Magkuli: 막걸리

The picture is the 'pick-your-own-squid' tank at Emart. Magkuli is a traditional Korean rice wine. It has a low alcohol content and a slightly sweet taste!

Today Lyn and I went to Emart, which is quickly becoming my new favorite place. We walked there and took a taxi back, and I was immensely pleased that we managed to orient ourselves/communicate enough to do that! I got some household things and lots of groceries, so now I can truly start cooking for myself. I want to start learning to cook traditional Korean food (or at least modified Korean food) but for right now I'm sticking to easy things like pasta. My mother will be pleased to know I bought some lettuce and bean sprouts with which to salad. I also got some Sesame leaves. I tried them the other night when we went out to dinner to celebrate Sandy's last day. At the restaurant we went to the table was given a giant plate of pork and a few piles of lettuce and sesame leaves, and you wrapped the pork (and other toppings, like garlic, kimchi, and potato noodles) into the leaves and then ate them. The sesame leaves were so delicious! I couldn't resist getting some to put in salad or snack on plain.

I also made a few very important purchases and I now have a half-gallon tank with a small female betta (long beautiful fins, blue with a slight mustard gas coloration for those who care, or just want to laugh at me). It's the little touch that really makes this place feel like a permanent home.

Lyn and I also got pizza for dinner at a cute local place called Pizza School. This is worth mentioning simply because we managed to order successfully despite the language barrier. Overall I'm very excited about how successful today was, it's really nice to feel like I'm acclimating!

~Hannah

Kim Chi: 김치

(Due to the 'family friendly' nature of this blog, I will not be talking about the unique Korean cultural experience that was drinking fruit soju in a really cute little box in a soju house thing. Hi Grandma!)

Teaching has been going well, overall. I won't gripe about it, the complaints I have are mostly related to a few individual students (and a collective conspiracy to not do homework) but these are things that anyone in the education industry probably knows exactly what I'm talking about. So I won't really go into it now (I'm also really tired, but it is absolutely not because Sandy and I stayed up til 5am... Hi Mom!)

Speaking of Sandy, I moved into her apartment the night Lyn got here and was crashing in the guest room. Today Sandy official moved out and I finally unpacked all my stuff and am getting settled in to MY apartment. I'll post pictures of the wallpaper later, because it's fantastic. It's a little weird to be honest, doesn't really feel like home yet, especially since I inherited so much stuff (which is awesome for my wallet, so no complaints). There's a trip to Emart in my near future to stock up on some essentials and some items to make this place feel more homey.

We get a five day weekend for vacation, which I will most likely spend getting ready to begin round two of grad school applications... not the funnest thing to do while in Korea, but it does mean I get to go to the folklore museum. Well, I need some sleep! Also, thanks to evvery one who has commented (both on and off the blog) about how much they enjoy reading! It's great to know there's an audience!

~Hannah

My Arrival and First Day

Sorry this is so late, but I got to GwangJu at 11:40pm last night, and to the apartment around midnight so I didn't post. And sorry dad, my title is not as awesome as Hannah's I'm too tired to be creative :)

Anyway, my flight was fairly uneventful. My first plane (Boston to LAX) was United. We had a cool pilot, and I was in between two nice men, but the seats were so small that I had difficulty curling up to sleep. This is unusual for me as I am tiny and can normally curl and sleep quite comfortably on planes. During my layover I met another girl who was going over to teach English, though she was going to a different place, I have since forgotten her name and where she was going to teach. Asiana was fine and I slept a lot on that flight. It was definitely one of my favorite planes :) The seats were comfy, we each had our own personal TVs on the seat in front of us and could choose movies or whatnot. I watched Alice in Wonderland (finally, it was awesome!), How to Train Your Dragon (again finally, and amazingly cute!), and Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief (I dozed for most of that awful movie that made me mad). The food, as Hannah already mentioned, was the best airline food ever. I had the Korean food option and it was delicious, even though I didn't eat much of it as it was served early in the flight and I had recently had lunch. On that flight I had a window seat so it was a little easier to sleep. I slept most of that flight. Above are pictures my dad emailed me taken via webcam at LAX of my plane taxi-ing and taking off, and my flight plan/stats.

