Daily life in Korea is a little different for me. Here are some pictures and various recollections that didn't merit their own entry.
Yes, this terrified me. This is my host mom's computer. What ARE ALL THE ICONS FOR???
The birthday cake I baked for my host brother. It was DELICIOUS.
That's my brother eating mac and cheese and Kimchi. And me not realizing I was taking a video.
What is this madness? That is a maxed out google hang out. We've got Erica and Fabio on 2 computers, George, and my mom.
That says Sandra's drive home schedule. Ah, the office takes such good care of me :)
I'm a little less proud of this photo today. I caught my vice principal taking a picture of me in almost the exact same sleeping position. Whelp. BTW, this is completely normal in Korea. I could probably snap a picture of every teacher sleeping in one day. This is my desk mate though, so he's an easy one to get. Mr. Kong is the PE teacher and Dorm supervisor. He is not very popular with the students....
Every once in a while, I meet with teachers from local high schools and we have a discussion day. This was the first day. Hyoung Ran is also nice enough to teach me Korean when I remember to ask her...Speaking of which...I should text her...
My Host grand dad's grape vineyard. They're organic and YUMMY.
I'm not sure what it is. But it APPARENTLY is Vermont Curry.
Korean mystery meat~
Birthday Makgeoli. One of my favorite beverages in Korea. To clarify, this is just Makgeoli. It is only birthday makgeoli cause I drank it on my birthday.
My white person stripper name
My birthday cake. For breakfast. Yes, this was after the breakfast meal. Om nom nom
A Duck Truck. Hehe.
My new specs.
The bedroom. It's messier now.
The view from my bedroom.
Aaaaand 6:30 am tennis. Every once in a while, on Saturdays, my host dad tries to teach my host brother and I tennis. We are not very good. At all. But, an early Saturday morning is good for everyone?
This past weekend, I attended both my first film festival and my first festival in Korea. Although, with the number of foreigners there, it was easy to forget that it was a Korean festival at all. I mean, look at these whities with this sign. And look at the English! This festival almost shouldn't count as a Korean festival...I felt a little more at home being a foreigner than if I were a Korean. Korean festival or not, it was still super fun and I had some of the best Waygookins I know to keep me company.
Cait and Patrick showing off this lovely sign.
Liz and I arrived on Friday night around 9:30 or so. Never having been to Busan before, we knew we had to get about 26 km from the bus station to our hotel. Liz was all over this. She used her superior knowledge of Naver Maps and took us by both bus and subway to our remote location. Our motel was quite erotic even though the name was quite innocent: the Apple Motel. The hallways, elevator, and our wallpaper was lined with both love quotes and couples in mid-embrace. Liz and I were drawn in by this loving atmosphere and promptly bought those 2 huge bottles of beer and ordered some spicy chicken. Half a bottle of beer later (each), our chicken still had not arrived. We had deep discussions about Korean bathroom etiquette and whether or not our robes were free for the wearing. Our 2 late arrivals, Amanda and Cait, were due to our hotel around 2:00am. I was supposed to wait up for them. Instead, I decided to shut my eyes for a moment at around 2:00 am confident that I would not fall into a deep enough sleep to miss their phone call and let them into their room. Wellllll, at 5 am that morning I woke up to Amanda and Cait banging on our door and telling us to get our fat asses out of bed. Luckily, even though I had not woken up, Liz had and let them in. I pulled all my fashion interest together and summoned up my 15 minute outfit. Actually, I am a little impressed with myself. I even put makeup on that day. We spent an unfortunate amount of time looking for taxi, but then we were finally off to BIFF.
The deserted BIFF building made for some prime photo opportunities that Cait was more than happy to take advantage of. Doesn't she look like she's just waiting to give someone some fantastic information?
Ain't she adorbable?
Yes, this is what a pre-dawn festival looks like.
This picture proves that Busan, unlike NY, does like to get some sleep sometimes.
While we thought getting there right around 5:45 would get us a primo spot in line, one quick glance showed us that we were nowhere near the hard-core fans. Obviously, people had started camping out for tickets the night before. Actually, they probably started as soon as their previous movie ended. So we got to the end of the line and waited for 8:30. That's when the ticket booth would actually open. We were joined by some other friends, Patrick and Carolyn, and even ran into some Jeongeup foreigners. The line also gave the very unique opportunity of cuddling with a sleeping Korean couple nearby.
Yes, that is what a professional 3rd wheel looks like
The wait certainly paid off. I got my three top choice movies which guaranteed a day straight of watching movies...and IT BEING COMPLETELY ACCEPTABLE. Think about it. When people normally ask me what I did in a day and I say, "Er...I watched three movies today," they usually seem concerned. Sometimes, they even ask how recent the breakup was. In this case, I wasn't being lazy. I was being CULTURED!
Yeah...I realize I look slightly deranged. Just...don't worry about it.
So what were these lovely movies that I spent all day watching? I know you are dying to know.
My first movie was Miss Zombie, a contemporary Japanese adaptation of the traditional zombie myth.
