become this kind of idyllic future time that was coming and onto which I had to grasp and milk for all it was worth. And can I just say, I have done a better job of that this year than ever before I think. Exhibit A: my current feelings of NOSTALGIA towards my time here. Yes, nostalgia: "a wistful affection for the past; typically a period or place with happy personal associations." That takes some serious doing, and I did it. :) Well, me, my friends, and some epically wonderful weather and fun in the past few weeks. :)

I think I can best sum it up in some of my hikes. The hiking season started off with Seoraksan, Korea's main mountain. I knew this mountain had some pretty serious stairs to conquer near the top (serious to the tune of 808 metal stairs at the top of an already pretty vertical ascent), but it definitely kicked my butt more than I expected:

a small portion of the climb... did I mention it rained on the way down?

Did I also mention there was hardly any view at the top because of said rain? Oh, Korea.

Anyway, I kind of assumed that after that mountain, none other would live up to the same standard of stair steepness and severity (oh yeah alliteration).

False. Every mountain since then has contained some form of quad-killing upward movement.

These stairs are nothing compared to the Seoraksan ones, but the rest of the hike just outside Gwangju was pretty rocky and intense.

The view of my city from Mudeungsan was much better than the last hike, though. :)

Wolchulsan National Park was next. I was excited for this hike because it lead to a suspension bridge dubbed, "Cloud Bridge." There's only one way for that to end: awesomely.

RIGHT?! sweet.

However, this hike contained more haphazard ways of climbing than I've ever encountered. From ropes, to huge metal staples in boulders, to logs bolted to rocks, to some of the skinniest steps ever, this hike was not for the casual hiker:

Look as Kate disappears backwards down the stairs... forwards was not an option on these puppies.

This past weekend I hiked Gyeryongsan near Daejeon with some friends, and true to Korean form, it threw some pretty intense upward climbs at us. The thing is, though... I realized that I love that about these Korean mountains. I love that they don't mess around; they send you straight up the mountain with very little assistance, and you feel awesome for having made it to the top.

WAIT A MINUTE! THAT SOUNDS LIKE A LIFE-TEACHING MOMENT.

It is. I'm learning here, people. As is to be expected with me, it took me a while to realize this, but at least I know it now: I like being challenged. I can appreciate hurting, regrouping, and feeling awesome on the other side. So while these mountain weekends I've been having may have been hard on my legs and lungs sometimes, Korea's been hard on my heart, soul, and mind. And check it out: I made it through. And now I'm stronger. And that is what I want my life to always be like.

And now for your enjoyment, some wonderful views I've taken in:

I kind of died inside when I saw this tree.

One of the peaks we climbed on Gyeryongsan

Another view from Gyeryongsan

The random Korean hikers we always meet are half of the fun!

JUMP! on Mudeungsan... and accidentally on a grave.

This was more of a stroll than a hike, but walking around the outside of Namhansanseong Fortress was looovely.

Kooking Kreativity in Korea

2010-10-04T00:03:00.000+09:00

So, at the age of 23 I thought I invented pancakes. True story.

Living in this apartment in Korea, with my teeeeeny tiiiiiiny ill-equipped kitchen whose amenities and supplies I can count on my two hands, and with grocery stores full of items I either don't know how to cook with or don't want to cook with has definitely stretched the way I look at mealtimes. I mean, I regularly cook with a rotation of about 4 meals: stir fry, tuna, pasta, eggs, and the occasional korean food at home. SO EXCITING. (no it's not).

Allow me to share with you some of the more memorable cooking mishaps and successes I've had here.

Strawberry Cream Cheese "Pie"

Let's start with a massive success. So working off a really easy recipe I'd used back home for a no-bake fruit pie, Bess and I made this beauty for her birthday back in February. First we crushed up some sweet cracker/cookie things into a pulp (using one of our rare ziploc baggies and a water bottle), and mixed them with some melted better. Then we pressed them around the edge of a semi-shallow mixing bowl and added all the yummy cream cheese and strawberries. SO SO SO GOOD. We later recreated it with lemon sandwich cookies and berries. yummm :)

Shortly after this experience, we were feeling pretty good about ourselves and opted to make these corn fritters Bess' friend told her about. They were great! At the end we had some leftover batter (flour, milk, pretty simple), and we started thinking. "Hmmm... what if we added some cinnamon to this and fried it up like some kind of doughy patty? That could be really good, right? Oh yeah! That'll be awesome! Hey, these are kind of thick, should we add some more milk and make them a little bigger? Great idea!" Ten minutes later...."Ohmygod.... Do you know what these are? PANCAKES. WE THOUGHT WE INVENTED PANCAKES" Shameful guffaws of laughter ensue.

Another early adventure was when we made a curry sauce/rice combo they eat a lot over here. Somehow, rice in a solid block doesn't sound so appetizing...

Yum...?

We WHIPPED that cream.

On to another success, small as it may be. Danielle was extremely lucky, and her apartment has an oven in it, (which, after some really burnt cookies, she now knows goes by Celsius temperatures....), and one Sunday the girls and I got together to make some cupcakes and watch a movie. Our idea for the icing was to do whipped cream. Turns out, this involved actually WHIPPING the cream. BY HAND. This was exhausting to say the least, even between 4 people (some of whom took it much more seriously than others). Anyway, it tasted good at least! :) I will never underestimate the value of an electric mixer again.

