Thanksgiving and the likes

So, this past weekend, I celebrated Thanksgiving~

I never thought I'd be eating a full-blown thanksgiving meal in the heart of Seoul.  But I did.

But before I get there, I guess I'll talk about what else I did.  On Friday I met with Rae in Itaewon to borrow her prepaid phone. Thank god... I want to reiterate how hard it is to live in Korea without a phone!...  Now I have a working phone with which I can contact people and be contacted. Whew.
We hung out at a cafe for a bit and then I met up with Soonae unni, one of the counselors from Sup Sogui Hosu.  We went to dinner and ate shabu shabu (hot pot) and then went shopping to find me a winter jacket. I brought one, but its not warm enough... We found one at a store in 이대 on sale!

Soonae unni and me~

On Saturday, I met up with Eunji unni, YunJeong unni, and Jinwha unni in Sinchon. It was really fun seeing them as I haven't seen anyone from camp since it ended in August.  We ate 찜닭 (jjim tak - chicken, noodles, and veggies) and then went out for tea~

a bit blurry... Eunji, Yunjeong, and me

Then, later, Nik and I went to KoRoot for their annual Thanksgiving dinner and we ate turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, carrots, potato soup, salad etc. The only thing that was missing was my green bean casserole... I guess I'll have to wait on that.

Thanksgiving dinner plate~~

It was really funny. So, we took the bus from the subway station toward Koroot and ran into a bunch of other adoptees on their way there as well. I'd never ridden the bus that way before, so I wasn't sure where to get off. Nik knows, but he had a senior moment so we got off a stop too soon... I didn't realize until later, but some of the other people had followed us off the bus! Oops...

The dinner was a way to celebrate Thanksgiving and also raise money for the single mothers organization, Mama Mia.  It was kind of funny though, because there were a lot of adoptees there, and of course, not all of them were American. I happened to sit next to two Danish Korean adoptees, both of whom were celebrating their first American Thanksgiving~

After dinner, Nik's had plans to go ice skating with one of his friend and I decided to tag along.  Nik's friend is a member of a skating club and they rent out the Lotte ice rink once a month after hours.  So, we headed across the city to Jamsil to Lotte World.  Nik's friend, Min is an awesome skater.  Nik met her through inline skating, but she also knows how to speed skate! wow.   I borrowed Nik's hockey skates but they were too big... I did a few laps, but then just hung out and watched others.  Some of the people were really good!  
Afterwards, the club went out for 뒷풀이 (that term may be familiar~ it's what I did after drumming class/drumming performances) - basically go out for korean bbq and drinking to create a communal feeling, more bonding, and relaxation...

Lotte ice rink - so empty!!! normally there are 50 x that many people...

Wow! The guy next to me got sooooo red! I've never seen anyone get that red before. His face, neck, arms - all just beet red! And man was he loud!!!

It was fun. Nik, Min, and I shared a taxi back and I got home at 4.  The only down side is when you leave, you smell like bbq meat... ugh.

Today I went to lunch with Mark and had Mexican.  We went to South of the Boarder and I got the chimichanga I had wanted to get before I left s.  I'd heard about it since freshman high school... out in search of some good children's books in English. I went to Kyobo bookstore because I've heard its the biggest and the best.  However, it was extremely crowded! I should have realized Sunday was not an ideal time to go. Plus, all of their children's books in English come with a CD which I don't need and makes the books more expensive... So, I left and went to Bandi &  Luni bookstore.
A very small selection and almost all with English recordings... I sucked it up and bought one, "Looks Like Spilled Milk." Awesome, right?
After the bookstore, I stopped by Dongdaemoon market to buy a nicer looking bag for work etc.  I found one I liked, but the lady said it was W 80,000 ($80)!!!  Way too expensive.  The others were okay... I ended up haggling it down to about 50% off!!! I felt sooo good.

I went home after that.  And had fried chicken for dinner. Now that I've had my fix of fried chicken, hopefully I'll be good for a while. It's sooo good in Korea though...
Now, I'm at a coffee shop with Mark. We came here to use the internet, but their wireless was messed up... so, we're now tethering internet from his iphone. Oh, it is also snowing outside... Pretty but cold.

Mark's apartment:

my stuff... it looks like it exploded out of my suitcases~

Well, tomorrow is my first day of work! Wish me luck.

pancakes and noodles-in-a-box

Hi~

So, its my second day here~ Yesterday was fairly productive, until I fell asleep, that is.

