Stairway to (my own personal) Heaven

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.