Then I got to have the fun of finding the bus. I was a little nervous about this. Going through customs I met two nice boys, one of whom was heading to the military base, the other was his friend, I assume, and going somewhere else, I think. They said they would help me, but I promptly lost sight of them and couldn't find them again in the Baggage claim area. I then got directions to where I could buy the tickets, got slightly turned around and one of the men outside helped me out, and put my stuff on a cart which I stupidly had not grabbed. I bought the ticket and went over to wait for the bus, and while waiting I got hit on (that's gotta be a record for me except for the few times I've been hit on while on Amtrak). He didn't believe me when I told him that I did not know my address and did not have a phone number (both of which were true facts, I'm still a little unsure as to my address and still have no cell phone, I do have a phone in my apartment, but I don't know my number). He tried to give me his and I told him I probably wouldn't call him (I know I wouldn't have, but I was too tired to remember how to make a definite statement). He finally left me alone. I went into the air-conditioned waiting area and met a nice girl who had been planning on traveling to America to study but her flight was canceled, a woman who was very kind and lent me her cell phone so I could call Sandy and let her know when my bus left, and a man who helped me get my bags on the bus and was also very nice.

That was my fun traveling story :) nothing else interesting happened on the way here.

My first day at Mun Hwa was interesting. I followed Sandy around, as I am taking her classes and this will help me get to know them and for them to get to know me. We opened each class with them asking me questions. The most common questions were my age (Korean age 23, American age 22), my height (we guessed 150cm), if I had a boyfriend (no, that question was only once followed by asking if I was married instead), and where in America I was from (I had to tell them Boston because they probably wouldn't know the states very well. This was, in all but one class, immediately followed by the boys going, "Oh, Red Sox. Do you like baseball?". Glad to know what my state is known for). It was fun. I also did roll call and tried to pronounce all the names. All but one class laughed at my attempts, but didn't help me fix them and the boys would not tell me who was who. One Grade 6 class helped me out a lot though. And there was almost always a girl who sat near or at the front correcting my mistakes. I'm a little worried about taking over some of the classes, they seem very attached to Sandy and I'm worried they'll hold her leaving against me. She told me I shouldn't worry about that though, as long as I established that I was in control of the class I'll be fine. Some of the Grade 7 boys are taller then me, though, so that will be fun. I thought I wouldn't have to deal with that as much here, oy vey.

Tomorrow I will be stalking Sandy again, though hopefully I'll be more awake, I've been very tired today. Then, apparently, we have a break from Friday until Wednesday (I think, not entirely positive, my brain is having trouble remembering things...silly jet lag, should go away tomorrow mostly, I hope) so I came at a good time :) I start teaching next week, I'm so excited! I think I covered everything, that's all I can think of anyway. So I'll say good-night for now (or good-morning for the US time zone).

~Lyn

Tuna Fish: 참치

All my post titles seem to be about food! It's really the easiest way to learn how to say things. I'll buy a tasty snack, and Sandy will help me break down the characters so that I can both say the name of my tasty snack and also identify the characters in other words. I am slowly but surely getting the hang of it!

Monday was my first day of teaching! It went over far better than I expected. I was so nervous about what was going to happen, but everything went amazingly! The kids were chattier than necessary, but overall well behaved, and I managed to be engaging. That was one of my biggest fears, that the students would find me boring and uninteresting. I think I got off on the right foot though. I had each of my classes make name tags for themselves, and then I walked around the room and attempted to pronounce each students name. They all thought it was hysterical listening to me say their Korean names! I had my 6th and 7th grade classes write mini-biographies about themselves, and one of the things I had my first 6th grade class include was a useful word or phrase in Korean. They all came up with very useful things, and laughed as I stumbled over the pronunciation. It sounds like I just let the kids make fun of me, but while they certainly laughed at my expense, they were also very quick to help correct my horrid pronunciation.