Speaking of appliances, have I mentioned what I have in my kitchen? A 2-burner gas range, a sink, a fridge, and the coffee pot I bought. My "counter" space? About 12" by 24" and it doubles as my sink's drying rack. I have a small frying pan, a pot whose handles melt if I turn the heat on too high, a half-melted spatula and a slotted spoon. Oh, and a corkscrew... I'll let you decide what you think sounds the most useful. :)

Today, a new level of ingenuity was reached, I believe. Planning a dinner of some kind of chili variety (a bunch of veggies, canned chicken, and taco seasoning from home) seemed like it was going to be an awesome success when we found a can of beans at my grocery store. YES! Upon arriving at home, we realized I did not have a can opener. The things you take for granted, I swear! Did you know you can beat a can open with a sturdy electrical adapter, and then pry it open using chopsticks? You can, and we did. When we finally beat the thing open enough to get some beans out, they were too big to just fall nicely out. Thus, this followed:

Ya, that's me picking the beans out of the tiny hole with chopsticks. I like to call it dedication and not desperation.

I'm pretty proud of my meager meal efforts. Some of them have turned into moments Bess and I joke about all the time, and all of them make me look forward to having an oven, a microwave, a counter, a big knife, a mixer, more than 3 spoons, real plates, and familiar food items again. Sweet sweet reunion. I'm planning on being a cooking MACHINE when I get home, so stay tuned for dinner invites... (to my parents house...) :)

The International Community Hates My Electronic Devices

2010-09-29T23:37:00.001+09:00

Disclaimer: this blog post is a huge nerdy indulgence. For your reference, here is a link to the basic dramatic structure that most stories can fit into, and with which I shape this post. I'll include little guideposts throughout the story to clue you in :)

This sad tale begins on US soil:

Exposition: It was August of 2000. I was visiting the Outer Banks, where my Nana and Pop-pop lived at the time. The sun was setting; the light was gorgeous.

(not actually the night of the tragedy, but an OBX sunset nonetheless)

TRAGEDY STRIKES! In an ambitious rendering of the Anderson childhood game of "jump over the edge of a wave" where I twirled while jumping, I fell over and my camera fell into the water, as did I. Not only did the water ruin the camera, it made the batteries give me a mild electrocution. Fail #1, at the tender age of 14.

The story continues in 2004 in the US, another prequel to the looming electronic failure in my life. My precious punky-pink discman died due to the excessive exposure to humidity I forced it into at various synchro events. Woops.

And now the rising action: 2007, Cadiz, Spain. Spain's gorgeous beaches and the lifestyle they obliged me to took a toll on my recently developed electronic life: I had a digital camera! I had a brand new iPod! NOT FOR LONG.

what a life, huh?

Sand and ocean breezy moisture promised to slowly destroy both of them. So, with my carefully rationed savings and a contribution from my generous parents, I bought a new camera in Spain....

Which lasted me for all of about 1 month. After I left Spain, I was traveling around Europe a bit, and in a moment of excitement and forgetfulness, I left my brand new love sitting on a bench at a train station in one of the five small towns of Cinque Terre. I realized this fact about 10 minutes later at the next stop, and RAN back to the station, where apparently only 2 or 3 people had passed through. 2 of them were an old couple who hadn't seen it, the other was a station guard who "saw nothing." I then sat on a beach and cried over my first truly significant electronic loss. Paris pictures! Venice pictures! GAH!

rocky cove beaches aren't so great when you're sad.

I've chosen, as the co-author of my life, to pinpoint this next event as the plot's climax. Here in Korea, (oh Korea), the camera I thought was going to be the camera I had for much of my early 20s decided to die on the day Bess and I hiked Seoraksan in the torrential rain.

One of the last pictures my camera was able to take, ironically, it's of the rain.

As of now, the falling action and denouement of this tale are not fully developed, but here is what I predict: the camera I have just purchased as my replacement will be faithful and loyal and long-lasting. It will serve me well as the Anderson/Electronics duo takes on Southeast Asia, China, Mongolia, and Russia in just a few months. It will deftly reintroduce me to life in the US and whatever will come next. It will gracefully and poetically capture beautiful moments of reunion and thus, the story of Kelsey's Electronic Failures will end peacefully and happily.

I'm Grateful For Korean Thanksgiving

2010-09-16T23:05:00.000+09:00

Please listen to this song. It's kind of what's kept me going in Korea sometimes.

Every little piece in your life
Will add up to one
Every little piece in your life
It will mean something to someone

So, to put it simply, living and working in Korea is hands down the hardest thing I've ever done. I've never been so challenged on a level so personal. I know that I've grown a lot in the past 3 or so years, and I was very confident in my ability to stay positive and upbeat about things even when they're hard; it's one of the things I'm most proud of in myself. But, Korea. Korea beat me down, and it beat me down hard.

Last week I had a relatively major meltdown and I really felt like I was at the end of my rope. I felt like every day I tried to come up with a new way to make that day at work go well.... and that almost every day something happened there that just completely undermined who I believe myself to be. Whether it's the way they approach teaching the kids, neglecting the love and care that they deserve for an 'education', or the way they treat me and the other teachers, or the way our boss abuses the concept of cultural differences to make us do things he wants, or the way that in all their ideas and methods, NOTHING ever makes sense. I honestly felt like I had no resources left inside of me to combat the negativity that I felt at school. Yes, I care about the kids, but that can only get you so far when you feel the core of who you are being slowly taken from you. So my question really became, where do you draw the line? Do you keep feeling like you're dying inside or do you quit? AH!