WARNING SPOILERS: In this world, the term zombie covers a variety of beings. Zombies can be the brain eating hoard that is popular in American cinema and video games. Or, the zombies can be more docile creatures. Reminiscent of Fido, these zombies can even be used for household chores and whatnot. They also have a sense of identity and can remember some of their past. This zombie tale follows a young woman who was turned into a zombie while pregnant. Now, she works for a doctor and his family. Her job seems to be a maid, but really all she does is clean the same patio over and over. Also, she is very slow at cleaning this patio. But, apparently the family is holding her for a friend, or something, so they might as well have her clean the same patio, slowly, everyday. Plus, the patio cleaning offers construction workers and view of her on her hands and knees cleaning the patio every day. From behind, she doesn't even look like a zombie! She attracts the sexual interest of the construction workers...because I guess construction workers being inappropriate to young women not only stretches to different cultures but even to the undead! Basically, push comes to shove and the movie ends up with some zombie rape. The little boy of the household ends up dying, which leads to him being turned into a zombie. He instantly is drawn to the zombie as a mother figure and then the father of the household seems to see her in a sexual light as well. Hence, more zombie rape. Then, the mother of the household can't handle a zombie being chosen over her by both her husband and her child. She goes a little crazy and ends up murdering some people...
Anyway, it was a fun movie. It was like a Japanese version of Warm Bodies...but way darker. I was the only one of my friends who wanted to see this movie, so it was a nice zombie 10:00 am wake up.
The only thing do watch after some zombie rape is a lovely lesbian love story. And by a lovely lesbian love story, I mean a really bad relationship that ended up with both parties getting hurt but was really a great life experience. But, this movie was actually really good and had quite a bit of lesbian porn so I'm offering no more spoilers.
This was Adele, chapters 1& 2. It was three hours of heart wrenching lesbian love.
Finally, my movie choices ended with a Korean Drama called "Fasten your Seat belts" in English and "Roller-coaster" in Korean.
From what I could tell, it was essentially Korean "Airplane" with significantly less Shirley jokes. It was pretty hilarious.
Of course, the weekend wasn't all movie watching. I also ate Sannakji 산낙지 or live octopus. Yeah, it squirmed in the mouth. Well, technically you stun it with sesame oil and then masticate for a while. If pieces are still attached and moving when you swallow, it can attach to your throat and kill you. Overall, I enjoyed it. We definitely ordered too much and it wasn't worth the cost, but it was preeeetty tasty.
The whole process of trying to pick it up.
Make sure you analyze whether your meal has feelings before you eat it.
In late September, barely after the semester started, I had 3 days off for 추석 or Korean Thanksgiving. Originally, I was planning on going to my host family's Thanksgiving. Then, I met my Korean family. My grandmother's younger brother still lives in Korea. He, his wife, and his two children are the only three family members who are left in Korea...except for me. Therefore, I was informed that I was going to Chuseok at their house. I was more than happy to oblige. The lead up to Chuseok was quick. I only had class on Monday and Tuesday. My co-teacher told me I should leave early on Tuesday and got my classes covered for me. After generously showing my students Taken 2 on Tuesday, I caught the bus to Seoul. The traffic was terrible; the entire country travels for this holiday. Finally, I saw my Grandfather. He was waiting patiently for me. I was quickly whisked to their apartment and shown my bed...which was a blanket on the floor in true Korean style. I met my second cousin and my great aunt. We shared a delicious meal before I promptly went to bed. My grandfather had a big day planned the next day. Sightseeing :)
My cousin, grandfather and I toured all the great sites of Seoul. We, or I should say my cousin, purchased a group ticket to the different historical landmarks. Because it was the day before Chuseok, they were fairly crowded. My grandfather did his best to explain the sites to me in Korean. He majored in Korean History, so he was very knowledgeable. His acting skills were commendable and I actually understood some of the things he was telling me.
Our group ticket
The Gate
A representation of what the this may have looked like many years ago
My grandfather (Great Uncle) and I
One of the King's chairs
The palace with metropolitan Seoul in the background
My cousin
The cover of my Korean Historical Novel
The Korean baby I wanted to steal
My grandfather mid-Korean history explaination
Korean traditional architecture
After touring the palaces for a while, we decided to tour the city for a little bit. We explored some different popular areas like Insadong and Myeongdong. The city was quite beautiful and it was great to spend it with family. Then, there was the cat cafe. After spending an absurd amount (which I didn't spend a dime on. Seriously, I'm going to have to bring my Seoul family a huge present. They did so much for me), we were welcomed into the cat cafe. Here, you could drink coffee or tea in the presence of carefully groomed cats. If you wanted to pay extra, you could buy treats for the cats and feed them. It was hilarious. Overpriced and unnecessary, but definitely hilarious.
Yeah. You pay extra to watch cats sleep. That happened.
GRUMPY CAT!
Here I am at the most expensive spot in Seoul. I don't remember how much it was, but it was pricey!
Hipster shot?
Every girl loves a secret garden. This was the special garden behind a palace.
My grandfather explaining Jongmyo Shrine.
Here, some kings were buried with MULTIPLE WIVES?!?!
I thought we looked so similar!
The pictures you take when your grandfather tells you where to stand
My grandmother
McDonald's delivery mopeds
My grandfather's apartment building
Yes, riding the subway merited a photo. I guess I didn't do in Seoul frequently
Inside my grandfather's apartment
Sunset at Seoul
At Chuseok, a traditional food is 송편. I was lucky enough to join the family and make some with my grandmother and her mother. I wasn't very good at it :)
After this, you boil it. It's quite tasty.
At my house, we have this book. I was excited to find it in Korea.
This is where the nobles used to live in Oldentime Korea.
King's Chair!
I love the style of Korean houses!
Secret Garden Pictures
Seoul was a fantastic. I am so grateful to my family and I can't wait to go back and visit. I can only hope that I can return having learned some more Korean so we can have a real conversation.