My second 6th grade class of the day was amazingly dynamic. They did not take as much time to write and present their mini-biographies as the first class, which worried me at first (what would I do to fill the time?) but it quickly turned into a mutual Q&A session, which was enjoyable for all. One thing that several classes, but particularly these students, have fixated on is the fact that I wear 3 rings. For those who don't know, I wear 2 rings on my left hand and 1 on my right on a daily basis. They all hold sentimental value to me, 2 are from family members and 1 I got for myself in Russia. So while they mean a lot to me, they by no means symbolize marriage, engagement, or my relation status in general. The first question they asked was if I was married, because the one ring is on my left ring-finger. I said no, so they immediately asked me if I had a boyfriend. I said yes. They asked me where he was (in America... which led them to wrongly assume it was Britton, so there may be some explaining to do when he gets back, even though I tried to strongly discourage that assumption) and then they asked me if I had three rings for three boyfriends! I tried to give them a micro-culture lesson about how Americans wear rings just for the sake of wearing them, but they were far to enthralled with the idea that I was "coupled" with someone... Maybe I'll turn Josh into a lesson plan!

The 7th graders were alarmingly quiet. I was quite taken aback! In addition to being quiet they seemed reluctant to want to do anything... hopefully I will find a way to get through to them.

And my 3rd graders? Absolutely crazy in a completely adorable way. I think they will all be good kids.

Our schedule now runs from 1-7, so after work Sandy, Lori, and I went downtown. I bought several pairs of Korean socks (so cute!), and they showed me where a bookstore was that sold English language books. I was ecstatic to find a book of Korean folktales in English. Now to read through them and come up with some fantastic research to get me into Berkeley (ha.ha.)! We met up with Petra (who is still working the 4-9 schedule) and got some fantastic chicken for dinner. It was seriously incredible. It also gave Lori and I the chance to catch up on the Ho/Bro gossip, and reminiscence about a lot of mutual acquaintances (for those who don't know, Lori and I went to the same high school, in addition to both attending Elmira College).

Well, it's technically Tuesday here, so Lyn should arrive sometime tonight! I'm off to get some sleep!

~Hannah

Traveling...pt 1

So I thought I'd post a small update quick while I wait for my parents to drive meto the airport. It's 3:30AM EST and I'm about to start my trip over to Korea :) I didn't sleep any because I'm so nervous/excited so we'll seehow coherent I am when I arrive at LAX for my layover. I can't wait to see what Hannah has been talking about, and though my posts may be a little shorter than hers, I'll probably ramble just as much. I'll post again if I get very bored at LAX but I am about to head to the airport now! I'm on my way!
~Lyn

Soju: 소주

Soju is a popular Korean alcohol. It tasted like a slightly watered down version of vodka, and is apparently really good when mixed with fruit. I was given my introductory lesson in Korean alcohol the other night at Sandy's going away dinner. Lori and Petra made spaghetti and chicken, and then we taught some of Sandy and Lori's Korean friends American drinking games, like Kings, a very modified version of beer pong (we didn't have ping pong balls), and we tried to teach them Asshole, but no one really knew how to play. I managed to impress the Korean's by holding my soju well!

Before my night of socializing, Lori and Petra took me to Emart, which is like the Korean equivalent of wal-mart. You can get everything there! I was a little overwhelmed, there was so much stuff! But I did manage to pick up a few groceries and some useful items, like hairspray and laundry bags (apparently if you do laundry here without putting your clothes in laundry bags they will get ruined). I was particularly fascinated by the 'pick your own squid/octopus/gigantic crab' tanks. Just like the pick-your-own lobster tanks at home, these are in the grocery section of emart, and you can select a live squid, octopus, or king crab (HUGEEEE king crab) to take home or have boiled for you. I need to start thinking about what kind of meals I want to make so that I can actually cook, I was too overstimulated yesterday to make anything more than the most basic purchases. I also found the pet section, so after Friday, when I am settled into my official home for the year, I can set up a small aquarium. And yes, they have bettas here!

Yesterday was also my very first monsoon. It puts any rainstorm I've seen in the states to shame.