Thank heavens I never really had to make that decision. I am constantly amazed at the way timing works out in my life, and I feel so deeply comforted by the fact that clearly I am not the one who's in charge of these things. I had to go to Seoul to take the GRE on Monday (after a 6-day work week... yuck), but I went up Sunday to spend time with Baeda and see some of the city and just relax away from Gwangju, and it made all the difference. The GREs went well, I felt encouraged by Beta and his fun group of friends there, and so armed with confidence and rejuvenation I came back to Gwangju.

As soon as I walked into school (I came straight from the bus terminal), our boss pulled me into the office (with the grin he gets on his face when he knows we won't argue with him about what he's going to say), and offered to let us take the next Friday as a vacation day. THIS IS IMPORTANT. We already had Tues-Thurs off for the Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok), and we had worked last Saturday for Monday.

THIS MEANS A NINE DAY VACATION. NINE. DAYS.
THIS MEANS SOUL HEALING.
THIS MEANS QUALITY TIME TO REFOCUS AND EVALUATE.

This means I get to get back to being me, and get ready to tackle this Koo-Koo place for another 3.5 months. And I get to do it with some of my best friends in this whole wide crazy world.

This Chuseok, I am SO THANKFUL for my friends. I am so thankful for my parents, who are the perfect amount of support and love and challenge from the angles I need, even all the way across the world. I am so thankful that I know I can do this. I am thankful for MOUNTAINS, where I will be next week when we visit Seoraksan National Park. And yes, in this case, I'm thankful for last-minute communication at school, because it gave me this nine-day gift of LOOOOVE and HAPPINESSSSS.

Anyway, that song I posted? It's really true. Every little piece of my life is gonna add up. And every little thing I do in that school WILL mean something to somebody. Whether it's one child or 20, it means something. And that comforts me.

The Song that Doesn't End

2010-09-07T02:57:00.000+09:00

Usually people learn from their mistakes, right? Maybe some of them, but I have one particular mistake from which I never seem to learn.

Last week Bess and I went down the YouTube rabbit hole, reliving our childhoods in the form of old TV show theme songs. Barney, Wishbone, Zoom, basically every PBS wonder that we ever watched as a kid. We got a particularly good laugh out of this one; I particularly remember annoying bus drivers and camp counselors with rousing renditions of it:

You know what MY song that never ends is? The song that goes, to the tune of the above (roughly), "If you drink coffee after 5pm/ You won't fall asleep no matter how tired you think you are/ You'll start drinking it cuz it is delicious/And you'll continue to lie awake forever just because you drank coffee after 5pm......."

This cycle happens roughly every 1.5 months. You have a day where you just really feel like that early evening cup is gonna get you through, and you think, "Hey, maybe THIS time will be the time my body doesn't freak out." You are, inevitably, wrong. The next day you swear you'll never do it again, and then a few weeks go by and you forget how frustrating it is and then all of a sudden you're back where you started: 5pm, thinking the last 2 classes will just be so much easier with this extra little jolt of deliciousness.

Maybe I'll learn when I'm 25?

Thank you, Korea

2010-09-02T21:08:00.000+09:00

You've made some cool stuff happen the last few weeks. And as usual, it's good for me to focus on those awesome, once-in-a-lifetime things instead of the "ew, my boss is really inconsiderate and backwards" category of things. :)

Moment #1:

Swimming on Hyeopjae Beach on Jeju Island, with ANOTHER island behind me!

For my summer vacation in July, I went to Jeju-do with Bess and Danielle, and it was a.maz.ing. It was the perfect few days of fun, relaxation, beaching, sightseeing, and friends. And you know what, if I weren't in Korea for this year, I would NEVER have ended up goofing off in an ocean full of Koreans in rafts and life vests.

Moment #2

Ariel came to visit on her way home from Laos!

Our good friend from EMU, Ariel, has been living in Laos doing MCC for the past 2 years, and we were so so so lucky to be able to see her on her way home! I could hardly believe she would ever want to make a detour on her way to hugging her family and friends, but there we were, eating galbi and talking like no time had gone by! What a beautiful reminder of how enduring friendships can be. :) So, thanks again, Korea.

Moment #3

Boseong Green Tea Plantation covered in morning mist

On a day trip with the Gwangju International Center to a ceramics festival in the southernmost part of Jeollanam-do, our province, we stopped at this amazing little place. It was completely shrouded in mist when we arrived, and although a lot of our fellow tourers were bummed, I think we might have qualified as GIDDY. The mist blanketed the rows and rows of tea, and coupled with the trees on the plantation, it was a wholly charming morning. Pretty sure there aren't any green tea farms readily available for misty touring back home.

Moment #4

Wait, WHAT?!
So, I'm simultaneously not surprised to see something like this here and also completely baffled. Korea is doing weird things to the way I look at oddities. They seem more normal these days. Uh-oh.

Moment #5

Taste the Menu? The Safe Problem?
I can GUARANTEE you no restaurant back home would offer the chance to taste a menu. A menu item maybe, sample from a menu, perhaps. But not taste the menu. And while eating a colored fork might cause a safety problem anywhere, I wouldn't have ever seen the hilarious phrase, "it might cause the safe problem."