Yesterday, midmorning I went to the immigration office.  I forgot to ask Nik how to get to the subway station from his apt. before he left for work, but I wandered around and found one (not the closest one, but I found one). The immigration office was surprisingly uncrowded and I waited less than 5 minutes before I was called! That NEVER happens!!! I turned my paperwork in, in order to get my alien registration card, which I NEED to reactivate my cell phone and do banking stuff.  I'll get my passport back along with my alien reg. card on the 30th. So, just a few more days of inconvenience without a cell phone.  In a country where 4 year olds have their own phones, it's really hard to function here without a phone...

I met up with Nik and his coworker for lunch at a Chinese restaurant. After lunch I went back to Nik's. I had planned on going to the bank to check my balance on my debit card, but I never made it... I checked my email, worked on some grad. school apps, and then got a facebook message from someone asking if I was okay and how Korea was due to the bombing by North Korea! That was the first I had heard of it...

I wanted to watch the news, but I couldn't get Nik's tv to work. (Later, I found out I needed to plug the cable in... That explains why  I couldn't get a simple tv with no more than four buttons to work...) So, I ended up reading the news online. Then I got really sleepy and decided to take a quick nap. Initially, I resisted because I generally don't take naps and get over jetlag fast. But, Nik and I had stayed up late the night before, so besides being jetlagged, I was running on little sleep.

Woke up and went out to find someplace to eat with Nik. We ended up meeting up with Mark and his girlfriend at "Noodle Box."  They serve noodles in a box; a Chinese take-out box.  It was really nice seeing Mark~ I'll be moving over to his place later today.

This morning, Nik and I made pancakes for breakfast!!!  yum...

I have a meeting with Mrs. Seol, the program director of the Holt Homecoming program, which I have my teaching job though. It will be nice to finally meet her. Susie has talked her up quite a bit. Wish me luck!

One More Hurrah~ (In Korea)

Hi~

I'm back in Seoul, Korea, yet again.  This time, I have a job teaching English as well as taking Korean classes at Sogang University (same school as last spring).

It was rather treacherous trying to get to the airport during the wee hours of this morning (technically yesterday, I guess...).  Minnesota had just the right temperature for a nasty slick coating of ice that covered the roads...  So, we left at 5:30 am and it took Mom, Dad, and me an hour to get to the airport! And along a particularly harrowing stretch of road, we saw something like 15 spinouts/crashes/possibly people just waiting it out, on the side of the road. Jeez...

My parents thought I might have to go through one of those new airport scanners, but the ones at the gate at MSP weren't being used this morning, and later on, in Chicago they did every other person, and I was not chosen.  That's fine by me - I had enough xrays last spring in Korea to last me a long while.

My flight from MSP took off over an hour late due to the weather conditions.  They de-iced our plane, we taxied. Then stopped and waited. Then taxied. Then they told us all flights were grounded for the next 30-40 minutes...  So of course, I called my mom. But as soon as I got off the phone with her, they said the grounding had been lifted and we took off about 15 min. after that. Whew.

Chicago was no problem.  I didn't really have any spare time, but I made it to my gate fine.  I even had time to stop in the duty-free store to buy my friend a bottle of Grey Goose he wanted me to bring over. ^^

The flight from Chicago to Korea went by fairly fast.  I got through a 327 page book in under 5 hours. I don't know if that's fast or not, but I was pretty persistent.  It wasn't that it was that good (it wasn't bad either), but I didn't feel like watching a lot of movies for some reason... I think last time I flew over, I watched movies straight though and ended up completing about 7 movies.
Also, last time I flew over, I met one of the most awesome unnis on the airplane~ Sadly, this time, I didn't make any new friends... hehe.

Anyhow, I got my bags pretty fast at baggage claim and walked out and saw a sign with my name on it;vI had been worried that I wouldn't find my ride.  Holt had sent some ajusshi to take me to Nik's apt. where I'll be staying for the first two days.  Man, this ajusshi had the most pimped out van-taxi ever! It felt like a child's daycare inside. And it was immaculately clean!  The inside had bright red carpet.  In between the front and back, there was this fake log that kind of separated the sections, and it had a holder for a roll of toilet paper (used here instead of a kleenex box).  The back seat had a white cover and bright orange/red/blue pillows attached to the head rests.  And there was some sort of cartoon seat-cover on the front seat. Thus, the bright bold colors and the cartoons making the atmosphere seem very happy and child-like.

