A conversation between my friend (네 친구), a --Korean born-- Korean language tutor and a German English teacher (선생님), a conversation that can happen few other places than Korea.
네 친구: I took German classes when I was in high school...there was this phrase (whispers something into the English teacher's ear)
(Short Pause.)
선생님: ...was that English or German?
(VERY brief contemplation.)
네 친구: I don't know.
...the phrase, by the way, was "God is dead," which my other friend, also an English teacher, inferred from his knowledge of German philosophy.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Sunday, October 4, 2009
A REQUEST PLEASE READ
I was calling home the other day, and my mother mentioned that people loved my blog. If you do read this, please let me know by becoming a "follower," or perhaps making comments as to what you liked.
Would be very appreciative, thanks!
Would be very appreciative, thanks!
A Final Note on JeJu
Funny story from the ferry from Jeju Island....the group of foreigners I spent the weekend with booked a cheap group room, something like a 25 person room? I forget the number, but it certainly wasn't reserved solely for us. Koreans are very particular about certain customs, one of the main ones being that you take off your shoe before entering a room. Now, one of the girls forgot and stepped up into the room WITHOUT taking off her shoes, and a Korean woman practically screamed at her to take them off...and for the rest of the night, she glared at my friend whenever she dared peek around the corner where the woman was lying down. Anyway, the funny part is that all the REST of the Koreans left, too. The one even picked up her newspapers and went out. Maybe ten minutes later, a manager type stopped by the room and-- I swear-- the SAME thought went through all of our heads, "Yeah, he must be checking on the foreigners cuz he got a complaint that we were wearing SHOES in the room, so let's pretend we don't know what he wants and act all fake cheery," and in the same breath, in the same fake bright tone, over enunciating, we all went, "Ah-nyang-ha-se-yo!" and the man's face actually LIT up and, in very clear, though quick, English, said, "You speak Korean!" and we sort of shook our heads and he went away.
It's so funny how Koreans think if you know "hello" in their language, you must be able to speak Korean. No, we really just know how to say hello and how much is this and where is the bathroom. But thanks for the confidence.
^_^
It's so funny how Koreans think if you know "hello" in their language, you must be able to speak Korean. No, we really just know how to say hello and how much is this and where is the bathroom. But thanks for the confidence.
^_^
JeJu Island...in more detail...Day Two
Okay, so aside from the usual randomness and wandering, the COOLEST thing we did that day was check out LoveLand. I heard was a statue park...okay, no, they really meant LOVEland. Korea, a country of sexual repression which doesn't even really sell tampons, you can find, but very pricy, small selection, etc., but has, as far as I know, the only park filled with statues of men and women in explicit, and hilarious, sexual poses.
It's the kind of place you really have to experience for yourself, but there were boob hills with nipples on top and a car, rocking ever so slightly, with noises coming from it, though no people inside. It was great watching all the people peering into the car, expecting to find dummies and finding nothing. The best were the "ajamas," the older women who cracked up at every display. I saw a couple pushing their perambulator with their little daughter inside. The woman at the shop demonstrated a battery powered toy that "helped" itself.... It was kind of fantastic, but I don't think I would have appreciated it outside of Korea.
...and then I had a lovely dinner of ribs and cream of broccoli soup. Mmmmmmmmm.....
On the ferry, I learned to play a dice game called Farkle...Rules kind of hard to explain here, but SO much fun. Must play with my students when I get back, as soon as I figure out where to buy six dice of the same color.
Then I pretty much slept, for some reason the ferry kept turning the lights on and off throughout the night, so I slept inconsistently with weird dreams. I caught up on my sleep when I got back home.
Lucy missed me.
I went to the gym.
I met with friend and bought a crepe with a piece of cake in it and a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the biggest bookstore in my area.
That is my Chuseok in a nutshell. Tomorrow shall be a day of housecleaning and lying on my bed reading. Shall update if anything interesting occurs.
Reminder: On next trip to JeJu, if such occurs, check out the Teddy Bear Museum and find Zapatos...supposedly near the City Hall. Rumoured (did I just spell that with a "u", yes I did) to have excellent Mexican food, the best in Korea perhaps.