Moment #6

Rainy Muddy Salsa Dancing with friends from Harrisonburg! (we're spelling H-b-U-r-g)
The above moment was probably one of the best. :) We had just salsa danced in the rain to a live band from Holland/Colombia at a music festival with friends, old and new, from a town we all had a major connection to. This is such a small world, and this moment such a wonderful manifestation of that fact! It was while we were dancing that I really stopped to appreciate some of the beautiful things Korea has brought me.

Accountability

2010-08-13T22:47:00.000+09:00

So, accountability is really healthy, right? I mean, doesn't it feel awesome when you have a friend that challenges you when you need it, and you can dish it right back to them and its all in the name of growth and self-improvement? Bess and I have had some good accountability pacts so far this year, they usually end up pretty entertaining, and sometimes involve punching each other. :) Anyway, seeing as Korea has helped me be accountable to some things I deal with (staying positive and open-minded, to name a few), I'm gonna be a real friend and give it right back to the Land of the Morning Calm:

THIS IS A REALITY CHECK, FRIEND.

YOUR EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS ARE RIDICULOUS, OVERBEARING, AND DAMAGING TO YOUR FUTURE GENERATIONS. (Not to mention us, your foreign teachers who are getting a really unfortunate impression of your whole country. Also, I would love to see these kids I love grow up to be balanced and emotionally rounded-out adults, not work-obsessed success addicts. There is also no reason why a 13 year old kid should be in school from 8am till 10:30pm or later).

AESTHETICS ARE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS YOU THINK. (Whether it be your use of whitening cream on your faces which are already gorgeous, or your compulsion to cover any available surface in sparkly cartoonish signage... or your idea that I should use valuable class time to mark up every single question on every single page of every single obnoxious textbook you make me force on your children. no, not TEACH it, but just MARK IT).

COMMUNICATION IS KEY. SOMETIMES IT'S EVEN GREAT WHEN YOU TELL ME THINGS AHEAD OF TIME. (I'm getting quite sick of being told things at the last minute when my coworkers have known them for weeks)

GREAT JOB WITH YOUR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS. (Oh, that's not anything to do with accountability, I just felt the need to interject with something positive. see, growth!)

LAUGHING OUT LOUD AND WITHOUT RESTRAINT IS A GOOD THING. (Uncover your mouths when you laugh, please. And don't stare at my friends and I when we are cracking up).

JUST BECAUSE I AM NOT 95 LBS, DRESSED TO THE NINES, AND/OR IN HEELS DOES NOT MEAN YOU NEED TO GIVE ME THE JUDGMENTAL STARE OF DEATH EVERY TIME I LEAVE MY HOUSE. (I'm a cool person, I promise. And by the way, judging a book by its cover isn't nice).

I am sure in no time at all Korea will throw something back at me to keep me on my toes with this whole growth thing, but until then, I really hope it'll mull over what I've said.

Renewal

2010-07-25T20:21:00.000+09:00

To be honest, Korea isn't always my favorite place (read: I don't like it, but I can make it fun). A friend told me about this great blog, and there was one post that really resonated with me, if you want to read it. The past few weeks have contained a lot of built-up frustration and some really intense anger... and these are not feelings I do well. It's been unpleasant to be in my head, and I have been clinging *very* tightly to the prospect of vacation (which, by the way, begins in exactly 48.25 hours).

Enter this weekend: relief and renewal.

It's amazing what dancing with friends, beautiful dramatic clouds, and heart-to-hearts can do for your spirit. I feel so much better and so much more ready to tackle the next 48 hours/5.5 months than I did when I left work on Friday. :)

Gwangju's Mt. Mudeung covered by clouds. Awesome, awesome clouds.

It really is all about perspective. One of my coping mechanisms has been to break down the future by things that I'm really excited about. For example, this is my thought process right now:

1. JEJU-DO vacation!!!

2. A visit from Ariel in August!

3. End-of-summer day trips and my birthday!

4. Chuseok holiday vacation in September!

5. OCTOBER! FALL! HAPPINESS!

6. November: Harry Potter!!!! more fall!

7. CHRISTMAS/last month in Korea/getting ready for our big Asia trip!

See? Look how nicely that breaks things down! And when I look at that list I put aside the annoying frustrating crap from the Monday-Friday work scene and think about how much stuff I still have to fit into these next few months, and my entire perspective on my time in Korea becomes what I wanted it to be again: focused on growth and adventure. Assa!

A Breath of Fresh Air!

2010-07-14T10:44:00.000+09:00

80% humidity on average? no thanks.

smoggy foggy cloudy skies? not so much.

a day in the cool, green shade of a bamboo forest? YES, PLEASE.

Here are some pictures of a looooovely excursion the girls and I went on last Saturday to Damyang's Bamboo Forest. Day trips are definitely a cure for the doldrums. Green life is definitely the cure for everything else. :)

look, only a little bit of Korean-ization!!!

isn't this wonderful?!

it is extremely rare to get a picture with no one in it in this country

dear trees, thanks for the shade. love, kelsey

me, Megan, Bess and Danielle :)

Best ending to this day of green?! A ride in a bike built for four :)

In other news, I will be leaving for vacation in exactly two weeks! Bess, Danielle, and I are heading to Jeju Island, and get this. We're staying in a HOTEL. Stay tuned.

what does it MEAN?!