I really liked the driver.  He was super nice, and had this slightly tacky-korean mobster look going. Slicked back hair and a gold earring. haha!  He told me all about the renovation of the airport and about all the bridges being built near the airport using some German design/technology.

Nik was running errands for work when we got to his apt. so I went and loitered in the Garden Hotel (a very nice hotel) across the way. The taxi driver dropped me off and handed the valet guys my bags. I thought he might tell them I was just waiting for a friend, but he left that up to me. I did tell them in broken Korean and they totally let me just sit in their lobby for like 45 minutes! Wow.

Nik came and we went to his apt and I ate leftovers from the ETA's (I think this acronym stands for Fulbright's English teaching assistants?...) that they had made a few days before.  Nice! Turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, and stuffing! Yum!  So, thats pretty much all that's happened thus far.

I need to go to the immigration office (hopefully tomorrow) to get my alien registration card so I can reactivate my phone!!!!

Running out of battery on my computer so bye!

The Rest of my Time at SupHo

Hey~

So heres a brief run through about the rest of camp.  I was so busy, I never got a chance to update after the first week!

The first session was awesome!  I think I already talked about the girls in my cabin etc. But they were great! Most mornings they would wake up before the 7:30 alarm and I'd find them studying Korean! They cleaned the cabin daily without prompting and when it was our turn to do wakeup duty and meal presentation, they spent a lot of time planning and practicing for our presentation, pan-chan yeonguk (we had to do breakfast, lunch, and dinner).  Here is a link to one of their best ones:

video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6HYGXcfp-0

During the first two week session I was also teaching samulnori, traditional Korean drumming twice a day.  Once in the morning to the two weekers, who rotated everyday and later in the afternoon as an elective to villagers who had chosen to take my class.
At the end of the first two weeks, my elective class gave a performance at the talent show.  I spend hours making the goggal hats for them to wear for their performance.  I taught them a standing piece, which was pretty difficult to do within such a short span of time. But they did a great job, although they loathed the hats I made them wear. ^__^

video link to one of our practices:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMJ6YFs7U6w

video link to their performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jro8lKsFxtY

Pictures from the first two week session:

진혁 and 한용 the camp's two biggest eaters!!!

some of the staff at Casion Night

~me and a hundred rolls of kimbap~ 

Oren (3) and Soru (18 months), kids of some of the staff. Aren't they adorable!?

Our Kwangju Cabin!

All the first session two week campers

In between sessions, staff gets one day off during the weekend.  I went with the credit kids into town on Saturday while they did laundry, went to Target, and out to dinner.  That is the only day within the month that they are at camp that they are given back their contraband ( cell phones, ipods, books in English) and are allowed to eat Amerian junk food.  And the kids go nuts!  They buy loads of junkfood at Target and inhale it as fast and as much as they can before the end of the night, when everything is taken away again.

Credit Weekend Pictures:

 campers invading the laundromat in Bemidji

Miseol, Youngeun, and Solmin at the laundromat

Mingee, Gayeong, Minji and me waiting for our laundry

Credit kids pigging out on junkfood at Target 

(note the multiple gallons of ice cream)

Gross.  The kids ate all this within a span of two hours.

 and this is how the table looked after all the junkfood was devoured. Stomach ache...

I had my day off on Sunday and went into the town of Bemidji with a bunch of staff. It was sooo much fun! Honestly, we didn't do anything particularly exciting, but I think it was all the more fun because we were stuck on campus at camp for so long. haha!  We walked around as a huge group and explored Bemidji and acted as tourists.  We ended up eating dinner at Green Mill and ate ourselves silly.

Day off Pictures:

Our Day Off!!!!

Staff with Paul Bunyan and Babe the Big Blue Ox, Bemidji icons

Minji and me with Paul Bunyan's moccassins

Staff wearing Minnesota T-shirts (they were 3 for $10 at Walgreens)

getting ready for a cold Minnesota winter???

