Photo Update

Who loves Korea? My friend Song and I do!!!
Slowly but surely, I'm getting a little better at updating Facebook with photos from my life here in the future. Many are repeats from the blog, but you can still take a peek here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2023096&id=146100645&l=93e8a8dde9

Belated Skiing Adventure Post

March 1, 1919 marked the beginning of a year's worth of demonstrations held by Koreans attempting to show their independence from Japan. Though the movement did bring about increased national unity in Korea, it didn't result in national independence (that wouldn't work out until 1945). In 1949 the date was declared a national holiday, and sixty two years later I took advantage of the day off of work to head for the hills again and ski one last time this winter.

After nearly abandoning the plan because the weather was rainy, Alison and I joined my Korean friend Harry in his trusty Hyundai and hit the road for Jisan Forest Resort, located only about an hour and a half southeast of Seoul. The resort looked pretty small on its website, but Harry had found a deal – a day of skiing, equipment rental and pitching in for gas was only going to be about $40 – so it was worth a shot. Harry's impatient driving on the slick roads almost kept us from ever making it to the mountain, but because I am a good napper (even at 9 a.m.), the near-crashes didn't faze me. If we were going down, at least I was doing what I do best.

Missing Out

Avoid the Noid!!!

Being out of the country for a year means many missed happy hours, sporting events, birthdays and even weddings. One big event I was disappointed to be unable to join this year was the Polar Bear Plunge at Lake Calhoun. It's one of over a dozen events all around Minnesota where thousands of participants take turns jumping into the frigid waters of a local lake. Congratulations to my friends who plunged as fast food spokespeople/mascots in the Minneapolis event on March 5 - they were part of a huge crew of Minnesota volunteers who helped raise over $2 million for Special Olympics this year. Had I been in Minneapolis, I would have no doubt constructed a costume of the Noid, known from late 1980s Domino's Pizza ads (I remember having a figurine at home!) and a video game I've never played. It would have been a great costume.

Spring Ahead

Just when I got used to computing the time difference, Daylight Savings Time came along and threw everything off. Korea doesn't mess around with any daylight conservation, so now the gap between me and CST has decreased to 14 hours. Here's an updated visual aid.

Four Months

As temperatures start to climb into the upper double-digits on the Celsius thermometer, it appears I have survived the Korean winter as well as the first third of my Asian sabbatical. The snow's been gone for ages but kids are finally starting to put away their Napoleon Dynamite snowboots. The evenings are getting longer. Flower stalls are showing up on the street more often than those selling neck warmers. It's tough to grasp the fact that soon I'll experience Korea without the filter of my mittens, scarf and coat. My friends, co-teachers and students probably won't recognize me when I'm not wearing the coat that has so far been my Korea Uniform.

Apples

So you know how sometimes you realize you haven't been eating enough fruit because apples in most grocery stores are nearly $3 each, grapes are $5 for a little pack, you're kind of getting sick of tangerines, and bananas are everywhere - for only about $2 or $3 you can get 10 or 15 - but it's almost impossible to eat that many before they go bad, so what's the point? Then you remember that you can get a bag of apples from a street vendor for only 5000 won, so you alter your walking route home from school to go past the apple seller.

But then the guy you've seen by the bank isn't there. Luckily there's always the guy near the post office. You head over there, but no one's attending the fruit so you kill a few minutes trying to discern into which slot of the mailbox you should drop your US-bound postcards. (Later you will realize that, of course, you chose the domestic slot rather than the one for "foreign lands," according to your cell phone dictionary. Can't you do anything right??) Returning to the fruit stand, there is still no one around and the winter wind is a-blowing. Perhaps the merchant ducked into the shoe shine/repair hut next to his strawberries? Nope, still no sign of him. Doesn't he have problems with theft?

K-pop blasts from the cell phone store across the street. Kids walk by with ice cream cones. It seems like a hundred buses come and go. You're just trying to do something healthy and it's backfiring as you shiver and loiter at the nearby socks-and-tights stand. Wow, you notice there's a library across the street that you've walked by a hundred times without seeing. You'll have to check it out soon, but for now you just want some apples and to get them back to your warm apartment. You wait a couple more minutes, suppress the urge to yell WHOSE EFFING FRUIT IS THIS? then start walking home, defeated. Out of nowhere, the fruit man is chasing you down. Fine, fine, you'll take that bag of apples, that one there. No? This doesn't happen to you? Just me?

Yum.