2010-07-10T00:32:00.000+09:00

Can everyone please just go listen to that man? I mean, being moved by nature is one thing. But this....

this is just something ELSE.

Just Like Home?

2010-07-05T00:31:00.000+09:00

There are ways to make living in Korea feel like home. I think foreigners here have mastered that art. Rather than talk a lot about the silly and wonderful ways we find to make a niche for ourselves here, I offer some comparison photos:

these are the fireworks I saw in 2009...

and these are the ones we set off on a roof in Korea on July 4, 2010 :)

This is my favorite brunch EVER on the day I discovered it in DC:

And this is my new favorite brunch in Korea (in GWANGJU!):

ya, that's stuffed french toast. no big deal.

this is how Conrad and I recreated the Count of Monte Cristo (Roman Carneval edition) for ourselves a few years ago, masks, capes and all:

and here is a new way Korea's offered for me to look at one of my favorite stories:

yes, that's a sign for The Count of Monte C-uh-risto: the Musical-uh. Asian style.

Oh, Korea. You never cease to amaze me.

[Distance] Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

2010-06-30T11:14:00.000+09:00

So, I spent a significant portion of my young life getting trucked around to soccer games, often times unwillingly. I also spent a significant amount of time watching it on TV because Dad or Ben (then eventually Mom, too) wanted to watch it. I was not always the most avid lover of the sport. Some people might use the word.... bitter? The whole family loved this sport that I wasn't good at and I just wanted to SWIM! Having a star brother doesn't always help the bitterness go away, either; especially at the tender era of early adolescence.

Well, turns out all those years of soccer games and all the sounds of EPL and Serie A games being watched in my house have become part of me. As I got a little older, I started to be able to handle being different from the rest of my family and start to appreciate the WONDER that is the sport! Which was great, because it is so fun to watch. And this way I can watch it and not constantly mourn the fact that I can't do any of those things! :) A spectator's life can be a good one.

I have a lot of fond memories of the World Cup. The 2002 one in Korea/Japan was going on as I was moving out of my childhood home in Massachusetts, and we spent some of the games getting up obscenely early and watching them in bed with mom and dad, and then when we had moved out we watched some of them on a big screen in the Gordon College student lounge (we lived there temporarily). That was the year the US got to the quarterfinals (wow!), and it was SO EXCITING. Ben even bought a documentary called "Our Way" about the US' team experience there haha.... which I've probably seen upwards of 10 times.

The 2006 one was a summer I was home between college, and I think I watched most of the games. The US didn't make it that far (aka they couldn't get out of group play), but by then I really enjoyed watching the other teams. And I'll never forget the depressed Ben that took off his Zidane tshirt after the infamous head butt in the final game. Watch it. It's pretty memorable.

ANYWAY. All of this to say, watching this world cup here in Korea has been really fun in a lot of ways, but it makes me miss my family a lot, and it makes me wish I could be there to talk it all out with them. My dad has this way of being 100% calm about any and all events and maintaining a good analytic attitude, while Ben can't sit down the entire game, but has to run a soccer ball around the inside of the house several times during the game. Oh, and there's Mom yelling at all the players by their first names.... that's wonderful, too. :)

Watching the Korea/Greece game in downtown Gwangju

I will say this for watching the world cup here: it is SO FUN to be in a country where everyone loves the sport! It has provided endless class discussions about the world-uh cup-uh, loads of entertainment seeing all the glowing red devil horns and red shirts everywhere, and a fully alive atmosphere whenever we've watched the games. I love it! I even appreciate in a small way the fact that we've had to stay up till 6am several times to watch our team play.... and knowing that I'll be doing it again for the final game.

The Korea/Uruguay game was aired in a stadium in Busan

Also, I'm excited for the event to be held in a time zone close to my location next time... thank goodness this thing is only every 4 years!

Some Reworked Words of Enthusiasm and Support

2010-06-23T20:34:00.001+09:00

The following is inspired by a national anthem battle I had with one of my students today while encouraging them to cheer for the US tonight, now that Korea has safely qualified for the round of 16. She was, however, unwilling to lay aside patriotic feelings that I assume were residual from her pride in their early morning win today vs. Nigeria. That's legit. Anyway!

Dear USA Squad,

O! Say can you see by the [dusk]'s early light,*
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's [first] gleaming,**
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the [goal posts] we watched, were so gallantly streaming?
And the [score board]'s red glare, the [shots] bursting [through the] air
Gave proof through the night, that our [hope] was still there!
O! Say does that star-spangled [soccer squad] yet win,
O'er the land of [South Africa] and the home of the [2010 World Cup]?

ANSWER: YES!!!!!!

Also, if Korea can do it, so can we. Thank you.

Much love and support from Korea,

Kelsey

PS-- Mr. Francis Scott Key, please forgive my abuse of your rhyming scheme and meter. It's for a good cause!

*tonight's game is at 11pm!
**it was an early game that we first watched

Blogging Fail

2010-06-21T10:58:00.000+09:00

Wow, for a while there I thought I actually had a chance at consistency with this whole blogging thing. Fail.