After dinner at Green Mill

At the Bemidji State Park

We watched the sun set and the beach was beautiful

walking the trails

*group shot*

Right after the first session ended I had to start getting ready for our I-Day performance. That was an undertaking.  I-Day is when all of the language villages that are insession at that time get together to exchange music, dance, foods, and at the end each village gives a brief performance of some sort.  Most are dance, theatrical, or musical performances.
Getting ready was rather stressful, but in the end it all turned out well!  수고했어요!  It was a combination performance of taekwondo (martial arts), samulnori, gayageum (12 stringed zither), and b-boy (break dancing).
Because our performance plan kept changing, it was only finalized three days before our performance. So that meant the kids had one day to learn it and one day to practice it, and then it was show time!  I had them practice from nap time through class time one day for a total of two hours! with a 7 minute water break.  But afterwards, to try and make it up to them, I bought them all snacks.  
It was really hot that day (of course) and I was literally tying ribbons on the kids uniforms as they were walking to the performance area, minutes before the ending ceremony started.  Whew. ^^;;

Link to the big I-day performance:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n18OfqrCGks

Pictures from I-Day:

SupHo's grand entrance to I-Day

Charlie and Youngeun give Concordia Language Villages a special birthday wish

for their 50th Bday and introduce Sup Sogui Hosu

Junghye unni with her niece and nephew.  So cute!

Amazing fruit stand put on by the French camp

 Soru eating a snack

After I-Day, our class could finally relax, but just a bit.  We still had to get something ready for the talent show/closing program.  I decided I wanted them to do seol changu, or a changu solo.  Some of the kids had never really played changu before, as they preferred one of the other three instruments.  In the end, we did a bit of the changu solo and then transitioned into other beats that included the other instruments.
One of the beats we did has a chant that goes with it.  I had the kids come up with new lyrics for the chant to use vocabulary they they knew and understood instead of the traditional chant which talks about having a good harvest.  

This is what they came up with:
모기 모기 싫어 싫어 아! 아! 아! 아!
mosquitoes mosquitoes hate hate ah! ah! ah! ah! (direct translation)
김치 김치 좋아 좋아  매워! 매워! 매워! 매워!
kimchi kimchi like like spicy! spicy! spicy! spicy!
숲호에서 재미있는 사물놀이  앗싸!
At SupHo we play fun Samulnori yeah!
가 나 다 라 마 바 사 아 자 차 카 타 파 하
(the Korean alphabet) gah nah dah rah mah bah sah ah jah chah kah tah pah hah

It was a hit. The kids nailed it. It was awesome.
Here is a video of their performance:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RySRQtxU_Dw

On another note, the second session was for the younger kids and there was low enrollment for the younger two weekers this year.  So there were only 7 girls and 2 boys!  Since there were only 7 girls, we didn't need the two 2 week girls cabins that we had had the first session (there were ~25 two weekers the first session), so Eunji unni and I moved from our beloved Kwangju cabin to Busan along with Kyungmoon and Jenny, who were the counselors for the other former two week cabin.
Busan was much larger, but our first night with the second session girls we had three bats in our cabin!  So we had to call the bat catchers aka. some of the boy counselors.  One of the guys came and searched for an hour.  He found two bats and the girls had to move rooms.  Needless to say, the girls were a bit freaked out. 

poor little bat. you are doomed.

As long as no one is asleep while there are bats in the cabin, there is no problem. The problem occurs when someone is asleep in a cabin with bats because bat bites are so small you may not be able to see them.  In that case, everyone who was asleep while the bat was there needs to get rabbies shots, which cost $3,000 a person!!!!  
I think over the span of our four weeks at camp, there were something like 40 bats caught in various cabins and camp buildings.  After they are caught they need to be sent in for testing and then are euthanized.  Sad.

In comparison to our first session with the older campers, it was definitely different having younger kids our second session.  They were much more active, impulsive, and full of energy!!! haha. But also lots of fun and very cute!
Here is a video of them doing their meal presentation.  They presented the food to the melody for "doe a deer."  So cute!

Video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEklLss-wS8

Pictures from Second Session:

Doesn't my class look like a blast?...

That's better

much happier looking

my drumming class - group shot

2 weekers burying Joonsu in the sand pile

girls putting makeup on male counselors

good job.  Pil looks beautifully creepy...

Soru followed trend and got a faux hawk

kids during evening program playing "Golden Bell" 

to test their Korean vocabulary knowledge 

campfire

2 weekers at the campfire

Minji, Jinwha unni and me out on the lake riding the pontoon

being silly during meal time

Gayeong and I during meal time

Okju eating a baby octopus!

saying goodbye

Anyhow, each session the two weekers put together a video based on a folktale that we focus on during camp.  This year we did the Nymph and the Woodcutter (선녀와 나무꾼) - the skit where I was pregnant and bore three children. ^^  So, the kids also acted out and filmed a rendition of this folktale.

Session 1 (ages 14-18):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8723rUfInI

Session 2 (ages 8-13):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6kmw9sXJxs

They all did a great job and the videos turned out hilarious!