It's the kind of place you really have to experience for yourself, but there were boob hills with nipples on top and a car, rocking ever so slightly, with noises coming from it, though no people inside. It was great watching all the people peering into the car, expecting to find dummies and finding nothing. The best were the "ajamas," the older women who cracked up at every display. I saw a couple pushing their perambulator with their little daughter inside. The woman at the shop demonstrated a battery powered toy that "helped" itself.... It was kind of fantastic, but I don't think I would have appreciated it outside of Korea.
...and then I had a lovely dinner of ribs and cream of broccoli soup. Mmmmmmmmm.....
On the ferry, I learned to play a dice game called Farkle...Rules kind of hard to explain here, but SO much fun. Must play with my students when I get back, as soon as I figure out where to buy six dice of the same color.
Then I pretty much slept, for some reason the ferry kept turning the lights on and off throughout the night, so I slept inconsistently with weird dreams. I caught up on my sleep when I got back home.
Lucy missed me.
I went to the gym.
I met with friend and bought a crepe with a piece of cake in it and a copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies at the biggest bookstore in my area.
That is my Chuseok in a nutshell. Tomorrow shall be a day of housecleaning and lying on my bed reading. Shall update if anything interesting occurs.
Reminder: On next trip to JeJu, if such occurs, check out the Teddy Bear Museum and find Zapatos...supposedly near the City Hall. Rumoured (did I just spell that with a "u", yes I did) to have excellent Mexican food, the best in Korea perhaps.
JeJu Island...in more detail...Day One
I meant to go to JeJu Island with a friend...but sometimes you simply cannot wait for people to come along. You have to just do it on your own. So I did, with more or less an idea of what I was going to do...
I met two Korean sisters on the ferry who were very nice and helpful. We communicated in a mixture of English and Korean. Their Korean was better than my Korean, but not by very much. I definitely was able to exercise my knowledge of the Korean language. I communicated, though various means, that I was an English teacher in Busan. The one girl was 21, her sister was younger, but I don't remember how old. She was very giggly and liked to put her hands up to her face, a very common thing among Korean females, it appears. They helped me find a place to charge my phone, which ended up being the kiosk. The man charged me 1,000 won for 40 minutes. It lasted long enough for me to have a conversation later that night with a friend in Seoul. I also, again quite randomly, met up with a group of foreigners, which consisted of Americans, one South African, and one Australian. Five girls and one guy, Korean, though they referred to him as "Mung?" Must find out what this means (note, I hope it doesn't mean what I found online...)
I crashed with the foreigners at their hostel, 12,000 won for the night. Not bad, considering other hostels wanted me to book a 2 person room for 40,000 a night. I chanced it and it worked out all right for me. When we arrived at the hostel, it wasn't quite ready, so we wandered around downtown for an hour. We stopped at a Paris Baguette, oh how convenient those can be!, found everywhere in Korea and having nothing to do with France except that bread is also baked there. I picked up a roll which turned out to be vaguely cheese and herb flavored and orange (I realized in better lighting that the outside of the roll was that same orange colored, I should have suspected it wasn't cinnamon earlier). I also got a small carton of strawberry milk and at the very last second, as I approached the counter, the woman was JUST taking out a tray of hot dogs wrapped in filo dough with what looked to be cheese on top and I just HAD to have one (as did my friend). My second hot dog in Korea. Then it was back to the hostel. We chilled, napped, and around 11? Got up and the first thing we did was try and find the Miniaturized Museum.
We had a generally good time taking pictures of all the miniature landmarks and famous buildings (the Statue of Liberty is much smaller than you might imagine, much smaller than the Eiffel Tower, for example). This girl, Nadia, who I found myself taking pictures with that afternoon, liked to stop at the gift shops. At one, I picked up a small volcanic Buddha statue. The old man behind the counter said something about smiles, and we both thought he meant, did i want a smiling one, and I thought, sure, that would be nice...and he went around, we assumed, to exchange it...but then he sat down on a stone bench and started chipping at it-- and we realized he was actually going to PUT a smile on the little man for me. I videotaped him at work with my pink camera. It really did look much friendlier for the effort, and I thanked him and purchased a heart shaped rock and a couple of cute figureines in addition.