So, it's been... a month? ish? since I wrote. It's been a good month overall! For basically the entire month of May I was being plagued by a nasty cough which in the end turned out to be bronchitis, but even that had some cool plus sides to it-- the main one being that I was able to have a SLEEPOVER at my boss' house. oh yes. This sleepover also involved sleeping in one of my students' rooms... now there's a weird dynamic in class. ("Teachah, you know the ______ you saw at my house? Teachah, you know the fish I have in my room?" etc. insert confused looks from other students) It was a good experience over all, though. It let me see a more human side to the sometimes not-so-wonderful workplace personalities of Mr. Kim and his wife Mrs. Park.

Side note: I am very confused about the last name Park. The Korean reading of it has no R! Where did it come from?! Can someone please explain romanization of languages in different characters to me? :)

Since then, though Gwangju has been a fun place :) There's been a lot of fun nights dancing with the girls, movie-watching on the roof with Bess, soccer-watching with friends and coworkers, and making plans for the next few months!

A few weeks ago we took a day trip to a beach about an hour northwest of Gwangju on the Yellow Sea. As always, getting outside of the city involves hilarity when we try and navigate in a country where we are illiterate, but we managed to pull it off with help from some random foreigners and friendly workers at one of the bus stations we ended up at. :) Kim-bap, clear skies, shadow-dwelling Koreans, and responsible sun-screen application (minus the tops of my feet) made this a pretty good beach day. I'm still looking for some better water to reeeeeally swim in, but there's the whole summer ahead of me!

Oh! A few big milestones!

1) I have officially stayed out till the light is up.... TWICE! One was completely inadvertent-- we got sucked into the wondrous black hole of norae-bongs (karaoke rooms!), and the second time was 100% intentional. The USA vs. England game aired at 3:30am here... that was a doozy. Not the best game, but a really fun atmosphere with all the foreigners and all the excitement.

2) This is officially the longest I've ever been away from home/my family (as of June 18). Whoah! No crippling moments of homesickness yet, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Although do NOT get me wrong... I miss my family a ton! But I like to think that their support and the past few years of living away from home are doing a good job of keeping me positive and in charge of the way I view the time away from them. :)

3) While I was sick, I went for TWO FULL WEEKS without coffee! I was cured of my headache-inducing addiction. :) However, I have returned to regular consumption, but hopefully this time it won't get a vice-like grip on me!

4) I have also decided: I'm going back to grad school! Now begins all the lovely processes of GRE-taking, applying, etc. But I'm 100% confident that it's what I'm supposed to be doing next, and I can't wait to get started. So far, I'm looking at American and NYU, both for a MA in International Education with a focus on International Education Exchange. Woohoo!

5) I got my first massage! IT WAS TERRIBLE. Asian massage therapists are brutal, invasive, and angry women. My back was demolished by their hands of death, and I was sore and bruised for about 5 days. Danielle, Megan and I went one afternoon, and it instantly became one of those hilarious and painful stories we'll tell for ages. Ridiculous. Never again!

At the risk of only being capable of writing in list form, I think I'll stop here. With two more list-form world cup-loving messages:

1. USA! USA! USA! USA!
2. Korea Fighting! Provided you don't have to fight the USA! In which case, see #1.

Exploding Heart

2010-05-13T19:34:00.000+09:00

So sometimes I think I'm in love with like 50 little kids. Well, maybe not 50, but there are definitely a special few that really keep me going through each day and in general through the whole teaching experience. Some of them speak excellent English, and a few of them are at a pretty low level, but charm my socks off nonetheless. It is just such a wonderful gift to be able to get into their lives in some way, and the moments when it comes back to you and you realize that a) they actually LIKE you, and b) they look at you as more than just a teacher are really really gratifying and moving.

Teacher's Day is this week-- it's apparently a big deal in Korea; kids make you little cards, bring you candy, presents, just love on you in general. WELL, Bess and I found out today that since it's on Saturday this year that likely means none of the kids will make a big deal out of it. We were SO BUMMED. BUT! One of my favorite students (Danny) came to the rescue! I walked into class and he had this red box with a flower pen stuck on top of it for me, and proceeded to rush me over to my desk so he could unwrap it for me... it was adorable! He (aka his mom) got me a few pairs of cute socks, but i mean they could have put a newspaper in there for all I cared.... there was a note on the top of the box that just made my heart explode, which is now hanging above my sink:

Anyway, all this to say these little adorable gestures mean the WORLD to me and give a lot of meaning to what I'm doing here :) Here are some more pictures:

That's me and Danny :)

This is Rachel (reachel as she spells it), and the adorable note she gave me last week. Favorite line: "4th question: Maybe, do you have magic lamp. What can you do?"

Homage to Momage

2010-05-09T16:24:00.000+09:00

Think about it for a second.

Someone takes full responsibility for you from the moment you are a thought in their head through whatever point you start taking your independence. No complaints. No regrets. Just love and support. So much sacrifice. They learn as they go, drawing the lines between being a parent and being a friend as we grow up and go through all of those icky/wonderful phases of childhood. If I ever really sit down and start thinking about this whole amazing aspect of humanity, my heart and mind honestly feel like they're just overflowing. It's amazing! It's awe-inspiring! And for the past few years it is something I have only just begun to appreciate in the way it should be appreciated.

I am so phenomenally fortunate to have the mother that I do. We relate to each other, we respect each other, we ENJOY each other, and I don't know about her but every time I talk to her things feel like they just sorted themselves into a manageable place again. When this whole Korea idea came up, and I was initially hesitant, Mom was the one who completely got behind it and encouraged me to take the chance. (Now, the reality of packing and getting on that plane was a different emotional story...) How can someone who has poured so much energy, time, love, resources, and wisdom into raising you be so unselfish as to encourage you to move thousands of miles away from her? Holy selfless love. My heart doesn't even know what to do with it all.