Some other fun things about Korea:
I found a TV channel that appears to just be showing people playing starcraft.
In Korea, I am 23, not 22, because your age starts at 1
K-Pop reminds me a lot of early 90s pop, especially in the music videos (bright colors, highly choreographed dancing)
Mattresses here are extra firm because many Koreans actually prefer to sleep on the floor on little mats
Koreans are obsessed with staying slim and staying out of the sun. Even on the hottest days many people will have on long sleeves and pants to keep from becoming tan, and many skin care products are whitening

I'm spending the rest of the day consolidating my stuff and cleaning up the apartment, because Lyn leaves tomorrow and will be staying here in Britton's apartment with me until Friday! And after Lyn arrives, you won't just be subjected to my ramblings, and this should get a lot more interesting!
~Hannah

Sweet Potato: 고구마

I am slowly picking up the alphabet and some words, so now I can say sweet potato, water, and every now and then I manage to get all the syllables in 'Hello' strung together in the right order. It has only been two days, so I have low expectations for myself.

I'm still very jetlagged, and despite the fact that by 9pm every night I'm utterly exhausted I haven't been sleeping as well as I feel like I should be, but I guess that's what jetlag (and being in a new place) do to you. No one should worry, because I know that my sleep schedule will get itself sorted out soon enough!!

So after getting settled into my temporary apartment on Thursday (not much settling required, since I saw no point in trying to unpack anything) we went into the school. Mun Hwa is a cram school, so the kids usually come in after they've already attended regular school. The schedule we are on now we work from 4-9, although it will switch to (I believe) 1-7 for intensive sessions starting next week until September. The kids all seem very nice, they are all fascinated by how tall I am, and my height is one of the first questions that I'm asked (173 centimeters, if you're interested). Before I came over here, everyone told me how lucky I was going to be teaching in an Asian country, how the children would be so well behaved! Well, let me just say that after two days of observation, I have absolutely no clue where the 'diligent Asian student' stereotype comes from!! They are just as crazy as American students, and the difference in behavior between the girls and boys is also comparable (the girls will often sit quietly while the boys goof off and yell...) Not to say that they don't all seem like good kids (for the most part) but a part of me was expecting to be teaching to classrooms full of silent children hanging on your every word. Aha, nope.

We went out for Indian food last night as part of Sandy's going away weekend, and I got to meet more English speakers! I'm pretty sure everyone I met was teaching at one of the many language schools in the area. I'm very glad that I got the chance to meet everyone, it's going to be great knowing people. Unfortunately, by that point I was slightly comatose, so while the food was good and the people were awesome I was borderline zombie.

So now I suppose I'll make a little note about the food! I haven't had much yet, but what I have had has been good. Most things seem to be spicy, which will take some getting used to, as will "eating like a Korean." The portions here are fairly large, and of course rice is a staple, so you get full fast! My new favorite snack food is the tuna triangle, which is a convenient little snack you can grab at the 7-11 (yes, they have those here!). It's a nice little rice triangle with tuna in the middle, wrapped in crunchy salted seaweed. Normally I don't like things wrapped in seaweed because I find the taste overpowering, but this was amazing, and I can't wait to have more! I also got a bag of chips of an undetermined variety. Sandy taught me how to read the label on the bag and informed me that they were sweet potato chips! I also tried shrimp flavored puffs, drank some pocari sweat (a gatorade type beverage), and of course Indian food. Eating out here is really cheap, which is both good and bad. I'm going grocery shopping this afternoon and plan to stock up on some ramen (things I didn't think I'd have to say after graduation!) and some little dumplings so that I can make myself lunch and dinner. I was also assured that I would not have to worry about eating dog, which is something that I personally wasn't too concerned about (and yes, I would try it if offered) but since everyone has been asking about it, I thought I'd let you know.

Well, I suppose that's it for now! Tonight will be my first experience with the Korean bar scene, so that update should be pretty interesting!

And because I've only been learning useful phrases about sweet potatos and hovercrafts I don't know how to say bye in Korean! Take care everyone!
~Hannah

My Hovercraft is Full of Eels: 내 호버크라프트는 장어로 가득 차 있어요

The above is apparently what counts for a useful phrase on certain websites!

After a very long couple of days I no longer know which end is up or have any sense of what time or day it is. My body seems to believe that it is 4pm, and that it has been in a constant state of 4pmness for the past 3 days, possibly because I decided that sleep is overrated. My body is also begging me for any kind of food that is not chocolate based.