Then, oh!, have to share this. We had passed a go-cart place earlier and the taxi driver wanted to take us there right away, but we said, no, we want to go to the museum first...so the first thing we did after that was the carts. I was actually a bit nervous, having forgotten the last time, if ever, I had done this, but I determined to drive anyway, rather than be a mere passenger. I tried to get the man to videotape, but think that failed. Anyway, I kicked butt. I think I was third to start my car and I definitely passed everyone in the group. I KNOW I lapped the guy at least once in the end, which I think rather pissed him off (in the American sense of the word.) He complained I didn't know how to use the breaks. I did, I just didn't see the point in them. I paid for it, though, marks all over my elbows, a long scratch from my seatbelt, and a decent-sized bruise on the back of my shoulder. Well worth it.
The last sightseeing point of the afternoon was a famous waterfall which fell directly into the ocean. Quite pretty, although too many people to be serene. I could sense it being very romantic at night....
By then, we were starving so we ate at a Japanese restaurant before recuperating at the hostel for the night's adventures.
That night, one of the girls said that we needed to explore another waterfall, which was supposed to be even more beautiful at night, all lit up and gorgeous. We found it.....eventually. I think we followed a sort of snaked around path which took us basically in the opposite direction...but we DID find it, and for 2,000 won, it was worth it. Nice path up to the waterfall, too, with a stepping stone path over water.
After that we took it easy at the hostel, chatting and watching (or half-watching, half-freaking out) I Am Legend. Only it had a crappy ending where Will Smith lives and he and the woman live happily ever after.
I met two Korean sisters on the ferry who were very nice and helpful. We communicated in a mixture of English and Korean. Their Korean was better than my Korean, but not by very much. I definitely was able to exercise my knowledge of the Korean language. I communicated, though various means, that I was an English teacher in Busan. The one girl was 21, her sister was younger, but I don't remember how old. She was very giggly and liked to put her hands up to her face, a very common thing among Korean females, it appears. They helped me find a place to charge my phone, which ended up being the kiosk. The man charged me 1,000 won for 40 minutes. It lasted long enough for me to have a conversation later that night with a friend in Seoul. I also, again quite randomly, met up with a group of foreigners, which consisted of Americans, one South African, and one Australian. Five girls and one guy, Korean, though they referred to him as "Mung?" Must find out what this means (note, I hope it doesn't mean what I found online...)
I crashed with the foreigners at their hostel, 12,000 won for the night. Not bad, considering other hostels wanted me to book a 2 person room for 40,000 a night. I chanced it and it worked out all right for me. When we arrived at the hostel, it wasn't quite ready, so we wandered around downtown for an hour. We stopped at a Paris Baguette, oh how convenient those can be!, found everywhere in Korea and having nothing to do with France except that bread is also baked there. I picked up a roll which turned out to be vaguely cheese and herb flavored and orange (I realized in better lighting that the outside of the roll was that same orange colored, I should have suspected it wasn't cinnamon earlier). I also got a small carton of strawberry milk and at the very last second, as I approached the counter, the woman was JUST taking out a tray of hot dogs wrapped in filo dough with what looked to be cheese on top and I just HAD to have one (as did my friend). My second hot dog in Korea. Then it was back to the hostel. We chilled, napped, and around 11? Got up and the first thing we did was try and find the Miniaturized Museum.
We had a generally good time taking pictures of all the miniature landmarks and famous buildings (the Statue of Liberty is much smaller than you might imagine, much smaller than the Eiffel Tower, for example). This girl, Nadia, who I found myself taking pictures with that afternoon, liked to stop at the gift shops. At one, I picked up a small volcanic Buddha statue. The old man behind the counter said something about smiles, and we both thought he meant, did i want a smiling one, and I thought, sure, that would be nice...and he went around, we assumed, to exchange it...but then he sat down on a stone bench and started chipping at it-- and we realized he was actually going to PUT a smile on the little man for me. I videotaped him at work with my pink camera. It really did look much friendlier for the effort, and I thanked him and purchased a heart shaped rock and a couple of cute figureines in addition.