Anyway. I'm really far away from my Mom today, and I really love her and miss her. And if putting myself through the emotional roller coaster of trying to write down all the ways I love her and am blessed by her can convey how amazing she is, I'll take the tears gladly.

Reunion

2010-04-21T11:03:00.000+09:00

I love those moments in life when you know there's forever going to be an "after this happened." I keep thinking about how dramatic that sounds, but how it is so true for me and so true for my experience in Korea.

So, a little background... back in 2004-2005 (my freshman year at EMU), my family hosted an exchange student from Korea named Joseph. We haven't been in touch for a few years, and when I moved here I was really concerned I wouldn't be able to track him down. I mailed him a letter after Dad found an address, but it was returned to me. I wasn't really sure where to go from there... and THEN! Joseph called my family almost 2 weeks ago out of the blue and they told him I was here! It was really a tiny miracle.... there hadn't been any contact for probably 2 years, and he called at the perfect time! We got in touch within a day, and last weekend I went up to Daejon to visit him and his family. It turns out he's going into the military (2 years of service is mandatory for all Korean men) in just a few weeks, so it was really amazing that we were able to see each other before he left! I've always been in awe of the way timing works out, and this was definitely one of those times.

Anyway, as I was on the bus ride up to see him late Friday night, I was starting to get nervous... I was really excited to see him again, but what if one or the other had changed so much we had nothing to talk about beyond a few hours of reminiscing or catching up? I felt like it would be a good experience regardless, but I had a few butterflies for sure. Not to worry. It was waaaay beyond what I thought it would be.

The whole weekend was just so filled with generosity, genuine caring, love, fun, good conversation, and so much laughing that I feel like I'm still processing it. His parents were the most loving, generous, and kind people. From the moment I arrived I was just BATHED in love and warmth and welcome, and it was all I could do to try and express my gratitude. This family almost single-handedly (well, there were 3 of them there), has made me want to REALLY understand Koreans and their culture.... not just deal with the frustrations, but to understand WHY the differences are there, and to learn how to respectfully and with appreciation learn about them. Not only was this visit important as a way of reconnecting with an old friend, but I'm beginning to realize just how crucial it was to my time here in Korea. The attitude adjustment that it's given me has changed everything, and I can feel so many of the frustrations and misunderstandings I had before with the culture just kind of fading as I'm trying to get to the bottom of the differences. I realize that I'm not going to fully understand a culture in one year- that would be so presumptuous, but I feel that now I have the mindset that will help me at least try and get there. I'm sure things will still bother me-- plans made at the last minute etc etc, but not nearly as much as before, and I really want to learn to respect the differences.

I think this weekend was really important in a lot of other ways too. The kind of people Joseph and his family are are the kind of people I want to be around... and they reminded me of the kind of person I want to be. They are so selfless... so loving, so understanding, and so giving. They love each other and God so much, it was really amazing to see. The weekend gave me a new perspective on relationships, on my faith, and on the way you can live your life. Wow.

Some really fun highlights of the weekend included:

Showing Joseph how I can manage chopsticks on a mediocre level :)
Seeing 3 photo albums-worth of pictures and hearing the stories that go with them
Going to my first Wii room! You rent a teeny tiny room where you get to play on a Wii system! We played the Beijing Olympics game... and I (predictably) failed, but it was SO FUN.
Going to see Clash of the Titans and being almost physically exhausted after watching such an intense film
Biking on free public-use bikes down the streets of Daejon
Playing with really over-the-top Korean photo booths where you dress up in costumes, pick silly backgrounds, and THEN decorate the picture with all kinds of sparkly graphics
Coffee shop chats
Telling fun stories about my family to someone who really understands just how funny they are :

So, anyway, that was my amazing weekend of love and fun. :) Joseph's going to come visit Gwangju (for the first time ever!) this weekend, so I'm really excited to show him my life in Korea, too!

Also, here are some pictures from the weekend

Comes and Goes in Waves

2010-04-10T01:02:00.000+09:00

What a roller coaster it is to live here and to work here. From one day to the next I'm never 100% sure how I'm going to feel about the experience or what kind of emotional arsenal I'll need to conquer the day. This is exhausting! I'm an emotional person , but even for me this can be a bit much... I find myself wondering (more often than I ever remember being conscious of the issue) just how much effort usually goes into just BEING. Am I over-thinking every little thing? Am I being dramatic/emotional? Am I really happy? Am I getting the most I possibly can out of this?

Oh, wait. WHO CARES?!?

Seriously. I moved to the other side of the world. I get to interact on a daily basis with beautiful little children (some more so than others) who all deserve attention and love and energy (that I sometimes don't have haha). For that reason ALONE this is all worth it, right?! Not to mention that OH MY GOODNESS I'm living abroad! Isn't this the kind of thing that I thought about daily as I sat in an office in DC, or when I was graduating college wondering where my life was going? I never in a million years thought I would SEE Asia much less live here. So my April 9 resolution (too late for New Years?): JUST BE. Appreciate where I am when I'm there, knowing that like everything else, it is temporary, and there is so much I can make from where I am right now. Addendum to that resolution: 'just be' without pressuring myself to be absolutely sucking every little bit of possibility out of every moment. Have your crazy adventure weekends, but remember that, yup, it's OK to stay in on a Friday the next weekend. Yup, it's OK to watch a several-hour chunk of TV if you want. Awesome. :) Like a really wise lady once told me, 'not every part of life is always going to be full'.... but at the same time, it's as full as you let it be. :) So there, over-thinking Kelsey. Take that.