The adventure started at 330am on the 20th, when my dad and I drove down to Logan Airport in Boston to deposit me on the plane. Driving in Boston is always a fiasco, and this time was no exception. Fortunately we did not get too epically lost. For all the traveling I've done, this was my first time ever flying alone, and given how much I hate flying, it was not fun. I spent over half of the 6 hour flight to LA absolutely convinced I was seconds away from death. As you have figured out, I did not die.

I had a 14 hour layover in LA, and so for that I went and crashed at a Hampton Inn. Had a king size bed all to myself! So there I napped, showered, and caught up with some people on the East Coast before repacking my carry on and heading back to LAX.

Now this is unrelated to the overall Korea story, but it's a pet peeve, and so I'm going to take a moment to educate all y'all. Cultural Anthropology, Biological/Evolutionary Anthropology, and Archaeology are entirely separate specifications under a broader umbrella. It's like being a pediatrician, a brain surgeon, and an anesthesiologist. They all fall under one common field, but have completely different and noninterchangeable descriptions. So when you asked what I majored in, and I tell you Anthropology, don't go asking me where I want to go dig up skulls, cuz that is NOT my field.

Got checked in at LAX, changed some money, and found the sketchiest airport gate in the country... seriously. It was like... a closet compared to all the other ones, and every time they tried to announce something, the Mexico gate also decided to announce something and so I basically sat for an hour without having a single clue what was going on, but I made my flight and that's what counts.

Asiana (the airline I flew) had surprisingly decent food. The meal choices were steak or bi bim bap (which is a traditional Korean dish), I opted to be adventurous, and I'm glad I did, because it was delicious, possibly the best airline food I've ever had (although I did spend the day subsisting on Luna Bars and chocolate covered almonds, so my stomach may have just been overly excited). I thankfully was exhausted enough that I managed to sleep for most of the flight.

Arriving in Incheon was interesting, I had no problems going through customs, but finding the bus I needed to take to Gwangju was a little tricky. I was bewildered and tired, and the fact that I can't speak a single word of Korean did not help. I was a little freaked out because I could not find an open ticket booth, but a very patient crossing guard explained to me that it was ok that none of them were open, they would open soon, and then I could buy my ticket and wait for my bus. The flight landed at 5am, and none of the ticket counters opened until 545am, but once I understood that I was able to relax and wait before buying a ticket for the 650am bust to Gwangju. The bus ride was really nice, very comfortable, and once again I managed to get some sleep. We stopped at a very nice rest stop, and I thought about getting food, but was a little taken aback because everything seems to come on sticks, and I had no clue what anything was made of. I settled for an iced tea that tasted kinda like noodles. It sounds weird, but I was very OK with it.

The bus ride was about 4 hours through Korean countryside, which all starts to look the same after a while. Lots of shrines (/tombs?) and gardens... I believe most of what I saw was rice paddies, based on how heavily irrigated it all looked, but I could be wrong.

Petra and Lori picked me up at the bus station, it was so great to see some freindly faces and know that I could communicate with them! They were also easy to spot, being the only blondes around! We swung by a Dunkin Donuts (yes, they have them here!) so that I could get some coffee and food (a chocolate muffin... I don't know why I chose that!). Despite being an American based chain, they had lots of neat donut options, including a banana flavored one that was shaped like a banana! I will probably have to experiment with these, just for the halibut. We took a taxi to "my" apartment (I'm currently living in Britton's, for the time being) and I was able to shower and organize my stuff a little. After I finish this I'm going to take a cat nap, because they are taking me into work so that I can start my training! I'm very nervous about that, but hey, it's what I'm here for!

So if you don't feel like reading all of that, the cliff notes are: Safe, alive, and kinda tired! Expect more updates in the next couple of days!

~Hannah

Hi, I'm Hannah, and I'm moving to South Korea...

Figured it was about time that I made a post in this here thing, eh?

So for those who don't know, I'm Hannah, the other half of this mythical duo. This is just a quick update on where we stand with everything. The plans have changed yet again, and I will be departing solo on the 20th (That's right... Tuesday). So I have frantically begun packing, but this is good news for all y'all because soon you will be getting real posts about real things of real interest!

And yes, Lyn is still leaving on the 26th.