Then, oh!, have to share this. We had passed a go-cart place earlier and the taxi driver wanted to take us there right away, but we said, no, we want to go to the museum first...so the first thing we did after that was the carts. I was actually a bit nervous, having forgotten the last time, if ever, I had done this, but I determined to drive anyway, rather than be a mere passenger. I tried to get the man to videotape, but think that failed. Anyway, I kicked butt. I think I was third to start my car and I definitely passed everyone in the group. I KNOW I lapped the guy at least once in the end, which I think rather pissed him off (in the American sense of the word.) He complained I didn't know how to use the breaks. I did, I just didn't see the point in them. I paid for it, though, marks all over my elbows, a long scratch from my seatbelt, and a decent-sized bruise on the back of my shoulder. Well worth it.
The last sightseeing point of the afternoon was a famous waterfall which fell directly into the ocean. Quite pretty, although too many people to be serene. I could sense it being very romantic at night....
By then, we were starving so we ate at a Japanese restaurant before recuperating at the hostel for the night's adventures.
That night, one of the girls said that we needed to explore another waterfall, which was supposed to be even more beautiful at night, all lit up and gorgeous. We found it.....eventually. I think we followed a sort of snaked around path which took us basically in the opposite direction...but we DID find it, and for 2,000 won, it was worth it. Nice path up to the waterfall, too, with a stepping stone path over water.
After that we took it easy at the hostel, chatting and watching (or half-watching, half-freaking out) I Am Legend. Only it had a crappy ending where Will Smith lives and he and the woman live happily ever after.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Summar of my Weekend in Jeju...a blur...
My Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving)
Overnight in the ferry...picked a terminal at near random and got the right one, which was good as was running late..splurged on a room with a bed so got my own bunk bed with a pull around curtain...met these two Korean girls, my age, helped me find a place to charge my cell (kiosk, 1,000 Won)...they wanted to take pictures with me in the morning...I gave the one my cell number...met up with a group of Americans, South Africans, and Australians who I spent the weekend with....Miniature Musuem filled with all sorts of minituarized national monuments, friend's quote, "Americans take note, the Statue of Liberty is smaller than you think."...it was, too, compared to the Eiffel Tower, which STILL towered above us...kicked butt at go-carts (who says you NEED to use the breaks on those things?)....checked out a waterfall that fell directly into the ocean...and another one...which we managed to do a sort of winding snake circle towards, kind of in exactly the opposite direction, hard to explain...
I talked to the taxi driver about being an elementary school teacher...banged myself up pretty well at go-carts...interesting old guy carved a smile into my volcanic rock Buddha...I took video...spent money far too freely...took random pictures with various cartoon figures and buildings...slept in a bed both nights...realizing, of all things, am becoming addicted to the triangular musubi (?), rice wrapped in dried seaweed with some kind of filling, and melon ice cream pops, very creamy and delicious...I shall miss having those, cheap, convenient, when I return to...the States?...wherever...
I want to go to Seoul for a day.
Overnight in the ferry...picked a terminal at near random and got the right one, which was good as was running late..splurged on a room with a bed so got my own bunk bed with a pull around curtain...met these two Korean girls, my age, helped me find a place to charge my cell (kiosk, 1,000 Won)...they wanted to take pictures with me in the morning...I gave the one my cell number...met up with a group of Americans, South Africans, and Australians who I spent the weekend with....Miniature Musuem filled with all sorts of minituarized national monuments, friend's quote, "Americans take note, the Statue of Liberty is smaller than you think."...it was, too, compared to the Eiffel Tower, which STILL towered above us...kicked butt at go-carts (who says you NEED to use the breaks on those things?)....checked out a waterfall that fell directly into the ocean...and another one...which we managed to do a sort of winding snake circle towards, kind of in exactly the opposite direction, hard to explain...
I talked to the taxi driver about being an elementary school teacher...banged myself up pretty well at go-carts...interesting old guy carved a smile into my volcanic rock Buddha...I took video...spent money far too freely...took random pictures with various cartoon figures and buildings...slept in a bed both nights...realizing, of all things, am becoming addicted to the triangular musubi (?), rice wrapped in dried seaweed with some kind of filling, and melon ice cream pops, very creamy and delicious...I shall miss having those, cheap, convenient, when I return to...the States?...wherever...
I want to go to Seoul for a day.
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