(and please, remember it)

Chincha?!

2010-03-13T00:42:00.000+09:00

I think this week is a good time to teach you all my favorite word I've learned since I came to Korea: Chincha.

So, it's fair to say that the phrase "REALLY?!?" is overused these days...am I wrong? I mean, it feels awesome to yell it, but I feel like since there's an SNL segment devoted to it... it's officially super trendy and mayyyybe sucking away my ability to expand my vocabulary.

Thank heavens for Korean.

"Chincha" is a phrase used JUST as frequently as "really," and certainly just as casually. I hear my students mutter it all the time (ah, teach-ah, chincha!), and it's one of the few words I can actually pick out if I listen to a Korean conversation. But to me it's a new and different word, and I think maybe that is all I needed to give myself the go-ahead on overusing and abusing one small piece of an otherwise huge and unknown language. :)

Anyway, the reason for clueing you all in to this word is this picture, taken from the window of my school on MARCH TENTH for goodness sake:

Can you see those huge flakes? Can you see the semi-substantial accumulation? CHINCHA, KOREA?!??! I was just getting ready for Spring! I was almost ready to retire my scarves (and that is SAYING something!) This week was a crazy week at work (holy drama), did you need to throw this one in the mix?!?!?! CHINCHA?!?!

In other news, the week wrapped up a lot better than I ever expected... despite our staff of 6 people going down to 4 in a matter of 2 days... turns out when one of the foreign teachers pulls a "runner" (leaves without notice to the school so that the school can't try and make them reimburse recruiting costs-- our bosses can be pretty obnoxious), they shape up and start treating the other foreign teachers to tourist tips, giving offers to take us places, and extra thank you notes on my lesson plans instead of just the usual signature. :)

ALSO! Happy birthday in 2 days to Jess Hostetler, who loves birthdays more than anyone I know. :)

Rainy Days

2010-03-07T21:54:00.001+09:00

So, now that the first post is out of the way... here's a fun story:)

Winter isn't a whole ton of fun if you're not skiing or cozy inside on a couch. The in-between season where it's just rainy and cold isn't a whole lot better... but there are definitely ways to make it awesome, especially if you've got some great friends. :) This past weekend Baeda came down to visit Bess and I, and contrary to our usual weekend-of-epic-proportion, we kept it reeealllyyy low-key. TWO movies in the theater (it's cheap here!), card games in cafes, and delicious drawn-out brunches. Not to mention.....

a pirate fort.

Someone please tell me when that will EVER get old.

Better Late than Never?

2010-03-07T21:03:00.000+09:00

It feels like 2 months is a long time to go without starting this blog that I had thought about before I left... I guess it was one of those things that gets more and more intimidating to do the longer you leave it alone. HOWEVER! After a double-team skype conversation today with my dear friends Emily and Sveta... I'm just gonna take the plunge.

Where to start? I've been in Gwangju for 2 months now... and I don't really feel like I've dug in around here yet. I've 'adjusted' to living all alone (after going from years of group houses and my family and wonderful people all the time, this is a big deal), learned a few Korean phrases, made a bunch of children cry, been amazed at the generosity of the people here, been frustrated and angered by ways of operating that seem inconsiderate and backward, traveled to the 2 major cities of Korea (Seoul, Busan), spent quality time with old friends on the other side of the world, successfully navigated one of the world's largest subway systems (DC... you're like the country mouse of world subway systems), become extremely creative with cooking in the tiniest kitchen I (hopefully) will ever have, and clearly mastered the art of run-on sentences. :)

Let's just say for now that in a lot of ways Korea has been a battle of deciding who I want to be, and then acting on it. Do I want to just ride this year out, and try and avoid the discomfort that comes from getting out of this tiny square room I live in, or do I want to get messy and awkward and completely dominate the game of "guess what I'm trying to say to you without using any of the same languages"? That was a trick question. OBVIOUSLY I love playing the guessing game, and OBVIOUSLY I am really bad at being content sitting at home. Do I want to brush over tricky grammatical nuances and give these kids the gist of English or really delve into it with them in a school system that doesn't leave a lot of room for individuality in teaching style? (hint: that one's a lot trickier-- ENGLISH IS HARD and these Koreans are strict with their teaching schedules!) Do I want to suck it up and keep trying to enjoy kimchi or do I want to just stick to feeling slightly hungry after lunches at school? Ya... I'm thinking as of now that I'm not really ever gonna like kimchi. :)

A lot of these questions that I run into daily are really rather indicative of a lifestyle... and it's been challenging and interesting to realize that sometimes believing something is right doesn't make it that much easier to do. A basic life lesson, but one that still confronts everyone I think. Anyway, one of my goals this year is to really try harder to be deliberate in the way I treat people, do my job, and spend my time.

So, we'll see if this blog thing works out for me. :) As a parting gift, please be entertained by the travesties of name-spelling I encountered this week when I met some new students.....
Reachel
Cevan
Sarh (REALLY?!)
Ashly